I know, it’s usually kerfluffle, but it this case, kerfl-APPLE seems more appropriate. I realize it’s not strictly gun related, but considering privacy is a part of freedom, this bothers me. I have certain things in life, just like we all do that we consider our private information. It seems daily what the government will allow us to keep private shrinks. Of course, there is always a “good reason” for the need to violate our privacy. I’m still miffed that when I buy a phone now there are presidential alerts that I can not unsubscribe from. Barry didn’t buy my phone, he doesn’t pay my phone bill, and yet, there is that stupid Presidential alerts so he can address me any time he feels the need. Frankly, I doubt there is anything of interest he could say thatI would find it worth having this feature. Well, except “I resign, effective now”.
So back to Apple and the iPhone. I don’t have an iPhone, so I don’t really have a horse in this race. But as I understand it Apple’s iPhone has a reputation of security. The San Bernadino terrorist ***** (I’m not giving the name, let it be lost to time) had a government issued iPhone.
This does not bode well for the Americans with an iPhone.
According to TechCrunch, the government is asking for three things from Apple:
Disable or bypass the auto-erase function of iOS. This erases your phone if too many wrong passwords are input. A commonly enabled setting on corporate phones — which the iPhone 5c owned by the government agency for which ****** worked — is.
Remove the delay on password inputs so that the FBI can ‘guess’ the passcode on the phone quicker, without it locking them out for minutes or hours, which is what iOS does to stop any random thief from doing this kind of thing. The inputs would be lowered to around 80 milliseconds, which would allow the password to be guessed in under an hour if it were 4 digits and significantly longer if it were more.
Allow the FBI to submit passcode via the physical port on the phone, or a wireless protocol like Bluetooth or WiFi.
So once Apple has built the new OS with the backdoor, the government can access people’s iPhones if they need to, or have a good reason, or want to.
But so can a good hacker.
As Wired pointed out, after Edward Snowden’s bombshells, the American people that care about this sort of thing really sat up and took notice. They wanted better encryption and better safeguards for the privacy and security of their personal data. The later iPhones no longer even have the capability of being opened by Apple. The earlier ones did have a keyhole, and Apple had the key, not so with the newer ones. Apple threw away the key. Sort of like Ladar Levison, owner of Lavabit trashing his own servers and destroying all his work to protect the privacy of his email customers who paid the princely sum of $8 a year for a secure email account.
Wired also pointed out FBI director James Comey’s claims that if Apple doesn’t cave the US is “no longer a country governed by the rule of law.” is well, crAPPLE.
A former head of the NSA and the CIA is also saying Apple shouldn’t give in to the FBI, and why.
What I think it boils down to? The FBI is using the one iPhone of ***** to demand Apple weaken it’s security, leaving owners of it’s product at risk of government intrusion, as well as vulnerable to hackers, and making the pricy phone a bigger target for theft. Not to mention, as one of the article pointed out
the fact that the government would be weakening the security of a private company’s product, potentially impacting the civil liberties of American citizens and foreign nationals worldwide that use those products.
That’s always good for a companies reputation and profitability, right?
Knowledge is power, the more knowledge they have of people and their private information the greater the leverage, right?
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”~~ Benjamin Franklin. Wise man Ben.
Some of our great comments on this brought this little video back to the front of my mind.
A girlfriend of mine thoughtfully sent me an article today. She thought I might find it of passable interest, and so I did. A tip of my Stetson to Christie. The Silverbelly one, not the black one of course!
You have to admire some out of the box solutions to situations. Some others however, not so much. For example some people use landscaping timbers in their yards, they frame flowerbeds and the like. Now landscaping timbers of course, are intended to be used in round corrals to teach horses trail course, or a nice stride length at trot or canter, or perhaps to prepare to jump. But if people want to use them in their yards, good for them I say. For my negative examples I use unemployment statistics. What the MSM (mainstream media) will tout as the unemployment statistics are the U-3 numbers. In December 2015 that was at 5.0%. HOWEVER, what they or the White House will not tell you, is that the U-3 number does not include people that are not looking for work. Nor does it include the under-employed, those that want to work full time and can’t find a job, or people that are laid off and waiting to be called back. There are marginally attached workers, discouraged workers, under-employed, none of which count. The only unemployed people are those that have looked for a job in the last four weeks. If you add all those up, the real unemployment rate, the U-6 number is around 9.9%. So just as many people are out of work, but by changing the rules, labels, pigeon holes and shuffling the shells, you get better numbers. So that’s their out of the box solution to high unemployment numbers.
Well, a clever man has come up with a way to lower crime statistics! Although I’m quite sure that wasn’t his purpose, but suspect the DOJ would be fine with it.
Average number of rape cases reported in the US annually
89,000
Percent of women who experienced an attempted or completed rape
16 %
Percent of men who experienced an attempted or completed rape
3 %
Decline in rape rate since 1993
60 %
Percent of rapes that are never reported to authorities
60 %
Percent of college rapes that are never reported to authorities
95 %
Percent of rapes where both victim and perpetrator had been drinking
47 %
What Daryush Valizadeh “Roosh” has proposed is to change the rules about rape. The name may be ringing a bell with you already. Perhaps you have seen his 2007 book “Bang” on the penny rack at Barnes and Nobel? It’s his helpful guide to seducing and raping women, and includes such helpful guidance as
“No means no..until it means yes,” Roosh instructed in his book. “In America, having sex with her would have been rape, since she legally couldn’t give her consent.”
“I know that when it comes to sex, one ounce of hesitation or morality will get me nowhere.”
Well, alrighty then. A penny is too high a price.
This author started out with a Blog called “Return of Kings” where he could brag about his rape conquests, and then went on to publish his book.
Now we are not talking some yokel from a third world Islamic country where they still think women are property. No, no, we are talking about an American born muslim with a degree in Microbiology from University of Maryland.
Why is that important? Well, perhaps because the huge rise in sexual assault and rape in Europe is being attributed to the new immigrants not realizing it is considered impolite to rape and kill women in Europe. And some in the German media have attempted to tell how much worse it really is and are being silenced. There is an encouraging thing to look forward to, no doubt.
