Ragnorok Part XVII: The End Of The New World Order

We've head a lot over the past 30 or more years about the establishment of a "New World Order" which seems to be in reference to a world dominated by globalist multi-billionaires and their leftist pawns in order to bring about some new "utopian" hell. But the project may be falling apart. The Daily Mail reports "'WW3 HAS begun': No atomic mushroom clouds. No nightmare 'day after' scenario to survive. But military experts explain why they believe the third world war has already started." An excerpt:

    National security expert Mark Toth and former US intelligence officer Col. Jonathan Sweet are among those arguing that World War III is already upon us.

    'This third global conflagration doesn't look or feel like what Hollywood envisioned,' they claim.

    'No mushroom clouds or apocalyptic wastelands. Rather, it is war by a thousand cuts, conducted across multi-regional and multi-domain battlefields.

    Here, MailOnline speaks to Sweet and Toth along with military chiefs, former presidents and geopolitical experts to assess whether we are really entering a new period of global attrition.

    Unfortunately, the signs are ominous. 

The signs addressed in the article are:

• Hybrid warfare and covert operations with a focus on Russia's maneuvers against Europe and in Africa, including arson attacks against logistical hubs in Europe and disinformation campaigns.
  
• "Kinetic" conflicts and physical warfare, such as the war in Ukraine and China's threats to invade Taiwan (but to which I would add conflicts in Syria and Africa).
• The revival of great power competitions and ideological struggles between "our democracy" and Eastern authoritarianism.
  

The Legend of La Lechuza

In response to my post yesterday about Mexico's vampire witch, the teyollohcuani, a long time reader directed my attention to this article on another supernatural monster of Latin American folklore: "The Legend of La Lechuza: A Terrifying Folklore Tale." The article begins:

In the ⁢folklore of⁣ Latin America, there exists a mysterious and chilling ⁣legend: that of La Lechuza. This mythical ‌creature, half-woman,‍ half-owl, is said ⁢to haunt the night,⁢ preying on those who dare to cross ⁤her path. With roots in ancient indigenous beliefs, the legend of ⁢La ‍Lechuza ‍has been passed down through generations, striking fear into the hearts of children and adults alike. Join ⁣us as we delve into the origins and folklore of this enigmatic ‌creature, and explore the enduring impact of the legend of La ‌Lechuza.

It continues:

    La Lechuza, ​also known as‍ the “owl witch”⁤ or “the witch bird,”‌ is a legendary creature deeply rooted ‍in Mexican ‍folklore and mythology. The can⁢ be traced back to ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures, where ⁣owls were associated⁣ with the afterlife,⁤ magic, and witchcraft. In Mexican folklore, La Lechuza is often described as a shapeshifting witch who takes the form of a giant owl with⁣ piercing red eyes‍ and a haunting screech. According to legend, La Lechuza is a vengeful‍ spirit seeking to inflict harm upon those who have⁣ wronged her in life.

    The‌ stories of La⁤ Lechuza have been passed down through generations, with each region of⁣ Mexico having its own unique⁣ interpretation of the creature. Some believe that La Lechuza is the spirit of a⁣ woman who was accused of witchcraft and was transformed into ​an owl as ​punishment. ​Others claim that she is a powerful sorceress who can ‍summon storms and cast spells on unsuspecting victims. Despite the variations in the legend, the common thread is​ that encountering⁤ La Lechuza ⁤is ​a harrowing experience ​that often leads to misfortune ​and tragedy.

It's an interesting read, so be sure to check it out.

Interesting Times: South Korean President Declares Martial Law

Update #2: Newsweek is reporting that the South Korean President has lifted martial law.

Update: "Chaos in South Korea: Civilians clash with military and choppers land on parliament as president stuns the world by declaring MARTIAL LAW, claiming lawmakers sympathetic to Kim Jong Un are subverting parliament"--Daily Mail. Main points:

• South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol's "popularity has also declined as of late amid various scandals in his inner circle, with the opposition seeking to impeach cabinet members over failure to investigate Yoon's wife on corruption and influence-peddling allegations."
• "... South Korea's military proclaimed that under martial law, parliament and other political gatherings that could cause 'social confusion' would be suspended and anyone found to violate the regulations could be arrested without a warrant."
• Although South Korean law requires martial law to lifted if a majority of the National Assembly vote to do so, the South Korean military is ignoring the law (and a majority vote in the Assembly), saying "it will maintain martial law until it is lifted by Yoon himself." 
• The military command has also banned any demonstrations and meetings of any political bodies.
• "Thousands of doctors who have been striking for months over government plans to expand the number of students at medical school have also been ordered to return to work within 48 hours."
  

