http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9ixKiK0Ws
The report above is entirely misleading. The Mexican military controls the town of Apatzingan. Mexican revolutionaries (a.k.a., self-defense groups or vigilantes) control the countryside. So it’s not the Knights Templar drug cartel vs. government troops protecting the locals. It’s the Knights Templar allied with government troops vs. inhabitants. To regain control of the region from the locals, the Government has pacified the drug thugs – by secret agreement – and called for the revolutionaries to register their members and arms. So far, only eight out of twenty such groups have cooperated. Allegedly. The Government plans to bide their time, withdraw quietly and let the drug thugs exact retributions as and when. Then it’s business as usual for the cartels and the Government gets its vig. What if the revolutionaries don’t put down their guns? Will the Mexican Government turn on the them? Count on it. Meanwhile, Borderland Beat reporter J writes on the endless War on Drugs . . .
As violence, insecurity, with a glimmer of hope consume Michoacan, several hundred miles away, and Chino Antrax awaits extradition from Holland to San Diego, across the Atlantic, the integral parts of the business remain. Sometimes lost in the headlines, substantial or interesting seizures continue, in timeless fashion, with shipments of product moving north, and money and weapons heading south.
January 22nd 2014: In the mid afternoon a 52-year-old San Diego man was stopped as he attempted to cross the San Ysidro border into Tijuana. He was driving a 2011 Sienna minivan, and carrying 17 high-powered weapons parts, and 64 boxes of ammunition, about 2500 bullets total, and seven magazines. He was placed into the custody of Homeland Security, with an immigration hold.
That same week in Tijuana, a man linked to Caballeros Templarios, a weapons broker and buyer for the troubled cartel, was arrested Manuel Alejandro Zuniga Garcia, ‘El Pelon’. He made statements to the PEPOS (Special Police for organized crime), saying in essence he was in Tijuana to buy weapons to take to Michoacan, coordinated by his two uncles, one in the States, and on in Michocan. He was in Tijuana to receive a shipment of weapons.
January 23rd 2014: Last week at the San Clemente U.S Customs & Border Patrol checkpoint, between Tijuana and Los Angeles, officers intercepted 670 pounds of cocaine, from a 2011 Hyundai Elentra. It was nearly 1:30 am when the compact car rolled into the station, likely eerily vacant, with piercing floodlights and tired agents, on their third cup of stale coffee from the break room. The man, 54 was dressed in a suit and tie, which is odd for the hour, and after discovering he was not an US citizen, as claimed, he was pulled over for inspection.
K-9 units alerted on the car, and officers pulled out 45 cardboard boxes, each neatly packed with wrapped kilos of cocaine, 304 in all. His name was not released, and he was turned over to the DEA. The San Clemente station is known to be open sporadically, perhaps between the late hour, and the haphazard details of a large shipment, it could be speculated that someone assumed the stop would be closed. Yet, there was no front car, or run through to check, on the smuggler’s part? At that late hour? A suit & tie works for early morning, or evening, even midday…yet stands out at 1:15 AM. Likely nothing will ever be known about the driver, or his case, or the origin of the seized drugs. It is very possible this wasn’t a random interdiction.
January 28th 2014: Less than a week later, a Uzbekistan national, permanent US resident was stopped, driving a car carrier, northbound. National Guard members, after a K-9 alert, performed an X-Ray inspection, which led the Guardsmen to irregularities in the bumpers of two Acura MDX’s on the back of the carrier. The bumpers held 49 bundles of cash, with markings indicating amount, and covered in silver duct tape. The packages held 1.5 million in US currency. The money, the cars, and the driver were all detained and held.
The same day in Pine Valley, interstate 8, 15 pounds of cocaine were seized from the frame of a vehicle.
Two days later, a U.S. [Customs and Border Patrol] unit patrolling the I-5, stopped a vehicle headed south, and discovered a 39-year-old Mexican national, with a valid Visa. Also, carrying 10,000 in his pockets, and 49,900 in a jacket, and a bag in the vehicle. He claimed the 10,000, as his, denying knowledge of the other stash. He was remanded to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.
Are there links and interconnected webs of commerce, investigations, and alliances? Certainly. I cannot begin to unravel them here, leave the readers to their own conclusions. Is the Uzbekistan national and the 1.5 million, headed north linked to organized crime in Mexico, and the US? Or different syndicates at play? Money from down the coast, prostitution, drugs, stolen goods, headed to Russian bosses in LA? Or was it related to drug sales and Mexican TCO’s? Going to LA to be laundered, or transported south, via ship or plane? Invested in property?
There are rumors in San Diego, and unofficial statements pertaining to the triple murder of three San Diego young adults, in late December. Two were found murdered on Christmas Eve, at a mall, in a violent late night shooting. A brother of one of the victims, and fiancée of the female victim was found weeks later, decomposing in the trunk of his Camry. Italians from Utah with no record, who worked in a small Italian restaurant, owned by family members, nonetheless drugs and money are the whispers.
Blood, drugs, money, investigations, arrests, articles, it all wears on in a tireless, endless, existence, for everyone involved. A civil war rages in Michoacan, the crystal crosses the border, and an addict burglarizes a home, or steals a car, high on meth. 7.62’s rip through birthdays, school clothes, flesh, bone, and leave nameless victims laying in a burning state. Prices rise, spokesmen and women give statements to the press, people get their 35 years, and final words to the District judge. And, it all means nothing, or everything, dependent upon your perspective.
