A Portable Solar Power System

One of the more interesting magazines to me is The Backwoodsman. Its emphasis is on topics concerned with primitive or rustic living, but also includes many handy "how-to" or DIY articles on various topics. The most recent issue (Sept/Oct. 2015) contains an article entitled: "Small Solar System: Cheap, Portable, and Readily Available" by Dave Storm. The author sets out his idea for putting together an inexpensive, portable solar charging system intended to recharge small electric devices, such as a cell phone or tablet computer, batteries, and so on. The primary components are the Brief Case Solar Charger (Harbor Freight parts no. 68750) and 3-in-1 Jump Starter and Power Supply (Harbor Freight parts no. 38391). Storm's recommendation is to use the solar charger to charge the battery in the power supply, which then can be used to recharge or operate other devices.

Storm also recommends a couple other devices to go with it that would be useful, such as as a rechargeable flashlight designed to charge from a car cigarette lighter, and a small inverter. He mentions specific models in his article, so give it a read if you track down a copy of the magazine.

Or, for about twice the price of the 3-in-1 Charger that Storm mentions, Harbor Freight also has a 5-in-1 Charger that includes the power inverter, with two 120 V A/C outlets and a USB port.

Not A Boy Scout Knot

I came across this rather unusual looking knot at Western Rifle Shooters Association. It might become quite popular someday ... for decorative reasons, of course.

The Singularity: The Next Arms Race

This past week I had the opportunity to peruse an article entitled "Two Singularities" by  Calum Chace at Singularity Weblog. The primary purpose of the article is to posit some issues that will need to be considered in regard to what he terms the "economic singularity"--the loss of jobs and concentration of wealth that will occur as we approach and reach the singularity. Of course, it helps to understand what is meant by the "singularity." Chace defines it as: "the moment when the first artificial general intelligence (AGI) becomes a superintelligence and introduces change to this planet on a scale and at a speed which un-augmented humans cannot comprehend.  The term was borrowed from maths and physics, and the central idea is that there is an event horizon beyond which the future becomes un-knowable." (Christians have our own version of the "singularity"--the point after which the future becomes un-knowable--and we call it "the Second Coming").

As noted, Chace goes on to discuss what happens to the luckless humans that are unemployable and not among the elite. He writes:

In which case, I think it [i.e., the term "singularity"] can reasonably be applied to another event which is likely to take place well before the technological singularity. This is the economic singularity. We are hearing a lot at the moment about AI automating jobs out of existence. There is widespread disagreement about whether this is happening already, whether it will happen in the future, and whether it is a good or a bad thing. For what it’s worth, my own view is that it’s not happening yet (or at least, not much), that it will happen in the coming three decades, and that it can be a very good thing indeed if we are prepared for it, and if we manage the transition successfully. 

A lot of people believe that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) will solve the problem of technological unemployment. ... 

But to my mind, UBI is not the real battle. ...

The real problem, it seems to me, is that we will need more than UBI. We will need an entirely new form of economy. I see great danger in a world in which most people rub along on state handouts while a minority – perhaps a small minority – not only own most of the wealth (that is pretty much true already) but are the only ones actively engaged in any kind of economic activity. Given the advances in all kinds of technology that we can expect in the coming decades, this minority would be under immense temptation to separate themselves off from the rest of us – not just economically, but cognitively and physically too. Yuval Harari, author of the brilliant Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, says that humanity may divide into two classes of people: rather brutally, he calls them the gods and the useless. [See the end of his TED talk http://snglrty.co/1XlhZ1r]

I don't think the risk is that "the gods" will wall themselves off from "the useless," to borrow the terms used by Harari, but that "the gods" will simply eliminate "the useless." If you think this unlikely, you haven't been paying attention to the goals of the environmental movement.

But Chace seemingly approaches this issue from the aspect that the "super-intelligence" will be the natural result of progress in an open market-place and/or an open scientific process, where every nation will potentially benefit equally. This, to me, is unlikely. A super-intelligence in the hands of one nation, corporation, or other group would instantly give that group a whole magnitude (or more) of an advantage over any other. There is no guarantee that a super-intelligence would be able to be sufficiently controllable to be useful, but the risk of a competitor developing such a super AI first--and being able to exploit it--is too great to ignore.

Obviously, I'm not the first to have thought of this issue, and I quickly found some additional articles addressing this issue. From an abstract of the book, Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment comes a similar assessment to mine:

Chalmers notes that even if it is technically feasible for humanity to produce an intelligence explosion, we may not exercise that capacity because of “motivational defeaters,” choosing to restrict, slow, and manage the development of advanced AI technologies to reduce risk. On the other hand, since a lead in AI technology may translate into overwhelming military advantage, an arms race dynamic may give states incentives to pursue even very dangerous research in hopes of attaining a leading position.

The authors go on to observe:

... the military impact of an intelligence explosion would seem to lie primarily in the extreme acceleration in the development of new capabilities. A state might launch an AI Manhattan Project to gain a few months or years of sole access to advanced AI systems, and then initiate an intelligence explosion to greatly increase the rate of progress. Even if rivals remain only a few months behind chronologically, they may therefore be left many technological generations behind until their own intelligence explosions. It is much more probable that such a large gap would allow the leading power to safely disarm its nuclear-armed rivals than that any specific technological generation will provide a decisive advantage over the one immediately preceding it.

If states do take AI potential seriously, how likely is it that a government's “in-house” systems will reach the the point of an intelligence explosion months or years before competitors? Historically, there were substantial delays between the the first five nuclear powers tested bombs in 1945, 1949. 1952, 1960, and 1964. The Soviet Union's 1949 test benefited from extensive espionage and infiltration of the Manhattan Project, and Britain's 1952 test reflected formal joint participation in the Manhattan Project.

If the speedup in progress delivered by an intelligence explosion were large, such gaps would allow the leading power to solidify a monopoly on the technology and military power, at much lower cost in resources and loss of life than would have been required for the United States to maintain its nuclear monopoly of 1945-1949. To the extent that states distrust their rivals with such complete power, or wish to exploit itthemselves, there would be strong incentives to vigorously push forward AI research, and to ensure government control over systems capable of producing an intelligence explosion.

Zoltan Istvan, writing at Motherboard, similarly states: "[N]ations should do all they can to develop artificial intelligence, because whichever country produces an AI first will likely end up ruling the world indefinitely, since that AI will be able to control all other technologies and their development on the planet."

A Quick Run Around the Web--September 26, 2015

Firearms/Self-Defense:

• The video embedded above: "Which Caliber Can Bust Open a Lock?"
• "Making Gunpowder From Urine, Natural Materials"--The Firearms Blog.
• "Proof UK Gun Control is A Failure"--The Truth About Guns.
• "Should The Physically Handicapped Have Firearms?"--Bayou Renaissance Man.

Immigration/Invasion:

One year in the making.

