Selco Explains How (and Why) to be the Gray Man

This article was originally published by Daisy Luther at The Organic Prepper

by Selco 

In our interviews with Selco, he has frequently mentioned the Gray Man principle. This is something that people in the preparedness community mention a lot, but many don’t fully understand it. In this week’s interview, Selco explains how – and why – we should embrace being the Gray Man, even before the SHTF. ~ Daisy

In your articles, you frequently mention being the Gray Man. What exactly does this mean?

It is a simple concept that comes to be very important when SHTF, and it is often completely opposite of how a lot of preppers are planning to look or act.

In the shortest definition, it is staying uninteresting or simply looking and acting like most of the people around you in a particular moment.

It can be used in a lot of situations when SHTF, during prolonged periods of time, or during short-term events.

How can you use the Gray Man concept for your home so it is less likely to be targeted?

It depends on the situation, but in case of a serious collapse in urban settings “home invasions” (especially in first period) happens based on opportunity and what can be achieved from that invasion.

In other words, yes, if your home is less protected then it is easier to get inside, but in terms of SHTF the more your home looks like a place with valuable things inside, the higher chances are for being attacked.

Remember it is a time without (at least without proper working) law and police force. That means there are no police coming to help after a few shots. There is only you and the attacker.

Having a home with visible cameras, expensive equipment, attack dogs, alarms and similar (especially in a neighborhood where that is not usual) clearly makes you different and gives attackers the idea that there are valuable things inside.

Having all that equipment in times when there is law and order makes sense because police and help are only a couple of minutes away.

When the SHTF in Bosnia, the first houses that were robbed were known rich guys’ houses. It didn’t matter that they were defended and had steel bars.

When 70-100 people (who are mostly armed and not disturbed by the police) start attacking a house with only a few people inside, there are no steel bars and no smart strategies.

Not if the attackers have a strong enough motivation to get inside.

Do not give that motivation to them.

I am not talking against alarms and dogs, but I am advocating a more “subtle” way of home defense, and more fluid, more Gray Man type.

Just making your home “gray” alone is a big topic, but here are a few suggestions:

Deterrents

This is the first step of home defense of the Gray Man principle. Using your weapon should be the last!

In one of the previous articles, there was a comment along the lines of “If I make my home look abandoned, then it is going to be targeted, so it is a wrong suggestion.”

The concept is to look like everything else around you. In a prolonged urban SHTF, there are going to be houses around yours that are going to be deserted, ruined, looted.

Sometimes it makes sense that your home looks like that too. Like if 50 people are coming through your neighborhood looking for useful things, it makes sense if your home and yard look on “first glance” looks like someone already looted it (like most of the houses on the street).

Sometimes the best defense is to look like there is no defense. You still can be prepared and ready.

There is no universal advice. In case of prolonged collapse, different tactics will work for different regions, based on the situation.

For example, in my case, it was very useful (and still is) to put few “mines” signs as a deterrent. In your case maybe it is cool to have a few biohazard signs that you may put in front of your home, or in case of a pandemic, a sign that says “bodies inside.”

It works in drastic situations. In my case after some time, people simply avoided going inside places where they suspected bodies were.

Think about what can work in your case.

Think in layers

Your defense should not start at your house door because by that time you have lost some of your advantage. Think in layers.

For example, the first layer is a neighboring house, the second layer is your yard, and the third layer is inside your home.

Use advantages (and disadvantages) in your favor

Example: if you have a yard in front of your home, look now for possible ways that intruders could approach. How many of those ways are there? If there are 4 potential ways, is it possible to watch all of them? Can you minimize that to only one way by funneling the attackers by using obstacles, garbage, etc.? Simply put yourself in the attacker’s mind and see what he sees.

Sometimes something simple like planting a bush or tree on a spot in the yard will funnel an attacker to where you want him to be. But at the same time, that bush or tree may obstruct your view, so use your common sense.

Alarms or traps

Popular opinion says that deadly traps need to be used when defending your home during the SHTF.

It is a final solution, because once when you use deadly force (with trap) you are bringing everything a new level. Often, it is simply wrong and you have gone too far.

Think about traps and alarms in layers too (I’ll call them traps, some of them are alarms actually). An entire book could be written about using them when the SHTF, but for this article think just consider these ideas.

• An alarm that will let only you know when someone is approaching without letting the attacker know he has triggered something (for example in order to approach your home he need to move from his way something noisy that simply stay there)


• An alarm that will let you know someone is approaching and also let the attacker know he has triggered the alarm so he clearly understand someone set it there and that the place is probably guarded.


• Traps that are combinations of above-mentioned with the option of hurting the attacker.

There is a situation for each of the above, but using the wrong one can be dangerous. For example, do you want to use a deadly explosive trap for two guys from the neighborhood who are just checking whether you have something to trade?

