JBLM Soldier Killed in Afghanistan Likely The Result of Friendly Fire

An initial review indicates Army Sgt. Leandro A.S. Jasso was likely accidentally shot by partner Afghan forces while conducting an operation in the Helmand province and there are no indications Jasso was intentionally shot. (KOMO 4 News, November 27, 2018)
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The loss of a Service Member in combat is always sad. The loss of a Service Member to "friendly fire" is truly tragic.

R.I.P. SGT JASSO.

U.S. Army Veteran, Two Others Kidnapped in Mexican Border City

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Coahuila – A team of cartel gunmen kidnapped a U.S. Army veteran, his sister, and her boyfriend in this Mexican border city. Coahuila state authorities recovered the body of one victim and rescued the two others. Officials transported the U.S. veteran and his sister to a Texas hospital where he is listed in serious condition.

The kidnapping took place on Friday night when a team of at least 20 gunmen riding in three SUVs stormed a home in the Infonavit neighborhood on a mission to kidnap 29-year-old U.S. Army Vet David Gutierrez, his sister, 28-year-old Sarai Gutierrez, and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Argenes Gonzalez. A witness to the kidnapping told authorities that the gunmen also stole a 2010 Jeep Cherokee and a 2018 Toyota Tundra. (Breitbart, November 25, 2018)
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Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

 



How Gun-Free Zones Invite Mass Shootings

According to the Chicago Tribune (November 20, 2018): People have been acting for a long time like the United States is the world’s hotbed of mass public shootings. This belief is constantly used to push for more gun control. If we can only get rid of guns in the United States, we will get rid of these mass public shootings and be more like the rest of the world, gun-control supporters preach. But America doesn’t lead the world in mass public shootings. We’re not even close.

Over the course of 18 years, from 1998 to 2015, the Crime Prevention Research Center developed a list that contains 2,354 attacks and at least 4,880 shooters outside the United States and 53 attacks and 57 shooters within this country. By their count, the U.S. makes up 1.49 percent of the murders worldwide, 2.20 percent of the attacks, and less than 1.15 percent of the mass public shooters. All these are much less than America’s 4.6 percent share of the world population.

Of the 97 countries where they identified mass public shootings, the U.S. ranks 64th per capita in its rate of attacks and 65th in fatalities. Major European countries, such as Norway, Finland, France, Switzerland and Russia, all have at least 25 percent higher per capita murder rates from mass public shootings.

While Americans are rightly concerned by the increased frequency and severity of mass public shootings, the rest of the world is experiencing much larger increases in per capita rates of attack. The frequency of foreign mass public shootings since 1998 has grown 291 percent faster than in the U.S.

The media bias on this is overwhelming. Even after President Donald Trump again raised the danger of gun-free zones, the news media still refuse to mention this fact in its reporting of mass shootings.

The attack earlier this month at Borderline Bar & Grill occurred in a gun-free zone. Unlike in 39 states, concealed handgun permit holders in California are banned from carrying permitted concealed handguns into bars. The mass shooting Monday at Chicago’s Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Bronzeville was at a place where law-abiding citizens were banned from having guns.

Most gunmen are smart enough to know that they can kill more people if they attack places where victims can’t defend themselves. That’s one reason why 98 percent of mass public shootings since 1950 have occurred in places where citizens are banned from having guns.
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Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

City Apologizes After Kirkland Police Remove Black Man from Store

KIRKLAND, Wash. – City leaders are apologizing for the actions of two of its police officers who were called to a yogurt shop and told a black man to leave the store.

Byron Ragland, the man who was asked to leave, plans to speak outside the store on Tuesday morning, denouncing what he terms as racial profiling.

The 31-year-old father, veteran and college student insists the only reason he was asked to leave a Kirkland yogurt store was because of his skin color.

Ragland works as a court appointed special advocate. On Nov. 7, he was at Menchie’s to supervise a visit between a mother and her child. Ragland sat at a separate table from them, and when he didn’t order anything, employees got nervous and called the owner, who then dialed 911.

The workers never shared their concerns with Ragland. His first indication of trouble was when officers showed up and told him to leave. City officials said that should never have happened.

The city launched an investigation and plans to overhaul its training protocols for officers. (KOMO 4 News, November 19, 2018)

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What possible reason could the police have for ordering Mr. Ragland to leave a store that is open to the public? He isn't causing a disturbance, he hasn't been asked to leave by the store owner/manager and refused (trespassing), he has in fact done nothing wrong! 

The police responded after being call to the store by an employee. Upon arriving the employees point out Mr. Ragland who is making nervous because he is sitting at a table and hasn't ordered anything. But upon making this determination, what crime do the police suspect Mr. Ragland of having committed? What authority do they have to remove Mr. Ragland from the store? 