• Remember my recent post discussing how many "spontaneous" events are staged or planned? The Associated Press reports: "Immigration group planned girl's pope encounter for a year." (See photo to the right).
• "Migrants: Video emerges of “migrants” throwing away food and water because it had a Christian cross on it and wasn’t halal"--The Liberal.
• "'Finland's no good': Disappointed migrants turn back"--AFP. Iraqi migrants change their mind about seeking asylum in Finland because it is too cold and too boring.
• "Rape and child abuse 'are rife in German refugee camps': Unsegregated conditions blamed as women are 'seen as fair game' in overcrowded migrant centres"--Daily Mail. It's part of their culture.
• "‘Camp of the Saints' Seen Mirrored in Pope's Message."--Breitbart.
• "Germany in a state of SIEGE: Merkel was cheered when she opened the floodgates to migrants. Now, with gangs of men roaming the streets and young German women being told to cover up, the mood's changing"--Daily Mail.
• The Social Pathologist writes:

However, given the human dignity that is conferred by Christ on all men, it does not mean that because every man is my brother in Christ he gets to live in my house, or gets a place in the lifeboat. Or that he has the right to enter my country. Furthermore, if he is a risk to the stabilty of my country or has duties at home he should be performing I have a duty in Charity not to let him in. Christianity compels me to love but it does not compel me to be stupid. ...

Other Stuff:

• "Was It Fixed? Army General Told Subordinates: 'A Woman Will Graduate Ranger School,' Sources Say"--People. The women received special training, and standards were reduced or waived for the women. Not surprising to me in the least.
• "California Lake Mysteriously Runs Dry Overnight, Killing Thousands Of Fish"--CBS Sacramento. It was a reservoir storing water for a hydro-power. Maybe PG&E needed the water to charge electric cars.
• "Nuclear TSUNAMI: ISIS wants to wipe hundreds of millions from face of the earth"--Sunday Express.
• The Church releases a statement in response to some of the hysteria over the Blood Moon:

The Church encourages our members to be spiritually and physically prepared for life's ups and downs. For many decades, Church leaders have counseled members that, where possible, they should gradually build a supply of food, water and financial resources to ensure they are self-reliant during disasters and the normal hardships that are part of life, including illness, injury or unemployment.

This teaching to be self-reliant has been accompanied by the counsel of Church leaders to avoid being caught up in extreme efforts to anticipate catastrophic events. 

The writings and speculations of individual Church members, some of which have gained currency recently, should be considered as personal accounts or positions that do not reflect Church doctrine.

The Realist: Thoughts on "Naked and Afraid"

Guest post by The Realist....

I've been watching Discovery's Naked and Afraid since it first started airing. This summer, Discovery aired a special Naked and Afraid XL series. Naked and Afraid is a show best watched in the background, while you are doing something else like reading news or answering email. The show emphasizes the drama over actual survival. But, even with all the drama, there are some lessons to be gleaned from the shows.

The basic premise of the show is to drop a man and a woman who have never met before (along with a production crew) in a remote wilderness environment with no clothing and one survival item each. (For the prurient who may be reading this, the show carefully blurs out certain body parts and there is no sexual activity.) The two cast members hike to a location where they will set up camp for most of the period of time. Then as the end of the 21 day survival ordeal approaches, the cast members travel (usually involving a water obstacle to traverse) to an "extraction" point where they are picked up.

Naked and Afraid XL takes a dozen "survivors" from prior Naked and Afraid episodes and drops them off in several small groups near each other in a wilderness area. Again, each cast member is allowed one survival item. The survival period is 40 days.

Typically, the the location chosen is a tropical/jungle location of some sort, although several locations have been semi-arid.

Cast members have the option of "tapping out" at any time if they feel they cannot make it to the end or they suffer a serious medical event.

After the first season, it was apparent that cast members would prepare ahead of time for the ordeal by walking barefoot to toughen up their feet, and eating high calorie foods (peanut butter mentioned frequently) to add extra fat to carry them through the 21 days.

The most common survival items chosen were a knife or small machete and a fire starting device (frequently a Blast Match). In the most recent season, a couple of times a cast member chose a metal pot in which to boil water and cook whatever meager food might be found.

Lessons gleaned from the shows

Fire. Fire is a life critical survival tool. Fire is important for a variety of reasons, including purifying water, providing warmth, cooking food, providing light at night, and usually keeping predators at bay.

The Blast Match works pretty well when dry tinder is properly prepared. Although, the flint bar will break if too much side pressure is applied, which happened in one episode.

Clothing. Obviously, clothing is important. The lack of shoes made walking difficult and unpleasant, and resulted in occasional injuries (e.g. infection caused by thorns breaking off under the skin). The lack of clothes resulted in sun burns, increased bug bites, and various other minor injuries. In a couple of episodes, the lack of clothing combined with unexpectedly cool weather resulted in cast members becoming very cold and at risk of hypothermia. When presented with the risk of hypothermia, a production crew medic would step in to measure body temperature.

Food. There was never enough food. Women would typically loose around 15 pounds and men would typically loose around 25 pounds during the 21 day ordeal. Some cast members were more skilled than others at being able to catch fish and/or reptiles for food. Catching warm blooded animals was rare. Insects were frequently consumed. And, lots of plant food was eaten when found. A secondary issue with food was the difficulty in obtaining protein. Protein is necessary to physical and mental health. I was surprised to learn how important protein is to brain function.

Animal flesh obtained for food should be cooked to kill worms and other parasites. In one episode where a lizard was caught, it had worms the size of night-crawlers inside it, and another animal caught that episode was full of tape worms. Snake meat must be cooked (but not overcooked) to be edible. Insects should be cooked because they can contain parasites.

The early effects of starvation were educational to observe. The effects came on much quicker and were more dramatic than I would have expected. First, physical energy reduced dramatically. Second, many people became quite irritable, with some exhibiting depression. Third, the starvation impaired other mental functions like problem solving.

Safe Drinking Water. Having enough safe drinking water was always a challenge. The first few days of the ordeal, cast members would become severely dehydrated as they searched for a water source and came up with some method of purifying water (usually boiling). Sometimes in desperation, a cast member would drink water that had not been purified. Sometimes they got lucky, sometimes they became gravely ill.

Scavenging. In a couple of episodes, cast members found abandoned containers which gave them the means to efficiently boil water for drinking. In one instance, a cast member found a small glass jar near the beginning of their trek, which later became a bearing block/socket for a bow drill for starting a fire. Even when seemingly in the middle of nowhere, watch for items lost or abandoned by others that may be useful.

Insects. Biting insects were a universal bane of the cast (and probably the production crew). In most episodes, cast members would be quickly covered in insect bite welts. Occasionally, the bites had more serious health consequences. Cast members would frequently cover their skin with a thin layer of mud in an effort to deter the insects.

Use all senses. Using all senses is important. In one of the Naked and Afraid XL episodes, a cast member smelled a large snake before she could see or hear it. This smell was identified based prior encounters with large snakes. In a couple of cases, the smell of a fire allowed someone from one group to detect and find the camp of another group.

