Praxis: Pistols with a shot at replacing the M9

From the Army Times.

Sipsey Street Exclusive: First they protect the Gunwalker Conspirators and now ATF Headquarters "Celebrates" the Multiple Rifle Sale Reporting Diktat!

Arthur Herbert, shown here, is celebrating the successful subversion of the will of Congress with the Multiple Rifle Sales Reporting Diktat with his fellow conspirator in ATF scandals large and small, ex-CCO attorney Teresa Ficaretta.

Just received this over the electronic transom here at Sipsey Street. This email is said to have been generated by Teresa Ficaretta and it references Arthur Herbert. Redactions have been made to protect sources.

From: (REDACTED)
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:36 AM
Subject: Rifle Multiple Sale Reporting Program Celebration

Please join us on Wednesday, August 31, at 9:30 a.m., in Conference Room B to celebrate the successful completion of the rifle multiple sale reporting program. Collaboration among many directorates made this program possible, and REDACTED and I want to recognize and thank all the employees who contributed to our success.

This celebration will be held in connection with our EPS supervisors meeting to be held in the same room beginning at 10am. Please forward this invitation to all the remaining EPS supervisors in Martinsburg. I initially tried to list all their names, but I know I will leave some of the section supervisors out, and our celebration would not be complete without them. (REDACTED) and I look forward to seeing you all in Martinsburg.

The staffs of both Senator Grassley and Congressman Issa have been advised of this outrage. As a long-time ATF street agent told me:

"(This is a) planned celebration on gov't time and in gov't building. I have NEVER seen such a blatant partisan action as this in my entire time in the government."

He goes on to say, "Celebrating blatantly circumventing congressional intent and law and then rather than just enforcing it, we are actually celebrating pro or anti guns policies? I AM PISSED."

This agent has every right to be. So too does the House of Representatives. These guys just figuratively jumped up on the desks of the GOP Representatives and Senators and took a huge dump. No wonder they're happy about it.

If they get away it, that is.

Pertinent excerpts from The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas

The midsummer of 1936 thus saw the culmination of one hundred and fifty years of passionate quarrels in Spain, 1808, 1834, 1868, 1898, 1909, 1917, 1923, 1931, 1932, 1934, and February 1936; these were the critical dates, becoming more and more frequent, in the inflammation of the Spanish tragedy. Recall how in 1808 the old Monarchy collapsed for ever and how from 1834 open war was waged, over the question of a liberal Constitution, for five years. Recollect how in 1868 a corrupt Monarchy was expelled by the Army, and how the country dissolved into a war which was at once religious and regional while working-class organizations were founded by the representatives of Bakunin. Remember how in 1898 the Spanish-American War brought back the over-large army from the last colonies to unemployed frustration in Spain surrounded by innumerable reminders of past glory, and how a valiant group of middle-class young men sought to prepare the intellectual and economic renaissance of the country by "placing a padlock on the Cid's tomb." Note how in 1909 claqss hatreds, exacerbated by Catalan Nationalism, brought a week of bloody rioting in Barcelona which vented itself in particular against the Church. Recall how in 1917 a revolutionary general strike was crushed by an itself insurrectionary army and how the military dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, established in 1923, was the only Spanish government of the century to give the country any rest from the political murders, strikes and sterile political intrigue. Consider how the liberals whose protests brought the expulsion of both the Dictator in 1930 and the King in 1931 had been unable to create a democratic habit powerful enough to satisfy the aspirations of either the working or the old governing classes and how the liberals had themselves mortally angered the latter when not strong enough to secure the implementation of their reforms. See how in 1932 a section of the Right had attempted to overcome their electoral by a pronunciamiento in the old style, and how in 1934 a part of the Left, after their own electoral defeat and impelled by continent-wide fears of Fascism, had also staged a revolt, which in Asturias had temporarily established a working-class dictatorship. Observe how, in February 1936, the two sides which by then had taken shape in Spain and which referred to themselves by the military word "front" put their quarrels finally to the test of the polls and how the narrow victory of the Popular Front had brought in a weak but progressive Ministry, regarded by its own Socialist and Communist supporters as raiser to far-reaching social and regional change. Note finally that most of the leading men of Spain in 1936 had lived through a generation of turbulence, and that many of them . . . had played important roles throughout. Here were ranged the masters of economic power in the country, led by the Army, and supported by the Church, that embodiment of Spain's past glory. All these believed that they were about to be overwhelmed. Opposed to them were "the professors" -- many of the enlightened middle class -- and almost the entire labour force of the country, maddened by years of insult, misery, and neglect, intoxicated by the knowledge of the better conditions enjoyed by their class comrades in France and Britain and by the actual mastery which they supposed that the working class had gained in Russia. Tragedy could not now have been avoided.

