We’ve been told now for eons, that fewer guns will make us safer. We need to limit guns to be safe, to keep them out of the hands of “bad people”. England has done this. They did it a long time ago, then they installed spy cameras everywhere. Those are to keep you safer because no one can commit a crime without being seen. Yep. They still commit the crime, and who knows, perhaps the security camera provides great evidence. But for sure what it does provide, is a total lack of dang near anyplace without “Big Brother”. As most of us know, if something bad happens, the police will do their best to show up and protect you, to save a life. If that doesn’t pan out, they’ll do a dandy chalk outline and do their best to find out who did something bad to you, before you were a corpse, or maybe even after.
June 3rd there was another terrorist attack in London. A white van went crazy and began to mow people down reminiscent of the, but not to be confused with the terrorist attack on London Bridge of 22 March, 2017. What is it with those crazy vehicles in London? Driving on the wrong side of the road drove them mad? Oh! You mean there was a person involved? Laugh if you want, cnn (fake news) didn’t realize this. You probably won’t confuse it with the Manchester bombing attack on the 22nd of May, 2017. That was at an Ariana Grand concert. To be honest, I don’t care if I spell her name correctly or not. I wished she’d have stayed in Manchester, or better yet, goes to Syria or Gaza to serenade the poor people. Either way, after the attack she came out with the “don’t let hate win” blah blah blah blah blah”.
We will never be able to understand why events like this take place because it is not in our nature, which is why we shouldn’t recoil.
We will not quit or operate in fear.
We won’t let this divide us.
We won’t let hate win.
Ok, now you just sound stupid, because we do know.
“Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both of our countries less safe,” he stated according to The Telegraph. “It risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of extremists.”
“Donald Trump and those around him think that Western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam – London has proved him wrong.”
And I suppose I’ll be a witch and remind everyone that Mayor is an elected position. The Daily Mail did raise questions about his suitability for the job of Mayor, what with his close ties to ISIS and all. Well, and he was a lawyer for a 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. And yet, he was elected. It doesn’t seem to be working out well.
So here’s how it does work out, in the real world of London. Not the world of daisy stew and freely frolicking unicorns. But the world of London.
Mayor Sadiq’s comments include “Terrorism is just part and parcel of living in a big city”. So, ok, it’s no big deal to Mayor Sadiq. How about it was printed in the ISIS newspaper there was going to be an attack? Wonder what they give for clip out coupons? But yes they have one, and what this means is Mayor Sadiq was warned. He knew there was going to be another attack. And he bravely, immediately did….nothing. UK Counter-Terrorism taped a call, and they did…nothing.
And so the religion of pieces attacked Londoners again.
Anti-self-defense Piers Morgan had moved back to the safety of the gun-free U.K. and he interviewed Mayor Sadiq. The whole video. Yeah, I’d been real curious about that myself.
Piers Morgan: “Where are the 400 jihadis still in London?… You’re the mayor! WHERE ARE THEY?”
Mayor Sadiq Khan: I can’t cover 400 people…
So, political correctness doesn’t seem to be doing well does it.
Witnesses said they saw two men stabbing people outside the well-known Roast restaurant in Borough market. A chef from the nearby Fish restaurant said: “I saw two guys with big knives downstairs outside Roast. They were stabbing people. The police were running away, they were community police. They were normal officers, they were running away.
There are also quotes by Todd Starnes. It seems that the defenseless citizens were hurling chairs and beer bottles at the attackers. And so how did that work out?
These three guys ran up and started stabbing this one girl. I was defenseless mate, I couldn’t do nothing.
Breitbart Jerusalem alleges to have obtained specific messages posted by ISIS following yesterday’s attack.
The outlet quotes ISIS member Abi Abdullah Alamasri as saying, “thanks to Allah, thank you, thanks to Allah, Allah is great, thanks to Allah from faith that he will make his promise reality and give victory (the the faithful).”
“Allah will bless the lions,” his message reportedly continues, mimicking language used by ISIS at the start of Ramadan calling for “lions” to attack innocents in celebration of the holy month.
“Allah will reward you as long as you run over and stab these infidels in the depths of their countries,” Almasri’s message reportedly continues.
“Put fear into their eyes, increase your hits, increase your attacks, don’t let them feel secure in their countries.”
You realize we’re in Ramadan, right?
So the GFZ thing not working so good, the political correctness? Towards the end of this video, shot in a pub where police are telling the patrons to cower on the floor you can hear a man say some pretty outspoken things about muslims. He is chastised by another patron for saying them telling him he’s an idiot, it’s not muslims as they are hiding on the floor from muslim terrorists. IF you can’t make out the sentences, on Milo’s web site they have subtitles, and it’s easy to hear.
How, oh how have they gotten so stupid?
Well, their Mayor tells them crap, and then there’s cnn (fake news) that got caught faking the news, again. It seems cnn staged Anti-ISIS Muslim Protesters. I don’t know if they’ve found out if the people were paid or not yet.
Katie, the victim of the brutal attack, was heading to work walking down a street in northeast London when she was approached by people brandishing a knife. They attacked her from behind, stabbed her in the arm and chanted “Allah”, but the police are not calling this a terrorist incident.
Ahh, I see
The cost of not knowing who is coming in and why is becoming very expensive. In terms of justice and economics.
Mind you, you don’t have to actually pray. Hashtag still super effective.
4) Get mad at anyone who dare mention Islam: “TERROR KNOWS NO RELIGION.”
Sure, radical Islamic terror has been responsible for 120 terroristic murders just since Ramadan started, but no one needs to be reminded of that. (It’s higher now)
5) Remind everyone of how evil Christians are. “White patriarchy has killed more people than ISIS, let’s not forget.”
Don’t mention that this isn’t true. Just roll with it.
6) Do absolutely nothing.
7) Repeat in 1 week.
But don’t worry, there’s no problem here in the good ol’ USA.
And I can’t believe this could be an essential thing to know in this day and age, but it might be.
Gee, if there were only, oh, I don’t know, some way to kind of sort them out. You know like check the backgrounds of people coming into the country. Check the backgrounds and associations of ones that are already in the country. And then decide on, oh, I don’t know, like a case by case basis. Maybe check out some of the mosques, it seems the government was certainly willing to check out Churches a while back.
Memorial Day has passed. I didn’t exactly get to spend it the way I planned, but it’s ok. I think it’s still timely to talk about Memorial Day considering D-Day is coming up.
I’ve had a lot of thoughts about Memorial Day this year. I always do. I saw a tweet by Kay Wilson who queried “How can any American ever say Happy Memorial Day?” If you are unfamiliar with Kay, she is amazing. She is the victim of a horrific machete attack. Kay is British born, and living in Israel.
From doing a little reading, it seems the average age of soldiers from the Revolutionary War, up till now is early 20s. This is including older experienced officers which raises the age average. Although drummer boys could be as young as 12. I believe I read the average life expectancy of a solider in WWI in the trenches was six weeks. Six. Weeks.
How many died? I got an interesting email from Shmuel Sackett of Zehut, an Israeli political party I belong to. Yeah, pretty cool beans. To be honest though, I am not the only one who got the email, it was one Shmuel sent out to the group. It’s also right in line with Kay’s sentiments and is titled “What Did You Buy On Memorial Day?”
Let me ask you a question. Isn’t Memorial Day supposed to be somber? A day of remembrance, mourning and reflection? A day to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who lost their lives fighting for the USA? Do you have any idea how many heroes we are talking about? I did some research and found that from the American Revolutionary War until today – are you ready for this? – a total of 666,441 American soldiers have lost their lives in battle. If it’s hard for you to think about war from 1776, let me break down that number in more modern times. In WWII – 291,557 soldiers were killed and in Vietnam the number was 47,424. After 9/11, American forces went to war in Afghanistan and lost 1,954 soldiers while a whopping 3,836 have been killed in Iraq.
He is expressing his shock and sorrow outrage, let’s be honest, that in America, Memorial Day has become a day of picnics, shopping and holiday.
I’m not saying that there aren’t Americans that don’t feel the same. There are. Originally Memorial Day was called Decoration Day and it’s origins predate the Civil War. I can still remember when it changed from being observed on May 30th. That was back in 1971. My family observed it as a Memorial Day to family members that were gone and we would go decorate graves. Not that I didn’t have family that served in the military, I did. My Dad was in the Navy, one Uncle was in the Navy and wanted to be a fighter pilot. At 6’4” he was deemed too tall and instead was in communications. It was interesting when I talked to him about it a few years ago, he still couldn’t tell me much of what he did. I do know he was aboard the USS Missouri the day Japan surrendered. I have another Uncle that was in the Battle of Midway and survived. He had been gone for many years before I ever found that out. I was in first grade when he died at 33 of a heart attack and I was devastated. I have another Uncle that also served in the Navy, and at one time I considered enlisting in the Navy. My nephew is trying his very best to be accepted into a different branch of the military. Sigh, there’s always one. But, I couldn’t be prouder of “The Brat” and I love him dearly.
