Gun Confiscations during Katrina?

FerFAL,

Thanks for writing your posts and your website. It's incredibly helpful, even for a former military person. I served as a U.S. Army Officer for over 10 years. I was involved in some interesting stuff after 9/11. One of those was security of New Orleans 3 days after hurricane Katrina decimated the place. I would like to refute something I read in one of your posts. I can't say that what you wrote about didn't happen in some part of the city or by some of the local police or sheriff's that stayed around. However, I was the commander of the first military contingent that was responsible for securing the federal assets, federal prisons, red cross and evac sites, and sensitive or critical sites. We also used our large fording vehicles to go into parts of the city that was still under 2 feet of water to rescue people. I definitively tell you that we did NOT go door to door taking peoples firearms. The President had not declared U.S. martial law, therefore we did not have any law enforcement authority, neither did the National Guard. Only local police had that authority, but since 80% of the police had left, only 400 police, SWAT, and Sheriff's remained, and they had no communications, vehicles, gas, etc. they weren't real effective and relied on our command and control. They certainly didn't have the man power to go door to door stripping people of their protection. If folks were in their own house with the ability to protect themselves, we didn't really care or worry about it at first. The real threat that we were concerned with was the hundreds of criminals, escaped prisoners, and gang-bangers that thought is was their opportunity to prey on the innocent and take advantage of no law enforcement. Again, we had no authority, so we didn't even care that they were stealing anything and everything they could carry, drive, push, or pull. Our rules of engagement were very strict. Again, our mission was to deliver and provide water and MRE's (food) to areas still under water, and secure very specific sites. The police just didn't have the fire power (or show of force) and man power to do it, and to rescue people. I only saw two weapons discharges that did result in someone being shot. In one case it was a person shooting at our convoy, in which a SWAT sniper fired upon, and one was some one shoot at the police, and a SWAT sniper again fired upon. As always, the Rules of Engagement were such that we could not and would not use force unless fired upon. 

In closing, None of my 500+ soldiers ever discharged a weapon, we never disarmed a civilian, we never used force to coerce anyone to do anything. WE DID deliver hundreds of pallets of MREs and bottled water, diapers, baby formula, etc. We did rescue hundred of people from doom, disease, and ultimate demise. We did secure hundreds of red cross workers from getting over run and all supplies stolen and personally attacked. We delivered medical supplies, rescued pets, and helped restore critical resources such as power to medical sites with our generators. 

I know you sell your book and advice by creating fear. However, please be honest and truthful when describing the heroic efforts of our military. 

Darin

Hi Darin, allow me to thank you in name of all the people you helped, I’m sure your help was much appreciated. I don’t question your honesty when you say you delivered MREs, water and saved people, so please don’t question mine.

The point of the post wasn’t to honor the good men and women that serve, but to prepare for those that would either follow unconstitutional orders or simply break the law themselves, like the police woman in uniform that could be seen looting a Walmart during Katrina or the men pictured in the videos below, beating up a granny.

I would like to point out though, that it really doesn’t matter if you didn’t confiscate guns yourself. Guns were confiscated after Katrina, sometimes by force, at the time those guns where needed the most. While you (and your 500 men)  may not have confiscated, others sure did.  The problem isn’t the upstanding Americans, police officers and military personnel that refuse to follow orders against the Constitution or even their own moral values, the problem is those that will follow such orders or behave like goons all by themselves.

Here’s a couple videos that explain how the confiscations occurred:

These National Guard troops, they confiscated guns too.

If you read my blog you know I have nothing but great respect for men and women that serve in the military or are police officers. In fact, some of the few I considered friends I can trust in USA, most of them are active duty or ex military.

A friend of mine, US Marine and combat veteran, he went to help out during Katrina. He just got into his car and went to see where he could be of use. On his way back he was stopped by local police and his rifle was taken away from him, a very nice Springfield M1A Scout rifle. He of course didn’t resist and fought for months until the weapon that was illegally confiscated from him was returned.