Original Post:

From the New York Post: "South Korea President Yoon declares martial law in unannounced TV address." The article begins:

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late-night address broadcast live on YTN television, claiming he would eradicate “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces.”

    He did not cite any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents.

    The surprise move sent shockwaves through the country, which had a series of authoritarian leaders early in its history but has been considered democratic since the 1980s. The Korean unit of currency, the won, was down sharply against the US dollar.

    The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken the parliamentary process hostage to throw the country into a crisis.

It appears to be a showdown over domestic political issues:

Yoon cited a motion by Lee’s Democratic Party [an opposition party] this week to impeach some of the country’s top prosecutors and its rejection of a government budget proposal.

The Enrichment Report #13

A selection of articles showcasing the benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion:

• "New Bombshell Study Shows DEI Programs ‘Increase Hostility’"--Daily Wire. Basically, people that were exposed to "anti-racist" literature were even more hostile toward whites and more likely to view innocuous behavior as discrimination. 
• More: "DEI programs can actually escalate hostility and racial tensions, new study claims; NYT accused of spiking story"--New York Post. Per the article, "Research by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab found that certain DEI practices pushed on participants led some of them to become irrationally confrontational and antagonistic." 
• Related: "DEI trainer recorded bullying beloved gay principal who then committed suicide lands ritzy new job"--Daily Mail. 

    Kike Ojo-Thompson was branded abusive by an official government probe after she was found to have bullied and harassed Richard Bilkszto, 60, before he committed suicide over the summer.

    The anti-racism professional was recorded in audio obtained by The Free Press mocking Bilkszto, who was openly gay and progressive, as an example of white supremacist resistance after he disagreed with her statement that Canada was more racist than the US. Bilkszto died after suing the Toronto District School Board for emotional distress.

     But Thompson has now bragged that she has been hired as a 'Human Capital Partner' at Deloitte in Toronto, which provides consulting services to some of the largest corporations and governmental agencies in Canada.

• Paging Colin Flaherty: "Jaw-dropping moment little girl trashes Walmart aisle in epic tantrum"--Daily Mail.  "The girl is seen hurling items, breaking food packaging and smashing bottles with no parent or guardian in sight," relates the article. 
  
• "‘This Is Indoctrination’: New York Public School Targets Kindergarteners with ‘Gender Identity’ Course"--Breitbart. Government enforced grooming. 
• And more state sponsored grooming: "‘MyGender Dolls’ Allow Kids to Swap Genitals"--Twitchy. The medical school at the University of Minnesota is "working with transgender and gender-diverse artists to make that possible with their line of 'MyGender Dolls.'"  According to the school's website, "kids will have a choice of genitals and internal reproductive organs to show that their gender identity is valid no matter what parts they have."
  
• Oh, Canada! "Outrageous response of swimming pool after mom reported hairy man in child's bikini using female changing room"--Daily Mail. The woman's complaint was blown off by the local staff; and when she took her complaints to higher-ups, she was told that "she and her children could take advantage of one of the 'universal or single stall washrooms or changerooms for patrons with concerns for their own modesty'."
  
• "Telling someone with a foreign accent you can’t understand them could be racial discrimination"--The Telegraph. From the article:

Although the marketing manager had a good grasp of the English language, managers at the institution had allegedly struggled to understand what she was saying.

• "How a badly behaved schoolgirl's lie that Muslims were ordered out of a classroom led to a teacher's decapitation when her father 'used her story to spread hate' leading to Islamist murder that shocked the world"--Daily Mail. An in-depth look at the events leading up to Samuel Paty's death at the hands of a follower of the Religion of Peace. 
• "Breaking news: Huge migration surge added almost a million to UK population in a year"--The Conservative Woman.
  