"The very fact [that the police] came in and learned he was here legitimately, they should have corrected the action and walked away," said Seattle King County NAACP President Gerald Hankerson.

Calling the police because someone is sitting in a store is an improper use of police resources. It is not the job of the police to conduct social interaction for you. The employees should not have used 911 in this way.

When the police arrived and saw that Mr. Ragland was doing nothing wrong, should they have left him alone? Do you agree that the police were acting properly when they ordered Mr. Ragland to leave the store after being called by the employees?

 

Norman Spear - The Base

Norman Spear [an alias], an Iraq and Afghan war veteran and resident in the PNW, is a self-proclaimed white nationalist with a significant online following. His latest act involves bringing neo-Nazis together, regardless of affiliation and ideology, into a militant fascist umbrella organization. His tool for doing this? A social network he calls “The Base,” which is already organizing across the US and abroad, specifically geared toward partaking in terrorism.

Spear and his burgeoning global web of terror cells are networking, creating propaganda, organizing in-person meet-ups, and discussing potential violence or “direct action” against minority groups, especially Jewish and black Americans. An extensive online library contains a trove of manuals with instructions on lone wolf terror-tactics, gun-smithing, data mining, interrogation tactics, counter-surveillance techniques, bomb making, chemical weapons creation, and guerilla warfare.  (VICE)

A discussion with Norman Spear is on YouTube, discussing white nationalist tactics.
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While far-left groups like Antifa are participating in public protests and demonstrations, right-wing groups are attempting to recruit personnel from the military and law enforcement communities.

Right-wing literature is quietly distributed in our communities, and on our military installations, with little if any effort to stop it. Of course, it is not the place of the government to suppress 1st Amendment rights, even when speech is highly objectionable, but there can be limits placed on recruiting members of the military and law enforcement into hate-groups, and distribution of extremist literature on military installations can be restricted. 

    

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

 

ATF Identifies “Assault Weapons” As a Politically Contrived Term

A Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “white paper” correctly identifies “assault weapons” as a politically contrived term with no real meaning and recommends dramatic federal law revisions in how they are regulated.

Authored by ATF second-in-command Ronald Turk, the “white paper” says that the misleading “assault weapons” term to describe AK-and-AR-style rifles should be replaced with a “modern sporting rifles,” to reflect how the use and popularity of these firearms has grown. In fact, he noted, their use in “sport shooting” has grown “exponentially” and such guns “are now standard for hunting activities.”
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Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:

A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

Seattle Police Seize Guns, Suspect Charged with Perjury for Lying to Police

Police seized three assault-style rifles, a shotgun, two handguns, high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a samurai sword, among other items, from a 31-year-old man's Belltown apartment after he was ordered by a judge to surrender any weapons but claimed he didn't have any.

Seattle police officers trained to deal with people suffering from mental illness first encountered Peavey in July, when Peavey called 911 to report someone was tampering with his food. Officers found no evidence that anyone had been in his apartment, charging papers say. Peavey, who appeared paranoid and delusional, told the officers he’d just moved to Seattle from Ohio, say the charges.

Though police found no records showing Peavey owned firearms or had a concealed-pistol license in Washington, officers began the process of obtaining an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) because they felt Peavey was an extreme danger to his neighbor, according to the charges. But after  consulting prosecutors, the charges say, a police sergeant determined that Peavey’s behavior didn’t meet criteria for an ERPO, which allows police to seize firearms from people who are considered at high risk of harming themselves or others.

Peavey made his first court appearance the next day and signed the non-surrender declaration, which includes a warning that failure to comply with an Order to Surrender Weapons could result in misdemeanor or felony charges.

The next day, Nov. 10, Peavey’s apartment manager lawfully entered Peavey’s apartment in the 2200 block of Second Avenue to check for damage before formally evicting Peavey, the charges say. The manager saw multiple assault-style rifles in the apartment, took photos of the weapons, and called police.

Officers obtained a search warrant that night and seized three rifles, a shotgun, two handguns, more than 50 high-capacity magazines, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, two ballistic vests and a ballistic helmet, two gas masks, a can of tear gas and a samurai sword, along with a multicamera surveillance system, say the charges. The Seattle Police Department posted a photo of the weapons on its online blotter.  (Seattle Times, November 15, 2018)
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Although Mr. Peavey has been charged with a crime, and my be suffering from mental health concerns, he has not been convicted of a crime, and Seattle Police determined that his mental state did NOT the criteria for an ERPO. Yet, police seized Mr. Peavey's property anyway.

If we accept that the nature of the charges against Mr. Peavey warrant seizure of the firearms, what is the purpose of seizing the flack vest, helmet, gas masks, or security camera system? - I guess it makes a better picture than just seizing three rifles, a shotgun, and two handguns (something any gun owner in WA might have).

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.