Blogging "65 Signs of the Times Leading Up to the Second Coming" - Part 1

I recently purchased the book 65 Signs of the Times Leading Up to the Second Coming by David Ridges (Amazon link here). Rather than reading the entire book and then posting a short review, I decided to try blogging about the book as I go through it.

Before getting into listing the 65 signs of the times leading up to the Second Coming (and Ridges makes clear that there are many more signs--he apparently has picked only those he considers especially significant or interesting), Ridges discusses several important points to keep in mind when studying the signs of the times. His first chapter is called "The Last Days, an Exciting Time to Live." His main point in the chapter is that we should not allow our study of the End Times depress us.

We live in truly miraculous times! Having been a science-fiction fan much of life, and having read a substantial amount of classic science-fiction, I can attest that we live in a science-fiction world. Medical and technological miracles surround us everyday. Notwithstanding the rhetoric from various vested interests, we live in a time with less everyday violence and crime, better health, more prosperity, and more racial/ethnic harmony than at any other time in history.  The fact is that the Church (whether speaking broadly of the number of Christians, or more narrowly of the LDS faith) is spreading far and wide among all nations. Temples and meetings houses continue to be built. It is a blessing to have been born and live in such an amazing time. Yes, there is much to be done, and there is a great deal of misery in the world. Yes, there are "wars and rumours of war" spoken of by Christ. But, as Christ tells us, these should not trouble us.

Ridges writes that "[s]igns of the times are prophecies that the Lord has given His prophets, recorded throughout ancient and modern scripture, which are designed to alert the faithful in the last days that the coming of the Lord is near. They are designed, among other things, to strengthen testimonies and provide encouragement and confidence in the hearts of believers in a day when many no longer even believe in God."

He also discusses the doom and despair that will fall upon the world in the last days, quoting Luke 21:25-26:

25 ¶ And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 

 26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Ridges notes that "[t]he word 'hearts,' in verse 26, above, as used in the scriptures, usually means 'courage, hope, confidence,' and so on. The word 'failing' means to 'run out of.' Thus, the phrase ... can mean that there will be much depression and despair in the final days before the Second Coming." However, if you look at verse 28, the Lord tells us:

 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Remember, also, 2 Nephi 2:25:

 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

God did not create or intend us to be miserable and depressed. That is the work of Satan and those that follow Satan.

Ridges finishes off his chapter by relating the words of Pres. Hinckley and Pres. Monson concerning living a joyful life and not giving in to fear. He concludes:

Although Satan and his cunning allies use such advances [the technological advances we enjoy] to further their evil schemes, if we follow the advice and counsel of our modern prophets, we will emphasize the positives and do our best to limit the negatives, thus appreciating and enjoying the vast blessings of living in the last days.

Some Free Kindle Books

I try and look through Amazon's free Kindle books at least once per week, and this week saw several that might by of interest:

(1)  Home Canning Food For Beginners by Casey Watkins;

(2)  Herbal Remedies A-Z by Barbara Griggs; and,

(3)  Traditional Archery-2nd Edition by Sam Fadala.

Also, a classic sci-fi book:

(4)  Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton.

As always, I don't know how long these will remain free....

New Link for Ammunition Purchases

In the current ammo shortage, it is nice to get a heads up concerning a new source for buying ammo--particularly in bulk. In this case, I'm talking about "Ammo For Sale.com". (I've also listed them in the "Useful Links" at the side of the page). I just found out about them, and haven't had the opportunity to order anything yet, so I would appreciate any comments from those of you that have.

Discussion on the Second Amendment

Charles C.W. Cooke writes at the National Review in response to recent criticism from liberals of comments made by Justice Scalia concerning the Second Amendment and whether it would protect the right to own a rocket launcher. Cooke states:

Winkler’s insinuation that the American compact includes no way out for the oppressed would have shocked its authors and contemporaries. In a much-distributed article published in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette and Philadelphia Evening Post in 1791, the Second Amendment was explained to intrigued citizens as protecting the people from “civil rulers” who “may attempt to tyrannize” and from “military forces” that “might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens.” The author was channeling no less a personage than the drafter of the Second Amendment, James Madison. In Federalist 46, Madison laid out the insurrectionist theory himself, observing bluntly that the states should not fear the tyranny of a federal standing army because the superior state militias and well-armed public could defeat that army by force if, heaven forbid, it became necessary for them to do so.