Finland has put out a helpful video for their women showing them how to utilize the powerful word “NO”, if that didn’t work, putting up one hand, palm to the attacker, if one hand didn’t work, use the even more deadly TWO palms towards them. If they can resist that? Hit them with your purse. Seriously. So their arsenal of tactics to deal with assault has now been broadened by FOUR, count ’em folks, FOUR tactics.
Germany has chosen to address their efforts towards the new refugees, by issuing them cartoon books basically saying the same, groping, raping and killing women is considered rude in Germany.
But these actions will not bring down the crime statistics. Valikazoontike’s solution will.
His solution? Make rape legal on private property.
Yes, you read me correctly. Actually ValenKernalKlink believes rape should be legal all over the world. He believes that women are just pieces of meat and he can have any of them within 3 dates anyway.
Any women that attempt to speak against him and his little band of merry men are targeted with instructions to gather data on them, and rape them.
But all this crap is going on in Europe, and he’s bragging about sneaking in Australia and speaking there. What more has this to do with us?
He and his jolly boys were set to have a meeting, Saturday February 6th. In America. In Oklahoma. In Oklahoma City. It was to have been 1 of 165 meetings in 43 countries. Yep, countries, not counties.
Women and gays were not to be allowed to attend and VakaSargentSchultz warned that he would “exact furious retribution” on anyone who challenges the groups. He says that their numbers have grown and they wouldn’t have to continue to hide in the shadows.
Oklahoma City, the Cowboy Hall of Fame, and you think it’s a good idea to have a meeting to get more members to vote and lobby to make rape legal. Awesome.
Well, that is one way to lower the rape statistics.
Another is to shoot the bastard. Dead rapists seldom repeat offend. Very seldom. They may vote Democrat, but they won’t rape again.
I talked to Christie about going to the meeting. But I was concerned my dyslexia could create problems reading the signs directing one to the room for the “Return of Kings” and confusing it for the room for “Oklahoma for open carry”, where we of course would have been headed. Sometimes words like that look a lot a like to me. I’m thinking they may meet some of those Oklahoma and Texas women that will make them reconsider the error of their ways.
But at least they are making progress on breaking down the causes of rape.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on January 27th, according to the U(seless)N, Germany and many parts of the world. It’s observed on 27th of Nisan which is usually in April or May in Israel. I went to a Holocaust Remembrance service at Ben Gurion University a couple years ago. Phrases you hear often are “Never Again”. The date was chosen because it was the day that the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau occurred. January 27, 1945.
For Germany, “Never Again” didn’t take long. The Munich massacre was September 1972. I can still remember waking up that morning and hearing the news on the radio. I didn’t understand why someone didn’t shoot the terrorists. Young and naive wasn’t I? It just made no sense! The Israelis had a shooting team and a coach. So it was a span of about 27 years before Jews were bound and herded helplessly into the cattle cars of the helicopters.
There are many kinds of hot mess around this additional shameful saga of Germany’s history. Israeli delegation head Shmuel Lalkin had warning bells going off like crazy when he saw the accommodations for the Israeli athletes. Ground floor, no armed guards, anyone could access the hallway, it led to a garage. He howled to the West Germans and the Israelis about it. He begged to be allowed to carry his sidearm, he was recently out of the IDF as a Major. Denied. The West Germans didn’t have any armed guards anywhere in the olympic village. It might make people “feel bad”. They wanted everything to “feel friendly”. So, no armed guards, no moving the Israelis to a higher floor. Nothing that he wanted that would have been sensible preventative safety precautions was done. It might “look bad”. In addition to all this, Der Speigel ran a article in 2012 that said the German authorities had been tipped off something was going to happen.
After the Israelis were taken hostage the “negotiations” such as they were, began to take place. Finally the Germans assembled their crack hostage rescue team. They didn’t have one actually, so candidates were selected by asking them “have you ever fired a gun before?” Not have you ever fired THIS type of gun before, but just sort of asked the willing police officers, “have you ever fired a gun before”. This was after they turned down Golda Meir’s request/beg to be allowed to send an actual Israeli hostage rescue team that did know very well what the heck they were about and what to do. So these Germans are crawling around on the top of the building trying to figure out how to break in and listening for the code word which never came. Probably a good thing. The terrorists peaceful Palestinians who just wanted to liberate their friends and relatives unfairly imprisoned for killing people and blowing up things watched the whole thing on TV, live. TV cameras were set up across from the building and broadcast everything.
Eventually the hostages were bound, herded onto a bus and taken to Fürstenfeldbruck air force base. Where the German rescue attempt continued to exhibit the same finely tuned precision as at the Olympic Village. The police had miscounted the terrorists, they had no night vision equipment, or training and had never worked together before. One terrorist mowed the hostages in his helicopter down with his gun as they sat helpless tied together. The other terrorist threw a grenade into his.
The German government then proceeded to lie and cover up information for many many years. The only reason much of it came to light was Ankie Spitzer who had been married to Israeli fencing coach Andre about a year and a half is a bulldog. The woman never stopped. She kept pressing and going at them and finally an anonymous source called her lawyer and the delivery of information began to flow in. Ankie is amazing. Andre married well.
In the documentary One Day In September, Jamal Al-Jishey, the only surviving terrorist of the attack gave an interview. He was proud of the work he did, the peaceful palestinians did a great thing.
Now we have the shocking news coming from Angela Merkel’s government that Antisemitism is on the rise.
Shocker that. Who could have possibly foreseen that bringing in millions upon millions of people that hate Jews would result in a rise in Antisemitism in a country that has a long proud history of it’s tolerance towards Jews. So ALL possible efforts to combat Antisemitism will be used. Well, except of course re-examining that open door “refugee” policy thingy.
In Israel the stabbing attacks are indiscriminate. Against men women and children. Out in public and in front of their homes, where they die fighting like a tigress to stop the terrorist from going after her children. If you don’t know the name Dafna Meir H”YD, she deserves 2 minutes of your time. Amazing woman.
