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Self-Defense

Self-Defense DVDs

People who don’t understand taking responsibility for your own safety often ask: "Why not just call the police to stop a crime instead of drawing a gun?" For one, a great police response time would be 1-2 minutes, but most crimes take place in a matter of seconds. When seconds count the police are only minutes away...Two, police have no duty to protect me, or you. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that police officers at all levels of the government have no duty to protect the citizens of this country. It is the job of police officers to investigate crimes and arrest criminals. We are on our own for protection!

Our country’s representatives to the United Nations--in less than 24 hours after the President’s reelection--cast a vote in favor of producing a UN gun-control treaty in March, 2013.

The full-throttled march towards gun-control has begun. But the corporate-whore media outlets are now going to bat for the Administration and trying to convince Americans that the UN Arms Trade Treaty will not affect average gun owners.The ATT means the United Nations, an international body, will decide how Americans can buy and sell our weapons, how we control those weapons, who is authorized to have those weapons and where they are. This is a dangerous trend.

Murderers Want Your Guns

Before the mid-1800s, American and British citizens were expected to arm and protect themselves. In fact, self defense was considered a civic duty. In America, armed police were considered no different than the dreaded prospect of a standing army. By the mid-1800s, however, cities began forming police forces and gradually the idea that the citizen is responsible for his self defense diminished. It is now virtually illegal in many large cities to own a firearm for self defense. As Operation Fast and Furious demonstrated, the government is actively involved in efforts to disarm the public. Government is invariably mistrustful of an armed public, especially when that government begins acting tyrannically.

There are many unfortunate people who have endured the terror of a violent assault. The luckier ones that survived these crimes are often changed forever. There remains, long after the incident has passed, a paralyzing loss of confidence, a circumspect mistrust of strangers, and a thorough foreboding about the world in general. In short, they got away with their lives, but are now fearful of everything. It's as if they get victimized twice! Those who have never suffered a life-threatening assault dread the possibility of it happening to ourselves or our loved ones. The mind-numbing idea of being unable or insufficiently prepared to defend one's self is too alarming to consider. It's unfortunate as well that we cannot always count on assistance from an already overburdened police force. Law enforcement agencies aren't equipped to respond to every call, no matter how desperate, and often by the time they are called it's too late for them to do much more than assess the scene and call an ambulance.

Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the entire nation. The intent was to greatly reduce gun crime in the city. But instead, Chicago is now being called “the deadliest global city,“ and the murder rate is running about 25 percent higher than last year. Well, what about in other areas of the world? Down in Australia, gun murders rose by about 19 percent and armed robberies rose by about 69 percent after a gun ban was instituted. The UK has some of the strictest gun laws on the planet. So how has that worked out? Well, gun crime in England and Wales rose by 89 percent over the course of a decade… The latest Government figures show that the total number of firearm offences in England and Wales has increased from 5,209 in 1998/99 to 9,865 last year--a rise of 89 per cent.

Banning guns is not going to solve anything. The criminals are always going to be able to get guns. But banning guns will take them away from hard working American citizens that just want to have a chance to defend themselves as our society crumbles all around us. Gun Owners of America, cites statistics indicating guns are used 2.5 million times a year in self-defense, or around 80 times a day. This includes 200,000 women a year using guns to defend themselves against sexual abuse. As a matter of fact, as of 2008, armed citizens killed more violent bad guys than the police (1,527 vs. 606).

It appears George Washington had it right, when he said “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that is good.” Statistics from the recent past show states that passed concealed carry reduced their murder, rape, and robbery rates. Florida, which passed concealed carry in 1987, saw its higher-than-average homicide rate drop 52% during the following 15 years after passage, to below the national average.

But if you listen to the mainstream media, the only solution to this crisis is more gun control laws. One thing that the mainstream media is not talking about is the role that pharmaceutical drugs have played in almost every single mass murder in the United States in recent years. But the mainstream media will never call for a ban on mind-altering pharmaceutical drugs. The companies that produce those drugs spend billions of dollars to advertise on their networks.

Adam Lanza murdered 20 children in cold blood and that was a crime for which there are not words strong enough to denounce it. However, more than 100 times as many children are killed in the abortion clinics of America every single day, and most of our politicians stand up and publicly defend the slaughter of those innocents.

There were over 1,408,337 violent crimes committed in 2007, and with the general loss of economic prosperity we've had in 2008, that number is surely going to continue to rise. The statistics from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program paint a grim picture of the world we live in today:

One murder occurs every 31 minutes (that's 46 a day!)
One forcible rape happens every 5.8 minutes (that's 248 a day!)
One robbery transpires every 1.2 minutes (that's 1200 a day!)
And one aggravated assault takes place every 36.8 seconds (that's 2345 a day!)

