Category Archives: shooting

defense of others, guns, self defense, shooting

Controlled violence, or pistols and other things that go boom.

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Guest commentary
Exclusive to The Zelman Partisans
by William Lehman

Various friends and family have come to me over the years to ask questions such as “What type of pistol should I buy? Should I have a shotgun in the house?” and variations on this theme.

Seems some folks think I know a bit about the subject. Well, after carrying a firearm for more than 35 years, much of it for pay, I suppose they’re right. I was a cop for eight years, and in the military for 20. I’ve owned my fair share of weapons, and though my ankles and knees are not up to copping any more, I stay in the loop. I have drawn a weapon in the line of duty – both police and military – and to the best of my knowledge, I’ve never shot anyone.

Many of the following words of advice are not original to me; some of them are paraphrases of such greats as Col. Jeff Cooper; many of these words are distilled wisdom I’ve picked up from guys that REALY know something.

So, you want to join the members of that most unique society — those who are willing to take personal responsibility for their safety? OK, here are the rules:

First rule: You need to answer the following question: will you actually be willing and able to shoot someone in the head or heart, and watch them die before your eyes, maybe while wiping the blood off your face? (Most gunfights happen at a distance of less than 10 feet.) If the answer is “no,” you shouldn’t carry.

A firearm is not a magical talisman you whip out of your pants or purse, speak the magic words, “I have a gun,” and make evil disappear. You’re going to have to be willing to USE it.

Now, in most instances, merely brandishing a firearm is sufficient to make the bad guy suddenly realize he had an appointment across town that he’s now half an hour late for. But bad-guys are animals, and like animals, they can smell a bluff. If you go waving that Tacticool SIG with the laser sights, extended mag loaded with .45 ACP rounds, sporting the trigger job, flashlight, and bayonet in his face expecting to scare him, but without actually being willing to use it, and you may have just given them a high-dollar present with a lot of stupid baubles on it…

Oh, and probably your life, because after taking your firearm away, he will likely kill you. Of course, he would have probably killed you even if you weren’t armed, but at least you wouldn’t have added to his arsenal.

I understand that some folks are just mentally incapable of taking a life. OK, if you can’t, you can’t. Stay with someone who can, or understand that you take a very small, but existing risk of being robbed, raped, and then killed.

If you would rather be a martyr to the cause of non-violence than a survivor who has to report what happened to the police, and maybe live through a trial for daring to defend yourself, cool. Stop reading now, the rest of this is not for you.

Did the peaceniks leave yet?

Good.

I don’t understand that sort of mind set, but I know people, even people about whom I care about very much, who have that outlook. I view these folks the same way I look at those who suffer from a self-inflicted, incurable illness and are doomed to die of it. It’s unfortunate, but ultimately the decision was theirs.

The rest of this essay is for those of who have decided it’s better to be tried by 12 than carried by six.

Second rule: All guns are loaded. Always. Unless you personally checked it, know its condition, and have not let it out of your hand since that time, it’s loaded and there’s one under the hammer.

A while ago, I had an accidental discharge with a gun I always kept loaded. I knew it was loaded, but what I did not know is that my roommate had taken it to the range, and reloaded it afterward with all six rounds, meaning that the round under the hammer was live. When I handled it, my thumb slipped off the hammer and I had an accidental discharge, because I did not properly check my firearm. Best advice is to never assume. Never.

Third rule: Never put your finger in the trigger guard until you have your sights on the target.

Fourth rule: never cover anything with your muzzle that you are not willing to destroy.

These are common sense rules we have all likely heard before, but they bear repeating. Again and again.

Fifth rule: Carry the biggest caliber that you can comfortably control. If the best you can control is a 9mm, I’ll tell you what ammunition will be effective, because only a very few, brands and types of 9mm ammo are effective man stoppers. And if you can’t handle the recoil of a 9mm, start working out, because anything less than a 9mm, while effective under the proper circumstances, will be difficult to use effectively to stop an oncoming threat.

