Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Random Thoughts On Sporty Times


















I have an extensive and well-thumbed library of militaria, including guerrilla and unconventional warfare. So do many of you. But always remember some timeless concepts, as the chances for a quiet and orderly society are evaporating by the day.

___________________________


C-A-R-V-E-R. Google it. Learn it, live it, love it.

You can't get ballistics off of buckshot. You're also going to have a tough time getting fingerprints off of expended molotovs.

IEDs can be made out of anything. The VC used to put a bullet in a piece of bamboo over a nail in a board, and it worked just fine. Hollywood explosions are a modicum of black powder substitute in a baggie with an ignition source, sitting under a gallon of unleaded in a trashbag.

Indians used to cut telegraph lines, then ambush the wire repair party. Some ideas never get old. Except now we also have water mains, fiber optic cables, cable TV, cell repeaters, etc., ad infinitum.

If a few cubic yards of concrete accidentally get poured into an underground vault, you ain't repairing that for some time.

The same is true if you weld manhole covers and service plates to their rings.

If you shoot the boss, they can replace him in 15 minutes. If you hit the truck with the tools and supplies, that takes days to weeks to replace. But if you take out the guys who fix the stuff, they take months to years to replace. And the other ones don't want to show up for work either, afterwards.

BLM and Antifa already have a rep for burning things, and trying to derail trains. They should get 100% credit for anything like that going forward, forever.

If someone shoots a guy driving a truck, there's a body. But if someone drops a letter off with pictures of his kids at school, and he decides maybe he ought to call in sick, there's no body, and little to follow up on. (One might even have the envelope delivered at a truck stop, and suggest he uncouple, and return home without his load.) Same result.

A train track missing a rail on the outside of a medium curve will usually derail a train. (With modern rails, you have to bridge the contact between the section with wire or something, which BLM has figured out, per recent news reports.)
If that derailment happens to interfere with a major industrial plant, arterial roadway, etc., that's a two-fer.

This is the same reason military manuals recommend dropping tall objects (trees, towers, smokestacks) over roadways, bridges, and power transmission lines. Half the effort, twice the result.

Magnesium burns at 3100°. Thermite (which is equal parts rust dust and aluminum powder or flakes) burns at 4000°. Liquid and natural gas pipelines, cell towers, and telephone block boxes are rather fragile.

ATMs are nowhere near as robustly protected as banks.

You should have maps of solid blue areas, and the downtown hubs, which would essentially become free-fire areas in sporty times. No sense inconveniencing your own people or their neighborhoods if a precision attack would do a much better job.

If a HVT has a back-up generator, they probably don't have two generator back-ups.
Find single points of failure, and exploit them.

Backgammon depends on luck. Chess is for planners.

Going head-to-head against armored vehicles is bad.
Getting the guys inside when they come out to take a piss is much easier.

At modern ordnance counts, it would take hundreds of attacks to cripple a battalion. The same thing can be accomplished with bad food and bad water, and a few hundred cases of the trots.

Armies march on their stomachs. Logistics caravans are always more lightly defended than they ought to be.

Even Samson was defeated by first being weakened, blinded, and hobbled.

Achilles' strength, too, was legend, but the moral is the same: find Achilles' heel.

If you're asking questions of prisoners, remember the immortal words of Dennis Miller:
"Red is positive. Black is negative."

Also remember, it's not technically "waterboarding" if you use diesel.

It takes one bad election to make an insurgent; it takes 10+ years to make another communist. When in doubt, always remember, every dead communist is one less communist. Don't be squeamish or sentimental.

#################

These are by no means comprehensive nor exhaustive in nature; merely a few thoughts to keep me warm inside on a cold night.

I mention all this not to unleash havoc, but because evidently one side has clearly forgotten what a high-trust society this is, and thus has absolutely no f***ing idea what happens when you use any means available to undermine the most basic trust in the electoral system, and everything else disappears almost instantly as a consequence.

Read up on what happened in places like Beirut, Sarajevo, and Caracas.
Or just wait awhile, and see it firsthand.



26 comments:

John Henry Eden said...