The Second Spanish Republic failed because it was from the start not accepted by powerful forces politically both to the Left and to the Right. -- pp. 110 -111.

So now there was to spread over Spain a great cloud of violence, in which all the quarrels and enmities of so many generations would find full outlet. With communications difficult or non-existent, each town would find itself on its own, acting out its own drama apparently in a vacuum. There were now not two Spains but two thousand. The geographical differences within Spain were a prime factor in the social disintegration of the nation. Regional feeling had sown the wind and now reaped the whirlwind. Sovereign power ceased to exist and, in its absence, individuals as well as towns acted without constraint, as if they were outside society and history. Within a month nearly a hundred thousand people perished arbitrarily and without trial. Bishops would be torn to pieces and churches profaned. Educated Christians would spend their evenings murdering illiterate peasants and professional men of sensitivity. The vast majority of these crimes were the work, on both sides, of men convinced that what they were doing was not only right, but noble. Nevertheless these events inevitably caused such hatreds that, when some order was eventually established, it was an order geared solely for the rationalisation known as war. And it would be quite wrong to think that there was much repugnance at this development. Spaniards of all parties leapt into the war like the cheering, bellicose crowds in the capitals of the rest of Europe in 1914 at the start of that war which, perhaps subconsciously even in 1936, the people of Spain felt they should have been a party. -- page 142.

7 August 1936: A Communist firing squad aiming at the colossal Monument of the Sacred Heart on the Cerro de los Angeles, a hill a few miles south of Madrid which is regarded as the exact centre of Spain, as they shoot up the statue of Christ in a "ritual execution."

Who were the killers? In general they can only be understood as the final explosion of a mood of smouldering resentment and hatred which had lain beneath the surface in Spain for generations. In fact, many of the killers . . . were butchers of the sort that all revolutions spawn; many actually enjoyed killing and even gained from it a near-sexual pleasure. But most were not of this kind. The Socialists and Communists who formed part of (Republican) murder gangs seem to have killed members of the bourgeoisie as part of a military operation, thinking that the battle was being fought on all fronts all the time and that he who did not strike first would himself be struck. The Anarchists of the FAI and CNT were different once more. They killed as if they were mystics, resolved to crush forever all the material things of this world, all the outward signs of a corrupt and hypocritical bourgeois past. When they cried "Long live liberty" and "down with Fascism", while some unjust steward was dying, they voiced deep passions of fearful sincerity. Many of those captured in Barcelona were taken thirty miles down the coast to be shot overlooking the superb Bay of Sitges. Those about to die would pass their last moments on earth looking out to sea in the marvelous Mediterranean dawn. "See how beautiful life could have been," their assassins seemed to be saying, "if only you had not been a bourgeois, and had got up early and had seen the dawn more often -- as workers have had to do." -- pp 178-179

Thomas notes: "If the Anarchists had not spent so much petrol driving future victims to beautiful places to die, and trying to burn churches to the ground, the task of their armed forces against the Nationalists in Aragon would have been a good deal easier."

2008: Workers dig in Piedrafita de Babia in northern Spain where human remains, first found in 2002, have been excavated from a mass grave believed to belong to a Republican militia executed by the Fascists during the Spanish civil war.

Praxis: From John Robb at Global Guerrillas -- "What is your pitchfork factor?"

"Even a ragtag group that can assemble to protect your neighborhood/town is useful in a pinch."

What is my pitchfork factor?

A pitchfork factor is a measurement of how vulnerable you are during this decade plus of turmoil until things settle down again. Pitchforks can arrive in a variety of forms:

* Siezure of assets and/or imprisonment. From nationalization to a corrupted process (for the personal gain of those in local/regional government or connected to them).

