Review & photos by Joe Schaeffer Judas Priest brought their brand of heavy metal to Las Vegas as part of their Invincible Shield tour. Swedish band Sabaton kicked off the night with their high-energy set that featured songs like “The Last Stand,” “Primo Victoria,” and “Carolus Rex.” At 9PM sharp, Judas Priest entered the stage. Led by the iconic Rob Halford, they brought their unmistakable swagger and energy to the stage. The setlist was a perfect blend of classic hits and new tracks, with standout moments including the hit “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” and “Panic Attack” from the Invincible Shield album. Halford, in his signature studded black leathers and gleaming nose ring, commanded the stage with his powerful vocals and dynamic presence. Classic hits like “Turbo Lover,” “Breaking the Law,” and “Painkiller” had the crowd singing along and head banging enthusiastically. The crowd was treated to a high-octane show that showcased the band’s enduring ability to deliver stadium-shaking anthems and riffs. Guitarists Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap absolutely crushed it, proving that Judas Priest is still at the top of their game after 50 years. Longtime bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis provided a solid rhythmic foundation that drove the music forward with relentless force all night long. Halford reminded everyone in attendance, that the band is celebrating 50 years of Heavy Metal as they released Rocka Rolla in 1974. Five decades later here they are still banging our heads hard with Invincible Shield. After the main set concluded, a three-song encore of “Electric Eye,” “Hell Bent For Leather” and “Living After Midnight” ended the night. Halford came riding out on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with the “Priest will be back” sign flashing in the background. Overall, it was a night of heavy metal heaven, proving once again why Judas Priest is still considered one of the greatest metal bands of all time.

Zoning in and out, I found it difficult to stay laser focused on Pastor Ross’s Sunday sermon when at that moment my team was playing in such an important game. Would we advance to the championship? Would yesterday’s hard-earned wins count for nothing? Was I letting my team down by not being at the game? Or was I blessing my team by witnessing to the beauty of worshiping together with a church community? If worshiping in the local church is essential to following Christ faithfully, we ought to consider how we prioritize participation in travel sports and gathering with God’s people. I grew up in a family that loved both sports and the church. Sometimes that led to moments when we’d have to choose between the two. My purpose here isn’t to provide a list of dos and don’ts for the Sabbath. But I want to help you consider how following the Lord affects youth sports involvement, and I want to challenge you to prioritize Sunday worship. My parents consistently chose church, and I’m thankful they did. Here are several reasons why. 1. They taught me the value of worship. Legendary Wheaton College football coach Mike Swider used to tell parents: Your child has a 0.03 percent chance of playing professional sports but a 100 percent chance of standing before Jesus one day. He’s right. One day, we’ll all give account to God (Rom. 14:10). But if you judged by the number of young people on fields, courts, and courses on Sunday mornings, you’d think Swider had his stats backward. What parents do (and allow their kids to do) shows what they value. The familiar maxim rings true: habits are better caught than taught. It’s easy to teach your kids the importance of belonging to a Bible-believing, gospel-centered church, but if you allow your teenager to skip every other Sunday for travel soccer, it raises the question, “What are your true priorities?” What we do reveals what we love, and what we love shows what we worship. As Paul wrote, “While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come“ (1 Tim. 4:8). What we do reveals what we love, and what we love shows what we worship. When I was growing up, my dad spoke to my coaches before the season and let them know church was important to our family. He routinely asked if this commitment would still allow for my participation on the team. My family avoided activities that would conflict with Sunday worship and chose Saturday leagues when we could, and for that I’m grateful. 2. They taught me to advocate for obedience. When I was in middle school, my dad would email tournament directors to ask if our team could play games scheduled for Sunday morning on Friday night. Praise God, some directors accommodated this request. My dad was the general manager of a professional soccer team, and it’s worth noting that in his 20 years in that role, he managed to never—no, not once—schedule a game or practice on a Sunday. I’m thankful to currently play on a Christian college team (and at an institution) that prioritizes the local church and doesn’t practice or play games on Sundays. 