Raconteur? More like agent provocateur.

Aesop said...

I am no such thing.

I am the soul of good will, and the most strident advocate to follow the law.

But when some endeavor to conquer a political opponent by extra-legal means, they have burned all the laws down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9rjGTOA2NA

Stolen elections have consequences.

At that point and going forward, Anything Goes.

carolinaTURTLE said...

FREE PINELAND NOW!

Nick Flandrey said...

"if you take out the guys who fix the stuff, they take months to years to replace."

--those guys are more likely to be 'our' guys than not. And we'll need them when it's over.

The concrete filled vaults are a neat idea, but a pint of gasoline and a road flare does about the same damage for less effort.

No need to remove the rails, just the spikes on the outside of the curve should do the trick...

Lots of rail lines go over bridges with roads under them. Roads where you can park a truck or car. A flammable truck.

The thing is, there are literally millions of ways to F it up. If you've ever looked at defending infrastructure from terror attacks like this, you know that. All the way back to G Gordon Liddy and his article about natural gas compressor stations and rifles, people have known these things. The problem is that once broken, some of this stuff can't really be fixed (and I'm not just talking about hardware, but trust as well.)

We have to live with the aftermath and IN the aftermath as much as they do. Our food comes on the same trucks, our stuff comes through the same cross dock facilities, over the same roads. I can think of lots of ways to deny access to and use of the resources, suck up additional resources, without destroying them.

Visit an important office building, but not the offices you target. Damage the locks on the utility closets on every floor. Call in the bomb threat, be specific that it's in a utility closet so the threat is credible. Work in that building is disrupted for the day, resources are used up, many closet doors are replaced. When they stop responding, place a device and call it in again. Rinse repeat escalate.

Use their doctrine against them. Call in a bomb threat to cause the evacuation, and get crowds of targets outside. The "muster areas" are conveniently marked. What if people got there and discovered a box marked "Bomb" at each location with a clock attached? Want a more effective bomb threat? Call in a shooter so they lock down, then find the mock devices inside with them. You've just destroyed their whole response plan. What will they do next time?

Every scattering of 'white powder' needs to be investigated.

Lots of innocuous things smell really bad but aren't deadly. The area denial is still there though.

(cont)

Nick Flandrey said...

(cont)

Keep in mind that the current surveillance state will get you if they want you bad enough to spend the resources. Cell phone trackers, cameras, license plate readers, fusion centers monitoring social media, they all work together. Traffic analysis says your phone always moves with your truck (that has blutooth enabled on the radio, and can be tracked by roadside receivers) until the day it doesn't and some event happens. Private companies are collecting your movements and selling them to the authorities already. Or cams show people in an area, but the 'presence sensors' (wifi and bluetooth access points) don't- which causes alerts to be issued. [this is well within the capability of current systems btw and is the standard for places like airport tarmacs] There have been 'academic' demonstrations that the tire pressure monitor radios in you vehicle can be identified and tracked.

Your neighbor's nest camera or ring doorbell captures every time you or your vehicles come and go.

Do you ever leave the house without your phone? Do you have any established reasons or pattern of doing so? Just leaving your phone at home or pulling the battery won't change the pattern you've established.

I listen to the scanner every day, listening to cops doing surveillance, buy ops, stings, warrant service. They have the resources and they will eventually succeed. If they want to, and if they can focus on you.



Notwithstanding all of the above, these might be of interest....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HITQJQ/

https://www.securityinfowatch.com/magazine/5447e151c99db54158d9e7e1

https://www.amazon.com/Uniden-HomePatrol-2-Touchscreen-TrunkTracker-Emergency/dp/B00JJY6S72/

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Main_Page


and if it all goes in the pot, this might be useful...

https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Dummies-Wendy-Abraham/dp/1119475449/

nick

Delta Lima said...

Thanks for the primer. It's been a while....

Aesop said...

As I stated, Nick, this is neither exhaustive nor comprehensive. There are many ways to take out a work crew. If they're already on your side, the things they can do that can't be detected, nor fixed easily, boggle the mind.

And all that surveillance state apparatus, including your neighbors' Ring doorbell - ALL of it - runs on 4G and 5G cell service.

