Big Baby

Caption: Hellboy’s handgun is named Big Baby. I own a S&W 460V of the same name.

 

Welcome to July 2025

 

Cargo Theft

It’s a significant business that has been ongoing for a very long time, possibly dating back to the earliest days of cargo transportation. Caravans were raided historically for fun and profit 4,000 years ago.

I recently read an article where the author is clutching pearls because Mexican drug cartels are robbing trains in the Southwest. The author lamented that the tempo of these train-jackings has increased.

The railroads, which enjoy a special status in American law, used to have their own police forces, whom they hired to prevent and address these thefts. Have generous insurance payouts made them run the abacus and eliminate that overhead from the balance sheet? I did some checking, and while the railroad police still exist, my suspicions were borne out. They’ve reduced their numbers and relegated them to “liaisons” for other law enforcement agencies, who are expected to do the heavy lifting.

Railroad Special Agents’ jurisdiction is generally limited to railroad property; however, they also have the authority to operate across state lines and the ability to make arrests. They collaborate with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to address issues affecting the rail network. While there were once more railroad police officers, their numbers have decreased in recent years.

Robert Howell, chief supply chain officer for Academy Sports and Outdoors, said recently, “In my 25 years in the supply chain business, I’ve never seen cargo theft this prevalent. There’s been a dramatic increase in the last two years,” Howell testified before a Senate committee. “Apart from the cost of lost merchandise, this results in additional (transportation) costs on us, shipping delays and, ultimately, impact on the consumer.”

Investigators looking into train robberies last year arrested 43 individuals believed to be involved in stealing cargo from moving trains and reselling it. The ring operated across California and Arizona and had been in existence for 11 years. Altogether, law enforcement officials raided 11 residences and 16 storage units, recovering $3 million in stolen merchandise.

There are special units in Southern California that operate as task forces (OCATT, CARGO CATS, etc.), which are effective in apprehending cargo thefts. However, $3 million in merchandise is not a substantial amount (valued at retail, not wholesale or cost of goods). I’ve personally worked with OCATT (run by the California Highway Patrol) and CARGO CATS (run by the LA Sheriff) before on specific cases, and they apprehend a lot more than $3 million in a year. The author cited a particular case. The Southern California Regional Gang Enforcement Team (I was the task force commander for a few years) recovered a lot of high-value cargo in addition to or in collaboration with OCATT. Still, the companies that moved the cargo didn’t take adequate measures to prevent the thefts because insurance companies indemnified the losses.

The fact that Mexican cartel members are engaging in profitable thefts outside of drug and firearms trafficking shouldn’t surprise anyone.

 

 

Hate – In the UK

Glastonbury is a music festival organized by hippie farmers in the southwest of England. For years, it has been a place where people go to camp, drink too much cider, and listen to music. If the footage out of Somerset this weekend is anything to go by, moments at this year’s festival resembled a hate rally.

In a performance on Saturday afternoon, the frontman of the punk duo Bob Vylan led the crowd in anti-Israel chants. Among them: “From the river to the sea,” and perhaps most disturbingly: “Death, death to the IDF.” Thousands in the crowd joined in. This performance took place on one of the festival’s main stages and was broadcast live on the BBC.

The presence of a performer like this, chanting things like this, with thousands joining in, at a mainstream festival is deeply troubling. And the incident was quickly condemned by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. But if you think these were just the hateful chants of a few bad apples, you’re missing the point, says Ayaan Hirsi Ali. They are part of something much bigger, much scarier, she argues: a movement that wants to cleanse the culture. First, of Israel. Then, of Jews. Then, the rest of us.

 

The World’s Five Largest Economies

 

Bullet Points:

** The British F-35As ** – (h/t Claudio)- The British lack long-range conventional strike weapons. Their stealth aircraft must rely on gravity bombs.

** Trade Deals – My take on it is that it’s a hot mess – Bloomberg reports, “With just 9 days to go until President Donald Trump’s country-specific tariffs are set to resume, the White House appears poised to fall short of the sweeping global trade reforms it promised to achieve during the three months they were on hold. “I would expect the White House will announce some number of frameworks that it’s going to call trade deals, but do not meet anyone’s ordinary understanding of that term,” said Tim Meyer, a professor at Duke University law school who specializes in international trade.

Bessent on Friday said about 20 countries that don’t reach deals by next Wednesday could continue negotiating but would see their tariff rates revert to the higher April 2 rate or stay at 10% if they are deemed to be “negotiating in good faith,” Bessent said. However, hours later, Trump reiterated his threat to unilaterally set tariff rates for countries, even suggesting he could do so before July 9. The US will not broker individual deals with hundreds of nations, Trump said.

I think that the tariffs will work, but there are a lot of countries, and each one wants a customized deal to play to its strengths. It’s exceptionally complex in the macro sense and leads to confusion among bureaucrats who are trying to please their master.

** ‘Till death do we part – marriage tips.

** Canada flexed its muscles – then blinked – President Donald Trump threatened U.S.-Canada trade talks on Friday over the northern nation’s digital services tax, which required foreign and domestic large businesses such as Netflix, Amazon.com’s Prime Video, and Spotify to pay a levy of 3% on revenue earned from offering online services to users in Canada. “They are copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also,” continued the president. “Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately.” Within hours of Trump’s post, the Department of Finance Canada announced that it was rescinding the digital services tax to advance broader trade negotiations with the United States.

** Sen. Kennedy defends Louisiana crawfish. The US shouldn’t import ANY food products from China without a required warning in bold red (the PRC likes red) print. WILL LIKELY ENDANGER YOUR HEALTH.

** (Financial Times – behind the paywall) China’s export controls are spilling over into products beyond the rare earths and magnets officially identified by Beijing, threatening broader supply chain disruption and undermining US claims that a new trade deal had resolved delays to shipments. Beijing, which dominates the global supply of critical minerals, began requiring licences for exports of seven rare earth metals and related magnet materials in April in retaliation for Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports. On June 10, the US announced that it had agreed with China to expedite rare earth shipments, reviving a 90-day trade truce on their tariff war reached the previous month in Geneva. However, China’s commerce ministry and customs officials have begun to demand additional inspections, as well as third-party chemical testing and analysis of products not included in the original control list, according to Chinese companies and Western industry executives. As long as it contains even a single sensitive word [such as magnet], customs won’t release it — it will trigger an inspection, and once that starts, it can take one or two months,” said a salesperson at a Chinese magnet exporter.

** What about the BBB? Nobody knows how much it will add to the deficit. It’s unknowable except that it will add a lot. The White House’s take is that it will also supercharge economic growth enough to more than compensate. That’s the bet. Whether that bet pays off is the trillion-dollar question.” Mere humans such as Rand Paul and ourselves can only attempt to make rational guesses about what any 1000-page bills will or won’t do.

** Boating with EdB & friends

 

 

Households

(From Ammo.com) Have you ever wondered how many households in the U.S. have guns? We conducted research, reviewing surveys, studies, and sales reports to find an answer to that very question.

The U.S. government and manufacturers don’t track firearm sales, which is great. But our freedom makes our research more challenging. Here are a few of the highlights from our report:

• Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming have the highest rates of household gun ownership
• 52% (66.5 million) of American households reported having a firearm in 2024.
• The average American gun owner reports having between two and five firearms.

Household gun ownership in the U.S. declined between 1990 and 2019, but it’s back on the rise in 2025.
https://ammo.com/research/how-many-households-have-a-gun

 

Identify the Armor

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Parting Shot

Because, sometimes you don’t have time to make a run for the border.

Live Dangerously!