After looking at another historical example, Cooke moves into the area of what types of weapons might be permissible under the Constitution. He takes the position that a nuclear weapon or cruise missile is too indiscriminate to be protected under the Second Amendment, but a pistol is clearly protected. He goes on:

Nevertheless, a significant gray area remains. Are the current federal restrictions on the sale of machine guns permissible? Can a state limit access to so-called “assault weapons” without violating the incorporated right? Can, per Scalia’s own example, the government prohibit private ownership of rocket launchers? These are serious constitutional questions — questions that, as an inevitable consequence of wading into the debate around an amendment that was left largely untouched for two centuries, the court will ultimately be required to address. This, remember, is a constitutional issue. It is not a political one. Contra the zeitgeist, “constitutional” and “unconstitutional” are not synonyms for “things I like” and “things I don’t like,” but statements of legal fact. If the Constitution does prevent Congress from prohibiting rocket launchers, and if this is deemed by a supermajority to be ridiculous, then the Second Amendment can be changed via the usual channels. Until that time, it remains in force and it must be upheld as it was written.

Again, looking at history, it is clear that the Constitution protected the right of private ownership of large military hardware--merchant ships of the day were regularly and routinely outfitted with the same type of cannon found on military vessels (which is why I disagree with the comment that a cruise missile is per se unprotected by the Second Amendment).

At the time of the founders, there was no such thing as a "strategic weapon" other than a standing army, and a person could not have a standing army. But a person could outfit a warship, and own and use explosive shells. Thus, the analysis should begin at that division--the difference between strategic and tactical weapons--and then work backwards.

Emerging Market Rout

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes:

Mirza Baig from BNP Paribas advises them [the BRICS] to embrace devaluation, calling it futile to defend quasi-pegs. "The costs of fighting are spiralling out of control," he said. 

Mr Baig said foreigners bear 90pc of the currency risk in Malaysia, 81pc in Thailand, 79pc in Korea and 74pc in India. So let them take the haircut. Should these countries take that course, they will inflict a deflationary trade shock on the West. The eurozone is in no fit state to handle that. Nor is Britain. 

We are in entirely uncharted waters. Emerging markets were less than 15pc of global GDP in the early 1980s, when tightening by the Volcker Fed brought Latin America crashing down. That was an ugly episode for Western banks, but easily contained. China was then in autarky, shut off from the world. The Soviet Union and its satellites formed a closed system. 

The picture was already very different by the mid-1990s, when ex-Communists had joined the party. By then emerging markets had grown to a third of global GDP, big enough to rock the boat, as Fed chair Alan Greenspan discovered after Russia's default in August 1998. 

Mr Greenspan became worried enough to canvas Fed governors on the need for a response at the Jackson Hole conclave that month. The Fed cut rates in September but it was not enough to stop the crisis spinning out of control as currencies crashed across East Asia, and the pre-EMU "convergence play" in Europe reversed violently. 

The New York Fed was forced to intervene in October 1998, rescuing the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management. The Fed cut rates again in October and November. Mr Greenspan said "the probability of systemic collapse was sufficiently large to make us very uncomfortable about doing nothing". 

If the stakes were high then, they are higher now. Emerging markets are half the world economy, according to IMF data. The "power ratio" is no longer 1:2, it is 1:1. Those who fell in love with the BRICS and mini-BRICS in the boom were entirely right to claim that an economic revolution was taking place. 

Yet all we heard from Jackson Hole this time were dismissive comments that the emerging market rout is not the Fed's problem. "Other countries simply have to take that as a reality and adjust to us," said Dennis Lockhart, the Atlanta Fed chief. Terrence Checki from the New York Fed said "there is no master stroke that will insulate countries from financial spillovers”. 