3. They taught me to live set apart from the world. Despite the preemptive measures we took to avoid playing in Sunday-centric leagues, my teams still played games on Sundays. I missed many of those games. Skipping sports on Sunday mornings led to many gospel conversations that may not have otherwise arisen. My teammates would ask me why I’d missed a game: Why is church so important to you and your family? What does it mean to be a Christian? What do you even do at church again? This would spark rich discussions about God, the church, and the Christian life. Despite what many believe, being set apart from the world can often contribute to, rather than detract from, our witness to Christ. Who knew life’s biggest questions would be asked in the warm-up line before a U13 soccer game? And that was just my friends. There were also many ways my family was able to minister to others because we treated Sundays differently than our sports community. For example, my dad seized opportunities to lead chapel devotionals for my teams during out-of-town tournaments. As believers, we shouldn’t just “fit in” or go along with what’s normal for the world without asking, “Is this biblical?” (Rom. 12:1–2). I pray some saw my dad’s good works and gave glory to God because of them (Matt. 5:16). This side of heaven, I’ll likely never know the spiritual fruit that has resulted from his hours of sideline conversations with my teammates’ parents. But I’m grateful for my parents’ commitment to the local church. I’m glad they prioritized worship Sunday after Sunday. I’m thankful I didn’t play in that Sunday morning game. Despite what many believe, being set apart from the world can often contribute to, rather than detract from, our witness to Christ. Let’s not throw out the Bible, obedience to Jesus, and the Lord’s Day for the sake of sports. I desire that parents think more biblically about how sports intersect with church and reflect on the abundant blessings that arise from corporate worship with God’s people. Over the years, I’ve grown more and more to love the Lord’s Day for the fellowship, rest, and break from the weekly routine God gives us. It’s a great joy to consistently worship with God’s people and step aside (even for just a day) from our normal activities. Perhaps the tension between following Christ and participating in youth sports can best be summed up by a former competitive athlete, professional coach, diehard sports fan, and role model of mine who challenges believers with the simple mantra: Love God; like sports.

Scripture never explicitly commands us to designate a set amount of time every day for prayer, Bible reading, and worship. And yet, for centuries, Christians have found regularly carving out time for those practices an important part of praying without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) and taking every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5). It’s a measure of God’s grace that he doesn’t command a specific methodology, but most of us—especially in a culture of perpetual time crush—need more structure. A daily devotional can be a powerful personal discipleship tool for Christians at every stage of spiritual formation. Many free devotionals are available online, but I’ve found reading on a screen is often a pathway to distraction. Thankfully, Christian publishers continue to produce many excellent resources for different occasions. These seven recent devotional books will help you grow in Christ. A daily devotional can be a powerful personal discipleship tool for Christians at every stage of spiritual formation. 1. Unto Us: 25 Advent Devotions About the Messiah by Jared Kennedy and Winfrey Brisley, eds. (The Gospel Coalition) Many individuals and families have an annual tradition of doing devotions on the theme of Christ’s incarnation in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This collection uses the Scripture texts in the Christmas section of Handel’s Messiah as way of helping readers focus on the joy of our Savior’s birth. Whether Advent devotions are a new tradition or something you’ve been doing for years, this book can help reignite your wonder that God himself took on human flesh for our sake. [These are available in bulk at a substantial discount for your whole church.] 2. Daily Doctrine: A One-Year Guide to Systematic Theology by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway) Systematic theology can be scary. Bavinck’s massive four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is well worth the investment, but the sheer number of pages seems daunting. Even modern single-volume texts can feel overwhelming. That’s why Kevin DeYoung’s bite-size, devotional approach to Reformed theology is so helpful. He’s written each day’s text to be accessible to the average reader. While no entry is the final story on any particular doctrine, each provides a helpful starting point that can deepen your understanding of the historic Christian faith and build your confidence to tackle more expansive theological exploration later. 