This has nothing to do with frustration, repression or any other garbage. This is how the peaceful palestinians are brought up. The father of the murderer of Dafna said he is proud of his 15 year old son who stabbed the mother of 6 to death.
Jews in France aren’t especially safe, or Sweden (or Swedish women either for that matter) but at least in America it’s different. Abe Foxman of the ADL will be quick enough to tear you a new one for something said, but be prepared to defend yourself or family against a life threatening attack? With a GUN??? Perish the thought! Same for the congressional professional victim creation class.
Still, it’s different in America.
Well, except in Michigan. Where former state department employee Lina Allan defended the stabbing of Jews as killing animals and was miffed at muslim who aren’t doing so. She’s talking about killing Jews, Israel didn’t really come into it.
Considering Abu Mazen head of the Palestinian Authority financed a chunk of the Munich Massacre, you would think we would examine links a bit more closely, but apparently, no.
At least in America our own government will never attack unarmed defenseless citizens. Countries that have embarrassing records when it comes to protecting a certain ethnic group charged with spreading Torah will certainly learn from their mistakes and correct lapses in the future exercising all vigilance.
And now I’m going to go pet my unicorn and go to sleep!
I see so many stories coming out now about the ever increasing federal leviathans hopes of eliminating the Second Amendment. Crazy old Joe Biden even thinks the Second Amendment is about who can be prohibited from owning guns. And while Dimocrats and liberals say they don’t want to eliminate the Second Amendment, they just want to add background checks, and a few “common sense” restrictions, etc. etc., they are, well, lying.
Some do want to eliminate the Second Amendment, and I usually wonder “what it is that a Politician wants to do to me and my family that they can not do, unless we are disarmed and defenseless?” Of course many of those self same politicians will have armed body guards paid for out of our ever shrinking salary. Some will be do gooders, and really really really do believe in their hearts of hearts that if we just outlaw _____________________ A) scary black guns B) 30 round magazines C) rifles with pistol grips D) Guns with the shoulder thingy that goes up E) Fill in with whatever else they can come up with, that gun crime will cease and the world will now be a safe place, unicorns will roam freely and rainbow stew will be served fresh everyday with lightly buttered no calorie croissants. They also voted for obama because he was the best man for the job and believed him when he told them their health insurance would go down by $2,500 a year and they could keep their doctor and their insurance, but that’s another story.
I, like they, have my idea of legislation that will keep us all safer too. Granted the direction of my legislative dreams is a bit different than their legislative dreams.
In my legislative dreams for some time, dwelt something called The Firearms Freedom Act. The first one was passed by Montana in 2009. It stated basically, that guns made in Montana, stamped on a large part of the central part of the gun “Made in Montana” would not be entered into the federal system of gun control. But, the gun could not leave the state. It couldn’t be sold over the internet or to someone out of the state. Therefore, they would not be interstate commerce. Wyoming came out with an even yummier version of this in 2010. Wyoming’s version had some pretty good sized teeth for federal agents that attempted to attack Wyoming citizens. Several states passed Firearms Freedom Acts, and several more tried to. This site hasn’t been updated since 2010, but you can see how many states were working on this. You can also see which ones weren’t, mostly the high crimes states.
I’m sure no one was shocked to know that a federal court ruled that the Firearms Freedom Acts didn’t matter.
“the Ninth Circuit panel unanimously ruled that Congress could regulate the internal manufacture of firearms within Montana because the creation and circulation of such firearms could reasonably be expected to impact the market for firearms nationally.”~~Wikipedia
I know, I know, I just said the firearms couldn’t leave Montana, that was part of the law. But it is the NINETH circuit court, and I always kind of wonder what they’ve been smoking. The guns weren’t going to cross state lines, but like the ATF, laws are what the courts make them to be, eh?
But it’s the toothy part that I’m heading for. The court says Firearms Freedom Acts aren’t legal? What to do as the government grows ever larger like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors, what to do?
Several states have responded by trying to pass a Second Amendment preservation act. In the last few days Arizona, Indiana and South Carolina have introduced bills in their state legislature. Missouri tried to pass one a couple years ago. The NRA helped squash that one, and gave Florida trouble trying to get theirs through as well. The Second Amendment preservation acts are really sort of anti-cooperation, anti-commandeering measure. For gun control to really succeed to it’s evil goal is going to require the use of each state’s law enforcement agencies. I still recall the ATF harassing the people at a Henrico Co. gunshow in 2006. It couldn’t have been done without the help of local law enforcement. Part of the BATFE’s “War on Women”, no doubt. And shoestrings.
Bob at Bearing Arms had some helpful suggestions along the lines of Firearms Freedoms Act type things that could be done to help the ATF as well. It involves removing some things from their jurisdiction so that perhaps with a narrower focus they won’t need to suffer the embarrassment of having their own weapons show up in Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s stash, cause I’m sure that’s just embarrassing. No word yet, from Erik Holder, El Chapo’s gun dealer.
This type of legislation says that the law enforcement agencies in that state will not co-operate with federal agencies. It dramatically weakens the bully power. Since I’ve seen quite a few stories lately where police chiefs and sheriffs are urging their citizens to obtain arms and concealed carry I suspect the law enforcement agencies in many states would be happy to see this pass.
So, while I may never get a firearm stamped with “Made in fill in your state name”,I continue to dream of Second Amendment protection acts being passed all across these United States. Because the soft fight is so much better than the hard fight. And despite what crazy old Joe Biden says, sometimes a girl just might NEED a tank, though this isn’t the model I hope for.
Just for a bit of levity.
Here’s a little booklet on the act if you want more information.
Recently I had a lovely opportunity to spend some time with three people that wanted to learn to shoot. While I’m not a REAL firearms instructor, I knew enough to teach basic gun safety and had a place they could shoot. So I coached them through rifle from the prone position only, shotgun and handgun. They all seemed to enjoy themselves very much. I was heartened to hear the young girl, college age comment it wasn’t guns that are bad, it’s who is doing what with them. They all seemed pleased with having the chance to learn and get familiar with some basic tools and they seemed very pleased with how they shot. They should be. They all did a fantastic job. But best of all, they had fun. It was a good experience for them. I was so very proud of the three of them and made it very clear. When I wasn’t kicking their feet, but other than that. I mostly drank coffee, coached, corrected and encouraged. I kept my political commentary and legal commentary to a minimum due to time constraints. Two of the young’uns had to be at work at a certain time.