Finally, if you read my blog you also know that I don’t “sell my book and advice by creating fear”. Mi advice is available here almost on daily basis and you don’t have to pay a single cent. I do my best to reply to emails asking for advice, some that get posted, others that don’t but, I do everything I can to help. And my book isn’t sold through fear. It sells well because Argentina went through its own economic collapse in 2001, and the honest advice of such experience is now of help to people in USA and other nations.

I would like to refute something I read in one of your posts. I can't say that what you wrote about didn't happen in some part of the city or by some of the local police or sheriff's that stayed around.

Then what are you refuting exactly? That you didn’t confiscate guns yourself? I never said otherwise, I didn’t even know you until you emailed me.

Take care.

FerFAL

Getting the Wife on Board

I was browsing the internet as usual when all of a sudden my wife asks “Hey, what’s that?”

If you peep over my shoulder while I’m on the computer you’ll usually find text being written, reviews, or all sort of pictures ranging from gear such as knives and guns to disasters and current events.

On my screen at the time a Victorinox Rescue Tool was being displayed. Given that I have numerous knives of all sorts, ranging from ordinary pocket knives, to tactical folders, from a knives worth hundreds (even  thousands)  of dollars to self made ones, never has my wife shown much interest in any of them. I did convince her of carrying the Spyderco Delica I bought her, but she had never shown an interest in knives out of thin air like now. This was new territory.

I cautiously explained, doing my best to hide my surprise, like a hunter trying not to scare away a prey. “That? Its a Victorinox Rescue Tool”. There. Now she only had to bite the bait. She did. “It looks nice, how does it work?”

  

Victorinox Swiss Army Rescue Tool 

 “Its for getting yourself out of car wrecks mostly. It has a window breaking tool, another one for cutting the broken glass and a seat belt cutting tool”.

She surprised me by remembering something she must have seen over a year ago and I never thought she paid much attention to. “Your Leatherman, the one you carry all the time, that one has a seat belt cutting hook too, no?”. I nodded “Yes, but this one is more of a curved blade. It also has a nice big locking blade like their latest Soldier model, the one being issued to the Swiss army. Give me a minute and I’ll show you the youtbe demo for the rescue tool”.

I went on explaining “ Remember the floods in Buenos Aires these last few days, or the ones in Bazil? People get caught in their cars during such disasters. Sometimes the current is so strong you can’t open the doors, the windows don’t open if they are electrically operated. Even if you can lower them by hand, water may flow in and you can’t get out because of the current and people drown. In those cases  the fastest way of getting out is smashing the windshield. I once read of a guy that saved his life by shooting the windshield with his gun after it fell into a lake. You need something to break the glass”.

After seeing the clip she asked “ Could you buy me one?”. I said of course and ordered one right away. I meant to get one of these anyway for reviewing since it won the 2007 Knife of the year award.  

This happened a couple weeks ago. About a week later my wife mentioned that given the situation world wide, she thought having a fully equipped NBC shelter at home was a great idea. She went on explaining the numerous events in which it would prove to be a life saver. Of course I agreed with everything, had in fact thought about all that for years, but it was nice to hear her come to some of the same conclusions I did.

When it comes to getting the wife(or husband) on board there’s some advice that will make things easier:

1) Do what you believe you have to do. This often comes up regarding firearms and one of the spouses not agreeing with having a firearm in the house. If you’re as serious as you should be, rather than asking if you can, you should explain why you’ll be buying a firearm instead, not asking and leaving the option for a “no”. You can be very understandable and take note of your better half’s concerns by getting adequate training and keeping the gun secured in a safe, but you get it anyway. Same thing with food supplies and water. You know they are essential for life, so you don’t ask for permission you just do it. There will be time later to talk but first you take the minimum steps needed for basic family preparedness.

