The ER Lost A Patient

I just spent the day at a hospital Emergency Room (for reasons worthy of another column, but this is the wrong venue for that one). What’s relevant to TZP is that while I was there, they lost a patient.

Don’t start with the sympathy yet. He didn’t die.

They lost him:

“Hey, have you seen [xyz]?”
“He went to the restroom.”
“I checked; he isn’t there.”
“Maybe he’s in the other one.”
{insert pitterpatter of sneakered feet}
“He’s not there either.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know. Look.”

There’s garbled talk of hospital security (who eventually showed up to search) and the Sheriff’s department, who also showed up. People in scrubs running up and down the hall, looking in every room. Multiple times. Muttering which I took to be poorly suppressed profanities.

Mildly amusing, you may be thinking, along with, “What the heck does this have to do with self defense, the right to keep and bear arms, or any of the other things that interest The Zelman Partisans?”

Some of you might see where this is going, but I’ll explain anyway.

Thanks to HIPAA — not to mention hospital Public Relations — no one was going to tell me exactly what the fuss was. But I overheard some gossip between staffers and law enforcement.

It appears that Patient Werrdefuqdego was a transferee from the jail. Possibly a mentally disturbed transferee. An unrestrained transferee. -ding!-

And no one from the Sheriff’s department was watching him. -ding!-

Nor was the hospital staff keeping an eye him. -ding!-

In fact, they were letting him run around without a keeper — in a yellow gown, blanket worn like a skirt, and no shoes. -ding! ding!- (Yes, he was a peculiar sight, before dropping out of sight.)

Figured out the relevance yet? For visitors unfamiliar with the Constitution, but hooked on magical thinking: The hospital with an escaped loon — possibly dangerous — from the jail, who was left to roam at will, is a “gun-free” zone.

So with a potentially dangerous nut on the loose due to lack of give-a-sh!t on the part of the staff and LE, I was deprived of my usual defensive tool. True, I could have refused to leave my sidearm behind and told the hospital to blow it their appropriate orifice, or even refuse to go there in the first place. But for personal reasons (possibly appropriate for the aforementioned other column), not going, or getting busted for trespassing, wasn’t an option. I had to go, and under trespass law, I had to disarm myself.

“No problem,” might say the Constitutionally challenged magicians, “the cops and hospital security will protect you.”

Except they didn’t. They turned the loon loose. They didn’t warn me, nor did they hang around to guard me.

Tell me again how gun-free — helpless-target-rich — zones make me safer.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

Yom Yerushalayim, 50 Years

50 years. It’s been 50 years since Yerushalayim, Jerusalem was reunited. This city so rich with history of the Jewish people is mentioned over 627 times in Torah (none in the koran) has been the center of Spiritual life for thousands of years. How can it not be? The place that G-d will choose?

Throughout it’s history various and sundry groups have tried to deny the Jews access to the Holy City and Har HaBayit, The Temple Mount. Romans, Greeks, Muslims, various and sundry Arab groups, the UN, some former U.S. Presidents. And, all have been successful for a time. For a time. But many of those that tried to prevent them from being in the place that G-d chose for them to worship have faded away. To take their place new enemies arise. It’s as though there is evil that absolutely fears that Jews will pray on the Temple Mount. What are they so afraid of? Most of them say Jews are sub-human, and/or they don’t believe in the G-d of Israel anyway. And yet the fear remains doesn’t it? Those that hold control over the Temple Mount now, claiming it as their “holy site” show their reverence for it by turning their asses towards it when they pray. To Mecca. They play soccer and have picnics on it. They store rocks and firework with which to attack the Israeli police and Jews and Christians that try to visit in the “holy” Al Aqsa. Not how one typically treats a holy site I would say. Countless artifacts have been discarded by them into a trash heap over the walls into E. Jerusalem where Arabs have used ancient timber for firewood. The list of abuses goes on and on.

Looking back at the Six Day War that reunited Yerushalayim, here are some quotes to give you an idea of the mindset Israel was facing. It also might be helpful to remember, the Falestinian Liberation Organization didn’t exist until 1963. It was created by the Arab league.

As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.~~Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt

Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united….I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.~~Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad

Yeah, pretty much like the “peace partners” Israel has today. Israel never intended to retake Jerusalem during the war. They asked King Hussein of Jordan (who was illegally occupying Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem) to stay out of it after the war started. But Hussein feared the PLO. He was afraid they would try to depose him.