Law enforcement authorities all over the country are telling citizens that they can no longer deal with all the crime and that people need to lock their doors and prepare to defend their families. Just recently, the city attorney of San Bernardino, California told citizens to "lock their doors and load their guns" because there is not enough money to pay for adequate police protection any longer. The murder rate in San Bernardino is up 50 percent this year, but the city is dealing with bankruptcy and has been forced to lay off 80 police officers.

But San Bernardino is not the only city dealing with this kind of a thing. In Oakland, burglaries are up 43 percent so far this year, and to say that there is a "crime wave" going on in Oakland would be a massive understatement. If you can believe it, in Oakland "more than 11,000 homes, cars or businesses have been broken into so far this year – translating to about 33 burglaries a day." Sadly, there simply are not enough police to keep up with it all. Due to budget cuts, it is being projected that by February 2013, the size of the police force in Oakland will be about 25 percent smaller than it was back in 2008. But what is happening in Detroit is perhaps even more frightening. Today there are about 1,000 fewer police officers in Detroit than there was a decade ago. But crime just continues to rise. So now even the police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk." With very little police protection, an increasing number of citizens are taking matters into their own hands.

Justifiable homicide in the city of Detroit increased by 79 percent in 2011, and the rate of self-defense killings in Detroit is approximately 2200 percent above the national average. But don't laugh at what is happening in cities like San Bernardino, Oakland and Detroit. What is happening in those cities will be coming to your community soon enough.

From coast to coast, criminals are becoming increasingly bold and increasingly desperate. Criminals have become very focused on gold because it has soared in value and it is easy to resell. For example, there have been more than 250 gold chain robberies in Stockton, California injust eight months. According to the CBS News affiliate in Sacramento, criminals are just ripping these chains right off of the necks of unsuspecting citizens, and many of the victims that have tried to resist have ended up getting hurt. Normally the criminals sell off the jewelry within 24 hours, so solving these crimes is a real challenge... Most victims of the robberies are female (65 percent), and 44 percent of victims are age 50 or older. The most common time of day for the crimes were between 12 and 5 p.m., though this only accounts for about a third of the crime.

Chicago has become one of the deadliest major cities on the entire globe. In recent years there have been massive cuts to the police budget coupled with a dramatic increase in gang activity in Chicago. The murder rate in Chicago is way up this year and the police force is massively outnumbered. There are only about 200 police officers assigned to Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit. It is their job to handle the estimated 100,000 gang members living in the city.

Just look at what happened during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. If you can believe it, some criminals actually took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday to loot homes in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens. That was the neighborhood where approximately 100 homes burned down. The suffering of the residents of that neighborhood made headlines all over the nation. But that has not stopped criminals from moving in and taking advantage of their vulnerability...

There are some very sick people out there. These days you simply do not know who you can trust. The person you meet on the street may be perfectly fine or they may be a total sicko. It is so hard to tell. Things are changing, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. As conditions shift, we are all going to have to carefully evaluate what is necessary to protect our families. Don't ignore all of the warning signs. Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything is going to be okay is not going to help anything.

A free man has the inalienable, God given right to defend his person, family, loved ones and property from violent assault, unlawful seizure, confiscation, or trespass. The only answer to this threat of physical violence is a thoughtful plan of self-defense. “Stand Your Ground” is a legal extension of the Castle doctrine stating that a person has a right to defend himself against an intruder. “Stand Your Ground” laws state that one can use deadly force in any location one is legally allowed to be and removes the requirement that the threat must occur on one’s own property.

Preparedness

As the U.S. economy falls apart and as the world becomes increasingly unstable, more Americans than ever are becoming "preppers." It is estimated that there are at least two million preppers in the United States today, but nobody really knows. The truth is that it is hard to take a poll because a lot of preppers simply do not talk about their preparations. Your neighbor could be storing up food in the garage or in an extra bedroom and you might never even know it. An increasing number of Americans are convinced that we are on the verge of some really bad things happening. But will just storing up some extra food and supplies be enough? What is going to happen if we see widespread rioting in major U.S. cities like George Soros is predicting? What is going to happen if the economy totally falls to pieces and our city centers descend into anarchy like we saw in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?

In some major U.S. cities such as Detroit, looting is already rampant. There are some sections of Detroit where entire blocks of houses are being slowly dismantled by thieves and stripped of anything valuable. Sadly, the economy is going to get a lot worse than it is at the moment. So is now the time to move away from major U.S. cities? Should preppers be seeking safer locations for themselves and their families? Those are legitimate questions.