It is cool to know how to construct something from scratch, but sometimes a cheap Chinese “purse alarm” in combination with a fishing line will give you an SHTF alarm that may help you a lot.

Think about using these in layers, too. If someone clearly ignored your warning devices, perhaps closer to home it is the place and time for a “hurting” trap.

All of this gives you precious time to get organized inside your home, to decide what to do and how to act.

One popular opinion is that “I will have a shotgun. Nobody will come through my door”

For the people who have not experienced a violent collapse in urban settings, remember that other people will have weapons too, and other people may come in bigger numbers than you have.

You need to think in layers in order to maximize your chances of success.

How can you use the gray man concept personally?

OPSEC

“Operations Security, or OPSEC, is the process by which we protect unclassified information that can be used against us. OPSEC challenges us to look at ourselves through the eyes of an adversary (individuals, groups, countries, organizations). Essentially, anyone who can harm people, resources, or mission is an adversary.” (USDoD)

OPSEC is a very good word, but like a lot of other things in the prepper world, some folks have turned it into a parody.

It is not about immersing yourself into the world of conspiracy theories; it is about how it“…challenges us to look at ourselves through the eyes of an adversary…”

Just try to look at yourself through the eyes of your adversary, whoever that might be in your opinion.

So, for example, if you are driving a car with a sticker that clearly shows your opinion about something, ask yourself, is that information that can be used somehow against you?

Tomorrow, if a riot starts, will that make you a target?

Maybe if you are going to prepper conventions then discussing openly at your work place about that and about your latest investment in buckets of dried food, will that make you perfect target when the SHTF?

The examples are many, but it’s all down to how you look and act today or when SHTF.

One big signs during SHTF was to have very clean clothes and to smell nice.

It is a drastic example, but you need to understand that in those times if you looked like that it meant you were doing very well, because the essentials were food and water and weapons, and most folks had problems securing that. So obviously you were doing really good, way better than most of the folks.

It is a drastic example, yes, and it may not be like that in your case but you get the idea.

A trained man can learn a lot about you by watching you for some time, no matter if the SHTF or not.

He can learn from the way you walk, how you leave your car, or how you are standing in a bar. He can learn from if you are carrying a weapon or not, with your choice of footwear or clothes, by your hobbies, etc.

Understand that by your look and activities you are giving up information that can cost you way too much when times get bad.

How can you use this when you are out with your family?

Your family should follow your basic rules about staying gray, again without turning life into a conspiracy theory.

There is no use in trying to blend in if your kid talks in school about how his dad is preparing for the end of the world with enough food storage to last for 40 years.

A good example of being gray and still solving the problem of preparing your family for hard times (and making them preppers) is by practicing skills without the story.

They do not have to believe that society will collapse, but you still can teach them useful skills through activities that they understand and reasons that they understand: camping, fishing, team building, martial arts (sport, health) car repair, cooking meals at home, buying more food (money saving), or hunting (weapon use)…you get the idea.

Is this something you should only use during a crisis or should you practice this all the time?

It is a good thing to use the gray man mentality even today, and not just because of practice. But also because once when SHTF it may be too late to go gray because some people will already know important information about you, and it is too late to hide it.

What’s the easiest way to suddenly become forgettable if you are caught up in a crowd?

You need to set up a clear list of your priorities in case something bad happens and go by that list. It is easy to become forgettable in crowd because crowds have their own psychology. Very often you need to “flow” with the crowd because you cannot act differently than the folks in the crowd. It can be dangerous, and it can turn you into a target.

I often use the words “if everybody is screaming you need to scream too”, because, otherwise, if you are with a bunch of scared people you will look way too confident. They will think either you are the leader (if people are members of your group) or you are a target for them (if they are not connected to you).

It is about how you look to other people, not about how you really are.

Are there different levels of “gray”? If so, can you explain them?

Yes, it is more about thinking outside of the box and about the different applications of gray.

Example one:

Something bad happens in your city (pandemic, dirty bomb, civil unrest…) there is curfew and nobody is allowed to leave city until order is restored, but you see it is bad and you want to leave city to your BOL.

There are people in streets confused and waiting to see what is going on ad what will be. You will mix with them with your backpack with food and ammo inside, lot of people do carry small backpacks, students, athletes, etc. You want to blend in.

But if you put sleeping mat on your backpack, you are sticking out. A simple sleeping mat gives away you.

(This is a real-life example from one of my bugging out courses).

Very often even trained people stick out simply because they confuse necessity and comfort.

Example two:

One of the often-mentioned questions is:” how will I figure out (when SHTF) if I should carry my weapon openly or hidden?”

The simplest answer is to check the situation and understand which of those two options makes you a more probable target.

Sometimes running out with an assault rifle means you’ll be seen as a threat and shot down, but in other cases running around unarmed will make you easy prey.