The talk for Fed corridors strikes me as dangerously insouciant. The bank has made a series of errors over the past six years, the result of a "closed macro-economy model" that fails to take full account of global interactions. It failed to anticipate how jamming on the brakes before the Lehman crash would trigger a scramble for dollars, igniting a conflagration. The bank played a key role in setting off later spasms of the EMU debt crsis with hawkish talk, each time forced to retreat later. 

"The big risk is that Fed tapering will spark a rush for US dollars. That is when the Fed will stop being complacent," said Lars Christensen from Danske Bank. "Central banks around the world think they have been doing something they shouldn't do with all this stimulus, and they want to unwind it as quickly as possible. But the danger is that they will go too far and trigger a relapse like 1937."

 Read the whole thing.

The basic problem is one of competition, which is ultimately a question of price and value. A country can compete as to price/value by offering low wages and/or high efficiencies. Costs of living in the United States prohibits us from competing via wages when compared against most countries. However, overweening government regulations and laws cripple U.S. firms when it comes to higher efficiencies--particularly against countries like China or Korea which can also offer high efficiencies. The approach by the federal government (and many state governments) has not been to reduce the impediments to efficiencies, but to focus on lower wages--which have stagnated for the past several decades among the middle-class.

China Experiences Massive Cyber-Attack

Yesterday's South China Morning Post reports:

China's domain name service suffered the largest attack ever on a mainland internet address server at the weekend, the central government said yesterday. 

The attack started very early on Sunday and was continuing yesterday afternoon, it said. More than eight million websites are registered with China's top-level country domain, .cn 

Li Xiaodong, executive director of the China Internet Network Information Centre, (CNNIC), which maintains the servers, said such an attack was unprecedented. 

To jam the Chinese servers, the attackers summoned traffic flow "far greater" than anything seen before, he said, without providing a figure on the volume. 

The first wave of attacks began at about midnight and lasted around two hours, interrupting services, CNNIC said. 

The second wave, at about 4am, turned out to be the biggest denial-of-service attack on Chinese domain name servers in history, slowing or killing connections to certain Chinese websites. A staff member at CNNIC told the Post that the attack was still going on yesterday afternoon.

The story indicated that officials did not know who had initiated the attack, but believed it was from a foreign (i.e., non-Chinese) group, but not a foreign government.

When the Government Doesn't Earn Its Pay...

Government is, in many ways, a protection racket. You either pay taxes for "protection" (government services you may or may not use, including police protection) or, if you don't, you get arrested and thrown in jail. However, what if this implied promise breaks down? In Mexico, many local communities have begun to turn to self-help; but if there is anything that a government doesn't like, it is competition.

The Michoacan state government apparently arrested some 45 community guards in Aquila for possession of firearms (it is not clear from the article if they had weapons limited to only the government and cartels, or merely because they had firearms of any type). The civilian "Auto Defense" group is demanding their release, or:

“Two fundamental options exist. The first one: we are going to paralyze every one of the functions of the government of the state of Michoacán in our municipalities.” 

“If that first step does not succeed , we will absolutely not recognize the government and power of the state of Michoacán and we will create a free independent zone. ..."

Dioramas of a Post-Apocalypse World

Co.Design has a slide show of 17 dioramas of what particular buildings might look like in a post-apocalypse world. Take a look.

DIY Gravity Water Purification System

Survival Cache has a nice article and photos showing how to build your own gravity water purification system using two 5-gallon buckets and a water dome filter (and few other odds and ends). My only comment is that I would recommend using a food grade plastic bucket and not the cheap orange buckets from Home Depot.

Vanishing Chernobyl

The Daily Mail has an article and photographs showing how Chernobyl is being overgrown by the surrounding forest.

Basic Prepping Guide ...

... from Survival UK.

Farmer's Almanac Predicts Colder Than Normal Winter This Year

Full story here.

Widener's Has $49 Lower Parts Kits...