This is one paragraph, about one family, and I’m so blessed, all mine survived. Look at the stats quoted by Shmuel above. All those listed had families, they had lives and loves. They had hopes, dreams and aspirations.
In Israel, Yom Hazikaronיוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן is observed very differently.
By law, all places of entertainment are closed on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, and broadcasting and educational bodies note the solemnity of the day.
Memorial candles are lit in homes, army camps, schools, synagogues, and public places, and the flags are lowered to half staff. Throughout the day serving and retired military personnel serve as honor guards at war memorials throughout the country, and the families of the fallen participate in memorial ceremonies at military cemeteries.
National memorial services are held in the presence of Israel’s top leadership and military personnel. The day opens with a siren the preceding evening at 20:00 (8:00 pm), given that in the Hebrew calendar system, a day begins at sunset. The siren is heard all over the country and lasts for one minute, during which Israelis stop everything, including driving on highways, and stand in silence, commemorating the fallen and showing respect.
When I saw the post from Kay, I answered her and told her it is because so many in America do not even realize what Memorial Day is. Some of it is due to the massive liberal influences in the government, and some of it is due to the school system. I heard a very interesting lecture recently and facts and figures were given showing the decimation of the US military in the last 8 years, by our own government. In addition to the military being used as a “social experiment”. And don’t think that hasn’t taken a toll.
Organizational Transitions
I was still young when the soldiers came back from Viet Nam, and I remember stories of them being spit on and berated. Thank you Walter Cronkite, Jane Fonda and John Kerry, and scores of liberal school teachers, and countless others. Bill Clintoon set a shining example by fleeing to Canada. I can remember being at an amusement park one time in Texas, not on Memorial Day. The two men in line ahead of me were talking about having come back. In line it was hard not to over-hear. I looked at them and said “Thank you, thank you for serving”. They were young, and looked shocked. Then they looked grateful. They didn’t determine the policies of going to war, they didn’t get a vote on being sent. They got drafted, and they suited up and showed up and tried to do the right thing.
I was recently in a conversation with a man and his wife. The man had retired out of the Marine Corp after 38 years. They were watching a John Wayne movie on TV, he was in a submarine. She had gone with him on every posting he had ever been sent. She commented “All wars are stupid”. I was quite for a moment, it happens rarely, then replied “Yes, perhaps, but some of them need to be fought, and some of them are worth fighting”. I’m working on Hebrew as a second language, not German, I get to make a choice. Some wars need to be fought.
I’m pretty old now, I’ve got to realize some of my hopes and dreams, there are some still in the bag to be worked towards. But I’m alive, and I have that chance. These men and women that showed up and answered the call? Their hopes and dreams died with them on fields, beaches, in trenches and hedgerows. I would also include law enforcement officers who answer a calling to try to protect as those that fall in service to our country now. It’s not the same, they get to go home (usually) at the end of their shift, but that “sheepdog” mentality resides in them as well. They are serving in a different arena.
I admit it, I would like to see America observe Memorial Day in a way more similar to Israel’s observance. I would like to have a nationwide siren sounded at the same time all across the US and people stop what they are doing in honor of those that gave all. I would like to see stores close and the day treated as a day to respectfully honor fallen heroes. While I can’t make that happen, I can make sure I do my best to honor the men and women who suited up and showed up.
This video is from Black Rifle Coffee company. They are veteran owned and operated. They also star in their own videos. Some of which are pretty darn funny, some outrageous, some kinda gross. But all quite original. I just got my first order, and it’s darn good coffee! No, they are not paying me to write this, they don’t even know who I am, but this video is what made me “pull the trigger” on buying the coffee. I highly recommend “Coffee or Die”.
Just some things to keep in mind with the approach of D-Day.
I’ve watched the antifa (anti-fascist) movement with a combination of anger and concern. During the election they formed their crowds, blocked roads, surrounded cars terrifying their occupants, rioted, burned cars and stores, attacked people physically either due to their race or because they were conservatives, Trump supporters or had shown up to a political rally to hear what was being said because they were undecided.
During the elections no one in authority, it seems to me, really came out and strongly spoke against it, except maybe Sheriff David Clark. I had hoped after the election that perhaps this would go away and we could return to more or less, being a country of rules and laws. Meaning if you vandalized, looted or attacked someone and you got caught, you are going to jail. You burn stuff down? You’re going to jail.
Then there was the Battle of Berkeley. This is a snippet with some explanations and context. The part towards the very end is pretty interesting. When they ask the police where they were and why the didn’t intervene when the pro-Trump people were being violently attacked. “That would be a question for the chief of police”? Seriously. Well, apparently the mayor of Berkeley supports Antifa too.
The big irony in this is that “Antifa” is suppose to stand for anti-fascist. Now let me see if I understand this. You don’t like what someone is saying, so you think the correct response to this is to call it hate speech (despite not having heard it, or allowing anyone else to) is to attack the people that came to listen and call them “haters” and say you are “saving your community”. I think I fell down a rabbit hole, stepped through a looking glass, or had too much fried okra for dinner. Reminds me of reading about the Missouri Highway Patrol MIAC report controversy. Christians and conservatives were labeled a threat. Wonder why the SPLC some state hasn’t labeled Antifa a threat?
But as ugly as this is, and it is ugly. I think it’s fixin’ to get worse.
Antifa is angry that they lost the fight. Not the battle. They have looked at what shortcomings they had and have decided what they need is, mixed martial arts training and guns. The following videos were posted on Facebook and youtube. They are actually talking about killing people, apparently this doesn’t violate Facebook’s community standards. Huh. Is it possible that because the “nazis” they are talking about killing are conservatives because they disagree with their point of view, and because they might say something they don’t like? Why, I believe it is.
But this one? This one is serious. Now there are a few things that are ironic to me. One is the “bluegrass” music in the background. Most hillbillies I know, already know how to shoot just fine and they don’t put cartridges in the “hole”, they know what iron sights are and are quite adept at using them. While they may not have a huge love of government, I’m pretty sure they would not embrace the “big government” of communism, and that’s what antifa wants. Along with their way, about everything. And in the places where there are no grown-ups in charge, things are going to get much worse. Because the children have found that throwing a hissy fit gets them everything they want along with the participation trophy.
The thing is, some of the comments under the video are making fun of these fools, and frankly, it’s easy to do. But understand, I truly believe when they talk about wanting to kill someone, they do. While we want to carry to protect ourselves and our families, these people are talking happily about shooting random strangers because they hold a differing political viewpoint. Something to think about the next time they swarm a highway and shut down traffic. All those people trapped in their cars? These people are talking about “declaring war” and a “revolution”. And in some parts of the country? The police will stand by a let it happen.
I wonder if Shannon Watts or Mikey Bloomberg have told them how very dangerous it is for them to have a gun? These are people on the left, 3 months ago they were anti-gun. They have not changed their belief system so much as are trying to add elements for control. So much for tolerance, eh? A friend of mine of Facebook asked if they knew they were 47 times more likely to get shot with their own gun. I love snark, speak it fluently. All manner of frightening things await them according to Shannon.
Everytown fibs in every town
It seems I’m not the only one to think along these line. Some of the comments under some of the articles I read were more along these lines.
Don’t sell them short. I remember the Viet Cong. They started off this way, too.
I’m old enough to remember how this goes. They won’t stand up and fight, they will slither in the night, planting bombs and shooting the unsuspecting.
I’m of the opinion they’re correct, something wicked this way comes.
Yom Ha’Atzmaut, I think this year I’ll do a little media round-up for ya’ll for Yom Ha’Atzmautיום העצמאות. I spent the day making balls and frying falafel for an impending big party that night. As I fried I had a plenty of time to reflect on the miracle of the nation state that was born from the ashes in a day.
A day when an ancient people, the Israelites declared to the world “We’re Home”. Thanks to the work of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda the Hebrew language had been revived. Some words were borrowed, especially technical terms, but many are pretty much the same. Modern Hebrew really caught on during the Second Aliyah, from 1904-1914.
So what had gone on before the Nation State reappeared?
