Friday, August 29, 2014

Happening Just Down The Road.

Hat Tip to http://defensivetraininggroup.wordpress.com/

http://www.judicialwatch.org/bulletins/imminent-terrorist-attack-warning-feds-us-border/


Full text of the article below. My comments are afterwards.

Imminent Terrorist Attack Warning By Feds on US Border

AUGUST 29, 2014
Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued.  Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat.

Specifically, Judicial Watch sources reveal that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is confirmed to now be operating in Juarez, a famously crime-infested narcotics hotbed situated across from El Paso, Texas. Violent crimes are so rampant in Juarez that the U.S. State Department has issued a number of travel warnings for anyone planning to go there. The last one was issued just a few days ago.
Intelligence officials have picked up radio talk and chatter indicating that the terrorist groups are going to “carry out an attack on the border,” according to one JW source.  “It’s coming very soon,” according to this high-level source, who clearly identified the groups planning the plots as “ISIS and Al Qaeda.” An attack is so imminent that the commanding general at Ft. Bliss, the U.S. Army post in El Paso, is being briefed, another source confirms. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to multiple inquiries from Judicial Watch, both telephonic and in writing, about this information.

The disturbing inside intelligence comes on the heels of news reports revealing that U.S. intelligence has picked up increased chatter among Islamist terror networks approaching the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. While these terrorists reportedly plan their attack just outside the U.S., President Obama admits that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to combat ISIS. “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” the commander-in-chief said this week during a White House press briefing. “I think what I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggest that folks are getting a little further ahead of what we’re at than what we currently are.”
The administration has also covered up, or at the very least downplayed, a serious epidemic of crime along the Mexican border even as heavily armed drug cartels have taken over portions of the region. Judicial Watch has reported that the U.S. Border Patrol actually ordered officers to avoid the most crime-infested stretches because they’re “too dangerous” and patrolling them could result in an “international incident” of cross border shooting. In the meantime, who could forget the famous words of Obama’s first Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano; the southern border is “as secure as it has ever been.”

These new revelations are bound to impact the current debate about the border crisis and immigration policy.
Yes. Just next door. It is a known fact that groups like Hamas and ISIS have been in negotiations with drug cartels for access through the smuggling routes the cartels use. This farcical, pathetic "discussion" on border security and immigration has to stop. SECURE OUR FREAKING BORDERS! We as a nation are not presenting a coherent response to these jackals of death. I have read comments on other forums that ISIS is nothing more than a back water group of morons that could never stand up to us in a straight on fight. I think that is underestimating this group and other like them. 

Many of ISIS are survivors of combat against us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Survivors, by luck or skill, bring their own experiences to the the shared table. ISIS has shown an adaptability to the battlefield and an outside of the box mentality. This is not about religious belief for me. This is an acknowledgement that ISIS believes in a potential worldwide Islamic State. This is the battle of our time. 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Wonder What They Know

In a conversation today, I learned that the local LDS cannery received its last bulk food shipment until further notice. This information comes from a very reliable source. I know that a similar story had circulated on the net earlier in the year with the agreement that the info was false. 

Also from my source the reason they are stocking up internally is for some upcoming event or events where having bulk food on hand will be critical. 

Here is what I think. I take this information at face value. I have known this person long enough to not disbelieve what they say. I also know that Mormons watch out for each other. This is especially true for the ones in positions in authority, government or military. They communicate to each other.

So what do they know and what are they preparing for?

Friday, August 22, 2014

It Is A Good Question To Ask. How Would Hitler's Ideas Be Accepted Today?

Reblogged from The American Catholic.

I have always enjoyed the interesting historical and cultural questions that are asked and then thought through at The American Catholic Blog. This post is no different.

Some teaser quotes:

Truly, this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so, in the service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his Lebensraum in this world, and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by.
Adolph Hitler, December 18, 1940

Surveying our contemporary world, it is easy to reach the assumption that Adolph Hitler was simply born a century too early.  Many of the ideas he embraced have become completely mainstream, especially in Europe.  His view of eugenics for example, which he summarized in his look at Sparta in the book he wrote after Mein Kampf and which remained unpublished during his life:

Sparta must be regarded as the first Völkisch State. The exposure of the sick, weak, deformed children, in short, their destruction, was more decent and in truth a thousand times more humane than the wretched insanity of our day which preserves the most pathological subject, and indeed at any price, and yet takes the life of a hundred thousand healthy children in consequence of birth control or through abortions, in order subsequently to breed a race of degenerates burdened with illnesses.