But one part I just couldn’t contain myself. During our handgun portion I was asked about carrying, how often did I carry, I did carry didn’t I? Of course. I said that most of the time it seemed when people had to pull their emergency equipment that the attacking party reconsidered their current itinerary. BUT, that didn’t mean they would. That a person needed to consider before they ever decided to carry that if the need arose, could they, would they kill someone to protect themselves or someone they were with? That you shouldn’t ever pull your weapon hoping to run a bluff. The people that prey on others are predators and they will sense that. NEVER put your sights on something you aren’t willing to destroy.
I guess this was so strongly on my mind because recently in Tel Aviv there was a Israeli Arab that attacked a pub crowd killing two and wounding others. Witnesses noticed an armed civilian who failed to try to neutralize the terrorist. They don’t know why, but speculation is that he was afraid of being prosecuted or arrested for awhile. America has Mom’s Demand Sanity Action and Gun Senseless crowd to deal with. Israel has “Gun on the kitchen table” who have successfully got the government to restrict the number of weapons issued to security guards and civilians. They apparently have had no effect on the amount of illegal guns in the arab communities as yet though. The terrorist left the pub massacre and went on to kill a cab driver who picked him up. He is still at large presumably in Tel Aviv.
This seems to be happening more. There have been police officers assaulted because they were afraid of becoming Darren Wilson, and afraid to do their job due to the “Ferguson Effect”. Civilians afraid to defend themselves because they are afraid of becoming George Zimmerman and having Black Panthers (or anyone else) publicly put a price on your head. Law abiding citizens are the ones under attack from the law, the government wants people to be afraid to defend themselves and they want the guardians to be afraid to defend the law-abiding. The only ones it seems this administration is intent of defending are thugs.
Which, I guess explains barry’s recent plans on gun control. If they aren’t afraid, make them unable.
I’m not really sure what prompted my three guests to decide they wanted to become a bit familiar with lifesaving tools at this time. I didn’t ask. It didn’t really matter. Bringing new people that understand tools and know how to use them into the herd is good, no matter what gets them here. But I do know what motivated me to teach them. A labor of love. People have different ways of thinking about things and different ways of saying “I love you”. And perhaps they are beginning to realize or consider what some have already discovered the hard painful way. “Without a rifle, you are nothing”.
So at the end of the day, I felt pretty good about things. I had successfully introduced and furthered some education on rifle, shotgun and handgun. I can take them apart a clean them. I was thinking I might not be far from a superhero cape. Until I tried to make a rice dish I wanted and discovered while I can do those things, I can not cook rice properly. I guess the superhero cape will be on hold for a while.
I’m sorry to bother you again. But Hanukkah and Christmas are both over and this year it just seems like I’ve seen more than a few things that bother me. I’m really trying to be understanding, but I guess some of this just eludes me and I was kind of hoping you could help me clear it up.
In the America I grew up in, it seemed like December was always just such a joyous time of year. There is Hanukkah, with parties and dreidels and Christmas with Santa and trees and gifts. Of course I know that Hanukkah is not about gelt, dreidels, latkas and sufganiyot. I know Christmas isn’t about gifts, trees and hot chocolate.
Hanukkah was about the freedom to be a Jew, practice your religion and live. All at the same time. The Greeks weren’t so interested in killing the Jews prior to the Maccabbean rebellion as forcing assimilation. As long as you were willing to give up the practice of Judaism as commanded by G-d through the Torah and adopt the Hellenistic ways, as many of the more liberal Jews were, it was all cool beans.
Christmas was about the celebrating the birth of Yeshua, the son of G-d. Churches had nativity scenes out in front and often there might be one by the courthouse as well. Schools would have trees, kids would sing songs, there would be little parties with cookies, and parents would beam as the children did their Christmas plays.
But not this year. It’s been harder and harder to see the symbols in public the last few years, because they aren’t there. This year has been the worst it seems. So many things canceled for fear of offending another religion.
This is the year of the offended. Or fear of offending. It’s so bad that a teacher was told to take down her Hello Kitty Christmas tree. Yep, Hello Kitty. No angels, or baby Yeshua or anything like that, just little cartoon kittys on a pink tree that were dangerously offensive. At another school the Charlie Brown Christmas play was heavily edited due to the complaint of one person. There were many more complaints against it, but they didn’t matter. So it would seems the schools are safely sanitized of religion now.
Well, except for one. While many schools have decided to quit teaching cursive handwriting because it isn’t needed, some school districts are teaching calligraphy. To teach calligraphy, they are teaching the children to write in Arabic. In Arabic the children are learning to write “There is no god but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” The first pillar of Islam. The girls in class were also treated to a lecture on how to dress modestly like a muslim, and invited to try on a headscarf while learning. This lesson was not well received by parents, and the school decided to avoid classes the next day and close. Parents were not informed what their children would be told to write, or given a chance to opt out. While a Koran was provided in class for the children to look at, the teacher declined to provide a Bible saying it wasn’t necessary. So I guess that’s how a school in VA observed December. But it’s not just Virginia, in Tennessee in September the schools went even further and made the children learn and recite all five pillars of Islam. They spent three weeks studying Islam, but skipped over the lessons concerning Christianity and Judaism. Doesn’t quite seem equal in the schools to me.
In business, mulsim cabbies refuse passengers with guide dogs and alcohol. Because it’s for religious reasons. However, religious reasons don’t seem to matter when it comes to Christian bakers who don’t want to make a cake. Then it’s all different.
What about obamacare? In 2016 the penalty for an individual is $695 for someone who’s insurance doesn’t match what the government says they must have. The Amish and Muslims are not required to buy obamacare, or have penalties. They believe insurance is gambling. Well, if insurance is gambling and they don’t have to buy it, what about auto insurance? Most states require you to have auto insurance to drive. Are they exempt from that as well?
