Category Archives: resistance

Tisha B’Av 5779

The 9th of Av, Tisha B’Av, was actually on Saturday, but since we do not allow anything to interfere with Sabbath joy, the fasting and observance is moved to the next day. The 9th of Av was observed (not really celebrated) on the 10th of Av this year. The 9th of Av is the saddest of days, it has a long history of tragedy going to back to when the spies came back from the land of Israel and slandered it by lying and saying they could never take the land, there were giants, and, and, and. Only Joshua and Caleb spoke well and truthfully about it. The people unwisely believed the other 10 of the spies. Sort of like people who today chose to believe the mainstream media #MSM with their #FakeNews. Just because a lot of them are saying it doesn’t make it true.

You can read a list of the happenings on the 9th of Av here The most calamitous Jewish day or I’ve done articles listing them as well.

I recently watched a video a fellow writer (thank you Y.B.) sent me of The Rebbe discussing antisemitism.

It was very interesting. I guess The Rebbe really never talked about it that much. He absolutely knew it was real, and his family had been a victim of it more than once. He believed we need to first rely on G-d. If G-d doesn’t guard the home (or nation) the guard keeps watch in vain. First we must make sure G-d is guarding the home, and thereafter we must hire the guards for “we may not rely on miracles”. Everything must have a foothold in nature. And once we’re doing everything physically possible through the laws of nature- indeed that’s the Torah way, the verse states G-d will bless you in all you do. Lest you think you can sit and await G-d’s salvation. The verse emphasizes in all that you do, you must work within the laws of nature. This is a part I want to talk about. Another part was when he talked about the way to influence a group of people to stop being antisemitic is to work with those at the top of the movement, not so much the people involved in it, but the leaders of it. This worked in the case of the Crown Heights Riots.

This is not working out well within the Demoncratic party. These are from a variety of sources.

Democrats Need Anti-Semites to Win

Democrats Can’t Bring Themselves to Denounce Antisemitism

Democrats won’t fight anti-Semitism

Democrats Won’t Condemn Ilhan Omar’s Anti-Semitism Because Their Younger Base Is Increasingly Hostile To Israel

Any attempts to confront the leaders with statements made or positions or actions take are met with howls of “raaaaccciissstttt”. Even though no one is talking about their race, only their actions.

Who does he think I am?

 

It’s interesting, G-d gave Israel to the Jewish people, he gave other land to other people. From Deuteronomy 2:

Turn northward and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’ So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber.

And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. And the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’

Nobody howls about that, no one is calling those countries apartheid or racist, or oppressive. Even if they are. In fact, no matter how any arab country treats Jews, Christians, Gays, or women, or dogs. Not a word is said. Odd that, eh? Only Jewish Israel.

But back to the Rebbe’s talk, it’s only if G-d is guarding the house, and Demoncrats are also doing their best to throw him out of the country, and life.

The destruction of the two Temples, both on the 9th of Av was horrific. The siege of Jerusalem was horrific. The results of those tragedies are still felt today. Jews are not allowed to pray on Har HaBeit, and often not allowed to visit on special holy days as muslims always seem to come up with a muslim holiday to co-opt the day. And sadly, Bibi always seems to cave to the muslims. If you want to talk about cultural appropriation, here ya go. An appeal to moderate Arabs on Tisha Be Av. Nope it’s not your imagination that mosques often seem to be built of top of churches and synagogues the muslims have destroyed. Remember when they wanted to build on at the site of the attack on the Twin Towers? Yeah, there was a reason for that.

So first we make sure G-d is guarding the house, then we hire the guards. For many of us, we are the guards. We are our own first responders. Except those on the left that hate Jews, Israel, conservatives, Christians and anything in a MAGA red hat want to disarm everyone. They keep telling us how much safer we will all be if only everyone is disarmed of any means of defending themselves and their families. And it just can’t wait. San Fran Nan is demanding everyone come back from recess to enact gun control, President Trump’s knee is jerking. Everyone must be disarmed. Right. Now. Why? I’ve wondered if the left is so insistent that people be disarmed because inside they know they can’t be trusted with weapons. Do they feel if they had a gun they would shoot someone over a parking space? Bit by bit as Trump derangement syndrome grows their masks are coming down. The violence against Trump supporters, or anyone they feel is a conservative grows. There was a new movie slated to come out of September 27th, The Hunt which shows liberals hunting down and killing Trump supporters for sport. This is totally acceptable to the left and Hollyweird. I understand it may not be released then in light of the recent attacks by leftists that left so many dead. Again, you know why I don’t go to movies. It’s Universal studio if you’re curious.