Imagine hitting a moving target the size of an eyeball, while scared out of your gourd, and trying to stay alive. If you can hit a man in the eye, or the bridge of the nose, or the throat, while he’s trying to stick, shoot, or bludgeon you to death, you don’t need to read this, because you’re an assassin.

That said, the prudent pistolero does not get in a gunfight with a caliber that doesn’t begin with a “.4” (.40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .45 LC, .45 GAP, .44, .41. or the two exceptions to the rule: the .357 and the 10mm).

Sixth rule: Try different pistols before you buy one. Shoot a lot, and shoot many different types. Shoot with friends. Try out their firearms. Most gunnies don’t need an excuse to go out and shoot. After you shoot a lot, you’ll find something that fits your hand and that you can shoot comfortably. Buy one just like it. Spend the money to buy a GOOD weapon; you’ll have it for life.

Guns can be heirlooms. Buy a decent handgun, give it a modicum of care, and you will hand it down to your kids, and they will hand it down to their kids, and so on, and so forth. This tool will maintain value better than almost anything other than maybe gold, so buy a good one and take care of it.

Finally: Never plan to get into a gun fight. Pistols are like fire extinguishers. They are there for emergencies. Why would you go anywhere with the expectation of trouble? If you’re expecting trouble, you might want to bring more firepower than just a pistol. Long guns, shotguns, and armed friends should accompany you if you are really expecting problems.

Remember the only fair fight is the one you win. Chivalry is for competitions. In war — whether nationally declared or street — when your life is on the line, giving the bad guy an even chance is a good way to end up dead. And unlike reenactments, movies, or video games, when you’re dead, you’re dead. Your kids get to squabble over your inheritance, and I have to go to your funeral.

I hate funerals, except for those of my enemies.

 

William Lehman is a retired Navy, medically retired police officer, who currently works for the Navy as a civilian and writes the John Fisher Chronicles — an urban fantasy series based in the pacific Northwest.

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Ed. note: This commentary appeared first on 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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shooting

Sounds like a case of premature detonation

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On my own blog today, I synthesized all the information we had so far on the San Bernardino shooting into some hypotheses. I won’t copy/paste the entire thing here, but I will give you the bottom line and let you decide if you want to read my entire thought process.

I wrote this piece as events were unfolding. I also tried to take everything we knew then and know now into account when examining the events in San Bernardino. There are some strange details about this attack that make it seem like it was a bit more spontaneous than a normal jihadist attack. And if you actually read to the end, my assessment is that there may have been a bigger attack planned, but Farook probably lost his temper at the party and launched an unplanned, spontaneous attack on his coworkers, rather than waiting to execute a bigger event elsewhere that he and Malik probably planned. In essence, this is my attempt to analyze the actual details of the event and provide a deeper analysis than just “OMG JIHAD!”

Why do I think this was a case of a jihadist losing his temper and launching an attack early? Several reasons.

According to this CNN update,  “Syed Rizwan Farook — one-half of the couple behind the San Bernardino shooting massacre — was apparently radicalized and in touch with people being investigated by the FBI for international terrorism.”

Given the large number of pipe bombs and lots of ammo found in their house, and given the fact that this guy and his wife were apparently radicalized, and that a band of Middle Eastern men have been reported to have been hanging around,  I think they had something bigger planned. A bigger attack, perhaps, with IEDs and pipe bombs, that was abandoned when Farook stormed out of a holiday party in a rage.

I think these guys aren’t well known for self control. I think something angered him at the party, and he stormed out, went home, and decided to exact his revenge.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this bit of absolute stupidity.

Representative Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) declared, “multi-automatic round weapons are easily available, even though not in California, but they can cross the state line” on Thursday’s broadcast of “MSNBC Live.”