“Paying panic prices for practice plinking ammo pisses me off.” Try saying that ten times, fast.
Amended
Paying panic prices for practice plinking PROJECTILE pisses me off. Try saying that ten times, fast.
For the love of God, someone get those girls some real guns.
Help me out here: is “Knights Templar” a euphemism?
Cartels have silly names. There’s one called “The U.N.”
One of my personal favorites is “J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.”
Mosty the Knights Templar use a weirder-than-usual flavor of Christianity to justify violent suppression of dissent, extortion, torture, murder, and other generally unsavory acts.
If you read many history books, you’ll know this really isn’t anything new when it comes to ‘reasons for being douchebags’.
Either it’s money or it’s “I’m righteous and you’re not”.
Or both.
DEA.
500 Error in script.
Posting comment that starts with a number (0-9) creates the error.
Night sights for the SA Loaded’s slide cuts can be purchased from Fusion Firearms in Binghampton New York.
Gonna find me a maaaaan.
If all Americans would stop drug use/abuse, all this would collapse in a month. The fuel for all of this is American dollars and the organized groups bribe each other, but would rather give a bullet than a dollar to the Mexican citizens.
Where have you been for the past 40 years?
I was gonna say something about being stoned, but plainly that’s not it.
“If the sun would stop shining, I’d quit getting these damn sunburns.”
You, sir, just flunked the logic exam.
Stopping drug use; not gonna happen. However, it would seriously
help is the US Government stopped overtly supporting drug users
and by default the drug trade. How? Ask your local LE and ERs etc
just how many career users get full SSI benefits and welfare. After
all willful drug use is a disability. And the only way to solve this
problem is to throw massive amounts of your money at the problem.
I had a Beretta 92 and it kept smoke-stacking. Sold it. I had a Ruger 9mm, not a bad gun but accuracy sucked. Had a Ruger 45 auto, slide was loose as a goose, accuracy sucked. Now I have a Sig P226 and I love it. However while shooting once in a great while the mag falls out. I think I’m riding my thumb on the mag release while shooting, but I’m not sure. I love the gun, accuracy so-so. I’m saving up for a Kimber 45 though, but will probably still keep the Sig 9mm.
I own the Taurus Mil. G2 9mm and also my main carry gun is a Taurus 24/7 .40 cal. Both of these weapons were superb straight from the box. Taurus is a top quality forearm.
Utah;
Still awesome.
I was born in WV. Going home.
Bing just got replaced in Detroit. The new guy seems to not be an idiot, hopefully he wont show up on here in the future. Especially now given the things that the cheif of police has been saying.
It’s too bad those seeking amnesty are not friends of Obama. He would grant it.
This editorial is what emerges when you give idiots a pen. We see this with the “automatic weapons” and “clips” remarks. This moron has no idea what he is ranting about.
The trocars are interesting, but is the point to do belly shots? How does this round work when the first thing it hits is sternum or rib?
….50 cm is tiny, only a little bigger than a hatchling.
Self defense is a natural right! Depending on your local, state, and federal laws. And the time period you live in. Based on the whim of elected or appointed officials. Your mileage may vary. Nonviolence is a beautiful concept, but maybe if a friendly sniper was facing that boarding house across from the balcony in Memphis scanning windows for suspicious figures history would be a bit different. We can dream.
If self sefense ammo runs through the piece “like crap through a goose” then stop your “batching.” This a close range self defense gun, not a Kimber 1911 in 10mm. It gets the job that it was intended for done. The Glock is not a precision instrument. It is a piece of Tupperware that does what it is supposed to do.
BOBERG XR9-S
accurate, light recoil, +P rated
If you wear a Rolex and not a Timex, this is the gun will want!
Anther great ammo review. Thanks, STB!
I guess about as we expected… It seems the current understanding in terminal ballistics is that optimal performance is achieved by the most mass possible penetrating the deepest (within the 12-18″ range) – with the most possible expansion. That means it’s better for the bullet to retain it’s mass rather than shed it’s mass through ‘frangibles’ (ie -trocars) which then create separate mini-wound channels instead and (in this case) do not seem have enough mass in themselves to consistently penetrate sufficiently to make up for losing that mass (and expansion) along the main wound channel, (presumably towards vitals). (This concept also applies to a bullet/jacket separation, hence bonding).
In addition, other barrier dynamics such as oh, leather and denim and buttons and bones bring in to play other variables that are often best mitigated by bullet mass/composition/force that allows for ample penetration that can overcome such barriers and still expand and penetrate 12″+
And if they don’t cycle reliably, well, then you’re not too worried about the wound path that your bullet is or isn’t going to cause are you — but the one that theirs is instead. So the aforementioned data are irrelevant to YOUR personal bullet selection.
It also appears they could potentially bring certain ‘litigious vulnerabilities’ and are 5x the cost of a regular good defensive round, with none of these limitations/concerns.
If you want an exotic round, go with Lehigh Defense Max Expansion. Or don’t – and just get a proven JHP.
Anyway, love your reviews. Thanks again.
“In order to achieve national standards for gun control our leaders cannot continue to frame the issue in terms of political expediency.” OK, I understand this–it is a challenge to politicians to not kow tow to the gun lobby.
But this: “As a people, Americans cannot continue to frame the issue in terms of narrowly defined freedoms.” I am not sure I understand what this means. Does she mean that Second Amendment freedoms should be broadly defined? I could go for that. Or is this some sort of veiled way of saying that the “freedom” of the public to “safety” outweighs the right of the individual? Bizarre.