After becoming dictator of Germany, Hitler implemented his beliefs in his T4 program which killed the mentally ill and all others who, through mental or physical defect, failed to measure up to Hitler’s master race dreams.  “Life unworthy of life”, the German phrase is “Lebensunwertes Leben”, was the verbiage that substituted for the simple term, murder, which accurately described the brutal reality.  Realizing that this policy would be controversial, Hitler did it as much in secret as possible, although critics, especially Bishop Von Galen, the aptly nicknamed Lion of Munster, did speak out.  Go here to read Von Galen’s take down of this murder of the innocents.

Now, Hitler’s policy is being given a trendy new repackaging in the erst-while Libertarian UK branch of Wired magazine, by “transhumanist”, and atheist, writer Zoltan Istvan

More here.

Transhumanism is becoming quite a popular buzzword of late. While the supporters of it talk of it's humaneness and forward thinking, remember, there is nothing new under under the sun. Eugenics has always been part of the human experience, it just has gotten more advanced by technology. Science can vastly improve our lives. It can also lead to the most destructive of methods in destroying mankind, by little steps or by huge leaps.

But it is always in the way that words are used to couch their argument. They always tip their hands in the words they use.

Sheesh, as if ISIS, ebola, and the border crisis were not enough.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Real World

Reblogged from: http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/08/archbishop-of-mosul-i-have-lost-my.html?m=1

Archbishop of Mosul: "I have lost my Diocese to Islam - You in the West will also become the victims of Muslims"


August 9, 2014. The young ask for guns. The elderly approve. "Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future," says Amel Nona, 47, Chaldean archbishop of Mosul exiled in Erbil. The message is unequivocal: the only way to end the Christian exodus from the places that witnessed its origins in the pre-Islamic age is to respond to violence with violence, to force with force. Nona is a wounded, pain-stricken man, but not resigned. "I lost my diocese. The physical setting of my apostolate has been occupied by Islamic radicals who want us converted or dead. But my community is still alive." He is very glad to meet Western media. "Please, try to understand us," he exclaims. "Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims. Also you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the cost of contradicting your principles. You think all men are equal," Archbishop Amel Nona continues, "but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home."

Read the full blog post and understand fully what is on the march...

Friday, August 15, 2014

Back Home

Finally, I am back home in the ever lovin' arms of my family. It was an interesting summer supporting the Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox. It is good to be home. Got some irons in the fire concerning future postings. Thanks for your continued support and reading of this little blog.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Lawrence Of Afghanistan, The Toll Of Over A Decade Of War, And The Culture Of Bureaucracy In The Military. All Anecdotally Of Course.

I ran across this interesting article with accompanying video this morning.

The Amazing Story Of The Green Beret Who Fought The Taliban His Way

The story is done by Brian Ross of ABC News who is one of the very few of mainstream journalists that I will listen to. 

There is a related book to this story as well: American Spartan.

I am not writing a review of the book. There are plenty enough out there already. I am just putting down some thoughts after seeing the interview and reading some of the other articles and reviews. 

The whole legend of "going native" is a big one in military circles. We see it portrayed all the time in books and movies, whether fiction (Dances With Wolves or Apocalypse Now) or non-fiction (Lawrence of Arabia). When I was young I used to collect old National Geographic Magazines from second hand shops. One of my favorite issues was the January 1965 issue


Full Scans of the Article here and here.

In the article it shows SF guys being adopted into Montagnard tribes during their time there. This sort of cross cultural adoption is nothing new within military history and MAJ Gant utilized it during his career, and it worked. It seems like during every war we have to relearn to make the wheel yet again. Which leads me to another part of my title.

After a decade plus of war, one would have to be extremely dense to not understand that our military, especially the tip and blade of the spear...strike that...the whole damn spear, staff and all, is worn out. I have long argued that there will be a reckoning for the personal and relationship damage that it has inflicted on our troops. We are beginning to see it publicly now with the ongoing VA scandal and the statistics of returning war veterans. Too many of my fellow brothers and sisters in arms struggle with just getting by day to day. Some have better days for a while then something happens and they start back through the cyclical mind traps of being depressed for a myriad of reasons. Of course, not wanting to look weak, some do not seek help through official channels. Some chose not to due to concerns about their future endeavors being affected by having it on their permanent records. Most of the troops I know are also fed up with the "take this cure all pill" that seems to be thrown at every problem. 