When there is a crime committed, especially one with guns involved, it seems the media rushes to find a conservative or tea party angle. Yet when it appears the perpetrator is a muslim, the media and the government rush in to decry the connection saying it isn’t islam. In fact, barry still says ISIS has nothing to do with islam. When the woman ran over all those people in Las Vegas? The Sheriff isn’t comfortable discussing motive. Ok, maybe it has nothing to do with terrorism, or islam. Other people may scream “Allahu Akbar”, but seems it could be a clue. I mean that’s how they do it in Israel on a daily basis. The media talking heads and politicians will all trot out and tell us it wasn’t islam, had nothing to do with islam. And then call for more gun control. As a favorite radio show host of mine pointed out, why don’t all those people just hush about it, and let them tell us what islam is and isn’t. The ones doing the terrorist acts says it’s in the name of allah. I’m guessing they would know. No, I don’t think all muslims are terrorists. But the state department hasn’t a clue who is and who isn’t either. Nor does DHS or any other acronym. I’m still waiting for the million muslim march decrying the violence. Oh wait, they probably won’t do that, because it could mean their death as well.
So, Aharon, that’s the educational system, the business sector, the health care sector and the criminal arena and even charity and benefits. In all of those one group of people is giving preferential treatment over another. Does this mean we are already living in “dhimmitude” and no one has told us yet? And if the restrictions are applied I guess we will understand why barry tried so hard to take guns away from law abiding citizens. It’s going to be hard to impose the rest of some of those restrictions till he gets that one in place.
It just seemed so sad this December, and I guess I wonder if it is just the start of things? It’s not like we’ve ever seen a time where people are forced to give up the practice of their religion, covert or die right? It’s not like we need to be paging Judah Maccabee, right? No, it’s probably nothing, right?
Sincerely,
נצ
Dear נצ
You really are a glutton for punishment aren’t you? Yes, I can understand why you see things this way. I can understand why you are sad and concerned. But all you can do is keep trying your best to keep the concept of freedom and liberty alive. People have to have the mindset they want to live free. To keep those things alive you have to keep the right to have defensive tools. There are plenty of examples of civilizations that didn’t have enough, or good enough defensive tools and how that turned out. Keep doing those things. That is what you can do. Now, go have a nice cup of Israeli coffee, maybe a piece or two of halva. You’ll feel better.
Twas a night during Hanukkah and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except for a mouse.
And Cowgirl Kitty killed it.
My Hanukkiah had been lit, and into sufganiyot and latkas I had bit and I smiled with joy that the three of them bring.
Little Marlowe gently snored on his puppy bed, and I snuggled in, with thoughts of Hanukkah in my head.
And who to my wondering eyes should appear? Judah Maccabee, it WAS him, I swear!
I sat up quite started, “Sir, you give me quite a fright, why do you appear here in the dead of the night?”
He regarded me gravely and tugged on his beard, he said so very softly “It’s the things I have heard”.
My eyes widened just as his narrowed, and I shivered in my bones, clear down to the marrow.
Judah, what has you so troubled I asked with a frown, you know you’re one of my heroes, you know it deep down!
He sighed as he listed the attacks both great and small, in France, in England, the USA and Israel, worst of all,
Hannah and her sons,my father, my brothers and I did not fight and give our lives, so that latkas you could fry. The dreidels you do spin, the songs you do sing, they should be a strong reminder there are still evil things.
We loved G-d our father, he created this earth, to serve him we certainly have proven our worth.
Those that would keep us from observing his rules, have mistaken our courage, they must have been fools.
He gave us great victories, he gave back our Temple, you should have held on, it is just that simple.
No Jew may pray there, nor Christian it seems, Beit HaMikdash lives only in my dreams.
In France Jews are told no Menorah to light, so as to avoid the evil in the night.
G-d gave us the miracle of such great victory, he gave us the miracle of the oil, it is our history. To turn our backs and ignore? What a sad mystery!
Judah smiled sadly, and said “The Zelmans Partisans, it fights the good fight you are warriors all. My spirit is beside you, you must heed the call!” We were partisans, we Maccabees, we know of your struggle, we’ve made the same pleas.
Freedom comes dear, without effort it won’t last. Keep your sword sharp and ready, be prepared to draw fast.
Your weapons they will try to seize, your faith try to shake, and you must hold both close. Make no mistake.
Judah then brightened and said with a smile, you all are doing good work. You all spread the word, keep it up and you will be heard.
He then began to fade and my eyes began to tear, Oh Judah I said, why did you come here?
It was then Marlowe barked and I awoke with a start, and I began to rethink the idea that Chipotle pepper Tabasco in latkas was a good idea.
חג חנוכה שמח
chag chanukkah sameach
Happy Hanukkah Holiday!!
Judah Maccabee Meme
With sincere, abject and humble apologies to Clement Clarke Moore. And probably a few of you that just suffered through my attempt at poetry!
I started collecting stories I wanted to use to write a column a few weeks ago.
Since then there have been the attacks in Paris and the attack in San Bernardino.
The rest of the world has begun to see what Israel has been living with for a very long time.
There is such a difference in how things are portrayed in the media. In America predictably if a gun is involved, conservatives, gun-owners, Christians, whites or some variation or combination of the listed will be blamed. It will be acceptable to call for violence, the internment or a combination of things against law abiding people that have committed no crime and are just trying to go about living their lives and mostly want to be left the heck alone.
Liberals, leftists, communists, socialists etc will not allow this to happen because they see the list above an a real impediment to their ultimate goal which is control, power and domination. So the ability of the list above must be limited, or they must be muzzled or eliminated.
I listened to a radio show within the last few weeks and the host made the point that Anti-Zionism is always the precursor to antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is the polite socially acceptable mask for antisemitism which will reveal and show itself in time.
And antisemitism is alive and well in the world. It flourishes under the guise of the “enlightened”, and while overt antisemitism would perhaps be challenged by Abe Foxman, as long as it wasn’t one of his friends that said it, Anti-Zionism is applauded in the UN, and the European nations, campuses in the US and a large chunk of the demoncratic party.
Let’s have a look-see shall we?