3. Our Highest Good: 90 Days of Knowing and Loving God by Mary Wiley (B&H) Mary Wiley’s 90 daily meditations on the doctrine of God will deepen your love for God by expanding your knowledge of his character. The devotions are focused on a Scripture passage that informs Christian theology. Wiley then explores that concept theologically, showing how the knowledge of God informs our daily lives. Everyone is a theologian; Our Highest Good is an accessible resource for becoming a better one. 4. God’s Great Story: A Daily Devotional for Teens by Jon Nielson (Crossway) As a teen, I knew I was supposed to read the Bible consistently, but it was a hard habit to develop. It’s easy to start in Genesis, but it’s even easier to get bogged down in a confusion of names and ancient cultures that can be hard to understand. Resources like The Jesus Storybook Bible have helped many young Christians better understand the Bible’s bigger storyline, which makes pushing through the Old Testament much easier. Jon Nielson’s one-year walk through the whole biblical narrative is a tool that helps young believers take their appreciation of biblical theology to the next level. The readings don’t cover every Bible passage, but they offer a structured approach to navigating God’s grand narrative. 5. Sighing on Sunday: 40 Meditations for When Church Hurts by Megan Hill (P&R) Churches are full of sinners, and sometimes those sinners hurt each other. When you’ve been wounded by other believers, it can be hard to get back over the threshold to join in corporate worship. But it’s so important that believers are invested in local communities to help each other grow in Christ. Megan Hill offers thoughtful, theologically astute devotionals geared toward helping believers process the grief that comes from church hurt. And, significantly, she encourages readers to overcome the fear of being hurt again and to return to fellowship with other believers. 6. Depression: Finding Christ in the Darkness by Edward T. Welch (P&R) The black cloud of depression can come to any of us. It makes every activity harder, even the ones that we know can bring us out of the darkness. The concise, compassionate daily reflections in this short book can be an important tool in providing structure and helping those dealing with depression hang on to their hope in Christ. Welch’s volume is another entry in the ongoing P&R series 31-Day Devotionals for Life, each of which may be a useful topic resource for churches to keep on hand for distribution. 7. O Sacred Head, Now Wounded: A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Pascha to Pentecost by Jonathan Gibson (Crossway) For several years, Jonathan Gibson has worked with Crossway to produce guides for daily worship that walk through the church calendar. The 48 daily entries in O Sacred Head, Now Wounded provide selections from historical theological writings for daily meditations, Scripture readings, songs, excerpts from catechisms, and ancient prayers to celebrate Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in the days between Easter and Pentecost. These rich resources can be used flexibly, depending on available time and interest, to help Christians at every stage of maturity increase their delight in God’s goodness. This volume joins Be Thou My Vision and O Come, O Come, Emanuel as excellent resources for daily devotions.

Nothing says springtime than a fresh bouquet of flowers, so these DIY rainbow roses just in time to celebrate all the joy and promise of a new season! Learn how to make DIY rainbow roses and spread some springtime cheer! Fun And Easy DIY Rainbow Roses In Two Ways — This post is courtesy of gardenseason.com and shared with permission — DIY rainbow roses might be over the top but it's a great addition to your flower arrangements for Valentine's Day. I actually thought rainbow roses was a new variety of roses but looking further, I've learned, I can make them myself! Learn how to make DIY rainbow roses with any of these two easy and simple guide.   DIY Rainbow Roses Things Needed For Making DIY Rainbow Roses White Roses Test Tubes Food Dye Cutting Tools Water Step 1. Prepare Roses | Choose fresh white roses for this project. Using sharp scissors or a scalpel, trim the stem at an angle for fast color absorption. Next, using a cutter or a scalpel, cut the stem into sections depending on how many colors you wish to dye the rose. If you want three colors, you can cut the stem into three section. Remember, the more sections, the more difficult it is to keep the stems from breaking. For an added tip, take roses with longer stems as you may now be successful in your first attempts but you can always cut back. Step 2. Coloring Process Now, take test tubes or whatever container is available to allow the same mechanics as illustrated above. When using your test tubes, use a rubber band to hold them in place and close to each other to keep the rose stem from breaking. For the color solution, add 1 gram of FD & C food dye to a hundred ml of water. Then, gently place a section os the stem into different dye solution. Step 3. Color Transformation | Allow the roses to stand for a few hours or overnight for maximum color absorption. In a few hours, you will see the color change. Watch the step by step guide to making your DIY rainbow roses in this video from Flinn Scientific:   DIY Rainbow-Colored Roses Things Needed For Making DIY Rainbow-Colored Roses Fresh White Flowers Or Roses Scissors or Pruning Shears Tall Glasses Food Dye Water Step 1. Preparing Roses | Take out your fresh white roses and cut at an angle as shown. This will allow a fast water and color absorption. Want to see the full article? Keep Reading Here On Our Sister Site Gardenseason.com! Wouldn't it be so amazing to give your special someone a bouquet of roses in her favorite color? Whether it may be purple or green or blue, you can now make her dreams come true! Drop those traditional red or white roses and start making your DIY rainbow roses. Find the DIY rainbow roses experiment amazing? Tell me about you own experiment by posting them on the comments section below.  Looking for more flower ideas? Then check this out: How To Perfectly Press Flowers Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.   Feature image source via Happiness And Things

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The following article, Democrats Dig For New Insults After Their Trump ‘Hitler’ Rhetoric Fails To Move Masses, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.…

As was the case at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia last December, foreign adversaries are flying drones over sensitive U.S. military bases and into military training areas to spy on…

Culture The Mayor of Hooville Bids Adieu Tony Bennett did it his way and changed UVA Basketball Forever.  Fighting back tears as best he could, University of Virginia’s head basketball coach, Tony Bennett, quoted the late Christian missionary Jim Elliot during a Friday press conference to formally announce his resignation. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” said Bennett. “I’ve been here 15 years as the head coach and I thought it would be a little longer to be honest but that’s been on loan. It wasn’t mine to keep. It’s time for me to give it back.”  Bennett then turned to his family. “I love Laurel with all my heart,” Bennett said of his wife. “To be a better dad to my daughter Anna and my son Eli. My parents are both 81 years old, and I don’t want to live with any regrets. Just to be around them, to be a better friend, to be a better brother.” Bennett’s retirement comes only months after he signed a contract extension that would have seen him remain the Cavs coach through 2030. Among college basketball’s sordid landscape of success, Bennett is oft regarded as one of the good guys, a deep-believing man of faith who eloquently expressed his faith in the Lord without coming across as dogmatic.  His sincerity, deep faith, and leadership blissfully shone through during his meeting with the Blue Ridge press on Friday. Bennett credited the “unique way” in which UVA has built a non-traditional powerhouse. In the era of one-and-done, Bennett was an old-school ball coach who valued four-year players and prized low-scoring, defensive battles drawn out through his vaunted pack line defense. They say defense wins championships, and for Bennett especially, no axiom serves a more fitting description of his first-rate tenure as the head hoops coach for the Cavaliers. Bennett’s 15-year run as leader of the Wahoos was sparkling. A two-time Naismith and AP coach of the year and one time NCAA tournament champion, Bennett leaves Charlottesville the most decorated hoops coach in the university’s history.  Many college basketball fans despised his defensive scheme. As commentators and casual fans complained about the protracted nature of Bennett’s basketball, those who watched the two decades of flashy but streaky Cavaliers teams that proceeded Bennett came to appreciate the Merrimack vs. Monitor-esque slogs that more often than not resulted in a W over the last 15 seasons. In his decade and a half at the helm, Bennett’s teams won 364 games while earning six regular season ACC titles, two ACC tournament championships, and 10 NCAA tournament appearances. His win percentage of 72.8 percent ranks him just below Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and UNC’s Dean Smith, two other ACC coaches who rose to the top of the college basketball coaching world.  The year before Bennett led his team to its sole, miraculous championship, the Hoos experienced one of the most devastating defeats in the history of the game. The Cavaliers, who had earned a #1 seed in the 2018 edition of March Madness, inexplicably lost to #16-seed UMBC. It was the first time in the history of the tournament that a #1 lost to a #16. Such an embarrassing defeat would’ve sunk other coaches or at least caused them to strike out at their team in absence of an explanation for such an embarrassing loss. Not Bennett. He and the Cavaliers, led by senior guards Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, used the loss as fuel for what would become one of the most sensational and enchanting runs in the history of the game. After dispatching Gardner Webb, Oklahoma, and Oregon in the first three rounds of the tournament, Virginia beat #3 Purdue and #5 Auburn with back-to-back, breathtaking buzzer-beater finishes that propelled the Cavs into the finals where they forever etched their name into March Madness lore.  