The Allied Powers were aware of the scale of the Jewish Holocaust two-and-a-half years earlier than is generally assumed, and had even prepared war crimes indictments against Adolf Hitler and his top Nazi commanders.
Newly accessed material from the United Nations – not seen for around 70 years – shows that as early as December 1942, the US, UK and Soviet governments were aware that at least two million Jews had been murdered and a further five million were at risk of being killed, and were preparing charges. Despite this, the Allied Powers did very little to try and rescue or provide sanctuary to those in mortal danger.
But they weren’t the only ones who more or less sat on their thumbs. One of my favorite writers, Jack Engelhard points out that while 400 Rabbis marched to Washington to talk to FDR about helping the Jews, the majority of American Jews sat on their thumbs. FDR by the way, couldn’t be bothered to meet with the Rabbis, he went golfing.
This is part of a cable he sent to George C. Marshall, the part in bold, I bolded.
… the most interesting—although horrible—sight that I encountered during the trip was a visit to a German internment camp near Gotha. The things I saw beggar description. While I was touring the camp I encountered three men who had been inmates and by one ruse or another had made their escape. I interviewed them through an interpreter. The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’
He then made the townspeople come view the camp, and help assist in burying the bodies. The townspeople all claimed they had no idea what had been going on, despite the smell that had been noted in the town. He also ordered many photos be taken of the camp to prevent people from being able to try to deny what had taken place. Doesn’t seem to have stopped them though, does it?
I would say the hope of Israel was beating in prisoner’s hearts. This is a recording made IN Bergan-Belsen after it was liberated. The BBC was there, and the prisoners knew they were being recorded. They asked to be allowed to sing on the recording. They are singing Hatikva, the national anthem of Israel, it means “The Hope”.
And so Jews then began making their way to Israel, they were going home. They began to work the land which had been let go into desolation and turn it in to a vibrant living land again.
This is a song I learned in school, my teacher says they sang it in the Kibbutzim, it’s called Boker Boker http://www.zemereshet.co.il/song.asp?id=337 it’s an actual recording and they are singing about different times of the day, but it all involves going to work. And she explained that they were just so happy to have a home and land to work, that they woke up happy to work the land and have their own, new lives. Something I should remind myself a few times. But it’s a very happy song.
And then in 1948, Independence was declared after the United Nations voted to partition the land. A scheme known today as the “Two State Solution”. It was rejected by the arabs, and they were much more honest about their motives then. They said they would drench the land in blood, and no compromise.
The Declaration, and I’ve been in this very room when they played a recording of the speech. I could not help it as I felt my eyes fill with tears. I have a copy of the Declaration in Hebrew. I’m such a baby I can’t quite read it without the vowel points though.
Turning once again to Jack Engelhard, I see that the German ambassador was in Israel recently. To meet with Bibi? No, he chose to meet with Israel’s enemies. Jack has informed Mrs. Merkel that today Germany’s actions will not be buried on the back pages of the paper, they are front page.
These days Israel celebrates the 69th Anniversary of its Independence. The Jewish State is not to be trifled, as were the Jews in the good old days.
Back then when you kicked us around you managed to get the cooperation of The New York Times and others to hide your dirty work.
The papers – led by the Times – let you off the hook as you rounded up, shot and gassed millions of our people.
They buried the news on the back pages.
Speaking of everyone’s favorite puppy pee pad, the New York Slimes, all the news that’s fit to lie about, they have changed so much! They recently ran a op-ed from Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist guilty of murder, serving five life sentences. The Slimes didn’t find this information relevant as they ran his op-ed about why he was on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison. They listed him as a “Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian.” You can make this stuff up, but in the case, I’m not. Remember, we’re talking about the Slimes. After the outcry, it was added why he was in the slammer. Honestly, I’m kind of shocked there was an outcry. I didn’t realize anyone actually read the Slimes, I thought they just bought it when they were teaching puppies to piddle in a certain spot. So no, the Slimes is still/always evil.
To put things in perspective, Israellycool did a similar column from Charles Manson, yes, that one. He is listed as a “Singer-Songwriter”. And it is well worth the read. Actually, if you’re only going to read one of the columns, make it this one. You’ll know what Barghouti wrote and Israellycool does a good job of showing both.
And today, do all American Jews stand up for their kin in Israel? Um, not so much. Alan Dershowitz supported hillary, who would have continued obama’s anti-Israel policies. He recently talked with Moshe Feiglin about the future of Israel, as a Jewish state. The two had very different ideas. To Alan, Jews living in the Biblical heartland is a problem, and it being a Jewish state is kind of a problem.
I look at Israel, her people, the land, and the miracles that have happened there and it really makes me think about something I heard on one of my favorite radio shows recently. On Temple Talk they were discussing Pharaoh’s army chasing the fleeing Hebrews across a large strip of land that only a few hours earlier had been a sea. There are a couple walls of water on either side, your country has had frogs, locust, hail, darkness, boils, wild animals and all ya’lls first born is dead. The G-d of Israel said “Let them go”, you didn’t so you got all that and more. Now you think it’s a good idea to chase them across the strip of land in between two walls of water? Good idea had nothing to do with it. It was a deep hatred of the Jews. And it drives the enemies of Israel to do very stupid things, that oft times leads to their own demise. Germany has replaced six million Jews with how many muslims? And how’s that working out for them?
But, we’ve had Yom Ha’Atzmaut, and Am Ysrael Chai עם ישראל חי
The People of Israel LIVE!!!
Thank you G-d, for all your miracles and your love.
You know, in some ways, I’m a pretty blessed girl. Parts of my life are pretty cool. I get to meet some amazing people, I really do. And some of them I get to interview, and some of them I just am fortunate enough to be able to sit in on a lecture. This column is about one of those times. I got to sit in on a lecture with a fascinating gentleman. You’re looking for more information than “fascinating”? Ok, how about details, he’s Israeli, he’s been in a few battles. More? He can speak Hebrew, read and write it. More? Ok, I admit that last bit was humor. He was part of the Shaldagשלדגor Kingfisher unit. In fact, at one time he commanded it. Shaldag is like Sayeret Matkal, think Yonatan Netanyahu. It’s a special forces unit of the IAF. A Kingfisher is a bird that flies up high, swoops down suddenly and snatches it’s prey and ascends back into the skies before you know what happened. Now you understand Shaldag. More? He’s a retired Brigadier General. Yeah, I get to meet very way cool people. He’s also a happily married father of three girls, two of whom are officers in the IDF now. More? His name is Gal Hirsch. He also has a B.A in Mid-Eastern Studies from Bar-Ilan University. I’m working on my B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies as well, sadly not in Israel. Gal also is the founder and chairman of Defensive Shield Holdings, which consults on security and defense, and is chairman of the Israeli Leadership Institute. Quite the pedigree isn’t it? And he had quite the lecture, and message for us.
Gal’s family were some of the first to settle in Arad when it was a new town in the Negev. It’s near my beloved Beer Sheva. On his 13th birthday with the other boys he climbed Masada before dawn for his Bar Mitzvah, they put on Tefillin for the first time, prayed and vowed שנית מצדה לא תיפול
Shaneet Masada lo tipol, Masada shall not fall again. This is the same vowed the armored division used to make when they were sworn in on Masada, after climbing up it. My thought? Yes, I’d like to have the chance to do that, climb it, but the view from the cable car was amazing. I’m just saying. After that portion, the boys all hike down and go their homes and there is a lovely large meal, family and presents. It’s a big family event. Normally. Gal’s wasn’t, when he got back everything was chaos. His uncle, Amnon Hager had been killed. Fifty-four paratroopers and the pilot had been killed when their helicopter went down. The next day Gal changed from planning to enter a science program to picking up the baton that had fallen from his Uncle’s hand. He went to the recruiting station in Beer Sheva.
Gal has been fighting since he was 18, a lot of it around the borders of Israel, and all of it under fire. He said you can plan whatever you want, but someone else is planning for you. Serving in the IDF is not a career, it’s a mission. Eventually Gal chose to go to officer training. This requires an additional commitment to serve in the IDF. There on the walls of the school in different places was the phrase “אחריי” Achriee, or “Follow me and do likewise” which is what Gideon told his troops. This is also why you see a fairly high casualty rate among Israeli officers, they LEAD into battle. In addition to seeing the sign “Achriee” he also saw a beautiful woman named Donna, who later became his wife, and the mother of his 3 beautiful daughters. Donna was in the IDF as well. So, folks, if you need, I’ll see if I can get you some IDF recruitment forms. Sounds like it worked better than match.com.
