I think many of us enjoy the beautiful autumn weather, the feel of crunchy leaves under our feet and the fresh crisp smell of autumn breezes. I would kind of guess that a few of us may enjoy going out in the woods to enjoy our sports. I know hunters, trail riders, people that enjoy biking or hiking trails with or without frolicking dogs. I also think Second Amendment people are by nature caring of others.
That’s why I beg your indulgence. There is a new program asking people that are out in the woods in force, especially this time of year to help with a heart wrenching chore. Finding missing people.
We are out in the woods by the multitudes this time of year, often in parts of the country that doesn’t see that much foot traffic, so I’m going to share a post that explains something you might consider if you’re going to be in the woods, or perhaps you have friends that are going to be out in the woods.
When you see unusual items that are in odd places: Don’t Touch! Document Location! Report to Local Law Enforcement! (Use discretion – things like a thirty year old beer can in the woods should not raise your curiosity the same as a pair of prescription eyeglasses, a child’s backpack of schoolbooks, or a lady’s blouse and jewelry.)
Every year deer hunters discover the “’remains’ of various human bodies”. However these are not mere “remains” – they are missing loved ones with countless grieving souls desperately searching for answers! And while many note that deer hunters in this country compose the largest potential army of any other nation on earth, or even in all of human history, they have never been taught what to do to help the hurting loved ones of the 110,000+ long term Missing Persons.
Every day 2,300 Americans are reported missing! This does NOT include those who vanish outside the U.S., nor those who are never reported. Many will NEVER be found! Every day of every week, of every month, of every year, many loved ones disappear and are never found again! Loved ones left without answers spend years in unbearable deep pain and anguish!
I am amazed at how many people have looked me in the face and said, “People don’t just vanish”, or “No one simply disappears”. Well… Apparently they do. Certainly there are a myriad of reasons and causes. And obviously the vast majority are found (dead or alive) – eventually. But with 110,000 unsolved missing person cases in this country, there are many, many hurting loved ones suffering the anguish of “not knowing”!
Through our efforts to educate the outdoors loving community of hunters and hikers, farmers and fishermen, and others, our goal is to turn these groups of folks into the world’s largest search party! To do that we must educate them on the simple three-step approach to their sightings of unusual articles that very well may lead to a missing loved one. Or at least redirect or jumpstart a search that is focused in the wrong direction or that has fizzled out from a lack of direction.
Here in Missouri, over 500,000 deer hunters will be in the woods and wild places that rarely or never have a pair of eyes on it at any other time of the year. As a deer hunter you will walk through areas and pass by places that no other person may see for many years to come! Last year Missouri deer hunters discovered the bodies of at least two people where the search parties had been focused in the wrong directions. Your eyes and your report of that unusual item could very well be the answer to a great many prayers and tears!
If you see something – anything – that seems out of place, which doesn’t belong there, or that strikes you as unusual, please do not ignore it! Outdoors adventurers tell me all the time how they saw something at one time or another but never gave it a second thought. We are begging you to commit yourself to that second thought!
Don’t Touch! If the item is connected to a Missing Person, it very well may need to have DNA testing or other forensic examinations and your touch could complicate the search. Additionally, the placement of the item could be very important to authorities. If you do touch it before realizing it, please continue to follow the next two steps and be aware how important it may be to report that you touched it without thinking!
Document Location! These days most outdoors adventurers carry cell phones with cameras, GPS tracking apps that can be pinged, or at least have various texting capabilities for typing in details regarding your location. Be specific – as the sun moves from the east to the west, things can look very different. Time can also play tricks with your memory in unfamiliar terrain. If you carry marking ribbon, be sure to physically mark the location!
Report to Local Law Enforcement! Unless you see something highly remarkable, we are not asking that you run out of the woods or alter your plans for the day. No one expects you to ruin your outdoor experience. However, when you do leave the woods or other area from your planned activities, please, please, please follow through by reporting your discovery to the local law enforcement agency in the area of your discovery! (They will determine if it is of importance.)
As a farmer and hunter myself, I am a steward of the outdoors environment. I have learned the hard way to expand my stewardship to include a commitment to to Support the Hurting. Already thousands of citizens have joined in this commitment – please join with us by accepting the challenge to be alert and compassionate towards those suffering the indescribable anguishes of “not knowing”. Educate yourself on the three-step process when you see an unusual item in an odd location:
Don’t Touch!
Document Location!
Report to Local Law Enforcement!
I’ve watched a friend go through this agony for some time now. It costs us nothing to keep our eyes open, something as Second Amendment people we tend to do by our nature anyway.
While this is a Missouri based article and group, there are missing in every state. You could help bring much needed peace and closure to a hurting family. It would be a kindness.
I know Veteran’s Day was a week ago. And I apologize, for not having written a column for Veteran’s Day. Life has been a bit hectic and I had an event that I wanted to attended before I wrote my column.
The use of war horses goes back about 5,000 years, in human, not horse years. Originally I don’t believe they were ridden, instead being used more as pack animals and later pulling wagons and chariots. As equine technology improved, saddles and stirrups came along and the horseback rider made a difference in battles. Different breeds of horses were used for different tasks, owing to their difference in sizes and temperaments. While a Friesian makes a fine mount for a knight, it’s not going to work so well for the cavalry scout.
These horses have fought alongside and died alongside their people for thousands of years. One of the most well known is Sgt. Reckless. She was a member of the USMC, she EARNED the rank of Sargent, believe me. Take a minute and read about her. She was amazing, and came from very humble beginnings.
So why am I writing about horses for Veteran’s Day? Because there is a new organization called Warhorses for Veterans. Their goal is to help Veterans that have returned home and find being home not quite as familiar and comfortable as it should be. Not as easy to return as it should be. It’s not always easy to talk through stuff with people that have no understanding (no matter how much they try) of what you’ve been through.
Warhorses was founded by a young man after he came back from Iraq around 2004 he returned to his equine oriented life. He found that it gave a sense of peace and calming and began to wonder about the possibilities of it helping other veterans. With the help of a wonderful couple Warhorses for Veterans was founded.