* Criminal activity. From gangs to mafias to militias. All will be present and they will be larger and much more active than they are today.

* Riots. Destruction and/or looting. More random and less likely than the above.

Here are some very simple rules that can reduce your pitchfork factor:

1. Invest in your community's viability. The better the community does, the better it will protect you. There is strength in numbers. If the gulf between your personal success and that of the community's is too large or your community is too small, your factor will rise.

2. Establish a trust network. People with whom you can conduct transactions with without recourse to legal entanglements (which will be corrupted). Know who is in and outside of this group. Transactions outside of this group are very risky.

3. Invest locally in productive assets (while you still can). Productive local assets (particularly food, energy, and locally consumable products) are a source of income to both you/your family as well as the community even when things are terribly depressed. Remote investments or piles of fungible assets (in a safe or in a safe deposit box) are a liability since they attract unwanted attention and are nearly impossible to protect (unless you are willing to dispense violence at a level/scale commensurate with a mafia/cartel/militia).

4. Know someone in government that can help protect you and your community. The more powerful and/or local the better. Connections to people with titles/status in powerful organizations are useful as a means of intimidation (I've seen this in action, it works very well).

5. Stay in your native country. If you have ever been in a foreign country that is really going down the tubes, you already know that this is critical. Not being a native makes you an instant target and whatever support network you think you have can vanish in an instant (I've seen this happen and it can occur very quickly).

6. Local militias/defensive forces. Even a ragtag group that can assemble to protect your neighborhood/town is useful in a pinch (seen this many times). If you have the means, equip/train them and/or give them a place to assemble. . . (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

NOTE: A well stocked/armed cabin is not a solution. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) This situation will outlast you. Solely relying on being personally well armed/proficient isn't that great of an answer since it will most likely result in you and your family going down in a blaze of "glory."

Mail report for Friday.

No postcards. No letters. One box from Bob Wright containing 9 ALICE Y harnesses for distribution to newbies.

Kurt Hofmann hits another one out of the park.

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence: Penchant for coercion goes beyond 'gun control'

To CSGV and other "progressives," the people cannot be trusted to act in their own best interest if given the choice, and thus must be coerced by the government--using, if necessary, armed government enforcers who will, if the defiance goes far enough, kill the recalcitrant peasant. It's all for our own good, you see.

That's why CSGV really hates an armed citizenry, prepared to resist tyrannical diktats. Without a government monopoly on force, we the people will be free to resist what our betters know is best for us.

Typical email exchange these days.

-----Original Message-----
From: (REDACTED)
To: georgemason1776
Sent: Sat, Aug 27, 2011 1:57 am
Subject: liberals

You know,I need to ask,will we patriots ever weed out,and go after the subversives trying to flex their muscles now?

My reply:

If you mean with "kinetic action" or whatever silly thing they're calling military conflict these days, within the dictum of "No Fort Sumters" -- yes. Certainly. Patience. The enemy will, in his insatiable appetites and inability to abide our refusal, come to us. In the meantime, you -- and I mean you personally as well as any friends you may have -- need every moment to prepare for what is coming. Use it wisely.

Mike
III

David Codrea: How does clandestine U.S. Mexican policy relate to casino attack?

The bodies continue to stack up.

Well, hell, the place has been going downhill since Phil Proctor left.

Indiana College Bans "Too Violent" National Anthem -- words AND music.

"Godfrey Daniel, pesky redskins! Which way's Goshen?"

Sipsey Street Exclusive: "Meetings, Part 2." NM Summit: "A unified effort, cutting across the entire DOJ, to address illegal firearms trafficking."

"Things like this happen because of meetings. People sit in meetings and they decide what they want to happen. And then they take decisions, make policy and implement that policy to achieve those ends." He added, "That's why State is so nervous. They signed off on this. In a meeting." . . . He added, "Of course the meeting transcripts won't reflect the truth so plainly, but then neither did the Wannsee Conference. These bastards always talk in riddles about what they're really after. Watch what they do, not what they say." -- Old DC intelligence community member, quoted in Meetings: Part One.