Health. Medical issues can pop up unexpectedly. Besides waterborne illnesses and foot issues previously discussed, other injuries can occur. In one episode, a cast member became very ill from an allergic reaction to the sap of a tree they camped under. The other cast member was eventually able to find a natural antidote, that saved the ill cast member from having to tap-out. In another episode, a cast member injured themselves while chopping something with a knife. The cut on a finger went all the way to the bone. The production crew medic ended up suturing the cut without anesthetic - otherwise the cast member would have been evacuated (tapped out). Heat stress injuries, exacerbated by dehydration, were common. There were many other medical issues that popped up, requiring intervention of the production crew medic. Without the medic, or in a true emergency survival situation, those injuries could have been fatal.

Realistic assessment of skills. With a couple of exceptions, most cast members severely overestimated their wilderness prowess and survival skills. Maybe their skills were good for North America, but not other environments.

Team cooperation. Cooperation with team members was important. Where cast members got along with each other, worked together, and emotionally supported each other, their likelihood of success increased significantly over those who couldn't cooperate.

Mental attitude. The survival ordeal was as much a mental challenge as a physical challenge. Many cast members who tapped out gave up mentally. A positive can-do endure-to-the-end attitude was immensely important for success.

Summary 

A new season of Naked and Afraid starts in a few weeks. The show is primarily about drama under contrived circumstances - traveling naked into a wilderness environment. Don't watch it expecting learn anything about wilderness survival. On the other hand, if you want to watch how people react to starvation and dehydration, it has some educational value.

Quick Run Around the Web -- September 24, 2015 (Updated)

Cole Thomas: The Course of Empire - Desolation (1836)

Survival/Prepping:

• "The Day After The End of The World"--Storage Prepper. Some tips on what to do after a major, TEOTWAWKI, disaster.
• "What I Wish I Had Done Differently"--Survival Mom. Six (6) things she would have done differently if she was starting over: (1) watch more how-to videos on You Tube and less reading on Survival Blog; (2) bought better quality products; (3) spent less money early on; (4) networked with others early on; (5) not discussed prepping with family and friends who were not interested; and (6) focused first on the financial survival. I've only outlined the 6 items--read the whole thing for more of an explanation.
• "How To Make and Can Homemade Applesauce"--Safely Gathered In.
• "Home Canned Tomato Soup"--Common Sense Homesteading.
• "Why I Store Multiple Survival Foods in One Bucket"--Family Survival Planning.
• "Six Survival Library Essentials Reviewed"--American Preppers Network. The author lists his top six books he would have in his survival library.
• "Here’s How You’ll Die When the SHTF (and How to Prevent Your Untimely Demise)"--The Survival Place Blog.
• "Homo Survivalist and the Carless Wonder"--Neo-Survivalist. A discussion of the practical over keeping up appearances.
• "EMP Testing Video and Faraday Cages"--A Survival Plan.
• Advanced Survival Guide has a nice library of PDF downloads that I would encourage you to check out.
• "Concealment Strategies Against Social Unrest, Theft, or Confiscation"--by Joel Skousen at The Survivalist Blog.

Other Stuff:

• "Stampede Near Mecca During Hajj Leaves Over 700 Dead"--The New York Times.

• Related: "The Fuzzy Logic of Fleeing for Your Life"--IEEE Spectrum.

• "‘Close Your Eyes and Pretend to Be Dead’: What really happened two years ago in the bloody attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall."--Foreign Policy. (h/t Woodpile Report)

Far from a dramatic three-day standoff, the assault on the Westgate Mall lasted only a few hours, almost all of it taking place before Kenyan security forces even entered the building. When they finally did, it was only to shoot at one another before going on an armed looting spree that resulted in the collapse of the rear of the building, destroyed with a rocket-propelled grenade. And there were only four gunmen, all of whom were buried in the rubble, along with much of the forensic evidence.

During the roughly three-and-a-half hours that the killers were loose in the mall, there was virtually no organized government response. But while Kenyan officials prevaricated, an unlikely coalition of licensed civilian gun owners and brave, resourceful individual police officers took it upon themselves to mount a rescue effort. Pieced together over 10 months from more than three dozen interviews with survivors, first responders, security officers, and investigators, the following account brings their story to life for the first time since the horrific terrorist attack occurred exactly two years ago.

 Update: Added citations to IEEE Spectrum and Joel Skousen articles.

Proctor's Palace Theater in New Jersey

Proctor's Palace Theater in New Jersey (more photos at the link)

A Quick Run Around the Web -- September 23, 2015

Cole Thomas : The Course of Empire - Destruction (1836)

• "Bugging In: Setting It Up"--Blue Collar Prepping.
• "Brand Analysis: Benchmade"--Everyday Commentary. A review of Benchmade's history, products, and prospects going forward.
• "Name Brand and Generic Firearms cleaning, lubricating, and protecting products"--American Mercenary. A list of high-end gun cleaning products and lubricants, together with some less expensive alternatives.
• "People Repellant"--Come and Make It. It's called "Bee Go". A couple sources (here and here).
• "The Coming Storm"--Chicago Boyz. "And the anger is out there, certainly. It is a cold, watchful and mostly private anger, however – not the hot anger which erupts in riots and arson and looting, and which attracts the brief attention of the Island of Major Media Awareness. These ripples that I have listed – and I am certain there are others — are subtle signs of that cold anger, an anger too quiet for our major media organs to notice, save perhaps on those occasions when their comment threads explode."
• "Stop Complaining – Life Isn’t Fair"--Mason Dixon Tactical. Or, to paraphrase a certain short, green, character from a famous movie: "Do, or do not. There is no use in peacefully protesting." 

A lot of noise is made about the violent nature of Muslims and urban black culture. Whites think that pointing out that blacks are dysfunctional and commit a disproportionate amount of rape and violent crime is a victory of some sort. It’s not. It’s an admission of weakness. You’re admitting that blacks and Muslims ruin your countries and that you do nothing about it. That is weakness.

Stop signing useless petitions. .... Stop talking like a victim. Life isn’t fair. Stop crying and do something about it.

* * * 

Peaceful street protest simply isn’t an acceptable or suitable option any longer. It’s not proportional to the threat we face today. An uncountable number of European girls and women have been raped by Muslim aliens and the European man’s response is to mill about the town square and grumble about it.

Those 25,000 Pegida protestors could have caused a national emergency. They could have occupied the town and shut down local government. They could have dragged the corrupt politicians out into the streets and hanged them from lampposts. They could have ignored the protest entirely, organised into small teams and made hundreds of criminal traitors disappear overnight. That would have been a proportional response.

Peaceful protest signals that you’re not seriously interested in doing anything. Peaceful protest says you’re weak and afraid. Blacks and Muslims riot violently and spontaneously. Europeans apply in writing for permission to hold boring, peaceful protests that don’t scare anybody. Nobody in power cares about peaceful protests. Violence gets things done.

• "‘There’s no stigma’: why so many Danish women are opting to become single mothers"--The Guardian. The goal of feminism is to relieve women of responsibility and consequences. 
• "‘I don’t care if men don’t find me attractive’: Woman shares selfies of her body hair, baggy pants and Crocs to help other women feel less self-conscious about their flaws"--Daily Mail. Evolution in action.
• "US-trained Division 30 rebels 'betray US and hand weapons over to al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria'"--The Telegraph. Our tax dollars hard at work.
• "China's Silicon Valley power play"--The Hill. 