Large U.S. cities that the rest of the world used to look at in envy are now being transformed into gang-infested hellholes with skyrocketing crime rates. Cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Camden, East St. Louis, New Orleans and Oakland were once bustling with economic activity, but as industry has fled those communities poverty has exploded and so has criminal activity. Meanwhile, financial problems have caused all of those cities to significantly reduce their police forces. Sadly, this same pattern is being repeated in hundreds of communities all over the nation. The mainstream media loves to focus on mass shooters such as Adam Lanza, but the reality is that gang violence is a far greater problem in the United States than mass shooters ever will be.

There are approximately 1.4 million gang members living in America today according to the FBI. That number has shot up by a whopping 40 percent just since 2009. There are several factors fueling this trend. Unemployment among our young people is at an epidemic level, about one out of every three U.S. children lives in a home without a father, and there are millions of young men who have come into this country illegally and have no way to legally support themselves once they arrive in our cities. Gangs provide a support system, a feeling of "community", and a sense of purpose for many young people. Unfortunately, most of these gangs use violence and crime to achieve their goals, and they are taking over communities all over America. If your community is not a gang-infested war zone yet, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. If nothing is done about this, the violence and the crime that is fueled by these gangs will continue to spread, and eventually nearly every single community in the United States will be affected by it.

We don't have a gun problem in America. What we have is a gang problem. The gangs have a very strong presence in the city, and there simply are not enough financial resources to keep crime in check. For example, if New Orleans was considered to be a separate nation, it would have the 2nd highest murder rate on the entire planet. There are some areas of New Orleans that you simply do not ever want to venture into at night.

In 2006, the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center reported that Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities. By 2010, that number had risen to 1,286. Many of these gang members run up long criminal records, but our overcrowded prison systems just keep releasing them back into the streets.

This is not a time to take away the ability of law-abiding American families to defend themselves. Instead, people need to put even more emphasis on self-defense as police forces all over the country are cut back. As the economy continues to decline and as millions more Americans fall into poverty, the violence is going to get even worse.

According to a recent Gallup poll, satisfaction with the government is now at an all-time low. Americans are rapidly losing faith in virtually every major institution in society. Anger and frustration are rising to very dangerous levels, and we are rapidly approaching a boiling point. When people feel as though they have lost everything, they get desperate. And desperate people do desperate things. In many communities in the United States today, crime has become so terrifying that people are literally sleeping with their guns.

In many areas of the country, law enforcement resources are being dramatically cut back due to budget problems at the same time that crime is rapidly rising. Right now, the city of Detroit is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Officials there recently announced that due to budget constraints, all police stations will be closed to the public for 16 hours a day. From now on, they will only be open to the public from 8 AM to 4 PM.

America is rapidly changing, and we all need to adapt to the new reality all around us. The truth is that America is not the same place it used to be. In some U.S. cities, authorities are actually dumping dead bodies into mass graves. All over the country, major U.S. cities are flat broke and are rapidly decaying. They are filled with impoverished people that are rapidly becoming angrier and more frustrated.

Detroit has become a very scary place. 100 bus drivers in Detroit recently refused to drive their routes out of fear of being attacked on the streets. The head of the bus drivers union, Henry Gaffney, said that the drivers were literally "scared for their lives".... But it is not just Detroit that is having these kinds of problems. In Cleveland, over 50 percent of all children are living in poverty and abandoned houses are everywhere. The city has already demolished about 1,000 homes, and there is a plan to demolish 20,000 more homes.

Down in St. Louis they have a different problem. In some of the worst areas of the city, roving packs of wild dogs are a serious threat to children that are walking to school. These kinds of conditions can be found out on the west coast as well. For example, there is an area of San Francisco that is known as "Hunter's Point" that is an absolute nightmare. In Hunter's Point, over half of the population lives in poverty and more than half of all children live in a home where there is no father present.

When conditions like this reign, it is a prime breeding ground for crime. In major U.S. cities all over the United States, drug dealing, gang activity and prostitution are on the rise. In some major U.S. cities, the gangs have virtually taken over. The FBI says that there are now 1.4 million gang members inside this country. That number has increased by 40 percent since 2009. Organized criminal behavior by groups of young people is on the rise all over the nation. Sadly, this is just the beginning. This country is still enjoying a tremendous amount of prosperity. We still have a very high standard of living compared to most of the rest of the world. So how nightmarish are things going to get when the economy gets really bad? The most frightening thing is when these criminals start invading private homes.