At approximately 5:40 PM on Monday, 29 June 2009, Deputy Attorney General of the United States David Ogden landed in "Duke City" -- Albuquerque, New Mexico -- via Southwest Flight #663. Albuquerque was named for the Spanish Viceroy Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, the Duke of Alburquerque, but somewhere along the line the first "r" in the spelling was dropped. However that may be, it's named after a duke, thus it is known as "Duke City."

Shortly after landing DAG Ogden had dinner at Garduno's Restaurant at the Winrock Mall on Louisiana Boulevard, where, it is said, they have "chile so hot it makes your ice water." After dinner, he went to his lodgings at the Sheraton Albuquerque Downtown, just five blocks down Louisiana.

He came into Duke City to give the keynote address at the Violent Crimes and Firearms Trafficking Summit and to witness the ATF-ICE Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony in a room just off the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton.

Ogden spoke immediately after H. Marshall Jarrett, Director of the Justice Department's Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys (more about him in a minute). First, here is Ogden's speech. Pay close attention to the clues and nuances, as well as the words:

Thank you, Marshall, for that kind introduction and to Ken Melson and ATF for inviting me to speak with you this morning. I want to commend Ken and his staff at ATF for organizing this excellent program on one of the most important sets of issues facing the Department and this country today -- it is an honor to help kick it off.

Let me begin by welcoming all the law enforcement officers, agents and prosecutors. Thank you for taking the time to come from across the country to participate in this conference. You are on the frontlines of our fight against violent crime and firearms trafficking. By coming together in forums like this, you help bring the coordinate and combined force of your agencies to bear on this vital task of making our streets and neighborhoods safe. Thank you for your personal contributions and commitment.

I am very pleased to be joined here on stage by four fine colleagues and leaders. Ken, Marshall, and Lanny represent and lead essential components of what is a unified effort, cutting across the entire Department of Justice, to address illegal firearms trafficking. (Emphasis supplied, MBV) It is only through the combined efforts of ATF, the U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Division -- working together in a coordinated strategy -- that we can be truly effective in intercepting, prosecuting and shutting down gun trafficking networks.

John Morton -- a fine former colleague at DOJ -- also represents and leads a key component of our united effort. When we learned that John was leaving us for DHS, we were, of course, sorry to lose such a valued colleague and a gifted lawyer, but we were also thrilled to know that we would have a great partner at ICE. In the short time that John has been at DHS, it is clear that he is an asset to our common cause. With these fine leaders working together and with each of you, we will prevent the flow of guns that is fueling the escalating violence and drug trafficking that threatens our safety and the safety of the Mexican people.

I wish I could participate in the entire program.

The Southwest Border is the Front Line of the Fight Against Illegal Gun Trafficking.

I'd like to take a moment to say a few words about our efforts to prevent firearms from traveling across the border to Mexico and contributing to the alarming rise of drug cartel violence there. Keeping guns out of the hands of the Mexican drug warlords is a top priority for the Department, and a key element of our campaign against them. It is one that the President and the Attorney General have promised to address quickly and aggressively.

For the past three months, I've been leading the Department's efforts against the Mexican cartels. All of the Department's law enforcement agencies -- ATF, DEA, FBI, and U.S. Marshals Service, together with our partners at DHS and Treasury -- are central players in our strategy which utilizes multi-agency, intelligence-based, prosecutor-led task forces. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.) The federal law enforcement components are joined by attorneys from the 94 United States Attorney's Offices and the Department's Criminal Division as well as our hundreds of partners in state, local, tribal and international law enforcement agencies. Interdiction and border security are central to our task. But our partnership also uses shared intelligence and law enforcement tools including prosecution to directly attack the powerful criminal drug trafficking organizations. Our efforts have resulted in extraordinary recent enforcement successes like Project Reckoning and Operation Xcelerator.

Stepping up the fight requires new resources and we've already jumpstarted the process. For example, ATF has reassigned 100 agents to the Southwest Border to focus on these very issues. I want to thank Ken and all the ATF field offices represented here for answering the call and picking up the slack that must follow from pulling that many agents from your offices. To assist this effort, we have obtained additional funding for Project Gunrunner. These funds will allow ATF to open five new field offices and support their efforts to better detect, deter and combat firearms trafficking offenses. DEA and the Marshal's Service, the U.S. Attorney's offices and the FBI have also added resources and sharpened their focus.