In the mid 80s Hizbollah was a political party, now Hizbollah is the Iranian army after going through a few morphs. Gal fought in the first intifada which was the pieceful falestinians* having their armed riots for “peace”. They knew that Israel would not use machine guns on civilians.
While he couldn’t talk about many of the missions he went on, he did tell us about one. There was an enemy installation someplace. The enemy would come out attack Israel and retreat back to their compound. After this had gone on for a bit, Gal decided they needed to get into the compound. He said the game changes when you wake up in the morning and the floor of your living room is covered with IEDs and you have no clue how they got there in the night. I bet that’s right, actually, I know that’s right, more on that later. But there were some pretty good mottoes contained in the story. This mission had many things go wrong, from a late start because they were waiting for approval to technical problems. At one point an ambush was waiting, a team member was injured and they had to figure out an alternative way to cross a road swarming with the enemy and invent a way to cover their tracks. Then they got to climb the cliff. Through all this Gal has to continually reassess the situation. Abort or continue? Finally he is getting messages from headquarters, it was a brilliant plan, but don’t you think you should abort now? It’s not the same situation. It’s morning now. Gal persisted and was emphatic, he would continue. Then headquarters made it an order, abort. And just then, as luck would have it, there was another technical problem and none of their headsets worked! None of them heard the order to abort the mission. WOW, who would have imagined such a thing? Gal did have to come up with some alternative ways to get the team extracted, but he had already figured that out. So once the mission was completed he was able to get the communication equipment to work and called in orders for what he needed to get the team extracted safely. The mission was a success. When they got back to base the General Chief of Staff wished to have a word with Gal. Apparently the General had several, at a great volume. Gal thought his time in the IDF was about to end, so he had some words in response, also at a increased volume. And about then the people who had been monitoring the compound began to see some of the teams handiwork playing out. They came and got the General who left to watch the fireworks, grab a cup of Cofix and some popcorn. Ok, I made up the last two. But Cofix coffee is always a good idea in my book. The debriefing was two weeks later and he was told many times, you were wrong, but this turned out well.
Many times in this story Gal talked about “values determine results”, meaning if it is your values to persevere and work hard, your results will be good, it’s about your work ethic. And “the mission must be accomplished”. But what happens when values collide? “The mission must be accomplished” collides with “discipline”. The military discipline that an army must have to function as a unit runs headlong into the mission must be accomplished and values determine results? That’s a tough one isn’t it? The unit ended up getting a citation for their work, and they didn’t can Gal.
Instead, they sent him to Judea and Samaria to prepare for war in the aftermath of the Oslo accords. Gal talked about how many times and how many different ways Israel has tried to make peace. And how many times the Arabs have promised to give up terrorism and attacking civilians in return for _______. And some how, no matter how much or how often they give, peace never comes. Attacks on civilians and the military continues.
In 1998 it turns out Gal was quite good at trying to get things in order in Judea and Samaria. So good the Arabs absolutely hated him and he was a high priority target for them. The finally got him in an ambush as he drove under a bridge. They rolled a boulder on his car. He sustained multi-system trauma. Broken teeth, arm almost ripped off, face partly crushed, lungs filling with blood, teeth knocked out, pelvic damage and part of his nerves were torn away from his spine, he was pretty close to if not, paralyzed. The arabs were exceedingly proud of themselves for having gotten Gal. It was on the arabic news stations and in the papers. But Gal lived. The doctors asked him what his goals were for his therapy and rehab. He told them he wanted to be able to “shoot, hug, and write” meaning write orders. He wanted to go back into command. He wanted to be in charge of the Binyamin brigade which is in the area of Judea and Samaria. He wanted the arabs to know, they failed. He was sent to Paris for a while for some procedures. After he had been back from Paris for a while, he begin to have movement in a finger. The index finger of his right hand. He called his commander and said “I’m healthy now. I want to be the brigade commander” This, I’m sure, was met with a rather stunned reaction. He was still in the hospital in rehab. But, you see, it was his trigger finger that had moved. To Gal? He was ready for duty. So at 74% disabled he became the brigade commander of the Binyamin brigade. He is still 59% disabled today. He said “When you have a mission, you can work through the pain”. Another good creed to remember.
So now you have some background on Gal. Now I’ll tell you some of the things I learned that I think are worth sharing.
Gal is the man behind Operation Defensive Shield, March 29 – April 21, 2002. It was in response to the many, many terrorist attacks coming from the arabs in Judea and Samaria. In particular the Pesach massacre on March 27th in which 30 people were killed. A pieceful falestinian detonated himself in a hotel in Netanya during a 250 person Seder. Twenty-two were killed outright, eight died later and one hundred and fifty were injured. The arabic world was a tizzy in joy. But for Ariel Sharon it was the last straw. This was a very large scale operation. Despite the fact the Air force could have settled hash in a few minutes, the IDF chose to send in infantry to spare civilians who were told to flee.
Now, there are some things Israel does very poorly. One is “apartheid”. They are pathetic at apartheid. They have muslims in the Knesset, they have muslims in the military, in positions of command no less, they have muslims in the police force, they have muslims working in the emergency medical services. Israeli muslims can vote, shop, work, whatever. They do not have a firm grasp on how to do apartheid. Another word they can not seem to grasp the meaning of is “siege”. They really do quite poorly with siege. They need to refer back to Masada and the Roman 10th legion to understand how to do “siege”. Because when the tanks surrounded Mukata’a, Arafat’s palace and command post in Ramallah to keep him from leading an insurgency they supplied everything he needed, including electricity. I’m sure if you’ve seen the pictures of Arafat and his people huddled around a candle, that will be a shock, but Israel actually supplied them with necessities. They don’t get “siege”.
So let’s talk a bit about the arabs. In Bethlehem, somewhere between 100-180 pieceful* falestinians holed up in the Church of the Nativity. Much like how they now use the Al-Aqsa mollusk (yeah, I know) to hide weapons and attack the police out of their holy site. You know, I’ve yet to see any of the other worlds religions use their holy sites as a military compound and then howl to cnn when the military attacks it, and the people in it. But the arabs do it on a regular basis. Not only their own holy sites, but those of other religions. They also took more than 40 priests, nuns, and church personnel as well as around 200 other Palestinians hostage.
There were also raids in other falestinian villages as the IDF gained control of Judea and Samaria. This resulted in a large drop in terrorist activities.
Israeli Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, were an initial drop of 46 percent in the number of suicide bombings – from 22 in February and March to 12 in April and May – and a 70 percent drop in executed attacks between the first half of 2002 and the second half (43 January–June, 13 July–December).
While 2003 had a total of 25 executed suicide bombings in comparison to 56 in 2002, the main difference was the number of attacks which did not come to realization (184) either due to Israeli interception or problems in the execution. 2003 also saw a 35 percent drop in the number of fatalities from 220 deaths in 2002 to 142 deaths resulting from suicide bombings.
Predictably, the UN howled. And the FA (Falestinian Authority) had cnn on speed dial. They would send kids out in front of tanks and cnn, being sloppy journalists, and I’m using that term very loosely here, would snap photos of the “compelling” conflict. Did they do any investigation? Not so much.
Remember me saying we would come back to IEDs in the living room? Well, that’s how terrorism works. You’re going about your normal little life when a bomb goes off, or someone runs you down with a car and jumps out with a knife. How long before people are afraid to go out? So, wake up and find IEDs in the living room? Changes your notions about your plans. The next point, is while the UN howled about the poor falestinian civilians, the poor civilians don’t concern the pieceful falestinian terrorists. They use them as shields, or tell them they can’t leave a building knowing Israel will not attack it if there are civilians there. This point seems to escape the UN, well, and john kerry. The IDF targets terrorists. The terrorists target civilians. Big difference wouldn’t you say?
Which brings me to another point Gal made. Not only does Israel not do “apartheid” or “siege” well, they really don’t do well at public relations. The first two were my opinions, but Gal admitted, Israel is not good at PR. The FA on the other hand, has a willing lapdog media. And somehow, somewhere roles have switched. In the beginning everyone realized that tiny Israel was fighting to regain her home. She was attacked by the arab nations from the beginning. Now, it’s still tiny Israel fighting many arab nations to survive, but because they don’t lay down and die as many expect, they are now portrayed as a thuggish Goliath. Gal said that was something that they could use our help with. When we see misstatements in the media, address them. Send a letter to the editor, address it on Facebook, Twitter, whatever, but do not let it go unchallenged. Judea and Samaria are not occupied “territories” they are the land of Judea and Samaria in the land of Israel, and there are Jews living in Jewish villages there, just like there are Jews living in villages all over Israel. And when it comes to Gaza, it is not “occupied” by Israel, there are no Jews in Gaza. In fact, Gal calls it “Hamas-a-stan”. It’s not controlled by anything other than Hamas, or as I call it, Hamass. This little tidbit seems to escape many mainstream journalists.
