Second Best

0

Guest Article by Bob Rinear  of www.InvestYourself.com

Bob Ranier

If you don’t have a gun, what’s second best?  We’ll get to that in a minute.

On Sunday, I put out a letter where I literally implored you all to go to SelfDefenseFund.com and sign up for their service.  I pushed it pretty hard because I believe in it, and I feel that in this crazy society where you can get sued for virtually anything, these guys will come to your defense if you’re ever arrested/sued for the act of defending yourself.

But the one thing I didn’t push hard enough is that this isn’t just about guns or rifles, etc. They will come to your defense with unlimited amounts for lawyers and another million in “extras” like expert witnesses, if you fight back your intruder/attacker with anything.  A club, a chair, a knife, a screwdriver, your hands, you name it.  No one else does that folks. No one.

If you want an example of how screwed up our society is, just google “burglar sues victim” and start reading. It’s amazing how many times a bad guy will break into a home or business, the homeowner/Business owner subdues the bad guy, and sure enough the bad guy sues for his injuries. In one instance, a bad guy came into an auto parts store with a gun. He put the gun in the clerk’s face and demanded money or he’d kill him.  After getting the money he turned to leave, and as he got to the door, a customer he hadn’t seen rushed up and hit him in the head with a hunk of pipe.

The cops came, arrested the punk and sure enough, the punk sued the auto parts store AND the good Samaritan for his injuries from the pipe. Oh and of course “pain and suffering.”  His plea was “I didn’t kill nobody and I was leavin, they didn’t need to hit me.”  Really? I’d have shot you. But hey, that’s me.

Anyway, I got a lot of great emails, which is why I wanted to do a bit of a follow up today and the reason I just mentioned that their protection, (which is just 12 bucks a month), isn’t just for self-defense with a weapon.

A couple emails were fairly similar in content. Basically, what’s my next best choice? Check it out:

Bob,

I have weapons in my home, but where I live, getting a concealed license is almost impossible. I will go with SDF in case I ever have to use my shotgun in-home defense. But if I can’t carry a gun, what’s my next best choice?

Thanks,

Tim

Stay with me here folks, this is important stuff. If you’re in one of those commie states that won’t let you carry a weapon, or if you just don’t like the idea of guns in general, your choices are fairly limited. You’ll be arrested carrying a bat, tire iron, club, etc.  so that really limits things.

Well Tim, and all of you reading this, everyone’s going to have their own opinion about this, but in my estimation, the second most important “carry weapon” is a tactical flashlight.  Followed by a knife. But having both is really as good as it gets.

So why the flashlight? Well, I’m not talking about the typical house flashlight that you  leave in some drawer and hunt for during power outages. No, I’m talking “tactical” flashlights, which are a much different breed of animal.

The typical 2 C cell battery plastic flashlight produces about 15 lumens (a measure of light output/brightness)  Well that’s fine for finding the candles in the dark. But to have any “tactical” function, they’re useless. I guess you could throw it at the bad guy.

A tactical flashlight is made of high strength aircraft aluminum, titanium, etc.  It is said that it takes 80 lumens to temporarily “light blind” someone, and these little puppies now pump out 250, 350, 500, 1000 and more lumens. So yeah, we’re talking massive, blinding brightness.  And that’s the point.  In a self defense situation, we want to use our flashlight to temporarily blind the attacker, so we have a few seconds to flee, or attack back.

With some of the latest tactical flashlights, using incredible LED bulbs, even in high noon broad daylight they’re so bright you can temporarily “light blind” an attacker. It’s very hard for someone to try and stick you with a knife, if they are turning their heads and putting their hands in front of their eyes.

This is Especially true for you ladies out there. If you can’t/won’t carry a gun, get yourself a really good tactical flashlight and carry that religiously. Don’t let it hide in the bottom of your pocketbook, mixed in with all the other crap you guys seem to carry.  Carry it where it is very fast to get to. Then, if you see something sketchy, and think something bad might/could happen, put it in your hand. If you are  confronted, hit that button and put those 500+ lumens right in his eyes.

He will flinch. He will try and block his eyes. And for a few precious seconds, he’ll be “blind”. That’s your chance to run. I can’t stress this enough to you folks, don’t let someone get so close to you that he can grab you. As he’s getting closer, put that light in his eyes.

Tactical flashlights will almost always have a scalloped bezel. That bezel is made that way on purpose. If things are really ugly and you’re face to face with the bad guy, hitting him in the face with those ridges will do quite a bit of damage. Don’t forget these are “tactical” meaning they’re designed for military/police, etc. They’re tools and they’re tough. They’re made for people working in dangerous places.

Of course they’re also very handy for just getting around in the dark. They can illuminate for a long way, and that’s always helpful. Just as an attacking man doesn’t like that light, you can often stop a charging dog with the same tactic, shine that light straight in their eyes.

I think the amazing thing about these tools is that now they’re so small you can almost make them disappear in your hand. Years back they were still big and clunky, but now? Ha, the technology has improved to where my favorite light is only 5.4 inches long. It’s only 1.25 inches in diameter ( wide) oh and it puts out 600 lumens.