King Hussein of Jordan signed a defense pact with Egypt on May 30. Nasser then announced:

The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel…to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations.

President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq added his two cents to the rhetoric:

“The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear — to wipe Israel off the map.”

On June 4, Iraq joined the military alliance with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

Some of this came from a really good overview. You can read all of it here. And it has maps. Lots of maps.

This is what the tiny, new nation of Israel faced.

I like this video, it shows a lot of pictures of what Jerusalem was like before Israel was re-born.

Then, the battle for Jerusalem. I like this video. Alot. It has scenes and commentary from THAT day, as well as a lot of modern video towards the end showing many places in Jerusalem. I recognize many of them, and have walked the streets, shopped in the shops and gawked at all of it. And am quite sad I am not there at the moment.

And I will admit, my tears fill my eyes when I hear Mota Gur saying “Har Ha’Beit B’Yadeinu!” The Temple Mount is in our hands. Then to hear Shlomo Goren blow the shofar? Look at what Israel faced. Not only did she win her survival, she regained land, and Jerusalem. You will notice that people of all faiths are allowed to practice their faith in the areas Israel controls. But only in those areas. The areas muslims control? No. Not even safe. Sadly not everyone realizes the Holiness of The Temple Mount and control was given back to Jordan. I really think we would not being seeing a lot of the problems we see now if that hadn’t happened.

What does the future hold? I don’t have a crystal ball. There is much unrest in the world, and evil is everywhere. Do I have all the answers? No. In fact, I don’t even have all the answers I need. But I do think a good start would be returning Jewish prayer to the Temple Mount.

If you want someone who may well have a crystal ball, or at least a plan, you can watch a fascinating webinar I just saw with Moshe Feiglin of Zehut. Not only will he tell you some behind the scenes info going on now, he will tell you some interesting history.

For today, just for today, I will savor the miracle of G-d, the return of a reunited Jerusalem to Israel.

יום ירושלים שמח

Happy Jerusalem Day!

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

Dueling Twits

I recently read an article about two candidates competing for Governor of Virginia. The two candidates are touting as their best selling points their great records of working for people control and how many citizens that have committed no crime, they can leave defenseless to those that care to do so. Yes indeed, the thug block has two solid candidates running. Of course they are both Demoncrats.

Let’s take a look at a few figures, shall we?

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/vacrime.htm

Forcible Aggravated Larceny Vehicle
Year  Population  Index  Violent  Property  Murder  Rape  Robbery  Assault  Burglary  Theft  Theft 
2015 8,382,993 172,869 16,399 156,470 383 1,493 4,441 9,235 21,340 127,019 8,111

From the Virginia State police, I have this:

There were 441,355 Group A Offenses reported by the contributing agencies. (Page 8)

The total number of incidents of crime was 389,019 and the month of July had the greatest number reported. (Page 7)

Of the 17,459 violent crimes reported, 50% occurred in the residence/home. (Page 46)

There were 5,097 victims of the 4,787 forcible sex offenses reported by the contributing agencies; 84.4% of the victims were female. (Pages 14 & 15)

The theft of money accounted for a property loss of $64,061,900. (Page 60)

Firearms represented 24.7% of all known weapons used in aggravated assaults. Of all victims of aggravated assault, 64.3% had some type of injury. (Page 47)

There was a total value loss of $75,278,993 related to 7,955 completed motor vehicle offenses. (Page 61)

There were 126,032 Group A arrests reported by the contributing agencies and 156,390 Group B arrests reported. (Pages 74 & 75)

There were 1,238 assaults on officers reported in Virginia. Just under one-quarter (24.2%) involved some type of injury to the officer. (Page 56)

Of the 155 hate crime offenses reported, 45.8% of these were assault offenses and 31.6% were vandalism/damage of property offenses. (Page 52)

What strikes me, is the number of people willing to assault a law enforcement officer. If they are willing to assault someone they can be pretty darn sure is trained and carrying a gun you think they won’t try Grandma, or anyone else? The number of rapes, 84.4% were female. Since women are typically smaller and a bit weaker than the male of the specie, let’s make it harder to obtain a tool that could level the ground a bit. That sounds like a good plan (for the criminal). Following in the footsteps of their Gov. Terry McAuliff and his high regard for women with his binders full of them. Full of the victims of his political agenda that is.

I keep wondering what is it these two Demoncrats want to do to law-abiding citizens they can not do unless they are disarmed and defenseless.