• "US travelers outraged by airport signs appearing to allow migrants onto flights without ID: ‘I’m quite offended’"--New York Post.

    US citizens traveling domestically have to show a valid identification card or a passport to board a plane, but signs at certain airports say there are different rules for some newly arrived migrants.

    The signs claim the Transport Security Administration is working with Customs and Border Protection to “validate adult non-US citizen travel documentation when the traveler does not otherwise have an acceptable form of identification.”

    In practice, this means migrants who have entered the country using the CBP One app – some 45,000 people a month – can use it as their travel document and even choose whether to allow officers to take their picture.

• "ICE says nearly 180,000 non-citizens deliberately not detained, roaming free in US cities"--Just The News. 
• "NYC pols demand crackdown after revelation about ‘criminal’ migrant population approaching 60K: ‘Enough of this crap’"--New York Post. From the lede: "New York City officials are reacting to a bombshell new report by The Post that shows an alarming 58,626 migrants with felony records or facing criminal charges are freely roaming the Big Apple, with some 670,000 in total across the country."
  
• "How terrifying migrant gangs are targeting Americans' homes... and yours may be next"--Daily Mail. From the article: "Forget about old-school masked housebreakers carrying swag bags. These crooks are closer to the Ocean's Eleven movies, using drones, camo suits, and wifi jammers to blitz the mansions of multi-millionaires."
• "Tren de Aragua gangsters who took over Colorado apartment complex are arrested in early-morning NYC raid"--Daily Mail. 
• "Killer who shot dead mom and baby in Connecticut finally arrested in Puerto Rico"--Daily Mail. The article relates that "Lance 'Macho' Morales, a native of the Dominican Republic, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals at a home in the eastern town of Fajardo on Saturday."
• "Machete murder suspect, 52, is on the run after he 'chased down and hacked his neighbour' 25 times in gruesome attack near their homes"--Daily Mail. "Alvaro Lovos, 52, has been named as the suspect in the killing of his neighbor Charlie Wilson, 67, outside a convenience store in Houston, Texas, around 11pm on November 19."
  
• "Illegal migrant crime cost $166.5 billion, three times the price of deportation"--Washington Examiner. 

    The cost of crime from 662,000 criminal illegal migrants sought for deportation has been pegged at three times the much-hyped price of President-elect Donald Trump’s “mass deportation” plan.

    In an analysis from the Crime Prevention Research Center, the costs of crime from the top targets of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations was set at $166.5 billion. That number is based on the cost to victims, a price list developed by the National Institute of Justice.

• "California Pro-Migration Groups Request $15 Million Ahead of Trump Deportation Plans"--Breitbart. Requesting the money from the State of California to provide legal services for illegals threatened with deportation. 
• Related: "Migrant murders put American communities on edge as over 1.4 million avoid deportation with shady tactics"--Fox News. The 1.4 million are just those that have already been ordered deported but are still living in the United States.
  
• "Domino’s manager fired for complaining about pizza shop’s owner hiring illegal migrants: suit"--New York Post.  "A manager of a Domino’s franchise in Connecticut claims in a lawsuit that he was fired after complaining to the owner that the pizza shop was hiring illegal migrants in violation of state and federal laws," reports the article.
  
• "Mexican Authorities Dissolve Migrant Caravan Headed to U.S."--Breitbart.  Per the article, "[t]he move comes soon after Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum had phone calls with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump over the threats of tariffs if Mexico does not halt the flow of drugs, migrants, and asylum seekers headed north." 
• On the other hand: "Yes, Mexico Knows Exactly What It Is Doing"--American Greatness. Key bit: "In truth, Mexico would face insolvency if it did not receive its current some $63 billion in U.S. remittances, largely sent by its own people who crossed into the U.S. illegally."
  
• "Texas Reports Its First Case of Locally Transmitted Dengue Fever"--Legal Insurrection. 

    The mosquito-driven virus was found in a resident of Cameron County, which is the southernmost county in the state, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

    “It has been a highly active year for dengue virus globally. As of today, there have been 106 travel-associated dengue cases, including one death reported in Texas,” the agency said Monday.”

