Firearms & Self-Defense
- Be sure to check out the latest Defense Pistolcraft post from Jon Low and Greg Ellifritz's most recent Weekend Knowledge Dump. Both have lots of links to great articles and videos. Jon wins the quotable quote contest with this one, though: "The number one way to avoid a home invasion is to not be a drug dealer."– Chuck Haggard.
It's a good reminder that lifestyle choices have far more to do with not being a crime victim than any other factor. We (and I definitely fall in this camp) tend to focus on firearms and techniques because they are cool and exciting. But firearms are to self-defense what fire extinguishers are to keeping your family and yourself safe from house fires--tools of last resort.
I'm old enough to remember when smoking in bed or falling asleep smoking was one of the leading--if not the leading--cause of house fires, with it quite common to see public service announcements on television warning of the danger. This risk has been mitigated over the years due to fewer people smoking and the use of fire resistant materials in bedding so that currently, cooking is apparently the leading cause of house fires. Nevertheless, smoking in bed remains the leading cause of deadly house fires. Obviously, then, one of the best ways to avoid dying in a house fire is to not smoke in bed; if and if you don't smoke at all, so much the better.
Similarly, not using or dealing in illegal drugs is one of the best ways to avoid being the victim of a homicide. Don't believe me? A study performed by researchers with the Rochester Institute of Technology that analyzed homicides committed in 2000 and 2001 reported that links between homicide and drugs were found in 86.4% of the homicide cases. Although there is obviously some overlap, "the most common link was that there was a police record of drug use for the victim or suspect (66.7% of cases). The second most common link was for a police record of drug sales for victim or suspect (64.2%). Heavy drug use or affiliation with a known drug group was also present in more than 40% of cases. The homicides most directly linked to drugs include 23.5% involving drug related robberies and 11.1% involving drug transactions gone badly or battles for turf." The use of alcohol also plays a significant role in violent crimes.
- "Concealed Carry Corner: The Rise Of PDWs For Personal Protection." The author looks at the increasing interest in PDW (that is, submachine gun and machine pistol sized weapons) by civilians with a concomitant interest in equipment (generally backpacks) that can carry body armor panels. From my perspective, it seems to be a confluence of various factors including the popularity of the AR pistol, the popularity of pistol-caliber carbines, and media attention on high casualty shootings. Thus, pistol caliber weapons with the compactness and firepower of an AR pistol. I've suggested AR pistols or PDW type weapons for protection against large number of attackers, such as the large and aggressive groups of motorcyclists that have on occasion pursued and beaten drivers that have earned their ire or the mobs that formed as a part of the BLM riots. The latter seems to be a motivation of the people to whom the author of this piece spoke. He writes:
A really interesting response I got from almost all of them was the decrease in police presence in metro areas and having a plan to keep safe as a result of less policing. The vast majority of the people I interviewed have families and carry PDW-style firearms to keep their families safe. I didn’t get the impression they were out actively looking to stop a bad guy or had any type of violent fantasizing which is what I worried would be the case. Almost everyone talked about personal safety and the importance of self-defense.
- "Introduction To Metallic Cartridge Reloading: Process Walkthrough." This is the second in a series from Shooting Sports USA on reloading ammunition. As you can guess from the title, this article briefly explains each of the steps in prepping cases and reloading them, with some final comments on testing loads and safe ammo storage.
- "Send That Magazine Home — Preferred Seating Techniques" by Jim Davis. The authors goes into some detail on how to properly seat a magazine in an AR style rifle when doing a magazine swap. His suggestion is to use a "beer can" grasp of the magazine and then push it all the way in, and then give a tug to make sure it is seated correctly. Although he also discusses the technique that involves slamming the bottom of the magazine with your hand to ensure a lock, he notes a couple disadvantages: if you have damaged feed lips, the hard slap can actually knock cartridges loose and into the action jamming the weapon, and if the magazine doesn't lock users can become so focused on repeatedly slapping the magazine that they aren't paying attention to time (in competition) or what is happening downrange (if in a tactical environment).