Sanchez said, “the reality is that Congress has been trying to get at some of these issues for the last five years, and we haven’t been able to. We let the Assault Weapons Ban, which was led by our Senator Sen. Dianne Feinstein, we let that lapse. So, you know, multi-automatic round weapons are easily available, even though not in California, but they can cross the state line, as you know. The second thing is, we really haven’t done that much about mental health. I’ve been working with my colleague, Rep. Grace Napolitano (D) here out of the Los Angeles area, to try to get mental health services more available for people, and it hasn’t happened. And then lastly, there are a lot of loopholes in our current laws. So, we can ask people to be registered. We can have waiting periods. A lot of the law-abiding gun purveyors, sellers that sit in our districts, they are following those, but then we have this thing called gun shows, which come into town, sell everything, don’t do these background checks, and there are way too many problems in trying to get this done. And the Congress has a responsibility to close those loopholes, and make it safer for Americans.”

When facepalm is just not enough.
When facepalm is just not enough.

Someone please get me a Stupid to English dictionary, because I seem to lack the comprehension skills to understand what “multi automatic round weapons” are. Are those round guns that point directly back to the shooter? Are they a lot of automatic? Did she take her Lithium today before opening her maw and coming out with so much stupid, that the Man on the Moon is facepalming?

Who elected this creature?

Oh… nevermind. California.

 

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shooting, The Zelman Partisans

You could be a winner in the great 9mm ammo giveaway

Remember last week’s announcement of the Great 9mm Ammo Giveaway by Ammunition to Go and Magtech? Take a newbie to the range, follow a few simple rules, and get two free boxes of ammo.

Well, it gets better. Ammunition to Go offered TZP two free codes for that ammo. We’ve been talking about what to do with them and have decided to use them to reward our most steadfast supporters.

So. Here’s what we’ll do. Every person who is a TZP Founding 100 Premium member as of November 30 will be eligible. On December 1, the names of all Premium members will be put into a hat and a person not connected with The Zelman Partisans will draw two.

Each of the winning Premium members will be sent a code for two free boxes of 9mm ammo and instructions for redeeming them. Simple.

If you’re already a Premium member, you don’t have to do anything. You’ll be entered automatically. If you haven’t yet joined, we’d love to have you. Premium is a three-year membership that gives you (among other things), a 15% discount in the TZP store, an embroidered morale patch, and a personally autographed copy of RebelFire: Out of the Gray Zone. And on December 1, it’ll also give you a shot at two free boxes of ammo.

Is that cool, or what?

One more of the many good reasons to support your favorite no-compromise Jewish pro-gun group!

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guns, shooting

Free 9mm Ammo for taking a newbie to the range

TZP just received this from Brandon Black of Ammunition to Go:

I thought you’d appreciate a new initiative we just launched that will put 100,000 rounds of 9mm ammo into the hands of new shooters for free. We’re calling it “Ammo Ambassadors” and any shooter who takes a newbie to the range will get the free ammo.

We want to make it as easy as possible for people already familiar with shooting and guns to bring somebody who has never shot before to the range and safely teach them about firearms. With an election just around the corner, the more people we can inspire to get familiar with what gun owners actually do with their firearms, the better – especially in this political environment.

Here’s how it’ll work:

  • Find a new shooter who hasn’t been to the range and experienced the joy of shooting before.
  • Download a target off our site and take them to the range.
  • Snap a photo of the new shooter with their target and upload it to our site.
  • You’ll get a coupon code that’s good for two boxes of free 9mm ammo from Magtech – along with free shipping.

We have 100,000 rounds of Magtech 9mm ready to ship right now. We’re hoping to find 1,000 Ammo Ambassadors to take 1,000 new shooters out to the range in the next few weeks.

The details and the target are available here.

It’s on the honor system, guys. So go out and be honorable. Take that neighbor, girlfriend, significant other, son, daughter, or other person who’s never experienced the awesomeness of shooting a firearm and do your bit to keep the shooting community growing.

Funny this comes up just when we’re polling about favorite EDC calibers — and 9mm is coming out on top (24 of the 72 votes cast so far).

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Poll, self defense, shooting

Poll closing soon — results so far

This week’s poll will close shortly. Here are the results so far (click to embiggenate):

Screenshot from 2015-10-02 15:23:15

We’ve had 150 votes (usually with multiple votes per person). I’m not surprised that the largest number chose participating in online pro-gun discussions as one of their gun-rights activities. But in second place is hands-on firearm instruction. Kudos to you — especially those of you who regularly train shooters via Appleseed, hunter education classes, 4H, NRA-certified training, or any other regular means.