• "Netflix's 'Mary' attracts social media backlash for casting Israeli actress as mother of Jesus"--Fox News. The dispute here has been over director D.J. Caruso's casting of Israeli Jews rather than Middle-Eastern Christians in the film, including for the titular role of Mary the mother of Christ. Caruso claims he used Israeli actors in order to maintain "authenticity." That must have been the reason he cast Anthony Hopkins, a Welshman, to play King Herod, an Edomite. Because when I think of modern day Jordanians (Jordan covering much of ancient Edom), I also immediately picture the inhabitants of Wales.
  

Mexico's Vampire Witch

 From Atlas Obscura: "Mexico’s Vampire Witch Has a Twisted Origin Story: The terrifying teyollohcuani is a shape-shifter of ancient indigenous lore, dark colonial history, and pop culture." From the article:

Beware the teyollohcuani, a vampiric witch. It may take the form of a harmless elderly woman or man, but then shape-shift into an animal—usually a turkey, vulture, or other large bird. It flies into homes to suck the blood of infants, or worse: The word teyollohcuani actually translates as “customarily eats human hearts” in the Mexican Nahuatl language. The creature first took shape in precolonial Mexico and has been evolving ever since, as Spanish, African, and modern pop culture monsters intermix.

Also:

    [Researcher] Martín del Campo believes the teyollohcuani originated within societies that spoke Oto-Manguean languages—a large linguistic family in the region—then spread to the Nahua, the ethnic group that includes the Aztecs. Tales of the teyollohcuani are now found throughout Central Mexico, from the state of Oaxaca on the Pacific coast to the Huasteca region along the Gulf of Mexico. The creature goes by different regional names, and sometimes has region-specific traits: While it usually appears as an old woman, or sometimes an old man, some incarnations can travel by flying fireball, or turn their arms into wings made of woven mats.

    While the teyollohcuani today is seen as malevolent, that might not have always been the case, says Martín del Campo. In precolonial times, “shape-shifting was something only those who were attuned with the higher levels of the sacred, such as gods and priests, could do,” he says. “When the Spanish arrived, their ideas of shape-shifting were associated with witchcraft, and witchcraft was inherently evil. These beings that had formerly been sacred and mythical now turned into monsters.”

    The term teyollohcuani was first documented in 1555 in Alonso de Molina’s Nahuatl and Spanish dictionary. However, earlier works, such as the Codex Borgia, a visual record of precolonial Mexico created between 1450 and 1500, feature many images of colorful birds and raptors consuming hearts and possibly blood.

Inside The Abandoned Town of Anyox, Canada

 From the Daily Mail: "Inside the largest abandoned town in Canada which has been left empty since 1935." According to the article, the mining town of Anyox was constructed in 1912 to support the mining of copper, silver and gold, but the mine supporting the town closed in 1935 due to a collapse in copper prices. There are more photographs at the link, as well as an embedded YouTube video exploring the town.

Evolution in Action: Liberal Women Getting Sterilized

Typically my "evolution in action" posts pertain to people that have eliminated themselves from the gene pool by some particularly stupid way to die. But there is more than one way to remove yourself from the gene pool. From the New York Post: "These women, including an OnlyFans model, are getting sterilized — and blaming Trump for their decision: ‘Election tied my hands’." Basically, in order to protect their reproductive freedom, these women are limiting their reproductive freedom by eliminating their ability to reproduce. A sort of "we have to destroy the village to save the village" logic. But at least they won't be killing babies or passing on their genes.

Biden's Pardon of His Son

 As the AP succinctly put it in its headline, "Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to." For some background:

    Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

    He had been set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

Nevertheless, "[i]n June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, 'I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.'"  But, as we all know, promises made by a politician are only valid as long as they are convenient to that politician. 

    In this case, the article reports:

    ... The move on Sunday night comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, ....

* * *

    In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

And there we have the two main themes advanced by the leftist media: that the pardons were motivated by Hunter's gun and tax evasion charges, and that the charges were the result of political corruption within the Department of Justice.

