Plata o Plombo....silver or lead

The drug cartels have been targeting police, judges and other law enforcement agents in Mexico and South America for years. But this is the first time its come to north of the border.

A chilling message from the cartels: Billboards with hanging mannequins warning cops to choose 'silver over lead' appear in Texas 

Two billboards along highways in El Paso, Texas were vandalized and had mannequins hanging off of them One reads 'silver or lead' in Spanish which is taken to mean that police and business owners can either take drug cartels' bribes or die 

Worries spreading that cartels that have ruled Mexican border towns with violence may be headed north Two frightening incidents of vandalism in El Paso near the Mexican border in Texas have been interpreted as warnings from drug cartels. 

In both instances, a mannequin wearing a suit and tie was tied to a billboard with a noose and messages were scrawled over the placards.     

Local station KHOU reports that one of the signs reads 'Plata o Plombo' which translates to 'silver or lead', a threat used commonly against police officers effectively warning that if they do not accept the cartel's bribes then they will be shot. 

Threat: The translation of the painted vandalism means 'silver or lead' which is meant to mean that police officers and business owners should either accept bribes or expect gunshots... ...The message was different this (second) time, as the paint read: 'Dying for drugs' was written over a wanted poster calling for the capture of drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero. This second mannequin was dressed in jeans rather than the suit and tie from the other instance. 

The mannequins were a particularly jarring image for many familiar with the drug war, as some of the most violent drug lords south of the border regularly hang offenders off highway overpasses. While a warning from drug lords seems like one of the most likely prospects, KHOU reports that prosecutors have another theory that the vandalism also could have been caused by activist groups working against the war on drugs.

In Mexico you can find open recruiting signs for police, offering them multiple times what they make as a cop.  And opening threatening them and their families.  But the border is secure as it's ever been, right Homeland Security.

Yo, little Johnny Boehner, maybe now is not the time for amnesty, oh, excuse me, "comprehensive immigration reform."

A classic example of a how a take down should happen.

Saw this and the usual suspects are screaming about “racial profiling” (translation, a black man got stopped for a traffic infraction) and are saying he was abused. I look at this video and the suspect was aggressive and ready to right. The officer executed a perfect take down of the suspect.

Video: NC police defend takedown of cyclist 

Department believes officers acted "professionally and within policy" in arresting a man whose lawyer is claiming excessive force 

DURHAM, N.C. — Releasing video of the incident, police department commanders said Tuesday they believe officers acted "professionally and within policy" in arresting a man whose lawyer claims one used excessive force. 

The unusual move came two days before the City Council is scheduled to hear a report from Durham's Human Relations Commission that, among other things, says there's evidence of racial bias and profiling in the department's practices. 

The lawyer who made the excessive-force claim, Scott Holmes, told The Herald-Sun earlier this month that he planned to give the video of the incident to at least one civil-rights group for likely use in a news conference before Thursday's City Council meeting. 

But "the community needs to know officers did not act inappropriately when they are being told they [had], by someone prominent in this community," Police Chief Jose Lopez said. 

Holmes' client, John G. Hill Jr., was arrested last Sept. 28 and charged with resisting arrest and running a stoplight on his bicycle as he rode through the intersection of Alston Avenue and Lawson Street. 

Hill was acquitted of the charges on May 8, Holmes taking to Facebook the next day to say among other things the officer who made the stop should be prosecuted for assault inflicting serious injury… 

…The videos released Tuesday include three from Daniels' car and one from a backup officer's car. Department officials posted three of them to YouTube, the fourth in substance being only a duplicate of the audio of one of the others. It has little audio, Daniels having failed to attach a microphone to his belt as he stepped out of his patrol car. 

The images begin with Hill on his bicycle in front of Daniels' patrol car, gesticulating at himself, the officer, the road and the patrol car. He is plainly agitated, and Daniels pauses to use his radio. The officer then resumes discussion with Hill, pointing at the patrol car. Hill gets off the bike, as the officer points to the curb. Hill then throws the bike to the side and faces Daniels squarely. 

The exchange between the two continues for about 25 more seconds, Daniels then stepping forward to take hold of Hill by the wrist. Hill steps forward into the street, Daniels countering by reaching around Hill's back and leveraging him to the ground. "Stop moving," he told Hill in one of the few intelligible comments recorded before officers open the car's door to place Hill inside. 

Department commanders say Daniels had asked Hill to take a seat on the curb, and then in reaching for Hill intended to "place him into detention in order to gain control of the situation." When Hill tried to pull away, Daniels responded with a "standard arm-bar technique" officers are trained to use by both the N.C. Justice Academy and the Durham Police Department, he said. 

The second video is the in-car video of a backup officer and recorded much of the subsequent dialogue from officers and Hill. It captured Hill's denial of having run the light, him telling officers the signal "was green before I got to the crosswalk." 

"All I'm doing is going to work," he added. "These m------------ are trying to accuse me of something because I'm black. I'm going to sue the s---- out of you." 

Daniels, meanwhile, talked to the other officers and a sergeant who showed up after a bit to open a use-of-force investigation. The group appeared for the most part unruffled and unhurried. 

"I don't even know who the f--- he is," he told one colleague who asked if Hill had any warrants pending against him. "Just goes to show you the smallest thing can be a big thing," the other officer said… Daniels did tell Hill he had video of him running the signal. But he found that the camera only started recording when he switched on the car's blue lights. "I don't know why it won't go back to the very beginning," he said at one point. 

Lopez and Deputy Police Chief Larry Smith said commanders have updated camera software and tightened procedures on the use of in-car recorders since the November in-custody shooting death of Jesus Huerta. That incident, unrecorded by an in-car camera, led to widespread criticism of the Police Department and a series of street protests. The procedure and software changes should help ensure that video of incidents is more commonly available, Smith said. 

The second video also caught Daniels saying he'd intended only to give Hill a warning. "All I was gonna do was just tell him not to run the stoplight," he told the sergeant. The third video captured some of Hill's discussion with the sergeant and all of his comments to Daniels as the officer took him to the Durham County Jail. 

He several times referred to Daniels as a "cracker," and accused the officer of "blatant racism" and lying. He also repeated his threat to sue and at one point claimed to be "very well connected." 

"Sorry sapsucker," he told Daniels. "Yeah, I can't wait. I'm gonna spend these couple of days in jail, I'll be out Monday, but you're a-- is gonna lose your job. You don't think so? You don't think so? You're gonna lose your job, I'm gonna make sure of it. Might not get you in court, but there's Facebook; there's Twitter. We gonna get rid of you, get you off the street before you shoot a n------ 10 times like that other guy did. What's my crime, standing up to you and your lies?" 

Police commanders said Tuesday that the only injury they knew Hill suffered was some scrapes to the head that Hill received treatment for from EMS at the scene….

Good work officer, glad you’re ok. To that sack of human exscretment, good luck on your law suit~

The one time he couldn't escape. RIP Bill Ash

The Great Escape was inspired by this man. Another of the Greatest Generation has passed.

Bill Ash, WWII prisoner who attempted multiple escapes from POW camps, dies at 96

Bill Ash, a Texas-born fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force, who was shot down over France and made more than a dozen daring efforts to escape from German prisoner-of-war camps during World War II, died April 26 in London. He was 96.

Brendan Foley, the co-author of Mr. Ash’s 2005 autobiography, “Under the Wire,” confirmed the death. Mr. Ash had been in declining health for several years.

Never one to shy from ad­ven­ture, Mr. Ash rode the rails as a hobo during the Great Depression, served in India as a BBC correspondent in the 1950s and later become an avowed Marxist, leading leftist groups in England, where he spent most of his adult life.

But he was best known for his remarkable exploits during World War II, particularly after he crash-landed his British-built Spitfire fighter in 1942 after a dogfight with German planes over France. Tortured by the German Gestapo and marked for execution, Mr. Ash was spared the firing squad when he was transferred to a high-security prison camp in Germany.

