So now Russia unveils their own Hypersonic Missile capable of speeds in excess of 6,600 Miles Per Hour;
https://www.the-sun.com/news/4156195/russia-mass-production-zircon-hypersonic-missile/
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Mexican Cartels using drones for everything from Surveillance to Attack Applications;
https://warontherocks.com/2021/11/mexican-cartels-are-embracing-aerial-drones-and-theyre-spreading/
It would appear that the Chinese Hypersonic Missile actually launched a secondary missile while in flight. If you think the Pentagon was nervous before just because of the primary test launch, this is giving them a real migraine headache.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/4116304/hypersonic-nuke-china-fires-second-missile-mid-flight/
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And if you want to talk about people being nervous, read the Anti Fa response to the Rittenhouse verdict.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/23/antifa-urges-members-take-arms-after-kyle-rittenho/
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And finally, here's your Political Humor for the weekend
This Op Ed piece pretty much sums it up.
Remember to click on the image for the Full Size view
Although they do occasionally get caught trying to quietly expand the logistics support for their 'Belt and Road' long term Plan.
And for those of you who haven't seen much about the Belt and rod Plan, here's a quick primer from Wikipedia;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative
Acquitted on all charges.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/11/19/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-verdict/
Another Subway Slashing In NYC
Ah yes, as any of you guys who've followed this Blog for any length of time know, I'm a big follower of Drone Development. A few months back I posted an article about Drone usage in Libya earlier this year where the Drones acted independently of human control and the AI technology made the decision to strike.
Well, here;s more on the rise of AI Tech allowing Drones to make the decision to kill people without a direct order from a human controller. As the writer of the Popular Mechanics article linked below says, this is a defining moment in the military usage of Drone warfare.
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Autonomous Drones Have Attacked Humans - This Is A turning Point
By Kyle Mizokani - Copyright Popular Mechanics Nov/Dec 2021
IMAGINE A FEW YEARS FROM NOW, U.S. supply troops have just wrapped up a field exercise in Poland, showing solidarity with the country in the face of saber-rattling from nearby Russia. As the sun sets, GIs rest next to their trucks, knowing the Russian 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division is encamped just a few miles away.
The soldiers hear a faint buzzing in the distance and see a dark cloud crossing the horizon. Suddenly, a solitary scout drone swoops low over the Americans—it’s seen them. Like a predator catching the scent of prey, the cloud stops dead in its tracks, then rushes toward the soldiers with astonishing speed. Following programming orders, each of the 60 drones scans the ground below and picks its target, while AI ensures no two drones aim for the same vehicle. The drones arm their explosive payloads just as the first bursts of gunfire begin lancing out from the American position.
Sometime around March 2020, this longstanding trope of science fiction—autonomous attack drones eliminating human beings on the futuristic battlefield—crossed over into science fact. That’s when, during the Second Libyan Civil War, the interim Libyan government attacked forces
from the rival Haftar Affiliated Forces (HAF) with Turkish-made Kargu-2 (“Hawk 2”) drones, marking the first reported time autonomous hunter killer drones targeted human beings in a conflict, according to a United Nations report.
Unmanned combat aerial vehicles, loitering munitions, and the Kargu-2 “hunted down and remotely engaged” HAF logistics convoys and retreating fighters, the UN report found. The autonomous drones were programmed to attack targets “without requiring data connectivity between the operator and munition,” meaning they located and attacked HAF forces independent of any kind of pilot or control scheme.
The Kargu-2 is a quadcopter drone developed by STM, a Turkish defense contractor. The drone features sensors and an electronic brain, and is designed to carry a weapons payload. In marketing materials, STM explicitly says Kargu-2 is capable of carrying out an autonomous attack.
Here’s how it works: The drone operator loads a set of target coordinates into the Kargu-2’s software. The drone then takes off and travels to the coordinates, searching for objects on the ground that fit the profile of preferred targets. Once the drone identifies a target, it swoops down on the target at high speed and detonates an onboard explosive package, with an effect similar to that of a shotgun blast.
“The first use of autonomous weapons in war won’t be heralded with a giant fireball in the sky,” says Zachary Kallenborn, an official U.S. Army “Mad Scientist” and national security consultant. “It may just look like an ordinary drone. The event illustrates a key challenge in any attempt to regulate or ban autonomous weapons: How can we be sure they were even used?”
One major difference between a remotely controlled attack drone and an autonomous drone is the software, which might be difficult to obtain from scattered bits of plastic for forensic analysis.
The U.S. Army is working on autonomous drones, including the Bell Textron M5 medium robotic combat vehicle. The M5 is an uncrewed, 10-ton tracked armored vehicle that looks like a miniature tank and has a top speed of 40 miles per hour. It features a 30-millimeter XM813 chain gun and is designed to operate alone or as a wingman to M1A2 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
The key difference between the Army’s drones and the Kargu-2, however, is that the Army insists on a “human in the loop.” The drone might search for targets autonomously, but it can only open fire once a human operator gives permission. This allows the operator to call off an attack if the drone has mistaken a civilian for a soldier.