- And another from Jim Davis: "The Scars Tell All — A Tale About Wounds." The author relates what he learned about gun and knife attacks and injuries while working in the prison system, not only from his own observations but also from asking prisoners about how they got their scars. One story:
During another attack, one inmate grabbed clothing shears from a garment shop inside the prison. As a conflict-resolution tactic (he was defending himself against a larger inmate), he began stabbing another inmate in the midsection with much gusto. I’m not sure how many times he stabbed him, but it was a lot.Undaunted, the man who was stabbed kept going after the stabber (note to self: this is not an advisable tactic). The stabber played along and continued to deliver more strikes. The wounded man’s intestines were spilling out, but his rage continued to drive him on the attack.Officers responded and pulled him out into the corridor near where I was working.As blood poured out of him, he kept trying to get back up to attack the other inmate. They threw him on a trash cart, where he looked like his birth certificate expired. Officers began the run down to the dispensary as they were calling for a Life-Flight helicopter to evacuate him to a hospital. A few moments later, I heard a radio call: “Cancel the Life-Flight, we no longer need it.” He had, indeed, succumbed to his wounds — but not before demonstrating an astonishing drive to stay in the fight and continue the violence.
The basic gist is that both handguns and knives are not very good at stopping a determined and motivated person, and that people can continue operating (and even recover) from an amazing amount of damage.
- "Gear Review: Wheeler F.A.T. Wrench Torque Tool." I have the older style of the FAT Wrench where there is a gauge at the end of the tool that shows you where you set the torque and then when you reach that point, there is a "break" that stops you from overtightening. This review is about a newer version that is electronic: the gauge has been replaced by a digital readout and the device beeps as you get closer to your set torque until it reaches a solid tone when you reach that setting. I think I would prefer the older style; I can't help but wonder if this new electronic version is cheaper to manufacture. On one of my more recent trips to a gun store I spotted a competitor's version (sorry, I can't remember the brand) of the FAT Wrench that appeared to be like the older version of Wheeler's product. That aside, these screwdriver style torque wrenches are very handy for smaller projects such as tightening down screws or nuts for scope mounts or the scope brackets.
Prepping & Survival
- In many instances, a natural disaster can bring out the best in people as people pull together to help one another. But there are always the anti-social types: "Looters arrested in Fort Myers in wake of Hurricane Ian chaos." See also "Officials in Fort Myers implement 6pm curfew due to LOOTERS targeting the wreckage of local businesses in Hurricane Ian's aftermath: Staggering before and after photos lay bare the utter devastation wrought upon historic city by massive storm."
- Almost as classic as the debate between the .45 ACP and the 9mm is that between those advocating bugging out versus those advocating bugging in. And it continues: "Planning on ‘Bugging Out’ In a Disaster? You Might Want to Rethink That…" by John Boch. The gist of his argument:
Unless your residence is on fire, bugging out in an emergency should be akin to pulling the trigger in a confrontation. As in something that’s done as truly the last resort – because nothing good happens after you execute that trigger pull. Just as lots of bad things may happen after a defensive gun use, lots of bad things may happen after you leave your home during turbulent times.
I tend to agree with him. Unless there is a direct threat to your residence or staying there simply become untenable (e.g., approaching hurricane, a flood, wildfire, an advancing army or large mobs, etc.), there are less unknown factors with staying in place than in evacuating and going somewhere else, not the least is that at your residence you have supplies and resources. Obviously, if you have a fully stocked retreat--whether it is a cabin in the hills or a second mansion in Tuscany (and large bank accounts in various tax havens)--your calculus may be different.
- "Adept Armor Releases the New Lightweight Dragoon Plate Carrier." Per the article, "[t]he plate carrier weighs in at just over 1.5 lbs when fully configured with the cummerbund and retails for an MSRP of $220." Part of the reason for the low weight appears from the photographs to be that they have remove any unnecessary fabric. Thus, the plate seems to be held in with a thick mesh of laser cut fabric rather than fully enclosed: you can see the corners of the plates and portions of the edges of the plate. The big plus of this carrier is not only is it light weight but you could wear it under clothing (a jacket or coat I suppose). I have a British Osprey Mark IV plate carrier system, but even leaving off some of the non-essential parts, it is still bulky and cumbersome. I recently purchased a Sentry Plate Carrier made by Condor because I wanted something more basic and barebone that could be worn under clothing. Yes, it is not as heavy duty as the Osprey, and I doubt that someone could actually use the drag handle to pull me out of a danger zone (whereas the one on the Osprey could probably be used to pull a horse), but it better fulfills my need for something that is quick to put on and can, if needed, by worn under a jacket or oversized shirt if I needed to wear it and still have some semblance of being low key.