Anytime there is an attempt to render one group of people defenseless, it is not going to turn out well. When only the government has weapons, it is not going to turn out well. I’ve heard it said “If your sitting at the poker table wondering who the mark is, it’s you”, or something along those lines.

The Jews fought back fiercely in 70 AD against the siege of Jerusalem against Titus and Rome, but they were so out numbered. Part of the battle relies on having effective weapons, some of which they had seized from previous encounters with the Romans, but the other part is there needs to be enough of them to be effective.

Some lessons don’t change.

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NZ Confiscation: The Hilarity Continues

To read the headlines would be to weep for the death of sense and freedom in New Zealand. To do the math is to laugh for joy.

New Zealand’s first week of firearms buy-back successful: police
The first full week of New Zealand’s firearms buyback and amnesty, which aims to remove the most dangerous weapons from circulation, has produced a strong turnout as events roll out nationwide for the first time.

“Momentum is slowly starting to build as community collection events are held across the entire country,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said in a statement after 25 public firearm collection events were held over the past week, including seven held on Sunday.

How successful? Of a rough estimated 1.5 million subject firearms (I’ve seen WAGs ranging from 1-2 million), they got 3,275 guns.

0.22% compliance. Oh, yeah; New Zealanders are just rushing to surrender their arms.

Lessee, that’s 25 turn-in events. I had previously noted that — based on the low-ball one million guns guess — that they needed to get 3,861 guns per event. I guesstimated that they got 338 at the first event, just 8.75% of the per event number they needed.

Their per-event average is now down to 131, or 3.4%. The “best” turn-in, in Auckland, got 405 guns; 10.5%.

I had seen reports that “reimbursement” could go as high as 95% of new value. This report says 70%. I’m sure that’s helping folks decide to blow them off. I wonder how much of that is malicious compliance, with owners turning in inoperable beaters.

Assuming the turn-in rate doesn’t continue to drop, it’s only going to take them 38 years to get all those guns.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

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Compliance; New Zealand Style

I’m sure you heard that the New Zealand gun grab has begun.

Four months after Christchurch shooting, New Zealand gun owners turn over their weapons for money
Dozens of Christchurch gun owners on Saturday handed over their weapons in exchange for money, in the first of more than 250 planned buyback events around New Zealand after the government outlawed many types of semi-automatics.

Interesting. To read the headline, you might think New Zealanders were eagerly swapping their guns for cash. Lessee…

This article guesstimates the number of firearms at 1-1.5 million. I’ll roll with that even though 1.5 million is the low end of other estimates I’ve seen.

Let’s say there are a mere one million guns to be turned in. There will be “more than 250” turn-in events; call it 259.

To get all the guns, they need to average 3861 per event. Oddly enough, while this story gives the number of people turning in guns (169), it doesn’t say how many guns were turned in. But they shelled out around NZ$430,000 ($288,000) to those 169.

NZ$2544/US$1705 per head. The payment is based on firearm age, and never goes more than 95% of market value as I understand it. So let’s say that was two guns per sucker.

338. That is: 8.75% of the average 3861 they need to get all of them.

That’s some compliance rate. And that’s the “best case.” “Worst case” is a mere 4.4%, based on another high end estimate I’ve seen.

Hmm. That could be a million torqued off gun owning voters. Given that 2017 election turn-out was 2.6 million, 2020 elections in New Zealand could be as interesting as in the US.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP and web host bills. And the rabbits need feed. Click here to donate via PayPal.
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Ed. note: This commentary appeared first in TZP’s weekly email alert. If you would like to be among the first to see new commentary (as well as to get notice of new polls and recaps of recent posts), please sign up for our alert list. (See sidebar or, if you’re on a mobile device, scroll down). Be sure to respond when you receive your activation email!

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“Gun Violence” Solutions Solicited

Using FBI UCR, DOJ data, and CDC WISQARS:

Identify:

  • Primary firearms-related homicide perpetrator and victim demographics
  • Types of weapons most commonly used
  • Sources of weapons used

Craft solution(s) to “gun violence”:

  • Any law proposed must withstand strict constitutional scrutiny
  • Any law proposed must be consistent with PRINTZ, MILLER, LAMONT, HELLER, MCDONALD, and CAETANO.
  • Define objective metrics by which success or failure of any proposal can be measured.
  • All proposals must be technologically feasible.
  • Define the enforcement mechanism of any proposal, including specifics on dealing with noncompliance.
  • Specify if the suggester will or will not participate personally in active enforcement operations (i.e.- be a member of a raid team or other action in which s/he directly interacts with the target of the enforcement action).