Chinese officials have summoned top American tech executives to Seattle for a forum on Wednesday ....

Beijing moved up the date of the annual event to coincide with President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit and reportedly pressured major Silicon Valley players to send their chief executives to what is normally an annual summit for midlevel management, threatening regulatory scrutiny if they didn’t comply.

* * *
Business groups and Silicon Valley say they have no choice but to show up. Despite China’s rampant commercial espionage and onerous regulations for foreign firms, the Asian superpower’s market is too powerful to pass up.

“It’s not about policy,” said Bay Area-based venture capitalist Ray Rothrock. “It’s about business.”

 It's not about business, per se, but fear. These same executives have no problem giving Middle America the finger because they do not fear Middle America.

• The future of law enforcement: "Forced to stand on anthills, made to eat raw chili peppers and whipped with belts: Vigilante justice goes viral on Peru's streets as residents post Facebook videos of how they're taking matters into their own hands"--Daily Mail.
• "Super blood moon on Sunday will not usher in the end of the world (and other failed predictions)"--SF Gate. Only idiot reporters think that anyone believes it is a sign of the literal (i.e., physical destruction) of the planet. 
• "U.S. Restarts Hunt For Gravitional Waves With Advanced LIGO"--IEEE Spectrum. Our tax dollars actually doing something useful for a change.
• "In Another Human Living Inside You?"--BBC Future. More info-tainment than details, but still an interesting read.
• "Dramatic moment Israeli soldier pointed his rifle at veiled teenage Palestinian student... who was shot dead moments later for attempting to stab checkpoint guard"--Daily Mail. Suicide by cop IDF.
• “I got suspended from school for three days from this stupid same district, from this girl saying I wanted to blow up the school, something I had nothing to do with.”--The Daily Beast, quoting Ahmed Mohamed's sister. 

And It Begins...The Normalization of Pedophiles

The automatic rejection of anything labelled a "conspiracy theory" as something foolish or crazy is actually relatively recent--1967 seems to be when the CIA officially started using the term as a tool to discredit theories. I had noted recently, in my article on "Secret Combinations," that secret combinations and conspiracies have played an important role in history, using the example of the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar. However, not all conspiracies are as blatant in their outcome. Who can forget JournoList, where a select group of academicians and journalists decided what was "news" (and the spin to be given it) and what was not, and thereby influence public opinion. (Although the original JournoList closed down, a successor is up and running).

Another example, and one that is somewhat better documented, is the story of Rosa Parks. The National Archives relates the Rosa Parks myth we all learned in school:

On December 1, 1955, during a typical evening rush hour in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42-year-old woman took a seat on the bus on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store where she worked as a seamstress. Before she reached her destination, she quietly set off a social revolution when the bus driver instructed her to move back, and she refused. Rosa Parks, an African American, was arrested that day for violating a city law requiring racial segregation of public buses.

On the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama, the front 10 seats were permanently reserved for white passengers. ... When the bus became crowded, the bus driver instructed Mrs. Parks and the other three passengers seated in that row, all African Americans, to vacate their seats for the white passengers boarding. Eventually, three of the passengers moved, while Mrs. Parks remained seated, arguing that she was not in a seat reserved for whites. Joseph Blake, the driver, believed he had the discretion to move the line separating black and white passengers. ... [W]hen Mrs. Parks defied his order, he called the police. Officers Day and Mixon came and promptly arrested her.

* * *

 ... Her arrest became a rallying point around which the African American community organized a bus boycott in protest of the discrimination they had endured for years. Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-old minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, emerged as a leader during the well-coordinated, peaceful boycott that lasted 381 days and captured the world's attention. It was during the boycott that Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., first achieved national fame as the public became acquainted with his powerful oratory.

When I was a wee lad, the reason we were told that Parks didn't want to give up her seat was because she was tired and sore from a long day of work.

Of course, the myth of Rosa Parks, while rooted in real events, does not relate the true facts, and I doubt we know all of them even now. The important point, though, is that the events were not as spontaneous as we are (or were) led to believe. A couple articles on the topic are here and here. Without going into the fine details, the salient facts are as follows: NAACP leaders had previously attempted to organize a boycott of the Montgomery bus system, and were looking for a case to test the law on segregated seating. The first attempt, made after the March 1955 arrest of Claudette Colvin for not vacating her bus seat, failed. A couple primary reasons are advanced for the failure: (1) lack of organization, and (2), probably more important, although Colvin was a member of the Youth Council of the local NAACP chapter, she was unknown to the black community at large. The subsequent arrest of another Youth Council member, Mary Louise Smith, in October 1955, also was deemed inadequate because Smith was too young and poor to generate the necessary sympathy. Although even the current accounts in circulation still make it sound as though Parks' decision was impromptu, it is likely that the NAACP turned to her to act as an agent provocateur prior to her arrest. Parks was the secretary to E.D. Dixon, the local NAACP president. She had been heavily involved in the NAACP and civil rights movement for over a decade, knew all of the important leaders, and was known to the larger black community. Certainly she would have known of the strategy and decisions involving Colvin and Smith. Moreover, there was probably a bit of personal revenge on Parks' mind: James Blake, the bus driver who ordered her to the back of the bus in 1955 had previously thrown her off his bus in 1943 for the same offense. In any event, when Parks was arrested, the NAACP's plan went into effect; within 10 hours, 15,000 flyers had been printed and distributed, and 50 pastors (including Martin Luther King, Jr.) met and agreed to urge their congregations to join in the boycott. The rest, as they say, is history.

The point of the foregoing is that key events are not always (or even mostly) mere happenstance. There can be a lot of planning and thought behind what seems to be a random event or "grass roots" ground swell. Sometimes it takes years or decades of careful work. We have seen this with gay marriage, where first homosexuality had to be normalized through media exposure, so that people would tolerate, then embrace, the concept. This was done by downplaying the grotesque lifestyles previously associated with homosexuality and portraying homosexuals as, other than their orientation, being "normal" and committed to long term relationships; thus we are shown Will and Grace  and Modern Family instead of the San Francisco gay pride parade. With that accomplished, the push for gay marriage was advanced on the grounds that it was only fair that the "life partners" be entitled to the same rights as married heterosexual couples. At first, the "equality" sought was only in relation to insurance, or visitation rights when hospitalized, and so on. Policies extending such rights were first adopted by government and large private employers, before leading to the legal grant of "domestic partnerships," which was marriage in all but name. But even that was not enough, and so we now find ourselves with a de facto Constitutional amendment by the Supreme Court requiring recognition of gay marriage.

Which brings me to the subject of the current post. Yesterday, Slate published an article entitled "I’m a pedophile, but not a monster," and subtitled, "I'm attracted to children but unwilling to act on it. Before judging me harshly, would you be willing to listen?" The specifics of the article are largely irrelevant. What is important is to recognize this article for what it is: the first step in normalizing pedophilia by presenting us with someone that is sympathetic; that is not a child molester; and, by sympathizing with him, begin to subconsciously question our revulsion of pedophiles generally. How can we know that this was the purpose of the article? Ask yourself how Slate came to publish this article, and why. The author is not a regular Slate contributor, but he is the moderator of the Virtuous Pedophiles forum. He has an agenda and so too must the editor(s) that chose his story for inclusion in the magazine. His voice is not the first. (See also here). But it is a sign of what is to come. And I'm confident that it was no accident that this article was published shortly after the Boy Scouts were shamed into accepting gay leaders.