And hooray for the resisters of bad laws everywhere!

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gun control, gun grabbers, guns, shooting

A Shooting in Virginia (UPDATED)

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There was a shooting in Virginia today. The shooter, a former WDBJ journalist pulled a gun on two of the station’s reporters and killed them both. He also wounded the woman being interviewed on the air. She is thankfully listed in stable condition. He then proceeded to drive north on I-81 and east on I-66 with police in pursuit before shooting himself in the head.

Before the bodies of 24-year-old reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward were even cold, Virginia’s opportunistic swine of a governor Fast Terry McAuliffe started immediately calling for more gun control.

“There are too many guns in the hands of people that shouldn’t have guns,” McAuliffe said during an interview with WTOP. “There is too much gun violence in America,” he said, adding that he has long advocated for strengthening gun background checks and that it should be made a priority.

The only problem with Fast Terry’s contention is that no background check would have stopped Vester Lee Flanagan from purchasing a gun.

Let’s for a moment ignore the fact that he could quickly and easily have gotten a firearm through illegal means.

Let’s for a moment forget that Vester Lee Flanagan did not have a criminal record, and the only crime he had ever been charged with was driving with an altered or revoked licence and having no registration on his vehicle in Pitt County, North Carolina in 2004, which certainly would not have made him ineligible to purchase a firearm.  And he had no history of mental illness either. In other words, he would have passed any background check any time.

So what would Fast Terry suggest?

Depriving him of his Second Amendment right, because he had a history of filing grievances against his employers?

How about making him ineligible to purchase a firearm because he was black? Or gay?

Or how about taking away his rights because he was upset about being fired and refused to leave, forcing the station to call the police to physically remove him from the premises? Would Terry have infringed on his right to keep and bear arms, because he was a jerk to his co-workers?

I’ve always said that the gun grabbers’ goal was not to reduce violence or save lives, but to disarm those of us who committed no crime whatsoever all for the sake of political expediency.

Fast Terry knows perfectly well that no new law would have stopped this shooting. Flanagan would have passed every background check in the world, so the only option left is for Fast Terry to start working to deny others their rights. Others who may be odd… or gay… or black… or difficult to work with…

As my friend Mike said in an article a long time ago, these politicians want to keep guns out of the “wrong hands” – your hands.

UPDATE: In an interview with Megyn Kelly last night, Alison Parker’s father pledged to do everything in his power to keep guns out of the hands of people he called “crazy.”

I grieve along with Mr. Parker. I cannot imagine the unbearable grief of losing a child! I understand the emotion behind that pledge to shame “legislators into doing something about closing loopholes and background checks.”

However, I also understand the following as a rational person: There was no loophole, and no background check that could have prevented Flanagan from getting a firearm! He was not even seeing a psychiatrist! He was not a prohibited person. There is no background check he would not have passed. The fact that he was an entitled jerk, a bad employee, and a crappy co-worker does not make him mentally ill or ineligible to own a firearm.

There is literally no loophole and no law that allowed him – a law abiding citizen, until he pulled that trigger yesterday – to purchase a gun when he should not have been allowed to do so. None.

And yet, in the heat of grief, the push for more ineffective laws that will do nothing but disarm those who have committed no crime continues, with the likes of Fast Terry and Hillary Clinton leading the charge.

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gun control, New merchandise, shooting, The Zelman Partisans

Fun with targets — put your thinking caps on

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Next item for the TZP store — targets. And we’d like you to help us create the first design.

Here’s the idea: We’ll find five of the dumbest, most idiotic anti-gun quotes we can and print them in the rings of the target. Finding the quotes is where you come in. Please use the comment section on this post to suggest your favorite brain-dead hoplophobe remark.

If you’re the first to suggest a quote that makes it onto one of our targets, you’ll get a free packet of the printed targets.

