Some See Biblical Visions Of Doom In Syria Trouble

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the examples of religious congregations that trace their roots to the “Great Disappointment” of 1844.

,MELBOURNE, Fla. — The deadly violence percolating half a world away in Syria and the warnings of a possible U.S. attack have some people not only looking ahead to what might happen in the coming days — but also looking backward into ancient, apocalyptic prophecies in the pages of the Old Testament.

In recent weeks, some dire prophecies have turned up on websites, in book stores, as the subject of Bible studies and in sermons by some Christians and others who see a link between the old passages and modern-day events in Egypt, Libya and Syria.

“Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, and will become a fallen ruin,” reads Isaiah 17, a passage some Christians say they believe details a horrific event that leaves the city uninhabitable and leads to worldwide tribulation and the second coming of Christ.

Damascus is the Syrian capital and one of the world’s oldest cities.

Read More at USA Today . J.D. Gallop.

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Western Journalism

Some See Biblical Visions Of Doom In Syria Trouble

Rubio On Immigration Reform: Not "The Salvation Or The Doom Of The Republican Party"

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): “Due to mistakes that were made — when I was in ninth grade, by the way — there are 11 million human beings living in the United States, most of them we have no idea who they are. They’ve been here longer than a decade. They’re having children that are U.S. citizens. They live among us. They’re probably going to be here for the rest of their lives, and leaving what we have in place is de facto amnesty.”

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RUBIO: “So my goal here is not politics. I don’t believe that this is the salvation or the doom of the Republican Party. This is an issue that confronts our country, and it has to be solved because it’s bad for America. That’s why I’m involved in the issue.”

RealClearPolitics Video Log

Rubio On Immigration Reform: Not "The Salvation Or The Doom Of The Republican Party"

3D-printed guns could doom the NRA

Given the National Rifle Association’s image as an organization defending the rights of Americans to own guns, you might think that new technology enabling the proliferation of weapon production would be a cause the organization would support. The problem? Despite its claim to be a sportsmen’s civil rights group, the NRA is funded in large part by gun manufacturers, whose motives and goals don’t always overlap with those of the organization’s membership.

Now, with the development of new 3-D technology which could dramatically increase the number of available weapons – and competition to gun manufacturers — these two competing pressures are at odds. In other words, the NRA faces a test: Will it back the new technology and promote the rights of everyone to have unlimited guns? Or, in an effort to protect its generous contributors, chart a different path?

In the mid-20^th century, science fiction writers imagined a 21^st century where consumer goods and food could simply be printed in a machine quickly and at very low costs to the consumer. While this world has yet to truly materialize, we are rapidly seeing the beginnings of such a world emerge with the developments of 3D-Printing technology.

As Salon’s Andrew Leonard has detailed, 3D-printers use computer assisted design (CAD) blueprints—downloadable over the internet—as a template to print solid objects out of raw plastic polymers. This technology allows for the creation of a huge variety of goods, ranging from lawn ornaments and tools, to, as of this month, fully working firearms.

The first functional 3D-printed firearm, called “The Liberator” was designed by Defense Distributed and first fired on May 1. After its successful test fire, Defense Distributed released the CAD blueprints of the gun onto the internet, turning the firearm into the first open-source weapon.

The Liberator is almost entirely plastic, only requiring a metal firing pin, and is completely invisible to metal detectors (the design has a non-vital metal piece to make it legal, but this piece can easily be taken out). It fires .308 rounds and is capable of firing multiple rounds without breaking.

Printed guns are a new frontier, as they allow individuals to make their own weapons without any reporting or regulation, and to circumvent all conventional police methods to trace guns. In this new frontier of guns, a criminal can simply print off a metal-detector invisible gun for as little as $ 25, use it in a crime, and destroy it, only to make another one. There are no background checks to avoid, no worries about handling a “hot” gun, and no need to risk being caught buying an illegal weapon — they simply need a 3D-printer and an internet connection to obtain an untraceable weapon, or even to start their own arms factory. In addition to being untraceable, printed guns are made to be identical and there are no distinguishing marks to prove that a bullet came out of a specific gun (e.g., all Liberators are exactly the same and there is no way to link a bullet used in a murder to a specific Liberator pistol).

Ultimately, The Liberator is far less lethal than a conventional firearm, but it is simply the proof of concept for a very dangerous new gun market; after the first designs for 3D-printed guns are successful, the development curve will dramatically expand and the new guns will be much more lethal.

To put the potential for this situation to spiral out of control into perspective: Less than two weeks after the release of The Liberator, a new design, called the “Lulz Liberator,” was released onto the internet. This design can hold 9 bullets instead of The Liberator’s 1, is cheaper (costing only $ 25), and is more resilient and less likely to misfire. If such improvements can be made in less than two weeks, imagine what could be developed by the end of the year, or in five years.

Here is where the conflict comes for the NRA. Despite its efforts to present itself as a sportsmen’s organization, it hasn’t been one since the manufacturers took it over after 1977 and transformed it from a group that supported responsible gun ownership and regulation into one that primarily cares for the interests of corporate donors.

While the full NRA donor list is a very closely held secret of the organization, the public does have access to the “Ring of Freedom” tier information for corporate donors—this list is a set of contribution tiers and donors that allows people to see a variety of big-money contributors to the NRA. The information that we currently have on its funding shows that the NRA takes millions of dollars a year directly from the largest manufacturers of guns, including Beretta and Benelli USA, as well as companies that make gun accessories and companies that require easy access to weapons (including Xe, the company otherwise known as Blackwater).

So how will the group respond to the printed gun invention – and potential proliferation of weapons? Will it back gun owners’ rights to more weapons? Or seek to protect the traditional gun manufacturers, by intervening? One option is for the group to support a crack down on the 3-D printed guns, which would have the effect of “seeming reasonable” or “willing to compromise” on gun control, while actually stepping up for many of its contributors.

