Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Last Time The Dow Was Here..........

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VERBATIM

Read and weep.

"Mission Accomplished"

With CNBC now lost for countdown-able targets (though 20,000 is so close), we leave it to none other than Jim Cramer, quoting Stanley Druckenmiller, to sum up where we stand (oh and the following list of remarkable then-and-now macro, micro, and market variables), namely that "we all know it's going to end badly, but in the meantime we can make some money"

-- ZH translation: "just make sure to sell ahead of everyone else", just like everyone sold ahead of everyone else on October 11th 2007, the last time stocks were here..........
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: Then 14164.5; Now 14164.5
  •  
  • Regular Gas Price: Then $2.75; Now $3.73
  •  
  • GDP Growth: Then +2.5%; Now +1.6%
  •  
  • Americans Unemployed (in Labor Force): Then 6.7 million; Now 13.2 million
  •  
  • Americans On Food Stamps: Then 26.9 million; Now 47.69 million
  •  
  • Size of Fed's Balance Sheet: Then $0.89 trillion; Now $3.01 trillion
  •  
  • US Debt as a Percentage of GDP: Then ~38%; Now 74.2%
  •  
  • US Deficit (LTM): Then $97 billion; Now $975.6 billion
  •  
  • Total US Debt Outstanding: Then $9.008 trillion; Now $16.43 trillion
  •  
  • US Household Debt: Then $13.5 trillion; Now 12.87 trillion
  •  
  • Labor Force Particpation Rate: Then 65.8%; Now 63.6%
  • Consumer Confidence: Then 99.5; Now 69.6
  •  
  • S&P Rating of the US: Then AAA; Now AA+
  •  
  • VIX: Then 17.5%; Now 14%
  •  
  • 10 Year Treasury Yield: Then 4.64%; Now 1.89%
  •  
  • USDJPY: Then 117; Now 93
  • EURUSD: Then 1.4145; Now 1.3050
  •  
  • Gold: Then $748; Now $1583
  •  
  • NYSE Average LTM Volume (per day): Then 1.3 billion shares; Now 545 million shares

Lone Wolf: Eight bits of advice.

Via WRSA

 
======================
 
 Having been off the net for a while I'm still playing catch up.  Max Velocity's article on tactics for the Lone Wolf has stirred the debate, and now I get to add my two cents.

First off, if you absolutely have no other option, then be a lone wolf.  A relatively good fire team will make short work of a loan wolf in a react to contact situation.  You have to be infinitely better as a loner than you do as a member of a team, because there is NO ONE else to help cover your mistakes.

You have two (or less) eyes, and can only hear as good as you can.  That fire team has eight (or less, down to four eyes if you take one from each member), so even if you had a half blind fire team you would still have twice as many eyes as a lone wolf.

The only offensive tactic available to a Lone Wolf is the ambush.  Whether this is due to sniping (long range ambush) or an explosive device (short range ambush) that is it.  No deliberate attacks, no raids, no anything that requires both fire and maneuver.


Surviving The Apocalypse: Thinking Strategically Rather Than Tactically

Via WRSA

 power_fig1

In this article I have three objectives.  First I want to discuss what would happen to a lone wolf fighter if he tried to be effective without aid and assistance.  Next, I want to distinguish between thinking tactically and strategically concerning survival.  Finally, I want to describe things that might catalyze the need to invoke such plans, from rogue, illegitimate groups to patriots who will not relinquish their their second amendment rights, regardless of the consequences.

In Tactical Considerations For The Lone Wolf we saw how good tacticians can provide broad outlines for tactics, equipment and knowledge of procedures for small unit maneuver, and can enable a lone wolf fighter to be effective for a short period of time.  But I said, and still hold true, that this is a bad paradigm for operations, and represents tactical rather than strategic thinking.

The lone wolf fighter faces a daunting set of problems.  From a small child, between riding and training horses, working, camping, hiking, shooting and hunting, I have spent thousands of days and nights in the wilderness.  I have experienced some or a lot of what I am going to describe, and seen others experience the balance of it (or in extreme cases, I simply know of people to whom this has happened or know that it can happen).