News & Headlines
- We face war (in the form of the conflict in Ukraine spilling beyond its borders) and famine (as a result of poor economic and energy policies pushed by the elites compounded by the economic upheaval caused by Covid and, for Europe, the loss of access to natural gas from Russia). Pestilence cannot be far behind. William S. Lind, whose name should be familiar to those of you that have delved into the concept of 4th Generation Warfare, believes that we are now caught up in events akin to that before World War I where no country necessarily wants war, but events are dragging them into war and no one can step back from the precipice. An excerpt:
That commitment [of the West to support Ukraine] runs head-on into the situation’s most fundamental strategic reality: Russia cannot afford to lose this war. Not only is the life of President Putin’s government on the line—perhaps his, too—but so is the future of the Russian Federation. A Russian defeat by Ukraine would so delegitimize the state itself, especially as the real casualty figures start to leak out, that the Russian Federation could follow the Soviet precedent and disintegrate. I am certain Mr. Putin knows this. He knows that a war where the U.S. has no real interests at stake is for Russia an existential conflict. And he knows how to make certain Russia does not lose: go nuclear.
I disagree with Lind's analogy (I think the situation is more akin to that of the late 1930s where certain powerful factions were determined to destroy Germany), but I cannot disagree with his assessment of Russia's strategic position.
In fact, I suspect that the same powerful faction that appeared to steer the United States into economically isolating Germany before WWII and then to indirectly fund the war against Germany before the formal declaration of war in 1941 are probably behind the current conflict. Michael Yon certain believes that there is some faction(s) at work here:
My current working paradigm is proving highly predictive. In this paradigm, Russia itself is being manipulated and used as an unwitting, unwilling tool in Germany's suicide, total destruction of the EU, and global Megacide far beyond any pervious genocide.
If my working paradigm is accurate, we will see pipelines and other infrastructure shut down or attacked before our eyes. 2023 begins the year of mass death.
As for Germany's suicide, David Chu at the Unz Review has an interesting article on the topic, including a link to a RAND report from January of this year that concluded that the only way for the United States to survive economically is to destroy Germany's manufacturing capacity. I don't know if the RAND report was looked at, let alone relied upon by anyone in power, but I believe that the same faction(s) that want to see Germany permanently weakened also, ultimately, want to see the West destroyed.
While we have seen gas prices in the United States double since Biden took office with lesser increases for other types of energy, Americans do not face the nation destroying energy price increases that Europe--particularly that Germany and Central Europe face--as a consequence of "Green" energy policies and the loss of access to cheap Russian gas. For instance, with prices expressed in US dollars per MMBtu, the "Germany Natural Gas Border Price is at a current level of 51.15, up from 32.91 last month and up from 12.52 one year ago. This is a change of 55.40% from last month and 308.4% from one year ago." And in July 2020, so a bit over 2 years ago, the price was 1.64. You can get a sense of the impact by watching this recent video from Survival Lilly discussing the home heating issues in Austria:
- LawDog continues his posts on why the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines could have been an industrial mishap rather than sabotage, including an illustration of how Pigs used to clean the pipes can blow out portions of a pipeline. Normally the pigs are moved by the flow of gas, but in the comments several people note that pressure differentials can also cause a pig to move, e.g.:
Pipeline was at 3000psi approx and at the time of the incident they had the pressure on the Russian end down to 80 bar (1160psi ) according to the Russians and then dropped to 4 bar shortly after explosion. That would be close to water pressure.If you have 3000psi on one side and 1160 on the other side it will move.Media briefly reported initial pressure of 800 bar then corrected it to 80 next day.