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

 

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It’s time to raise the Altalena

So adding to the list of who hates Israelis, I guess we can add…..Israel? For those that don’t know, the Falestinian Authority headed by Abu Mazen, one of the planners and financiers of the Munich Massacre is getting armored vehicles. And how is this happening? Well, they were donated by the European Union. And the Falestinian Authority (FA) has been demanding them. In the past Israel had refused to allow them into Judea and Samaria. But now in an effort to offset the arab hissy fit at Israel’s cutting the amount of money they give the FA every month Israel is giving in and allowing the FA their armored vehicles. This is a phenomenally bad idea.

The last time PA armored vehicles aroused controversy was in 2000 when a paper published by the Ariel Center for Policy Research identified the PA armored threat to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, saying “Because the IDF limits yishuv self defense to small arms, the growing armor vehicle capability of the PA would render the assault troops it carries invulnerable to yishuv defenders. The IDF gate guards do not have anything to stop these vehicles. The standard sliding gates for all yishuvim would buckle under the impact of such armored vehicles, and many yishuvim lack even this ‘obstacle’ – such that the only thing separating between the attacker and the yishuv is a moving aluminum arm painted red and white.”

The report went on to say that “The PA armored vehicle force is not capable of challenging the IDF, but would be unstoppable in a first strike on yishuvim. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that that is their purpose.

“Although it is possible to gain sudden entry into yishuvim by using commandos or even less prepared troops – as the examples of Ariel and Ofra show – armored vehicles provide a rapid capability to do so that ground troops cannot match.” The report can be seen in the original Hebrew here.

At that time, the IDF justified PA armored vehicles according to Oslo saying Arafat needed them to protect his government from Arab extremist elements, while at the same time trying to deny their existence.

The tax money was cut to the FA because the FA uses it to pay terrorists to kill Jews. So Israel was paying the murderers, the FA is just the middle man. So the FA is throwing a hissy fit by refusing to take any of the tax money. Ok. I can’t believe Israel gives them money anyway. It’s like installing metal detectors for the arabs on The Temple Mount. Everyone else already had to go through metal detectors. But after arabs killed Israeli policemen on the Temple Mount and Israel installed metal detectors the arabs pitched a hissy fit, refused to return to the Temple Mount and PM Netanyahu took them down. What a shame, I hear it was great for a few days on The Temple Mount, no screaming harridans.

But this latest decision will leave Israeli citizens at a decided disadvantage in terms of defending themselves. Small arms against armored vehicles while they wait for the IDF to arrive? Nonsense! Stupidity!

I have a solution. Going back in Israel’s history there was another time when Jews were denied the most effective self defense tools. This isn’t the first time a government has deprived Jews of effective tools to defend themselves while arming the enemy. It’s just the last time it wasn’t their own government. It was Britain with the “White Paper” of 1939. It remained if effect until 1948. The white paper limited Jewish immigration into Israel at a time when Jews most needed to flee Europe, before it became Europistan. Why? Because it would upset the delicate arab sensibilities. Perhaps tlaib’s kindly grandmother hadn’t explained things to the other arabs yet, this was before 1964 when the arabs suddenly and auto-magically became Falestians. And the British most definitely limited weapons access to only the arabs. Jews were suppose to rely on the British government to keep them self. Which worked out horribly.

And thus began the Jewish effort to protect the new Jewish residents in Israel. There were three different groups, Haganah, Irgun and Lechi.

Here is some basic info on the genesis of the three groups. I’m not crazy about how some of them are described, but it does tell how the came into being.

So when I found out that Israel is arming their enemy arabs against their own Israeli citizens I thought back to pre-state Israel and immediately after statehood was declared. I’m wondering what the towns and villages have to fight back with until the IDF gets there. If all you have is small arms against armored vehicles, well, there must be something better. They need guerrilla tactics.

So I wondered if there were any of the old Davidka mortars hanging around.

Yes, a real Davidka

 

 

 

 

 

Availability of weapons and ammunition is critical.

 

 

 

 

 

And then I thought about the ship, the Altalena, if you didn’t know it, Altalena was a pseudonym for Zev Jabotinsky. Understand that this ship was bringing weapons and fighters for the impeding fight for Independence, weapons and fighters desperately needed. It also was carrying new immigrants to Israel. Ben-Gurion should be ashamed.

According to the book Altalena by journalist and political analyst Shlomo Nakdimon, Ben-Gurion instructed the Israeli Air Force to sink the ship on the high seas, long before it approached the shore. This would have resulted in much greater loss of life aboard. Gordon Levett, a Mahal volunteer pilot, wrote in his book Flying Under Two Flags that Heiman Shamir Deputy Commander of the Air Force, tried to convince non-Jewish pilot volunteers to attack the ship. However, three pilots refused to participate in the mission, one of them saying, “You can kiss my foot. I did not lose four friends and fly 10,000 miles in order to bomb Jews.”

