Tag Archives: Charlie Hebdo

Resolve

Some of what I’ve learned about leadership I learned from my horse. His name is Captain Bob, I usually call him Captain, or Seren, which is Captain in Hebrew. I got a really, really good deal on him. And not long after I got him home I found out why I got a really, really good deal on him. He weighs in at around 1,300 lbs and stands a bit over 16 hands. Good size lad. Handsome too, did I mention very handsome? Well, he is. I do not weigh 1,300 lbs (usually) and am a fair bit shorter, but I want to be at least a Colonel, and preferably a General in his eyes. I want to be the leader of the team. And this is where resolve comes in. For me to allow my idea to become his idea and get us to do what I want as a team, I need to be resolved. I need to see the situation clearly for what it is. Ok, a hoof flying at your head is not hard to interpret. Think 15 year old with a bad attitude flipping you off. He’s better now. But don’t call it “youthful exuberance”. It is not. By the same token when I point my finger and he walks into a trailer nonchalantly that means something big too. But you need to speak and understand “equine” to know what it means.

I have sat back and watched the horror in France known as the Charlie Hebdo massacre, followed by the Hyper Cacher murders. The whole world was outraged? Hardly. In fact in some parts of the world their “sorrow” was expressed by a parade. For the killers.

So, lets look at a few world leaders.

Let’s start with Bibi and his response to the atrocities in France.

At the Grande Synagogue in Paris Bibi Netanyahu is inundated with shouts of “Bibi! Bibi!” and shouts of “help us!” in Hebrew. No word if anyone was hollering for a “free Bibi-phone” and my Hebrew isn’t that good yet. Well actually, it is and they didn’t.

France didn’t show itself in the best light shall we say during the visit. First the Prime Minister of Israel was not invited to attend the solidarity march for world leaders. Perhaps France hasn’t noticed there is a country of Israel? After Bibi said he was coming, France then invited Mahmud Abbas. While French President Francois Hollande was chilly to Bibi, he seemed all BFFs (yes, I did mean that) with Abbas. Both Abbas and Hollande left the Synagogue when Bibi got up to speak.

But France doesn’t only fail in manners, it fails in organization and security. For some strange reason, the bus that was to take Bibi and his security detail to the march was running quite late.

His response as he is made to wait for bus? He and his detail remain alert, and just do what they gotta do. Although, when Bibi got on the phone I did kind of wonder if he was calling in a air strike on Hollande’s house.

 

Then we get to the march itself.  According to Arutz Sheva

At first, he finds himself in the second row of heads of state – either on purpose or for some other reason. He then apparently decides to move into the first row – and does so by approaching the president of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, from behind, introducing himself and simultaneously sliding into place next to him.

Bibi, as a leader, shows resolve. He passes. He is doing what he needs to do to represent his country, and her people.

 

Abbas, now Abbas. Interestingly, Abbas took heat at home for going, according to Arutz Sheva

Mahmoud a-Zahar, a top Hamas terrorist in Gaza, slammed Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas for participating in the anti-terror rally in Paris Sunday. A-Zahar called Abbas “hypocritical” for participating in the event.
“The participation of Abbas in this event is part of the hypocrisy and political acrobatics that Abbas commonly participates in,” a-Zahar said. “Abbas wants to show that he can fight terror, but he does not even know the meaning of terror.”

And that’s coming from a terrorist. It’s not that Abbas is enlightened or wants to sing Kumbaya, Abbas is a holocaust denier who did not condemn the attack on the Hyper Cacher Kosher Grocery. He’s not standing for anything firm, he’s being a Politician. He does not show resolve.

Abbas=Fail.

I think we’ve already kind of covered France’s Hollande. He has been unwilling to keep a entire segment of his population safe from another segment of his population because it might offend their tender sensibilities.. as my Uncle would have said. I would say hurt their little feelings. As he and French law keeps law abiding subjects disarmed this is even more critical. So what to do when you know the leader of your country will not keep you and your kin folk safe?

This one is better than words. BETAR!!! You’ll enjoy this one.

Yeah, Hollande=fail.

 

So, now we come to barry. It seems the White House didn’t realize the march was going to be a big deal. I mean, after all, barry did say “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” in a speech to the U.N. He just didn’t specify that the future wouldn’t belong to them because they would be, well, dead. Seems barry didn’t know about the march, according to aides, they didn’t mention it to him since it wasn’t a big deal. I guess if he had known it was a big photo op, he would have gone. That’s how it works when you don’t have an actual sense of right and wrong. So what to do, what to do?