... for the AR rifles. And Brownells has some for $36.

Myths About Fooling Metal Detectors

Dirt Time has a must read for anyone that uses or intends to use a cache. Basically, the author indicates that "salting" a site with nails and whatnot, or burying a false cache on top of a real one, don't work.

"Fight Like Sherlock Holmes"

I came across this interesting article at Time Magazine about a Victorian martial arts:

Sherlock Holmes, of course, is a fictional creation—but, for a long time, the sleuth’s fans thought that his preferred method of hand-to-hand combat was fictional too. In the original Arthur Conan Doyle story The Adventure of the Empty House, Holmes returns from what readers had thought was his death at the end of The Final Problem; he explains to Watson that, contrary to public perception, he didn’t met his end in the treacherous Reichenbach Falls. How then, did he make his escape? Holmes explains that he fought off his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty by using his knowledge of baritsu, a form of Japanese wrestling.

Although misspelled--the correct spelling is bartistu--the fighting style was real, was created in Victorian England, and combined elements of stick fighting, boxing, and judo. It has been asserted that boxing should be the foundation of any good empty-handed method of combat.

Thomas Sowell on Egypt

The Deseret News carried this op-ed from Thomas Sowell which raises some important considerations when looking at the problems in the Middle-East:

Egypt existed for thousands of years before there was a United States of America. In all those millennia, Egypt has never had a free or democratic society. Nor is Egypt unique in that. 

Of all the different nations that have existed at various times and places throughout recorded history, it is doubtful that even ten percent were free or democratic. 

Even free and democratic nations existing today took centuries to achieve freedom and democracy. Barack Obama may have enough ego to imagine that he could accomplish, during his White House years, what took centuries to accomplish elsewhere. But do others, including some conservatives, need to share that delusion? 

Yet Obama is only the latest in a long line of American officials, including presidents, who have thought that a universal human desire for freedom meant that freedom and democracy could be exported, even to countries where they have never existed before.
However widespread the desire to be free, that is wholly different from a desire to live in a society where others are free. Nowhere is such tolerance harder to find than in the Middle East.

The United States was the result of centuries of political development in England and Western Europe. But, it should be remembered, that even the Puritans who fled to New England for religious freedom came for their own religious freedom, not those of other peoples. Political and religious tolerance is something that must be learned again and again.

White House Looking At Restricting Gun Trusts

The Hill reports:

The Obama administration is working to close a loophole in the nation’s gun laws that allows for some machine guns and sawed-off shotguns to be sold without the buyer submitting fingerprints or photographs. 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is working on a new regulation that would require more background information when the weapons are sold to someone through a corporation or legal trust. 

... Normally, when an individual buys a machine gun or short-barreled shotgun, they have to submit their fingerprints and picture to the ATF, and the local chief law enforcement officer has to assert that there is no reason to believe it would be illegal for the buyer to own the gun. 

However, those same requirements don’t apply when the gun is bought in the name of a corporation or legal trust instead of an individual person.  

... The trusts can be formed relatively easily by a lawyer and cost a few hundred dollars. Aside from the ease of securing restricted weapons, they also assure that gun owners’ firearms will be transferred to their loved ones when they die without going through bureaucratic channels. 

A spokesman with the ATF declined to detail the measures of the new proposal, since it is still in draft form. 

However, an online notice said that it will require “responsible persons” designated by the legal trusts to submit forms, photographs and fingerprints to the ATF and forwarded to the local chief police officer. The rule will also define the term “responsible person.” 

I know gun trusts have developed a certain cachet among owners of NFA weapons, mostly because of the ability to cut the local law enforcement approval out of the process, but my concern with them has always been that trusts would be afforded less protection than a person.

The Largest Tsunamis

This slideshow at the Christian Science Monitor lists 5 (well, actually 6) of the largest tsunamis in history, at least as far as death tolls. This Wikipedia article lists historically notable tsunamis. The largest (as in tallest wave) was a 1720 foot tall wave in Lituya Bay, Alaska, in 1958, but it was a magatsunami, caused by an impact (in that case, a landslide) into the water. This Wikipedia article lists some other megatsunami. And another list from LiveScience. And a list of the 10 most devastating. Peru has been the victim of several large tsunamis.