    In fact, the propagandists at the New York Times and CNN had jumped on the politicized FBI bandwagon, with CNN proclaiming that "President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter deepened an entanglement of politics and the rule of law that has tarnished faith in American justice and is almost certain to worsen in Donald Trump’s second term." The article goes on to helpfully explain, like a kind grandfather, how the investigations and charges against Hunter Biden may have some justification, but were unfair:

    There is some validity to the president’s claim in his Sunday statement that his son was “treated differently” because of who his father is. Charges relating to the illegal possession of a firearm while being addicted to a controlled substance and regarding a false statement on the matter are quite rare, for instance. And Republican congressional probes into the matter, which imploded over a lack of evidence, looked like naked attempts to damage the president. 

    “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” Joe Biden said in the statement. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

    His statement is extraordinary because Biden is now arguing something rather similar to Trump — that his own Justice Department has been unfairly politicized. Biden was referring to the way that the Hunter Biden case was handled by David Weiss, a Trump-appointed US attorney from Delaware who originally investigated the president’s son and was later appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland. 

The sad part is that there were political considerations behind it since, as everyone knows, people like Hunter Biden are largely untouchable. Conversely no one in the main stream media would have been wringing their hands over the prosecution of a nobody for illegally procuring a gun or evading taxes. But the pressure building over the information on the Hunter laptop had built up so that something had to be done in order to maintain the appearance of an impartial legal system. So the DOJ picked the low hanging fruit and let the statute of limitations run on the more serious potential charges.

    It is telling that the article from CNN didn't delve into why supposed corruption is good reason to investigate and reform the FBI and DOJ. Rather, it lays the case that we should not trust any investigations under the Trump Administration because Trump and his loyalists will be using the FBI and DOJ to go after Trump's political enemies.

    And that brings me to the point that Biden's pardon of his son goes well beyond the gun and tax evasion charges which ostensibly underlay the pardon. As the AP article notes: "The president’s sweeping pardon covers not just the gun and tax offenses against the younger Biden, but also any other 'offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.'" Even CNN cannot ignore the import of the 2014 date: "It is significant, therefore, that Joe Biden’s pardon includes any activity by his son starting on January 1, 2014 — the year that Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company — while his father, who was then vice president, was deeply involved in US policy toward Kyiv." On this same point, the Daily Mail adds:

    This has led many to theorize that there is something lurking underneath the pardon which is meant to acquit Hunter Biden of charges that came to light in 2018.

    'Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014,' wrote conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. 'By pardoning Hunter for any crimes he “may have committed” from 2014-2024, Joe Biden is protecting his family’s criminal cartel. Wow.'

    She added that Biden is protecting his son from the possible new head of the FBI: 'This pardon ain’t about the gun charge. The Big Guy is protecting himself from Kash Patel.'

    Hunter referred to his father, Joe, as 'the big guy' in a 2017 email about a business deal that raked in millions for the Biden family and their cohorts.

    'Truly incredible that Joe Biden pardoned Hunter starting in 2014 — the year he was appointed a board member of Burisma,' wrote Greg Price. 'You can’t make it up.'

The article continues:

    A White House official denied the pardon had anything to do with Trump's announcement he will name Kash Patel to run the FBI and install other loyalists.

    'No – this is in response to what has already happened in this case, in which political pressure has resulted in a miscarriage of justice,' said the official.

    Hunter joined the board of Burisma in 2014 and was paid millions for his role in the company despite not having a background in the gas or energy industries.

    Multiple accusations stem from Hunter's behavior while on the board.

    In 2023, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed the younger Biden helped coordinate a plan with Democrat strategists to 'close down any cases' against the owner of allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas firm and 'gain intelligence' on the country's top prosecutor's office.

    The emails bolster claims by ex-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin that the First Son and his then-Vice President dad conspired to kill Shokin's criminal investigation of Burisma.

Well, that and Biden bragging about getting Shokin fired in exchange for the U.S. releasing $1 billion in aid to Ukraine.

    What we can expect once Trump takes office is that the FBI and DOJ will hold up and slow walk investigations into the Deep State, and what do proceed will be portrayed as corrupt and factional and, for that reason, not to be trusted or accepted.

Weekend Reading

The weekend is almost over and I'm just getting to this. Geez! 