So back to the way that some of the different groups were described in the one video, this is a memory from a Lehi fighter, and I think it’s worth the time to read more than this excerpt. It’s not that long.

Why am I telling this old story now? Because I am concerned about the way some Americans, and painfully some Jews, misunderstand the situation in Israel and what occurred there for the last hundred years, and now. Some still blame Israel for the agony there. Some withhold their support because they find lack of perfection in this Jewish State, which is fighting continuously for its survival. Some sit here in judgement on a state and people of which they have little understanding.

When Israel was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, my picture was on the front page of the Sacramento Bee and my family’s participation in the liberation of Israel was told inside, written by a “liberal” Jew. The writer emphasized the suffering of the Palestinians, with little understanding of the suffering of the Israelis. After all, the Israelis are the “strong” ones, therefore the “bad” ones. (Most of the media approach the Arab-Israel problem that way.) The article in the Bee was nicely done, sanitized, the way most Americans want to see this story. Most of us like to have things nicely packaged, refraining from seeing the pictures of true agony in order to continue our lives without too much involvement. Much of this shield was broken on September 11. We started to see the world in truer colors. I hope we can now see the Israeli story also as it really is, and not through the utopian eyes of unrealistic people.

So thinking back to those days of fighting for Independence, and every weapon counting as you faced overwhelming odds and lack of tools I got to wondering, could perhaps the inhabitants of the towns in jeopardy because of the decision, go together and raise the Altalena? Are there enough weapons in functional order?

And this is yet another case of how things can go sideways when only the government has the weapons, or the big guns. They will decide who gets to have them.

In America we have “Duke Nukem” Swalwell, Bear has well documented his stance on using nuclear weapons of American citizens that he later walked back as a “joke”.

http://zelmanpartisans.com/?p=5652

http://zelmanpartisans.com/?p=6019

Yeah, and many a truth is said….

So we know that any Demoncratic presidential candidate at this point probably hates Israel, hates or close to hates Jews, at least in comparison to the embrace of the religion of pieces, hates Christians. Is Ilan Omar still on the foreign relations committee today? Hates babies, hates guns, and hates strong confident self-reliant women. And men, they seem to hate ya’ll a lot. Unless of course, you think how they tell you to think. I think they hate G-d, apple pie, America and I bet they even hate George Strait. Sick bunch, not a one of the 4,325 of them running for President don’t have some scheme to confiscate, ban, restrict or in some form or fashion control guns and/or citizens, up to and including the aforementioned nukes.

So Israel is arming the enemy, Duke Nukem and his crew consider us, U.S. the enemy and while I don’t foresee a President Trump allowing a foreign country to come in here and attack citizens in an effort to render us defenseless the same can most certainly not be said of a Clintoon, Fauxcahontas, Bozo, Swalwell, Bernie, Occasional-Cortex or any of the others of that lack of caliber. I could see them happily calling in the UN.

Which makes me very happy that President Trump withdrew the United States from the Arms Trade Treaty.

Then there’s the matter of the Second Amendment. Oh, the treaty’s supporters assure us that the ATT won’t affect our right to own guns. But as Mr. Bromund points out, they also refuse to make that clear in the treaty text. So sure, the treaty (at least as now written) is no gun grab. But gun-control activists could still use it to advance their goals.

And let’s not forget a major flaw in the Arms Trade Treaty, at least if we’re to take it seriously. China and Russia, both of which are major arms exporters, aren’t party of the treaty.

So looking at all this, I’m thinking the Lehi was correct in no compromise, I’m thinking “Oh Herman Wouk, what would you have written about this sorry state of affairs?” A few more days, and he’d have been 104. May his memory be for a blessing. And I’m wondering if we need to finance some orchards and vineyards in Israel, specifically Judea and Samaria.

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Yom HaShoah 2019

Today is Yom HaShoah and Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Day, the 27th of Nisan.

The first Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel took place on December 28, 1949, following a decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that an annual memorial should take place on the Tenth of Tevet, a traditional day of mourning and fasting in the Hebrew calendar. The day was marked by the burial in a Jerusalem cemetery of ashes and bones of thousands of Jews brought from the Flossenbürg concentration camp and religious ceremonies held in honor of the victims. A radio program on the Holocaust was broadcast that evening. The following year, in December 1950, the Rabbinate, organizations of former European Jewish communities and the Israel Defense Forces held memorial ceremonies around the country; they mostly involved funerals, in which objects such as desecrated Torah scrolls and the bones and ashes of the dead brought from Europe were interred.