At the same time as Operation Defensive Shield, Gal began to push for the wall, or defensive barrier. This of course has been met with howls by the “human rights” groups and the UN. Isn’t it interesting that many Israelis died from terrorist attacks coming from people within Judea and Samaria and the UN and human rights people emitted their collective yawn. They didn’t get upset about suicide bombings and knife, rock, boulder, Molotov cocktail against Israelis, nearly one thousand of them. A fence has been built around Gaza, and not a single suicide bomber has made it from Gaza into Israel. The rockets are another story. But the stats on the wall of Judea and Samaria are impressive.
Here’s why there is an actual wall in places where falestinian snipers used to attack.
During the 34 months from the beginning of the violence in September 2000 until the construction of the first continuous segment of the security fence at the end of July 2003, Samaria-based terrorists carried out 73 attacks in which 293 Israelis were killed and 1950 wounded. In the 11 months between the erection of the first segment at the beginning of August 2003 and the end of June 2004, only three attacks were successful, and all three occurred in the first half of 2003.
Since construction of the fence began, the number of attacks has declined by more than 90%. The number of Israelis murdered and wounded has decreased by more than 70% and 85%, respectively, after erection of the fence.
And
The value of the fence in saving lives is evident from the data: In 2002, the year before construction started, 457 Israelis were murdered; in 2009, 8 Israelis were killed.
The wall and fence have worked very well in Israel.
He also talked a little about the “Arab Spring”, six and a half years ago. He said it was such a nice sounding name, spring. But what it has been is horrible. The jihadists have always been in the middle east, but the dictators that had been in control had been able to contain them. After the arab spring, the bottle was shattered and all the evil little genies were set loose to visit havoc upon the middle east. The fundamentalist jihadis are running amuck and the middle east is not functioning the same. Sounds to me like some former politician was dangerously (to all of us) naïve and didn’t have a firm grasp on the situation, or how things work.
Some of this last bit was in response to questions asked by the audience at the end of the lecture. But there was one more interesting question that was put to Gal as he talked about the impact of the evil fundamentalist jihadis that have been set loose to run amuck in polite society. A lady (not me) ask Gal, “So what does the mean for us?” Now, remember Gal’s occupation now. Security and defense consultant. He said “You have to prepare”. I don’t think she understood what he meant. I think Gal thought she didn’t understand either. He elaborated. “You have to be ready. You have a Second Amendment in this country. That is something we don’t have. You need to arm yourselves and know how to use your gun to be able to defend yourselves and your family”. My jaw almost hit the floor. I can only sincerely hope that those in the audience believed him and took him seriously. When you consider what this man has seen, where he lives and what he has done with his life, and he tells you that you need to be prepared and to exercise your Second Amendment rights, I think it is well worth heeding.
After the lecture he was signing books, and of course I wanted one. I got my book and got in line. We chatted for a few moments before he signed my book. I gave him my card, and asked him if he knew there was a Jewish Second Amendment rights organization in America. He did not. I told him we are supportive of Israel, and that we have covered issues in Israel and the parallels to things happening in America. Mostly favorably. I think Elor Azariya might have slipped out. But he seemed impressed and how glad am I that I was wearing my Caribbean blue TZP sweater? He asked if he could keep the card, it has our web site on it, and I got my copy of the book signed, בעברית, in Hebrew. Yeah, I’m happy. I’ve only got to read a couple pages in the book, but it’s very readable and interesting. The original copy was done in Hebrew of course, and was called War Story, Love Story. We of course, will understand that. Because we don’t fight because we love to fight, we fight because of love. Love for our country and our families. It fits.
If you want a copy of the book you can find it here. Defensive Shield
Defensive Shield
*Pieceful. No, I do not mean peaceful. The falestinians love stabbing and cutting up people. Pieceful is the correct, if made-up word.
*Falestinian, Falestinian Authority. There is no “P” in arabic. Isn’t it interesting that their “ancestral homeland” is a word they can’t pronounce. Probably because it wasn’t called Palestine until Hadrian named it that after the disappeared Philistines as a poke at the Jews and to remove their connection from the land.
As Pesach is coming up, and in honor of Gal, here’s your little movie.
I know, I know Purim has passed and it’s not yet Pesach, but if you’ll indulge me just a little I’ll explain. First we need a bit of background.
When the Hebrews left Egypt, HaShem, the G-d of Israel had just delivered the enslaving nation of Egypt ten, count ‘em, ten devastating plagues, split the sea and drowned the Egyptians as they pursued the now freed Hebrews. NO sane nation wanted to mess with them. The qualifier, did you catch it? Sane. From Aish.com, and I’m going to be quoting quite a bit from this one article.
Remember what Amalek did to you as you were leaving Egypt. He happened upon you, and struck the weakest people trailing behind, when you were exhausted. And he did not fear G-d. (Deut. 25:17-18)
G-d said to Moses: Write this remembrance in the book… that I will surely erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. (Exodus 17:14)
To understand, we have to go back to the time of Jacob our forefather. Jacob had a twin brother Esav, who was a lifelong rival ― so much so that Esav sought to kill Jacob (see Genesis 27:41).
The Midrash says that when Esav was getting old, he called in his grandson Amalek and said: “I tried to kill Jacob but was unable. Now I am entrusting you and your descendents with the important mission of annihilating Jacob’s descendents ― the Jewish people. Carry out this deed for me. Be relentless and do not show mercy.”
True to his mission, Amalek has historically tried to destroy the Jews. For example, in Exodus 17:8, Amalek attacked the Jews out of pure hatred ― Amalek lived in a distant land and was under no imminent threat.
So what does Amalek have to do with Purim? The Scroll of Esther (3:1) identifies Haman as the descendent of Agag, King of Amalek. Haman’s desire to wipe out the Jewish people was an expression of his long-standing national tradition.
A young Falestinian woman carried out a vehicular attack at the Gush Etzion Junction. She veered out of her lane, drove at great speed towards the bus stop at the junction and tried to run over soldiers standing there. The soldiers guarding the location shot at the car and wounded her. A solider received minor injuries. Although with that lot, it could mean she ran over his leg a couple times. Their idea of minor injuries and all.
Gush Etzion Car used in ramming attack
The stabbing attack? A Falestinian named Bucket O’ Chum 1, from Beit Fajjar, and a friend, carried out a stabbing attack at the Ariel Junction; both were killed.
This is life in Israel, the media finds it of no interest that cars are used as weapons of mass destruction against Jews on a regular basis. A knife attack against a group of Jews? Cnn (fake news): Ho hum. Did the Kardashians get new sunglasses? Isn’t it odd how these stories never seem to make the mainstream media?
But there was another attack too wasn’t there? This one in London. A Bucket of Chum that had converted to the religion of pieces got a car and drove over Westminster bridge and mowed people down, just like the pieceful Falestinian girl that barry ridiculed Americans for wanting to vet the women and children. Damn skippy. Bucket O’ Chum 2 has killed I think it’s 4 people, injured more than 40 people. Just like the pieceful Muslim in Ohio. And just like that one he jumped out of his car with two knives and begin to stab.
Photo of Some Asshole
Bucket O’ Chum’s stabbing victim was a much admired Police officer, husband and father, Keith Palmer. In America this might raise many eyebrows as we would be wondering why didn’t Officer Palmer shoot Bucket O’ Chum. But this is gun free utopia England. Officer Palmer was defenseless, you read that right. He was unarmed. He had to wait for other officers who were armed to shoot his attacker, and despite the fact that they were very close, it was still too late. Seconds really do count, and Officer Palmer didn’t have them. Want to know who shot Chum #2? A close protection officer for Defense Secretary Michael Fallon. Because you see, politicians are important, other people? Meh. Would you like to know what Defense Secretary Mr. Michael Fallon said about the incident?
“’They did not get into Parliament. They only got as far as the gate. They did not breach the security of the House of Commons and he gave his life to protect the security of our democracy.”
BULL FEATHERS!!! He died for no d*mn good reason! He died for political correctness, he died because the foolish people of Britain confuse the teeth. They can’t discern the protective teeth of an armed citizen or Police Officer from the teeth of the wolves that have come to tear them to shreds. For that matter, if there had been ONE, just ONE armed citizen on that bridge, is it possible Bucket O’ Chum wouldn’t have ever made it to Parliament? We will never know, but it sure might have changed the odds. For that matter, did they do a “universal background check” before the car was rented?
