Poll: Rate Trump’s first 100 days of RKBA

When Donald Trump first started campaigning for President, many people were dubious of his new-found commitment to the right to keep and bear arms given his history on the subject: gun bans, preemptively prove your innocence, waiting periods, and more.

But once he hit the campaign trail he started talking a good game. The question was, could he walk as well as talk?

One hundred days in, he’s still talking, but he has also done some good things like ending the Social Security abuse. On the other hand, Obamacare 2.0 attempts still have RKBA problems, federal gun-free zone requirements are still there, and his Second Amendment advisory group is vaporware.

Since everyone else is rating Trump’s first 100 days in office, how would you rate him on RKBA?


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A Clockwork Future

Recently I saw a column posted a couple of places, one of them was Facebook. The person that posted it happened to be the President of TZP. He commented that the novel A Clockwork Orange was prophetic. Honestly, I had never read the book, not in school and not on my own. So I read the column and then hit the (occasionally) reliable Wikipedia.

As it turns out a Clockwork Orange is a pretty accurate description. The novel is about a gang of boys who love violence and hurting people. They have their own language, called Nadsat a mix of Anglo-Russian. The characters all sounded like we would be much better off if they spent a loooong time in Sheriff Joe Arpio’s custody.

While searching to find out what A Clockwork Orange was about, I ran across a movie review from Roger Ebert. I kind of doubt Ebert is much of a conservative, but I could be wrong. Anyway, the thing that interested me about his review was how he accepted the anti-hero of the movie, Alex. Here’s a couple of excerpts from the review.

I don’t know quite how to explain my disgust at Alex (whom Kubrick likes very much, as his visual style reveals and as we shall see in a moment). Alex is the sort of fearsomely strange person we’ve all run across a few times in our lives — usually when he and we were children, and he was less inclined to conceal his hobbies. He must have been the kind of kid who tore off the wings of flies and ate ants just because that was so disgusting. He was the kid who always seemed to know more about sex than anyone else, too — and especially about how dirty it was.

…..

Now Alex isn’t the kind of sat-upon, working-class anti-hero we got in the angry British movies of the early 1960s. No effort is made to explain his inner workings or take apart his society. Indeed, there’s not much to take apart; both Alex and his society are smart-nose pop-art abstractions. Kubrick hasn’t created a future world in his imagination — he’s created a trendy decor. If we fall for the Kubrick line and say Alex is violent because “society offers him no alternative,” weep, sob, we’re just making excuses.

Interesting. Because how many movies and video games now have a “anti-hero” as the “hero”? To be honest, I don’t really go to movies. There’s not much I want to see, and I loathe to give some left-wing loon money they are going to use to advance a bully pulpit to work against me and the things I believe in. And, lack of time plays a very small part. But here is a review from 1972, and in it the reviewer is condemning the effort to portray a very bad person in a good light, and to make excuses for his behavior. How often do we see that now? Rachel Madcow? Chrissy “Tingly-leg” Matthews and on ad nauseam? What was decried by a liberal in 1972 has become the norm now.

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman has talked about the effect of the games on kids. He has a book out about it, but you can also read about it on his web site. He’s always worth reading or hearing.

So on to the story linked to this. A group of 40-60 teens swarmed a train in Oakland. They took over a car, robbed the passengers and beat a couple of them.

Trost said police arrived at the station in less than 5 minutes, but that the robberies took place in just seconds.

The gang then retreated in the the East Oakland neighborhood before the police arrived. Those security cameras that track us all and are suppose to keep us safer? Yep, they recorded the whole thing. Didn’t stop it of course, but they recorded it. Did BART then release the video so they could catch those responsible? No. In fact, they didn’t even warn passengers or tell them what had happened. Nor did they release the information via Twitter, Facebook or their phone app or…any of the media platforms they have. They did say it was recorded on the police blotter. Oh well, I’m sure everyone checks that before the head to the station. In the past I guess they have released video with the perpetrators faces obscured, since they are juveniles. How that is suppose to help catch anyone I’m rather unsure. But they didn’t even do that. I’m kind of curious why they haven’t. But one thing we can be sure of, since California is determined to be a gun free “sanctuary” state, all the residents of California can feel safe and secure. Yep, safe and secure.

Do I know these people are who committed the crime? Of course not! But here’s what I DO know, they are out there, somewhere. And always remember, when seconds count, no matter how good they are, the police are just minutes away.