Within a couple of days of being in the wilderness, your personal stench is merely disgusting.  By the end of the first week, the putrid, toxic paste that develops around the groins of men becomes a risk to health and safety and can cause serious diseases.  Within another week your feet develop a cocktail of fungal infections, and within another week the skin begins to fall off of them.

CCW Holder Shoots Would-Be Bank Robber & Foils Robbery


A bank robbery suspect is in a Kansas City hospital. He was shot while trying to hold up a bank in Trimble, MO.

It all started shortly after 1:30 p.m. Friday at the First Security Bank located on U.S. Highway 169 in Trimble.

First Security Bank is not a traditional bank where just anybody can walk in, so police said the suspect was most likely buzzed in before he pulled a gun and demanded cash. That's where things took an unusual turn.

Trimble Police Chief Larry Fish said a civilian inside the bank pulled out a gun and shot the would-be robber.

According to police, the robbery suspect then ran out to a nearby parking lot, hopped in a car and took off, leading Trimble police, highway patrol and several other agencies on a chase that ended on I-435 near Northeast 76th Street when authorities laid down four sets of spike strips. Missouri State Highway Patrol took the suspect into custody where he was then taken to an area hospital.

More @ KCTV

Gold and Silver Approved as Legal Tender by Arizona Senate

Via Timothy

 

Arizona may become the second state, after Utah, to recognize gold and silver as legal tender authorized for payments of debts and taxes.

The Arizona Senate voted Thursday to approve SB 1439 which allows businesses and the state government to accept payments in gold or silver.

The Legal Tender bill specifies that legal tender in Arizona consists of all of the following:

1. Legal Tender authorized by Congress.

2. Specie (containing gold or silver) coin issued at any time by the U.S. government.

3. Any other specie that a court of competent jurisdiction rules by a final, unappealable order to be within the scope of state authority to make legal tender.

More @ EU Times

North Carolinians Who Fought and Died Like Heroes

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My great, great grandfather and uncle were in the 53rd NC which was part of Rhode's division until the general was killed and replaced by General Bryan Grimes.  



 Private Leon, A Jew, Served In 53rd NC    
=======================================================

“[Company E, 20th North Carolina Regiment] was next in the Gettysburg campaign and was a part of Gen. [Robert] Rhode’s division that drove [the enemy’s] forces from Berryville and Martinsburg out of the valley. 

It then crossed the Potomac into Williamsport for the second time, the Brigade to which this company belonged being the first to enter Maryland and also Pennsylvania, then back to Gettysburg and was engaged in the first day’s fight and lost four men [killed]: Marion Cogdell, Richard Bennett, Jesse Baker and Ashley Tew. Wesley Campbell, James D. Ireland, Joseph H. Kornegay, Dallas Price, John L. Tew, and B.B. Carr were so severely wounded that they were either discharged or placed on light duty.

Giles Martin and Reuben Branch were also severely wounded, and every one of the thirty members of the company then present that went into the fight were either killed, wounded or captured except William Barfield, and he went in with the sharp shooters and not with the regular lines. Only nine were captured unhurt. Capt. L.T. Hicks and Lieuts. A.D. Hicks and J.B. Oliver were captured and remained in prison until near the close of the war, and the company was out of a commissioned officer until the close of the war.

The 23rd, 20th, and 5th Regiments of Iverson’s Brigade in this battle were nearly all killed, wounded or captured. Of the 20th Regiment every officer, 24 being present, were killed, wounded or captured. So far is known, every officer, about 250 in the Regiment, that went into line of battle were killed, wounded or captured. Only sixteen men of the 20th Regiment, commanded by one Lieutenant, J.L. Ireland, marched away from Gettysburg.

Lieutenant Ireland and a portion of these sixteen men marched Gettysburg after the first day of fighting. The remainder were members of the skirmish corps who escaped.