Do you have any personal stories about people who used this strategy vs people who did not?

I knew a man (I still know him) who in the early days of the SHTF understood some things. He went the station and fill 4 barrels with 80 liters fuel each. He brought them in trailer and hid them in his garage, and nobody saw him.

A week or two later, fuel became rare 50 times more valuable. He used only it as heating fuel very frugally.

And then he gave 10 liters to his relative and asked him to be quiet, then other relative heard from first man and asked him for 10 liters. He gave it to him too because how he could refuse him?

Then 20 days later in the middle of the night, a couple of guys broke into the garage. The man went out and they beat him badly. They took his fuel, searched his house, and took all food (he was smart so he bought lots of food too). He ha a lot of problems ensuring them that he did not have more interesting things hidden somewhere.

He is still alive, an old man now. He thinks the S. is gonna hit the fan again, but all his discussion about prepping and similar stops right there.

And…anything to add?

The gray man philosophy is nothing elaborate, but it should affect all of your fields of prepping, from simple things like where you are buying your stuff for preps (and in what quantity and what reasons) to who you choose to discuss your visions of tomorrow’s collapse with.

In short, as far as the people outside your circle are concerned,  you are not a prepper, you are like majority of folks and trust in the system. You do not believe that something bad is gonna happen, and when it happens you have to act surprised like them.

More from Selco 

• Selco on Martial Law: Forget your “movie illusions about being a freedom fighter”


• How the SHTF in Bosnia: Selco Asks Americans, “Does this sound familiar?”


• SELCO: The Brutal Truth About Violence When the SHTF


• Selco: The Reality of Barter and Trade in an SHTF Economy


• Selco: Who Survives and Who Dies When the SHTF?


• Selco: How to Stay Warm During a Long-Term SHTF Situation


• Stories from an SHTF Christmas: An Interview with Selco


• Selco: What an “Average Day” Is REALLY Like When the SHTF

About Selco

Selco survived the Balkan war of the 90s in a city under siege, without electricity, running water, or food distribution. In his online works, he gives an inside view of the reality of survival under the harshest conditions. He reviews what works and what doesn’t, tells you the hard lessons he learned, and shares how he prepares today. He never stopped learning about survival and preparedness since the war. Regardless what happens, chances are you will never experience extreme situations like Selco did. But you have the chance to learn from him and how he faced death for months. Real survival is not romantic or idealistic. It is brutal, hard and unfair. Let Selco take you into that world. Read more of Selco’s articles here: https://shtfschool.com/blog/ And take advantage of a deep and profound insight into his knowledge and advice by signing up for the outstanding and unrivaled online course. More details here: https://shtfschool.com/survival-boot-camp/

All Food Is GONE! Violence Erupts On Caribbean Island Of St. Martin

Photo Credit:(New York Times) A woman in St. Martin carries a jug full of water. 

Hurricane Irma ravaged the Caribbean islands last week and wiped entire islands off the map.  Now that the food and water have been scavenged from every grocery store on St. Martin, people are resorting to violence.

The people obviously started with the grocery stores, scavenging what they needed for sustenance; water, crackers, and fruit. But according to the New York Times, by nightfall on Thursday, what had been a search for food took a more menacing turn, as groups of people (some of whom were armed), swooped in and violently took anything of value that was left. Things like electronics, appliances, and vehicles were all stolen.

The social fabric has begun to fray now that people are without the most basic of essentials: food and water. “All the food is gone now,” Jacques Charbonnier, a 63-year-old resident of St. Martin, said in an interview on Sunday. “People are fighting in the streets for what is left.”   Residents of St. Martin, and elsewhere in the region, spoke about a general disintegration of law and order as survivors struggled in the face of severe food and water shortages, and the absence of electricity and phone service.

As reports of increasing desperation continued to emerge from the region over the weekend, governments in Britain, France and the Netherlands, which oversee territories in the region, stepped up their response. They defended themselves against criticism that their reaction had been too slow, and insufficient. Both the French and Dutch governments said they were sending in extra troops to restore order, along with the aid that was being airlifted into the region. –New York Times

“There was some looting in the first few days, but the Dutch marines and police are on the street to prevent it,” Paul De Windt, publisher of The Daily Herald, a newspaper on the Dutch side, said on Sunday. “Some people steal luxury things and booze, but a lot of people are stealing water and biscuits.”

The storm directly hit the region beginning on Wednesday.  Irma destroyed entire airports and ports, knocked out power and potable water systems, and left tens of thousands of residents and tourists isolated and increasingly desperate for food and water, and unable to go anywhere to get it. The crisis then worsened on Saturday as Hurricane Jose rumbled through the region. Though the islands hit by Irma avoided a direct blow from the second hurricane, its arrival forced the suspension of relief and rescue operations, prolonging the agony for many already desperate to survive.