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Yom HaShoah 2017

יום השואה

Holocaust Day. I saw a picture on Twitter, along with a comment by the poster that said

“The #Holocaust did not begin with the crematoriums of Auschwitz. That’s where it ended. Began with words & hate.”

Of course it did. The Jews had been living in “civilized” Germany for ages with their German neighbors. I’m sure things began to change, and like the frog being boiled in the pot of water the temperature gradually increased. Things were fine, until one day they weren’t. And then it was too late.

I’m sure there were signs that things were changing in the country. Like a Manchester Mayoral candidate giving his minute manifesto in Britain completely in Urdu. Jolly old Britainistan. Guess the English speaking voters in England don’t matter so much. Or perhaps the body piercing shop in the Australian North Queensland city of Cairns displayed a sign saying “No Israelis served here.”

Oh, they say “We don’t hate Jews, we just hate Israel” but it’s crap. Everyone except a deluded Liberal knows it’s crap. There is one Jewish nation in the whole wide world, there used to be something like 57 Arabic ones, but I’m not sure I shouldn’t add in France and England bringing it up to around 59. Probably could throw in Germany for an even 60. And what the liberal tripe in Queensland doesn’t understand is if he went into Gaza, he stands just as good a chance as being stabbed as I do. Ok, so since I’ve had a couple Systema classes maybe I’ve got a little, at least a little bit in my corner. But some people do not understand when a group of folks say they hate you, they mean ALL of ya’ll. There was a 21 year old exchange student stabbed to death in Jerusalem a couple of weeks ago. Hannah Bladon came from the country of Britainistan. Why she came to Israel to study is rather odd. It’s the comments under this article that are surprising. These are some of the groups she liked on Facebook

B’Tselem (the helpful group that turned over the video on Elor Azariya, the solider)
Breaking the Silence
Palestine Solidarity Campaign UK
Palestine
Institute for Middle East Understanding
Palestine Music Expo
Jewish Voice for Peace <<<an Anti-Jewish, Anti-Israel group.
Tent of Nations / Nassar Farm Agriculture Company
Also, many News Articles she had “Liked” were those in support of Muslims in the UK.

I’m reading that list and there’s something nibbling in the back of my mind. It’s like there’s a pattern to the list of groups, I just can’t put my finger on it. But my poor point is, the girl supported the kind of people that stabbed her to death. He didn’t care what her politics were. She wasn’t a muslim. And in the muslim world, once a country has been a muslim country it remains a muslim country and those living there are occupiers. So.

I wonder if back then people couldn’t see who the enemy was? Goodness knows poor Hannah didn’t. I don’t thinks she’s alone though. The Anti-Defamation league says that Anti-Semitic incidents have risen by 86%. They think it’s Trump supporters. Possibly because that’s what cnn and mslsd told them. I think they’re stuck on stupid. Truly. It’s not Trump supporters that are rioting and burning and attacking people wearing red caps. It’s certainly not Trump supporters that rioted at Berkley to prevent a gay Jewish immigrant, Milo, from giving a speech to the sold out crowd waiting to hear him. The ADL hasn’t figured out their enemies are the left now. The BDS movement, the social justice for Falestine crap. That is ALL leftist. And do you know who funds leftists and those causes? Of course you do, George Soros. It seems the 1998 interview with the “news” program 60 minutes has surfaced. It’s a short article, but it has the video.

If you don’t know who your enemy is, if you don’t know who hates you, you will not be looking in the right direction or paying attention to the threat, because you refuse to acknowledge they do not have your very best interests at heart.

My colleague Y.B. has written about Canary Mission before. If you don’t think Anti-Semitism is alive, well, and socially acceptable on the left you don’t follow Canary Mission on Twitter. Let’s just look at one of their listees, shall we? Mohammad Jabr, Mohammerhead owns Boost Mobile in Liberty, Missouri. So what cell phone wisdom does Mohammerhead freely share? Oh, little nuggets like, oh forget it. I’m not writing what he said. I put the link in, he’s vile. It’s not like he secretly said it to buddies, he posted in freely on social media. And I’m almost equally sure pointing out what he said is vile and despicable will be called islamaphobia. A word that didn’t even exist all that long ago.