He made 13 escape attempts during his three years in captivity and was able to get beyond the perimeter of his prison camps half a dozen times. But, until his final — and successful — escape attempt in the waning days of the war, he was always recaptured. Invariably, he would be transported back to camp, where he was locked in “the cooler,” or solitary isolation cell.

“He was the undisputed American ‘cooler king,’ ” Foley, Mr. Ash’s co-author, said Saturday in an interview. “To other prisoners, he was just such a legend. He was the last of the great World War II escape artists.”

Mr. Ash had three separate stints in Stalag Luft III, a POW camp in eastern Germany run by the Luftwaffe and reserved for captured aviators. In 1944, the camp was the site of the largest mass escape of Allied prisoners during World War II, the so-called “Great Escape,” which was depicted in a 1963 film of the same name.

Many people suggested that Mr. Ash was the inspiration for the leading character in the movie, played by Steve McQueen, but he always denied it — in part because he was in the cooler at the time and was not among the 76 POWs who escaped, if only temporarily. (Fifty were later executed, on orders of Adolf Hitler.)

Although Mr. Ash gave up his U.S. citizenship when he signed up for the Canadian air force, he never disguised his American origins. He was known as “Tex,” even among prisoners from the British Commonwealth, France and other countries.

“To the day he died,” Foley said, “he still had an amiable Texan drawl.”

He first tried to escape through a shower drain before being caught. At different times, he tried to climb over, tunnel under and cut through the barbed wire surrounding his POW camp. He once tried to pass himself as a Russian laborer.

“I always admired the prisoners who could disguise themselves as Danish butter salesmen who were returning from some conference with forged railway tickets and perfect German,” he once told Foley, who knew Mr. Ash since the 1980s. “My idea was always to get on the other side of the wire and run like hell.”

One time, at a camp in present-day Szubin, Poland, Mr. Ash helped organize an escape of about 30 prisoners by digging a tunnel that began directly under the latrine. All were eventually recaptured, and Mr. Ash went back to the cooler at Stalag Luft III.

After exchanging identities with a fellow prisoner from New Zealand, Mr. Ash managed to join a group of prisoners being transferred to a Nazi prison camp in Lithuania. While there, he successfully tunneled out of the prison and made his way to the waterfront.

He appealed to local residents for help in pushing a boat into the sea, where he hoped to row to freedom.

“We would love to help you,” he said they told them, “but we are soldiers of the German army and you are standing on our cabbages.”

He was sent back to the cooler.

Finally, in 1945, suffering from jaundice and starvation, Mr. Ash was among a group of prisoners being transferred to a different camp in Germany. After a firefight broke out, he walked away and met a column of British soldiers.

“Don’t shoot — he’s British,” one of them said.

“Actually, I’m American,” Mr. Ash replied. “And Canadian and British. It’s a long story.”

William Franklin Ash was born Nov. 30, 1917, in Dallas. He said his father was a failed salesman and that his background was less white collar than “frayed collar.”

He traveled the country as a hobo in the 1930s and held a series of jobs while working his way through the University of Texas. In 1940, more than a year before the United States entered World War II, Mr. Ash walked across the border and volunteered to fight for Canada, then part of the British empire.

After the war, he settled in England and studied at Oxford’s Balliol College. He became a foreign correspondent for the BBC in India in the 1950s, but his growing dedication to leftist causes ended his journalism career.

His politics evolved from his experiences in the Depression, his resentment of authority and a belief that “anyone who is one paycheck ahead of disaster is working class.” He eventually helped form a Marxist-Leninist splinter group of the Communist Party, wrote for radio and theater and published several novels in the 1960s. He also wrote a book in praise of the ruthlessly repressive and backward regime of Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Ash was director of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and published a well-regarded textbook about writing radio dramas.

His first marriage, to Patricia Rambault, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife since the late 1950s, Ranjana Sidhanta of London; two children from his first marriage; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

One of the most dramatic scenes in “The Great Escape,” occurs when McQueen races across fields on a motorcycle, jumping over a barbed-wire fence in an effort to escape his German pursuers.

Although Mr. Ash was an experienced motorcycle rider, he said that was something he never tried in the prison camps.

“All I remember,” he once told Foley, “is there was never a motorcycle around when you needed one.”

Mr Ash, Steve McQueen didn't make the jump, you would have. RIP sir, in the camp your in now you don't need to escape anymore.

K9 Down

K9 Mick
Portland Oregon Police Bureau
End of Watch: Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Gender: M

K9 Mick was shot and killed while pursuing one of three burglary suspects who fled on foot in the area of Southwest Lobelia Street following a vehicle pursuit.

Officers had responded to burglary in progress of a police and public safety supply store and observed three men exit the building and flee in an SUV. The officers pursued the vehicle a short distance until it crashed. Two of the subjects were taken into custody, but the third fled on foot. As K9 Mick attempted to take him down the man opened fire with a rifle, killing Mick and wounding his handler.

The subject who shot them was apprehended about three hours later.

Rest in Peace Mick …and enjoy running the green grass of Heaven!

In Memory of all Police Dogs

They handled themselves with beauty & grace

And who could ever forget that beautiful face

Whether at work; or at home; whatever the test

They always worked hard; and did their best

They were real champions; at work or at play

But their lives were cut short; suddenly one day

While working on the job with their partner one day

They put themselves out on a limb; out into harms way

They gave the ultimate sacrifice; any dog can give

They gave up their life; so someone could live

The best of their breed; as his partner and anyone would say

Many hearts are now broken; that he had to prove it this way

Now as the trees are blowing in the gentle breeze

The sun is shining; thru the leaves on the trees

The meadows are green; and the grass grows tall

Off in the distance they can see a waterfall

As they look over the falls; down through the creek

The water flows gently; as a rabbit sneaks a peek

Far up above; in the deep blue sky

They see the birds soar high; as they fly by

They see animals playing; at the bridge by a waterfall

Chasing each other; and just having a ball

They play all day; from morning to night

There's no more rain; just warm sunlight

Off in the distance; they hear trumpets blow

Then all the animals look up; and notice a bright glow

The harps would play and the angels would sing

As they know they've come home; they've earned their wings

We remember that they died; in the line of duty

And are now with the Lord; sharing in heaven's beauty

Off to the meadows now; where they can play and roam free

With an occasional rest stop; under a tall oak tree

No more bad guys to chase; or bullets to take

Just a run through the meadow; down to the lake

A quick splash in the water; then back to the shore

Then it's off to the forest; to go play some more

These special dogs are back home; up in heaven above

They're cradled in God's arm's; and covered with His love

We'll light a candle for all of them; in the dark of night

In loving memory of all; these very special knights

By John Quealy

Officer Down

Police Officer II Chris Cortijo
Los Angeles California Police Department
End of Watch: Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Age: 51
Tour: 26 years
Badge # 25473
Incident Date: 4/5/2014

Police Officer Chris Cortijo succumbed to injuries sustained four days earlier when his police motorcycle was struck from behind by an impaired driver at the intersection of Lankershim Boulevard at Saticoy Street.

Officer Cortijo was stopped at a red light when the impaired driver struck him from behind at full speed, trapping him between the drunk driver's vehicle and the vehicle that was in front of him. He was transported to a local hospital where he remained in a coma until succumbing to his injuries.

The driver who struck Officer Cortijo was charged with driving under the influence of drugs and possession of cocaine.

Officer Cortijo was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Los Angeles Police Department for 26 years.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

The New York Times shows its objectivity again

The New York Times goes at it again. They are covering the scheduled permanent rehabilitation of Robert Campbell at 600pm tonight. I gotta say I love the title.

Confronted on Execution, Texas Proudly Says It Kills Efficiently

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. — If Texas executes Robert James Campbell as planned on Tuesday, for raping and murdering a woman, it will be the nation’s first execution since Oklahoma’s bungled attempt at lethal injection two weeks ago left a convicted murderer writhing and moaning before he died.