Some events in the history of mankind, like the 1945 atomic bomb test at the Alamogordo Bombing Range in New Mexico, are so profound, they serve as a divider between one social, economic, or military era and another. The events in Libya may similarly divide the time when humans had full control of weapons and a time when machines make their own decisions to kill.
The following is from a post at a now defunct online forum that I found while surfing the Web. Apparently the author of the post was lamenting a Law passed in the UK back in 2019. He appears to be an old school self defense adherent with a liking for effective close combat weapons for self defense. Unfortunately the UK government has decided that such items, most of them anyway, which used to be legal as long as you didn’t carry them around with you, are no longer permitted for you to own even as collectors items.
Anyway, the poster is lamenting the fact that due to the stringency of the penalties just for possession of said items, that he now must get rid of his impressive collection of eclectic items in order to avoid legal complications. He also included a link to a music video at the end to, I would guess, exhibit his grief over the loss of his property.
The pictures are the best part of his collections obituary. My old instructor Carl would definitely have approved.
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1/4/19
Well everyone the Offensive Weapons Act of 2019 is coming into effect. I've decided to go all out and just get rid of my stuff. Its a five year sentence to just own any of these things, at this point even they aren't sure if thats per item.
The act allows compensation if you can provide receipts, for 50p per knuckleduster thats not going to buy me a MacDonalds. How you are supposed to have a recipt for an item you can't buy in a shop beggars belief. Thats UK law for you.
First - from ledt to right:
Top - Extendable baton, generic - Bottom - Telescopic spring cosh, no markings, US Police Truncheon, wood, no markings, PR24, genuine
Lefdt To right
Knuckleduster and Koppo combo, steel, handmade, no markings
Knuckleduster, aluminium, handmade, no markings
Knuckleduster, iron, no markings, boxer style
Knuckleduster, steel, no markings, classic style
I am a law abiding citizen but I will admit some of these things used to get carried on occasions that I (as an educated Adult male with no mental illness or criminal record) determined required it. I don't judge other people and I don't rely on others for my own or my families safety.
The extendable baton was bought from an Amry Surplus shop, likewise the telescopic cosh. The former just generic, it and the telescopic springcosh cost me twenty pound each. The latter had no markings but was old, whether or not it was an original SIPO or a WW2 manufacture I have no idea.
I bought a bunch of the extendable batons to give to friends and family in need. It brought comfort to people when they'd tell you they were in fear for theirsafety. I know this from personal experience. A friend in need is a friend indeed. The US Police Truncheon was sent by a friend when it was still legal. Both Batons got carried on occasionswhen I deemed it neccesary. The truncheon never.
When I looked into the Act i'd missed the part about disguised and non magnetic knives. From left to right, the CIA letter opener, a disguised penknife and a generic were all bought from the USA via Ebay. I never carried any of them, they were just of interest.
All gone now. I'll have to rely on the Police! They are the only one's adult enough to posses weapons and they ensure I don't have any need for them.
Terry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGSKrC7dGcY
A sort of continuation of yesterdays Blog Post. Whether it's the domination of the worlds economy, control of the supply/logistics chain, or military supremacy, the Chinese aren't waiting around. The "Sleeping Giant" is now "Woke" is a far different way that the direction the Western World is taking.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/8/chinas-navy-now-worlds-largest-460-warships-2030-p/
According to our "Esteemed" President, China is our "Competitor" .
Sure Joe, whatever you say............
Up top, let's go with International Geopolitical News at The Daily Situation Report from Forward Observer;
https://forwardobserver.com/daily-sa-china-using-5g-to-spy-on-americans/
Moving on to the National political scene, it' shaping up to be a bad 2021 Elections result for The Dems.
First up in Mineapolis, the Ballot Amendment to replace the existing Police Department (the MPD) was voted down by a 56% to 44% margin. Additionally, another Ballot Amendment to transfer powers away from the City Council and tow the Mayors Office (which opposed replacing the MPD) also passed. Finally, several members of the City Council have lost their seats due to the inclusion of Ranked Choice Voting. No word on whether the new Council Members will be better or worse than the old ones.
And in the two Governors races that were expected to be an indicator of what the Dems could expect in the 2022 Mid term elections, things are not going well. In the Virginia Election, the Republican has beaten the Democrat.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/virginia-terry-mcauliffe-campaign-errors
And in New Jersey, the race is still too close to call with 88% of the vote reported. The incumbent Democrat Gov. Murphy managed to blow a 20 pt lead over his Republican opponent and currently only holds a 0.3% lead. The current Vote Tally is (D) Murphy 49.8% and (R) Ciatterelli 49.5%.
With 2.3 million votes cast, Murphy leads by only 1,200 votes.
Talk about nail biter. Stay tuned people, it's looking to be a bumpy ride for the Dems!
