Two interrelated articles here....

Salinas churches pray for peace 24/7Seven pastors are hosting prayer sessions, which started Monday

SUNITA VIJAYAN
The Californian

In response to the spate of gun violence in the city, seven Salinas pastors are holding 24-hour prayer vigils at their churches...

Some of the pastors involved said they hope the effort will encourage residents to pray for peace. The prayer sessions are a direct response to the wave of violence that spanned 11 days since July 27, leaving seven people dead including a 15-year-old Salinas High School student on Thursday.
The community grassroots efforts in Salinas are a positive sign to provide a hollistic solution to the gang problem. The local police cannot tackle this problem by themselves, but I was suprised by the increasing level of violence. My assumption was that gangs would attempt to keep their violence under an acceptable limit in order NOT to gain too much attention thereby losing profits. It appears something has changed.

Mexican drug cartels smuggling oil into U.S.

U.S. refineries bought millions of dollars worth of oil stolen from Mexican government pipelines and smuggled across the border, the U.S. Justice Department said — illegal operations now led by Mexican drug cartels expanding their reach.Criminals — mostly drug gangs — tap remote pipelines, sometimes building pipelines of their own, to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil each year, the Mexican oil monopoly said. At least one U.S. oil executive has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in such a deal.
If the drug cartels are adding oil as another business set, at what point do they become an insurgency? Is it possible that they are currently setting up shadow governments and controlling portions of territory?

I would welcome any feedback from the Council.

v/r

Mike