Lawyers for Mr. Campbell are trying to use the Oklahoma debacle to stop the execution here. But many in this state and in this East Texas town north of Houston, where hundreds have been executed in the nation’s busiest death chamber, like to say they do things right.

Well, lets look at what little Clayton Lockett did to earn his place on Oklahoma's death row. From Tulsa World:

...(Stephanie) Neiman was dropping off a friend at a Perry residence on June 3, 1999, the same evening Clayton Lockett and two accomplices decided to pull a home invasion robbery there. Neiman fought Lockett when he tried to take the keys to her truck.
The men beat her and used duct tape to bind her hands and cover her mouth. Even after being kidnapped and driven to a dusty country road, Neiman didn't back down when Lockett asked if she planned to contact police.

The men had also beaten and kidnapped Neiman's friend along with Bobby Bornt, who lived in the residence, and Bornt's 9-month-old baby.

"Right is right and wrong is wrong. Maybe that's what Clayton was so scared of, because Stephanie did stand up for her rights," her parents later wrote to jurors in an impact statement. "She did not blink an eye at him. We raised her to work hard for what she got."...

...Lockett later told police "he decided to kill Stephanie because she would not agree to keep quiet," court records state.

Neiman was forced to watch as Lockett's accomplice, Shawn Mathis, spent 20 minutes digging a shallow grave in a ditch beside the road. Her friends saw Neiman standing in the ditch and heard a single shot.

Lockett returned to the truck because the gun had jammed. He later said he could hear Neiman pleading, "Oh God, please, please" as he fixed the shotgun.
The men could be heard "laughing about how tough Stephanie was" before Lockett shot Neiman a second time.

"He ordered Mathis to bury her, despite the fact that Mathis informed him Stephanie was still alive."...

Now this is interesting:

For two years now, Texas has used a single drug, the barbiturate pentobarbital, instead of the three-drug regimen used in neighboring Oklahoma. Prison administrators from other states often travel here to learn how Texas performs lethal injections and to observe executions. Texas officials have provided guidance and, on at least a few occasions, carried out executions for other states....

...More than any other place in the United States, Huntsville is the capital of capital punishment. All of the 515 men and women Texas has executed since 1982 by lethal injection and all of the 361 inmates it electrocuted from 1924 to 1964 were killed here in the same prison in the same town, at the red-brick Walls Unit. Texas accounts for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s executions.

So many people have been put to death and so often — in January 2000, seven people were executed in 15 days — that people here take little notice.

Sounds like we know what we are doing and with people asking for advise, we shoukld be proud!

A lot of this article is the usual tripe on how executions are bad and it really may be a problem, and most of the space is for death penalty opponents. Balance, you see. But take a look at this.

...A Question of Methodology

On Monday, an appeal by Mr. Campbell’s lawyers to stop the execution reached the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The lawyers cited the “horrifically botched” execution in Oklahoma, where Clayton D. Lockett writhed and moaned on the table until prison officials halted the procedure. Mr. Lockett died 43 minutes after the delivery of drugs into a vein in his groin began. Oklahoma has declared a six-month stay of the next execution.

A Texas execution in April has raised questions. Jose Villegas, 39, who was convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, her young son and her mother, reportedly complained of a burning sensation as a lethal injection began to take effect. Texas argued that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution “does not require the elimination of all risk of pain,” only that the method not be “sure or very likely to cause serious illness and needless suffering.”

Opponents of the death penalty question Texas’ reputation. Austin D. Sarat, an Amherst College professor who has studied the death penalty, put the state’s rate of mishaps at about 4 percent, slightly higher than Oklahoma’s, if difficulty in finding a vein is included in the calculation...

I draw your attention back to the first article. I really doubt Mr. Lockett experienced any pain like the woman he murdered. And he will never commit another crime again. Rest in Piss Mr. Campbell, may your final Judge grant your more mercy that you deserve. And as for you minions at Manhatten's most famous rag, I'll leave you with the great words of Ron White.

I guess JFK just died of lead poisoning....

If nothing tells you Eleanor Rodham Clift has lost it, this does.

Two for one, maybe the Texans can get him from free agency!

Watch the insane video of a teenage boy throwing and catching his own pass!

K9 Down

K9 Maros
United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations
End of Watch: Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Age: 7
Gender: M

Officer Jason Crisp and K9 Maros were shot and killed in Burke County, North Carolina, while participating in the manhunt for a subject who had murdered his own parents.

Officers from several agencies were searching for the subject after the bodies of the subject's parents were located in their home in the 5000 block of Fish Hatchery Road. The subject had previously served one year in prison on a manslaughter charge for a murder he committed in 1997.

Officer Crisp and several other officers located the subject in the area of Fish Hatchery Road and Pea Ridge Road and were fired upon. Officer Crisp was fatally wounded during the exchange of gunfire.

The subject then stole Officer Crisp's service weapon and extra magazines before fleeing further into the woods. He was located by other officers a short time later and was shot and killed when he opened fire on them.

Rest in Peace Maros…and enjoy running the green grass of Heaven!

In Memory of all Police Dogs

They handled themselves with beauty & grace

And who could ever forget that beautiful face

Whether at work; or at home; whatever the test

They always worked hard; and did their best

They were real champions; at work or at play

But their lives were cut short; suddenly one day

While working on the job with their partner one day

They put themselves out on a limb; out into harms way

They gave the ultimate sacrifice; any dog can give

They gave up their life; so someone could live

The best of their breed; as his partner and anyone would say

Many hearts are now broken; that he had to prove it this way

Now as the trees are blowing in the gentle breeze

The sun is shining; thru the leaves on the trees

The meadows are green; and the grass grows tall

Off in the distance they can see a waterfall

As they look over the falls; down through the creek

The water flows gently; as a rabbit sneaks a peek

Far up above; in the deep blue sky

They see the birds soar high; as they fly by

They see animals playing; at the bridge by a waterfall

Chasing each other; and just having a ball

They play all day; from morning to night

There's no more rain; just warm sunlight

Off in the distance; they hear trumpets blow

Then all the animals look up; and notice a bright glow

The harps would play and the angels would sing

As they know they've come home; they've earned their wings

We remember that they died; in the line of duty

And are now with the Lord; sharing in heaven's beauty

Off to the meadows now; where they can play and roam free

With an occasional rest stop; under a tall oak tree

No more bad guys to chase; or bullets to take

Just a run through the meadow; down to the lake

A quick splash in the water; then back to the shore

Then it's off to the forest; to go play some more

These special dogs are back home; up in heaven above

They're cradled in God's arm's; and covered with His love

We'll light a candle for all of them; in the dark of night

In loving memory of all; these very special knights

By John Quealy

Officer Down

Police Officer Dennis Guerra
New York City Police Department
End of Watch: Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Age: 38
Tour: 8 years
Incident Date: 4/6/2014

Police Officer Dennis Guerra died from injuries he sustained after responding to a residential apartment building fire.

Officer Guerra and his partner responded to a fire on the 13th floor of a New York City Housing Authority building in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. As Officer Guerra and his partner stepped off the elevator onto the 13th floor, they were immediately overcome by heavy smoke and carbon monoxide fumes. The officers radioed for assistance, and members of the New York City Fire Department responded and found both officers unconscious and unresponsive. Officer Guerra was resuscitated with CPR and transported to a local hospital. He was later transferred to a specialized hospital in the Bronx, where he died three days later from his injuries. Officer Guerra's partner was removed to a local hospital where she is in critical but stable condition.

It was determined that the fire was intentionally set by a 16-year-old arsonist, who lit a mattress on fire in the hallway of the building. He was arrested by Detectives and his charges are pending.