Israel is 8 hours ahead of us, so the two minute siren has already been sounded. In Israel when the siren is sounded for Yom HaShoah everything stops. On the highway people stop their cars and get out, they are paying their respects for the six million Jewish souls that lost their lives in the holocaust. This is from a live stream in Israel. https://www.facebook.com/theisraelproject/videos/10156094580767316/

Is Anti-Semitism still alive and well? Oh yes, it just wears a mask sometimes now called Anti-Zionism, or Anti-Israel. It’s a word game. It’s the same thing, just being politically correct, like islamaphobia. I’ve been accused of being a Zionist, shocking I know. My answer was easy “Damn skippy”.

Yom HaShoah, some Jews will be as easily deceived today as they were not all that long ago. Some, not so much. Now there is an Israel where they can flee Britainistan and Franceistan. For never again, to mean NEVER AGAIN you need to open your eyes and see where the threats are. Because everything will be fine, till it’s not.

Some Jews are not so easy to mess with.

I will leave you with V’afilu B’hastara. It means Even in a concealment. While it’s sung in Hebrew, the words are in English on the screen and it is very beautiful. I listen to this song a lot.

 

Am yisrael chai עם ישראל חי The people of Israel live

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Pesach and the Haggadah

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

פסח Pesach 2017 has concluded. I hope everyone’s was blessed. I learn things every year, and this year I did some deep reflecting and thinking, just sort of processing some of the things I read.

While I realize my life, and our lives in America today, have little if anything in common with the Israelites held captive in Egypt all those years ago, in the Haggadah, it says “In every generation each individual is bound to regard himself as if he personally had gone forth from Egypt”. Hmm, I’ve never been to Egypt, and I have no desire to go there now. But I have watched The Mummy movies several times. Even the old black and white one. But that’s not what it means. Turns out, we all have our own Egypt, Pharaoh and Moshe.

In each one of us there is an Egypt and a Pharaoh and a Moses and Freedom in a Promised Land. And every point in time is an opportunity for another Exodus.

Egypt is a place that chains you to who you are, constraining you from growth and change. And Pharaoh is that voice inside that mocks your gambit to escape, saying, “How could you attempt being today something you were not yesterday? Aren’t you good enough just as you are? Don’t you know who you are?”

Moses is the liberator, the infinite force deep within, an impetuous and all-powerful drive to break out from any bondage, to always transcend, to connect with that which has no bounds.

I wonder, how many of us are in chains of one sort or another? Work situations, relationship situations, health situations, financial situations? There are no limits to the things that can bind us. I might take a minute to mention that former Congressman Bob McEwen points out that when you look at the effect of taxes, working and not being allowed to keep the fruit of your labor is slavery. For those fans of Hillary and Bernie.

How could I make such a statement in the middle of talking about Pesach? Well, because Rabbi Tsvi says

Tell it in first person, in the now. Don’t say, “Long ago, the ancient Hebrews…” Say, “When we were slaves in Egypt, the perverse socio-bureaucratic system thoroughly crushed every individual’s sense of self-worth!” Everything that happened there parallels something in each of our lives. We are truly living it now. We are simply examining our own lives in the dress of ancient Egypt.

See? It’s relevant!

There is a point during the Seder where the youngest child present asks four questions. Hmm, would this present a problem? Cowgirl kitty refused to ask the right questions. No problem, Rabbi had the answer.

No children? Let an adult ask. There’s just you? You be the child, and G‑d will be the father. While you’re at it, ask Him a few other difficult questions for us all.

Oh, I’m good with this! I’m so good with this! What’s more? We’re not limited to four!

Part of the Seder is eating Matzah. My Kosher for Pesach Matzah came from Israel. I’ve been eating Matzah since last Monday night, the 10th. This is a mitzvah, a commandment. Yep, until there is another Holy Temple, this is the only mitzvah we can eat. And according to Rabbi, this is an incredibly powerful thing. An amazing thing. Matzah has been called the bread of faith or Emunah.

Emunah is when you touch that place where your soul and the essence of the Infinite Light are one. It’s a point that nothing can describe. Where there are no words, no doubts, no uncertainty, no confusion—nothing else but a magnificent oneness before which all the challenges of life vanish like a puff of vapor.

I should have ordered like a gazillion cartons (5 boxes to a carton) of this!

