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If you didn’t receive the activation email at all check your (and your ISP’s) spam blocker settings and make sure alerts@zelmanpartisans.com is allowed.

Thank you.

Bear Bussjaeger
List Admin

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Ammo drawing: last-minute reminder

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to become eligible for TZP’s 9mm ammo drawing (courtesy of Ammunition to Go).

All Premium members are eligible for the drawing to be held tomorrow. Sure, we know Premium membership costs $75 and nobody would join at that level only to have a chance in an ammo drawing. But if you’re already thinking about joining TZP, today would be a good time to go for it.

For $75 you get:

  • A three-year membership in TZP
  • 15% discount on everything in the TZP store
  • An embroidered morale patch
  • A photo portrait of our inspiration, the late Aaron Zelman
  • A gorgeous (really) membership certificate
  • A membership card
  • A personally autographed copy of RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone (If you already have a copy, I can autograph it to a gift recipient or just “generically”)

And a decent chance at winning one of the two codes for two boxes of free 9mm ammo. (Decent chance because there aren’t that many Premium members.)

Besides, you’ll be supporting The World’s Only Hardcore, No-Compromise, No-Surrender Jewish Gun Rights Group. That’s a feather in your cap, isn’t it?

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Poll: Have you ever had to use a firearm in self-defense or defense of others?

This week’s poll asks if you’ve ever had to defend yourself or others with a firearm. It will be open until Monday, December 7 at 6:00 p.m. CST.

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Last week’s poll (another “political one”) remains open until tomorrow at 6:00. Turns out these political polls have proven unpopular with the hardcore and politically cynical (or realistic) TZP crowd. It’ll be a while before we do another of those.

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Trump is a tyrannical weasel, part 2,434

In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, there’s been a lot of talk about terrorism, how to prevent it, how to fight it, and how to protect Americans. Even the DC Dominatrix Cathy Lanier has accidentally acknowledged that the citizens are the first line of defense against an attack. Of course, she continues to keep them disarmed, but admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right?

Presidential candidate Donald Trump has placed himself square in the middle of the conversation with another idiotic statement on guns. This time, he stepped on his own winky with golf cleats by claiming that those on the terrorism watchlist should be denied their right to keep and bear arms.

shrug_chart_final1Now, I’ve always thought Trump was a fascist uber douche. Now, that has been confirmed. While I agree terrorists should be prevented from purchasing firearms (also caught and clubbed to death with spiked cricket bats), many of the people on the watchlist are hardly terrorists.

Of the 680,000 people caught up in the government’s Terrorist Screening Database—a watchlist of “known or suspected terrorists” that is shared with local law enforcement agencies, private contractors, and foreign governments—more than 40 percent are described by the government as having “no recognized terrorist group affiliation.” That category—280,000 people—dwarfs the number of watchlisted people suspected of ties to al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah combined.

These are people who have been convicted of nothing. They have been placed on this list, because according to the source, the standard the government uses to put people on a watchlist is “reasonable suspicion” to determine whether someone is a possible threat.

Because the government tracks “suspected terrorists” as well as “known terrorists,” individuals can be watchlisted if they are suspected of being a suspected terrorist, or if they are suspected of associating with people who are suspected of terrorism activity.

These are the people Trump wants to deprive of their rights. These are the people Trump would disarm and render vulnerable to everyone from terrorist to marauding thug. These are the people whom Trump wants to label as “enemies of the state” without due process, and without so much as an official set of charges.

Trump needs to go away. Far away. He shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the White House or anywhere near government service writ large. He’s a national embarrassment, who doesn’t understand policy and is merely running for president to stroke his own violently large ego.

It’s hard for me to believe that roughly a quarter of Republicans think this narcissistic weasel somehow deserves to be president! But then again, I think he appeals to the meathead faction of the GOP – you know – the ones who sit in their trailers, drinking cheap beer, scratching their shriveled raisins and screaming about how illegal aliens are taking their jobs, while the meth cooks on the stove.

Yes, I’m being intentionally inflammatory. That said, would anyone in all seriousness consider casting their vote for someone who is proud of his desire to stomp on people’s rights without due process?

So much FAIL!

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Complicity: Accessories before, during, and after the fact

In reaction to known terrorists using illegally obtained automatic weapons, grenades, and improvised explosives, the EU wants to crack down on honest people possessing semiauto firearms. That includes national registries of all firearms and firearms owners (i.e.- the honest folk who obtained their defensive arms lawfully), and collating the national registries into an EU-wide registry. Where have we heard that before?

These ‘leaders’ not only cannot protect their people, they want to ensure their people can’t protect themselves. Call it bureaucratic job security. G-d forbid people should realize they don’t need government ‘protectors’.

In the Paris attacks, the stadium was a gun-free zone which somehow failed to repel explosives. The Bataclan concert hall was a gun-free zone which again failed to repel psychotic goons with guns and explosives. In America, some 92% of mass shootings occur in gun-free zones, or what the more knowledgeable call ‘target-rich environments’.

Which is more evil? Terrorists who kill innocents, or the politicians and bureaucrats who knowingly and deliberately make it easier and safer for the terrorists to commit atrocities?

In a sane world, any politician who imposed any gun-free zone, claiming it will magically repel bullets with a Star Trekish deflector field, would be tried and convicted of terrorism. He’d spend the rest of his life making restitution to the victims of his policy.