2) Be patient and respectful of the other person. We’re not all alike and some people need more time to digest information or to come around. My wife came from a “no gun” family with the typical liberal mentality where its believed that a gun means trouble rather than protection. With lots of patience but also being firm regarding my own convictions she has come around.

3) Plant seeds, one at a time. Mention articles you may have read about current world events, talk about the crime incidents that are now starting to become more and more common close to your location. Little by little, a grain of sand at a time, your spouse will start noticing all these pieces of info that otherwise where ignored or not fully digested. This is natural human behavior. If something scares you/worries you the natural reaction is to avoid it, so you don’t have to deal with it, and if you don’t worry about dealing with it you stay in your comfort zone of blissful ignorance. Meanwhile, the survival minded person prefers to accept these events and get ready for them. We’re not looking for fear mongering here, but getting rid of the mass ostrich mentality of sticking the head in the sand.

4)Finally, find points of common interest. Survival and preparedness basically involves every human activity to some extent. If you’re spouse is into economy or finances there’s more than enough to talk about given the current crisis, from inflation to unemployment, changes in the market, etc. Guys usually like guns, knives and tools in general. My wife likes gardening. This covers ground like food production, medicinal plants and defensive landscaping. Finding a point of common interest may open the door to a wider survival and preparedness mindset.

Be patient and the other person will eventually come around understanding why preparedness makes so much sense.

Take care,

FerFAL

Real Inflation World Wide

The McFlation index

Lies, flame-grilled lies and statistics

What do burger prices tell us about the reliability of official inflation figures? 

http://www.economist.com/node/18014576?story_id=18014576

INFLATION is creeping up around the globe. But in many countries, ordinary folk as well as investment analysts suspect that governments are fiddling the figures for political reasons, and that the true inflation rate is much higher than officially reported. Argentina’s inflation rate is the hardest to swallow. According to the government, consumer prices rose by 10.9% in the year to December, but private-sector economists estimate the true increase to be at least twice as much. In China, too, many claim that the government’s figures hugely understate increases in the cost of living.
Economists disagree on the best way to measure consumer-price inflation. How often should the relative weights be changed? How should one take account of quality improvements? One reason why the Chinese may think their cost of living is rising so quickly is that consumers are moving upmarket—for example, from the local dumpling stand to a restaurant. That increases households’ spending, but is not inflation.
If you find the theory of price indices hard to digest, why not rely on simple burgernomics? The Economist’s Big Mac index was devised as a lighthearted gauge to whether currencies are under- or overvalued, but Jonathan Anderson, an economist at UBS, suggests that it can also be used to cross-check official inflation rates. Consisting of food, materials, wages and rent, the McDonald’s Big Mac offers a handy consumer-price basket, whose composition has hardly changed over time.

We have compared prices late last year with those ten years earlier in a selection of countries. For example, the price of a Big Mac in China rose by an annual average of 3.7%, against the reported inflation rate of 2.3%. Is this evidence that the government is underreporting inflation? Not necessarily; the discrepancy is roughly the same as in America (see chart). One might expect burger inflation to exceed overall inflation because food prices have risen faster than other prices. Yet in Russia and Indonesia, Big Mac prices rose by a lot less than the official price index, possibly suggesting that the governments’ figures overstate inflation.
However, burgernomics does support claims that Argentina’s government is cooking the books. The gap between its average annual rate of burger inflation (19%) and its official rate (10%) is far bigger than in any other country. Its government deserves a good grilling.

 

The Middle East 2011: Geopolitical Examples of Imperial Overstretch

This is a guest post regarding the sociopolitical situation in Middle East and the possible implications world wide. In many ways it’s a more bloody version than what’s been happening in Latin America in the last decade. Thanks Jon for the well written article!

FerFAL

The Middle East 2011: Geopolitical Examples of Imperial Overstretch

March 2, 2011

By Jon King, P.E.

Libya is a gigantic headache, but it is only a sideshow in the opening act.  Libya is simply one of the hair pin detonators on a geopolitical nuclear weapon waiting to go off.