In 1951, the Knesset began deliberations to choose a date for Holocaust Remembrance Day. On April 12, 1951, after also considering as possibilities the Tenth of Tevet, the 14th of Nisan, which is the day before Passover and the day on which the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 19, 1943) had begun, and September 1, the date on which the Second World War had begun, the Knesset passed a resolution establishing the 27 Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, a week after Passover, and eight days before Israel Independence Day as the annual Holocaust and Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Day

As it is not that long past Pesach, Shimshon my puppy and I recently watched the movie The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. For a few reasons I wanted to see this movie again. It really is still an amazing movie. In an age of Star Wars effects, the Ten Commandments special effects still awe me. But in the substance department, well, there is no comparison. What I do not remember ever seeing though was the opening.

And I think that is a question well worth considering in this day and age. Will we be ruled by G-d’s laws or the whims of a dictator? There are many in this divided country that very much want to see a President elected by the people deposed through any means, but all of them foul. They want power, and they planned to rule over us and his election upset their apple cart. Those forces have much help from the media, the useful idiots like #MoneyHogg and they will push their agenda of socialism and communism at all costs.

That movie I’ve “seen”.

From the Chabad web site I’ll give you an excerpt from the article The 1929 Struggle to Send Matzah Into the Soviet Union

“According to reports that have come from the entire breadth of the Soviet Union … central Russia, White Russia, Ukraine, Volhynia, the Caucasus, Bukhara, Georgia, Dagestan, the Donetsk Basin—flour for matzah cannot be found,” he wrote. “ … This year marks a new era in the lives of the Jews of Russia, a bitter era, one that has not occurred since the beginning of this deluge of suffering and troubles—G‑d should have mercy—and at this time the question of kimcha dePischa [“flour for Passover”] is a burning question.”

The Soviet grain shortage was not unintended. In a process that began slowly in 1925 and now, at the end of 1928, was picking up steam, Joseph Stalin was forcing through his national collectivization campaign and introducing his first Five-Year Plan for the economy. Farmers and peasants who had worked the land and fed Russia for generations were being forced into state-run collectives, with countless arrested, exiled or executed for resisting or to make an example for others. Productivity inevitably plummeted, bringing about food shortages, but it was not an accident.

“Coercion was the only way to attain wholesale collectivization,” writes historian Stephen Kotkin about Stalin’s position, which he took as a believing Marxist-Leninist. “The extreme violence and dislocation would appall many Communists. But Stalin and his loyalists replied that critics wanted to make an omelet without breaking eggs.”

You can hear #LipstickLenin (Alexandra Occasional-Cortez) or “Feel the Bern” millionaire Sanders saying that way all in the past, it just wasn’t perfected yet. It was in infancy.

Let’s take a look at what a reporter from MSNBC let slip. I have no idea if he still has a job or not.

MSNBC Venezuela Coverage Shows Why U.S. Founders Wanted Armed Citizenry

While covering Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s efforts to hold power, MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders noted Maduro has the advantage of guns against an unarmed populace.

The MSBNC segment, published by The Washington Free Beacon, begins with anchor Andrea Mitchell expressing surprise that Maduro is still holding on.

Sanders responds, “Not only hanging on, but he appears to still control the military. You have to understand in Venezuela, gun ownership is not something that is open to everybody. So if the military have the guns, they have the power.”

Sanders adds, “So as long as Nicolás Maduro controls the military, he controls the country.

The average citizen of Venezuela lost around 19 lbs in 2017 and 24 lbs in 2018 I believe is what I heard.

Food, it’s such a great way to control a populace. Cow farts must be eliminated or the earth will self destruct in 10 or 12 years. Depending on if it’s Lipstick Lenin or Bozo O’Rear. Demonize food, demonize those that produce it, and how they do so, and then regulate them into starvation production.

Ruled by the whims of a dictator the citizens are reduced to attacking by hand and Molotov cocktails if the supplies can be procured. They are attacked and literally run over by the dictators troops and tanks.

Ari Fuld HY”D pointed out in a 2016 radio broadcast that “Never Again” doesn’t mean anything. Because “diplomacy” triumphs over “decency and morality”. How many countries signed peace treaties with hitler? How many dead Jews since Oslo was signed? More than in all the years before it. Not even the US would bomb the train tracks into Auschwitz. People place diplomacy above morality and doing the right thing. But you can hear the whole podcast. Fools who want peace but get war.

In these days of anti-semitic cartoons and condemnation of Israel by left-wingers of all strips, countries and religions I found Moshe Feiglin of Zehut’s Yom HaShoah post very very powerful and moving. Ari pointed out how many Jews tried to reach the safety of Israel in those horrible days before and during the holocaust only to be turned away by the British. They were sent back to be murdered by the nazis. Israel, their home, the home that had lived in their hearts and the desire of their souls to return there always burned through every generation. It’s part of our identity. Here is his post translated into English.