Officer Guerra had served with the New York City Police Department for eight years and is survived by his wife and four children. He was assigned to Police Service Area 1.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

A look at fathers on this Mother's Day

As I sit here on Mother's Day, waiting for the heat and humidity to rise, plus the invasion of my family in the early afternoon (boiling crawfish), I'm reading the Houston Chronicle. I don't agree with Mr. Pitts often, but when he gets it right he hits it out of the park. A look at the difficulties of children, especially inner city minorities, in making it without an involved father.

Absence of fathers continues to affect our families

Maybe you heard about the tribute Kevin Durant paid his mother last week. You probably missed the one he paid his dad.

Both came during Durant’s acceptance speech after being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. Maybe you don’t follow sports, maybe you’ve never heard of Durant, maybe you think a pick and roll is a roadside produce stand. You still should see the video.

In a voice choked with tears Durant, a ferociously talented forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, thanks God. He thanks each teammate by name, thanks his coach, support staff, brothers, friends, grandmother, fans, the sportswriters who voted for him. And in the part that will have you clearing your throat and discovering a foreign particle in your eye, he speaks directly to his mother.

“The odds were stacked against us,” he says. “Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old. … We moved from apartment to apartment by ourselves. One of the best memories I have is when we moved into our first apartment. No bed, no furniture, and we just all sat in the living room and just hugged each other. We thought we’d made it.”

He recalls her waking him up before dawn to work on his game, exhorting him to run, practice, play to the pinnacle of his ability. “You made us believe, you kept us off the streets, put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.” Wanda Pratt catches her tears in her hand as the crowd gives her a standing ovation.

By contrast, Durant’s acknowledgment of his father is short and almost perfunctory. He notes the “up and down road” they have traveled, the support his father has given “from afar.” He tells him he loves him, but he lavishes less emotion on Wayne Pratt than he does on Russell Westbrook who’s only a teammate, or Scott Brooks, who’s only his coach.

It is a telling moment.

It turns out Pratt deserted his wife and two boys when Kevin was a year old, because, as he told the Washington Post in 2012, “I was immature, selfish; I was young.” It took him almost 10 years to apologize to his sons and make peace with his ex-wife. He says he was a constant presence during Kevin’s teenage years. The intention here is not to indict father or son. No, the intention is simply to say this:

The absence of fathers matters.

We have evolved a society wherein we pretend the opposite is true. The disappearance of fathers is now nearly the norm. Almost one in four American children lives in a household without their biological dads. For brown kids, that number stands at about 28 percent. For black kids, it’s a little more than half.

Mass incarceration and the War on Drugs have certainly played a role in this. But just as surely, a role is also played by the new social concept which says it’s OK for a man or a woman to be feckless, for him to wander away because he is immature, selfish and young, for her to have a baby on her own because the clock is ticking and really, she doesn’t need a man for anything more than sperm. This is the new morality, the new American mindset.

And we tell ourselves it’s OK, that this haphazardness has no impact upon the child, that father is not irreplaceable, that his disappearance leaves no scar. But the statistics on poverty, drug use, education and incarceration suggest otherwise. So, in a different sense, does Durant’s speech — a glowing encomium to the woman who brought him through his earliest years alone, a scattering of obligatory words for the man who was not there.

As such, the speech was a testimony to the power of a mother’s love. But it was also a reminder:

A father’s absence has power, too.

Back to Mr. Pitt's War on Drugs comment, he might also add the War on Poverty. And the War on Work started by B Hussein Obama. The first did more to destroy the black family than the likes of the KKK or Margaret Sanger could have in their wet dreams. Before LBJ's disaster the illegitimacy rate among blacks was less than 10%. Now it's over 50% We have encouraged, by government policy, girls having children without consequence or shame. We have encouraged both young men and women to not live, but to exist. The girl gets knocked up, becomes a "baby's momma" and has a career in public housing and other public assistance. The sperm doner, aka "baby daddy", walks away, impregnates at will and does nothing to support his family.

The current version of this is encouraged by 2012 campaign of the present occupant of the White House. See how "Julia" goes though life without a man anywhere near her.

As an aside to this one, growing up I was raised among men and women of accomplishment, to one degree or another. I knew small business owners, successful salesmen, police offices, military offices who were the best at what they chose to be. The encouraged me, by work and mere presence to move forward into my chosen path. Fast forward to current times and I can't tell you how many 20 year olds I've booked and when I ask what do they do for a living the answer is "I'm disabled", although they can run like hell and sell narcotics. Or my favorite, "improvisational rap artist". While still living with their mother at age 40.

What a waste. Brought to you by your friendly, benevolent federal government.

Security Weekly: A Narrowly Averted Tragedy in Minnesota, May 8, 2014

By Scott Stewart

The Waseca Police Department in Minnesota announced May 1 that it had disrupted a local high school student's plot to murder his family and then commit a Columbine-inspired bomb and firearms attack at his school. The department said a concerned citizen called the evening of April 29 and reported seeing a man with a backpack break into a self-storage locker and close the door behind him. Police responding to the call found 17-year-old John LaDue in the storage locker. Noting the presence of gunpowder, pyrotechnic chemicals, a pressure cooker, steel ball bearings and other items used in bombmaking inside the locker, the officers secured the storage space and transported LaDue to the police department for a voluntary interview.

LaDue told officers that he had planned to kill his family, start diversionary fires in a rural part of Waseca to distract first responders, and then travel to his school, where he planned to detonate several explosive devices and shoot the school resource officer, staff and students. LaDue also told officers he had hoped police officers responding to the scene would kill him.

Based on the officers' observations and the interview of LaDue, police obtained search warrants for the storage locker and LaDue's home. They found a document outlining LaDue's plans in minute detail that indicated the plot had been in the works for some 10 months. They also found multiple firearms, including an SKS rifle and a Beretta pistol, several hundred rounds of ammunition and three completed explosive devices. LaDue had apparently intended to conduct the attack on April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 school shooting in Columbine, Colo., but postponed the assault when he realized April 20 fell on a Sunday this year.

LaDue's plot was thwarted, but it highlights several concepts Stratfor has discussed for many years concerning such attacks and specifically how they can be prevented.

Attacks Follow a Process

The LaDue case is another demonstration that an attack does not "just happen." Rather, it is the result of a distinct and discernible planning cycle that anyone wanting to conduct an attack must follow.

There are several points in the process in which an aspiring attacker has no choice but to make himself vulnerable to detection. One such point is while conducting preoperational surveillance. Another is during the weapons acquisition phase. There have been numerous cases in which would-be attackers have unwittingly reached out to government agents or informants in an effort to gather weapons or explosive devices for an attack. This is true for attackers of many ideologies: jihadists, neo-Nazis, anti-government militia members, anarchists and militant environmentalists.

The success of these sting cases has led jihadist leaders from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the al Qaeda core since 2009 to encourage grassroots attackers to conduct simple attacks within their capabilities. Right- and left-wing militant ideologues have issued similar calls for their adherents to conduct attacks alone or in small "phantom" cells.

Even when an aspiring attacker opts for a simple strike, obtaining the components to construct even a basic explosive device such as a pressure cooker bomb has led to the arrest of some plotters. Often they attract attention by their demeanor while acquiring necessary items. In July 2011, for example, Pfc. Jason Abdo was arrested in a Killeen, Texas, hotel after a gun store employee told police that Abdo had acted suspiciously while purchasing a large quantity of smokeless powder. Abdo was planning to bomb a Killeen restaurant that soldiers frequented.

In the LaDue case, it was his demeanor at the storage facility that led to the phone call to police. In an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the witness noted that she called police because she sensed something was wrong in the way he arrived at the storage space by sneaking through her backyard instead of coming in on the road. LaDue also took some time to get into the locker, leading the witness to believe he may have broken into it, and then shut the door behind him. This is obviously not normal behavior for someone visiting a self-storage site.