Increased Cooperation between the Department and DHS

But folks, we will be successful only if we take a cooperative, coordinated approach -- across all level of government, both domestically and internationally -- to communicate to illegal firearms traffickers that their activities will no longer be tolerated. When we work together, we have a substantial impact.

The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security know that our success depends upon working closely together and together we are laying the groundwork for greater success. Last week, DOJ and DHS signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to make sure that our law enforcement components are fully coordinated on investigations involving firearms trafficking, drug trafficking and other serious crimes. The two agencies announced that ICE would fully participate in the key Fusion Centers that coordinate cases on a national and international scale. This marks a significant milestone. From now on, an ATF agent in Las Cruces, an ICE agent in El Paso, and FBI agent in Laredo or a DEA agent in Tucson can "connect the dots" when working on seemingly disparate investigations that are actually part of a larger firearms trafficking enterprise. (Emphasis supplied, MBV)

(MBV NOTE: So, what then are the chances that these other agencies were uninformed about Fast and Furious and other gunwalking operations?)

In addition, today ATF and ICE are signing another agreement to ensure coordination between the Departments on firearms investigations. This new agreement will help ensure seamless cooperation by maximizing the agencies' ability to work closely together to stem the illegal flow of arms in and out of the United States. This means more integrated and efficient investigations into breaking up illegal firearms trafficking networks. Now ATF agents and ICE agents who are tracking separate leads concerning the same illegal firearms trafficking organization will more effectively share their intelligence, avoid conflicts and potentially pool their efforts.

These are just two recent examples of a new era of partnership between the Departments which the AAttorney General and I are deeply committed to -- like Secretary Napolitano and Deputy Secretary Lute. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

(MBV NOTE: I can't wait for Janet Napolitano to be asked about the Gunwalker Plot under oath. I just can't wait.)

Increased Cooperation with Mexico

We also know our partnership can't stop at the border. Victory in this fight requires that we forge a closer working relationship with out Mexican partners across the border. The Calderon Administration has shown extraordinary courage and resolve in attacking the cartels head-on and we are working with them in this initiative.

To that end, the Attorney General was in Mexico earlier this year to express his personal commitment to using all available resources to stem the southbound tide of firearms and bulk cash. The Department is undertaking a broad review of our firearms trafficking strategy to ensure that we have sufficient resources and coordination to be as effective as we can.

The Department also is fully committed to ATF's eTrace initiative with our Mexican counterparts. eTrace allows law enforcement agencies to identify trafficking trends of drug trafficking organizations and other criminal organizations funneling guns into Mexio and from the United States. eTrace also assists in developing investigative leads in order to stop firearms traffickers and straw purchasers before they cross the border. (Emphasis supplied, MBV.)

(MBV NOTE: Indeed? Before they cross the border? How? Certainly eTrace use by the Mexican government can track the weapons once found beside the bodies of dead Mexican citizens, but how so BEFORE they cross the border? Is this the intellectual predicate for gunwalking? That we should let some weapons across in order to later interdict others? How many murders then would be enough? In any case, Ogden recognizes eTrace as a valuable tool for tying American civilian market firearms to deaths in Mexico. But to what end?)

Firearms Trafficking Is a Nationwide Problem that Requires a Nationwide Strategy.

As Ken and others have mentioned this morning, the problem of firearms trafficking is more than a Southwest Border issue, it's a nationwide problem that requires a nationwide commitment. Firearms trafficking going on away from the border supports equally damaging gang violence and drug trafficking.

As you know, firearms trafficking cases take time to develop and are not always glamorous. Prosecuting individual straw purchasers may not seem in isolation to have a lot of jury appeal or to be making a dent in the trafficking problem. But that straw purchaser was not a victimless "paperwork" violation -- it was the action that provided the guns to the drig trafficker, who used them in horrific acts of violence. Pursuing that seemingly unglamorous case each of you -- as prosecutors and agents -- help reduce the violence outside your jurisdictions. . .

Conclusion

Let me close by saying how grateful the Department is to the law enforcement officers, agents and prosecutors here today. We share your mission and will do everything in our power to support the important work you do every day for the cause of justice.