My view, and my view alone here. No matter how people may feel about the wars America has been engaged in, the “limited actions”, “police actions” or whatever else they may be called, one thing remains the same. Our soldiers have suited up, showed up, given their best and sometimes their all. They have left behind their families, their homes and their jobs to do what was put in front of them. I guess all of us know when we get on the highway to go some place we may not come back. But that is not the same as waking up of a morning drinking a cup of coffee and getting in a tank to go out on the battlefield. That camaraderie that develops in battle is part of what helps in the Warhorses program.
More than once on American soil as well as other countries soldiers are what stood between civilians and a threat. I’m very aware and appreciative of the liberties I still enjoy because of their sacrifices.
This last Sunday Warhorses hosted a 5K run/walk. Their goal is to raise money to help the program, which if you didn’t read the link, is briefly, to give Veterans a rural place where they can talk with each other, network and experience the healing that horses bring. No singing Kum Ba Yah. There is no expense to the Veteran. This is not a government program, this is good people seeing a need and stepping up to help.
I signed on.
It was a cool/cold day and a bit more of a hilly course than most of my walks, but I didn’t care. I had told a co-worker of mine on Wednesday night about the program and that I was signed up. He is a Viet Nam veteran, and not given to warm fuzzys, but is kind. He listened and said “They are doing good work, and you are doing a good thing”. From him? That’s a lot. I held on to that as I dug in and powered up those hills. It was windy and “right nippy” as we say around these parts. I didn’t care. I did my best and completed the most challenging course in my best time ever.
I had a chance to meet one of the founders after the race and told him what my co-worker had said, and who he was. He seemed pleased, and glad to know it was being well received. I’m also glad I was wearing my very fetching berry colored TZP zippy hoodie.
I fully realize walking in a 5K is pitiful small thanks to our Veterans, both staff of TZP and our members, but it’s what I could do, and I wanted so much to find a way, to try in some way, to give back for what I have so generously been given by ya’ll.
Thank you Veterans and their families who have given so much. Ya’ll are my heroes and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and feet.
Veterans
War horses, still on the job
You’ll have to click on the picture about to understand why it’s there 😉
I saw a column a few days ago about a University of Miami Law Professor who was opposed to a campus carry bill making it’s way through the Florida senate.
MA Franks, another self-defense expert, urged lawmaker to reject the legislation. Franks is a law professor at the University of Miami who specializes in self-defense law and is also an instructor in Krav Maga, a Israeli form of hand-to-hand self-defense.“Guns are highly effective in committing crimes. They are rarely effective in preventing them,” Franks said.Franks said law enforcement officers and military members receive extensive training in firearms yet “struggle to use them effectively and accurately,” citing an 18 percent “hit rate” in gun fights involving the New York Police Department.“The fact of the matter is guns escalate aggression. They create a false sense of security. They encourage violence as a first resort,” Franks said.Franks also rebutted the argument that concealed weapons could prevent rape, noting most assault victims know their attackers. “Unless someone is going out on a date with her hand on a gun, this is not going to help her,” Franks said.
Apparently unmoved by the victims of rape that testified in favor of the bill, Franks believes that a woman would be unable to use a gun to defend herself.
WOW. A Professor of law, but, but the degree came from Harvard so that could be part of the problem.
I had a conversation with my Mom this morning, we were just reminiscing about my Dad, and things I had wanted to be “when I grew up”. At one time I considered lawyer, or perhaps open a auto repair shop staffed by women. A place where women could come and not feel intimidated. Dad didn’t like either of those. At the time those conversations took place women weren’t really in either of those fields. Back then there were still some jobs that were considered “men’s work”.
I remember the women’s liberation movement. Fairly well. Women were fighting to be accepted into fields that typically weren’t open. They wanted equal pay for equal work.
The first female police officer (actually functioning as a regular officer) was 1972. The academies didn’t make it easy for them to get through and often their teammates didn’t want them on the team.
The first female fire fighter to work solely as a paid fire fighter was in 1974. There were women who were volunteer fire fighters in the 1800s. There had also been BLM crews made up of solely women, but the first regular fire fighter if you will, was 1974.
The first integrated unit where men and women served together in the military in a war zone was the 1991 Gulf War. Prior to that women had been in the military, but usually as support staff, medical or clerical jobs. Going back to the War for Independence and the un-Civil War women did serve in combat units, but they disguised themselves as men. It was a process not an event. In 1974 the first six women became Air Force pilots, in 1976 the military academies became co-educational.
Women fought hard to have the opportunity to have these non-traditional jobs. If I had a daughter attending an expensive college and had one of her professors telling her that she was incapable of using an effective tool to defend herself I would be appalled and outraged, and she would be out of there and into a good school in a Miami minute. If I were alumni of the school and had a professor telling women such things I would drop support. I realize colleges are a hotbed of liberalism and progress and so to return to such an outdated and false sterotype is despicable.
So who is this ancient crocodile that is so threatened by a woman being able to defend herself against someone or a group bigger and stronger than herself?
Well, this is where it gets really sad. MA Franks, is Mary Ann Franks. A woman. Sadder still? She is a Krav Maga instructor. She recognizes the importance of self-defense but would deny her sisters the use of one of the most, if not the most effective tool to do so.
She is young now, she can do Krav Maga, but is she foolish enough to think that ALL women can? I realize she earns money teaching a way cool martial arts form, and kudos to her for that. But she lives in la-la land (sorry, forgot about the Harvard thing) if she thinks that there are no older students or students with physical disabilities. The most vulnerable do not need an effective form of self-defense? And they are every bit as deserving to live safely as the people that can afford to take her classes or have her physical abilities.
To have someone who has worked to be in a role that at one time would have been dominated by men telling others that women are incapable of using a gun is allowing her liberal ideology to damage lives. Perhaps she needs to get off the campus and into the real world where she could begin to use her mind and begin to think.
What a shame. What a selfish, silly, ungrateful child.
France has helpfully drafted a proposal to the U.N. to internationalize the Temple Mount, Har ha-Beyit. They feel that seizing control of a section of Israel’s sovereign and most holy ground will somehow calm the violence. I never accused the U.N. of being clever, but I never thought them that stupid either.
UNESCO was planning to vote on making the Kotel, the western wall of King Solomon’s temple a islamic holy site. Mind you since it is a Jewish site now, Jews, Christians and muslims can and do go there to pray now. But if it’s changed to a muslim site, then it will be as the Temple Mount. Only muslims will be allowed to pray there.