Bombmaker Clues

In actuality, LaDue's behavior at the storage locker was not the first clue Waseca police had that something was afoot. While planning the attack, LaDue had experimented with his improvised explosive device components and had detonated smaller devices in parks, the high school athletic field and church and elementary school playgrounds. Police had opened an investigation into the remains of some CO2 cartridge bombs found on the playground at the Hartley Elementary School in Waseca in March. It is unclear from published reports if LaDue planned to use the CO2 cartridges filled with gunpowder as improvised detonators for his pressure cooker bombs or if he intended to use them as improvised hand grenades. Either way, the remnants of the explosive devices were evidence that someone was engaged in bombmaking.

Bombmakers frequently test improvised explosive mixtures and bomb components such as blasting caps to ensure that they are functioning properly and that the completed device will therefore be viable. Testing usually involves burning or detonating small quantities of the explosive mixture, or actually exploding the improvised blasting cap or a prototype explosive device. The bombmaker will often attempt to do this in a remote place so as not to draw attention to his activities. LaDue was not so discreet with his explosives tests.

The problem for police with an item such as CO2 canisters filled with black powder is that it is difficult to determine whether the items are intended for use in an attack or if they are merely being used by someone recreationally. It is not uncommon for some people to experiment with small bombs, as a YouTube search of "homemade bomb" will readily attest. But a rash of seemingly "harmless" bomb incidents, as was seen in the LaDue case, could indicate that someone is preparing for an attack and therefore presents police with an opportunity to thwart the attack if they can identify the person doing the bomb testing.

Grassroots Defenders

As we've previously noted, the number of dedicated counterterrorism practitioners is very limited. As a result, attackers, who are forced to reveal themselves during the attack planning cycle, are far more likely to be spotted by someone other than an FBI or MI5 agent. This fact highlights the importance of what we call grassroots defenders -- citizens practicing situational awareness who notice and report indicators of a pending attack, such as weapons acquisition, bombmaking and the conduct of preoperational surveillance.

Grassroots defenders are not vigilantes, and this is not a call to institute the type of paranoid informant network that existed in East Germany. Rather, grassroots defenders are citizens who take responsibility for their own security and for the security of society and who report possible terrorist behavior to authorities. Anyone can spot operational planning activities such as purchasing bombmaking components and firearms, creating or testing improvised explosive mixtures and conducting preoperational surveillance.

The LaDue case was further proof that ordinary citizens exercising good situational awareness can save and have saved lives. This has been the driving force behind programs such as the New York Police Department's "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign, a program subsequently adopted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a means of encouraging citizens to report potential terrorist behavior.

It is unrealistic to expect the government to uncover and thwart every plot. There are simply too many potential malevolent actors and too many vulnerable targets. People need to assume responsibility for their own security and the security of their communities. This doesn't mean living in fear and paranoia but rather being cognizant of potential dangers and alert to indicators of them.

A Narrowly Averted Tragedy in Minnesota Copyright: STRATFOR.COM

K9 Down

K9 Rocco
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Police Department
End of Watch: Thursday, January 30, 2014
Breed: German Shepard
Age: 8
Gender: M
Tour: 5 years
Cause: Stabbed
Incident Date: 1/28/2014

K9 Rocco succumbed to stab wounds sustained two days earlier while protecting his handler and another officer, who were in a violent struggle with a fugitive.

The subject had attempted to disarm a deputy earlier in the day when an Allegheny County sheriff's deputy attempted to arrest him for failure to register as a sex offender and home invasion. The man was able to flee after struggling with the deputy and fled to the 3700 block of Butler Street, where he was located several hours later.

Officer located him the basement of a building. When they entered the darkened room the man began swinging a 5-inch knife at them, wounding both officers. K9 Rocco attacked the subject but suffered a deep stab wound to the back, which punctured his kidney and spine. Rocco was taken to an emergency animal hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, but died two days later.

The subject was taken into custody and faces multiple charges.

K9 Rocco had served with the Pittsburgh Police Department for five years.

Rest in Peace Rocco …and enjoy running the green grass of Heaven!

In Memory of all Police Dogs

They handled themselves with beauty & grace

And who could ever forget that beautiful face

Whether at work; or at home; whatever the test

They always worked hard; and did their best

They were real champions; at work or at play

But their lives were cut short; suddenly one day

While working on the job with their partner one day

They put themselves out on a limb; out into harms way

They gave the ultimate sacrifice; any dog can give

They gave up their life; so someone could live

The best of their breed; as his partner and anyone would say

Many hearts are now broken; that he had to prove it this way

Now as the trees are blowing in the gentle breeze

The sun is shining; thru the leaves on the trees

The meadows are green; and the grass grows tall

Off in the distance they can see a waterfall

As they look over the falls; down through the creek

The water flows gently; as a rabbit sneaks a peek

Far up above; in the deep blue sky

They see the birds soar high; as they fly by

They see animals playing; at the bridge by a waterfall

Chasing each other; and just having a ball

They play all day; from morning to night

There's no more rain; just warm sunlight

Off in the distance; they hear trumpets blow

Then all the animals look up; and notice a bright glow

The harps would play and the angels would sing

As they know they've come home; they've earned their wings

We remember that they died; in the line of duty

And are now with the Lord; sharing in heaven's beauty

Off to the meadows now; where they can play and roam free

With an occasional rest stop; under a tall oak tree

No more bad guys to chase; or bullets to take

Just a run through the meadow; down to the lake

A quick splash in the water; then back to the shore

Then it's off to the forest; to go play some more

These special dogs are back home; up in heaven above

They're cradled in God's arm's; and covered with His love

We'll light a candle for all of them; in the dark of night

In loving memory of all; these very special knights

By John Quealy

Officer Down

Deputy Sheriff Ernest T. Franklin
Barren County Kentucky Sheriff's Office
End of Watch: Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Age: 58

Deputy Sheriff Ernest Franklin was killed in an automobile crash on Kentucky 90, just west of Glasgow.

His vehicle left the roadway, struck an embankment, and then landed in a small pond. He succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

Socialism in one sentence.

Seattle is showing itself as San Francisco north. The issue of raising the minimum wage has been discussed by the powers that be in the Seattle City Council and their hostility to business will show as more companies say "By by". But I found this comment by the Council's open socialist (there are concealed ones on the council) interesting:

Seattle Waiters and Bartenders Make the Case Against a $15 Minimum Wage

Seattle’s push to become the first big U.S. city with a $15-an-hour minimum wage has hit a snag: opposition from waiters and bartenders.

Fearing a dip in their tip income, some are telling local politicians they’re just fine with the status quo. In Washington state, that means $9.32 an hour—plus tips that, for Seattle bartender Bridget Maloney, can add another $45 an hour on weekends. She’s hearing that customers may be stingier if the wage measure pushed by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray passes.

“People are talking about moving to a European system of tipping,” says Maloney, 28, meaning less automatic and not as generous. She has become a spokeswoman for a group called Tips Are Wages, appearing in the Seattle Times, KIRO Radio, and other local media to argue for a carve-out that keeps tipped workers at a lower minimum. “I have built a life around the current model of tipping,” she says.

The mayor missed his own deadline to produce a minimum-wage proposal last week, saying his advisers from business and labor are “stuck” over certain issues. Murray, a Democrat, was elected in November after pledging to raise the minimum to $15.

Restaurants have warned they might boost menu prices as much as 25 percent or force servers to share more of their tips with cooks, dishwashers, and other back-of-the-house staff. The average check at Staple & Fancy and eight other restaurants owned by Ethan Stowell, named a “Best New Chef All Star” by Food & Wine magazine, might go from $94 to $117, according to a presentation to the Seattle city council. Pagliacci Pizza, known for such specialties as the salmon primo, says it might remove the tip line from receipts.

Kshama Sawant, a socialist elected to the council on her own $15 pledge, calls those suggestions “fear mongering” and says people who cling to tips miss the point. “We don’t want any worker to be beholden to the mood of the customer on any given day,” she says...