Because of stuff like this, an increasing number of Americans have decided that it is better to be armed. The truth is that you never know when you will get jumped. For example, in Pennsylvania the other day one 65-year-old man was suddenly knocked off his bicycle by three teen thugs. The 65-year-old man responded by pulling out his gun and shooting two of them. One of the teens was killed. Down along the border with Mexico, many ranchers have discovered that a gun battle could potentially erupt on any night. The federal government has refused to protect the border, and so millions of illegals just keep streaming on in.

More than 10 million guns were sold in the United States during 2011. The truth is that you never know when you may need to defend yourself.

There simply are not enough jobs for everyone. Millions of ordinary Americans spend their days agonizing over the fact that they cannot provide even a basic living for themselves and their families. And as the economy gets even worse, the economic despair in this country is going to grow to unprecedented levels. One solution may be to move farther away from your current job so that you are in a more rural setting. But the rising cost of gasoline can make that a very expensive proposition. Some families are purchasing second homes that they can "bug out" to in the event of a major disaster or emergency. But if your financial resources are limited that may not be an option for you. In the final analysis, you have just got to do the best you can with what you have. But if you are able to move, it is better to do it while times are relatively stable (like now) than when times are very unstable.

Most people are probably going to be much better off after a society crushing event to be located away from highly densely populated centers. Unfortunately the majority of everyone lives in suburbia or in urban areas, and the problems of total or near breakdown of civilization are usually magnified there. Even in rural areas the anguish of collapse will be apparent and a problem. For those that failed to plan and put away what they need, their main issue is going to be food, clean water, and their everyday needs. For those that have prepared and sacrificed to be ready, “just in case”, their main problem is keeping what they have.

The prepper and survival-driven person needs solutions to be able to better handle the fact that people are going to be coming for what they have in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Some people will turn their homes into forts, and battle to the end before anyone takes what they have saved up. For these people there are plenty of survival military manuals and training that go into great detail how to defend your home, from booby trapping everything, to every weapon you can imagine. For the person that has stored-up and wants to survive as long as possible there are some less drastic measures (solutions). But, everyone should have some form of reliable self defense.

Sharing with those who are unprepared could cost you your chance of making it. You cannot feed everyone. There are precautions you can take beforehand to make your stocks safer. There are viable solutions that can be taken to try to avoid dangerous confrontations. There are things you can do to bypass hurt feelings with those you share a community with so as not to come back to haunt you if there is a recovery of the society.

Legal Self-Defense

It could be your worst nightmare...

Some meth-addict storms into your home in the middle of the night to terrorize your family and score some cash for a quick fix.

Your firearm is accessible...

Your skills are sharp...

You shoot...

You stop the threat...

Your family is safe...

But instead of comforting your spouse and kids while the bad guy gets hauled away to the hospital... ...YOU find yourself in handcuffs getting hauled off to jail!

Think it can't happen? Think again! It happens all the time to people just like you and me!

The sad truth is this... The legal system is NOT about "justice." It's about the law – plain and simple.

If you make one single "wrong" move – one "wrong" decision in firing (or even just showing) your weapon - then you can be held liable for the welfare of your attacker.

For example... You may use the "wrong" gun to defend yourself; You may have the "wrong" ammo loaded; You shot when you weren't "legally" allowed to; You said the "wrong" things to the cops; You said the "wrong" things to the jury in court.

In fact, while you may think you are 100% prepared to defend yourself with a firearm, you may actually be playing right into an attorney’s hands with what you "think" you know right now.

What may start out as "self defense" could end in you going to prison – possibly for the rest of your life - for the "crime" of defending your loved ones in your own home!

Learn how to LEGALLY protect your innocence should you be forced to defend yourself and those you love with (or even without) a firearm)! This DVD can actually mean the difference between you sleeping in your nice warm bed at home…or on a cold hard mattress in a prison cell for the rest of your life.

See Bullet Proof Defense Here

--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED--

Self Defense Against Criminal Legal Oppression

with Sensei Fred and Sensei Nina

Some suggestions for helping to keep people away after a cataclysm.

- On top of not being visible to others, keep your home as void of light during the nighttime as possible. Try to keep your home as blending in with the darkness as you can. People can see the dimmest light for miles.

- Be aware of the smell of food. Aromas of cooking food can be smelled for long distances, especially meats.

- Bury all your trash. This keeps disease down, and does not let desperate people know you have been eating food that there is probably more of.

- Make the outside of your place look more rundown and less appealing. Like during regular times the homes that look like they have nothing, are less likely to be ransacked. It doesn’t take much to quickly make a house look worse than it actually is.

- Avoid movements and noise. Where there are people there is food, and things that others need.