Rules are simple:

1. The quote must be short enough to fit in the rings of a 8-1/2 x 11 (or maybe slightely larger) target.

2. It must be verifiable (providing a link will help but isn’t required).

3. To have a chance at a free target pack, you must be the first to post it in comments.

4. Entries close midnight EDT July 31, 2015.

So … go for it and have yourself some fun.

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And don’t forget the other nifty items in our store. Their numbers are few so far, but their quality high. You can get yourself a membership, a custom Kershaw folding knife, or a highly attitudinal yarmulke with the TZP logo.

I just got my own yarmulke last week and it’s a very nice, well-made, attractive item. Being a Gentile female, I’ll display, rather than wear, mine. But we’ve had multiple purchases from happy customers who plan either to use them as intended or gift them to people who will. We just lowered the shipping cost on the “buy three and save” offer, also.

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self defense, shooting

The Klown Kar of Stoopid Drives On

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The looting, riots, violence, and downright ignorance in the aftermath of the grand jury decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson for shooting thug extraordinaire Michael Brown continue.

In case you were wondering, the horsebuggery currently includes investigation charges into the “family” of Michael Brown for a violent incident that erupted over some Michael Brown merchandise.  Yes, you got that right. The worthless “parents” of the dead thug have decided to cash in on their son’s demise, by attacking Brown’s paternal grandmother, who was… trying to cash in on her grandson’s demise. (Try to contain your shock and awe, please.)

Communists and Jihadist scum joined the party, using the Ferguson riots as cover to promote their own agendas. This is nothing new. These parasites do have a tendency to glom on to any protest they can find and use it to screech about overthrowing capitalism, call for a Palestinian state, call for violence against police, you name it.

Tolerant, peaceable social justice warriors chose to threaten a young lady who posted a limerick on Tumbler condemning Michael Brown as a thug. Not only did they expose her identity, phone number, address, and university on the Internet (an odious practice called “doxing” that essentially bullies those who might disagree with you into silence for fear for their very lives), but they threatened to rape her mother, to burn down her house, and decapitate and dismember her. Because social justice for anyone who disagrees with the victim mentality is harassment, death, rape, and dismemberment.

The New York Times chose to publish Darren Wilson’s address and the name of his wife (which they later deleted, while leaving his location intact for any miserable thug to exploit). There was no need to publish this. It was not part of the story, and had no relevance to the case. And yet, reporters Julie Bosman and Campbell Robertson chose to publicize the location of the man’s home, almost certainly exposing him and his family to unhinged Ferguson thugs. The New York Times defended the practice, while a social justice warrior on Twitter took the opportunity to publish the exact address and a photograph of the house that he claimed belongs to Wilson. Care to guess how many threats to burn down the house there were?

And finally, a bit of irony on this Tuesday afternoon.The NYT reporters got a taste of their own medicine, when a number of readers decided that turnabout was fair play and published both journalists’ physical addresses, as well as home and work phone numbers. Oooops! Well, apparently, little Julie Bosman wasn’t comfortable with the level of attention she was getting for publishing an innocent man’s and his family’s location in a national press report, so she waltzed her entitled rear end into the nearest police station and demanded protection… yep… from the police… one of whom she worked to get killed without so much as a thought to the consequences.

Sources inside CPD say that Julie Bosman demanded a level of protection afforded A-List celebs and dignitaries, but an investigation revealed that she was not in any danger, and deserved no more than extra attention paid to her address by patrol.

Despite hundreds of phone calls and not a few unsolicited delivery food sent to her Chicago home Bosman “wasn’t under any real threat” says a Chicago police officer.

“She came in thinking she was Steven Spielberg or something shooting a movie” demanding all kinds of protections says a law enforcement source with knowledge of the Chicago police. “The police laughed at her.”

In a world where the Internet gives everyone easy access to almost any kind of information, the right to self defense becomes even more important.

Dissent is not tolerated, and the Internet is used as a tool to threaten, intimidate, and facilitate violence.