According to NBC News, the State Department said Sunday that more than 1,200 United States citizens have been evacuated from the hurricane-damaged island vacation hot spot of St. Martin amid reports of looting and violence — but the Dutch government said reports of a rumored prison break were “unfounded.”

As preppers are well aware, when the needs of the population cannot be met in an allotted time frame, a phenomena occurs and the mindset shifts in people. They begin to act without thinking and respond to changes in their environment in an emotionally-based manner, thus leading to chaos, instability and a breakdown in our social paradigm.

When you take the time to understand how a breakdown behaves and how it progresses, only then can you truly prepare for it. –Ready Nutrition

People get violent when food and water are scarce. Even minimal prepping and a small safe space for non-perishable food and water would have been an asset to those in the path of Irma.

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 772 people
Date: September 11th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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Legal Round Up: 3 Articles on the Law, and Fighting Back

Via The Daily Bell

In China, Foreigners Can Buy a Marriage

China is a dystopian nightmare for many who live there. Yet even the hardcore communist regime cannot keep a little freedom off the black market.

For many immigrants and foreign workers in China, they are even lower on the social ladder than the peasants. These people cannot own property, and often their children are not allowed to attend school.

But someone found a solution. Fake marriages. Foreigners in China are “marrying” Chinese citizens, even when the foreigner is sometimes already married. This helps foreigners living in Beijing buy property there. It also helps migrant workers send their kids to school and meld into a normal life.

This arrangement has increased since China responded to crowded conditions with more restrictions on foreigners. It sounds a lot like foreigners in America who get married in order to obtain a green card.

Governments just can’t keep creative black market businesses from flourishing when their restrictions leave no other choice.

We’ve even heard of straight men in the military marrying other men to take advantage of the benefits.

Prison Time for Thwarting Emissions Regulations

Volkswagen found that they could not design a diesel engine that would meet federal pollution requirements. So instead, they created software that would cheat the regulations.

Now, a Volkswagon engineer has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in faking the emissions standards.

His crime is basically trying to continue doing business while being obstructed by the government. Is America a free country? They arbitrarily limit the products companies can create. Then they throw a man in prison for breaking their stupid rules.

Courts Actually Holding Police Accountable

Let’s end on a positive note. An appeals court has issued a ruling that protects two important ways of holding police accountable.

First, it should be a little harder for police to charge everything that moves with “obstruction.” The court ruling that says the First Amendment protects speech critical of police officers.

The case stemmed from a man who stepped onto his porch while the police arrested his wife in their driveway. He came outside to yell to them that they were overreacting to her failure to obey orders to walk backwards towards them. She was partially handicapped and could not easily comply.

When the man did not go back into his house he was arrested. He never even moved towards the police. He simply spoke to them while they were trying to arrest his wife. That was enough for them to charge him with obstruction.

Turns out they didn’t even have cause to arrest the wife either. She was the passenger in a car which crossed the center line of the road, and then drove for 40 whole seconds before pulling over, into the woman’s driveway.

So the courts said the lawsuit against the officers on Constitutional rights violations may move forward. The court found no reason for them to be granted sovereign immunity, and be shielded from lawsuits.

Unfortunately, the decision was not unanimous. A dissenting judge said he thinks holding police accountable for their actions will make it harder for them to do their jobs.

More bad news: this judge was considered by Trump for the Supreme Court.

'Gunfight' Starts Over School Supplies At WalMart (Or Why Amazon Is 'Winning')

If you had any reasons to question why increasing numbers of Americans are turning to Amazon.com for their everyday and anyday needs, the following clip will erase them...

On Monday of last week, an argument broke out between two pairs of women over the last notebook on the shelf at the Novi Towne Center WalMart store, according to police.

Video from a bystander shows a woman pull out a gun during the fight...

The fight involved two Farmington Hills residents, ages 46 and 32, and a mother and daughter from South Lyon, ages 51 and 20.

WCRZ-FM reports that the two Farmington Hills women were shopping for school supplies, and when one of them reached for the last notebook on the shelf, a South Lyon woman also reached for it. Police told the Free Press that it was the 20-year-old who reached for it.

The two women pulled the 20-year-old’s hair, and the woman"s mother was pushed aside before pulling out a gun, according to Fox2Detroit.

*  *  *

And that"s why Amazon"s sales are soaring...

Where Private Security Outnumbers The Police

Private security guards have become a common sight across our society, whether they"re escorting cash in transit, patrolling shopping malls, conducting screening at airports or protecting VIPs. In many places, the guards dress like police officers and are equipped with firearms.