We too began buried in Egypt, all but losing our identity. But that furnace of oppression became for us a firing kiln, a baker’s oven, the womb from whence we were born in the month of spring. In our liberation from there, we brought our fruits of freedom to the world.

http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/117118/jewish/7-Bread.htm

Miracles happen when Divine energy from beyond the cosmos enters within. Why did miracles happen in Egypt? Because we believed they would. Those who didn’t believe in miracles saw only plagues. To see a miracle, you need an open heart and mind, open enough to receive the Infinite. That is the opening we make when we thank G‑d for the miracle of our food.

http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/117124/jewish/13-Bless.htm

Aren’t these amazing thoughts to ponder and ruminate on?

And then, there’s the miracle of the parting of the Sea of Reeds, the obstacle.

But the greatest of barriers turned into the greatest of miracles. Not only did the sea become an ambush for the enemy, but also a path that led the children of Israel to their ultimate freedom.

So it is with every obstacle. When you’re out to do the right thing, the entire world is there to assist you—including the most formidable threats, the most impossible challenges. The bigger they are, the more impossible to traverse, the greater the miracle they will provide.

That is the true reality of everything in this world: to serve you on your mission. What is your mission? To make this world miraculous.

And obstacles are miracles waiting to happen.

So,  I think we all struggle with slavery of some sort, perhaps this will give you some hope, and maybe a different perspective. The children of Israel went into Egypt as 12 different tribes, and came out a nation. These are just some of the things that really struck me this year, and I’m still chewing on some of them. Unlike the matzah which I am now loading with my leftover yummy charoset which I munch right down.

I’ll leave you with one final Pesach thought, because A) it’s a really good one, and B) it has a picture of a camel.

Leaving Egypt and slavery

Got the popcorn?

Here’s a song I learned in school, I love this version. I know it’s by a group called Tractor’s Revenge, but the words are wonderful. I have it on my phone, so I sang it at the end of my Seder.

Echad Mi Yodea אחד מי יודע

It has the meanings in English, it’s wonderful!

 

Then there is this one, wonderful thoughts, Passover: I’m in Love with the Taste of You, this year’s Aish Pesach video.

 

And lastly, just for fun. Pesach Funk. “Freedom! Oh man! Gonna live my life the best way I can!” Boy can they dance!

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Gal’s Defensive Shield

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 Shaldag שלדג or 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.

According to:

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.

I can see why that would be frustrating to them.

The results of “The Wall” which actually, in places is a fence.

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.

You can look here for a current and comprehensive list of the victims of terror.

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.

 

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Full Auto Stupidity?

Being the suspicious type, this anti-RKBA publicity stunt… automatically raised a few questions in my mind.

TN Dem Sets Up Stand to Prove It’s Easy to Sell a Gun, No One Buys Gun
On April 5, Tennessee Democrats tweeted a video of House Democratic Caucus leader Mike Stewart (D-52) trying to prove how easy it is to sell a gun by offering an AK-47 for sale at a lemonade stand. The video ran just over 48 mins and no one bought the gun.

It’s been suggested that he bought the weapon through an illegal straw purchase since he seemingly purchased with the intent to resell. That is probably unlikely as he claims it was a private purchase (and did he voluntarily undergo a background check?). But… he was advertising that as an “AK-47”. I have not found any manufacturer that calls a semi-auto AK variant an “AK-47.” The AK-47 is a specific model of assault rifle (the real deal- full auto capable), and an NFA item.

So forget straw purchase. Was it an AK variant such as a WASR-10C, or an AK-47?

  • If it’s an semi-auto variant, he may have committed fraud in false advertising by offering it an as AK-47.
  • One could also suggest that — semi-auto or AK-47 — his offer to sell a supposed NFA item without background checks is illegal.
  • In the unlikely event that the weapon is an NFA item (for $700? Nah.), he offered to transfer it without background checks or tax stamps. And when was it made; post 1986?

All this may sound like nitpicking, but these are just the sort of existing laws that victim disarming police statists use against honest (and licensed) dealers, not to mention their customers. In a country where “equal protection under the law” is supposedly part of the highest law of the land, Stewart should face the same consequences for his actions as would anyone less blessed (and Democratic), or admit that those laws are purely for harassment and to infringe on Second Amendment-protected rights.

Hmm… Does anyone know if Tennessee’s Capitol Hill is a designated gun-free zone? Not that it would matter for someone hell-bent on violating your human/civil rights. But that might be a contributing factor in his failure to sell that AK-whatever: possibly smarter folks knew better than to take possession of a firearm in that location.

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