Virginia’s Gov. Glenn Youngkin, reacting to the news on Thursday, said his “heart broke” upon hearing the news. “Tony Bennett is one of the greatest coaches that college basketball will ever see, and he’s also a great man. I was heartbroken to see he was stepping down. We’re going to miss him.”  The legendary college coach Rick Pitino also took the time to note Bennett’s contributions to the sport and its community. “College basketball just lost a man with incredible class, humility, and dignity. Tony Bennett is an awesome teacher of our game.” Bennett’s success began with his belief in the “five pillars” of humility, passion, unity, servanthood, and thankfulness. In the age of big-money recruiting and off-court scandals, his players represented UVA, Charlottesville, and the greater Commonwealth with grace and professionalism. From top to bottom, Bennett built the program into something to admire and be proud of.  At his introductory press conference in 2009, Bennett spoke earnestly: “I came here to build a great team. But, more importantly, I came here to build a program that lasts.” Whoever inherits the Hoos next, and for this season it will likely be his associate head coach Ron Sanchez, Bennett has achieved the goal of building a program unlike anything we’ve seen in college hoops. So long, Tony. You will be long missed but never forgotten. The post The Mayor of Hooville Bids Adieu appeared first on The American Conservative.

Culture Will D.C.’s Oldest Liquor Store Become a Pot Shop? Dixie Liquor’s days may be numbered as college tastes turn to weed. Credit: image via Shutterstock Dixie Liquor is the oldest spirit shop in Washington, D.C., but by the beginning of next year, it may become just another dope depot. The liquor store, which has been a landmark of Georgetown since it opened in 1934, announced in early October that its landlord is transferring its lease to the owner of a marijuana dispensary—unless the community fights back. The plea for community involvement was, to put it mildly, graceless. Dixie Liquor posted the news on its company Facebook page, along with this harangue: “Is this what Georgetown wants? This would make 23 Cannabis retailers in Georgetown alone. The best we can do is protest the Cannabis License Approval with Washington, D.C., or protest directly with the Dixie Liquor Landlord.” And to show that its owners meant business, Dixie Liquor posted a screenshot of the landlord’s name, phone number, and personal email. Within hours, the Facebook post was gone, but the news was already widespread. The property’s landlord, Ronald Miller, said that there is no guarantee that the spot will be filled by a cannabis dispensary: He is exploring other options as well.  “The days of the Mom and Pop Liquor Store are dwindling,” he said in an email, adding of his future plans, “The goal is to maximize the property’s value now and into the future to do what is best for my family.” The decision regarding cannabis licensing is now in the hands of the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, which will decide the store’s fate by early December. Dixie Liquor did not respond to media requests—mine or anyone else’s—but the store’s prospective replacement was happy to explain exactly what could be happening, if he gets his way.  “It’s an iconic property,” James Kahn, the owner of JKEntity, LLC, told the Georgetown Voice of his desire to fill the spot with a dispensary. Kahn, who is also an ordained rabbi, cited as especially attractive the fact that Dixie Liquor is right on M Street, Georgetown’s main drag, and that the fact that it is the first building drivers see when they cross Key Bridge from Northern Virginia. He added that he could envision his pot shop as a place that “contributes meaningfully” to Georgetown at large.     “We want to be good neighbors,” he said. “I want to be a dispensary that I would be happy to live next to, that I’d be happy for my kids to live next to.” Unstated in all of this, of course, is the real reason why the property is attractive to purveyors of vice: It is a five-minute walk from Georgetown University. And, at the same time as college-aged tastes for alcohol and tobacco are declining, young people’s desire for weed—legal weed—is on the rise. There are already about two dozen dispensaries in Georgetown alone and more than 200 more throughout the rest of the city. Though their wares are technically only available to those with a city-issued card, D.C.’s regulations allow residents to “self-certify” by presenting an ID, filling out a form, and paying a small fee in the dispensary itself. The barrier to entry is very low. That final fact of course has not gone unnoticed by people who live in the area. “It’s close to a university, it’s close to a high school, it’s close to a middle school, an elementary school. It just doesn’t seem like the right location,” one Georgetowner said of Kahn’s proposal at a recent meeting of the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission.  