Lightening Strike Leaves 120,000 Homes Without Power

The Daily Mail reports on a lightening strike late Monday in California:

A bolt of lightning knocked out power to around 120,00 homes in southern California during a storm on Monday. 

The fork of lightning struck a major bank of transformers at the Rector Station, just outside Visalia on Road 148 and Caldwell, causing it to burst into flames. 

Firefighters battled for an hour to control the blaze but thousands of homes were without power last night and for many, it will not be restored until this evening, according to ABC30.

Continued violence in Egypt

Fox News reports continued violance in Egypt by and against the Muslim Brotherhood. The story describes Brotherhood terrorists firing on troops from a mosque, which resulted in tear gas being used by the government. Strangely, unlike U.S. tear gas, the Egyptian stuff didn't catch fire. Anyway, digging deeper into the story, most of the violence appears to between civilians: Egyptians who hate Morsi and the Brotherhood, and, of course the Brotherhood taking time to destroy Coptic churches.

Cairo Mosque Attacked in Standoff

Cluster of Hindenburg Omens ...

... point to a significant fall in the stock market.

Ol Remus Discusses the Balkanization of the U.S

He writes:

DC increasingly stands alone, and if we rely on what they do rather than what they say, it's no unintended side effect. But pulling up the drawbridge and manning the parapets has consequences. Insular command from above falsifies the notion of unity, it replaces "we're all in this together" with "you're all in this together." DC no longer pretends their window on the nation is the freely expressed will of the people, rather it's surveillance of the kind once deployed against kidnap-murder suspects or, further back in time, of the kind feudal kings used to repress their subjects.


The absence of a constitutionally legitimate central government warranting the trust and support of the people, and DC's us-versus-them internal realignment which decouples it from the people, and DC's sponsorship and protection of groups hostile to elementary civic duties, have encouraged and enabled fragmentation on a scale not seen since the 1850s. There are those who see this as an intentional unraveling of the republic by DC so their power may be nearer to absolute. A compelling case can be made neither for nor against such a proposition so we'll let it be for the moment. Here's what we do know.


Some Hispanics are busily constructing a breakaway confederacy called Aztlán, to consist of the southwestern states and southern California. The goal is to evict Asians, whites, blacks and all others not of La Raza—The Race—which goal they declare at street gatherings large and small. ...


Elsewhere, some of the native population of Hawaii are building a parallel government which excludes Asians, whites, blacks, Hispanics and all others not of the race. ....

The Congressional Black Caucus, The National Conference of Black Mayors, The National Association of Black Journalists and many other organizations also pursue overtly racial ends. The goals of black activists are not easy to summarize, they're ever-shifting and difficult to reconcile. Supremacist outfits like the Black Panthers and the Black Moslems are straightforward enough, they advocate zero-sum plunder—taking the country by force and exterminating everybody else. Oddly, their rhetoric is cribbed from paleo-socialist screeds already antique when Hoover was president.

While they recite some supremacist cant, street level politicos and pseudo-academic community organizers opt instead for urban-based, de facto separatist enclaves, to be supported by everybody else. ....
* * *
Moslem associations in America have adopted the off-the-shelf American victimhood template so we can spare ourselves the tedium of itemization here. They're particularly fond of "lawfare"—nuisance suits designed to intimidate onlookers—but rely mainly on the tried-and-true to grow their enclaves, namely, physical confrontations and credible threats of worse. Professional diversity enforcers, rootless thrill seekers, Big Time journalists and other witless bottom feeders have attached themselves to the Islamic cause with barely restrained enthusiasm. It may be only coincidental Islam seems particularly attractive to pedophiles, misogynists and homicidal sadists. The goal is plainly stated: bring ever-expanding areas under Islam until the former United States is a full caliphate in a Moslem world.