To that end the Department is convening this summer at the National Advocacy Center the first-ever training conference on firearms trafficking across the Southwest Border. This conference will mark the first time we have brought together ATF, ICE, DEA, FBI and U.S. Attorneys to train agents and prosecutors on firearms trafficking investigations and prosecutions. I hope many of you can be there.

As vanguards in this work, you carry a heavy burden. The task is difficult, dangerous and vitally important. The Attorney General and I appreciate your efforts, and assure you that you have the full support of the Department of Justice.

Following his speech, Ogden participated in the ATF-ICE MOU ceremony and then at 10:30 left for the New Mexico District U.S. Attorney's Office for a half hour one-on-one with U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Fouratt. At 11:30 he participated in a working lunch with the Senior Staff of Fouratt's office, which included Fouratt, FAUSA Steve Yarbrough, Criminal Division Chief Fred Frederici, Civil Division Chief Jan Mitchell and Administrative Officer Ruth Cox. After lunch Ogden met with Albuquerque USAO personnel and with the folks in the Las Cruces branch office by video teleconference for another half-hour.

At 1 PM Ogden met with FBI SAC Carol Lee, DEA SAC Joseph Arabit, U.S. Marshal Gorden Eden and ATF Bill Newell. The meeting lasted about 25 minutes and then he was driven to the U.S. Distict Courthouse on Lomas Boulevard in Albuquerque, where he met with Chief U.S. District Judge Martha Vasquez.

By 2:45 he was enroute back to the airport where he took Southwest Flight #328 back to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. He was in the air by 4:00 PM and landed at 9:50 PM EDT.

He slept in his own bed that night.

No doubt he was happy that he had communicated the new administration's firearms trafficking plan to the DOJ and DHS masses. A few months later, Gunwalker was going full tilt boogie.

(In "Meetings: Part 3" we will deal with H. Marshall Jarrett, Director of the Justice Department's Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, who he is, who he replaced and his own performance at the Summit.)

Disappointment in the principle of Karma. At first I thought this was an announcement about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Giant Rat Killed With Pitchfork At Brooklyn's Marcy Houses.

A gigantic, white rat was killed after being speared with a pitchfork at the Marcy Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

And Mike says you don't need a firearm in NYC?

Allen Lengel of Tickle the Wire, a frequent poster on the Gunwalker Scandal, reveals his own editorial position on firearms.

We Have a Right to Bear Arms; We Also Have a Right to Live.

Gunwalker as an example of the "Peter Principle"? Or, as my Grandpa used to say, "Son, shit always floats to the top of the pond."

The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise which also introduced the "salutary science of hierarchiology." -- Wikipedia.

When An Under Performer Gets Promoted.

More Federal Insanity. "United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms."

Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear.

Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.

It isn't the first time that agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service have come knocking at the storied maker of such iconic instruments as the Les Paul electric guitar, the J-160E acoustic-electric John Lennon played, and essential jazz-boxes such as Charlie Christian's ES-150. In 2009 the Feds seized several guitars and pallets of wood from a Gibson factory, and both sides have been wrangling over the goods in a case with the delightful name "United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms."

Doctor's report.

The wounds on my left foot are almost entirely healed. The credit for this goes to that pain-in-the-ass (and occasionally, subsequent to tangling with stairs and other obstacles at least once a week, pain-in-the-neck, -head, -shoulder and -back) cast, which has completely off-loaded the pressure on the foot. It seems I'll get the damned thing off just in time to go marching through Mordor again. (We still have no firm date on the next hearing, but best guess is currently mid-September.)

It will be up to me not to re-injure it. At least with a diabetic shoe on the foot I can get back on the exercise bike. Although, I could probably make money selling DVDs of my one experience trying to do it in this cast. It would be hilarious to anyone other than me.

Sipsey Street Exclusive: Before he became "Gunwalker Bill." October 2008 "Priorities" Memo From ATF Phoenix SAC Newell.

Over the electronic transom comes this 6 October 2008 memo kindly posted on Scribd by David Codrea.