Iverson’s Brigade was uselessly sacrificed. Gen. [Richard] Ewell, in his report said,

“The left of Iverson’s Brigade was thus exposed, but these gallant troops obstinately stood their ground until the greater part of three regiments (5th, 20th and 23rd) had fallen where they stood in line of battle. A few of them, being entirely surrounded, were taken prisoners. A few escaped.”

Gen. Rhodes officially reported of Iverson’s Brigade:

“His men fought and died like heroes. His dead lay in a distinctly marked line of battle. His left was overpowered and many of his men, being surrounded, were captured.”

The 20th North Carolina went on to fight at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and….the Second Cold Harbor. [After the last battle General Robert E. Lee commended the regiment for its valor:]

“Yesterday evening the enemy penetrated a part of our line and planted his colors upon the temporary breastworks erected by our troops. He was immediately repulsed, and among the brave men who met him, the 20th North Carolina, under Col. T.F. Toon, of the brigade commanded by Gen. R.D. Johnson, captured his flag. It was brought to me by Major John S. Brooks of that Regiment who received his promotion for gallantry at Chancellorsville, with the request that it be sent to Governor Vance. I take great pleasure in complying with the wish of the gallant captors, and respectfully ask that it be granted, and that these colors be presented to the State of North Carolina as another evidence of the valor and devotion that have made her name eminent in the armies of the Confederacy.”

(Flashes of Duplin’s History and Government, Faison Wells McGowen & Pearl Canady McGowen, editors, 1971, pp. 228-230)

 North Carolina’s War Between the States Sesquicentennial
“The Official Website of the North Carolina war Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission”

Ben Carson, Why Am I Not Surprised At Your Stance On Guns?

 Dr.-Ben-Carson

When gifted neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson spoke out at the National Prayer breakfast and communicated sound principles, people applauded him. Even I thought his speech was great and I wrote about it. Many were already making bumper stickers and t-shirts with “Ben Carson for President” on them. Well stop the presses. Carson, in a candid moment with Glenn Beck, completely fumbled the Second Amendment, and with that fumble goes any chance of real conservatives or libertarians backing him for office, or at least it should. Carson claimed that people who live in large cities shouldn’t be allowed to own semi-automatic weapons.

Ironically, Carson was an ROTC instructor for Freedom Outpost’s Kevin Fobbs and Fobbs communicated his respect for Carson and his appreciation for the lessons he learned from him in a recent article.

However, though Carson passed on political correctness when it came to the prayer breakfast with Barack Obama looking on not ten feet from where he spoke, on this issue he does not stand with the Constitution and one of the most basic duties of man and that is to be able to defend one’s self, family, community from attackers and tyrannical government.

DOJ: Children Do Not Need—and Have No Right to--Mothers

 Donald Verrilli

The Obama Justice Department is arguing in the United States Supreme Court that children do not need mothers.

The Justice Department’s argument on the superfluity of motherhood is presented in a brief the Obama administration filed in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that amended California’s Constitution to say that marriage involves only one man and one woman.

The Justice Department presented its conclusions about parenthood in rebutting an argument made by proponents of Proposition 8 that the traditional two-parent family, led by both a mother and a father, was the ideal place, determined even by nature itself, to raise a child.

The Obama administration argues this is not true. It argues that children need neither a father nor a mother and that having two fathers or two mothers is just as good as having one of each.

The Obama administration argues this is not true. It argues that children need neither a father nor a mother and that having two fathers or two mothers is just as good as having one of each.

“The [California] Voter Guide arguably offered a distinct but related child-rearing justification for Proposition 8: 'the best situation for a child is to be raised by a married mother and father,’” said the administration’s brief submitted to the court by Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr.

More @ CNS News

NC: Republicans to press ahead with voter ID law

Via Randy

 

Republicans in the North Carolina House of Representatives said Tuesday they'll press ahead with plans to pass a voter identification law this session.

Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) said there will be public hearings and multiple committee meetings on the contentious issue before a bill is filed.

"A convincing majority of North Carolinians support voter ID, and we will pass a strong bill this session," Tillis said.

Conservatives have been pushing for a law that would require some form of photo identification to cast a ballot in North Carolina for over a year.