Gaddafi is an unapologetic tin-horn tyrant that we have quasi-supported because he hates the Muslim fundamentalists as much or more than he hates us and when President Reagan sent that laser guided missile through his tent door as a practical form of realpolitik, Gaddafi got the message; don’t sponsor terrorism, sell Europe your oil and get rich and we won’t bomb the Hell out of you (personally).    Meanwhile we count on him to keep the Caliphate from appearing “50 miles from the shores of Europe” in the words of apparently, his only rational son, as quoted in a headline last week.

Who knows who started the Middle East conflagration, the CIA, the Muslim Brotherhood, or Osama Bin Laden, but the implications are clear.  Black Gold is the name of the game and Saudi Arabia is the largest nugget.

If Saudi Arabia falls, all Hell breaks out everywhere.  Every tyrant, terrorist, pirate, opportunist, and downtrodden Marxist is going to go balls for the wall against our worldwide interests.  They know that we can’t fight everywhere at once and if they see us vulnerable, you won’t have to wait to see them pile on.  In fact, it is already happening.  It isn’t by chance that China is choosing this moment to take concrete steps to move its trade to the Yuan.  If the Middle East goes, oil stops being priced in US Dollars, the US Dollar crashes, and there goes US worldwide economic hegemony, which means we can no longer maintain the façade of wealth and by extension consumption.  Why does China need us if we can’t pay for their goods in a “hard” currency? Especially if we renege on paying them back our debt which we will surely have to do.  Can anyone imagine a scenario under which we undergo domestic austerity in order to pay back the Chinese?  Can anyone say Wisconsin, only the “bad” guys aren’t the public unions and their collective bargaining (extortion) rights, they are the Chinese Communists.  The idea that we have the political will to pay the Chinese back at the expense of our domestic obligations is absurd and I have to believe the Chinese leadership know this.

Obama is clearly in over his head, as are his advisors.  Professor Niall Ferguson of Harvard/Oxford/Stanford made that clear last week on MSNBC when he famously described Obama’s Flip and Flop then Flip diplomacy in Egypt.  Apparently, according to Professor Ferguson, when it comes to US Foreign Policy, we don’t know if on any given day Barack is in charge or Hillary is (or, as is more likely, the focus groups are).

It is apparent that the Flip, Flop, Flip is back on in Libya.  That USS Enterprise has been hovering between the Red Sea, Suez Canal, and now Libya for the last 10 days.  You can almost sense the White House desperation in the moves of the carrier – they don’t know whether to support Libya, chase supposed Iranian destroyers entering the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal (a token move against Israel and overt Iranian exploitation of supposed Egyptian and US weakness), or guard against an Iranian move against the Straits of Hormuz coordinated with an attack by the Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia against the main Saudi Oil terminal at Ras Tanura. 

All of the rest of our deployed (and much newer) carrier battle groups are in and around places like Taiwan and South Korea.  We don’t dare move them because North Korea may enter the fray against South Korea at the least opportune moment if they smell enough blood in the water, or more ominously, China may move against Taiwan, or both.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Diplomatic cables were burning red hot between Washington, Tehran (via Moscow), and Pyongyang (by way of Beijing).  Probably short, terse, to the effect “you attack us or our allies while we are otherwise engaged in Libya and Saudi Arabia and you can expect a stealth nuclear cruise missile up your ass.”  Just this week, The National Geographic actually put together an article together with an almost beautiful full color picture of a nuclear mushroom cloud on the cover, authoritatively stating that a “limited nuclear war” would improve global warming.  That is downright terrifying, as the National Geographic has long been known to be aligned and largely bank rolled by the interests of the global centralized financial powers.  That article may be code for them to get the domestic green movement’s support (Obama’s base) for an Obama led limited US nuclear attack against Iran or North Korea should the whole Middle East thing spiral out of control.  It would also be a wonderful distraction and misdirection of US domestic opinion away from stringing up the bankers (Oscar winning ‘Inside Job’) and towards stringing up the greedy oil sheiks.  It would also send a stark message to a non-eurocentric and non-anglocentric worldwide commercial powers - you may have real manufacture and industry but we have carrier battle groups, space based nuclear weapons, and the will to use them in defense of our interests. 