MEMORANDUM TO: All Phoenix Field Division Employees.
FROM: William D. Newell, Special Agent in Charge
SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2009 Priorities

These are essentially marching orders to each subdivision of the Phoenix Field Division for the next year. From Page One;

ATF's FY 2009 -- FY 2015 Strategic Plan contains four mission activities and two management activities asw strategic priorities. The mission priorities in firearms trafficking, criminal organizations, explosives, and fire/arson reflect our core areas of expertise that we consistently work to strengthen. The management priorities -- managing our workforce and modernizing our agency -- will support our mission and ensure its successful accomplishment.

Firearms Trafficking -- ATF is the only Federal law enforcement agency with the legislative mandate to regulate the firearms industry. The goal of ATF's firearms trafficking enforcement efforts is to reduce crime by deterring the diversion of firearms from unlawful commerce into the illegal market. ATF investigates and arrests individuals and organizations who illegally obtain and supply firearms to prohibited individuals. Utilizing multiple complementing approaches and technologies, ATF carries out its mission to thwart illegal firearms trafficking.

Strategic Priority -- Strategic Priority: reduce violent firearms crimes by strengthening firearms trafficking intelligence gathering, analysis, inspection and investigative activity.

This memo is made up of much standard ATF boilerplate. Of some interest are the instructions to Phoenix Group I on firearms trafficking on Page Five:

With a primary focus on "Gunrunner" investigations, which are those that involve the trafficking of firearms to Mexico. Continue to be proactive in dealing with the USAO (United States Attorneys Office, MBV) on these cases to ensure they are afforded the opportunity to bring to bear the pertinent Federal firearms statutes. Continue to build upon the effective relationship with the Arizona Attorney General's in addressing those cases not meeting the USAO's criteria or declined by same.

Here we have confirmation of the difficulty with Napolitano protege' Dennis Burke's office that the street agents testified to in the second hearing regarding "straw purchase" busts.

On pages five and six, in his instructions to Phoenix Group II which is tasked with "eliminating the illegal source(s) of firearms destined to violent gangs and groups in Maricopa County," Newell says:

Fully support the newly formed ECDETF Strike Force (MBV: This is certainly a typo. I think Newell means OCDETF) by assigning two special agents full-time to the DEA Phoenix Office, where the Strike Force will be housed. The mission of the Phoenix OCDETF Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug trafficking organizations, designated by DOJ as Consolidated Priority Targets, currently trafficking narcotics in and firearms out of the U.S.

Ah, yes, OCDETF -- Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force:

The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies which include: the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard – in cooperation with the Department of Justice Criminal Division, the Tax Division, and the 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, as well as with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.

OCDETF is the centerpiece of the Attorney General’s drug supply reduction strategy. In order to enhance the OCDETF Program’s ability to contribute to the President’s mandate to reduce the drug supply, the Program focuses its resources on coordinated, nationwide investigations, targeting the entire infrastructure of major drug trafficking. It also assisted in the development of the Attorney General’s Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT) List, a unified agency target list of international “command and control” drug traffickers and money launderers. OCDETF’s attack on the related components of these major trafficking organizations will not only disrupt the drug market, resulting in a reduction in the drug supply, but will also bolster law enforcement efforts in the fight against those terrorist groups supported by the drug trade.

The OCDETF Fusion Center (OFC) will gather, store and analyze all-source drug and related financial investigative information and intelligence to support coordinated, multi-jurisdictional investigations focused on the disruption and dismantlement of the most significant drug trafficking and money laundering enterprises.

There is no doubt that the bureaucracy was in place in 2009 to widely disseminate the knowledge of gunwalking operations to all the agencies involved in OCDETF fusion centers, including of course EPIC. (Previous EPIC story here -- "El Paso Intelligence Center: What did EPIC know about Project Gunwalker and when did they know it? Likely answer: Everything and early."

Newell's instruction to Tucson Group I on firearms trafficking are also interesting:

With a primary focus on "Gunrunner" investigations, which are those that involve the trafficking of firearms to Mexico. Primary focus in furtherance of this should be proactive investigations and operational activity of the sources of crime guns recovered in Mexico and the Tuscon AOR, specifically but not limited to Gun Shows, FFLs and Straw Purchasers of large quantities of "weapons of choice".