In the words of Vito and Guido,
"Be a real shame if something happened to that."

Like I said, this is a high trust society.
The more complicated something is, the easier it is to break it.

Sean said...

A little John Locke, via Mike Vandeboegh, RIP, a friend of mine. Whenever the legislatures endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience. I would myself add that a legislature or any other body of responsibility that sees this happening, and does nothing, qualifies as well. Aesop is correct. It may be the title to an old song from the 30's but it fits. Anything goes.

Flight-ER-Doc said...

I recall a very, very busy freeway being tied up in Southern California because an unknown white powder fell off a truck.

This was on a Sunday late afternoon - all those people just trying to get home after a busy weekend. Hungry/tired kids, etc...

The powder? Vitamin-C (Ascorbic acid). I was listening to the California Highway Patrol on their radio when the officer on scene spelled out the label.

I wonder how many such incidents would it take before Joe Sixpack and family were totally fed up with the government?

Nick Flandrey said...

There are a couple of fiction novels that are good reads as well as getting the mind thinking along the lines mentioned...

A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman -- how might Texas rebel against a tyrannical federal government? Hint- first seize the Mint.


The Weapon (Freehold Series Book 2) Kindle Edition by Michael Z. Williamson -- how do you keep a much larger adversary from taking you over? Devastate them to the point they don't have the resources for foreign adventures. "Earth forces attacked his home system, and he and his team came out of hiding, attacking and destroying the infrastructure of the crowded planet, disabling transportation and communications and creating terror in city after city."

Williamson has a short story that is relevant too, that details the psyops against the invaders but I can't find a link at the moment. The story involves kidnapped soldiers and sausages with bits of nametag inside...

Yeah, fiction is soft and fluffy compared to setting commies on fire, but some creative people have been thinking on some of this stuff for a while, and some of it translates or inspires...

nick

Mark said...

I'm more and more reminded of The Beginnings by Rudyard Kipling:

It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late
With long arrears to make good,
When the English began to hate.

They were not easily moved,
They were icy-willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the English began to hate.

Their voices were even and low,
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show,
When the English began to hate.

It was not preached to the crowd,
It was not taught by the State.
No man spoke it aloud,
When the English began to hate.

It was not suddenly bred,
It will not swiftly abate,
Through the chill years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the English began to hate.

Mark D

Peter said...

Nick.

"Soft Casualty"
https://www.baen.com/softcasualty

It is also in the anthology "Freehold: Resistance"

Jonathan H said...

I hope it doesn't come to this, but if it does, there are lessons we can learn from the past and elsewhere - as the saying goes, learn from others mistakes because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.

Prepare yourself to operate without some conveniences if you live in or near an urban area - in particular, power, water, and cell service.

If you want some examples of what one person can do, look up coal mining strikes of the 70's. Note that mines are still taking precautions learned then; I have yet to see a any where else implement those measures.

Nick Flandrey said...

@peter, that is the one!

n

Ken Prescott said...

KRASNOVIA FOREVER!

Ken Prescott said...

Know your enemy.

And his family.

They arrest one of yours, you send a dozen of their kids to the morgue.

They'll get the hint.

Jimmy the Saint said...

"You should have maps of solid blue areas, and the downtown hubs, which would essentially become free-fire areas in sporty times."

The thing is, there really aren't any "solid" blue areas (or red, for that matter). Even ultraviolet voting areas still run about 30% or more non-blue. If you're not careful, you'll take out allies (and ones who could be excellent sources of intel, etc.) or worse, force them (and their arsenals, etc.) to join the other side simply to survive.

TechieDude said...

The possibilities are endless. Being in Telecom for 20 years or so, you have no clue what one idiot with a sawzall can do. Pro tip - find where the feed comes in a building and cut it flush with the conduit. They'll be there weeks patching it.

And you don't even need that for fiber. A good, stout, ball pean hammer will do. Smack it and they'll be there days spicing. If you're smart, you'll see the cables running exposed in underground parking garages. Cold Chisel + Hammer. Bang, out go the lights. And, they'll have to find it. That takes time.