It's a theory and a plausible one given Russian (and before it, Soviet) attitudes toward maintenance. After all, we saw Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine fail spectacularly because of Russia's poor maintenance of their vehicles. But while this and other theories of what might have happened continue to circulate, the primary theory bandied about (at least on most of the websites I visit) is that the U.S. and/or NATO was behind what happened. For instance, Ron Unz reasons:
Europe is facing its worst energy crisis in generations, with numerous factories shutting down and severe hardship expected during the approaching winter. Heavily-industrialized Germany has been especially hard hit, with more than half of all small- and mid-sized businesses fearful that they might be forced to close, an economic catastrophe of Great Depression proportions. The only near-term hope of salvation had been an end to the self-destructive energy sanctions these countries had imposed upon Russia, which would have allowed plentiful and cheap Russian natural gas to resume flowing through the Russian-owned Nord Stream pipelines.
Although the European governments remained firmly opposed to that solution, many ordinary Europeans felt differently, and in recent days large public demonstrations in Germany and the Czech Republic had demanded that the sanctions be lifted. There was widespread speculation that such popular protests would eventually carry the day, if not immediately then once winter hardship became too severe. The outcome would be a negotiated end to the Ukraine war along the general lines suggested by Russia, resulting in a strategic defeat for America and NATO.
Then on September 26th, this geopolitical landscape was upended as a series of large explosions severely damaged the huge Russian pipelines, putting them out of commission indefinitely, probably even permanently. With the pipelines no longer operational, Europe would have to make due with the limited supply of American gas that can be shipped by tanker, at a cost many times greater. The massive explosive attacks on the undersea pipelines—rather euphemistically characterized as “sabotage” in the media headlines—had occurred near the coastal waters of Denmark and Sweden, in an area of the Baltic heavily monitored and patrolled by NATO warships.
The obvious conclusion, he argues, is that the U.S. was behind what happened to the pipelines. After discussing the official, public explanation offered up by such entities as The Washington Post--that the Russians deliberately sabotages their own pipelines--he then discusses dissenting opinions that suggest that the United States, or perhaps Poland with U.S. assistance, was behind the incident. Unz reasons:
Despite the lack of any hard evidence, the likelihood that America played a central role in the attacks seems a near-certainty. Means, motive, and opportunity all point so strongly in a single direction that I doubt that there are too many rational, intelligent individuals who sincerely believe otherwise, although for obvious reasons they may mouth deceptive evasions or choose to keep silent. Yet virtually no one in the major media is willing to recognize this obvious reality.
But then, in what I believe is a strong argument against U.S. involvement, he points out:
If Germany and the rest of Europe undergo an economic collapse, the American economy can hardly avoid severe damage as well, but I think the more important impact will be upon the longer-term geopolitical alignment of that continent. Europeans will suffer greatly this winter and despite the solid wall of media propaganda, more and more of them may begin to recognize the architect of their distress [i.e., the U.S. and NATO].
Read the whole thing. I personally believe that if the pipeline was sabotaged, Israel is a more likely suspect than the U.S., seeing this as an opportunity to resurrect their own gas pipeline project which was scuppered by the U.S. early this year.
- "Speech On the Accession of the New Regions to Russia." The Unz Review has the full text of Putin's speech. As you would expect, it boils down to "Russia good, America bad." Oh, and he wants to reconstitute the (pre-Soviet) Russian Empire. He completely lost me at this part, though:
While we – we are proud that in the 20th century our country [i.e., the Soviet Union] led the anti-colonial movement, which opened up opportunities for many peoples around the world to make progress, reduce poverty and inequality, and defeat hunger and disease.
Yes, they led the revolutionary causes that unleased war and terrorism across the African continent and still reverberates to this day, but it did not "make progress, reduce poverty and inequality, and defeat hunger and disease," but, like everything communism touches, made it much, much worse. And his finger pointing at the Western allies during World War II for the destruction Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima and Nagasaki is the most rank hypocrisy. But his speech confirms that politicians are, everywhere, the same.
- I had noted several weeks ago an article from Borderland Beat about a shift in how the cartels planned on marketing fentanyl, moving from pills that resembled real medication to pills that were more "fun" and "exciting". And here it is: "'It's a mass poisoning': Images show rainbow-colored fentanyl disguised as Skittles and Nerds CANDY - as ex-DEA official warns parents that dealers are peddling the drugs to kids on social media." Don't expect the liberals to rush to secure the borders. They always say "it's about the children" but to them it is never about protecting children.