Bucket O’ Chum’s rented car
Oh but there is more ticked off to go:
Former Met firearms officer Roger Gay said Britain may need to move away from the idea of ‘traditional’ unarmed policeman in important locations.
He told Sky News today: ‘In my opinion, I would have all of them in that location, I think, should be armed. What you have there, and I hate to use the term, is perhaps a sacrificial pawn.
No, you idiot. He was a Police Officer, husband and father made defenseless by your idiotic policies. But at least this guy thinks they should consider arming all of the officers, at Parliament. Because, hey, they’re important.
In raids across Britain today they have picked up 8 people for “suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts,”.
And it will not end. As “Mad Mommies” virulently spill their insane bile against schools considering changing some of their policies to make their students at least a tiny bit harder to kill, remember it will not end. There will be other targets, in any country and because kids are taught in school to fear an inanimate object as being evil and to embrace a culture that part of it’s people say they want to kill Jews and Christians in many places, it will continue unopposed.
While Jacob believes that G-d runs the world and there is an absolute standard of morality, Esav believes that life is random ― and morality is therefore subjective. Esav’s hatred for the message of morality actually forms the basis of all anti-Semitism. Just as the Jews stand for the principle of caring for the vulnerable and weak, Amalek is the opposite ― “attacking the weakest people trailing behind” (Deut. 25:18).
……
So why do we have to stomp out Haman? Because we must recognize our enemies and fight them. Not because we enjoy war, but because part of being a “good person” is to actively seek the destruction of evil.
There are evil people actively working to eliminate G-d consciousness from the world. Know your enemy and fight against it. “Erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens” (Exodus 17:14).
It really, really is about good vs. evil. And we are to fight evil, we are to oppose it. And political correctness is evil. It keeps people from discussing issues that can endanger their lives, and from considering solutions that could save it. Please, Abba, no more defenseless victims, please let people begin to discern good from evil and act accordingly.
Disclaimer: The following are my opinions and information. Any errors are mine alone, Joe had nothing to do with it, except for the graphics I stolborroappropri , um, asked nicely if I could use.
So why did I do this series? Because as I get older I realize I am not exactly as ten foot tall and bulletproof as I thought I was in my 20s. Honestly in my 20s and 30s people were different. I think there was more respect for life, liberty and property. When I was growing up the sight on hundreds of people pouring on to a highway with the purpose of shutting down traffic and terrorizing drivers was not called a “peaceful protest”. It was called what it was, a riot. People flooding through a town burning the shops of people who had worked hard all their lives to build their business, attacking police, firefighters and people of a different color was not called a “peaceful protest calling for justice”, it was called a riot. The Governor would not have sided with a criminal over the police without having a clue about the facts. And no one race was elevated over another, ALL lives were to matter, we were humans, part of mankind. Did all people subscribe to that philosophy? No, but that is what I think the majority of us wanted and worked towards. I remember the riots of the 60s, my Dad went down into the city to get his Mom out of downtown Riotsville. I was a little kid, and I was scared to death till he got home with Ma (my grandma). The media did not portray this as a peaceful protest, nor did they glorify the burning and looting.
I’m a lot older now, but I still have my Mom and an Aunt I like to do things with, I have sisters and we like to do things when we can get together. I like to go visit places where I know I will be disarmed and there are attacks on even people that are armed. That was how I got started in this, covered in The Warrior’s Path, Systema Part 1. Actually, you don’t even have to leave your neighborhood. It’s not so much that I would choose a knife for my primary defensive weapon, but if someone came at me, or someone I love, I’d dearly like to know I’ve taken at least some steps to have some kind of operating options as what I can and should do.
After the bladework class, and the weapons of opportunity class I realized the martial arts training I had done in the past might not possibly help me all that much. Sigh, and I really liked Katas.
Knife vs. Kata?
I was under no illusion that I was Chuck Norris, or that I would have a handy pair of Sai or Kamas right there. Not to mention that was so long ago, who knows if I’d be able to remember anything.
Attending the classes did spark how I think about things though. I need to train my mind to look at a can of peas differently, along with kitchen implements. Not for competition or points, for life, to live. For my life, and the lives of those I’m responsible for.
It’s part of the “Warrior mindset”. I do what I need to do to take care of those I’m responsible for, without emotion, as a professional. The skills I need should become a part of me, as automatic as making coffee and driving. Yes, I need to pay attention, I need to be aware of everything that is going on around me, I need to be aware of things that seem out of place. But if I am hyper-focused on these things it leaves little resources to allocate to other things. Do you have to give full attention to putting your foot on the brake or the clutch? If you do, will you see that car coming into your lane without signaling? That’s my point.
What about breathing? Yep, it’s a good idea for all of us, it definitely prolongs life. Trust me, I’m an expert, those that don’t will not be around for long. But remember seeing people on TV, or in real life, how women breath when they are having a child? They change their breathing pattern. One of the things I learned in Systema is that if we change our breathing pattern it can help us cope with fear and pain. There is a certain way to do it. I observed that in the last class. I didn’t understand exactly why Joe’s son Joseph would breath the way he did during demonstrations. I mean I’m sure what Joe was doing didn’t feel good, but the way Joseph was breathing was very purposeful. There are instructions in the book about Systema breathing and now I have the DVD on breathing and fear. I also have one on knives. I know, I’m a strange girl, my idea of popcorn and a movie could be a little different from some folks. The DVDs are done by Vladimer Vasiliev and available from his online store. They also have downloads. This isn’t like trying to learn Karate from a book like in the Karate kid, Mr. Miyagi. This is actually from the DVD.
Fear, fear can be deadly. And really it can have such an impact on our lives. Not just in life threatening situations either. From The Systema Warrior Guidebook,
3. Fear is always about loss; loss of life, loss of wealth, loss of security, loss of comfort, etc. The fear of loss is directly proportionate to the intensity of the attachment you have. Dissect your fear or worry down to what you fear will be lost and ask yourself, “If this fear came true, what is the worst thing that can happen?” Often you will find that your worst-case scenario is a long shot and your fear can be easily overcome with the right plan of action.
4. Fear is present only when there is a desire. Fear arises only when there is conflict between what we want and what we think “might” happen. We build up expectations around life and come up with a concrete picture of how our lives “should” turn out. This inflexibility forms a strong foundation for fear. If we are open to new possibilities and a new vision of safety, comfort and success, we can be courageous. When we flow with life, fears dissolve. When you find yourself wracked with fear, ask yourself, “Why should I resist this?” You may find the strength to let go and flow.
But is fear always wrong? No, for me it’s why I wear a helmet when I ride, buckle up in my car and stay out of places that I know probably aren’t safe. I’m not saying things can’t happen even in “safe” places, they can. But if Roosters bar & grill is known to be frequented by members of MS-13, I’m not a-goin’. I don’t need french fries that much.
Fear is like injury
Defeat the Fear, courage from G-d
The Philosophy of Violence, I haven’t been able to watch all of this one yet, but the part I saw is very good.
But the book and Systema are about life, with a instructions for dousing (brrrrrr) harmonizing your life, and fasting which does a lot more than I realized! Joe talks about Humility and becoming human and this is something I myself need to work on. Theres a recipe for meditsina, along with how and why, and a chapter on Russian penicillin, and if you’re so inclined, a bit on vodka.
Now you understand what I mean when I say there is way more to this than a book about how to block a punch?
I think most readers of The Zelman Partisans intrinsically have a martial mindset, we tend to be the warriors. But we are human, we age, we sustain injuries and things that used to work well for us may not work so well anymore. I recently read a column about The Psychology of Previous Investment it talked about how people buy guns that don’t really work that well for them and the things they go through trying to make it work for them. Rather than just admit that they made a mistake and that something will not work for them, they continue to throw money and try to force it to work. It will not work. So as warriors, rather than keep trying to force things that should work, could work, used to work, why not add some tools to our bag and perhaps get something better? Why not learn new practical ways of doing something, or doing something new and become even more effective because now we have more resources? We all want to be the best we can for ourselves and those we care about, be they human bipeds, or furry or feathered friends.
The Systema Warrior foundation is to me, chesedחסד kindness, or loving kindness, part of Tikun Olam, repairing the world. It is a good and noble thing, and I thought perhaps others would want to learn about it, as I did.
Whether we pick up a gun, a can of peas or a tactical pen (they do so come in hot pink) our mindset is going to be the same. And in our mindset and our breathing and our movements, we need to be the best we can. Because we are warriors, and we take every advantage.