“…Yisrael – the other driver, my friend – got out of the bus and ran towards my bus (shouting): ‘stop, stop, there’s a terrorist in the bus.’ …he shouted to me ‘he’s slaughtering them, he’s slaughtering them,’ and we had nothing we could do, we were trying to contact the police, there’s nothing we could do.”…..A senior security official told The Jerusalem Post that the series of attacks increasingly appears to be “a planned and timed assault.”
Damn skippy. They are.
The other bus attack was at the Be’er Sheba bus station, and came less than a week later. He was apparently financed by a new terrorist group that was recently established in the Gaza Strip by Iran and Hizballah, more hard core than Hamas. Good thing barry is releasing the monetary sanctions against Iran, huh? WOWZA, who could have seen that coming? A rise in terrorism against Israel with the release of sanctions money and financial aid?
What you may not be aware of and I haven’t heard it mentioned is something special about the Be’er Sheba bus station.
In Israel, Jewish history is everywhere. Literally. Under the floor of the Be’er Sheba bus station are Avraham’s wells. Right, the Avraham in Sepher Bereshit/Genesis. Avraham, the Patriarch.
Avraham’s Wells
There was an attack of another kind this week. Joseph’s tomb (article from 28 April, 2011). On the 16th palestinians set fire to the tomb of one of the Patriarchs. And again, last week.
Seems the arabs have something against Jewish Patriarchs lately, again, always.
The so-called “Oslo Accords” signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1995 stipulated that Joseph’s Tomb would remain an Israeli-controlled enclave open to Jewish worshippers and religious students.But at the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000, a Palestinian mob backed by Palestinian Authority police officers assaulted Joseph’s Tomb, killing an Israeli soldier in the process. Israel subsequently surrendered control of the site on the condition that the Palestinian Authority would protect and maintain it.
I ran across something very interesting the other day. A story about the number of times America has pressured Israel. What made it more interesting is what happened in America within days or hours of signing, but you can read that if you want to. But here are the times:
1991 30 October – The Oslo AccordPresident George H. Bush promoted and proudly signed the infamous Oslo Accord at the Madrid Peace Conference on October 30, 1991. The Oslo Accord was labeled a “Land for Peace” accord that demanded Israel award their land to the Palestinian murderers and terrorists in exchange for peace. The perverse Oslo proposition was simple: give us your land and we’ll stop killing you.
1992 23 August-A year later, President Bush literally picked up the pieces from Oslo attempting to rob Israel again. Meeting in Washington D.C. Bush and crew again attempted to “sell” the fictitious Madrid “Land for Peace” agreement.
1994 16 January-President Bill Clinton meets with terrorist and Israel hater Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes Israel giving up the Golan Heights.
1998 28 September-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright finishes the final details of an agreement which requires Israel to surrender 13 percent of Yesha (Judah and Samaria). President Bill Clinton meets with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize another Israel “land for peace” hoodwink. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations and declares an independent Palestinian state by May 1999.
1998 30 November-Arafat arrives in Washington again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. A total of 42 other nations were represented in Washington. All the nations agreed to give Arafat $3 billion in aid. Clinton promised $400 million, and the European nations $1.7 billion.
1998 12 December-President Clinton arrives in the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss another “land for peace” fiasco.
2001 8 June-President George W. Bush sends Secretary Tenet to Jerusalem to promote his “Roadmap to Peace,” the continuation of the failed Oslo Accord.
2005 23 August-Israel completed the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and gave it to the Palestinians. The Gaza Strip evacuation came directly from President Bush’s “Roadmap to Peace.”
Every time Israel has ceded land for peace it doesn’t work, it will not work this time.
I think we know something about “reasonable compromise” and appeasement.
How Reasonable Compromise Works
“An appeaser is one who keeps feeding the crocodile in the hope it will eat him last”~~ Winston Churchill
Israel and gunowners have both got to stand our ground this time. As the democrats debate on TV who can most proudly try to steal our G-d given rights, and the world tries to pressure Israel into ceding even more land, we can not give in. The results of what we have already given so far has cost us too dearly. We can not give in again.
This is the time of year when things like Freddy Krueger and zombies begin to make their appearance. Not only in costume shops, but in the dreams of young and old alike. But then you wake up from the dream, have a nice cup of Israeli coffee and start to breath normally again. Telling yourself, “It was just a dream”.
But what if your life in the daytime rivals the horrific events of your nighttime nightmares?
It’s becoming that way for normal Israelis, just people going out to work, take their kids to school or grab some coffee, milk and halva on the way home.
There have been a lot of attacks on Israeli Jews. There is the one chronicled by my teammate Y.B. of a wonderful man and his wife in front of their young children as they were on their way to a class reunion. Miracle of miracles they evidently didn’t see the children in the back, or just weren’t inclined to kill them at that point. Then a couple days ago there was a horrific stabbing in Jerusalem in the old city of a man, his wife and their two year old toddler. They were out shopping. From the video it appears they were in the Cardo. A nice shopping section in the old city of Jerusalem. I’m quite familiar with the Cardo. I was there four months ago.
You notice all the shopkeepers standing around and watching it, drinking soda, not attempting to intervene as a man, his wife and two year old are stabbed. Not only that, when Adelle Banita-Bennettattempted to escape by running away with a knife stuck in her shoulder the arabs shouted to her to “die” and “hopefully she would die too”. When she tried to hold on to a passerby as she felt she was going to faint, he shook her off and kicked her. No arabs attempted to help her. Who did? Rabbi Nehemia Lavi Hy”d. He grabbed his gun and went out to try to help. The Father of seven was then stabbed and his weapon taken. Those arab shopkeepers stood around watched and did nothing. But the SOBs moved fast enough when the shots started. Too late to save the Father and the Rabbi.
Then there seems to be an increase the the rate of arab “traffic accidents”. Like this tragic lose of control of a car.
The driver was the uncle of one of the Har Nof Synagogue murders. With all the unfortunate traffic accidents in Israel lately perhaps they should consider an car ban for arabs. And isn’t it shocking he had that ax right there with him in the car.
Where does all this come from? Part of it is Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen that leads the PLO. When you have someone who helped finance the Munich Olympic Massacres as the leader of the PLO, shouldn’t be shocking. If you didn’t know, the day the attacks began, was the day after Abbas stood in the UN and said Oslo was finished.