We are told by the media and other “authoritative” sources that the poor Palestinians just want their own home land, they were displaced by the Jews.
I’ll let the always eloquent Dennis Prager answer this from a lecture at Oxford. It has subtitles, we’re good. One thing I find really amusing, though it has nothing to do with the subject. If the little flower that is so anxious to speak against Mr. Prager had worn that dress in a sharia ruled country, she would be dead, eventually. Not sure what would happen first.
Double standard much? Nawww.
Now lets look at the peaceful Palestinians are so disenchanted because they are forced to live in poverty. Ok, why?
Job opportunities suck? Well, many of them collect dole from Israel. American tax dollars going to the PA are given out most generously to terrorists. But some did have jobs. Until the enlightened liberals interfered. The Boycott Divest & Sanction movement? Supported by some churches, buckets of liberals, and the brain dead on campuses all over. Let’s walk it out.
I read a very interesting interview with a Palestinian human rights activist Bassam Eid. He has nothing good to say about the BDS movement. He pointed out that it is hurting the Palestinians the most. Take for example Soda Stream. It moved from the settlement of Mishor Adumim near Jerusalem to Be’er Sheva due to BDS pressures. Some of the former workers had talked with Mr. Eid. The told him at Soda Stream they earned around 5,000 shekels a month, about 1,300 USD. Today they can receive the princely sum of 1,400 shekels (365 USD) from the Palestinian Authority. Sadly, they had taken on financial commitments based on the belief that their work at Soda Stream would continue. The interview ended with him saying to the BS BDS people “As long as the Palestinian people aren’t boycotting Israel, they don’t need to do so for us”.
The Arab members of Knesset had been coming to Nazareth to meet, photos, rally, hate the Jews, the usual. But a odd thing happened, completely unexpectedly, the Jews quit coming to visit Nazareth.
Salam told the Israeli business newspaper Globes that “on a regular weekend, 20–30,000 Jews come to Nazareth, but yesterday there were none. One a regular weekend, they [the Jewish visitors] spend a minimum of 10 million shekels. Yesterday not one shekel was spent.”The impact has been devastating.“Restaurants are closed. Businesses are closed. They [the business owners] come to the municipality and weep,” said the mayor, noting that it will now take months to return business to where it was before the most recent outbreak of violence.
In fact, Mayor Ali Salam made his point loud and clear on live TV.
In the live broadcast, the mayor could be heard shouting at a shocked Odeh, “Take your ‘business’ elsewhere. …You have destroyed our city. …Not one Jew came [to Nazareth] today. Not one! …Shut up and get lost!”
The left takes great delight in trying to cripple Israel, but because they live in the liberal world they don’t know that things sometimes look good on paper, but that’s not how they plays out in the real world.
The latest is the European Union’s decision to brand Israeli products made in East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. They are branding them to make the easier to boycott. Despite the fact that there are currently over 200 territorial disputes going on world wide, Israel is the only country the EU is requiring to label products. The PU ambassador to Israel said that the branding was pretty common, gave a load of baloney and when asked what other countries were required to do this (got a choice of 200 there Lars) replied, well, none. That’s a different situation. Of course it is Lars. Because the EU certainly isn’t antisemitic is it?
Now let’s move on to how the world treats the attacks that happen often in Israel. It is such a glaring difference that a magazine I subscribe to has a regular feature each month called “News From Pallywood”. If you aren’t familiar with this, it is very real. The media will show a photo of some poor innocent arab muslim being dragged off by her hair, or some poor child laying bloody in the street. Obvious victims of vicious Israelis. They just don’t run the photos of what happened moments before with the grinning arab woman hurling stones at soldiers and civilians. Or the cherubic looking child in the street having just stabbed a 13 year old Jewish child. There having even become well known stars of Pallywood. One little girl can turn on the tears at a moments notice. They are very media savvy. I’ve covered some of these attacks before. But since we in the US are currently being told by the obama regime that we are being silly being concerned about women and children let’s have a look at how that works out. Israel has a lot of experience with arab muslims.
A quick 47 second guide on how to avoid Israeli Brutality.
These girls were 14 and 16 years old. Their attack was carried out at Mahane Yehuda, which is a very large old market in Jerusalem. I love Mahane Yehuda, I love shopping at Mahane Yehuda. I’m making my list for my next visit. Many of these precious moments children that go out to stab Jews are in schools, getting an education and could have had prospects for a decent life. But for some reason have decided stabbing Jews is the best thing they could ever do with their lives.
Here’s what “lightly wounded” looks like, from a magazine.
Just to put things in context.
“Lightly” wounded
Most of these are quite short. A few times you will notice the children had to be reminded to say “zionist” and not “Jews”. But some flat out said what they had been taught.
This one was kind of embarrassing for the TV hostess. It’s bad when your grieving guest star whips a knife out of her maidenform bra and says she’s waiting for her chance to stab Jews. Her son was killed stabbing Jews on a bus. He was stabbing Jews on a bus because his cousin was killed a month or so before stabbing Jews. This is the cycle of violence John Kerry and obama talk about. Jews get stabbed, they die, soldiers, armed citizens, the Jerusalem mayor, the police try to stop the stabbing and kill the assailant and another peaceful Palestinian will come and stab more Jews.
But, so the Christians won’t feel left out, these adorable tykes are playing behead the Christians in Turkey.
The media talks about “disproportionate” response. A parody news station called MSNBC uses propaganda maps put out by an anti-Israeli pro-Palestinian group to discuss land and territories.
There are a whole laundry list of helpful tips for journalists in this article, so you can report the news from the Middle East and not look like the usual media buffoons. And since it’s pretty humorous with links to pretty much back up all it’s claims it’s well worth reading.
Compare what you read in there with how the world and France reacted to the Paris terror attack. Just forget the part about barry recently standing on the stage in Paris and telling the French that mass shooting attacks don’t happen in other places in the world as he committed to more American gun control. France’s President said he would be “Ruthless” in response to the attacks. But no one questioned the proportionality of his response, the EU didn’t demand French wines be labeled. In fact everybody but barry was supportive. MSNBC didn’t call them to task, barry may or not have muttered something about not judging all the the response of the “extremists” which have nothing to do with Islam.