The same complaint could be applied to Dixie Liquor in its current incarnation. There has always been something skeevy about the place. Until the city’s Costco opened in 2012, it was the biggest seller of Natural Light (about 40,000 cases annually) in Washington, D.C. It was frequently shuttered for selling to minors and seemed to change hands every decade. One owner, at least during my childhood, was famous for keeping the place open late on snow days to get the college kids extra drunk. “When we hear school is closed, we stay open until midnight, and we make sure sidewalks are clear,” he once informed the Georgetown student newspaper. “We’re going to get you guys drunk. Responsibly.” And yet there is some melancholy romance about the place, too. Whenever I cross Key Bridge and see Dixie Liquor, especially at night, when the neon is all lit up, my mind drifts to the slouchy world of some jangly, pre-Swordfishtrombones Tom Waits song. The store is one of the few remaining relics of an older, shadier version of the nation’s capital. Dixie Liquor is said to have been John F. Kennedy’s local liquor store. Bill Clinton certainly got trashed off its products. My grandfather, when he was a Georgetown student in the 1950s, swore he saw Fidel Castro walking out with a bottle of rum.  Back in the Bush era, Dixie Liquor advertised itself as “the only privately owned monument in Washington,” declaring that “the more the world changes, the more Dixie stays the same.” That statement has been true for 90 years—a long time in Washington—but for how much longer? The post Will D.C.’s Oldest Liquor Store Become a Pot Shop? appeared first on The American Conservative.

Foreign Affairs Will Sheinbaum Confront the Cartels? The technocratic tack may prove more fruitful than the drug war or its softer replacements. Claudia Sheinbaum, the recently inaugurated president of Mexico, released additional details last week on the security strategy she intends to pursue during the course of her term. This issue is of grave importance to both citizens of Mexico, facing a growing wave of cartel violence, and to Americans, who suffer from cartel violence and trafficking (both drug and human) across the southern border. In Mexico, cartel violence has exploded since the United States captured—under somewhat mysterious circumstances—the drug kingpin El Mayo, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. Just this month, 34 people were killed in the space of a single day in the state of Guanajuato; in the city of Chilpancingo, cartels killed the newly elected mayor and left his severed head on top of his car as a warning to the public. Controlling the cartels will undoubtedly be one of Sheinbaum’s biggest challenges. Organized crime in Mexico has proven extremely difficult to root out. During his presidency, Felipe Calderón attempted, without success, to destroy the cartels by force during the Mexican Drug War—the principal result of which was a massive increase in murders as cartels militarized in response, a development that continues to haunt Mexico to this day. Successive presidents have tried adjustments and alternative strategies to little avail. Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (popularly known as AMLO), famously advocated a somewhat softer approach, proclaiming that cartel violence must be solved with “hugs not bullets” by addressing the root social causes, although he less conspicuously continued to deploy the armed forces against organized crime in affected areas. The result was a modest decline in the homicide rate during his term in office, little consolation in a country whose raw numbers remain near historical highs. Sheinbaum’s security strategy builds off that of her mentor, but adds some promising new elements to the mix. It consists of four points: solving the root social causes of organized crime, reforming the National Guard, increasing cooperation with state and local governments, and the strengthening of state intelligence and investigative services through the creation of a new national intelligence coordination agency. During the October 8 press conference at which she presented her new plan, Schienbaum remarked, “Calderón’s narco war is not coming back. We’re not looking for extrajudicial executions, which was what was happening. What are we going to use? Prevention, a focus on root causes, intelligence, and [security] presence in this four-pronged strategy.” The first two points of this approach are a clear continuation of AMLO’s “hugs not bullets” approach. The use of social programs—particularly employment and educational training for young men—to dissuade vulnerable sections of the population is a trendy but probably low-impact idea for fighting organized crime. The revenue from