* * *
By their own narratives these organizations are committed to separatist goals. To them, civic affairs are legitimate and material only to the extent it advances their agenda and, however prettified, their agenda is about race and racial advantage. Not sometimes. Not mostly. Always. ...


The working definition of racism is "any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin," so we can dispense with the "color of their skin" bromide. By this measure the only difference between these outfits and the olde tymme night riders is middle America's remarkable ability to imagine it ain't so. Middle America is told what to think art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only-rev01.gif, what to say and how to say it. And they do. There are those who say they deserve all that has befallen them and all that will befall them. With no persuasive evidence otherwise, refutation is a hard prospect.


Pretending these organizations protect the vulnerable from ongoing oppression, or pretending they serve some common good reveals contempt for both common sense and the common good. A nation survives only if enough citizens respect the common good. For that reason there is no Congressional White Caucus or National Association of White Journalists, nor is there likely to be. There is a crucial difference between preserving one's heritage and seeking influence and benefit from it. It's a bizarre foundation for racial pride. Their contention that race supremacy is the default motive for everybody else merely reveals an unhealthy obsession with it. Nor is it convincing to reprove the putative origins of racism itself if it's merely to be the foundation for a different racism.

So much for the bright side.

The dark side is this: we are some ways down the road to the Balkanization. If the law of intended consequences still holds, and if everybody gets what they say they want, the disunited states will be a patchwork of territories run by the same kind of demagogues that are advocating for it now. And the aggressive, no-quarters hostility of these organizations suggests the nature of their hoped-for autonomy.

* * *

If we can rely on their own words, many Hispanics and blacks and Moslems and even nativist Hawaiians believe autonomy is preferable to integration with the larger America. How the rest stand won't really be clear until a decision is forced. Whatever happens probably won't happen as a showdown, there are few actual showdowns in history. More likely we'll see a series of sharp nudges that, while unpleasant, aren't immediately catastrophic. At this point we don't know which reality, civics or racial supremacy, is the more compelling should a choice be imposed. For the present, something near enough to civility holds the field, but civility has been only lightly tested thus far.

Britain Sends Naval Task Force to Gibralter

Another E.U. failure. The Daily Mail reports:

A Royal Navy rapid reaction force is to set sail for Gibraltar on  Monday as tensions over the Rock continue to rise.

Ten vessels including the aircraft  carrier Illustrious, two frigates and support ships are heading to the waters off Gibraltar as part of an annual exercise.

But defence officials have revealed that three of them – the frigate Westminster and two support vessels – will call in at the British sovereign base at Gibraltar for three days, beginning on August 19.

In a show of force, the warships will practise ‘a range of operations’ including ‘deterring adversaries’.

Although diplomatic relations between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar have plunged into the deep freeze, the Ministry of Defence insisted that the mission, called Cougar ’13, is a long-planned exercise.

But senior government sources conceded that the timing is convenient since it will reassure the people of Gibraltar after Spain imposed draconian border checks in a  dispute over fishing.

And while the deployment could have been delayed to avoid upsetting the Spanish government, it was not.

A Whitehall source said: ‘The timing is not unhelpful. We could  have decided to call it off or divert it  away from Gibraltar to avoid offending  the Spanish. But there was absolutely no question of that.’

The deployment follows demands from the government of Gibraltar for the coalition to beef up its naval presence off the Rock, and calls for gunboat diplomacy from Tory MPs.

Ex-Border Patrol Agents Say American Politicians Helping Cartels

From Beitbart (warning--video plays at link):

“Sanctuary cities established throughout the United States discourage even the most basic law enforcement initiatives within their boundaries against these predatory criminals,” they wrote. “Encouraged by Congress and a disinterested mainstream news media, these havens deny the American public their constitutional right to national security and public safety while providing relative safety for dangerous foreign criminals.”