I have an autographed copy of the book, it says “To Sheila, Always fight the good fight! G-d Bless, Joe Mayberry”. And we ARE warriors, all of us at TZP are warriors, we are all fighting the good fight, the righteous fight, in whatever way we are blessed with ability. My hope was to bring us all some insight and tools a bit off our usual path, because as warriors? We want to be our best.
I want to thank Joe for the generous gift of his time (and graphics), to thank the other students in class who knew a lot more about what we were doing and trained with me anyway. I want to thank Scott “Buzzkill the safety squirrel” Van Kirk, for introducing me to Systema, Joe and my Systema “Happy Place”. Scott told me he was passing it on, and now, I am too.
I’ll admit it. I’ve never raised human children. I’ve seen a plenty in the checkout line at Walmart that I truly believe if I had raised them, they would be behaving in a much different manner. Namely, with manners. They pitch that screaming hissy fit in the checkout line for that toy action figure because they know their parents will give in to get them to shut up and people will quit staring at them. If they buy it for the brat? They’re toast. Until they make a believer out of that kid that such behavior is going to result in dire and most painful consequences.
No, I haven’t raised human children, but I have a dog that weighs almost as much as I do, usually, he obeys requests/commands in Hebrew or English fairly promptly. I have a 1300 lbs horse, and not long after I got him, I understood why I got such a good deal on him. He’s not a bad boy, he just like most critters, wants things his way. When you have a 1300 lb animal that thinks he can walk all over you, and ignore your commands with no consequences, he will walk all over you. Sometimes literally. He too understands what I ask of him, in Hebrew and English. I have smart kids. But the horse got smart because he learned if I asked him to do something and he fired off a kick at my head, the repercussions will be immediate. And they are, and he decides that wayward kick wasn’t near as much fun as he thought it would be. It has to be this way for us to have a peaceful, harmonious relationship. And we do. I respect and love him, I enjoy my time with him, and I believe he does with me as well. He has a quick agile mind and enjoys learning. But if left to his own devices, he would be a bully. A 1300 lb bully. When bullies get away with intimidation and what they want by acting out they will continue to do so because the payoff is what they want. And the longer it goes on, the more I risk being hurt and the more it takes to convince him that he is on a path he doesn’t want to be on. You have to send them a strong, very strong signal that what has worked in the past will not only no longer work, but result in a most unpleasant action.
Perhaps you have heard that there has been a bit of a scuffle going on in the land of Israel. That every once in a while (daily) a group of Arabs which call themselves Falestinians try to kill a group of people indigenous to the area known as Jews. They are quite comfortable doing this for a couple of reasons. They’ve been doing it for years with the tacit support of other nations. In 1948, the British armed the Arabs against the Jews to prevent the state of Israel. Of course things are much different now. Now it’s the U.S. providing funds for much needed humanitarian supplies such as cement to build terror tunnels and pay wages to the families of the terrorist that are caught by Israel or killed. This amazing feat of humanitarian aid was pulled off in the final hours of Barak Hussein Obama’s faux Presidency. To do this barry had the ketchup heiress john kerry send 221 million dollars to the pieceful Falestinians over the objections of congress. In other words, barry continued to do what barry has done for the last 8 years, tell Republicans to stuff it and do what he wants without repercussions. So kerry sent the money-gram. I wonder if Abu Mazen was shopping online at Amazon for his next new suit when word came that the new Sheriff in town had said “Whoaaa there NellyBelle”, not so fast. It seems the state department realizes that policies are now different than when bho was in charge. The money to be sent for humanitarian terror tunnels and terrorist pensions was frozen until the transfer could be reviewed by the Trump state department to see if it fit the guidelines. Of course Abu Mazen may not be that worried. Since in April of 2012, barry bypassed a Congress block and signed a waiver declaring that aid to the PA is “important to the security interests of the United States.” Huh, who knew building terror tunnels and paying imprisoned/dead terrorist wages was of security interest to the US? He probably thinks the money will be coming sooner or later and is ordering up a fresh batch of rocks, Molotov cocktails and guns to use on Israelis who insist on living in Israel and Americans who insist on visiting Israel. I’m sure his supplier will extend him credit as he has always been good for the funds before courtesy of barry and the money confiscated from the US taxpayer.
In a farewell interview on CNN, Kerry explained why the Obama Administration refused to veto last month’s UN Security Council resolution targeting Israel, and why he thinks it was a “friendly” gesture.
Yeah, barry & kerry love Israel like OJ loved Nicole.
This is not enough to cause Abu Mazen to realize that the game has changed and the rules have changed. It will take more than that to convince Abu Mazen and the Arab world that they need to leave the Jews alone. It’s a good first step that Bibi has announced building permits for 2,500 homes in Judea and Samaria, as well as 566 new homes in the North of Jerusalem. Discussions are underway for 5,600 new housing units in the north and south parts. In a departure from the last 8 years, the US State Department has not uttered so much as a syllable of outrage. But I have an additional helpful suggestion.
Move the Embassy to Jerusalem, the capitol of Israel.
This is already being considered, and in fact during the campaigns was an issue.
Abu Mazen aka Mahmoud Abbas hyperventilated when he realized that Trump actually seems to be trying to keep some of his campaign promises. He had to log off Amazon and quit planning how he was going to spend his the poor Falestinian’s $221 million aid package. Then he began to do what pieceful Falestinian leaders do. He began to try to pitch a hissy and get his Arab friends to pitch hissys with him.
After weeks of shouting in the wind, the PLO finally managed to get some Arab threats going against a possible move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, Azzam al-Ahmad of Fatah’s Central Committee said that the PLO has a 21-point plan on how to respond to such a move. He didn’t elaborate, but part of it is clearly to recruit whatever Arabs they can to justify the threat that Muslims worldwide will want to go to war over this.
In other words, since no one has made a big deal over this so far, the Palestinians must resort to ever-increasing incitement among Arab masses who are, frankly, too stupid to know the difference between moving an embassy into an area that the the entire world recognizes as Israeli and a “declaration of war against Islam.”
Palestinian Media watch says they are threatening world wide violence if they don’t get their way. World Wide.
France in show of solidarity with Israel at not having embassies located in their capitol is telling all countries to move their embassies out of Paris to Murat. Naw, just kidding. France jumped in on the side of the pieceful Falestinians. But then France has a large muslim population to contend with. And they’ve seen the results of that. France is behaving stupid and scared, this is a bad combination. France also has Jews fleeing, due to antisemitism. In spite the current attacks in Israel it seems. It’s so bad that:
In a speech he gave to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the European Parliament, European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Dr. Moshe Kantor called on European leaders to show their commitment to fighting hatred against Jews by adopting the definition of anti-Semitism agreed to in May by the Berlin-based International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) .
I would say aggressively going after those who murder them, harass and destroy their property would more effectively combat antisemitism, but hey, that’s just me. You have to be able to recognize evil, stand up to it and fight it for that to be effective.
Flattened
But the pieceful Falestinians seem to think they’ve won.
PA official Ahmad Majadlani said the US had understood their hints and would not revisit the topic in the near future.
My advice to President Trump? DON’T blink! Move the embassy. If you don’t, you will have the brat in your shopping cart screaming for that toy action figure when he is 30 years old till he gets his way. If you do, Jews, Christians and anyone else in the muslim line of attack will in the end be safer. If any attacks are addressed promptly and strongly by the country in which they occur, the pieceful Falestinians will begin to understand, that a President Trump does not react the same way barry did. And if I were in the UN, I believe I’d make it clear that any muslim attacks in any country as a result of U.S. moving our embassy to Jerusalem will result in the cancellation of any and all funds. Period, immediately. I, personally have no desire to live under the threat of attack because some group of arabs doesn’t like something and threatens to pitch a hissy.
To have a peaceful partnership you have to have respect on both sides. With human children, dogs, horses, anything. They have to respect your leadership. If they don’t? There will be no trust, and nothing will be accomplished. It’s the same reason we can’t make “reasonable compromise” with anti-gun groups. THEY aren’t reasonable.
Well Mr. President Trump, if Rex Tillerson doesn’t work out for you, you can still get in touch with me through The Zelman Partisans.
A German regional court in the city of Wuppertal affirmed a lower court decision last Friday stating that a violent attempt to burn the city’s synagogue by three men in 2014 was a justified expression of criticism of Israel’s policies.
Johannes Pinnel, a spokesman for the regional court in Wuppertal, outlined the court’s decision in a statement.