As Statista"s Niall McCarthy notes, private security is booming and the sector is worth approximately $180 billion, a number that"s expected to increase to $240 billion by 2020. That"s greater than the GDPs of 100 countries including Portugal, Romania and Hungary. An estimated 20 million workers are employed in the private security sector while its biggest company, G4S, has 585,000 employees and revenues of nearly $10 billion.

Research conducted by the Guardian has found that half of the planet"s population lives in countries where there are more private security workers than police officers.

You will find more statistics at Statista

India and South Africa have glaring disparities while in the U.S., there are over 1.1 million private security guards compared to 666,000 police officers.

Things are far more even in Germany, though private security still has a slight edge over the Polizei by a margin of 2,000.

When companies like Blackwater (now called Academi) flocked to Iraq more than a decade ago to fulfill lucrative contracts, the industry really started flourishing.

However, increasing levels of wealth and growing global inequality have proven the real driving forces behind its inexorable rise. The global pool of super rich individuals is bigger than ever, resulting in heavy demand for services like alarm monitoring and armored transport. That demand isn"t going to slacken anytime soon with the private security sector growing 6 percent every year.

CPSC Issues Fidget Spinner Safety Guidance for Buyers, Businesses

Fidget spinners are pretty sweet. They were designed to help people with conditions like ADD to better concentrate, though they have turned into a huge trend in toys. However, there have been a number of incidents involving injuries caused by fidget spinners, prompting the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to issue a new fidget spinner safety guidance for both buyers and businesses. [1]

So far, no deaths have been reported, but a number of children have choked on pieces of the toys, including a 10-year-old girl who had to have one of the bearings from a fidget spinner surgically removed.

The commission says choking incidents have been reported in children as old as 14. Moreover, there have been 2 incidences of battery-operated fidget spinners catching on fire, and 1 incident in which a fidget spinner melted. One kid even managed to chip a tooth on a fidget spinner. [1] [2]

Ann Marie Buerkle, acting chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in a statement:

“As the agency investigates some reported incidents associated with this popular product, fidget spinner users or potential buyers should take some precautions. Keep them from small children; the plastic and metal spinners can break and release small pieces that can be a choking hazard; and older children should not put fidget spinners in their mouths.” [1]

Buerkle added in the statement that fidget spinners should be kept away from children under the age of 3.

On the topic of battery-operated fidget spinners, the agency says that buyers should never leave one of the toys charging unattended, never charge them overnight, and always use the charging cable the spinner came with.

To translate, treat battery-operated fidget spinners like any other battery-operated device, such a smartphone or tablet.

Buerkle said in the statement:

“If a fidget spinner is marketed and is primarily intended for children 12 years of age and younger, companies must certify that their product meets toy safety and other standards, including limits for phthalates, lead content, and lead in paint, if applicable, and the U.S Toy Standard, ASTM F963-16.”

In its business guidance, the commission said that most fidget spinners are considered general-use products, meaning they aren’t actually intended for children, and therefore don’t have to meet those standards.

Related: Here Is Why You Should Avoid Dollar Store Toys

CPSC made several additional safety tips, including this one for parents and children:

• Regardless of your child’s age, warn them not to put any fidget spinner pieces in their mouth, and not to play with the spinner near their face. [3]

The commission also has additional safety tips for using battery-operated fidget spinners, including:

• Always have working smoke alarms in your home.

• If the fidget spinner you purchased did not come with its own charging cord, make sure to use one with the correct connections for charging.

• Immediately unplug your fidget spinner once it is fully charged.

Sources:

[1] CNN

[2] The Verge

[3] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

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UK Cops Issue Simple Advice For British Tourists To Survive A Terrorist Attack: "Run!"

British tourists are being urged to watch a new safety video on how to survive a terrorist attack ahead of their summer breaks. The four-minute clip issued by counterterrorism police depicts a firearms attack unfolding at a hotel.

And the message is simple - Run, Hide, Tell!

Just over two years ago, 30 Britons were killed in a terrorist shooting rampage at a resort in Sousse, Tunisia. Seifeddine Rezgui walked off the beach and through the Imperial Marhaba hotel, systematically shooting dead holidaymakers. RT reports that police have emphasized there is no specific intelligence that UK holidaymakers will be targeted this summer, but said the film is part of a general campaign to raise public awareness...

Detective Chief Superintendent Scott Wilson, national coordinator for the Protect and Prepare strategy, told the Press Association that the chances of being caught up in a terrorist incident are “still low” but “sadly we have seen atrocities that take place in the UK and abroad.”

“It is important that everyone stays alert and knows what to do if the worst was to happen.

“As we saw in Tunisia in 2015, any westerner is likely to be a target anywhere in the world,” he added.

“We want people to think of this in the same way they do the safety films airlines show before take-off.

“They don’t expect anything bad to happen but it is a sensible safety precaution to show people what to do.”

The video encourages people to first run to a place of safety if possible, leaving belongings behind and bringing others with them.