- A clever tactic that can work to keep others away is to spray paint in big red letters “QUARANTINED” across your home, even add “DANGER VERY SICK PEOPLE.” Most people don’t want to add to their misery being deathly sick or eating food contaminated by someone with a deadly disease.

Weaponry

If you were caught up in a "collapse" survival scenario, you'd want to be armed with the some serious weaponry.

* Pistol
* Assault rifle
* Combat survival knife
* Machete

All of these will come in handy whether you need to go hunting for food, or defend you and your loved ones from violent hordes of desperate, hungry looters.

The best items to have on hand - especially if you're forced to bug out and carry your gear -- are ones that have multiple purposes.

That's why you should add a FLARE GUN to your survival inventory/arsenal.

A flare gun is a single-shot pistol that fires an extremely hot 12 gauge sized projectile that can travel horizontally to a max of about 150 ft and burn for about 5-7 seconds.

A recommend version is the Orion brand and you can pick one up online or at the boating section of a sports store in most states.

Its first use is for signaling when you may need to get the attention of rescue personnel if you're stranded or trapped.

But a flare gun can also double as a backup weapon.

A flare gun is NOT a weapon of mass destruction and NOT a primary defense firearm.

It's not typically lethal on impact and it doesn't explode, but...

...it's hot enough to catch clothes, debris, or fuel on fire (think distraction or destruction)

...if waved at a crowd, it can buy you some"back off" time to get to safety

...and if shot, will scare the crap out of everyone who wasn't expecting to see a burning, hissing, "mini-meteor" coming at them.

If you're lucky, it will catch something (or someone!) on fire and you can run like hell while a crowd is reeling from the shock or trying to extinguish the unfortunate soul who didn't heed your warning.

Flare guns usually come orange in color so that you can easily find it in a boating accident.

If you point a giant orange gun at a person to warn them off, they may think it's a squirt gun and laugh at you. That's NOT the desired effect.

Spray paint the gun with flat black spray paint to give it more of a "gun" appearance.

When People Come Knocking at Your Door

You can of course confront people with force, but doing this can send out a message you have something well worth fighting for and end up in a fierce battle, being out-gunned. It may be the only way, but there can be alternatives to this.

- Try to never allow people in your home, but if it happens, have clutter and unkempt surroundings to keep their focus on. Like the outside of your home, look like you have nothing.

- Physically look shabby and depressed like you have nothing.

- Admit to nothing you have stored, even like saying the mistake of saying you ONLY have 2 weeks of food. People will want you to share even this with them.

- Discussion about what you have, should include key words like; meager, little, very limited, bare, empty, sparse, etc.

- If you just have to give away some food, make it seem like it’s a huge sacrifice to do so. Less likely for someone to think you have much more.

- Give away food first to those with children as this makes you appear like you are doing what you can.

- Be ready for any excuse for someone to try to get into your home to see what you have.

- Never talk to a large crowd of people, mob mentality rules and you will find this out.

- Have only one person be the spokesperson for your group. One person is less likely to make a mistake than several that could let out what you have.

- Watch people’s eyes closely when talking to them, beware of the “sizing it up” wandering eyes. Never look away. Watch the body language.

- Remain calm and say what you mean and don’t change your mind, this doesn’t open up for all sorts of manipulation of people trying to get you to feed everyone till you have nothing.

- Don’t let others make you feel bad about sitting on your hoard while they suffer. Convince them that you wish you had food to feed everyone but you don’t. Even make it believable that you are worse off than those coming to your door. Sickness is again something to play on, people are ill inside.

- Get a person’s thought sidetracked from what you “might” have, to what the person or people are going to do, ask them about their plans for the future.

- Without discriminating, the more overweight someone is the more desperate they are going to be to eat, the more likely that they are not going to take no for an answer. The more likely they are going to hound you or do something drastic to get any food that may be around.

- To try to predict how people will react, picture yourself in their situation and ask yourself what you would do. This gives you a foundation to think about and plan for if and when people come to your door wanting what you might have.

- Have a collection of native plants, such as dandelions, that are etible and discuss with your neighbors that this is what you have been living on and they can also find this around the city. This should curb their interest that you have much or any stored up food for them.

This is a set of ideas that can help you keep a hold of what you have to survive, those things that you have saved up for and sacrificed for to be prepared. It must be realized by most of us that we all have a degree of warmth and compassion for those hungry and desperate, it is called humanity. The problem with this is that you cannot support and keep everyone alive and thriving unless you are a multimillionaire and have all sorts of stored food and supplies and other means of manufacturing food and needs.