The Holocaust is threatening us with our Jewish identity.

In the wagons to Auschwitz, the complete assimilationists from the west were crowded together with the ultra-Orthodox from the east.

When the doors opened to the smoke rising from the chimney, they realized that the decorations of heroism from the First World War would no longer benefit the civilian identity they had adopted –

And these – because here prayers and mitzvot will no longer benefit, will not be religious identity.

They took their names from them and turned them into numbers, took the family, the honor, the clothes, the hair, the human image.

In the gas chambers, devoid of any other identity, there was only one, final, absolute and unifying – like death alone, Jewish identity.

Germany, where we lived in that “gun-free” (except for the special friends) utopia where we died at the dictator’s whims.

 

Socialism, where you can vote. Once.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H/T to my friend Aryeh from Zehut.

HaTikvah, The Hope.

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“Never Again,” and meaning it.

Much of the reporting on the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue has been odd. Even stories which mention that anyone stood up to the asshole play it down and bring it up late in the story. Some reports fail to mention defense at all, and imply only that the shooting stopped because the weapon jammed. A Breitbart report told more: that an armed congregant passed a weapon to another, who went after chumbucket. Today, we learn that another person helped.

And then I found a report from a member of the Chabad of Poway synagogue.

This congregation is armed.

Lori’s husband had a wheel gun hidden safely in a cabinet. Only a few congregants knew about it. The Rabbi is also armed.

The perp parked out front, walked in the open front door. Shots were fired immediately, I’m not sure exactly who was hit first. The Rabbi had a few fingers shot off. Lori took one shot to the abdomen and died instantly.

When husband heard the commotion, he retrieved the wheel gun and tossed it to the BP guy who was praying. There was another ex-military congregant accosted the perp, screaming at folks to get down. The perp panicked and ran to his car. The BP fired several shots into the car, blowing out the back window and possibly hitting a tire. The perp surrendered to local LA a mile down the road.

The perp had multiple mags. A huge massacre was prevented by the presence of that wheel gun.

Armed Rabbi. An emergency house gun. Three more people ready, willing, able to defend their friends. A fourth who got shot deliberately putting himself between the murderer and children.

Heroes. Who clearly understood “Never Again” means stopping the atrocity in its tracks, and being prepared to do just that.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP and web host bills. And the rabbits need feed. Click here to donate via PayPal.
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It’s a Good Day For Liberty

Years ago in a galaxy far far away, I served on the board of a couple of Second Amendment groups. One of them very much a grassroots group and it was very active in the legislative process and citizen lobbying. Contrary to what people are sometimes lead to think, “lobbyist” is not a dirty word, or a bad thing. Many people have jobs, employers seem to expect that their employees will be at those jobs. So, when there is legislation that matters to gun owners be it a bill to expand gun rights or a bill proposing further infringement of a law-abiding citizens rights with yet another gun control scam disguised as “gun safety” it would seem fair that the law-abiding citizen should also have their voice heard. Ahh, the conundrum. What is the law-abiding citizen to do? They have a job, but they also have rights that need to be defended. Well, the Second Amendment groups in the state went together and hired a lobbyist to be present at the hearings and speak on behalf of the voters that held opinions most firm about further infringement of their G-d given rights, namely self-defense. From time to time the lobbyist would be accompanied to these hearings by the leadership of the Second Amendment rights groups, and I was privileged to be one of those. A citizen lobbyist, who also happened to represent a passel of voters. I had the high heels and a sparkly barrette. I considered these vital, but not as vital as a couple of other things I possessed. A mission, and resolve. I enjoyed this mission, legislators can be quite tasty if bar-b-qued with BBQ sauce. /snark, remember, I’m a vegetarian.

It’s been a while since I’ve attended a rally day. In my state there has been a Second Amendment day at the Capitol for years. Usually towards the end of the season, and usually there is a major bill or two we are wanting big time bad, or a big time bad bill we want to see die an inglorious death. I started going back before my state had concealed carry, the lobby was packed full that day, it was standing room only. For years I went every year, even spoke at a couple of them. The last few years I haven’t made it, for various and sundry reasons. But I’ve made it the last couple of years, and this year was just grand.

I did the hike from the parking lot to the capitol and entered the door to the meeting area. The police were there with the airport style scanning machine. I was met by a young police officer when I placed my purse on the table. He regarded my purse dubiously.

Sir: “Ma’am, are you lawfully carrying concealed?”

Me: Yup

Sir: “I’m going to need a driver’s license and a concealed carry card”.

Me: You are an officer of the law, you should already have these credentials.

After a second for my brain to catch up with my mouth, I grinned at him and said, I’ve got to get them out of my purse, ok?

Sir: “Yep, I have a concealed carry. My friends ask me why I bother and I tell them because it’s the right thing to do.”