As C.S. Lewis wrote: "Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts...." And, so, the public will be gradually ensnared, and gently pulled in certain directions under the guise of advancing equity and human rights. "The path to hell is paved with good intentions." And so it goes.

How Did That Retreat Work Out? -- Further Information

In a recent post--"How Did That Retreat Work Out?"--I noted a story of a triple homicide where the killer admitted that he had chosen his victims specifically because of their relative isolation. Here is another news story about the killer's confessions from The Idaho Statesman:

Dees said he picked the house on Cartwright Road to rob in March because it wasn’t close to any roads or neighbors and it looked as though people who had money lived there, sheriff’s officials posted in a blog Monday evening. He wasn’t familiar with the residents, he said.

* * *
Dees said he used Google Maps to search for remote areas around Boise and Mountain Home for high-end homes to rob. He settled on the area near Cartwright Road and used satellite maps to pick some possible targets.

He said he drove along Cartwright Road on March 8 and began looking around, dismissing some Foothills houses because they were too close to roads or other homes. Once he settled on the Welps’ residence, he said, he parked his car on a nearby street, hiked down a hillside and staked the home out while working on a plan.

He then drove to his Nampa residence, waited until it got darker and drove back to Cartwright Road, he told detectives. Dees said he wore black clothes and armed himself with guns and knives. He parked his car far away and hiked down the hillside again.

Dees said he first broke into a second house being built on the property and stole some power tools. He then moved over to the main house, where he found that a door to the garage was open, so he went inside and hid. He said he found a set of house keys inside a truck in the garage, which he used to get in the house. He saw a security system for the home was not armed when he went inside, he said.

Dees told detectives that if the security system had been turned on, he would have left immediately. He also said he probably would have given up on his plan if the family had a bigger dog, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

The Long War Journal: "AQAP’s Inspire magazine contains ‘military analysis’ of Charlie Hebdo massacre"

The Long War Journal, an online magazine focused on the war against terrorism, has some analysis and discussion of the most recent edition of Inspire (i.e., the 14th edition). In particular, in this latest issue, AQAP (Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula) provides a break down or analysis of its selection and preparations for the Charlie Hebdo attack. Moreover, the attack seems to have been part of a loose collection of attacks specifically aimed at those insulting Mohammed. For those interested, the 14th edition of Inspire can be downloaded here (PDF). Links to other editions can be found here.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, though, the most alarming part of this most recent issue was the focus on recruiting (or gaining the sympathy of) American blacks. The article begins by outlining the details of a couple of the events that inspired the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Then it moves on to a rather "creative" version of the settling of the Americas--one that would have made Stalin proud. Just for a flavor:

The great discovery. A vast land rich in economic resources. A fertile and beautiful land, filled with all that is required in life. Full of different types of vegetation and animals. Rivers spread all over the country, beautifying the land, thus making different types of people to race towards it: to live a comfort, beautiful and stable life.

Because of this, people from different countries migrated. ... For a long period, the white European rule had been stable in America. Immigration from the African community who were searching for livelihood, continued to increase. The white community enslaved the Africans and took them as laborers. ... In the year 1861, civil war broke out between the Southern Confederate States and the Northern Federal Union States, led by Abraham Lincoln. The initial cause of war was the decision taken by Lincoln to emancipate slavery. ...

The rest of the "history" is just as fantastically false.

After recounting all the "wrongs" visited on blacks in America (but without discussing what Islam did with its African slaves), the article makes some specific suggestions for African-Americans:

1. It tells its readers that they are united in Jihad (characterizing it as a defensive war);
2. It suggests that its readers form political groups to "pressurize [sic] your government to lift the general oppression against you and to stop aggression towards Muslims. And condemn the support your government gives to Israel," in return for which they won't target blacks;
3. As a follow up to the second point, it encourages blacks to move out of the large cities;
4. It encourages both civil disobedience and the formation of groups to carry out assassinations; and,
5. It encourages blacks to learn military tactics, including those referenced in earlier additions of the magazine.

Later, the magazine discusses fundamentals of planning and carrying out an assassination mission, and how to build a hand-grenade.

AQAP understands that political correctness is the soft-underbelly of the West, and they are fully prepared to exploit it.

The Curious Case of the Bomb That Wasn't

Ahmed Mohamed is the 14-year old Muslim boy that caused quite the commotion in Irvine, Texas, last week, when he brought an electronic device into his class room in a very sturdy pencil box. CNN has the standard narrative on what happened:

On Monday, the teen, who is Muslim, brought to school a clock that he was proud to have made on his own and was arrested for what police initially -- and falsely -- said was a hoax bomb.

But by mid-week, his face and name were splashed across traditional and social media, and he'd received thousands of tweets and Facebook posts of encouragement. President Barack Obama invited him to the White House and praised his love of science. Leaders at Reddit and Twitter offered him internships. Google executives said they were reserving Ahmed a spot at their weekend science fair and MIT asked him to visit the campus.

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg invited him to visit the company's headquarters, posting, "Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed."

The hashtags #IStandWithAhmed and #EngineersForAhmed garnered hundreds of thousands of posts and tweets.

Ahmed is now crying racism and Islamophobia, and saying he has been forced to attend another school. It is important to note that the reason for Ahmed's detention was his plugging the device in, causing it to make noise, which led to the police being called; and the police detaining and questioning Ahmed as to whether it was a hoax bomb--there is no allegation that it was an actual bomb. Ahmed's explanation was that he invented the clock and had brought it to school to impress an engineering teacher. Thus, Ahmed's allegations rest on the truth of two facts: that it was a clock he had invented (or built, according to some stories), the raison d'etre for bringing it show a teacher; and that it was not a hoax bomb.

I will admit that my initial reaction was that this was another example of the stupid "zero-tolerance" policies of many schools. Then more details leaked out, including a picture of the device:

(Source)

And then there was his strange behavior when questioned by the police. From an article by Robert Spencer:

The principal, the school resource officer, and police questioned him, according to WFAA:

[O]fficers said Ahmed was being “passive aggressive” in his answers to their questions, and didn’t have a “reasonable answer” as to what he was doing with the case. Investigators said the student told them that it was just a clock that he was messing around with.

Irving police officer James McLellan remarked:

We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only say it was a clock. He didn’t offer any explanation as to what it was for, why he created this device, why he brought it to school.

Why this reticence? Why didn’t Ahmed tell McLellan what he so readily told the international media: that he loved building things and had brought the clock to school to show to an engineering teacher?

Well, perhaps the kid was simply scared and intimidated by the police--after all, that is the very atmosphere police are trained to create when questioning a suspect.

But other parts of his story began to fall apart as well. First of all, he didn't invent the clock; he didn't even build it from a kit or set of schematics. Rather, he simply took the guts out of clock manufactured in the 1980's by Micronta, a Radio Shack subsidary (catalog number 63 765 in 1986). So, Ahmed clearly lied about it being a device he invented.