If there is no place of safety, they should hide by barricading themselves in and turn their phones to silent.

As soon as it is safe, they should alert authorities by using the local emergency number, which is 112 in EU countries.

Chinese Media "Applauds" China's CIA-Spy Killing Spree: "Washington Has No Idea What's Going On"

China"s Global Times, published by the official People"s Daily, said in an editorial in its Chinese and English-language editions that, if reports of China "systematically dismantling CIA spying operations, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources" are true, it was a victory for China.

As we previously detailed, an influential state-run newspaper applauded China"s anti-espionage efforts on Monday after the New York Times said China had killed or imprisoned up to 20 CIA sources, hobbling U.S. spying operations in a massive intelligence breach.

And now, as Reuters reports, China"s Global Times, published by the official People"s Daily, said in an editorial:

"If this article is telling the truth, we would like to applaud China"s anti-espionage activities. Not only was the CIA"s spy network dismantled, but Washington had no idea what happened and which part of the spy network had gone wrong," the paper said.

"It can be taken as a sweeping victory. Perhaps it means even if the CIA makes efforts to rebuild its spy network in China, it could face the same result," it said.

However the widely read paper, which is known for its strongly nationalist stance, said one part of the report was false.

"As for one source being shot in a government courtyard, that is a purely fabricated story, most likely a piece of American-style imagination based on ideology," it said.

The story has attracted thousands of comments on Weibo, China"s version of Twitter, with many people expressing glee that the spy ring was broken.

"Strike hard against spy traitors, protect the country"s security!" wrote one Weibo user.

"Well done! Good on you China," wrote another.

This is the ally that President Trump holds so close?

Connecticut Set To Become First State To Allow Deadly Police Drones

Connecticut could become the first US state to allow police to use drones equipped with deadly weapons if a bill opposed by civil libertarians becomes law. The bill, which was approved overwhelmingly by the state legislature"s judiciary committee on Wednesday, would ban so-called weaponized drones in the state but exempts police and other agencies involved in law enforcement, the AP reported. The legislation was introduced as a complete ban on weaponized drones but just before the committee vote it was amended to exclude police from the restriction. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, was reviewing the proposal, "however in previous years he has not supported this concept," spokesman Chris Collibee wrote in an email.

"Obviously this is for very limited circumstances," said Republican state Sen. John Kissel, of Enfield, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee that approved the measure Wednesday and sent it to the House of Representatives. "We can certainly envision some incident on some campus or someplace where someone is a rogue shooter or someone was kidnapped and you try to blow out a tire."

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration. Details on how law enforcement could use drones with weapons would be spelled out in new rules to be developed by the state Police Officer Standards and Training Council. Officers also would have to receive training before being allowed to use drones with weapons.

North Dakota is the only state that allows police to use weaponized drones, but limits the use to "less lethal" weapons, including stun guns, rubber bullets and tear gas.

Currently five states - Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin - prohibit anyone from using a weaponized drone, while Maine and Virginia ban police from using armed drones, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Several other states have restricted drone use in general. So far, 36 states have enacted laws restricting drones and an additional four states have adopted drone limits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Meanwhile, concerns are growing about potential unchecked police brutality and death raining from the robotic skies: civil libertarians and civil rights activists are lobbying to restore the bill to its original language before the full House vote Reuters adds.

"Data shows police force is disproportionately used on minority communities, and we believe that armed drones would be used in urban centers and on minority communities," said David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Connecticut. "We would be setting a dangerous precedent," McGuire added. "It is really concerning and outrageous that that"s being considered in our state legislature. Lethal force raises this to a level of real heightened concern."

"That"s not the kind of precedent we want to set here," McGuire said of the prospect that Connecticut would become the first state to allow police to use lethally armed drones.

Others echoed McGuire"s concerns: "We have huge concerns that they would use this new technology to abuse our communities," said Scot X. Esdaile, president of state chapter of the NAACP. Esdaile said he has received calls from around the country from NAACP officials and others concerned about the Connecticut legislation.

Three police departments in the state - Hartford, Plainfield and Woodbury - began using drones within the past year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.

For now, however, the proposal is unlikely to unleash scenes out of some Robocop spinoff: The bill includes restrictions on drone use and reporting requirements that are supported by the ACLU.

It would require police to get a warrant before using a drone, unless there are emergency circumstances or the person who is the subject of the drone use gives permission. It also would require police to report yearly on how often they use drones and why, and create new crimes and penalties for criminal use of drones, including voyeurism.

Furthermore, final passage is not assured: although the bill overwhelmingly passed the Judiciary Committee, several members said they just wanted to see the proposal get to the House floor for debate. They said they had concerns about police using deadly force with drones. If Connecticut"s Democratic-controlled House passes the bill it will move to the Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

"I think that police are taught one thing," said Democratic Bridgeport Sen. Edwin Gomes. "You put a weapon in their hand, they shoot center mass, they shoot to kill. If it"s going to be used, you"re going to use it to kill somebody."