So, my number one “next have” if I can’t have a gun is my flashlight. After that, it’s my knife. Whenever I’m in a state where I can’t conceal carry, you will never find me out in public without my flashlight in one pocket, my “legal” knife in the other.

Again, I don’t sell tactical flashlights. Just like I don’t “sell” selfdefensefund.com for legal help if you’re arrested or sued. I’m simply telling you about things that I believe in.  If you can’t/won’t carry a gun, get a great tactical flashlight. (I use the surefire E2D)

e2dlu

If you want peace of mind financially, in the case that one day you might have to use a knife, fist, pistol, shotgun, screwdriver etc to protect yourself and you get sued/arrested, sign up for selfdefensefund.com.  It’s the best 12 bucks you’ll ever spend.

I hope you never need to blind a bad guy and I hope you never need the services of a place like SelfDefenseFund.com. But “things happen” and this is a crazy world. I hope this helps.

The Market:

Monday the market was all over the map, starting out with a fairly big jump, but it turned into a drop, and recovered a lot for the close. It seemed like an odd day. Volume was the lowest of the entire year, it felt like a holiday.

After the bell Monday, Netflix announced earnings that the market simply fell in love with. They added a ton of new subscribers and that’s all that the Street wanted to hear. They ignored the fact that they’re negative cash flow by 600 million a year, or that they are in hock for 15 billion for content.

Tuesday started out pretty odd too. Opening a bit flattish, we fell quite a bit for the first part of the morning. For a while the DOW was down 100, but in tech land the NASDAQ was holding up really well. As the day went on, the S&P finally made it green by 1, the NASDAQ gained 28 and the DOW was the stinker in the pot, closing down 54.  Most of that was because of Goldman Sachs being down almost 6.

After the bell Tuesday, IBM reported and while they “beat” the estimates, they missed on revenues, which is pretty common lately. Sales don’t come in the door, so they apply “non GAAP” accounting and beat the numbers with fuzzy math.

So after two sluggish days, they weren’t about to let it be three. Today we opened with a tilt to the upside and they simply walked it higher all day. When the bell rang, we had 66 new DOW points and 13 new S&P’s. The NASDAQ gained 40.

This is quite the market folks. It reminds me an awful lot like 1999. Back then we were in a situation where the market only seemed to go up, and it didn’t matter how stretched the valuations were. Today, we’re getting awful stretched again. Yes it’s being done differently than in 99, but the results are the same.

We’re in earnings season and most of the releases are coming out with nice year over year gains. Granted this is all “non GAAP” reporting with an awful lot of fuzzy math in them, but that’s what the Street models off of, so we have to just go with it. So, they’re really rewarding companies that do well.

I’ve said this before a few times and it really resonates with me. Whatever this is that we’re in, we’re in it. We’re at nosebleed levels, via stock buy backs and Central bank QE/printing. If they stop the printing, everything crashes. Everything folks.  I don’t say that lightly. If they continue it, we’ll see even bigger distortions.

It’s a crazy time. A lot of the stock reporting talking heads are asking “why is this rally so hated?”  I think it’s pretty easy to answer. In less than 10 years a lot of people went through TWO major crashes. The Tech crash of  2000 – 03 and the entire market crash of 08-09. So yeah, they’re looking at this insane run up and figuring “nope, no me, not this time, I’ve been burned twice”

Yet while that makes a lot of sense, if you’re not in it, you’re not benefiting from all this Central bank stimulus. So, we continue to lean long and keep our finger near the sell button.

I’m carrying several positions in the swing trade account. I’ve got the SPY, the QQQ’s, TWLO, WM, etc.   I’m looking at ADSK, and several others.

But the techs have been up for 9 days in a row. Even in insane markets they don’t go up every single day for ever. A dip could/should show up in the next few days. But even that hasn’t been an issue. In 20 years, this is the longest stretch of time that the market hasn’t even fallen 5%.  Can you believe that?

Earnings will pour forth for the rest of this week and all of next week. They’re beating up the one’s that aren’t impressive ( think GS) and going batcrap crazy over the ones they like ( think NFLX)  We don’t take the risk of holding over an earnings report…it’s too risky.  Lean long, but don’t get careless. I’ll see you all on Sunday.

NOTE> Many have written us to say thanks for these free letters and have asked if there’s any way to support the effort. I sincerely appreciate that. I have actually created a “donate” button where you could toss us a few bucks if you’d like. It does cost a small fortune to produce the free letter and every little bit does help. Thank you!

btn_donateCC_LG

We at InvestYourself.com are not brokers. NO advice is given or implied. This newsletter is for educational purposes ONLY. Nothing should be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or security. We strongly recommend that you consult with a professional broker or financial planner before you buy or sell any stock or security. We believe the information in this publication to be true but assume no responsibility for any incorrect information. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Writers of InvestYourself may at times hold positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this newsletter. Investing in securities carries a high degree of risk and you can lose all of your investment money. Past performances do not guarantee future results. Please consult with your own independent tax, business and financial advisors with respect to any investment, including any contemplated investment in any company mentioned. All information contained in this publication must be independently investigated for accuracy. We will NOT be responsible for the consequences of anyone acting on this purely educational material.

 

There is power in membership