 

Well, let’s see. You could announce on January 11th that barry will host a “Summit on Countering Violent Extremism“, since he’s not in Paris for the march. That will show you are a serious world leader. Mind you, not a summit on violent Islamic Extremism. He seems to sort of avoid saying that. Hmm, needs more cowbell, so what else can you do? Ahhh, cowbell, yes, that’s the clue. Send John Kerry with James Taylor to France. To sing “You’ve Got a Friend”. It sends all of France a “big hug”. Seriously.

We have to wake up and call this what it is – not generic ‘terror,’ but Islamic terror that is hitting us with full force.”~~Naftali Bennett

To have resolve, you have to KNOW what you are facing, you have to ADMIT what you are facing. Until you do there is no way to work out actual solutions. You will not solve a hoof flying at you by giggling and saying “oh, he’s just exuberant, isn’t he cute?”.

Barry doesn’t have the first clue about resolve, well, perhaps when it comes to “fundamentally transforming…”. But to protecting America’s citizens? Protecting America’s Constitution by not selling it out the the U.N.?

Barry=Fail.

Now this is just sad, you want to know what RESOLVE looks like?

 

 

In case you want to help, anonymous is going after the Twitter accounts.

— OpCharlieHebdo (@OpCharlieHebdo) January 9, 2015

Do you want to help us ? Find terrorists twitter profiles, report them. #No2IS #JeSuisCharlie #OpCharlieHebdo #CharlieHebdo #StopDonkyLovers

 

A conversation a week or so ago about terrorism got me to thinking about resolve. The opinion was expressed that rather than the Israeli military flying exercise mission, each flight will try to find a terrorist camp. Rather than not bombing missile launching sites because it is a school, they will be bombed. The world is never going to “love” Israel, and trading land for peace isn’t working, being sensitive to world opinion isn’t working as evidenced by the number of wars since her birth. That resolve is needed, resolve to do what is necessary to keep her people safe and stop the cycle of war> win> give away> be attacked.

As I face paths in life, forks in the road, I find that it seems “resolve” really does play a huge role in how a path is chosen. If I (and I can only speak for myself) lack the resolve to see a battle for what it is, call it what it is, take stock of assets and liabilities, and make a plan then what realistic chance of success is there? I think this pretty much applies to leaders of groups, politics, nations and their leaders. If they lack the resolve to see the battle through, we all pay the price.

And if that resolve is not there? Don’t be surprised when you see that hoof come flying at your head for the 53rd time, in a week. Or another Boston bombing, or beheading, or, or, or.

 

 

 

 

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When Seconds Count…..

The Police are just minutes away, just minutes away. How long have we been told by people control via gun control politicians and advocates that firearms owned by private citizen/subjects make U.S. “less civilized” less “safe” as a country? It seems to me that such statements usually come from people with a plethora of body guards. Either paid for with our tax dollars or their own fine salaries often earned by the movies they make. Paid for by us, the great unwashed masses.

 

Let’s start with England. In an effort to prove that sometimes the slowest zebra does in fact survive and multiply rather than being eaten by the lion, they are in a worse self-defense condition than they were in WWII.

 

After WWI England enacted the Firearms Act of 1920. Its restrictions on the private ownership of firearms was partly accomplished by screeching about a surge in crime that might occur because of the large number of firearms available following the war, well and due to fears of working class unrest. And then there was the previous version of the modern U.N. Gun Control treaty, the 1919 Paris Arms Convention, they needed to be able to control the overseas arms trade and they had to comply with that, right?

 

So when WWII rolled around, and after the Battle of Dunkirk when the British retreated and left behind a large amount of very useful hardware, which we would call weapons, they were in a very vulnerable state to fend off the killing machine known as nazis headed their way. What to do? Well, they appealed to their American (and well armed) brethren for help. A program called “American Committee for Defense of British Homes” established in 1940 by a group of Americans (well armed people) and headed by C. Suydam Cutting. They appealed for shotguns, rifles, ammo, steel helmets, binoculars from American Citizens (a well armed people) Since  the people protecting the home front had pitchforks. Kid you not. Makes me think of the line in the movie “The Patriot” where Cornwallis called the militia “farmers with pitchforks”. And yet, fast forward a few hundred years and it’s the Americans (well armed people) helping out their English brethren (home front with pitchforks) in defense of their country. Here’s a really good column about this. The Hession Rifle. Admittedly we could have just sent Chuck Norris, but he was born in 1940. Well, then again, he IS Chuck Norris.