They say it's necessary to prevent voter fraud. Liberal groups point out that voter fraud is not a problem in the state and say a photo ID requirement is a thinly veiled attempt to weed out voters who would be more likely to support Democrats - including minorities and elderly people.

Republicans say that is not the intent.

More @ ABC

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GOP, Dem senators strike agreement on gun trafficking bill

 

A bipartisan group of senators has announced a deal to crack down on illegal trafficking and straw purchases of firearms.

Given broad opposition to renewing the federal assault weapons ban and the lack of a bipartisan deal to expand background checks, the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act has perhaps the best chance of any gun-violence measure of passing the 113th Congress.

More @ The Hill

Arrogant CO Democrat Scolds Rape Survivor at Gun Ban Hearing: Statistics Weren’t On Your Side

Via Horace 

 
Every year hundreds of thousands of Americans use firearms to defend themselves from attackers of one kind or another. Despite the state’s reputation as a frontier state, Colorado’s Democrats are hell-bent on disarming law-abiding citizens and, in particular, women, from being able to defend themselves with a firearm. The latest is state Sen. Evie Hudak who, at a hearing on banning concealed carry on college campuses, told rape survivor Amanda Collins that having a gun would not have done her any good. Collins had just shared her story of survival. Democrat Hudak berated her in response.
I just want to say, statistics are not on your side, even if you had had a gun. You said that you were a martial arts student, I mean person, experience in taekwondo, and yet because this individual was so large and was able to overcome you even with your skills, and chances are that if you had had a gun, then he would have been able to get than from you and possibly use it against you …
Or she could have shot him, or cornered him and called 911 to get the police to come pick him up. A pistol can be a great equalizer in the face of a threat.

More with video @ PJ Tatler

What will happen if Obama Orders the U.S. Military to Confiscate Guns in America?

Via avordvet

 

 USA 5 March 2013. It is time for Americans to start thinking seriously about the possibility that their sons and daughters may be put in the untenable position going house-to-house, confiscating firearms and ammunition from their friends and family? What will they do?


Throughout the military - the kids, grandkids, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and friends of veterans and gun enthusiasts are likely weighing the possibilities of such an order and just how far they personally would be willing to go in carrying out something that would rip the very fabric of this nation apart and go against everything they’ve sworn to protect. In thinking the unthinkable, certainly they must be questioning the end game and who are the real good guys. Especially, when they see this President fail to pay homage to the recent death of the greatest American Sniper in history, Chris Kyle. 

When they see this Commander in Chief fail to engage while our Ambassador in Benghazi and former Navy Seals are in the fight of their lives, wouldn’t a reasonable soldier reevaluate Obama’s fidelity to the code – we leave no one behind. When Janet Napolitano’s Homeland Security Report labels returning Veterans and Tea Party people as potential terrorists, one has to ask what the heck is going on. When they see towns putting in place plans for confiscation of firearms from the “unruly” during emergency, when veterans are receiving letters deeming them incompetent to own firearms without due process - aren’t those in service wondering if they themselves will be the ones seen as threats, will they be the “unruly” that towns are talking about?

Will soldiers look closely if they are ordered to search American families’ homes?

Types of real survivalists: 4. The good boss

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Just quick reminder in this series of posts I write about typical types of survivalists I came across during my time in war. I speak in detail about complete time in my online course.

Today is about typical leader who knew how to handle our survival situation during war.

He was police officer, we called him “boss” because his look and stand, he had 30 years of service and I do not think that he used a gun too much, but he had a palm like a shovel and he used that a lot dealing with problematic teenagers.

Grumpy guy with who you do not want to have too much business, and if you get caught for some minor thing, theft or whatever, he did not talk to much with you, but his look talked stories, and his hands too. He gave people justice on spot and got respect for that too. He made difference for our neighborhood and was type of police officer that in my opinion does not exist today anymore.

He and his colleagues had a patrol in better part of the city when SHTF, and in the beginning they tried to make some sense in all that, restore order, but when they saw that ambulance vehicle on call gets shredded with shots they realized that a new time had come.

More @ SHTF School