Me: I like you, I like the way you think.

He regards the depths of my purse skeptically after he studys my cards.

Sir: “Do you carry in your purse?”

Me: Nope.

Sir: “Good, I worry that if a purse was stolen you’ve now lost your defensive tools.”

Me: Oh I do like you, nope, no purse carry.

Sir: “Which side are you carrying on?”

I answer him, and he tells me after I set off the machine the officer at the other end will wand me. I go through, set off the machine get wanded and I’m good to go. I thank them both for what they do.

I went in, said hi to a lobbyist I’ve worked with, sat with some dear people that I haven’t seen for awhile and listened to some great speakers. The MC is well known in the Second Amendment arena as the guy that wrote the book on gun laws. Which is fair enough, he did write the book on gun laws.

It was interesting, the speakers were great, acoustics are always challenging in that room, but still it was good. Two floors up there was some sort of school event going on. A bunch of school children, I’m guessing pre-teen, or early teens must have disapproved of us being allowed to speak in public. When one of the speakers would start to speak, they would start yelling trying to drown out the speaker. Think there is much indoctrination going on in the tax payer funded schools? I’m telling you, Zehut has the right idea, school vouchers for everyone.

After rally we all split up to go speak with our legislators about the bills we want passed, and I also wanted to mention my extreme aversion to “Guilty until proven innocent” Red Flag gun confiscation. I had mentioned my aversion to my former lobbyist mentor and he said while of course the misogynistic mad mommies are pushing for it, it hasn’t gained traction. Good to hear. I don’t know why mad mommies hate women so much that they want to deprive them of a tool that even elderly women can use to equalize the situation, but they do.

Our MC ended the rally with his trademark line, “It’s a good day for liberty”. He always opened his monthly column with that line. And it was a good day for liberty, every day is a good day for liberty. But we must fight for it, there are forces that will not be happy until they have all the power they want, and as long as there are armed citizens, they know that won’t happen. They use whatever tactics they think will work, whether it is going after politicians sympathetic to us with blatant lies and accusations that their allies in the mainstream media help them spread or lies about “ghost guns” or citizens that defended themselves. Be it vote fraud or illegal immigrants voting, they will use it.

We must remain strong in our convictions and our determination. Where the room was packed a few years ago when we wanted, demanded, concealed carry it was now not as full. Attendance was good, but it needs to be bigger. I saw one old friend, he and his young son were there. This man and his wife want their children to learn about freedom and the legislative process and how the two go together. Those kids have been citizen lobbyists since they were probably 4 or 5 years old. Maybe even younger. The legislators sit up and take notice when large groups of people have taken the day off work and showed up to demand their rights be honored. G-d gives rights, legislators recognize or infringe on them.

My lobbying mission finished, I headed for the exit for the drive home. As I walked by the door to the exit I passed the door you enter, Sir and his partner were still there checking people, I smiled and waved at them and said thank you, they both smiled and waved back. It never hurts for the Second Amendment people to be the nice polite friendly ones.

So if you have a chance, and your state has a rally day yearly, go. See friends, network, make friends, talk to your legislative critters. Don’t let bloombergs paid harpies be the only voice being heard at your capitol.

Tonight starts Pesach, Passover. We each leave our own slavery in Egypt behind. I believe it is a constant process, sometimes easier, sometimes harder. But I don’t want to be one of the Jews that chose to stay behind in Egypt rather than face the unknown. I believe that G-d does want freedom for us. This year is a very meaningful Pesach for me, and I hope that you all will have a very blessed holiday as well. Thank you for being with us, The Zelman Partisans as we travel this path together.

Leaving Egypt and slavery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend used the line “It’s a good day for liberty” to open his columns, I wrote him and told him I was poaching it for a column. He wrote back fried, poached or boiled, if it’s for the cause it should be used.

I always ride for the brand and I always ended my columns with my own sign off.

Let Freedom Ring!

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Misplaced Optimism

I wrote last week about the seemingly virtually nonexistent bump-fire ban compliance rate. A commenter spoke at some length on why people aren’t complying. I think he is overly optimistic.

“…99.997% who are well aware of the blatant abuse this nonsense is and will continue to be, not to mention its wholesale uncontsitutionality, and putting their nickel on “the ban can’t stand”,”

Judging by reactions I get, I doubt the number of sensible people is anywhere near 99%. Take this recent comment regarding my compliance rate column:

“I would say this, if I owned a bumpstock. you can have it.. And no, I wan’t no reason to waste ammo. I do not own one. I have belt loops on my pants. Bump stocks be damned. IT WAS JUST A GIMMICK. Let it fade. I like people, the nut job in Vegas, not so much. Think about that, Las Vegas, and there might be a nut job in the mix. Where will I vacation next?”