FFS there are manholes all around announcing who owns it. Open them, get the sawzall, and clean them out like an oyster. It takes time, money, and skill to fix that kind of thing. Simply wait for the truck to show up, and have a chat with the tech. "it would be better if you weren't here". Better yet, they show up, fix some, leave, and you torch it again.

There's no end to the misery that can be inflicted. Think Viet Cong punji sticks married with tech. Hell, Take a shotgun shell, inject it with dogshit you've festered and cultivated. Marry it with a chunk of conduit, a coat hanger mount, and a cheap motion detector.

There's no limit. None.

I'll quote at least two law enforcement types I'm related to - "we don't catch the smart ones". Hell, think of it, two doofuses with a bushmaster and a clapped out chevy brough DC to it's knees. Show up at random gubmint offices -- pop pop drop a borg. Don't brag, don't post. Just move to the next one miles away, a week later, a day later, a month later. no pattern.

They really don't want to go there, but they also really don't know that.

The Old Guy said...

Aesop, I'm a little slow. Would you help me catch up, please?

What is Pineland and what are Pineland Rules?

Even assuming you meant "cartridge" when you said "bullet," I still cannot picture the IED the VC made with that and bamboo and a nail and a board. Would you say more about it, please?

Thanks

beachfront69 said...

All of this sounds like a high powered version of rat fuking.

Steady Steve said...

IIRC, it's equal parts by weight, 3:1 by volume ( 3 aluminium to 1 iron). Needs a magnesium strip to set it off which can be ignited by common cannon fuse. If you put it in a sturdy container with a hole in the bottom and short legs to hold it up off a surface, such as the hood of an armored truck, it would burn right thru and disable the engine. Burns thru a car hood faster and into the engine block. Not that I'd encourage anyone to do that.

Aesop said...

@The Old Guy,

Re: Pineland:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Special_Forces_selection_and_training#UW_CULEX_(Robin_Sage):_Phase_V_(4_weeks)

Re: Pineland Rules:
In Unconventional Warfare, the only rule is "Win".
Virtually nothing else is out of bounds. (They do give a token nod to the Rules Of Land Warfare; and then, there's real-world experience and practice, with a considerable amount of slop between theory and real life.)
Convoys are ambushed. OPFOR are snatched or killed. Targets go all explodey.
It's like South Chicago on any weekend, except with more ordnance and even less attempt at law and order.

Re: VC IED:
https://steemit.com/writing/@justlook/the-most-violent-vietnamese-traps-against-the-united-states

Ignore the text; it was written by some halfwit non-English speaker using a very crappy translator.
Just skip to the last illustration.
And that was with literal jungle tech.
Nowadays, the barrel and detonator, other than a metal firing pin, could be 3D printed in about 20 minutes, be very hard to find, except the hard way, and only cost about $1@ to make, including the round.
Using 7.62x39 or 5.56 would be bad enough, but frequently, Charlie used .50BMG rounds.

That'll buy you a lifetime prosthetic in about 1/2 a second, and that's if it only affects the foot.

Hope that clears things up.


@beachfront,

Rat fucking is barely the tip of the iceberg.
Now picture a rat the size of King Kong.
And he's the runt of the entire pack.

The Old Guy said...

"Hope that clears things up."

It does, Aesop. Thank you.

One thing that surprised me is that bamboo is able to contain the cartridge case enough to expel the bullet. I have some experience with commercial hunting ammunition (30-30 if I remember correctly, but it was many years ago) exposed to fire and "going off." The bullets barely fell out of their cases and were not capable of doing harm to anyone nearby.

Thanks again.

Aesop said...

YW.

Bear in mind the bamboo was packed in wet clay soil.
The "soft" direction to expel that force was always upwards, through the steel-soled boot.
Tres ouch.

Marina said...

Would any of you here put any credence in what this guy re: "The Tipping Point" yt channel is saying ? Channel is geared to military intelligence info. Here's tonight latest on SCOTUS Ruling Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCO9hiGf63c

Skip said...

Learned a few things an old geezer might think about.
Thanks Boss.