Our military and its soon-to-be-waning prowess is the only trump card we have left.

As of now, the elderly USS Enterprise is heading to Libya to facilitate evacuations, and maybe that really is Obama’s purpose, although it should also be to secure the oil facilities before Gaddafi burns them as Saddam did to the Kuwaiti oil fields in the nineties.  Because if he burns his oil infrastructure as he has threatened to do, peak oil price increases will be inopportunely accelerated, the threat of the US Dollar going into free fall rises exponentially, the world economy is shaken to its core (as is ours), and, ironically, Muslim fundamentalists the world over will be emboldened. 

We can’t and won’t nuke civilian populations “protesting” for their democratic rights against the tyrants we have supported and installed in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.   We can, however, easily manufacture a reason to nuke Iran or North Korea.

If you haven’t noticed, Egypt’s coup against Mubarak has been “solved” by replacing him with his “mini me” military protégé.  Our interest in Egypt has not been damaged by their supposed “revolution.”  I am sure we are desperately trying to replicate that in Libya, and prevent it from occurring at all in Saudi Arabia. 

The rising price of Oil, Food, Precious Metals, Revolutions, Volatile Fiat Currencies, and War are all competing to be the first fuse to light the pile of long accumulating fuel that sets off the conflagration that begins the next sea change in world politics and economics. 

The United States is vulnerable in many ways, and powerful in others.  This promises to be a near run thing.  Ultimately, however, military power always is a derivative of economic power or plunder.  Take away that and the military power disappears.   Take away our dollar supremacy and you take away our ability to fund our military which in turn weakens our dollar….resulting in a very high stakes game of near term chicken and long term roast.

We may very well be able to partner with Saudi Arabia to suppress their masses from rebelling, we have been successful partnering with them in doing that for years, but sometime, someplace, some cog in the complex machinery that is our economic and military worldwide hegemony is going to break.  When that happens we will have reached Paul Kennedy’s famous Imperial Overstretch and for those whose dreams included a dominant United States hegemony into the 21^st century, those dreams will end. 

"Safecastle Freedom Awards": Survival Contest with $12.000 in prizes!

Our sponsor Safecastle over at www.prepared.pro  is organizing a contest.

"I'm pleased to announce the 2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards--a program in which we will provide the talented, deserving winners with some of the greatest preparedness-related prizes in the survival realm!" said Vic Rantala, owner of Safecastle.

Basically its about submitting survival and preparedness videos (6 minutes) and  non-fiction articles (1500) to me, and in turn I submit them to Vic. The contest lasts all 2011 so you have lots of time to work on those articles or videos. You can submit as many as you want, but remember about quality over quantity. Also important, you must submit them to only one blog or website, so chose carefully who you end up sending your work to. That website has to pick its own finalists to send to Vic over at Safecastle.

Here’s the link with the details. http://safecastle.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-safecastle-freedom-awards-new.html

Participants must be in continental USA so I can’t take a shot at it, ;-) but I can help oyu guys out.  Anyway, here’s some friendly advice:
1) As Vic says, keep it clean, simple an family oriented.
2)Quality over quantity. You’ve got all year so take advantage of the time you have. You can easily submit 3 or 4 quality pieces if you start now.
3)I’d chose the topic carefully: I´m guessing relevant topics to the times we live in would have extra appeal.
4) I can’t participate myself but I can help out. If you’d like to share ideas, ask questions regarding the topic you’re choosing and such, send me an email.  I’ll give you my opinion regarding your work and if I think its going in the right direction.
Take advantage of this opportunity!
Take care folks and have fun.

FerFAL