(Source)

Well, perhaps he was simply trying to fool his engineering teacher into thinking he was smarter or more clever, perhaps to finagle a higher grade or a letter of recommendation. This in itself was dishonest, and unfair to the kids that actually do come up with creative projects on their own.

But then some background on Ahmed and his family began to appear. The Diplomad discusses this:

His "cool" clock is a disassembled 1970s/1980s alarm clock (please go here and here for an excellent take-down of the "invention"). Simply put, he or his dad (we'll get back to him) took the guts out of an old alarm clock, scattered them inside a case, and off to school Little Ahmed goes with an unassigned, unsolicited project. The teachers, quite rightly, got worried and called the cops--as they are required--and reported what they thought to be a hoax bomb. They did not say a bomb; they said a hoax bomb. The police report that Little Ahmed was very "passive aggressive" and evasive in his answers--as though, perhaps, he'd been coached, hmmm?

Now the plot thickens and sickens even more. Little Ahmed's Big Daddy is no less than--drumroll!--Mohammed El Hassan Mohammed, a Sudanese immigrant who has gone back and forth to Sudan and been mixed up in Sudanese politics for some time. A well-known Muslim activist, he has been in the news before for his stunts. Oh, yes, did I mention that he also owns a computer repair shop? Hmmm? All mere coincidence? You decide.

And, from The Intercept:

But Center for Security Policy vice president Jim Hanson argued on his organization’s podcast that the clock “looks exactly like a number of IED triggers that were produced by the Iranians and used to kill U.S. troops in the war in Iraq.” He said the clock “was half a bomb.”

Frank Gaffney, the center’s founder and president, agreed with Hanson, while suggesting that there is reason to be suspicious of “what we’re told was a clock” because “the story is not being fully explored and explained.”

In other words, perhaps Ahmed was engaging in a practice run. Perhaps, as the Diplomad observes, this incident was revenge because Irvine, Texas, recently rejected a Sharia court.  Whatever the reason, the Diplomad is correct that "[t]he next time we will have a real bomb that nobody reports for fear of getting stamped as a racist, or, even worse, an ISLAMAPHOBE!!!"

Update (9/30/2015): The Blaze reports:

Before he was put in handcuffs for bringing a “homemade” clock to school and became an overnight celebrity, Ahmed Mohamed “racked up weeks of suspensions” and clashed with authority while in middle school, the Dallas Morning News reported.

While attending Sam Houston Middle School in Irving, Texas, Mohamed “mastered electronics and English, once built a remote control to prank the classroom projector and bragged of reciting his First Amendment rights in the principal’s office,” according to the report.

Another indication that Ahmed the Clock Boy intended school officials to believe his clock was a bomb.

A Quick Run Around the Web -- September 18, 2015

Cole Thomas: The Course of Empire - The Arcadian or Pastoral State (1836)

Firearms and Self-Defense:

• "DSEI 2015: Beretta unveils ARX-200 battle rifle"--Jane's. A 7.62 NATO rifle boasting 1.5 MOA with target grade ammunition.
• "STA 50A .50 Caliber Fully Suppressed Semi-Auto with Hydraulic Recoil Dampening System"--The Firearms Blog. Supposed to allow off-hand shooting of the .50 BMG round; and they think they can make a 20 mm version also capable of off-hand shooting.
• "Rail Mounted RDS Taken Waaay Too Far"--The New Rifleman. The red dot is not intended to be mounted at the end of the barrel.
• "Some pitfalls of private firearms sales"--Bayou Renaissance Man. Some advice on purchasing firearms through private sales.
• "Angel Armor Ballistic Door Panels"--Blue Sheepdog. Up-armoring patrol cars with IIIA ballistic panels for the doors.
• "Fishing"--Rory Miller. How criminals fish for information about their victims.

Other Stuff:

• "New Executive Order To 'Nudge' the American People"--The Silicon Graybeard. More on the Obama executive order authorizing behavioral modification.
• "Scientists Ask Obama To Prosecute Global Warming Skeptics"--The Daily Caller. A proposal by climate scientists to use RICO laws against heretics. They must be real confident of their "science."
• "'Super-gonorrhoea' outbreak across north of England sparks national alert"--The Telegraph. It is resistant to azithromycin; and around 10% of those infected do not experience symptoms, so it can go untreated for a period of time.
• "Police gird for Temple Mount violence Friday as unrest persists"--The Times of Israel. Palestinian "youth" (i.e., military age men) stirring up more trouble.
• "Police War-Everyone’s Battle"--Black Man With A Gun. Some thoughts on La Raza, Black Lives Matter, and overmilitarized police; and noting that 2015 is on course to be the safest years for police (as measured by gun related deaths) since 1870. This is in line with Mosby's recent article, "You’re Getting Played….".

Alternatives for Cleaning Your Firearms

Among his comments about the Fireclean "scandal," American Mercenary notes what he uses for cleaning and lubing his AR:

Want to know what I think you should absolutely have for your AR-15?

Motor oil, automatic transmission fluid, and lithium grease. All available at pretty much any store with an automotive section.

The motor oil cleans the bolt and bolt carrier group. Honestly nothing I've ever used pulls off carbon better than plain motor oil. I use standard multi-weight but if you are in a marine environment you should buy non-detergent oil. It won't clean as good (not that you'd notice), but it will protect much better against corrosion.

The ATF is used to clean the barrel. If it's really bad, cut open a plastic bottel, fill it halfway with ATF and use a bronze brush and piercing jag to make long even strokes. You'll be really happy with what's left at the bottom of the bottle when you are done.

If you have a barrel that collects copper easily, you might want to get a copper removing agent as well. Foaming bore cleansers are pretty user friendly. If you use a powder with decoppering agents, or exposed lead bases on the bullet, you are probably good to go with just the ATF. If you don't want to buy a commercial product you can search for ammonia/dish soap recipes.

When you reassemble the bolt into the bolt carrier group, I like to dab a small amount of grease around the bolt and cam pin area.

Make sure you run a dry patch down the bore that comes out dry before ending your cleaning session.

Women in Ground Combat

The media archetype of the warrior woman (Source)

This is not just a public policy issue, but one of interest to anyone that is planning on, or thinking about, incorporating women into a defensive plan of a retreat, neighborhood, or community in a post-SHTF incident. Obviously, what prompted this post was the Marine Corps study that determined that women should not be integrated into ground combat units after the data from tests showed that "[a]ll-male ground combat teams outperformed their mixed-gender counterparts in nearly every capacity[.]" Basically, they lacked the stamina and physical strength for combat tasks and adversely affected the performance of the men in their groups. (The article notes poorer weapons accuracy, which I presume to be firing weapons after physical exertion, and thus a stamina issue rather than hand-eye coordination). The SJW types, including the Secretary of the Navy, of course, are throwing a hissy-fit.