the drug trade is simply too vast for social programs to act as much of a counter-incentive. Cartel money is sufficient to suborn Mexican law enforcement, judicial officers, politicians, and even the head of Calderón’s own war on drugs; a few welfare programs cannot compete with the economic possibilities available to Mexicans willing to sign on with narco gangs. But the remainder of the program shows a sharp understanding of the limitations of the Mexican state and the reforms necessary to effectively confront organized crime. The fundamental issue that faces all Mexican presidents attempting to deal with the cartels is that the Mexican government has limited state capacity. Its institutions are often inefficient and corrupt, with poor organization and oversight. As a result, the government is frequently unable to take decisive action when needed, and what actions it does take are often blunt and ineffective. The farther away from the capital and direct federal oversight, the bigger the issue. Cartels, with their more efficient and less compromised chains of command, are thus able to outmaneuver the Mexican government in the great game of crime suppression. The latter three points of Sheinbaum’s program work directly to address this issue and build the state capacity of the Mexican government and make it capable of confronting cartels effectively. The reform of the Mexican National Guard was one of AMLO’s signature reforms during his final year in office, and one that Sheinbaum has faithfully followed. The proposal is to incorporate it as an arm of the Mexican Armed Forces, placing it under the command of the Secretary of Defense and providing it with access to military resources. This will, according to the Mexican government, allow for the National Guard to be trained to much higher standards, be issued higher-quality military equipment, and most importantly improve coordination between the Guard and other branches of the armed forces during security operations. Improving cooperation with, and oversight of, state and local government is also an absolute necessity for the suppression of organized crime in the country. The failure of the Mexican federal government to effectively respond to local conditions and protect citizens and government officials is a major contributor to the power of cartels, who are able to extort local officials and citizens and incorporate them into their power base as collaborators and recruits. In many places, Mexicans are left with few other options: Those who do not cooperate with the cartels simply end up dead. Effectively providing security and protection by responding to the needs of localities denies the cartels this path to expanding and maintaining their influence. Finally, increasing the capacities of Mexican intelligence services is a major step towards eliminating one of the cartels’ major advantages: initiative. The vast financial resources available to the cartels from the drug trade allows them to co opt portions of the Mexican state for their own ends, including for gathering intelligence on the Mexican government’s plans and organizing operations in anticipation of them. In contrast, the Mexican government has relatively little insight into the cartels’ own operations, and must react to situations that are unfolding or have already unfolded. An effective intelligence agency can reverse this dynamic, eliminating compromised points in the Mexican state and providing insight into cartel operations, allowing the government to be proactive and take the initiative in any conflict with organized crime. This is absolutely necessary for the pacification of the nation and the elimination of cartel violence. Some commentators have criticized Sheinbaum for not taking a harder line on organized crime. The example of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador has made many on the right underestimate the difficulties faced by anyone attempting to confront organized crime in Mexico, a country orders of magnitude more massive and with vastly more complex issues. Sheinbaum’s subtler technocratic approach is in fact a very intelligent way of solving the fundamental problem that enables the persistence of organized crime in Mexico: a state that lacks the capacity to maintain order internally and externally and to respond to challenges quickly and efficiently. Once that is achieved, taking a harder line against the cartels will be both natural and, unlike Calderón’s attempt, effective. The big question in all of this is, of course, execution. The same lack of state capacity that leaves Mexico relatively helpless to respond to cartel violence makes it difficult to build an effective intelligence apparatus and cooperate with local governments. And it’s unknown what priority Sheinbaum places on security relative to her other concerns, like the environment and social welfare programs—all of these proposed reforms will be expensive to accomplish. But, as a plan, it’s a promising start. The post Will Sheinbaum Confront the Cartels? appeared first on The American Conservative.