Somehow I don’t think he is all that concerned that the 13 year old child he told the world the Israelis murdered is actually alive and being cared for in an Israeli hospital. The 13 year old child in question is probably related in temperament to Michael Brown the gentle giant that started the Ferguson riots.
And that brings me to my next point. How the current regime in the White House, the world, the UN and media view this situation. In the article above is the line
Sky News has been unable to verify Mr Danon’s claims, in which he said: “When a Palestinian child returns from school and opens (sic) the television, he doesn’t see Barney or Donald Duck, he sees murderers portrayed as heroes.
Um, well, how about what’s going on now? Because with what I see happening, that pretty much looks to be the case. The two little kids in combat fatigues saying they want to blow up Jews sure sounds like it. The 13 year old “child” that was stabbing people with his cousin sure seems like it.
Then we have the ever reliable CNN, from a CNN article we learn
Although the Obama administration has been careful not to place blame on any party for the latest escalation of violence, the officials said Kerry is particularly concerned about statements by Palestinian officials inciting their people to violence.”This violence and any incitement to violence has got to stop,” Kerry said at a separate event. “The situation is simply too volatile, too dangerous. And it is not going to lead to the outcome that people want, which is to have a peaceful resolution of the differences.”He added, “We continue to stress the importance of all persons of responsibility to condemn the violence on either side and to avoid provocative statements.” (Violence on either side?? I don’t believe the Jews are standing near Gaza or East Jerusalem and hurling rocks or hanging around with knives in their hands. )U.S. officials said Kerry is concerned about heavy-handed treatment of Palestinian rock throwers by Israeli security forces, particularly the use of live ammunition against young protesters.( I think a rock has already binged Kerry in the head. He’s worried about the wrong group, the ones trying to kill innocent people. Perhaps he should suggest to them they stay home and quit trying to kill people by throwing rocks at them.)
EAST Jerusalem? EAST Jerusalem? Um, I believe the attacks are not being carried out in EAST Jerusalem, which is mainly arab. Written by someone who sounds like they aspire to be a leader of “Occupy whatever the heck is next”, they are offended that the citizenship which arabs in East Jerusalem can apply for is being revoked for the “college students” that have stabbed police and attacked others. They are going to LOSE their SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFITS! And have to reapply for visas every few months. Those Israeli beasts! They have a helpful chart showing the number of Palestinian deaths resulting from Israeli security forces. They also show the number of attacks on Israelis, which is fewer. What they do not mention is it is not one for one. MANY Israelis are sometimes injured in one attack. They talk of the three men that kidnapped and killed a boy from East Jerusalem. Wrong, yes, I agree. But they forget to mention that was in retaliation for the three Israeli teenagers that were kidnapped, tortured and killed. No, it doesn’t make it right, but it would have seemed pertinent to mention don’t you think?
These are not people working for a peaceful solution, nor are the people that “just want their own land”, these are people that are killing Jews because they are Jews.
“Regarding Jerusalem, it absolutely is unacceptable on either side to have to have violence resorted to as a solution,” he said.”And I would caution everybody to be calm, not to escalate the situation and to deal with this in a way that can find quick way back to the full restoration of the status quo where the chief administration is in the hands of the government of Jordan and King Abdullah, who is the custodian,” he said, referring to the Al-Aqsa site, also known as the Temple Mount.”And it is very important to maintain a sense of calm that will minimize the instinct for escalation.”
Excuse me? Violence on either side? Everyone to be calm? Restore the status quo to Jordan? In case Mr. Heinz-Kerry hasn’t noticed, this is not a two way street. The peaceful palestinians are killing people, the Jews are dying. Jews aren’t attacking shoppers and children sleeping in Sukkahs. Basically it’s the same response of the regime to the shooting of Christians in Oregon. Meh. But for Heinz-Kerry to act like this is aggression on both sides is very disingenuous.
The Gaza strip? You can tell the deep level of caring Hamas has for the people living in the Gaza strip. Hamas uses schools, hospitals, apartment buildings to store and fire rockets into Israel. Israel will then warn the people in those buildings that the buildings are going to be bombed. They are the only military in the world to do this. It seems Israel has an objection to having rockets rained down on it’s citizens. So Israel will warn the people in the targeted buildings. Should the people try to leave the buildings, Hamas will shoot them. Hamas KNOWS the Israelis will not bomb the building as long as there are people in there. So whatever non-sense you hear from the UN or the current regime in the White House? Hamas knows, the Israelis will not attack innocent citizens. Interesting isn’t it?
Look at the response of the White House to killing 22 innocent people in the US attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz Afghanistan. We can’t say anything, need a full investigation, don’t want to jump to conclusions. But when Israel shuts down a building that Hamas is using to fire rockets? The condemnation is large and accompanied by outrage.
The media, other nations, our current regime and certainly the UN hold Israel to a different standard than they do the rest of the world. With Jews fleeing the anti-semitism of Europe for the relative safety of Israel, the Jewish people should at least be safe in their homeland.
And finally, it looks like that may begin to happen. While in the CNN version of the bus stop attack they say that a Israeli security officer stopped it, on a Israeli radio show I heard it was a armed citizen. Not that CNN would ever admit THAT!
The IDF, Police and Security Services are almost everywhere. Most times on the bus or the train in Israel there would be young soldiers with their fully automatic weapons riding along. This was shocking to me as in America we are told to allow weapons on a bus or train, let alone fully automatic would result in countless casualties. The weapons would just begin randomly shooting people. In Israel, this never seemed to happen. They just pretty much hung out quietly with the person carrying them. There are IDF, police and security all around that can intervene, and they do it very well.
My point of course, is that they are too easy to spot. A peaceful palestinian that wants to stab someone only has to wait until there are no uniforms around. And no matter how good IDF, Police & Security are, and they are good, they can’t be everywhere at once. In addition to that, just think what it would do to the campaign of terror if they suddenly realized a WHOLE lot of Israelis wearing jeans, TZP polo shirts (sigh, I know) but regular Israelis were armed. Or might be armed. They just don’t know who they are and where they are. I’m thinking that would put a stick in the wheels of the current terror campaign.
Apparently Israelis agree, they have been flooding gun shops looking to find tools to keep themselves and their families safe. One shop owner is teaching for free. He waived the fee as his way of trying to help Israelis cope with the wave of peaceful palestinians expressing their “frustration”. And just so you know, when the Israelis classify a wound as “lightly wounded”? It can still be a very serious, possibly life threatening wound. I think they’re from the Monty Python school of Emergency Medicine. In case you need a bit of levity at this point.