The issue here, though, is that this is not the first time these studies and tests have been performed, and there is data from other nations as well. Fred Reed has done a nice summary of some of the historical studies on this subject. He quotes the following from a 1992 report of the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces: "In terms of physical capability, the upper five percent of women are at the level of the male median. The average 20-to-30 year-old woman has the same aerobic capacity as a 50 year-old man." It goes into more specific statistics if you are interested.

An 1994 article entitled "Physical Fitness and Occupational Performance of Women in the U.S. Army" by Marilyn A. Sharp of the Occupational Physiology Division, US. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine similarly damns the idea by faint praise, concluding:

On average, women have less physical capacity for exercise than men, with much of the gender differences the result of uncorrectable differences in muscle mass. This does not mean that women soldiers are incapable of adequately performing many physically demanding military tasks. If the intensity of the task does not require a maximal effort, or if she is allowed to self-pace, a woman can perform many tasks and meet the male standard of performance. Tasks that do require a near-maximal effort by women might be redesigned to reduce the physical demands, modified by mechanical performance aids, or performed in teams. If the task cannot be redesigned, an alternative is to recruit personnel for the job who are already capable of performing the task.

In other words, if the work is made easier or a man is around to do the job, women are fine. And this is from a study testing women that were already in the military and had passed the (albeit lower) physical qualifications.

Although I don't have access to the text of the article, I would note the abstract for an article entitled "Differences in physical fitness of male and female recruits in gender-integrated army basic training," which tested men and women soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force before and after basic training (BT) found that "[a]lthough fitness improvement after BT was marginally higher in females than males, resulting in a slight narrowing of the gender differences, a significant gender gap in physical fitness still exists after BT." In other words, physical training is not going to correct the problem.

Another study on IDF troops, which analyzed data from a 13 year period also concluded that women do not belong in combat:

"[A] particularly high percentage of women who served in combat roles suffered physical harm during their service and will suffer for the rest of their lives from ruptured discs, stress fractures in the pelvis, uterine prolapse and more,” Sagi told Maariv/NRG.

While men also suffer injuries during their military service, he said, studies prove that the female rate of injury is much higher and that the seriousness of the average injury is greater, with entire platoons sometimes unable to function because of the physical state of the female soldiers. The injuries referred to are incurred in training and routine deployment – not actual combat.

Moving from the physical to the psychological factors, this article from July 2015 at The National Review observes:

In terms of reflexes and reaction times, men significantly outperform women. When confronted with immediate danger, studies suggest men are “more likely than women to take action.” Women are far more likely to experience motion sickness and vertigo. In the Navy women go on sick call 60 to 70 percent more frequently. For the kind of violent events and situations found on the battlefield, women are far more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder and experience the symptoms for a longer duration than men. Despite the gender-specific ability to handle the pain of childbirth, “study after study” conclusively shows that men have a much higher overall tolerance for pain than women.

Of course, many have argued to the contrary (see here, here and here, for example). However, these seem to be either based on supposition, fairness, or looking at women that are outliers in their physical ability. (See here for a rebuttal of some other arguments).

To me, though, the most telling article on the subject wasn't even one involving women in the infantry or Marines, but one about Ronda Rousey, a highly ranked female MMA fighter, who has refused to fight a transgender MMA fighter, Fallon Fox. From "Ronda Rousey Is Smart To Not Fight A Man" at The Federalist:

When Fallon Fox (born Boyd Burton), a 39-year-old ex-military man and father, came out as transgendered, a storm of controversy was unleashed over whether an athlete who has been born a man should be allowed to compete in a contact sport as a woman. Rousey, along with Invicta Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), said Fox shouldn’t.

“She [sic] can try hormones, chop her pecker off, but it’s still the same bone structure a man has,” Rousey said in 2014. “It’s an advantage. I don’t think it’s fair. . . I’ve tried to research it a lot. I feel like if you go through puberty as a ‘man’ it’s not something you can reverse. . . . There’s no undo button on that.”

UFC President Dana White, who has refused to give Fox the green light to fight Rousey, agreed: “Bone structure is different, hands are bigger, jaw is bigger, everything is bigger. I don’t believe in it.”

Fallon Fox--Not exactly superman.... (Source)

Mixed martial arts fighter Tamikka “Boom Boom” Brents knows what it’s like to face Fox in the ring, and she felt the difference immediately. In just two minutes, Fox knocked her out, fracturing her orbital bone, giving her a concussion, and inflicting extensive soft-tissue injuries. Leading up to the fight, male lesbians in the transgender community rallied around Fox, urging him to spill blood and destroy the “noisy hater” Brents, who is a well-known female lesbian. The furor surrounding the event exposed the bloodlust of some in the transgender community and their bitter hostility toward lesbian women.

“I’ve fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night,” Brents said. “I can’t answer whether it’s because she was born a man or not because I’m not a doctor. I can only say, I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life, and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right.” Fox’s grip was different, Brents continued. “I could usually move around in the clinch against other females but couldn’t move at all in Fox’s clinch.”

If Brents--a 27 year old woman that is clearly at the upper edge of female physical strength and endurance--is so badly beat by a 39 year old man, it is suggestive that women are not suited for ground combat.

By this, I'm not saying that women should not train for self-defense (whether hand-to-hand or with firearms), or cannot effectively serve defensive roles. I'm just saying that if your defensive plan or organization is going to use active patrols, or "kinetic" action, you need to be realistic about your member's physical limitations, and consider that even an athletic woman may still not be as effective as you otherwise would think.

"All-Veteran Paintball Team Can’t Win Without Air Support"

Some humor from Duffel Blog: "Rome joined in. 'We tried bounding movements and flanking formations, but without overwhelming numbers, technology, and money, it turns out that our Vietnam-era tactics are completely useless.'”

"Responding in Faith not Fear" by Sean Malone, Director of Crisis Response International

A reader asked that I post this message from Crisis Response International:

Dear Friends,

There has been a lot of talk and speculation about what is coming upon the world this fall. From N.Y. times bestsellers like the Harbinger and the mystery of the Shemitah (Shemitah years are God's seven year cycles mentioned in Scripture and linked to economic activity) to contemporary prophets and Blood Moon preachers. While we can't draw hard and fast doctrines from any of these things, they are signs that make one wonder. I personally have heard quite a bit about what is supposed to happen in America this September but very little about what we are to do. Is it just me or does it feel like someone just sucked the air out of the room? It's like a collective gasp around the body of Christ right now as many of us are frozen, stuck and unsure of what to do. Some are even locked up in fear while the enemy just laughs. But I believe God is raising up people who understand the times and know what to do.

From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. [1] Chronicles 12:32 NLT.

Just as God raised up the sons of Issachar who could interpret the times and know what to do, we need to be equipped with knowledge and wisdom on how to take action for the good of the Church and for the sake of the Gospel.