Now I looked up Ms Sawant's bio on Wikipedia and she, of course, has not real experience in the private sector. She abandoned her studies of computer science and then studies economics. Now being a part-time professor in economics she had no real ideas about how an economy works. Case in point is that quote. She wants low/no skill employees to get skilled labor wages. In the case of a waiter or bartender, their are motivated to preform because of the potential for tips. Without this motivation, people will simple whatever is required. So performance will fall and people will simple vote with their feet, driving to restaurants/bars outside of the city where their business and money is appreciated.

I looked at Ms Sawant's web page and this is what she wants:

Fund Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed

Raise the minimum wage to $15/hr.
A Millionaire’s Tax to fund mass transit, education, and living-wage union jobs providing vital social services.
End corporate welfare. Tax freeloading corporations. Reduce the unfair tax burden on small businesses, homeowners & workers.
Unionize Amazon, Starbucks & low-paid service workers.
No layoffs or attacks on public sector unions!

Environmental Sanity

Put the brakes on the coal trains! Words are not enough – the council needs to pass an ordinance & organize mass protests to make Seattle coal-free.
End the traffic disaster. Dramatically expand public transit & bikeways so cars aren’t necessary to meet day-to-day transit needs.

Affordable Housing

We need rent control!
End homelessness in Seattle. Fully fund services for the disabled, veterans, seniors, & families in crisis.

Fight Police Brutality & Racism

Build a mass movement against police brutality & racial profiling. Create an elected civilian review board with full powers over the police. No SPD drones.
The council should campaign for immediate, unconditional citizenship rights for all undocumented immigrants. Enact a moratorium on Seattle deportations.

Quality Public Schools

Stop defunding public schools. Lower class sizes. Support Seattle teachers & students boycotting the MAP standardized test.
Empower students, parents, and teachers to democratically develop culturally relevant curriculum. Expand anti-bullying efforts & curriculum promoting LGBTQ equality, anti-racism, and anti-sexism.

I'll just mention one other issue she raises, rent control. You can see the other major city it works in so well. New York. There is such a great supply of apartments because of rent control, right? Well you make it difficult to make an honest dollar in housing their will be less of it. But I guess you slept through that part of econ.

Seattle, you will be the next California. I will say last business owner out turn out the lights but they will already be a blackout.

K9 Down

K9 Jager
Petersburg Virginia Police Department
End of Watch: Monday, January 27, 2014
Gender: M

K9 Jager died as the result of injuries sustained in a fall while participating in a training exercising.

Jager was being run through a pursuit scenario when he suffered the injuries. He was immediately given medical care but died a short time later.

K9 Jager had served with the Petersburg Police Department for three years.

Rest in Peace …and enjoy running the green grass of Heaven!

In Memory of all Police Dogs

They handled themselves with beauty & grace

And who could ever forget that beautiful face

Whether at work; or at home; whatever the test

They always worked hard; and did their best

They were real champions; at work or at play

But their lives were cut short; suddenly one day

While working on the job with their partner one day

They put themselves out on a limb; out into harms way

They gave the ultimate sacrifice; any dog can give

They gave up their life; so someone could live

The best of their breed; as his partner and anyone would say

Many hearts are now broken; that he had to prove it this way

Now as the trees are blowing in the gentle breeze

The sun is shining; thru the leaves on the trees

The meadows are green; and the grass grows tall

Off in the distance they can see a waterfall

As they look over the falls; down through the creek

The water flows gently; as a rabbit sneaks a peek

Far up above; in the deep blue sky

They see the birds soar high; as they fly by

They see animals playing; at the bridge by a waterfall

Chasing each other; and just having a ball

They play all day; from morning to night

There's no more rain; just warm sunlight

Off in the distance; they hear trumpets blow

Then all the animals look up; and notice a bright glow

The harps would play and the angels would sing

As they know they've come home; they've earned their wings

We remember that they died; in the line of duty

And are now with the Lord; sharing in heaven's beauty

Off to the meadows now; where they can play and roam free

With an occasional rest stop; under a tall oak tree

No more bad guys to chase; or bullets to take

Just a run through the meadow; down to the lake

A quick splash in the water; then back to the shore

Then it's off to the forest; to go play some more

These special dogs are back home; up in heaven above

They're cradled in God's arm's; and covered with His love

We'll light a candle for all of them; in the dark of night

In loving memory of all; these very special knights

By John Quealy

Officer Down

Police Officer Gregg Maloney
Plymouth Massachusetts Police Department
End of Watch: Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Age: 44
Tour: 17 years
Badge # 36

Police Officer Gregg Maloney was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash on Samoset Street, near Pilgrim Trail, while on patrol with another motor officer at approximately 2:15 pm.

He was flown to Mass General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

Officer Maloney had served with the Plymouth Police Department for 17 years. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

Rest in Peace Bro…We Got The Watch

Day is done, Gone the sun, From the lake, From the hills, From the sky. All is well, Safely rest, God is nigh. 

Geopolitical Weekly: Borderlands: The New Strategic Landscape, May 6, 2014

By George Friedman

I will be leaving this week to visit a string of countries that are now on the front line between Russia and the European Peninsula: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Azerbaijan. A tour like that allows you to look at the details of history. But it is impossible to understand those details out of context. The more I think about recent events, the more I realize that what has happened in Ukraine can only be understood by considering European geopolitics since 1914 -- a hundred years ago and the beginning of World War I.

In The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman wrote a superb and accurate story about how World War I began. For her it was a confluence of perception, misperception, personality and decisions. It was about the leaders, and implicit in her story was the idea that World War I was the result of miscalculation and misunderstanding. I suppose that if you focus on the details, then the war might seem unfortunate and avoidable. I take a different view: It was inevitable from the moment Germany united in 1871. When it happened and exactly how it happened was perhaps up to decision-makers. That it would happen was a geopolitical necessity. And understanding that geopolitical necessity gives us a framework for understanding what is happening in Ukraine, and what is likely to happen next.

The German Problem

The unification of Germany created a nation-state that was extraordinarily dynamic. By the turn of the 20th century, Germany had matched the British economy. However, the British economy pivoted on an empire that was enclosed and built around British interests. Germany had no such empire. It had achieved parity through internal growth and exports on a competitive basis. This was just one of the problems Germany had. The international economic system was based on a system of imperial holdings coupled with European industrialism. Germany lacked those holdings and had no politico-military control over its markets. While its economy was equal to Britain's, its risks were much higher.

Economic risk was compounded by strategic risk. Germany was on the North European Plain, relatively flat, with only a few north-south rivers as barriers. The Germans had the Russians to the east and the French to the west. Moscow and Paris had become allies. If they were to simultaneously attack Germany at a time of their choosing, Germany would be hard-pressed to resist. The Germans did not know Russo-French intentions, but they did know their capabilities. If there was to be war, the Germans had to strike first in one direction, achieve victory there and then mass their forces on the other side.

When that war would be fought, which strategy the Germans chose and ultimately whether it would succeed were uncertainties. But unlike Tuchman's view of the war, a war that began with a German strike was inevitable. The war was not the result of a misunderstanding. Rather, it was the result of economic and strategic realities.

The Germans struck against the French first but failed to defeat them. They were therefore trapped in the two-front war that they had dreaded, but they were at least fully mobilized and could resist. A second opportunity to implement their strategy occurred in the winter of 1917, when an uprising took place against the Russian czar, who abdicated on March 15, 1917. (Germany actually set the revolution in motion in March by repatriating Lenin back to Russia via the infamous sealed train car.) There was serious concern that the Russians might pull out of the war, and in any case, their military had deteriorated massively. A German victory there seemed not only possible, but likely. If that happened, and if German forces in Russia were transferred to France, it was likely that they could mass an offensive that would defeat the British and French.