Not that Israelis are completely innocent in all this. No indeed. In fact, one woman has had her gun license revoked! A threat and a menace she was! Do you know what she did? She is accused of attempting to PRAY on the Temple Mount. Everyone knows only muslims are allowed to pray at their third holiest site. First Holiest to Jews and Christians, but hey, they aren’t muslims. She hasn’t actually been investigated for it, so not sure why this happened. But the point is, when there is a list of who owns guns, well, there is a list of who owns guns. Mistakes can be tragic as her husband was stabbed very near their home by an arab terrorist peaceful palestinian.
But as they say on my favorite Israeli radio show, I think this will be coming soon to a theater near you. As 80% of the “refugees” flooding Europe are in fact, not from Syria. What do we have flooding the US via barry’s import program? Who knows? But the chances that they came from a country where the children have been raised to believe that killing Jews is a wonderful thing is good. The attacks we see in Israel now, are quite likely going to increase here.
Israelis are under attack in their daily lives, and the world’s response, the media response is meh. Perhaps the Israelis need to start saying the name of each victim attacked. Perhaps if they say the name of each victim attacked is “Cecil”, the world will begin to care.
“Ams Yisrael Chai – The people of Israel live.” עם ישראל חי
Y.B. put up this video, but I have my favorite version of the same song.
No, I don’t mean the food thingy, I mean the person, as in Ron Calzone.
Ron Calzone is a citizen, a mere mortal citizen. Well, a regular citizen with an incredible energy level. He raises horses and cattle and has a small manufacturing business. And then there is his side line. In his “spare” time Ron goes to Jefferson City to talk to legislators. Ron talks to them from a Constitutional viewpoint. He opposes things like eminent domain, and about anything that gives government more control over people lives or their property. He talks to legislators about having good firearms laws, that protect ownership and their owners. And he is very good at it. He is part of a group in Missouri called Missouri First. Ron is often in Jefferson City at the Capitol wearing down the leather on his shoes. Now not every citizen can get off work to go to Jefferson City to testify before a committee when the bills they are most interested in either seeing go through or stopped dead are to be heard. In those cases Missouri First has come up with something very ingenious, called Liberty Tools. People that are subscribed to their mailing list will be sent a notice when a bill of interest is about to be heard, and if you can’t go, you can fill out your witness statement online, MoFirst will print it off and take it to the hearing FOR YOU. Then your Representatives and Senators can get online and see which of their constituents weighed in on it. Either for or against, doesn’t matter, the choice you made, your comments will be there in the liberty tools section. Even if your vote and comment go the opposite of what Missouri First is recommending, it will be there. Pretty nifty huh? I heard from a very reliable source who was in a hearing for a Missouri Firearms Freedom act bill that Ron showed with a stack of witness forms about 18 inches or so high from people in Missouri who were in favor of it. That is a LOT of input.
So what’s the problem? Sounds like a stand up guy, right? I mean he takes time off from his own business, farm and family to go to Jefferson City and do what groups are always urging their members to do, get involved, go talk to legislators, send emails, write letters, make phone calls. He represents those that can’t be there but want their voice heard with piles of witness forms at hearings. Good stuff for citizens right? What could go wrong?
Well, he is good at being heard. And that has resulted in angering some politicians. Let’s look at a couple things.
When Sen. Kevin Engler thought he was a shoe in for position of the Senate’s President pro tem.
In 2010, along with multitude of Tea Party and Patriot group members, I also quite vocally opposed the election of Senator Engler, who was the majority floor leader, to the position of the Senate’s president pro tem. For the first time in decades, the Senate declined to make the majority floor leader their next president pro tem.
Right, Engler didn’t get it, and he was livid.
Now let’s uncover just a couple more skeletons. This one named Ron Richards. Ron was Floor Majority leader in the house at one time. That time would be 2013 and what was at stake was a fabulous bill called the Second Amendment Protection act. Now Ronnie has proudly proclaimed his pro Second Amendment status. He demonstrated this by running away from this bill screaming like a little girl. Actually I’ve seen some girls with bigger, never mind. Anyway, apparently Ron was upset that the bill would prevent newspapers from being able to publish the names of gun owners, you know, like they have in other states. But he promised he would sponsor an even better bill and get it passed. What can you say, he’s a RINO in Missouri. It’s two years later, and still not done. Then there was that time back in 2010 when Ron fought a bill that then Speaker of the house Ron Richards wanted, later the Missouri Supreme court struck it down, so guess Mr. Calzone was correct after all.
Then just recently, Rep. John Diehl was up to be Speaker of the House. Missouri First took the position that he would not be a good speaker, and set his legislation contact list to calling their elected Representatives to ask that they pick someone else other than a “bad Diehl”. The people did the contacting but the House still elected him speaker. Though they did get rid of him after he was caught in a big sex scandal. Oh well.
So what does all this have to do with the price of Israeli coffee in America?
Well this is where it gets really interesting.
A little more background. The Governor of Missouri is Jay Nixon, anti-gun. He’s the one that did the best barry impersonation “The police acted stupidly” when the Police officer shot thug Michael Brown. Jay promised swift justice for Michael. Actually, I think justice had probably already been done, but that was Jay’s first response. His second was to prevent the National guard from stopping the rioting after he illegally called them in before the riot started. So that’s Jay.
Governor Jay is the one who appointed the six members of the Missouri ethics commission. I’m sure they are all up to Jay’s demanding “standards”. Chuckle.
MEC says about their mission: “The MEC serves the public interest by promoting and maintaining transparency, accountability, and compliance with campaign finance, lobbying, and conflict of interest laws.”The Ethics Commission claims they have no responsibility to consider constitutional arguments that might otherwise be presented in a defense against complaints.While it’s true that MEC has no authority to declare a statute unconstitutional like a real court of law would, they do have a responsibility to support the Constitution, so they should actually at least be considering the constitutional implications of various interpretations of statutes relating to a complaint. In other words, if there are two possible ways to interpret a statute – one is constitutional and the other is not – they should feel obligated to choose the constitutional approach. They do not feel thus constrained, however, and that does not bode well for our free speech rights.