"Proactive investigations and operational activity." We will have to wait for more 2008-dated documents to know just exactly how Newell defined that. Still, testimony of the agents so far indicates that the "gunwalking" program didn't begin until later in 2009.

I will also be most interested to receive, and thus compare and contrast, "Gunwalker Bill's" instructions for the Fiscal Years of 2010 and 2011, as he assigned tasks to his swelling personnel rolls in furtherance of the Obama administration's acceleration of Project Gunrunner as it morphed into Project Gunwalker.

"Researching the matter." Right.

Border-town police chief Angelo Vega finally cops to gun smuggling conspiracy.

Vega had previously pleaded not guilty to taking part in the conspiracy, in which he and his co-defendants allegedly purchased about 200 firearms — including AK-47-type pistols, weapons resembling AK-47 rifles, but with shorter barrels and without rear stocks, and American Tactical 9 mm caliber pistols — from Chaparral Guns in Chaparral and smuggled them to members of the Juárez-based La Linea cartel between January 2010 and March 2011.

In raids, law enforcement seized 40 of the AK-47 type pistols, more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition and 30 high-capacity magazines before they crossed the border, and found another 12 firearms in Mexico that were traced back to the defendants. Three others were found on three dead individuals in an SUV in Juárez, and others were found at a narcotics bust there, according to federal prosecutors.

Six of the smuggled weapons - three AK-47-type pistols and three pistols nicknamed "cop killers" — were purchased around Jan. 9, 2010, by straw purchasers in Arizona, according to court documents, leading to accusations from defense attorney C.J. McElhinney that the Columbus smuggling case was connected to Operation Fast and Furious. The undercover operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed thousands of guns to cross into Mexico so that agents could see where in the drug cartels they would eventually end up.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Texas on has neither confirmed nor denied whether the weapons in Gutierrez's case were connected with the controversial sting, but said Thursday they were researching the matter.

"Christianity and Libertarianism and the Consent of the Governed."

From Laigle's Forum.

Thus, I don’t feel like merely calling myself a Constitutionalist is sufficient. I add the ‘libertarian’ modifier in order to make clear the principle that I believe was shared by the founders. They believed that people ought to be free and the government at all levels ought to mind its own dang business by and large but if there was an extremely compelling reason for the majority to inflict its will on the minority, there would at least be a process that would protect the minority’s rights. Certainly, times change, and new circumstances manifest that weren’t dreamed of by the framers, but they built into the Constitution a way to handle such things that makes a great deal of sense to me today- not that anyone these days actually uses those mechanisms. They’re just as likely to ram it through to the Supreme Court, bypassing the legislative branch altogether, ala Roe vs. Wade.

We are now so far away from the Constitution- including at the hands of Republicans- that it is hard to see how we can make our way back. I think this is what people are seeing. Christian conservatives are coming to this conclusion, if they haven’t already. The ‘limited government’ Republicans sell them down the river all day long and the pool of available freedoms grows shallower every day. Where does one turn? Self-preservation. . .

Now, as it happens, I am inclined to believe that it is possible to reconcile these statements from the Declaration of Independence with Biblical principles. Indeed, it is because I take them very seriously that I feel like I need to add the modifier ‘libertarian’ to my self-label.

Do you know why libertarians from the right are ostensibly on the rise? It is simply because of this: on a grand level, individual by individual, moment by moment, imperceptibly, but definitely, removing their consent from this present government.

They are doing this unconsciously. It isn’t a deliberate decision. It is a movement along a spectrum, and I don’t even think that they themselves know what they are doing. But they are doing it. Confusing the matter, they aren’t alone. There are people of many diverse political and worldview stripes that likewise have decided (for different reasons, I’m sure) that they don’t like direction the ‘Republic’ has taken.

Just in case you were wondering why NBC has yet to do even ONE story on the Gunwalker Scandal.

Big bucks come from Comcast.

Lop-sided Body Counts in Mexican Drug War.

Uptick in Mexico 'Confrontation' Deaths Strikes Disturbing Pattern.

To me, this indicates two things: the Mexican Army likely is in a "take no prisoners" mode (with all the human rights problems that entails, and the threat of the Zetas to the Mexican government in particular, as has been over-blown in some quarters like TTAG, is just that -- overblown.