In April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. There were multiple reasons, including the threat that German submarines might close the Atlantic to American shipping, but also the fear that events in Russia might defeat the allies. The United States had a deep interest in making certain that the Eurasian landmass would not fall under the control of any single nation. The manpower, resources and technology under the control of the Germans would more than outmatch the United States. It could not live with a German victory, and therefore within a year it had sent more than a million men to Europe and helped counter the German offensive after the October 1917 Russian Revolution pulled Russia from the war. The peace treaty ceded Ukraine to the Germans, placing Russia in danger if the Germans defeated the Anglo-French alliance. Ultimately, the American intervention defeated the Germans, and the Russians regained Ukraine.

The American intervention was decisive and defined American strategy in Eurasia for a century. It would maintain the balance of power. As the balance shifted, Washington would increase aid and, if absolutely necessary, intervene decisively in the context of an existing and effective military alliance.

World War II was fought similarly. The Germans, again in a dangerous position, made an alliance with the Soviets, assuring a single-front war, and this time defeated France. In due course, Germany turned on Russia and attempted to dominate Eurasia decisively. The United States was first neutral, then provided aid to the British and Russians, and even after entering the war in December 1941 withheld its main thrust until the last possible moment. The United States did invade North Africa, Sicily and the rest of Italy, but these were marginal operations on the periphery of German power. The decisive strike did not occur until June 1944, after the German military had been significantly weakened by a Soviet army heavily supplied by the United States. The decisive campaign in northern Europe lasted less than a year, and was won with limited U.S. losses compared to the other combatants. It was an intervention in the context of a powerful military alliance.

In the Cold War, the Soviet Union positioned itself by creating deep buffers. It held the Baltics, Belarus and Ukraine as its first line of defense. Its second defensive tier consisted of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. In addition, the Soviet buffer moved to the center of Germany on the North German Plain. Given history, the Soviets needed to create as deep a buffer as possible, and this line effectively precluded an attack on the Soviet Union.

The American response was more active than in the first two wars, but not as decisive. The United States positioned forces in West Germany in the context of a strong military alliance. This alliance was likely insufficient to block a Soviet attack. The United States promised the delivery of additional troops in the event of war and also guaranteed that if needed, it was prepared to use nuclear weapons to stop a Soviet attack.

The model was in that sense similar. The hope was to maintain the balance of power with minimal American exposure. In the event the balance broke, the United States was prepared to send substantially more troops. In the worst case, the United States claimed to be prepared to use decisive force. The important thing to note was that the United States retained the option to reinforce and go nuclear. The Soviets never attacked, in part because they didn't need to -- they were not at risk -- and in part because the risk associated with an attack was too high.

Thus, the United States followed a consistent strategy in all three wars. First, it avoided overexposure, limiting its presence to the minimum needed. The United States wasn't present in World War I until very late. In World War II, America's presence consisted of peripheral operations at relatively low cost. In the Cold War, it positioned a force sufficient to convince the Soviets of American intent, but always under its control and always poised for full intervention at the latest opportune time, with minimal losses, in the context of an effective military alliance.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the revolutions of 1989 stripped away the buffers that the Soviets had captured in World War II. Their strategic position was worse than it was before the world wars or even since the 17th century. If the inner buffer, the Baltics, Belarus or Ukraine, were to become hostile and part of a Western alliance system, the threat to Russia would be overwhelming. The Baltics were admitted to NATO and the alliance was now less than 100 miles from St. Petersburg. If Ukraine and Belarus went the same route, then the city of Smolensk, once deep in the Soviet Union and the Russian empire, would be a border town, and the distance to Moscow from NATO territory would be 250 miles.

The mitigating factor was that NATO was weak and fragmented. This was not much of a consolation for the Russians, who had seen Germany transform from a weak and fragmented country in 1932 to a massive power by 1938. Where there is an industrial base, military capability can be rapidly generated and intentions can change overnight. Therefore, for Russia, preventing the Western alliance system from absorbing Ukraine was critical, as the events of previous months have shown.

The U.S. Approach

The American strategy in Europe remains the same as it was in 1914: to allow the European balance of power to manage itself. Public statements aside, the United States was comfortable with the weakness of European powers so long as the Russians were also weak. There was no threat of a hegemon emerging. The American strategy was, as always, to let the balance maintain itself, intervene with any aid needed to maintain the balance and intervene militarily in the context of a robust alliance at the decisive moment and not before.

It follows from this that the United States is not prepared to do more than engage in symbolic efforts right now. The Russian military may be able to capture Ukraine, although the logistical challenges are serious. But the United States is not in a position to deploy a decisive defensive force in Ukraine. The shift in the European balance of power is far from decisive, and the United States has time to watch the situation develop.

At this point, the United States is likely prepared to increase the availability of weapons to the countries I will visit, along with Bulgaria and the Baltics. But the United States' problem is that its historical strategy relies on the existence of a significant military force, and where multiple countries are involved, a working alliance. It is pointless for the United States to provide weapons to countries that will not cooperate with each other and are incapable of fielding sufficient force to use these weapons.

Since the events in Ukraine, many European countries have discussed increased defense spending and cooperation. It is not clear that NATO is a vehicle for this cooperation. As we saw during the meetings between U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany's willingness to engage in assertive action is limited. In southern Europe, the economic crisis still rages. The appetite of the British and French or the Iberians to become involved is limited. It is hard to see NATO playing an effective military role.

The United States looks at this as a situation where the exposed countries must take decisive steps. For the United States, there is no emergency. For Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Azerbaijan, along with the other countries along the buffer line, there is not yet an emergency. But one could materialize with surprising speed. The Russians are not intrinsically powerful, but they are more powerful than any of these countries alone, or even together. Given American strategy, the United States would be prepared to begin providing aid, but substantial aid requires substantial action on the part of the buffer countries.

The first and second world wars were about the status of Germany in Europe. That was what the Cold War was about as well, although framed in a different way. We are once again discussing the status of Germany. Today it has no western threat. The eastern threat is weak, far away and potentially more of an ally than a threat. The force that drove Germany in two world wars is not there now. Logically, it has little reason to take risks.

The American fear of a Eurasian hegemon is also a distant one. Russia is far from being able to pose that kind of threat. It is still struggling to regain its buffers. Just as Germany is not prepared to engage in aggressive actions, the United States will continue its century-old strategy of limiting its exposure for as long as possible. At the same time, the buffer countries face a potential threat that prudence requires they prepare for.

However, it is not clear that the Russian threat will materialize, and it is not clear that, rhetoric aside, the Russians have the political will to act decisively. The buffer states' optimal solution would be a massive NATO intervention. That won't happen. The second best would be a massive American intervention. That won't happen either. The buffer states want to shift the cost of their defense to others -- a rational strategy if they can achieve it.

The impersonal forces of geopolitics are driving Russia to try to retake its critical borderland. Having done that, the nations bordering Russian power will not know how far the Russians will try to go. For Russia, the deeper the buffer, the better. But the deeper the buffer, the higher the cost of maintaining it. The Russians are not ready for any such move. But over time, as their strength and confidence grow, their actions become less predictable. When facing a potential existential threat, the prudent action is to overreact.

The buffer states need to arm and ally. The United States will provide a degree of support, regardless of what the Germans, and therefore NATO, do. But the basic decision is in the hands of the Poles, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Serbians and Azerbaijanis, along with those in the other buffer states. Some, like Azerbaijan, have already made the decision to arm and are looking for an alliance. Some, like Hungary, are watching and waiting. Mark Twain is supposed to have said, "History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme." There is a rhyme that we can hear. It is in its early stages and few are yet locked into a course as Germany was in 1914. The forces are beginning to gather, and if they do, they will not be controlled by good will.

I will be listening for that rhyme on this trip. I need to see if it is there. And if it is, I need to see if those most at risk to its verses hear it too. I will let you know what I hear.