Ready for the juicy stuff?
At the September 3, 2015, hearing before the Missouri Ethics Commission, a witness called by the Commission’s own attorney revealed during sworn testimony a very interesting and very telling fact. The testimony was that Representative Kevin Engler and Senator Ron Richard had talked to the Missouri Society of Governmental Consultants (MSGC), asking them if they had any interest in my status as a lobbyist. After that, MSGC filed a complaint against me with the Ethics Commission.
Only natural persons are allowed to file with the Ethics (guffaw) commission. And within five days they were to have told Ron who his accusers were. So SEVENTY-FOUR DAYS later the Missouri Ethics (yes, I am having trouble typing that with a straight face) commission told Mr. Calzone who had filed the complaint against him. And it wasn’t a person. In fact the lawyer that drew up the complaint made it clear that the filing entity wasn’t a person.
What is the fallout? Ron has been accused of being a lobbyist. That he hasn’t registered and paid the $10 fee, and hasn’t filled out the necessary paperwork. So that results in a thousand dollar fine. If he persists, he could face jail time.
Ready for the punch line? Ron isn’t a lobbyist. He is a citizen, working with other citizens and with other freedom minded groups. He is paid NO money for going to Jefferson City, and he buys the legislators no gifts, no meals. If he’s a lobbyist? He stinks at it.
That’s what makes this so ugly to me. This is an attempt to keep mere citizens from suiting up and showing up to speak to legislators. At one time this was something I did, and not long ago, I was one of two people tapped to be the citizens showing up to talk to legislators on behalf of a group of combined Second Amendment groups. I could have been in Ron’s boots. This is an attempt to stifle free speech and shut out influence of mere citizens from bothering the elected officials. That and some ugly political payback.
At a time when more than ever citizens need to be involved in the political process in an effort to protect our rights this is a very bad thing. If other states should begin to consider such actions? Citizens need to have access to their elected officials, whether it’s showing up themselves, or if they can’t, filling out a online form to be presented at a hearing, they need to be involved. We all need to be suiting up and showing up in whatever capacity we can.
When I was a fairly young girl my family went to see the Disney movie “Bambi”. I can still remember laying in the back of the station wagon with my sisters on the feather bed we had back there. Nope, never did care for deer meat. When I was young I remember my Dad telling me when I was done riding, you take care of your horse before you take care of yourself. Which explains why a few years ago after a “mishap” shall we say, as blood flowed down my face I unsaddled my horse, put my tack away and turned him out before I sought help. To be fair, if you haven’t priced tack, don’t scoff. What we learn in those “young” years, tends to stick and stick deeply.
I recently read a book called Please Say Kaddish For Me. I bought it when I worked a ethnic event last weekend and the author had a table there. Naturally she visited our table, Israel. We visited and she told me about her book, set in late 1800s Russia. She mentioned that she had people tell her they didn’t know what pogroms were. I had the same thing happen with something I had written, one of the people that read it said I shouldn’t use words that weren’t common. Sadly, pogroms have been common, way too common. I normally don’t have much time to read, but I could not put down the book. I started it Saturday evening, and read most of Sunday till I finished it late Sunday night. The story, the people, the time just sucked me in. I just had to find out what happened next. There were a couple parts in it that I want to bring out, one was when some of the characters talked about perhaps trying to get guns to defend themselves and the other was about the children. She made good point of talking about some of the games the children were playing in the streets, and about the children throwing rocks at some of the Jewish characters. One of the adults said it was what they had learned at home. Yes, yes indeed. It’s how people can grow up to slaughter a group of people because they have learned from a very young age that “those kind” aren’t human, they are evil, they killed Christ, and on and on. BTW, the Jews weren’t allowed to implement or pass a death sentence, only the Romans.
And that is what got me to thinking about the things I learned “when I was young” and how they have stuck with me, part of my fabric.
What are our children learning today? When I was growing up, while my parents were fairly involved but they didn’t check over my homework unless I needed help. If parents today are the same, they could be in for quite a shock.
This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Yet in the schools while there is no room for a Torah or Bible study club to meet before or after school. Islam is being taught as part of the lessons of world history. This article is from 2013.
The textbook, called simply “World History,” contains a 32-page chapter fondly devoted to “Muslim Civilizations.” Sections include descriptions of the Koran, the growth of the Muslim empire and the Five Pillars of Islam.Now we’re getting to the truth. An entire 32 page chapter dedicated to the Koran, and the Five Pillars of Islam? This is 100 percent Islamic indoctrination presented as “history.”
But it goes further back than that, this one is from 2008, and lists incidents from all across America, not just one state. Children are taken to visit mosques and given korans, or qurans or as barry calls it, oh never mind. But the point is, there was no field trip to a Synagogue or Church, no Bibles given out.
Infamous Palestinian Arab “activist” Bassem Tamimi spoke at an Ithaca, NY elementary school on Friday to present to third-graders a presentation on the “suffering” of Palestinian Arab children in Israel
You should read that article and find out how despicable that person really is. Rabid, as in bat-rabid anti-semitic in words and deeds.
The High Holy Days are over, but while the muslim talk was about not allowing Jews to “profane” the Temple Mount because of the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Let’s look at how much the poor palestinian youth treat their holy Al-Aqsa mosque.
This one is even better, it has captions.
It’s not about a great love for Al-Aqsa, it’s about a great hatred for Jews and Christians. Think about it, is this how other religions treat their holy sites? But they are taught from a very young age.
Do you think these lessons will stick with the children? The attitudes that have been taught to these children who graduate from throwing water balloons and stones at worshipers on the Temple Mount become the rock and Molotov cocktail throwing teenagers and far younger that attack motorists and pedestrians in Israel. And now Europe, and before long here as the asylum seekers pour in, unvetted, unscreened.
What do we teach our children? Aim small, miss small I hope, gun safety and value of life. Both theirs and others.
Mommy and Daddy, what does “pogrom” mean and where do they come from?
I suppose during this time of year I am more given to introspection. But I’m seeing all these things that just don’t add up and make any sense to me. ֪ Conundrums if you will.
For example, why does it seem like “J Street” doesn’t really like Jews, or at least those Jews in Israel very much?
Then I read this story about children even younger! This time it was an eleven year old who shot and killed at sixteen year old home intruder, the other intruder escaped but was later captured. He was protecting himself and his four year old little sister. I don’t think an eleven year old could have prevailed against two older teenagers without an defensive tool.