Finally, for those wondering how a drone could possibly shoot, the following video of a drone shooting a gun - appropriately enough in Connecticut - should answer that question.

Swedes Begin Construction Of Police Fortress In "Little Mogadishu"

Rinkeby is a suburban housing estate near Stockholm, where the Swedish welfare state keeps a large number of unassimilated migrants. 90% of the population is non-Swedish and many of these are Somalians given to crime and rioting.

Some may remember it from the riots confirming President Trump"s fears about Sweden...

In June 2010, Rinkeby was the scene of riots and attacks against the local police station and Rinkeby is the region in which the "60 Minutes" crew were attacked in 2016.

The problems Sweden faces integrating large numbers of Muslim immigrants is a subject on which Nordstjernan columnist Ulf Nilson has written many times. His warnings of increasing radicalization among Sweden’s Muslims – warnings he started to broadcast a decade ago – now seem eerily prophetic in light of an Associated Press investigation that found Stockholm to be a breeding ground for jihadists among Swedish Somalis.

According to the AP report, which first ran Jan. 24, an al-Qaida-linked group is busy recruiting anti-government fighters among Somali youths living in Rinkeby. A suburb of Stockholm, Rinkeby has earned the nickname of “Little Mogadishu” because of the number of Somalis living there. Rinkeby is also the center of the recruiting efforts of al-Shabab, a group with ties to al-Qaida.

Rinkeby is a known problem area in Stockholm. It was here NRK journalist Anders Magnus was attacked with stones last spring, and here the police never go in the evenings without reinforcements from other patrols according to Dabladet.

As Alt-Right-News reports, in 2014, they had to close down the police station, as it had originally been built for an all-Swedish community, where the main job of policemen is to look for lost pets and help old ladies cross the street.

The new police station, which is being built under heavy security and is scheduled to open in 2019, will cost over $40 million construction costs in addition to an annual rental cost of $1.6 million. The security cost for the actual construction is unknown. It is planned that 250 personnel will work there in the community of around 15,000 people. This is a ratio of one cop to 60 residents (for comparison Chicagohas one cop to 270 residents).

The police station will feature bullet proof windows, walls reinforced with sheet metal, and fencing around it, possibly with electrified barbed wire. So it will look more like a military installation than anything. Also it will be designated as "specially protected," which means a year in prison for anyone even throwing a stone at it. 

But there are problems with the police station, as none of the largely White police working there will actually live in the community and will have to commute it. This being Sweden, a disproportionate number will also be women. This raises several problems that would not be issues elsewhere. Police officers are worried about vandalism to their private cars so refuse to drive in, while using public transport is considered too dangerous, especially for female officers.

"Those who will be working in Rinkeby do not want to use public transport and take the subway," Local Police Area Manager Niclas Andersson told the press.

"It"s too dangerous. One suggestion is secure parking for the private cars of police personnel. Another is that the police will be driven to and from work."

A secure parking area for the private cars of police personnel can not be added without greatly inflating the already high cost of the facility, so it looks like police personnel will have to be bussed in at the start of each shift in a specially reinforced police bus with darkened windows.

This is what multiculturalism looks like, folks, and the costs are enormous.

French Protesters Set Car On Fire During Ongoing Anti-Police Protests: Live Feed

Protesters against police violence have set a car on fire during a rally in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, which followed a police officer’s assault on a 22-year-old man last week, leading to a spike in anti-police demonstrations across Paris.

Today marks a week of violent protests in Paris suburbs after the alleged abuse of a young man by police officers. The rallies have followed the charging of a police officer who allegedly used his baton to rape a 22-year-old man. Three other officers are accused of assault. The incident is said to have happened during a stop and search operation.

The prosecutor’s office said the police had stopped a group of about a dozen people after hearing calls of drug dealing sites in the area. During the operation the officers “attempted to arrest a 22-year-old man”, and when he resisted, used tear gas and “one of them used an expandable baton”, it added. But the man, known only as Theo, suffered such serious injuries to his rectum that he needed major emergency surgery, and remains in hospital.

Cited by Euronews, Abdallah Benjana who is the former deputy mayor of Aulnay-sous-Bois, a diverse Parisian suburb, asked what was happening? “Isn’t there enough tension to spark trouble? Unemployment, insecurity, high rents… no idea of a future; you do this to a young man; all of this can only explode.” The four officers have denied the charges but locals say they’ve had enough. It is unacceptable what they (policemen) have done. And every day it is like that, whenever the police come they carry out abusive checks. It is always like that.”