What could cause a state to want to elect people prone to dictatorial impulses? I remember hearing a lecture a couple of years ago and the speaker was talking about a plan to turn previously conservative states into liberal voting states. Sort of the evil reverse of Molon Labe. It’s something along the lines of this plan. https://www.sisterdistrict.com/ As I recall it’s been implemented in Colorado and Texas was in their sights as well. I can’t remember all the others, but the speaker was Mark Meckler from Citizens for Self-Governance.

I suspect we all know what the end result is of citizens being disarmed by their government, and there is plenty of pain and suffering along the path on the way to the end result. Yet, politicians such as these two knot-heads persist.

At times like these, I try to think to myself “What would Fabio say about this?” You remember Fabio of course. The handsome cover model of probably millions of paperback romance novels? Long flowing golden locks? He’s also a writer and actor, in case you didn’t know.

Nope, I’m not kidding. Fabio. Fabio Lanzoni, who immigrated here from Italy. And he has a few outspoken things to say. Not from talking from the land of Unicorns and fluff, but from experience of what he has seen in Europe and what he is seeing in California now.

Fabio recently bought a gun after his home was robbed. But he is not a recent convert like so many during the Rodney King riots asking fellow actor Charlton Heston to borrow a gun.

As an immigrant from Europe, Fabio is in a unique position to share some advice with American citizens. His first bit of advice is blunt: “Just look at Europe and go the opposite way. It’s as simple as that.” He added, “Europe already jumped off the cliff. They are doomed.”

His second bit of advice is not something one often expects to hear from a celebrity. “Don’t you ever give up your guns,” he said. “If people lose that right, forget about it. Politicians — they will take everything away from you. And then what are you going to do, protest with a rock? Because that’s what they do in Europe.”

He said one major difference between America and Europe is the right of good people to be armed against tyranny and criminals who “are always going to have every single weapon available to them.”

He added, “The day you give up your weapon in the United States, the United States is going to be history.”

The whole interview is VERY interesting!

Apparently the Demoncratic party has not yet realized not everyone that voted for President Trump was not in love with him, but they looked at the alternative who would further obama’s attempts at disarmament and siding with thugs and criminals and said. “Nope”, just nope. This thought hasn’t occurred to them, so they think people control and victimization is a winning plan. YESH!

Yep, “What would Fabio say?”

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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.

But no, no it hasn’t died down. In fact, with the encouragement of their college professors, George Soros and I’m sure a few others, perhaps even failed politicians it has continued unabated. Left wing colleges have prevented conservative speakers such as Milo and Ann Coulter from speaking. Several “universities/indoctrination centers” have prevented conservatives and pro-Israel speakers from coming and sharing a different point of view while allowing Hamass to speak freely and often.

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?

The insanity is so noticeable that a popular article going around now is from a former liberal saying why she is no longer one. And this woman was WAY far left. It’s actually quite a good article.

The ever brilliant Daniel Greenfield says the civil war is here and The left doesn’t want to secede. It wants to rule.

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.

https://www.facebook.com/TacticalOutfitters/videos/1284890328274665/

https://www.facebook.com/TacticalOutfitters/videos/1288977471199284/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXO8n2ZE2fo

Ok, this one is funny, I think, but maybe it was suppose to be serious.

https://www.facebook.com/comradespaceunicorn/videos/1526757734024881/

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.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

How much training? And why?

In ransacking the news for the weekly newsletter, I ran across this letter to the editor which reminded me of a typically ban bunny tactic to make firearms less accessible to honest folk.

Support smart gun laws
On the other hand, I am appalled and always have been by the fact that only one hour of practice is required to get the permit.
[…]
When one picks up a gun and consciously gets a license, it is with the intent to defend yourself, up to and including killing another human being. It is a weapon more intense than an automobile, which requires many more hours of training before someone gets behind the wheel.

When I got my driver license 40 years ago, I had to pass a ten question — as best I recall — written test and a five minute road test. There was no mandatory classroom or road training back then.

My truck has several controls. Steering wheel, shifter, clutch pedal, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, parking brake, headlight switch, hi/lo switch, wiper switch, turn signal switch, dash light dimmer switch, emergency flasher switch. I won’t bother mentioning the rest which don’t relate directly to driving the vehicle safely. But for all that, ten questions and five minutes on the road. Training wasn’t mandated by law, but I undertook that on my own so I’d know how to work all those controls properly. It seemed the sensible thing to do. After all, I’d be operating a device with the kinetic energy of a small bomb while carrying a fuel tank with the chemical energy of a large bomb. Thousands more people die by automobile than by firearm in America.