.

After a year and a half of discussion that person still doesn’t get it. “Let it fade,” and you let all law fade, and we live by royal whim, imperial fiat. “Stroke of the pen” and all that entails.

Nor should anyone who has been paying attention to the courts assume “the ban can’t stand.” Not just the courts hearing the bump-fire cases, which have uniformly stated that the plaintiffs (our side) are unlikely to succeed (with one lone dissent), but other cases: courts finding it unlawful to follow the law as written because a previous president chose to ignore the law, Portland protestors shutting down interstate (and international) coal traffic as the authorities refuse to do anything about it. A judge who found pipeline protestors innocent: “not responsible by reason of necessity”.

The ban well may stand.

“Anyone determined enough to protect his investment AND his rights will have had six months to think and plan slowluy acquire the necessities to ferret their hunk of plastic away somewhere safe and impossible to find.”

Maybe. But how many folks who assumed it would never happen bothered to plan?

“Soom enough BATF will have at least as much egg on their mugs”

Egg in their beer is looking more likely, considering that the DC Appeals court made arguments for the ATF, claims even the feds declined to make, to rationalize upholding the ban.

“HOW can the government of one state order private entities in another state and tell them what they may/mayn’t DO…” the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution prohibits that.

How can the courts rule that “function of the trigger” means volitional movement of a finger? And yet, they have. But I’ll give you a hint how that can happen, although I don’t know if this has been raised in the bizarre NJ case: constructive possession; a California prosecutor could argue that a standard capacity magazine shipped to California remains in the constructive possession of the shipper until it is delivered to the purchaser. Thus, the shipper “possessed” the arbitrarily-unlawful magazine in California, and is subject to their law. Take one look at the Ninth Circus and tell — with a straight face — that they would not buy that legal contortion.

Or the Supreme Court. Remember, these are the judicial gymnasts who, for eighty years, have upheld the National Firearms Act on the grounds that such items can be regulated because they are not militarily useful, but that machineguns can be regulated because they are.

“In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a “shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length” at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.”

Overturning the bump-fire ban is not a slam dunk in an age where the laws is whatever the government says it is today. And remember that the ATF and Courts are both parts of that government.

We are fighting lunatics and liars — DOJ attorneys like Eric Soskin and judges alike — who matter-of-factly state that fingers are triggers, and the only difference between a machinegun and a semi-auto is whether the finger is moved volitionally. (Which, coupled with the concept that a select-fire trigger group is a machinegun itself, makes your finger one such if you are moving it.)

That fight will be long and hard. And expensive. Two of the major groups leading the challenges to the ban are the Firearms Policy Coalition and Gun Owners of America. They can use your support in this.

Donate to Firearms Policy Coalition (and enter to win a SIG P320)

Donate to GOA

(Other groups and individuals raising money to fight the ban can drop a link in comments, and I’ll update this list to include you.)

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

 

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with truck repairs (too late; I’m selling the truck; contact me if you’re interested in a ’96 Ranger with less than 85K miles)) and recurring bills. And the rabbits need feed. Truck insurance, lest I be forced to sell it. Click here to donate via PayPal.
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Ed. note: This commentary appeared first in TZP’s weekly email alert. If you would like to be among the first to see new commentary (as well as to get notice of new polls and recaps of recent posts), please sign up for our alert list. (See sidebar or, if you’re on a mobile device, scroll down). Be sure to respond when you receive your activation email!

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Bump Stock Compliance

I did my bit.

If you can’t read that (the rubber bands interfered with scanner focus):

To whom it may concern,

Please find enclosed 1 “baker’s dozen” (representing the 13 colonies which rose up in armed rebellion in response to an attempted confiscation) potential bump-stock-type devices (BSTD).

While I realize that you have argued that rubber bands are not BSTDs, I choose not to take the chance, since rubber bands can provide the same spring effect of an Akins Accelerator-type device, and the ATF has a history of pseudo-random changes of mind (shoelaces coming to mind).

Please be assured that I am not in possession of any device you do consider to be a BSTD “machinegun,” unless you change your mind about belt loops which can operate in the same fashion as a springless BSTD.

 

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with truck repairs (too late; I’m selling the truck) and recurring bills. And the rabbits need feed. Truck insurance, lest I be forced to sell it. Click here to donate via PayPal.
(More Tip Jar Options)

Ed. note: This commentary appeared first in TZP’s weekly email alert. If you would like to be among the first to see new commentary (as well as to get notice of new polls and recaps of recent posts), please sign up for our alert list. (See sidebar or, if you’re on a mobile device, scroll down). Be sure to respond when you receive your activation email!

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