 

So, after having found out that a disarmed nation is a vulnerable nation, the British vowed never to let that happen again! Just kidding. Nope, they are in a far worse state now. Even the British Olympic pistol shooters can’t train in England, Scotland or Wales. England is a country covered with cameras, they carefully record every crime and give a good idea of what and who the perpetrators are. Very useful for prosecuting crime! Stopping crime? Huh? SQUIRREL! Never mind England is thinking “knife ban” now. I mean what with crime being down and al, uh, oh, never mind! SQUIRREL!

I’m pretty sure they were thinking about it before 25 year old Fusilier Lee Rigby was murdered on 22 May 2013.

Rigby was off duty and walking along Wellington Street when he was attacked. Two men ran him down with a car, then used knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death. The men dragged Rigby’s body into the road and remained at the scene until police arrived. They told passers-by that they had killed a soldier to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British armed forces. Unarmed police arrived at the scene nine minutes after an emergency call was received and set up a cordon. Armed police officers arrived five minutes later. The assailants, armed with a gun and cleaver, charged at the police, who fired shots that wounded them both. They were apprehended and taken to separate hospitals. Both are British of Nigerian descent, raised as Christians, who converted to Islam.Immediately after the attack, several passers-by stood over Rigby’s body to protect him from further injury.

On lookers were powerless to stop the attack, though one helpfully filmed it. You’re talking about almost a quarter of an hour response time.

 

Fast forward to France, 7 January 2015. Masked muslims showed up at Charlie Hebdo, a magazine that was apparently in business to see how many people and religions they could offend. They went after Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and muslims equally. It’s called “Free Speech”. The magazine office were firebombed in 2011 after publishing a satirical cartoon about Islam. They didn’t let up. And on 7 January, 2 masked muslims showed up with AK-47s and a rocket launcher. Seriously? How the heck did they get a permit in France for that? France has very strict gun control! Oh look! A SQUIRREL!

 

Naturally, the Police were called. But we’re talking France. So two officers showed up on bicycles…unarmed. And found it necessary to flee. Then, as in Britain, a “special” Police unit that is responsible enough to be armed showed up. Of course, by then, 10 people wounded and 12 people were reported dead. Including another police officer, there’s video of him wounded and pleading for his life before he is shot in the head, by a representative of the “Religion of Peace”. Not sure if that was the representative that yelled “the Prophet has been avenged” and “Allahu akbar” as he walked the halls of Charlie Hebdo. Little side note here, “Allahu akbar” does not mean “G-d is Great”. It means “Allah is Greater”. Meaning greater than the whimpy loving G-d of the Jews and Christians, which are “People of the Book”. Oh look, a SQUIRREL!

 

So, back to the unarmed officers that arrived first. The murderers completed their job and left. And proceeded to go on to a printing house in the small town of Dammartin-en-Goele. Where they took people hostage. They told police they wanted to die as martyrs, so they rushed out at the police who obliged them. My thought would be “Ok, bury their bodies at a pig farm” But maybe that’s just me?

 

In a similar incident another representative of the “Religion of Peace” and his girl friend killed a police woman, who was probably unarmed and then holed up at a Kosher Grocery Store. The representative told a French TV station he had “coordinated” with the suspected Charlie Hebdo attackers and he belonged to the Islamic State group. He killed four of the hostages and threatened more unless the police let the Hebdo killers go.

 

What does it say about a country when the frequent refrain of “You don’t need a gun, just call the Police” is pointless. They are as helpless as the unarmed victims are. They die just as quick. SQUIRREL!

 

But the ever astute MSLSD had a Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson on who explained how much worse this would have been had it occurred in the United States.

“Just to keep it in perspective,” Robinson told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, “I don’t think we should imagine that the conditions and the threat are exactly the same in the United States as they are in France. They are different.”“In fact, one thing that’s different here is that weapons are universally available and so it is actually a very good thing that the tensions are not exactly the same because we would expect to have a lot more of that sort of carnage.”

Yeah, howdy! Was I ever shocked! #1 That armed citizens and armed police would just stand there and let themselves be shot. #2 Someone reads the WaPo? I thought it was just used for parrot cages and house training puppies, who knew? Somebody read it, because they had the columnist on TV to follow up. #3 MSLSD is still on the air? WOW, that is a devoted 12 bunch of people that are keeping them on the air! Oh look! A SQUIRREL!

But, to end on a positive note, since I’m so frustrated with the stupidity of countries that not only accept this kind of carnage, but enable it, I will share this tidbit of good news. Not all New York millionaires are idiots. Donald Trump made a statements that the gun control policies of France were enabling these types of massacres. WHAT? Gun control enables massacres? Oh look a SQUIRREL!

 

Running With The Squirrels

 

 

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