French police have in the past been accused of using excessive force in poorer neighbourhoods. The death in police custody last summer of a young black man, Adama Traoré, in Beaumont-sur-Oise outside Paris, and the slow reaction of authorities sparked accusations of police violence and a state cover-up. An investigation is ongoing.

Anti-police violence is not new in France, with similar incidents taking place periodically, most rececntly in May of 2016, when protesters in Paris attacked a police car with two officers inside with iron bars and set it alight in a dramatic unleashing of new anti-police violence, as officers across France took to the streets to denounce violence they say has been repeatedly directed at them.

"Everybody hates the police!" they chanted at Paris" Place de la Republique, where several hundred police officers gathered on their lunch break to condemn "anti-cop hate." The protesters were dispersed with pepper spray.

The anti-police tensions show no signs of abating as the live feed from the latest day of anti-police protests below demonstrates.

EN DIRECT. #Bobigny La situation dégénère au rassemblement pour #Theo https://t.co/QazIsnrEeC pic.twitter.com/YXRr17GkFI

— MiSo K (@ricom76) February 11, 2017

Emeutes à #Bobigny : véhicule de RTL en feu....État d"urgence ?...la racaille est une fois de plus de sortie ! #Marine2017 #AuNomDuPeuple pic.twitter.com/1z1C0PLrZ5

— Francis Barthe (@BartheFrancis) February 11, 2017

#bobigny la voiture RTL a été prise pour cible @le_Parisien @le pic.twitter.com/BUFwgOohQi

— Yann Foreix (@yannforeix) February 11, 2017

Live Feed:

Entire Police Department Quits After "Illegal, Unethical, And Immoral" Requests By Town Council

The Town Council of the small town of Bunker Hill, Indiana, home to 888 residents, is likely wishing they had  "do-over" this morning after constant budget cuts and alleged "illegal, unethical, and immoral" requests from council members resulted in the entire police force quitting.  Per the Fox 59 affiliate in Indianapolis, the Bunker Hill town Marshall and his 4 deputies all walked off the job earlier this week and have no intention of returning. 

An entire Indiana town has no police officers after every single one walked off the job. The officers blame the Bunker Hill Town Council for the situation.

Thomison served as town marshal for four years until Monday night when he and four other officers handed over resignation letters to the council, telling them they have had enough.

“They would not communicate with us or the officers and they kept scaling back,” said Thomison.

In their resignation letters, the officers accuse council members of asking them to “do illegal, unethical, and immoral things.” They cited examples like asking police to run background checks on other town councilors to find their criminal history. The officers also claim they were threatened when they said no.

Another issue they brought up in the letter was their safety. The officers say they were all forced to share one set of body armor, putting their lives on the line while they were out making arrests and serving warrants.

“I did not want to send someone out there with bad body armor so I would take mine off and provide it to the other officers. I told them we have to provide this, there is an IC code that explains that and says that the town has to provide that body armor,” said Thomison.

Meanwhile the Bunker Hill Town Council offered the following statement to residents saying that disagreements with the police force were "caused by the lack of funding available to the town" but that council members had never asked officers to "be involved in any illegal, unethical or immoral actions."  Well, clearly it seems like someone is stretching the truth slightly.  

Like most small towns, there have been from time to time, disagreements in the policy making process between the town council and other town departments. The current town council as well as prior councils have, on occasion, had disagreements with Mr. Thomison over a number of things. These disagreements have primarily been caused by the lack of funding available to the town to invest in the police department. However, the council denies that it has failed to provide body armor for the marshal or reserve deputies. The council is well aware of Indiana law on the topic and has complied with it fully. Further, the council absolutely denies that it has ever asked Mr. Thomison or any of the reserve deputies to be involved in any illegal, unethical or immoral actions.

The council admits that it had made a number of cuts to the police department over the last few years. This was a decision the town made due to a lack of funding. Bunker Hill is diligently working to solve this problem for the coming year. The cuts made to the police department were not made with the intention of jeopardizing the safety of any of the town"s police officers. Over the last few years, the Council has made attempts to find additional money for the department. Mr. Thomison was instrumental in obtaining a large sum of money on behalf of the town. However, he fails to state that the police department received the benefit of a large portion of that funding.

As Mr. Thomison has stated, there is currently a lawsuit pending against the town relating to Indiana"s Open Door Law. The council denies that it has violated Indiana"s Open Door Law in any manner. However, the council will not comment further on this topic as the litigation is still pending.

The resignation of the entire police force has come as a shock to the council. It has never been the goal to dismantle or otherwise endanger the town police department or officers. The council thanks these officers for their service to the town. Bunker Hill is in the process of obtaining a new marshal and reserve deputies. The council asks for patience from the town residents in this process.

If ever there was a time and a place for some drag racing on public streets...this is it for Bunker Hill residents...enjoy!