The retired Border Patrol agents called on Congress to abandon efforts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens because passing an amnesty would be akin to abetting the drug cartels.
“Congress must abandon their focus on rewarding illegal behavior for millions of persons by the grant of amnesty in favor of protecting American citizens who suffer daily at the hands of these seasoned criminals,” they wrote. “To do otherwise makes a mockery of our laws, and encourages countless millions more from around the globe to do the same. Transnational organized crime nationwide has flourished under these conditions.”

You might also find a couple recent op-eds from Small Wars Journal to be interesting. First, this one by Eric M. Tope, suggests that, counter-intuitively, increased violence may indicate more effective government action against the cartels. He writes:

In short, Mexico’s decent into violence is not unprecedented.  An abrupt policy change followed by a surge in bloodshed is not atypical and does not necessarily mean the situation is hopeless. Conditions may continue to get worse before they get better, but as America’s counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq demonstrate, intelligent and tenacious policies can lead to a tipping point after which drastic and sustainable improvements in stability are possible. Consequently, when things appear to be at their worst it is often sensible to remain resilient.[xvi] This news surely offers little comfort to millions of Mexican citizens, and it is a tall order for an elected official facing domestic pressure to curtail the death toll. If President Peña Nieto intends to uphold his campaign pledge of reducing insecurity, he may be tempted to reach an accord with the cartels in which less government interference is exchanged for less street violence.[xvii] Such a transaction could prove to be politically expedient and domestically popular in the short term, but it would forfeit an opportunity to solidify recent gains, and it “would consign Mexico to the corruption and impunity of organized crime for generations to come.”[xviii] Thus, rather than flinch, now may be the time to press the boot on the cartels’ throats even harder. If the government remains resolute, a time may come when Mexicans are not forced to choose between corruption and violence.[xix]

He also draws parallels between the U.S.'s experience in Iraq and Mexico's fight against the cartels:

With the Iraq assessment in mind, some light can now be shed on Mexico’s predicament. While different in some aspects organized criminal elements and insurgents share many traits. Both undermine government sovereignty; that is their monopoly of the legitimate use of force, and both bribe, persuade or intimidate locals into compliance with their agendas. Moreover, both have resorted to excessively vicious tactics when confronted with threats to their authority.

 I take umbrage at Mr. Tope's statement, however, that ties government sovereignty to a "monopoly of the legitimate use of force." This is a European/Socialist philosophy and directly contradicted by English and American common law and the U.S. Constitution. And the pursuit of this philosophy is one of the reasons that the cartel violence has been so rampant in Mexico. Under a democratic government, the people are sovereign and retain rights, including the right to the legitimate use of force--i.e., the concept of self-defense. In a truly free country, the government cannot have a monopoly on the use of force. Only in a tyranny do we find citizens demoted to subjects, without even the means of protecting themselves.

This second article, by John Zambri, suggests that the cartels need to be treated as insurgents, with the caveat that there is no political compromise possible with the cartels because they are not political organizations. Zambri also notes the threat cartels pose to national security:

In the past few years the cartels have extended their reach across the United States and into Canada.[27]  Cartels are responsible for a rash of shootings in Vancouver, British Columbia, kidnappings in Phoenix and Texas, and brutal assaults along numerous border cities.[28]  The FBI in San Antonio, Texas reported that there have been 266 kidnappings in Texas since 2004, 14 reported in 2004, and 58 in 2009.  Kidnappings include Americans kidnapped in Mexico, victims abducted in Texas and taken to Mexico and victims kidnapped in Texas by subjects from Mexico.[29]  Most notably, Yvette Martinez, 27, and her friend Brenda Cisneros, 23, are among nine Americans who the FBI says have simply disappeared along the border in the last two years.[30]