Borderlands: The New Strategic Landscape is republished with permission of Stratfor.

He just tried to kill me! Where’s that part of it?

Until the mid-2000's I carried my Sig 229 40 cal with two spare magazines. That makes 37 rounds total (one up the pipe). But I started to really look at what I needed to carry as the bad guys started to get better armed and I thought the more the better. So I added a shotgun (Rem 87) and Ruger Mini-14, since replaced with a Bushmaster AR-15. And lots of rounds for them. The odds are I'll never need them, but...

Besides the excellent active shooter class I had a few years ago, stories like this show why the more bullets the better.

Why one cop carries 145 rounds of ammo on the job

Before the call that changed Sergeant Timothy Gramins’ life forever, he typically carried 47 rounds of handgun ammunition on his person while on duty.

Today, he carries 145, “every day, without fail.”

He detailed the gunfight that caused the difference in a gripping presentation at the annual conference of the Assn. of
Lessons learned from facing an “invincible” assailant

By Charles Remsberg

Sgt. Timothy Gramins who fired 17 .45-cal. rounds into a hell-bent suspect before putting him down offers these lessons learned from his extraordinary fight for his life:

1.) Beef up your ammo reserves. “A lot more rounds are being exchanged in today’s gunfights than in the past. With offenders carrying heavier weapons, going on patrol with just a handgun and two extra magazines no longer cuts it. Carry more ammo. Always have a backup gun. Carry a loaded rifle where you can reach it. I can’t express how quickly your firearm will go empty when you’re shooting for real. There’s no worse feeling than pulling the trigger and hearing it go ‘click’.”

2.) Practice head shots. “When you fire multiple ‘lethal’ rounds into an attacker and he keeps going, you don’t have the luxury of waiting 20 or 40 more seconds for him to die while he can still shoot at you. Don’t waste time arguing the relative merits of various calibers. No handgun rounds have reliable stopping power with body shots. Pick the round you can shoot best and practice shooting at the suspect’s head.”

At the core of his desperate firefight was a murderous attacker who simply would not go down, even though he was shot 14 times with .45-cal. ammunition — six of those hits in supposedly fatal locations.

The most threatening encounter in Gramins’ nearly two-decade career with the Skokie (Ill.) PD north of Chicago came on a lazy August afternoon prior to his promotion to sergeant, on his first day back from a family vacation. He was about to take a quick break from his patrol circuit to buy a Star Wars game at a shopping center for his son’s eighth birthday.

An alert flashed out that a male black driving a two-door white car had robbed a bank at gunpoint in another suburb 11 miles north and had fled in an unknown direction. Gramins was only six blocks from a major expressway that was the most logical escape route into the city.

Unknown at the time, the suspect, a 37-year-old alleged Gangster Disciple, had vowed that he would kill a police officer if he got stopped.

“I’ve got a horseshoe up my ass when it comes to catching suspects,” Gramins laughs. He radioed that he was joining other officers on the busy expressway lanes to scout traffic.

He was scarcely up to highway speed when he spotted a lone male black driver in a white Pontiac Bonneville and pulled alongside him. “He gave me ‘the Look,’ that oh-crap-there’s-the-police look, and I knew he was the guy,” Gramins said.

Gramins dropped behind him. Then in a sudden, last-minute move the suspect accelerated sharply and swerved across three lanes of traffic to roar up an exit ramp. “I’ve got one running!” Gramins radioed.

The next thing he knew, bullets were flying. “That was four years ago,” Gramins said. “Yet it could be ten seconds ago.”

With Gramins following close behind, siren blaring and lights flashing, the Bonneville zigzagged through traffic and around corners into a quite pocket of single-family homes a few blocks from the exit. Then a few yards from where a 10-year-old boy was skateboarding on a driveway, the suspect abruptly squealed to a stop.

“He bailed out and ran headlong at me with a 9 mm Smith in his hand while I was still in my car,” Gramins said.

The gunman sank four rounds into the Crown Vic’s hood while Gramins was drawing his .45-cal. Glock 21.

“I didn’t have time to think of backing up or even ramming him,” Gramins said. “I see the gun and I engage.”

Gramins fired back through his windshield, sending a total of 13 rounds tearing through just three holes.

A master firearms instructor and a sniper on his department’s Tactical Intervention Unit, “I was confident at least some of them were hitting him, but he wasn’t even close to slowing down,” Gramins said.

The gunman shot his pistol dry trying to hit Gramins with rounds through his driver-side window, but except for spraying the officer’s face with glass, he narrowly missed and headed back to his car.

Gramins, also empty, escaped his squad — “a coffin,” he calls it — and reloaded on his run to cover behind the passenger-side rear of the Bonneville.

Now the robber, a lanky six-footer, was back in the fight with a .380 Bersa pistol he’d grabbed off his front seat. Rounds flew between the two as the gunman dashed toward the squad car.

Again, Gamins shot dry and reloaded.

“I thought I was hitting him, but with shots going through his clothing it was hard to tell for sure. This much was certain: he kept moving and kept shooting, trying his damnedest to kill me.”

In this free-for-all, the assailant had, in fact, been struck 14 times. Any one of six of these wounds — in the heart, right lung, left lung, liver, diaphragm, and right kidney — could have produced fatal consequences…“in time,” Gramins emphasizes.

But time for Gramins, like the stack of bullets in his third magazine, was fast running out.

In his trunk was an AR-15; in an overhead rack inside the squad, a Remington 870.

But reaching either was impractical. Gramins did manage to get himself to a grassy spot near a tree on the curb side of his vehicle where he could prone out for a solid shooting platform.

The suspect was in the street on the other side of the car. “I could see him by looking under the chassis,” Gramins recalls. “I tried a couple of ricochet rounds that didn’t connect. Then I told myself, ‘Hey, I need to slow down and aim better.’ ”

When the suspect bent down to peer under the car, Gramins carefully established a sight picture, and squeezed off three controlled bursts in rapid succession.

Each round slammed into the suspect’s head — one through each side of his mouth and one through the top of his skull into his brain. At long last the would-be cop killer crumpled to the pavement.

The whole shootout had lasted 56 seconds, Gramins said. The assailant had fired 21 rounds from his two handguns. Inexplicably — but fortunately — he had not attempted to employ an SKS semi-automatic rifle that was lying on his front seat ready to go.

Gramins had discharged 33 rounds. Four remained in his magazine...

...Remarkably, the gunman was still showing vital signs when EMS arrived. Sheer determination, it seemed, kept him going, for no evidence of drugs or alcohol was found in his system.

He was transported to a trauma center where Gramins also was taken. They shared an ER bay with only a curtain between them as medical personnel fought unsuccessfully to save the robber’s life.

At one point Gramins heard a doctor exclaim, “We may as well stop. Every bag of blood we give him ends up on the floor. This guy’s like Swiss cheese. Why’d that cop have to shoot him so many times!”

Gramins thought, “He just tried to kill me! Where’s that part of it?”

When Gramins was released from the hospital, “I walked out of there a different person,” he said.

“Being in a shooting changes you. Killing someone changes you even more.” As a devout Catholic, some of his changes involved a deepening spirituality and philosophical reflections, he said without elaborating.

At least one alteration was emphatically practical.

Before the shooting, Gramins routinely carried 47 rounds of handgun ammo on his person, including two extra magazines for his Glock 21 and 10 rounds loaded in a backup gun attached to his vest, a 9 mm Glock 26.

Now unfailingly he goes to work carrying 145 handgun rounds, all 9 mm. These include three extra 17-round magazines for his primary sidearm (currently a Glock 17), plus two 33-round mags tucked in his vest, as well as the backup gun. Besides all that, he’s got 90 rounds for the AR-15 that now rides in a rack up front.

Paranoia?

Gramins shook his head and said “Preparation.”

Sir, you're not paranoid, they really are tyring to kill you. And as the Boy Scouts say, Be Prepared.