Faith Not Fear

No matter what happens this fall, none of it will take God by surprise. The answer to navigating the potentially troubled waters of this fall is rooted in faith and not fear. If your plan is to hunker down, hoard and just hold on, friends I am sorry you are missing the point. It would help us all to dig into the book of Hebrews to see a bigger picture. In Hebrews chapter 11 we see the many things the heroes of faith endured. By faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Moses, they ran their race well and endured hardship "by faith" and became heroes of the faith. In chapter 12 we are reminded that God disciplines us as his sons and that we are to endure hardship as discipline from the Lord. Discipline is a sign of our sonship. He goes on to tell us that there is a time period that God will shake everything that can be shaken so that we can receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

God's Shakings Are Redemptive in Nature

One thing we need to understand if we are talking about a God orchestrated shaking is that it is redemptive in nature and designed to perfect love for Him and for others. It's ultimately the first and second commandment coming into first and second place. Anything not under the Lordship of Christ needs to be and will be shaken anyway if it is hindering love for Him and others.

Think about that for a second.

What distractions are in your life that keep you from loving Him and others wholeheartedly? Right now is your heart tender and free from the cares of this life? Is He truly your magnificent obsession? Are you living fully for Him and through Him? Secondly, right now do you love others as yourself and carry a burden for the lost among the nations? This should serve as a tuning fork for our hearts because it is what is on His heart.

How Will We Respond?

If this is true, our response to the potential shakings of this fall should look different. Our preparedness for an economic, political or even geological shaking should be more than a desperate attempt to hold onto our western lifestyles. Preparing for the days ahead is so much deeper than hoarding stuff. I have news for you, if that is your response than God may even shake that too. Do you really think He is looking for more western independence? It makes me wonder how many people are paralyzed in fear right now of what's coming and have retreated from what God has called them to do. Our western gospel of comfort that is devoid of the notion that we may suffer has fashioned a golden image of who God is. With the threat that their god may be shaken, people are locked down in fear. Shakings are the litmus test to show who we really serve. Ask yourself this question, how much of my lifestyle did I fabricate and how much of it is built on God's unshakable Kingdom?

Restoring the Second Commandment

The other aspect we need to understand is that in the shakings, God is restoring the second commandment as well as the first commandment. Love for others. What happens in the midst of a disaster or crisis? People come together and help each other. As we prepare for this fall, we need to be preparing to help others.

Today there is a prophecy about global crisis and the response is: determine to prepare for survival and self-preservation. In the 1st century there was a prophecy about a global crisis (Acts 11:27-30) and the response was: giving and aiding those impacted; each according to their ability determined to send relief to the brethren elsewhere.

We love to point fingers at the corporate depravity of our nation and say she deserves punishment while our hearts are just as bankrupt. Let's take this time to examine our own lives and actions before we point the finger at anyone around us and make sure we are caring for the poor, needy and hurting, heeding the warnings of Scripture for the actions of Sodom.

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Ezekiel 16: 49-50

Folks it is an upside down Kingdom. You give it away to keep it and this is a sign your heart is free. Again, if God is dealing corporately with us in America than our preparedness should be more of the heart than a fear based grasp to hold onto our western lifestyles. Now there is nothing wrong with preparing your home, neighborhood, church and business for crisis and disaster. Here at CRI we hold seminars on how to train people to do so. However as the church we need to take inventory of our hearts motivation to make sure we are not hunkering and bunkering in fear but rather getting ready to help others and be the glorious church in that hour. If something is out from under the Lordship of Christ right now in your life than you want that dealt with now and not later.

Hebrews 11:7 says. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. It's says that Noah by faith...in holy fear prepared for his family.

Are you responding in faith or fear? Let's choose faith. Join us as we call our nation to a fast now through September 23. We are praying and believing for an outpouring of God's Spirit on the hearts and minds of those in our nation. Let's humble ourselves before the Lord and believe that together we'll see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

P.S. If we are going to be looking at the biblical calendar as a way that God deals with His people then remember the Shemitah just ended on September 13th and the year of Jubilee starts on September 23rd. I encourage you to be believing for great things!

I just want to add a bit to the foregoing, because some of the comments are matching certain thoughts I have had lately. I recently purchased a relatively new commentary on the book of Revelations (it was published in 2014, I believe) called The Book of Revelation:Things Which Must Shortly Come To Pass by G. Erik Brandt. Having only started reading recently, I'm still in the section regarding the seven letters to the seven churches. However, it impressed me that in two of the cities mentioned, Sardis and Laodicea, the saints were warned about being too complacent or accepting of worldly things, and therefore lacking the necessary faith to be saved in the last days.

As some background to Sardis, Brandt notes that it had been built on a high mountain for defensive purposes. But the footings for the city walls had been built on shaky, easily eroded rock and soil--essentially compacted mud that was easily dissolved in the rain. The city had been easily taken by armies of Cyras and, later, Antiochus, who entered through a small, undefended crevice on the south flank of the city that had eroded over time. The city leaders had taken no thought to repair the defenses, and so enemy forces had crept into the city at night, unexpected "thieves in the night" that took the city by surprise. At the time John sent his letters, Sardis was wealthy, and "[t]he local population retained a well-deserved 'reputation for luxury and also licentiousness'" from which the local Christian congregation was apparently not exempt. Brandt takes special note that the letter does not mention any persecution against the saints.

Among other items, the Lord instructed John to tell the saints there: "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Rev. 3:1. "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." Rev. 3:3. Brandt explains:

In their prosperous circumstances, the Sardis Saints had become complacent and tolerant. They were no longer a peculiar treasures unto the Lord (Ex. 19:5; 1 Pet. 2:9), but had been absorbed into society and their garments were soiled with its offensive customs.  ... Now they suffered from a false sense of security, their attention diverted from spiritual matters to the social and commercially prosperous attractions. The apathetic approach of the lax priesthood leadership permeated down to the majority of the Sardis members.

They had become so insensitive to the Gospel that the Lord warned that they would have no warning of his coming.

To saints in Laodicea, John was instructed to write:

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Rev. 3:15-16. To give a better understanding of this passage, it is helpful to know a bit about Laodicea. The city was located on a fertile valley that provided excellent grazing for sheep (and the basis for a prosperous textile industry), and was also reknown for its legal scholarship, and a medical school and medicines (including an eye ointment). However, the city lacked ready access to a source of fresh water. Brandt writes:

The closest supply of fresh water flowed from hot springs in Hierapolis, a short distance to the north. Engineers designed an aqueduct from Heirapolis to Laodicea to bring a constant supply of water. Water from the hot springs, which was apparently full of minerals, was mixed with water from smaller and cooler sources, It reached Laodicea lukewarm and nearly undrinkable, sometimes causing the thirsty drinkers to vomit.

The use of this simile was because:

The community was also known as the "city of compromise." It suggested that the citizens' propensity for appeasement was a trait developed over time because of their vulnerability in maintaining palatable water. They also used their well-known disposable income as a means of influencing or persuading rival communities to keep the peace--compromise (with worldly values) was the very thing that the members of the Church were guilty of when the letter arrived from John.

You may remember the parable of the wheat and the tares:

24 ¶Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Matt. 13:24-30. We are the wheat; the wicked are the tares. The two plants are nearly indistinguishable as young shoots, but only differentiated when older. We live in the time where the two become easily distinguished. We will have signs--perhaps, including the blood moons this month--to remind us that the time is near, even if it is not yet, so that we may prepare (you might want to refer to the parable of the ten virgins). However, if we become indifferent or compromise, we will be no different from the tares. Don't be a useless weed.