First up is Greg Elifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump at Active Response Training. He has links to quiet a few articles this week, including links to articles on: tips for calling 911 after a defensive shooting; a list of things that give away the fact that you are carrying a concealed weapon (including things like patting yourself, tugging your shirt down, not swinging your arm as much on the side the weapon, and more); a short article on several different types of traumatic battlefield injury (although I do quibble with the author equating "shell shock" to a TMJ because the term was historically used for psychological trauma and would probably be described as PTSD now); an article with tips on situational awareness and zones of heightened danger; running the charging handle and bolt release on an AR style weapon; and more. A few that I especially want to highlight are:

• Greg links to a video from Active Self Protection on the topic of your firearm is not a talisman that magically wards off the violent offender. As Greg comments: "I wish more people understood that criminals are generally not scared of or impressed by your firearm." In other words, it isn't the firearm that puts the fear of God into criminals, but whether they believe you will use it on them. And even then, they might not care. But the other important point from the video is that the person with the firearm was openly carrying it (at least, open enough that the other criminals saw the weapon) in a manner that didn't properly retain the weapon making it easy to snatch.
  
• Massad Ayoob recommends buying ammo now. The war in Ukraine has drawn off much of the manufacturing capacity for both powders and ammunition which will act to drive up prices, but because Trump won the election, there is a lull in demand from the public, providing a temporary dip in prices. 
• And simply because I use a pocket pistol, an article testing various types of .380 in both bare gel and a heavy clothing test. The best all around cartridge was the Federal Hydro Shok Deep which had good expansion in bare gel, but didn't have excess penetration through the heavy clothing even though it (like all the others) didn't expand. 

    Next up, Jon Low has posted a new Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter yesterday.  Jon always has a great number of links as well as commentary. But a few that I want to highlight:

• An article from Force Science on "Mind Over Matter: How Your Mindset Affects Performance Under Stress" by Dr. Martin Greenberg. The article is oriented toward law enforcement, emphasizing the need for realistic training scenarios ("By engaging officers in dynamic environments where they’re encouraged and ultimately prepared to view scenarios as challenges, trainers reinforce a mindset that promotes more adaptive physiological responses."),  achieving automaticity ("Automaticity here refers to the level of skill where actions can be executed without conscious thought, allowing officers to allocate mental resources toward situational awareness and tactical judgment rather than focusing solely on mechanics.") and "learn[ing] how to use stress to heighten awareness and concentration." The article does not describe how to reach these goals, but merely sets out the goals. 
• An excerpt from an article called "Violence is Golden" by Jack Donovan. The gist of the excerpt is that "law and order" relies on violence. As one of my professors put it, every law and every court order is backed up by big men with guns. The article, perhaps more eloquently, explains:

     A rule not ultimately backed by the threat of violence is merely a suggestion.  States rely on laws enforced by men ready to do violence against lawbreakers. Every tax, every code and every licensing requirement demands an escalating progression of penalties that, in the end, must result in the forcible seizure of property or imprisonment by armed men prepared to do violence in the event of resistance or non–compliance.  Every time a soccer mom stands up and demands harsher penalties for drunk driving, or selling cigarettes to minors, or owning a pit bull, or not recycling, she is petitioning the state to use force to impose her will.  She is no longer asking nicely.  The viability of every family law, gun law, zoning law, traffic law, immigration law, import law, export law, and financial regulation depends on both the willingness and wherewithal of the group to exact order by force.  

This is probably the best argument for limiting government and the proliferation of laws. And if you don't believe that someone should be killed to enforce a proposed law, then you shouldn't be backing that law. 

• I noted above that Greg linked to an article providing tips on what information to provide when you call 911. However, Jon suggests that there may be situations where you need to just walk (not drive) away after an armed encounter without making any call. He also notes that the Chicago PD makes arrests in less than 25% of murders. 
• A link to video about the failure of pepper spray. As Jon notes, "Only debilitating injury works (destroying eyes, breaking joints and bones, etc.).  Pain does not work." Well, it probably would work on me. But you can't depend on it working in every case. Police that use pepper spray, Tasers, or other less lethal weapons generally have a partner or other officer on scene that is prepared to use a firearm. If you are in a life or death situation, do you have the time to transition to a firearm if your less lethal option doesn't work? 
• "Despite rhetoric about gun shows, firearms purchased from gun shows are the least likely to be used in crimes (0.8%), and those purchased from an FFL dealer by the offender are used in only 1.3% of crimes."