All this is anecdotal of course, but where there is smoke, there is fire. Now, with the military draw down that is occurring, many troops are feeling like their years of service and sacrifice mean nothing at all. I remember well during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm that one of the focuses of the American public was not to treat the Soldiers like many were treated returning from Vietnam. The popular culture of the 1970s and 80s portrayed that the average Vietnam Vet was "damaged" in some form or fashion. There was a backlash to that portrayal by the American population during and after Desert Shield/Storm. But today, after dealing with a war that has gone on longer than the Vietnam War, there seem to be whispers again of "damaged" veterans pushing in from different corners of the culture and government agencies. 

So, I fully understand why MAJ Gant did some of the things he did in order to cope with the mounting stresses of stacked deployments. I personally see some of the same things in the daily lives of some of the guys that I work with. I am not defending their choices. I want to defend them from the soulless and faceless bureaucratic machine that is chewing away at the edges of their careers, lives, and souls. 

Here I am not talking about the common sense military standards and regulations (common sense and military? Yeah, right). What I am talking here is the increasing use of "gotcha" tactics that seem more and more prevalent in the military community. Again, I am only talking anecdotally here. I am sure that any current or former service personnel who read this could supply copious stories from their own experiences. The Culture of Bureaucracy in the Military as I have experienced it suppresses positive creativity and destroys the motivation of a lot of excellent Enlisted Soldiers and Officers to stay in. When someone tries to positively fight the bureaucratic BS through "proper" channels, they are mostly shot down. So when out of desperation of trying to do the right thing for the soldier or soldiers under them, they are forced to stretch the limits of the rules, or even skirt them altogether, when often leads to those leaders being crushed by higher authorities. I am not talking about sweeping legitimate crimes under the rug, but too many leaders are worried about their own careers to appear as too weak on infractions of regulations. Again, I am only talking anecdotally here.

Are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the past? Maybe so. I know when I share some of my stories with my father, he often remarks how nothing has truly changed in the military. He has shared with me some of the reasons why he ultimately left the military mid career and sought a life and career outside of it. 

I have been feeling the same way for quite awhile now.

T.L. Davis at 2014 Yapfest and Why He Has Not Been Writing Lately

Saturday, August 2, 2014

The Chicken or the Egg. An Excellent (and Frightening) Post from DTG.

Reblogged from Defensive Training Group.

Text in bold is mine.

The figures below are very telling.
Living Expenses
Dave Hodges from SHTF Plan has an interesting article, here.
“America only has to look at three economic indicators to know that we are in a lot of trouble, The budget deficit is $17 trillion dollars, unfunded (partially or otherwise) mandated social programs constitutes another $222 trillion dollars and the credit swap derivatives total between $1 quadrillion dollars to $1.5 quadrillion dollars. Based upon these numbers, America has clearly been set up to fail.
When we look at Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all the government programs that we all take for granted, the price tag is a whopping $222 trillion dollars. These numbers are going to be exacerbated and grow exponentially because the bulk of the baby boomers are entering retirement age. Even if we took every single penny that the federal government takes in and devote it to paying off these social programs, it would take 111 years to pay off this debt.
In the United States, credit swap derivatives created national debt totals of over one quadrillion dollars. That is one thousand trillion dollars! The entire GDP of the planet is estimated at $66 trillion dollars. And somehow, in the infinite wisdom of Congress in 2008, we falsely and naively believed that a $750 billion transfer of wealth (i.e., Bailout #1) was magically going to save the economy and the collective futures of the American middle class. In short, the debt created by futures speculation is approximately 16 times greater than the sum total of the entire wealth on the planet! And we think we are going to climb out of this? We could fund 1,000 bailouts and the eventual outcome will be the same, slavery by debt. We are being held in place, while our financial assets are being separated from our soon-to-be dead corpses.”
So when you objectively consider the mounting evidence that something significant is going to happen, and the country is on the brink of several differrent types of calamities all of which have a signficant level of intensity, you still put off training, PT, marksmanship, preps, and meaningful networking, like in the III Percent Society for America?
Seriously?

I have long held to the belief that the arc of the United States follows much like any great civilization of the world. There is a rise, peak, plateau, and ultimately a decline preceding the fall. No civilization has been immune to this. The problem in forecasting the timeline is that no single one thing results in the downfall of a civilization. Very rarely does it happen very quickly as well. It is generally the perfect storm of several stresses all happening at the same time when the society is already at the tipping point due to other troubles that have manifested themselves at the time. However, due to the technological age we live in, timelines do seem to compress quite a bit. Rome contracted itself over the period of centuries. We today do not have that luxury.