My usual carry gun has a trigger, magazine release, and a slide lock/release. Note the lack of a steering wheel, because if you can point your finger you can point a pistol.

For that, gun controllers — when they deign to allow us to be armed at all — want us to — just as examples from bills I’ve seen over the years — 1) get a license to purchase a firearm, 2) undergo forty hours of classroom training, 3) sixteen hours of range training, 4) pass a hundred question written test, 5) pass a fifty round range test, 6) get fingerprinted, 7) get photographed, 8) pass a background check, and 9) get a judge’s permission to carry. In some places, not others.

Given the requirements for operating a potential weapon of mass destruction, the requirements for carrying a defensive tool with three controls seems.. a little excessive.

Someone planning to get a gun certainly should get some education and training. I did; some through military and law enforcement sources, and quite a bit more on my own, by my choice.

While I’ve never been a certified instructor, I have informally trained quite a few people. In a couple of hours or less I can get the basic laws regarding carry defensive shooting across to most people of normal intelligence. Then spend another half hour on the “four rules”, familiarization with the new shooter’s specific weapon, sight picture, trigger control (a little dry fire included). I’ve found that when the trainee starts live fire, 50% of them put the first round in center mass. quite a few do the same with the first full magazine. I don’t recall any who missed the silhouette. (As opposed to a law enforcement officer who routinely failed her annual weapons qualification because she couldn’t paper with a shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot at twenty yards. The only time I routinely wore my ballistic vest was when I had to be on the range with her. Another officer tried to buy it from me when he heard she was coming.)

The simple fact is that that defensive handguns are designed to be operated without a huge amount of training.* Clueless “useful idiots” in the gun control camp may not realize that, but their leadership does. The mandates are only intended to restrict honest people’s right to self defense.

Train, yes. Mandated unreasonable, restrictive requirements, no.


* Design is what matters, not mechanical simplicity. A broadsword has no moving parts, the only “control” is the hilt. Yet a new would-be swordfighter might require days or weeks of training before I’d let him armor up fully and engage in a regular full speed bout. Swords are mechanically simple, yet difficult to master. This is why medieval Japan banned firearms; too many highly trained-samurai-backed tax collectors were getting killed by peasants with those newfangled guns.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

Yom Ha’Atzmaut Then and Now

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?

Well, the Allies knew about the concentration camps far earlier than has been thought.

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.

Eventually the war was won, and the camps were discovered and the prisoners were freed. Ohrdruf was the first camp freed by the Americans. Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and Omar Bradley were there. The entire army present was shocked and appalled at what they found, what the reality was. If there had been any question in their minds as to why they were fighting, it was gone.

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.

The Aftermath

Here’s some rare combat footage

The Davidka mentioned

Israellycool has some excellent old photos like this one.

A TRUE Feminist

But it’s all different now, isn’t it?

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.

If any nation ever was a living breathing symbol of “fastening upon the minds of the American people the belief, that ‘the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.’”~~ author Thomas Charlton it would be Israel.

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.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

Ideal Conceal Update

I got another update email from Ideal Conceal. For those of you who’ve forgotten this because it’s been so long since they said the gun would be available yet never appeared, this is the “cell phone gun.”

Nothing in this update gives me any reason to believe the thing is not vaporware at best. But I see that Ideal Conceal finally got a Type 07 Manufacturer FFL. I guess the Big Lake FFL friend Kjellberg said would do the manufacturing wanted no part of this. Which might explain why I was unable to find an Type 07 FFL there who would admit to being involved. But the address given is an office building that still listed as “for sale.” I wonder if the ATF has inspected his shop, and if it was there or at his home.

For the longest time, the pistol was computer renderings and photoshopped stock images. Then it was a 3D-printed inop model. After that, it supposedly became real, but failed in testing. All along, they’d announce new, pushed back availability dates. And finally stopped giving dates.

In this new video, seemingly recorded in Kjellberg’s home (we never see shop facilities; I wonder why), we learn that they seem to have abandoned 3D printing, and possibly abandoned the injection molding we heard about in March. Now it’s machined. We’re treated to blurry video of printed out photos of what are alleged to be machined parts (enough for 10 guns) and a print-out of a computer rendering of the fire control assembly.

One commenter said:

It would be nice to have an actual projection of when we should expect to see the product finished and for sale! This process is really dragging out without a real commencement date. Disappointing to say the least.