You can attempt to feed and supply everyone that you can, and end up with nothing, and in the same sinking boat as everyone else. You also can decide to keep what you have prepared for and try to survive for your family’s and group’s sake, and attempt to keep what you have by using these methods or other inventive and creative ways of avoiding “giving or having the shirt taken off your back,”

Physical Self-Defense

NEW WAYS OF STEALING...

SCENE 1.

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker.

After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, 'Funny, I thought I locked the locker...'

Hmm, 'He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay - all cards were in place...

A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whooping bill of $14,000!

He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions.

Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen...

'No,' he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had been made.

An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them.

How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy?

$9,000!

Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped?

Small amounts rarely trigger a ' WARNING BELL ' with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

SCENE 2.

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card.

The bill for the meal came, he signed it and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along.

Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket.

Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person.

He called the waitress and she looked perplexed.

She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter, under the watchful eye of the man.

All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card.

No exchange of words --- nothing!

She took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours.

Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time.

Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, ' ASSUMING ' that it has to be theirs.

FOR YOUR OWN SAKE... DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH TIME IT IS RETURNED TO YOU AFTER A TRANSACTION!

SCENE 3:

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in.

I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my Checking Account.

The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, then laid it on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure.

While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialing.

I noticed the phone because... it is the same model I have!

But, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds, when I take a picture.

He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking... I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on.

It then dawned on me... the only thing there was my credit card, so now I'm paying close attention to what he is doing.

He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open.

About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved.

Now I'm standing there struggling with the fact that; this boy just took a picture of my credit card.

Yes, he played it off well, because... had we NOT had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened.

Needless to say, I immediately canceled that card, as I was walking out of the pizza parlor.

All I am saying is, be aware of your surroundings at all times.

Whenever you are using your credit card take caution and don't be careless.

Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card.

Be aware of phones, because many have a camera phone these days.

JUST BE AWARE!

Never let your card out of your sight... check and check again!

Urban Survival Tips for the Street Savvy

There is chaos around you (due to a natural disaster, civil unrest, massive unemployment, whatever) and even though you stay close to home, you must venture out to go to your job, take your kids to school, and to periodically make a trip to the grocery store. And yet the moment you step outside you can feel the tension. What do you do?

Trust you instincts and stay alert: You know those gut feelings of yours? Now is the time to pay attention. If something around you seem “off,” walk away and retreat to safety. Don’t be embarrassed or ashamed to admit that you are frightened even if you feel foolish after the fact. Bad vibes are bad vibes so trust yourself and you will be fine.

Evaluate the risks: Headed to an unfamiliar area? Evaluate the risks so that you are prepared. Dress to blend in, don’t carry a lot of obviously expensive electronics, and don’t call excessive attention to yourself. If the area is under siege, evaluate your need to even go there. Is it worth the risk?

Evaluate your home security and create a safe zone: Make sure the outdoor area of your home is well lighted and that the foliage and shrubbery is trimmed around the perimeter of your home site. The last thing you want is a convenient hiding place for the bad guys right there on your property. Also, check with your local police or sheriff’s department; many will offer a complementary home security survey. All you need to do is ask.

Situational awareness: Teach yourself to actively look for signs of threats and dangers. Crime can be anywhere, but tends to be more prevalent in dark, quiet areas such as parking garages, alleys, stairs, and lonely roadways. As you enter these areas, look around for things that don’t seem quite right. Trust your gut!

Know your neighborhood: Reach out and get to know your neighbors and members of your community. Talk among yourselves and come up with a plan to work together and to look after each other during a crisis or disaster.

Every day carry items: Increase your ability to defend yourself and get attention. This can be as simple as carrying a whistle, some pepper spray and a small flashlight. Or, depending on your situation, this could include a knife or firearm.

What to do if you feel threatened

Attitude is everything and can make a huge difference. Do not give off signals that you feel vulnerable and threatened. Nope – don’t do that. On the other hand, do not purposely walk into a dangerous situation. Instead, withdraw as quietly and unobtrusively as you can, and retreat to an area where there are more people around. Worse case, run away while making a loud noise (remember that whistle?)

The Final Word

Having street smarts takes common sense and the ability to deal with all kinds of people in a myriad of contentious situations. While having well-honed street smarts is essential for urban dwellers, street smarts are also an important skill for those in a rural community or remote area.

There is no better time than now to practice a street smart and street savvy attitude. Above all, be safe.