Whereas in the past, information on individuals was largely at the fingertips of government agents, it is now at the disposal of any miscreant with a keyboard, who is too cowardly to confront the subject of his consternation in person, but prefers the cyber world to accept that task en masse on his behalf.

Whereas in the past, one may have had to worry about random break-ins, psychotic madmen, and statist government agents, today we can add vindictive cretins compromising your identity, bank information, school, family, and property by making it publicly available to any thug online.

Whereas in the past, you could disagree with someone’s politics, confront them in person, and even publish your disagreement in a press piece without too much fear for your life, now you have to worry about every social justice warrior whose battle cry of “RACIST!” galvanizes bullying Internet jerks to publish your location, threaten your family, and expose your personally identifiable information (PII) for every sociopath and thug to peruse.

They hide behind the First Amendment, claiming the right to publish anything they want without consideration about the consequences of their actions, and they expect unlimited freedom to do so. Meanwhile, they demand that you be disarmed, bound by bureaucracy, castrated by statism, and punished for the deeds of a tiny minority of others who abuse their Second Amendment rights, even as they use the First Amendment to threaten your well-being, your life, your livelihood, and your loved ones.

This is what we’ve come to, boys and girls. This is the state of our society.  If you wonder why more and more of us insist that the government stop infringing on our right to life, right to self defense, and right to keep and bear arms, this is why.

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Political philosophy, self defense, shooting

Ferguson: Thankful For The Founding Fathers’ Legal Legacy

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“Ferguson: Thankful For The Founding Fathers’ Legal Legacy” is my current column, now on WND. An excerpt:

Grand-jury deliberations were conducted behind closed doors. The decision was announced at night. It was too dark. Jurors were given too much information to absorb. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney was not sufficiently involved in the proceedings. The latter, Bob McCulloch, was too “cold” in sharing the cold, hard facts of the case with the public. His remarks were excessively long; or redundant all. The police were too passive in their response to the pillage that followed the unpopular decision.

These are a few of the complaints voiced by the “Racism Industrial Complex (RIC)” against a grand-jury decision in the shooting death of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. A quorum of ordinary Americans has determined that Officer Darren Wilson was not “the initial aggressor,” that the officer “acted in self-defense”; that he “was authorized to use deadly force,” in a situation in which he found himself being punched—and then bull-rushed by a demonic-looking mountain of flesh, Michael Brown. …

… I hate to say it, but these riots are an object lesson as to what transpires in certain chaotic communities when the police practice peaceful resistance.

Let’s face it: Had St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch, a Democrat, opted for an open, probable-cause hearing before a judge, as opposed to convening a grand jury, the “Racism Industrial Complex”—forced to face a decision not to its liking—would be decrying the despotism of this single judge. They’d be calling for a jury of the people’s representatives, as bequeathed by the Founding Fathers, in the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The grand jury institution, as legal analyst Paul Callan has explained, “was actually created by the Founders to provide a wall of citizen protection against overzealous prosecutors.”

Had the decision been revealed in the AM, the RIC herd would have argued for a night-time reveal.

Had Mr. McCulloch meddled with the jury, he’d still be accused of rigging the outcome against Brown.

Had McCulloch hand-picked the evidence for the grand jury, instead of providing the 12 jurors with access to all of it—a “document dump,” brayed Big Media—he’d have been accused of concealing information.

Had the cops moved to curtail the crowds from “venting” over “legitimate issues,” caused by “the legacy of racial discrimination”—the president words—they’d have been convicted of police brutality.

As to the affective dimension, McCulloch’s alleged frigid demeanor: A silent majority whose “culture” is being crowded out still finds such WASPY mannerisms comforting and familiar; a sign of professionalism, dignity, decorum and rationality. Profoundly alien and disturbing was the wretched excesses of Michael Brown’s mother (Lesley McSpadden) and her new husband (Louis Head)—both of whom have had brushes with the law—howling, “Burn this bitch down.” …

… Read the rest. “Ferguson: Thankful For The Founding Fathers’ Legal Legacy” is now on WND.

Happy Thanksgiving.
ILANA

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