Three German Palestinians sought to torch the Wuppertal synagogue with Molotov cocktails in July, 2014. The local Wuppertal court panel said in its 2015 decision that the three men wanted to draw “attention to the Gaza conflict” with Israel. The court deemed the attack not to be motivated by antisemitism.
Now perhaps in a legal sense, the motivation shouldn’t (but probably does) matter. Attack a building because you hate its occupants or attack a building because you hate the policy of a country and the damage is the same — and in this case blessedly light. The concept of a “hate crime” is Orwellian on the face of it.
But Germany, of all nations, ought to recognize an attack on Jews and Judiasm when it sees one. To tell yourself — and the public — and the perpetrators — that torching a synagogue in Germany is a form of legitimate political protest against Israel is delusional. Either that or it’s excuse-making and enabling.
Yes, the pertinent names have been removed to protect my buddies. So it’s cold today, we have weather moving in I have a cup of coffee and a dream. I’m Secretary of State, so what would I do? What situations would I want to try to make better for U.S., and us as in humanity. No, I can’t solve them all, but here’s what comes to mind.
Well start with the situation that prompted this. The pieceful Falestinians. Lest you think I’m the only hard nose that thinks like this, I’m not. Daniel Pipes agrees with me. The Way to Peace: Israeli Victory, Palestinian Defeat Compromising with evil doesn’t work. It never has. I will say, I wrote the post above before Daniel did his column on this. But our answers are the same. I would add to what I originally suggested that one week before the date Israel announces that is declaring sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Gaza that they issue every Israeli a couple of X95s and they probably have some unused Tavors laying around, some nice Jerichos, plenty of ammunition, and for good measure? I think every Jewish Israeli community gets a tank or two. I hear they have a few Centurions laying around, they’re good in rough terrain. I think the day they are delivered the IDF should have a nice big presentation covered by Arutz Sheva. Then I think the Israeli Kapo high court should be locked up for about a month till the dust settles, shouldn’t take long. Maybe lock them up with some of the murders they have turned back out on the street to kill innocent Israelis with stolen trucks. Land owned by the pieceful Falestinians will be bought by Israel, unless there are Israelis living in that area, be it Judea, Samaria or Gaza that wish to purchase it. They get first dibs because they have put up with a mountain of crap for living there for years. It’s time their tenacity and obedience to G-d is rewarded. The arabs will then be export relocated to Syria. There is indeed lots of empty space there. This will work well for them. They will be among other muslims. This will make it unnecessary for them to continue murdering people as they will no longer be living among infidels and the occupiers (of their own land). They should probably leave the Kurds alone and not mess with them. I am not saying this will be an easy transition for them. In fact it will ago against what they have been taught from childhood. And when they say the video in there is bad, it is. What give me the right to come up with all this? Well, when Israel announced it was going to build some apartments in Jerusalem, the capital while crazy joe biden was there, hillary felt compelled to call and yell at Bibi for 45 minutes, so I think I’m good on this. And if you think this is cruel, realize if Arabs sell land to Jews, other Arabs may well kill the Arabs that sold it, so really this is a life saving way of handling it.
Domestically, what would I start with? Well let’s see my choice of appetizers. Several celebrities that have made it their mission in life to prove that they are good at memorizing lines and deceiving people have made it their mission to prove they also have very little life education. A actor or actress makes you believe they are the role, right? You’re deceived into thinking they are good, noble, righteous, sane. So people pay them large sums of money to do this, they then use these large sums of money to advocate for their elitist policies. Such as gun control, foreign policy, immigration, politics all the while using these large sums of money to exempt themselves either through paid armed guards or political favors. Many of these hollywood elitists have vowed to leave the country if Trump was elected, he was, go, now. As SOS, I will help hurry their passports through. Those celebrities wishing to move to Syria will find their new passport overnighted to their home at no charge to them. If they do not move within one week, there will be penalties comparable to those paid by us suffering under the obamacare they pushed for, plus 20%. That should please them as it’s in accordance with their belief of “from each according to his ability…”. While I’m at it? If you are a celebrity, or politician who has ever spoken in favor of gun control (people control) or voted for it? You will no longer be allowed armed security guards. And if you are a politician that has done so, your security will not be paid for by taxpayers. I’m pretty sure if you’re that kind of politician, Chuck Norris will not work for you Pro bono, just a hunch.
What else? Hmm, I see there is a hot debate on guns and various related topics. Let’s sample that. Silencers. Perhaps a more accurate term is “sound suppressor”. Hollywood B, C, D list celebs and many ignorant in the media (and that covers a LOT of ground) ,politicians and general public don’t understand this topic. It’s not like the movies! Many of the above listed categories are quick to embrace the socialism and communism of Europe, and the gun control laws of Europe, but they ignore the sound suppressor laws of Europe, which encourages them. From a NSSF flier:
In England and many other European countries, generally known for having much more restrictive firearms laws, they do not have restrictions on suppressor ownership and, in fact, actually encourage their use. They recognize that suppressors are a great tool to help reduce noise pollution.
It is a health issue, and it is a good idea. I think I should speak out in favor of it.
And while we’re on guns, let’s look at crime. There have been some terrorist attacks lately using guns. One in Orlando, and one at the airport in Florida. Of course there have also been truck attacks in Niece France, Germany and Israel. So the gun isn’t necessary, it was just the weapon of choice. The immigrant Tsarnov brothers used a pressure cooker, ability only limited by imagination it would seem. But let’s take a quick look at the latest incident.
First, thanks to my teammate Bear, I do have a good name for the latest terrorist, Some Asshole. This goes back to Lt.Col. Dave Grossman saying we do not repeat the names of terrorists, we let them die on the scrapheap of forgotten. But what to call them? Bear found a splendid answer, Some Asshole.
So taking a quick look at this situation. Some asshole was a veteran. But not quite your normal veteran. Initial reports seems to imply it was his serving in Iraq and the military that cause his problems. His family was quick to say the system failed him.
Troubled lad
As is common in the media these days, it’s crap. Perhaps his family didn’t know, perhaps the military didn’t know, perhaps, ahhh phoooey. Seems Some Asshole converted to Islam 3 YEARS BEFORE joining the military.
Photo of Some Asshole
And, since this information has started making it’s way into the public arena, you pretty much aren’t hearing anything more about it are you? I expect barry to label it “workplace violence” soon. As SOS, if President Trump choose to call incidents such as this “workplace violence” when there have been clear patterns to the opposite, I promise to oppose him, publicly. And while we are on the topic of this particular Some Asshole’s crime, Florida’s law is such that concealed carry holders can not carry in airports. Sen. Greg Steube has a bill to change that for them, it was already sponsored when this happened. But I think another interesting point that came out of this came from Grant Cunningham. He talks about the mindset. Yes, it would have been easier if there had been someone besides the asshole armed in the area, but as it has been said before, what is the dangerous part? The part between the ears. The mindset. We’ve been taught by the schools and political law enforcement, as opposed to cop on the beat, to stay out of it and let the professionals handle it. We are a long way from our independent pioneer roots where you had to handle it yourself, because there often wasn’t anyone else to help. But years of the government stepping in trying to be all things to all people and control all, including school lunches have taken their toll on our spirit. As SOS, I will urge congress to accept that parents probably really can figure out what to feed their kids for lunch, and that schools probably can figure out what they can and can’t sell and make kids lunches that are good for them, and they won’t pitch. I will also urge every American to consider taking a weapons of opportunity class. I can probably find someone to help you locate a class near you.
As SOS, I won’t use an unsecured server, I won’t take donations for a foundation I don’t have to sell uranium to a country that is probably not our friend. Well, I won’t take donations for a foundation I don’t have period. Better?
The last eight years have taken a toll on U.S. and us. Yes, as a country and as individuals. Some of it due to the lawlessness that has become pervasive due to the current regime and some just due to life. I would be a lousy Secretary of State most likely. I have little tolerance for B.S. and political correctness which is a subset of B.S. But as President Trump begins to try to “Make America Great Again” I, me, personally, am going to try to improve myself. I’ve never been great, so it’s not being great again, as much as trying to get my mindset to more what it should be. It’s the start of a new year, and a resolutions like losing 5-10 lbs are still there of course, but for me, personally, I think a calm, sure and steady daily walk with G-d will help the rest fall into place. And so that, whether or not I’m Secretary of State will be my first priority.
So, President Elect Trump, if after reading this you think I’m a better bet than Rex, you can get in touch with me through The Zelman Partisans.
PS-I’m still not capitalizing the names of people I don’t respect.
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
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