Many in our country have not taken a strong stand with Israel and her citizens under attack. They listen to CNN or MSNBC, or university Professor Biotch and don’t know what it’s like to live under constant threats. I think that is going to be changing as our populations demographics change. As the radio show host pointed out, Jews tend to be the canary in the mine. When attacks are beginning to start, they often start with the Jews. And, there was the HyperKosher attack with Charlie Hebdo, and what was done in response? Nothing. Well, not nothing. Nothing really from the French government as far as stopping Islamic attacks, but there has been a response from France’s Jewish population. There has been a 2400% increase since 2013 of young French Jews traveling to Israel. Some of those will consider making Aliyah.
We listen to politicians tell us we’re afraid of women and children. So? They kill the same as men. They are raised to do so. Look at the couple involved in the attack at San Bernardino.
As everyone tries to figure out why the attack happened, because it’s not radical Islam, probably more workplace violence. But a normally relatively clever British paper may have figured it out. A Messianic Jew may be responsible. A good first bit of the article describes what sort of things the man posted on his Facebook page (not the killer, one of the victims) and that he was a strong supporter of Israel (well, there ya go). He and the killer had been friends. Until the killer snapped ran home got his wife and the few little IEDs and pipe bombs he had laying around and donned his “assault clothes”. I’m actually impressed, it takes me longer to make an Israeli dish with quinoa, cauliflower & carrots. But we certainly can’t hold the innocent arab responsible! NO NO!! It’s what that EVIL Messianic Jew said! We must learn to watch what we say around the peaceful muslims, lest they snap & kill people!
I learned a couple things last week. In parashat Vayishlach in Genesis 32:11
11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.
The question was raised why did Yaakov say Esav the name, and then the title my brother? Why did he ask G-d to save him from both? Because he knew Esav, the wild man who could be a killer, who didn’t value his birthright, he knew to be on guard around him. But he also was afraid of his brother, the man he grew up with. Because he might not see the threat coming from his “brother” in time.
The attacks in Israel now are being perpetrated by the arabs that live among the Israelis. They work in their phone companies, attend their schools, work in their restaurants. They are the brothers and sisters living among them with the scissors hidden in their skirts.
And now they are the men who work in San Bernardino, the army Majors that are psychiatrists, the brothers that are living among us, that grew up here. We are bringing in more by the boatloads. And I’m guessing there will be a few Esavs among them.
What will be the result? Well, it’s almost Hanukkah now. And in Paris the police are telling Chabad not to light the Hanukkah candles. Seriously. And why do we celebrate Hanukkah? Oh, because the Maccabees were victorious over the Syrian Antiochus who wanted to wipe out Judaism and force the Jews to worship false G-d’s. Antiochus’s goal was to prevent the observance of Judaism and thus the revolt. Guess we best not say “You’ve come a long way baby” considering Chabad is now being told they can’t observe the festival that commemorates the war to practice Judaism.
So since France seems to be taking the wrong approach to dealing with Islam, I will provide the helpful information I got from another web site. Perhaps if they can do this, they won’t have any more attacks.
The irony of course, is that France has been very condemning of Israel and her long standing plight.
New Improved French Borders
IF FRANCE WANTS PEACE WITH THE ARABS, THEY MUST DO THE FOLLOWING:
BORDERS
Return to the 1,420 borders
SETTLEMENTS
Stop building French homes on French soil
CAPITOL
Divide Paris into two Capitals for two peoples
Via Daniel Pipes.
So why do I call it the “Double Edged Standard Sword”? Because there is most certainly a double standard when it comes to how the world sees and judges Israeli Jews and her responses to terror attacks and how it treats other nations. And that difference has become a sword to be used against the Israelis. They need to defend themselves, the citizens need to defend themselves and the current American regime needs to quit asking their media lap puppies to skew their reporting to support the anti-Israel white house narrative. The double standard has become a double edged sword that is costing lives.
I think many of us enjoy the beautiful autumn weather, the feel of crunchy leaves under our feet and the fresh crisp smell of autumn breezes. I would kind of guess that a few of us may enjoy going out in the woods to enjoy our sports. I know hunters, trail riders, people that enjoy biking or hiking trails with or without frolicking dogs. I also think Second Amendment people are by nature caring of others.
That’s why I beg your indulgence. There is a new program asking people that are out in the woods in force, especially this time of year to help with a heart wrenching chore. Finding missing people.
We are out in the woods by the multitudes this time of year, often in parts of the country that doesn’t see that much foot traffic, so I’m going to share a post that explains something you might consider if you’re going to be in the woods, or perhaps you have friends that are going to be out in the woods.
When you see unusual items that are in odd places: Don’t Touch! Document Location! Report to Local Law Enforcement! (Use discretion – things like a thirty year old beer can in the woods should not raise your curiosity the same as a pair of prescription eyeglasses, a child’s backpack of schoolbooks, or a lady’s blouse and jewelry.)
Every year deer hunters discover the “’remains’ of various human bodies”. However these are not mere “remains” – they are missing loved ones with countless grieving souls desperately searching for answers! And while many note that deer hunters in this country compose the largest potential army of any other nation on earth, or even in all of human history, they have never been taught what to do to help the hurting loved ones of the 110,000+ long term Missing Persons.
Every day 2,300 Americans are reported missing! This does NOT include those who vanish outside the U.S., nor those who are never reported. Many will NEVER be found! Every day of every week, of every month, of every year, many loved ones disappear and are never found again! Loved ones left without answers spend years in unbearable deep pain and anguish!
I am amazed at how many people have looked me in the face and said, “People don’t just vanish”, or “No one simply disappears”. Well… Apparently they do. Certainly there are a myriad of reasons and causes. And obviously the vast majority are found (dead or alive) – eventually. But with 110,000 unsolved missing person cases in this country, there are many, many hurting loved ones suffering the anguish of “not knowing”!
Through our efforts to educate the outdoors loving community of hunters and hikers, farmers and fishermen, and others, our goal is to turn these groups of folks into the world’s largest search party! To do that we must educate them on the simple three-step approach to their sightings of unusual articles that very well may lead to a missing loved one. Or at least redirect or jumpstart a search that is focused in the wrong direction or that has fizzled out from a lack of direction.