There Are 1.4 MILLION Gang Members In The United States And More Pour Into The Country Every Single Day

A vast army of heavily armed criminals has embedded itself in every major city in the United States. In fact, nearly every community in America is now affected by these thugs. Drugs, theft and brutal violence are all part of the every day lifestyle of the members of this army. They aggressively recruit our young people and floods of illegal immigrants are joining their ranks. Once civil unrest erupts in America, they will go on a crime spree that will be absolutely unprecedented and they will burn large areas of some U.S. cities to the ground. So who am I talking about? I am talking about the rapidly growing gangs that are terrorizing cities all over the nation. The FBI tells us that there are now 1.4 million gang members involved in the 33,000 different gangs that are active inside the United States. The number of gang members in the U.S. has increased by 40 percent since 2009. This is absolutely astounding. Just since 2009, the number of gang members has increased by 40 percent. The FBI says that 48 percent of all violent crime in this country can be directly traced to gangs and that this is a national crisis that is progressively getting worse. Unfortunately, the federal government refuses to secure our borders and is allowing new waves of illegal immigrants to enter the United States every single day. A substantial number of those illegal immigrants end up involved in these gangs. Yet the federal government just stands by and allows it to keep happening. One day, the foolishness of this policy will be evident to all.

In many areas of America today, families live behind windows that have bars on them and they won't ever go out at night because it is just too dangerous. There are some communities that have pretty much been entirely taken over by the gangs, but instead of addressing the problem the federal government continues to spend a massive amount of resources checking out what might be in our underwear at U.S. airports. Meanwhile, criminal gangs are thriving. They are becoming incredibly powerful and increasingly sophisticated.

The following is from an FBI press release....

Gangs are increasingly engaging in non-traditional gang-related crime such as alien smuggling, human trafficking, and prostitution. Gangs are also engaging in white-collar crime such as counterfeiting, identity theft, and mortgage fraud.

You have probably heard of some of the largest of these gangs. For example, the 18th Street Gang is the largest gang in the state of California. It is said that they have 15,000 members in California alone, and that on average they are responsible for at least one major crime in Los Angeles County every single day. It has been reported that police in Los Angeles are extremely hesitant to ever venture into the areas most heavily controlled by the 18th Street gang. They are absolutely brutal and they do not back down to anyone. This is what Wikipedia has to say about the 18th Street Gang....

A US Justice Department report from 2009 estimates that the 18th Street gang has a membership of some 30,000 to 50,000 with 80% of them being illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America and is active in 44 cities in 20 states. Its main source of income is street-level distribution of cocaine and marijuana and, to a lesser extent, heroin and methamphetamine. Gang members also commit assault, auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, extortion, homicide, identification fraud, and robbery.

Another very prominent gang that you may have heard of is the Latin Kings. It is reported that they have 18,000 members in the city of Chicago alone. They are believed to be the largest Hispanic gang in the entire nation. One of the gangs that has law enforcement authorities the most concerned is MS-13. There are chapters of MS-13 in 42 states now, and if you cross a member of MS-13 there is a good chance that you will lose a limb or be hacked to death with a machete.

This tough economic environment has made it even easier for these gangs to recruit new members. Today, there are way too many young people sitting around with nothing to do. Back in the year 2000, more than 50 percent of all Americans teens had a job. This past summer, only 29.6% of all American teens had a job. When you have lots of teens and young adults sitting around with nothing but time on their hands, bad things are prone to happen.

As the family unit continues to decline in America, young people are looking for a sense of belonging. For many youths, a gang becomes a new "family" for them. But unfortunately, these new "families" do not exactly teach "family values". Instead, they teach our young people about how to be brutal and violent. And we are seeing evidence of this out on the streets every single day. For example, a group of 6 young thugs recently attacked a 64-year-old Vietnam veteran in Philadelphia and beat him up so badly that he almost died....

Kate Schaefer, the victim’s wife, told Eyewitness News, 'They just smashed every bone in his face. I can’t tell you the words. I guess I was just happy that he was alive.'

During 2011, there was a large increase in "group crime" behavior. Some of the incidents have been absolutely horrific. For example, the following is how one local ABC News affiliate described the "flash mob" attacks that took place at the Wisconsin state fair earlier this year....

Milwaukee police said that around 11:10 p.m., squads were sent to the area for reports of battery, fighting and property damage being caused by an unruly crowd of "hundreds" of people. One officer described it as a "mob beating."

Police said the group of young people attacked fair goers who were leaving the fair grounds. Police said that some victims were attacked while walking. They said others were pulled out of cars and off of motorcycles before being beaten.

Can you imagine taking your kids to the state fair and having them witness that? But this is just the beginning. These gangs are becoming very organized and they are becoming very heavily armed.