Anyone who would impose a defense-free zone on an entire continent should be executed for war crimes.


This commentary first appeared in the November 23, 2015 TZP Alerts newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter (see left sidebar, or scroll down if you’re using a smart phone) for more first-look exclusive content, and for news links you don’t see here.

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Take them out with what?

During an interview on “60 Minutes” recently, Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said something surprising – at least to those of us who have followed her anti-freedom, gun-grabbery over the years. When asked about what DC citizens should do if an active shooter threatens them during a siege like the one that took place in Paris a couple of weeks ago, Lanier, whom I have previously described as the DC Dominatrix due to her heavy-handed hatred of gun rights and Second Amendment freedoms, replied “If you’re in a position to try to take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there,”

Take them out for what? Coffee? A drink?

Despite being spanked in the courts several times, DC still has some of the nation’s most stringent gun control laws. Fox News reports that of 233 applications sent for review since the Metropolitan Police Department began accepting permits on Oct. 23, 2014, 185 licenses had been denied as of Nov. 14.

GettyImages-474248390-e1434470938562Lanier has the final say about who can have guns in the city, and it looks like there are exactly 48 people in the entire city who have been granted permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Open carry is prohibited, and concealed carry is nearly nonexistent, with only 44 concealed carry applications having been approved since October 23, 2014.  Virginia residents certainly can’t legally carry their tools of self defense in the city, and if they do, they risk arrest and having their lives destroyed by the very same police force whose head is now claiming that citizens need to be the ones who stand up to the horror!

So whom does Lanier expect to take up arms against terrorists until the cops can get there?

She certainly seems to be admitting that armed citizens are the first line of defense against attacks, and yet she refuses to free the residents of the nation’s capital to exercise their rights.

Such shocking cognitive dissonance from someone who is responsible for the safety and security of America’s capital! I wonder if the attacks in Paris were a wake-up call for Lanier, but somehow I doubt it.

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No sense of history? Or just no sense?

It’s funny. If he lived in the U.S., Rabbi Menachem Margolin would be considered more or less a wimp on gun rights. In Europe, he’s a most radical voice.

Since the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher massacres at least, he’s been calling for Jews to take up arms. That is, to be “allowed” to take up arms. And only “selected” Jews. Jews chosen, trained, and constantly overseen by the state (the very state that’s content to leave the Jews and everyone else disarmed in the face of both terrorism an regular, independent crime).

You see what I mean about wimpy. Still, in disarmed Europe, he’s the loudest voice calling for Jewish self defense.

Margolin is based in Belgium. So naturally, the country’s chief rabbi Abraham Guigui (I didn’t know countries had chief rabbis, but so this article says) and other prominent Jewish leaders simply must denounce him and his mad, wild, crazy, wild-west plan. According to the Jerusalem Post:

Over the weekend, Guigui issued a statement blasting what he called marginal elements and stating that calls for the arming of Jews were “a real danger and unacceptable.”

Calling for Jewish gun ownership would be tantamount to an admission that the Jews are outside of mainstream European society and that their governments are unable to provide for their security, he explained. [Pardon me for interrupting the article, but no sh*t Sherlock, it’s time to admit that “governments are unable to provide for their security.”]

Such a view is considered unacceptable to the vast majority of Belgian Jews, he said, calling on the government to defend every Belgian no matter his religious creed.

“If every one who is in danger requests a gun, today that’s the Jews, tomorrow it’s the imams… it will be a land of anarchy.”

The Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations also decried Margolin’s call to arms, issuing a statement calling it ridiculous and asserting that the EJA was “in no way representative of the Belgian Jewish Community.”

“He [Margolin] is not connected at all with the Belgian- Jewish [umbrella] organizations,” said Baron Julien Klener, the president of the Jewish Central Consistory of Belgium, joining his voice to other organizations alarmed at the idea of arming Jews.

Margolin, of course, being a true European, rushed to have an underling explain that he really, really, really didn’t mean what those other guys thought he meant.

All I can say, guys, is it’s your funeral. I hope not literally.

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Hunters, Trail Riders, Bikers and Hikers

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.

For more information you can go to http://supportthehurting.org/

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.

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Poll: Best R-Party Candidate for Guns

The newest TZP poll is now live. Continuing our political theme, it asks which R-party presidential candidate is BEST for gun rights.

All you people who refused to v*te in the last two polls because we didn’t give you a “none of the above” option will be happy to know you can vote for President Nobody this time.

There was method to our madness in leaving NOTA out of the two previous polls, however. Simply this: The last two polls asked about the badness of candidates. It’s possible, even common, for one one candidate to be more damaging to gun rights (or to put it more properly, more damaging to the free exercise of gun rights) than others in the field. OTOH, less frequently is one candidate genuinely willing to do more than others for the restoration of such free exercise. Thus the NOTA option now that our question has a positive spin.

Last week’s poll remains open until Monday at 6:00 p.m. CST. Lots of non-v*ters so far on this one, but there’s still time if you want to voice your opinion. Where things stand so far:

Screenshot from 2015-11-22 10:21:37

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War horses

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
Veterans

 

Warhorses, still on the job
War horses, still on the job

You’ll have to click on the picture about to understand why it’s there 😉

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