Here in Missouri, over 500,000 deer hunters will be in the woods and wild places that rarely or never have a pair of eyes on it at any other time of the year. As a deer hunter you will walk through areas and pass by places that no other person may see for many years to come! Last year Missouri deer hunters discovered the bodies of at least two people where the search parties had been focused in the wrong directions. Your eyes and your report of that unusual item could very well be the answer to a great many prayers and tears!
If you see something – anything – that seems out of place, which doesn’t belong there, or that strikes you as unusual, please do not ignore it! Outdoors adventurers tell me all the time how they saw something at one time or another but never gave it a second thought. We are begging you to commit yourself to that second thought!
Don’t Touch! If the item is connected to a Missing Person, it very well may need to have DNA testing or other forensic examinations and your touch could complicate the search. Additionally, the placement of the item could be very important to authorities. If you do touch it before realizing it, please continue to follow the next two steps and be aware how important it may be to report that you touched it without thinking!
Document Location! These days most outdoors adventurers carry cell phones with cameras, GPS tracking apps that can be pinged, or at least have various texting capabilities for typing in details regarding your location. Be specific – as the sun moves from the east to the west, things can look very different. Time can also play tricks with your memory in unfamiliar terrain. If you carry marking ribbon, be sure to physically mark the location!
Report to Local Law Enforcement! Unless you see something highly remarkable, we are not asking that you run out of the woods or alter your plans for the day. No one expects you to ruin your outdoor experience. However, when you do leave the woods or other area from your planned activities, please, please, please follow through by reporting your discovery to the local law enforcement agency in the area of your discovery! (They will determine if it is of importance.)
As a farmer and hunter myself, I am a steward of the outdoors environment. I have learned the hard way to expand my stewardship to include a commitment to to Support the Hurting. Already thousands of citizens have joined in this commitment – please join with us by accepting the challenge to be alert and compassionate towards those suffering the indescribable anguishes of “not knowing”. Educate yourself on the three-step process when you see an unusual item in an odd location:
Don’t Touch!
Document Location!
Report to Local Law Enforcement!
I’ve watched a friend go through this agony for some time now. It costs us nothing to keep our eyes open, something as Second Amendment people we tend to do by our nature anyway.
While this is a Missouri based article and group, there are missing in every state. You could help bring much needed peace and closure to a hurting family. It would be a kindness.
I know Veteran’s Day was a week ago. And I apologize, for not having written a column for Veteran’s Day. Life has been a bit hectic and I had an event that I wanted to attended before I wrote my column.
The use of war horses goes back about 5,000 years, in human, not horse years. Originally I don’t believe they were ridden, instead being used more as pack animals and later pulling wagons and chariots. As equine technology improved, saddles and stirrups came along and the horseback rider made a difference in battles. Different breeds of horses were used for different tasks, owing to their difference in sizes and temperaments. While a Friesian makes a fine mount for a knight, it’s not going to work so well for the cavalry scout.
These horses have fought alongside and died alongside their people for thousands of years. One of the most well known is Sgt. Reckless. She was a member of the USMC, she EARNED the rank of Sargent, believe me. Take a minute and read about her. She was amazing, and came from very humble beginnings.
So why am I writing about horses for Veteran’s Day? Because there is a new organization called Warhorses for Veterans. Their goal is to help Veterans that have returned home and find being home not quite as familiar and comfortable as it should be. Not as easy to return as it should be. It’s not always easy to talk through stuff with people that have no understanding (no matter how much they try) of what you’ve been through.
Warhorses was founded by a young man after he came back from Iraq around 2004 he returned to his equine oriented life. He found that it gave a sense of peace and calming and began to wonder about the possibilities of it helping other veterans. With the help of a wonderful couple Warhorses for Veterans was founded.
My view, and my view alone here. No matter how people may feel about the wars America has been engaged in, the “limited actions”, “police actions” or whatever else they may be called, one thing remains the same. Our soldiers have suited up, showed up, given their best and sometimes their all. They have left behind their families, their homes and their jobs to do what was put in front of them. I guess all of us know when we get on the highway to go some place we may not come back. But that is not the same as waking up of a morning drinking a cup of coffee and getting in a tank to go out on the battlefield. That camaraderie that develops in battle is part of what helps in the Warhorses program.
More than once on American soil as well as other countries soldiers are what stood between civilians and a threat. I’m very aware and appreciative of the liberties I still enjoy because of their sacrifices.
This last Sunday Warhorses hosted a 5K run/walk. Their goal is to raise money to help the program, which if you didn’t read the link, is briefly, to give Veterans a rural place where they can talk with each other, network and experience the healing that horses bring. No singing Kum Ba Yah. There is no expense to the Veteran. This is not a government program, this is good people seeing a need and stepping up to help.
I signed on.
It was a cool/cold day and a bit more of a hilly course than most of my walks, but I didn’t care. I had told a co-worker of mine on Wednesday night about the program and that I was signed up. He is a Viet Nam veteran, and not given to warm fuzzys, but is kind. He listened and said “They are doing good work, and you are doing a good thing”. From him? That’s a lot. I held on to that as I dug in and powered up those hills. It was windy and “right nippy” as we say around these parts. I didn’t care. I did my best and completed the most challenging course in my best time ever.
I had a chance to meet one of the founders after the race and told him what my co-worker had said, and who he was. He seemed pleased, and glad to know it was being well received. I’m also glad I was wearing my very fetching berry colored TZP zippy hoodie.
I fully realize walking in a 5K is pitiful small thanks to our Veterans, both staff of TZP and our members, but it’s what I could do, and I wanted so much to find a way, to try in some way, to give back for what I have so generously been given by ya’ll.
Thank you Veterans and their families who have given so much. Ya’ll are my heroes and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and feet.
Veterans
War horses, still on the job
You’ll have to click on the picture about to understand why it’s there 😉
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
Password Reset
Please enter your e-mail address. You will receive a new password via e-mail.