There are children alive today because they had access and training to defensive tools to help them. I then compare it to a story out of California several years ago. It’s so sad, it has always stuck with me.
Just a little over fifteen years ago, in Merced California a madman broke into the Carpenter farm house. The father was at work, the mom had taken the car to have the brakes looked at. She left fourteen year old Jessica in charge.
I was babysitting at twelve, I do not find this shocking.
For some reason we will never know a insane man broke into the farm house after cutting the phone lines. When Jessica heard a noise she came out of her room and found a naked man standing in the living room wielding a pitchfork. She fled to her room and tried to do what liberals say, she called the police. With the phone not working (the older version of no signal available) she had no success. So she crawled out the window to go get help.
The madman began stabbing little thirteen year old Anna first. Her younger sister Ashley was apparently born a sheepdog. And as such, she died. She yelled at the man not to hurt her sister. He left off stabbing Anna and killed Ashley aged nine years old.
Jessica had ran next door to neighbor Juan Fuentes and begged him to get a gun and “take care of this guy”. Juan was not inclined to save the children being murdered, though he did graciously allow Jessica to use the phone. She called police.
When they arrived he rushed them with the pitchfork, whereupon they shot him. Since they had guns, they could do that.
Jessica, Vanessa and Anna survived. The valiant little sheepdog Ashley, did not. Nor did her younger brother John who was stabbed in his sleep.
If this was not heinous enough, I will make it more so. It was most likely, preventable. Jessica KNEW how to shoot, she had earned a safety certificate when she was twelve. There WERE guns available, her father had at least a .357 and Jessica not only knew where it was, she knew well how to shoot it. So why didn’t she? Because California has MANDATORY safe storage. The gun was locked up, high on a shelf where Jessica couldn’t reach it. Even if she could, she would have needed to retrieve ammo from another spot and load it. I can only pity the poor Father, who had done everything else right, but was more afraid of the state, than a pitchfork wielding maniac. So doesn’t it seem like the soccer mom crowd and people like that silly Watts woman are partly responsible for their death?
I also do not understand how women that claim to be feminists can say that women shouldn’t have guns because they are “too weak”. After all these years of telling me “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you’re a man”, you now tell me I’m too weak to handle a tool that could protect me, my family and my animals? Listen broad, what’s mine? I protect. As very best I can. I can get a 1,300 lb animal to go the direction I want him (most of the time) by pointing a finger, I can protect mine with a effective defensive tool. Sorry Aharon, I’ll stuff the cowgirl back down. But doesn’t this seem a bit hypocritical? Especially if it’s a politician that has taxpayer funded security? I can’t afford that!
So, I don’t know. I just don’t understand why some people say that citizens who have done nothing wrong will make us all safer if we give up rights and ability to protect ourselves. And why do the people that say that sometimes have the very tools they want to deny us? Although the NRA says he wasn’t that bad, I’m not sure what to think since they did endorse Harry Reid.
So, I’m just trying to make sense of some of this, and to reflect on my behavior and am I being consistent. Can you help with some advice?
Sincerely,
נצ
Dear נצ
Give it up, you are dealing with a mindset you should hope to NEVER understand. You’ll make yourself crazy with this stuff. Give it up and go have a nice cup of Israeli coffee. You’ll feel better.
The Iran nuclear deal “will make America and the world safer and more secure”, President Barack Obama said on Saturday.The 159-page agreement between six world powers and Iran was finalized this week in Vienna, after extensive talks. On Saturday, Obama used his weekly address to seek support among voters, prior to the congressional vote on the deal and against a backdrop of Republican-led opposition.“This deal will make America and the world safer and more secure,” Obama said.“Still, you’re going to hear a lot of overheated and often dishonest arguments about it in the weeks ahead.”
He has for 3 years referred to any opposition to giving nuclear capability and money to a country that hates America and Israel as “noise”.
But now we have the John Kerry brokered deal. And it will keep us and Israel safer.
There’s been a little squabbling over it. President Sotero assures the Jewish community that oppose giving a country determined to wipe the one Jewish state in the world off the map nuclear capabilities that they need to put their “emotions” aside. He then assured everyone that he was pro-Israel. I suppose this was necessary since he is in favor of allowing a country determined to wipe Israel off the map to have a nuclear weapon. But he also feels that once the agreement has been signed sealed and sold out by Congress that Israeli-American relations will improve. Since the deal also involves giving Iran the technology to defeat any attempts Israel might make to defend herself by pre-emptive strikes I find this delusion astonishing.
As he has in previous speeches and interviews, Obama sought to refute criticism of the accord point by point. He disputed the notion that Iran would funnel the bulk of the money it receives from the sanctions relief into terrorism, saying Iranian leaders are more likely to try to bolster their weak economy. He also said the agreement wasn’t built on trusting Iran’s government, which frequently spouts anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric.
Keep that bit in mind.
Last month, National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted that some of the money due to be released as part of the deal negotiated by the U.S. led P5+1 “would go to the Iranian military and could potentially be used for the kinds of bad behavior that we have seen in the region.”
Ok, first this is the woman that makes the round of Sunday Talk shows telling America the reason for the attack and resulting deaths in Benghazi was a youtube video. Second, Susan Rice and the word “Security” should never been in the same sentence, let alone job description. Beyond that her idea of “bad behavior” defies understanding. Bad behavior is a two year old stamping it’s feet and yelling “NO” at it’s mother, it’s a teen-ager speeding or your horse kicking, nipping or bucking. But I guess if you are part of the Sotero regime then terrorism is “bad behavior”, you know, just part of the “noise”.
Aside from the soon-to-be-released billions, Iran’s finances will also be strengthened by the easing of trade embargoes that have seen a horde of major international business – many from P5+1 countries – rushing to sign lucrative deals with the ayatollahs. Earlier this week, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond scoffed at the fears of Israel and many Arab countries in the Middle East, saying the deal would “slowly rebuild their sense that Iran is not a threat to them.” Less than 24 hours later, the spokesman for Iran’s top parliament member said, “Our positions against [Israel] have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated.”
Last week I was pretty much away from the computer, but the first part of last week I found out that rockets has been fired into the Golan by Iran. So I wonder if Barry, Phil & Susie will suggest that Iran go into a time out?