There is little doubt that the cartels could wreak havoc in the U.S. if they ever decided to do so.  Officials cautioned that cartels have plenty of experience utilizing military style small unit tactics to ambush Mexican police and federals.[31]  The cartels possess intelligence capabilities, weaponry and communications equipment that challenge U.S. law enforcement, to include light and heavy automatic weapons (assault rifles like the AK-47, .50 caliber machine guns, M72 anti tank rockets, and RPG 7), armored personnel carriers, grenades, RPGs, Vehicle Born Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIEDs) and IEDs. [32]  American law enforcement and Border Patrol agents are armed with handguns (primarily 9mm), shotguns, and light assault rifles (.223 calibers).[33]  It is evident that local law enforcement and Border Patrol assets are woefully unprepared and inadequately equipped when compared with the weapons, tactics, and technology employed by drug cartels.[34]  Personnel, intelligence resources, tactics and technology utilized by U.S. law enforcement need to be enhanced to combat the highly organized and sophisticated cartels.[35]  These criminal enterprises have seemingly unlimited money to purchase the most advanced technology and weaponry available.

Spillover violence, as indicated above, is increasing.  Drug cartels, in order to keep their trafficking corridors open into and within the United States, are not deterred by American law enforcement efforts.  In keeping with fourth generation warfare principles, they are adeptly and routinely utilizing asymmetry, in weapons and tactics, to exploit the legal, tactical and technological gap that exists between law enforcement and military responses.  Drug cartel weapons and tactics, at present, can overwhelm conventional law enforcement capabilities, but present no match for conventional U.S. military responses.  The question, therefore, is how to deal with the drug cartels; is it a law enforcement problem or a military problem?

This author contends that it is both. 

 He proposes the creation of "joint task forces"--essentially para-military units--to deal with cross-border violence. While perhaps essential, I frankly have doubts about such units, not because they might prove effective, but because of inevitable mission creep into operations unrelated to fighting cartel paramilitary forces; much like the mission creep of SWAT teams from hostage rescue to general warrant service.

China's Stock Market Worst In The World...

... for investor's returns. The South China Morning Post reports:

Four years after China's growth helped lead the global economy out of a recession and won the admiration of luminaries from billionaire George Soros to Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, the nation's stock market has lost more money for investors than any other in the world.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which doubled in the 10 months to August 2009 as the government poured US$652 billion of stimulus into building roads, railways and housing, has tumbled 43 per cent from its high, destroying US$748 billion in market value.

Only Greece's ASE Index has fallen more in percentage terms. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the benchmark gauge of American equity, erased all of the losses from the worst recession since the Depression and has gained 68 per cent since the China peak, reaching a record this month.

On the positive side, the article notes that it is not as bad a loss as the 1929 stock market crash in the United States.

Source of Medical Supplies

Sometimes it is hard to track down some of the medical supplies you may want for a trauma kit. I came across the web-site for Essential Survival Solutions which appears to offer a wide range of medical supplies. I haven't ordered from them, so I don't know what their service is like. If anyone has experience with this company, please give us your opinion in the comments.

Corbon "Urban Response" Ammunition

Corbon is producing a line of "urban response" ammunition using a 55 grain, hollowpoint bullet which Corbon says only has 10 inches of penetration into ballistic gel. Corbon claims 1/2 MOA accuracy. The ammo is being marketed for urban close quarters defense. MSRP is $63.75 per box of 50 rounds. (H/t Firearms Blog).

"Gunsmithing" by Roy Dunlap

Free, today only. This is one of the most comprehensive books on gunsmithing ever published.

Evidence A Comet May Have Wiped Out Clovis People

From the Daily Mail:

A cosmic impact 12,900 years ago could have led to the demise of the ‘Clovis’ people of North America, researchers claim.

A layer of platinum from an ice core taken in Greenland has been dated back to the time of a known abrupt climate transition, known as the 'Big Freeze'.

The freeze has been previously been linked to the demise of the Clovis people, the prehistoric hunter gatherers who were the first to occupy North America.

According to researchers at Harvard University, this provides evidence that a comet tipped the world into its colder phase, making dozens of species extinct.

 Other scientists dispute the conclusion that the Clovis people died out. However, I would point out that this may be for political reasons, since to admit that the first Americans were wiped would upset established dogma concerning the origins of American Indians.

A Grim Reminder that Not Everyone Will Make It...

Dead bodies on Mount Everest. (Warning: disturbing images).