The FBI says that rifles, machine guns, grenades and even artillery rounds are being found in the possession of gangs more frequently than ever. Some examples of this were recently posted on military.com. These gangs seem to have a particular affection for AK-47s....

In late July, 27 AK-47s were stolen from a Fort Irwin warehouse, officials said. Those close to the case, who would speak only under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the subject, said investigators believe gang members were involved in the theft.

Sadly, that same article noted that members of the U.S. military have even been arrested for trying to sell weapons to these gangs....

In November 2010, three former Marines were arrested in Los Angeles for selling assault weapons to members of the violent street gang, Florencia 13, according to the NGIC report. That same month, a Navy Seal from San Diego and two others were arrested in Colorado for smuggling about 18 military-issued machine guns from Iraq and Afghanistan to be sold and shipped to buyers in Mexico.

Those that want to steal guns are becoming increasingly bold. For example, 21 machine guns were stolen a while back right out of an LAPD training facility.

Down in Miami, thieves have become so bold that they have actually been breaking into parked police cruisers and stealing guns and ammo out of them.

When people are stealing guns directly from the police, that is a sign that it is very late in the game.

Our politicians spend so much time talking about the violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the truth is that the area right along the U.S./Mexico border is far more dangerous.

Just check out the following information from CNSNews.com....

According to the Mexican government, from January through September 2011 2,276 deaths were recorded in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico.

A Nov. 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report states that over nearly the same period – January through October 2011 – 2,177 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led war against the Taliban is underway. It did not provide a breakdown of responsibility for that period, but said that in 2010, 75 percent of civilian deaths were attributed to the Taliban and other “anti-government elements.”

Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan.

Many of the areas along our border with Mexico are open war zones. But do we do not hear about this in the mainstream media.

Just across the U.S. border lies the city of Juarez, Mexico. Juarez is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities on the entire planet because of the brutal drug war being waged there. In fact, Juarez is the murder capital of the western hemisphere. But most Americans have never even heard of Juarez.

Complete and total chaos reigns in vast areas of northern Mexico, and yet most Americans don't even realize that there is a problem. Overall, more than 35,000 people have been killed since the Mexican government declared war on the drug cartels back in 2006. You would think that would warrant some significant news coverage. But no, the mainstream media can't talk much about that because then the people might actually start demanding that we secure our borders. Amazingly, instead of securing our borders the Obama administration has been busy sending guns down to the drug cartels in Mexico. That is what this whole "Fast and Furious" scandal is all about. ATF agents purposely allowed thousands of guns to be sold to individuals that they believed would get them into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. But so far, nobody in the Obama administration has been held accountable for this.

During 2009 and 2010, 70 percent of the 30,000 guns that were recovered by authorities in Mexico were determined to have come from inside the United States. That is a major problem. These Mexican drug cartels and the gangs that work with them have become very heavily armed and they have become very bold.

It has been reported that Mexican drug cartels are now openly conducting military operations inside the United States. Scouts for the cartels maintain strategic lookout bases in the hills of southern Arizona, and the federal government has even put up signs that warn tourists to say out of certain areas. The cartels very much try to avoid any confrontations with our border patrol or with our local police, but once they are approached they are not afraid to open fire.

One very frustrated border patrol agent told Fox News the following about what is going on in his area....

"To say that this area is out of control is an understatement."

So how in the world can the federal government allow this to go on? Well, a big part of it is that Barack Obama does not want to do anything that could scare away his Hispanic voters. In fact, he is doing just about everything that he can to portray himself as "Hispanic-friendly."

A few months ago, the Obama administration has announced that there will now be a case-by-case review of all deportation cases involving illegal immigrants. Those involving "criminals" will be prioritized and almost all the rest will be thrown out. Yes, you read that correctly. If you are an illegal immigrant and you have not been convicted of a crime that means that you almost certainly get to stay in this country. So that is basically a big green light for even larger waves of illegal immigrants to enter this country. That means that the ranks of the gangs will swell even more. The chaotic drug war that is going on in northern Mexico has spread into many areas of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. With each passing day, the gangs that are embedded in all of our major cities are getting stronger. They are a ticking time bomb that eventually will go off.

One day, when mass civil unrest erupts in the United States, the gangs will have a field day. Given the opportunity, most gangs will gleefully indulge in brutal violence, looting, arson, rape and mindless property destruction. Sadly, this all could have been avoided. Instead of strip-searching old women at airports, this is what we should have been dedicating our law enforcement resources to. Instead of spending billions of dollars spying on the American people, the federal government should have spent billions of dollars on securing our borders. Unfortunately, we made the wrong choices as a nation and so now we are going to pay the price.