Which is pretty reasonable. When the company has claimed that it was taking orders, it’s fair for folks to wonder what frickin’ year this thing might ship. If ever. Kjellberg disagrees:

Wondering how many projects you have taken from a thought to a napkin to production? We are just a couple of people, not a big company. Also if you watched the video, we started over in January to give you the best product. Perhaps this looks easy, but to make a light, tight pistol and do it on a tight budget takes time.

Funny thing: I worked on a project for a telecom company; low-voltage monitors for remote site alarm monitoring. With about for people, we went from the idea, to a circuit schematic, to designed final product in an enclosure, parts ordering,through assembly (including etching circuit boards ourselves), followed by field testing, production, and delivery of 100% tested units to the field. In about three months.*

We were able to do that because we knew what we were doing, and intended to deliver a real product. Kjellberg and Ideal Conceal? I’m thinking not so much on either count.

Designing a gun does take time. But do you think John Browning took advance orders from 4,000 retail customers before he finalized the 1911 design?

On the other hand… In Browning’s 71 years, he designed at least 39 firearms that went into full production. Assuming he started designing the day he was born, that’s an average of 1.8 years per design. In fact, he started learning in his dad’s shop at 7, so the average comes down to 1.6 years per design. Kjellberg is at 1.1 years in designing a basic derringer and counting.


* Heh. That was twenty-something years back. I still have the schematic, BOM, and installation instructions. Looks like I lost the circuit board mask, though.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail

UPDATED: Who is playing who?

UPDATE, 5/3/2017, 3:42 PM EDT: Rock River Arms and Springfield Armory have both issued press releases disavowing the IFMA’s actions and have withdrawn from the association.

That’s a good start.



Original post:
In dueling headlines between two RKBA-oriented web sites, we see some interesting views regarding Rock River Arms, Springfield Armory, their lobbying group Illinois Firearms Manufacturers Association, and an Illinois bill intended to discourage gun dealers by running up their operating expenses.

Springfield Armory, Rock River Arms Trade Opposition to Illinois FFL Licensing Scheme for Carve-Out
Earlier today, the Illinois State Senate passed bill SB-1657 by a one-vote margin. While its prospects are still unsure in the House, if signed by Governor Bruce Rauner, the new law will mandate state licensing for all Illinois gun dealers. It will also restrict all others in Illinois to nine firearm transfers per year.

The lobbyist for the Illinois Firearms Manufacturers Association (IFMA), Jay Keller, traded that group’s opposition to the bill in exchange for a carve-out, removing Prairie State firearms manufacturers from the licensing requirements.

This hit the news first, and Second Amendment-minded gun owners were understandably upset. Then we heard “the rest of the story.”

Put Away The Pitchforks: Springfield Armory & Rock River Arms Did NOT Sell Out Gun Owners
If true, then the Illinois Firearms Manufacturers Association (IMFA) alone is to blame for the group’s decision to remove opposition to the bill, and early assertions made by another firearms news site claiming that Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms directly and intentionally screwed over the citizens of their state as well as smaller manufacturers and gun dealers, would almost appear to be libelous.

If true, I would suspect someone bought off the lobbyist. However, I would not consider the claims that the manufacturers screwed the shooting community libelous because the claims were based on the actions of a group that officially bills itself as speaking for those manufacturers.

“But wait! There’s more!”

Springfield Armory & Rock River Arms Made Campaign Contributions to Anti-Gun Rights Politicians
We can now reveal that Springfield and Rock River have, through IFMA, donated tens of thousands of dollars to Illinois anti-gun politicians over the last several years.

If all this is correct, then it’s possible Rock River’s and Springfield’s lobbyist has been suckering them. For years. Or IFMA may well have been positioning them for special privileges all along. In which case, the investment paid off when they were exempted from the draconian terms of SB-1657.

I expect another salvo of defensive press releases from the companies and and IFMA. Hopefully, they’ll clarify matters.

America does not enjoy actual free-market capitalism. Government intervention makes industry lobbying a necessity. Companies should take advantage of most lawful means of protecting themselves. But…

Companies should not throw their sister companies and customers under the bus in the process.

If Rock River and Springfield really want to “clarify” this in a way that doesn’t get them Smith & Wessoned, I suggest that they disavow their lobbyist, file suit for fraud, and announce that they will not sell firearms to any Illinois law enforcement agency should this bill — or any other similar bill — somehow pass, a la Ronnie Barrett and apparently a few dozen other companies.

Facebooktwitterredditpinteresttumblrmail