But wait there’s more. Iran is wisely and peacefully spending your taxpayer money every bit as carefully as the obamas on one of their many vacations.
How silly to think American tax money would ever be spent to harm Israel. They’re probably just cranky and need to go for a nap, right Susie?
Wonder if barry is making the rounds at cocktail parties saying “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I really thought they’d put that money into their economy! That was why the people voted for the current regime”.
Then there are the various and sundry terrorist organizations now competing for funding from Iran & it’s unfrozen assets. They do this by committing terrorist acts against Israel to show Iran they can produce results for the money. So Susie, is that “bad behavior” or just “acting out”?
If you want to consider that often what happens in Israel becomes mirrored in America I shudder. Or as I hear a radio talk show host from Israel say often “Coming soon to a theater near you” when talking about what America is creating for herself.
All this has been about nuclear weapons, and putting America, Israel and the rest of the world at risk. And Barry is willing to do that as he assures America it will keep “us” safer. Despite evidence to the contrary, he says it will keep “us” safer.
So next time you hear Barry talking about how “common sense gun control will keep us safer” and that most gun owners want it, remember a couple things. He lies like a rug and two he ignores all evidence to the contrary to further his agenda.
If he is willing to put the world at risk with a nuclear weapon in Iran’s hands, why would you even wonder if the safety of you or your family is really his concern? I suppose though, if we ask ourselves who the “us” is that he wants to keep safer, his statements would make sense if it is the muslim terrorists and thugs. Because his plans and ideology certainly will keep them safer. Perhaps he identifies more with them, thus it will keep “us” safer.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. The sentence comes from the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. The synopsis is pretty good if you are unfamiliar with the book.
So it seems that some groups are allowed to say and do certain things with impunity, while other groups are branded with evil labels very undeservedly. I have a few examples for you.
Remember the “Draw Mohammed” contest in Garland Texas a while back? The event was organized by Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs. She was demonized by all on the left and some on the right. Because she felt in America, we should have free speech. The event was sometime after the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Casher grocery terrorist attacks by muslims. The Hebdo attack was prompted by a cartoon that appeared in the magazine and the perpetually offended “religion of peace” went on another killing spree. Many criticized Ms. Geller for having such an event. Why bound to cause trouble, no need to stir things up, best to just shut up and not make waves and all, right old sport? Ms. Geller’s point was, if in America, we are no longer free to speak, or have a cartoon drawing contest, we are no longer free. We have already submitted to Sharia law. This story ran on the news for DAYS on end, without stopping.
Now let’s just compare that to how the mainstream media went on for DAYS on end about a muslim professor at Lincoln University in Philadelphia. Just kidding about it running on the news for days on end </snark>
The Pakistani Professor Kaukab Siddique has made the statement “calling Pamela Geller and like-minded anti-Muslim commentators “dirty Jewish Zionist thugs.” Okayyyy, and if Pamela Geller would have called Kaukab Siddique a dirty muslim thug? But she didn’t, and as it turns out in addition to receiving his paycheck from taxpayer dollars, some of which no doubt are Jewish he also has the lamestream media to fly cover for him. As a state related university Lincoln receives about 13 million dollars in state funds. Wow, so 13 million contributes towards a professor who teaches that the holocaust didn’t exist. From Atlas Shrugs
Of course he won’t retract. Such ideological rhetoric and hatred has been normed by a sharia-adhering culture, and most particularly by academia. Islamic Jew-hatred goes under the guise of “palestinianism,” when it is actually nazism.
The author of the article, Susan Snyder, validates this vile professor’s hatred when she describes me as “anti-Muslim.” I am anti-jihad. But if she described me that way, people would think, “what’s wrong with that”? Snyder goes on to use the radical, fringe Southern Poverty Law Center to further smear me. Mind you, this is an article about a Muslim professor at an American university calling Jews, and me in particular, “dirty Jewish Zionist thugs.” And Snyder works hard to norm this depravity. She did not, of course, bother to contact me for comment.
In calling our free speech event in Garland, Texas “cultural genocide,” Professor Siddique reveals how truly insidious his agenda really is. Standing for free speech against violent intimidation is “cultural genocide”? Snyder passes on this ridiculous claim without remarking upon it. What Siddique is saying is that violating Islam’s blasphemy laws is tantamount to mass murder — and the only alternative is that we submit and accept those blasphemy laws.
It’s really cute how budding “reporter” little Susie Snyder uses the Southern Poverty Law Center as a credible source. Sort of like a local parrot cage liner around here used the Violence Policy Center as a reliable source of un-biased information on guns. I know, sometimes they can’t help but tell us how ignorant and biased they are when they used sources like that and then claim they are unbiased.
So cartoon contest=evil, must not speak or draw of such things.
Calling Jews and their supporters “Dirty Jewish Thugs”=free speech that must be protected and supported with taxpayer money.
Wow, really?
So, while we are on the topic of culture, there is a Jewish American reggae singer named Matisyahu.
It seems Matisyahu was scheduled to preform in Spain at the Rototom Sunsplash festival. But then the radical BDS movement got involved. They demanded that the singer produce a compelling document or video that he supported the two state “solution”. They accused Matisyahu and Israel of supporting “an apartheid state which practices ethnic-cleansing,”. So the organizers in a effort to placate the tolerant freedom loving and supporting BDS movement caved and pressured Matisyahu, who didn’t cave.
“The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people,” wrote Matisyahu.
“I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music,” he continued. “Music has the power to transcend the intellect, ideas, and politics, and it can unite people in the process.”
“The festival kept insisting that I clarify my personal views; which felt like clear pressure to agree with the BDS political agenda. Honestly it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements,” wrote Matisyahu.
“Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people. As musicians that is what we seek,” he concluded.
The answer is no. No other artists were pressured into making political statements that more than likely they didn’t agree with. Certainly another shining example of how freedom of speech (if you are Jewish or Israel supporter anyway) doesn’t go both ways.
It takes courage to continue to fight for her right to speak out, or draw cartoons and Pamela does continue to speak out. It takes courage for Matisyahu not to cave to the pressure to make a statement he may or not agree with. The fact that he was the only artist pressured to do so is very telling.
So while some can say and do as they please with media support, some can not. Some animals really are more equal than others aren’t they?
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
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