- Before the onset of political correctness, most intelligence agencies (including in the United States) excluded homosexuals from their ranks because it was believed that they were the most likely to betray their country. It is certainly believable considering that of the Cambridge Five spy ring, two were homosexual while a third was bisexual. Applying Anonymous Conservative's r/K political theory, we see that liberals have lower in-group loyalty combined with a greater welcomeness to foreigners, which would suggest that they would be more likely to betray their nation and/or country. All of which brings me to this story from the Washington Free Beacon: "First Openly Transgender Army Officer Indicted for Trying to Give Soldiers’ Medical Info to Russia." The officer, Jamie Lee Henry, and its wife, Anna Gabrielian, were both indicted. Both are doctors. The article notes:
Henry has been praised as a pioneer of the transgender movement after coming out as transgender in an interview with BuzzFeed News in 2015. Henry claimed to be the first known active-duty Army officer to come out as transgender, and the first to legally change their name while in service.
- Protests continue in Iran: "Iran's regime kills 'at least 92' in brutal crackdown of nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death of young woman 'tortured in custody by Tehran's morality police for not wearing a hijab properly'."
- From IEEE's Spectrum: "Aluminum Sulfur—Is This How the Future Spells Lithium Ion?" From the article:
In a leap toward low-cost batteries for large-scale grid storage, an international team of researchers led by MIT material chemist Donald Sadoway have invented a battery made of aluminum and sulfur, two of the most abundant and low-cost materials in the world.
The nascent battery already has an energy density comparable to that of today’s lithium-ion batteries at cell level, and should come in at less than a sixth of the cost, the team reported in Natureon 24 August. The battery also charges in minutes and is nonflammable thanks to its molten salt electrolyte that does not burn. “You can put a blowtorch to this thing and it won’t catch fire,” says Sadoway.
Other than storing solar and wind power for the grid, the new battery would be ideal for small-scale residential backup systems and EV charging stations, where they could quickly charge several cars at once.
- “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”--L.P. Hartley. We all learned in school how, during the last Ice Age, sea levels were 300 to 400 feet lower than today, but that is hard to visualize without an understanding of what lands would be exposed. The site Vivid Maps has a page on "Coastlines of the Ice Age" which gives you an idea at the amount of additional land that would have been exposed. Pay particular attention to the vast amounts of land exposed in South East Asia and to the north of Australia; and, although smaller, the additional land exposed in and around Britain, Florida, and South Eastern Europe. To put this in a bit of context, according to the UN, more than 600 million people (around 10 per cent of the world’s population) live in coastal areas that are less than 10 meters above sea level and nearly 2.4 billion people (about 40 per cent of the world’s population) live within 100 km (60 miles) of the coast. And, from another study:
As of 1994, an estimated 1.88 × 109 people, or 33.5% of the world’s population, lived within 100 vertical meters of sea level, but only 15.6% of all inhabited land lies below 100 m elevation. The median person lived at an elevation of 194 m above sea level. Numbers of people decreased faster than exponentially with increasing elevation.
The percentage of people living nearer to coastlines and at lower elevations would probably have been greater in ancient times due to lower population densities (i.e., they wouldn't be forced into settling in less desirable locations), and the need to live closer to sites of natural resources and trade routes such as found along coastlines and river valleys.
I tend to believe the Rand paper is a fake - a good fake, but a fake. When I first read it, it seemed to me that some of the phraseology was a little odd (suggesting it was written by someone whose first language was not English). Further, the content of the paper tends to support the idea that the Democrat Party and Biden regime is at the center of a conspiracy to destroy Germany and the EU to save their own power (this is something I want to believe, which warns me to step back and look at it in a more objective light).
ReplyDeleteIt does bounce between a more formal, academic English and informal phrasing at times.
DeleteIt's that land that's under the sea where I think we'd find some really interesting artifacts . . .
ReplyDeleteI think so. Some of the areas that are now undersea are so large that you could have had a fairly developed Neolithic or copper age civilization that was completely sunk due to rising sea levels.
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