Either way, how the organization approaches the issue will reveal much about its true nature. And with the potential industry burgeoning, this decision point is fast approaching.

Salon.com

3D-printed guns could doom the NRA

Italians Head to Voting Booths, Election Ends 9:00AM EST Monday; Surge for Grillo and "The Apathy Factor" Will Doom Bersani Coalition

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Voting booths are open in Italy though 3:00PM Monday (9:00AM EST). Exit polls will trickle in soon after but early exit polls could be misleading. If the result is close will may not know for over a day.

The Wall Street Journal offers this Italian Election Guide.

Italian voters can cast ballots Sunday and until 0900 ET  Monday, after which exit polls will provide quick but approximate insight into the probable result of the election.

The center-left coalition led by Democratic Left leader Pier Luigi Bersani was five percentage points ahead of Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right coalition according to the average of polls before a blackout on such surveys kicked in two weeks ago, giving it clear front-runner status.

Exit polls in 2006 and 2008 underestimated votes cast for Mr. Berlusconi, but unless Italy’s 51 million eligible voters shifted dramatically in recent days, Mr. Bersani should  – even with fewer than a third of the ballots cast – win a plurality, meaning his coalition will be awarded a majority of seats in the 630-seat lower legislative chamber.

Shift Has Taken Place

The Journal says “unless Italy’s 51 million eligible voters shifted dramatically in recent days, Mr. Bersani should  win a plurality.“

I suggest such a shift has taken place. The open question regards turnout and apathy, not a shift, per se.

Loser’s Penalty

In the Chamber (the lower House of parliament) the party with the largest plurality in the national vote gets a majority (54%) of the seats. In the Senate (the upper chamber of parliament) each of 17 Italy’s regions operate independently and the winner of each region gets a majority (55%) of the region’s seats.

There are 315 seats in the Senate. Lombardy, Italy’s largest region gets 49 seats and the winner will take 27 seats (55%). The other parties will split the remaining 22. Second place may only get 10.

The Journal sums it up this way.

“If Mr. Bersani wins all 17 regions, his coalition will have 178 seats and a commanding upper-house majority. However, if he loses Lombardy, the most populuous region, he will have only 162 seats. If he wins Lombardy but loses Veneto – a near certainty given polling trends – and also loses Sicily – to Mr. Grillo rather than Mr. Berlusconi – the center-left will have 159 Senate seats, a razor-thin majority.“

Not So Fast

I am not convinced Bersani wins the Chamber, let alone the Senate. Some 22-25% of Italians were undecided in the election polls before blackout two weeks ago. Since then, I suggest (based on crowd turnout and social media comments) that there has been a surge for Beppe Grillio and Silvio Berlusconi.

The last election polls before the blackout look like this:

• Bersani center-left 34.5%
• Berlusconi center-right 29%
• Beppe Grillo’s Five-Star Movement 19%
• Monti Civic Choice 12%.

Given the number of undecided voters, Bersani can easily drop 3% or more (and I suspect more). If Berlusconi and/or Grillo gets a huge percent of the undecided votes, Bersani can easily drop  to second or even third place.

Senate Coalition Unlikely

Monti is a lost cause and I doubt he gets more than 10%, making a Senate coalition unlikely if not impossible.

I commented on the possibility of a win by Berlusconi or Grillo in Germany Warns Against “Silvio the Savior” (And That May Backfire); Fake Horse Race Odds Get Around Blackouts.

Reader “AC” who is from Italy but now lives in France writes …

Hi Mish

After a hung parliament, the next most likely outcome may very well be the Five Star Movement (M5S) getting an absolute majority. Rage against the political class is extremely high in Italy, everything that looks “new” is getting votes. Grillo was able to catch the sentiment shift with extremely populist proposals even though his economic program is quite incoherent if not blatantly preposterous.

Grillo support comes from the youngest part of the population.

Undecided voters may not vote at all (in Italy you do not have to register to have right to vote, you are registered by default) or they will probably shift massively to Grillo. The outcome will depend on whether the undecideds stay home.

How Grillo’s parliament members will react as newly elected officials is a real unknown. Grillo himself will not be in the Parliament, and his party will be quite young. None of them have much political experience, even not in smaller city councils.

What they will do? How they will react? Nobody knows. That’s the most “fascinating” thing of M5S, completely new people of a completely new party managed in a completely new way. Grillo and his candidates never did a single minute of TV interview during the whole campaign. They decided to ignore completely TV (but TV has not completely ignored them). This also is completely new, probably new in the modern world.

I do not think Berlusconi will be able to win this time. He has definitely lost a part of his voters, those that expected from him to keep his past promises.

The hung parliament is the most likely outcome, as I said months ago, and I do not even think that Bersani and Monti together will have majority.

Last but not least: Monti has declared yesterday that Merkel was not comfortable with Bersani as Prime Minister, but Merkel officially denied the minute after. Really a strange declaration from a man like Monti that made of international credibility its main “value proposition”.

Regards

AC

The Apathy Factor

I expect a surge of voter enthusiasm for Grillo that will take votes away from Bersani and Berlusconi. Somewhat paradoxically, I also expect a surge in apathy where voters stay home.

The apathy I refer to is not on the Grillo or Berlusconi side, but apathy for Bersani and Monti. Certainly the campaign by Monti is anemic. Thus, unless there is a late surge of energy for Bersani (and I highly doubt there is), Bersani is going to come up short.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Mike “Mish” Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

Italians Head to Voting Booths, Election Ends 9:00AM EST Monday; Surge for Grillo and "The Apathy Factor" Will Doom Bersani Coalition