authoritarian swine, Elsewhere, gun control, hoplophobia, Israel, Politics

Coffee and Conversation with Moshe Feiglin

June 11, 2015 Sheila Stokes

Our readers are already familiar with this former member of the Israeli Knesset. He was mentioned in columns on 25 January 2015 and 7 January 2015. But for our readers to really get a flavor of what he thinks about gun control in Israel, someone needed to talk to him. I’m mean, really.

And so I did. In an effort to bring our TZP readers good investigation, I went to Israel. Ok, perhaps that’s baloney. I went because I love it and a really patient kind friend invited me to stay with her in her apartment. But as long as I was there….with a little help from a friend I landed a interview with Mr. Feiglin.

Didn’t quite go as I had hoped for a face to face interview, but when you’re only there for a few days and there is a huge list of things to do and see, you take what you can get. Yes, there was a phone interview, yes it took place in a coffee shop. In the Jerusalem bus station at the coffee shop. These babies are all over Israel, and I can do a column on my favorite coffee places in Israel if it become necessary, because man am I a happy camper over there. Along with, well, never mind, I’m digressing. So the interview took place in a coffee shop with a napkin stuck in my left ear to cut out the background noise. It was the best work around I could come up with since I was dealing with a narrow window of time.

Mr. Feiglin is very gracious. I had called his cell the day before to see about an interview. I interrupted him in a meeting. My Hebrew is good enough to apologize and ask when would be a good time I could call him. He gave me a time. I called from the bus en route to Jerusalem. Short version, I got the interview but it ended up taking place on the phone. I can roll with it.

Why do so many Israeli politicians not see that armed citizens would help with safety and security of all citizens? For example the attacks at Har Nof and bus stops? Note: for those not aware there have been several attacks where peaceful Palestinians “lost control” of their vehicles and said vehicles wound up plowing down citizens standing at bus stops and have killed some of them. And other instances where the huge knife they had hidden jumped into their hands and began to plunge itself into innocent bystanders.

His reply made my heart beat faster, probably will yours too, if you think like me. He began to explain that it has to do with the concept of freedom. That to give away freedom is a huge mistake. That disarming citizens can lead to tyranny and power grabs. That the more you centralize power the more vulnerable citizens are. He explained that every time there is a wave of violence that many politicians begin to call for increased gun control. At one time there were 300,000 Israelis that were licensed to carry weapons, today there are only 150,000 and politicians are trying to decrease that number.

Why would Israeli politicians want a disarming populace?

He replied that it is the basic concepts that they do not understand. Basic concepts such as freedom and life. Basic concepts of rights. I caught my jaw before it hit the table when he basically said that G-d gives rights, not politicians. I told him I had heard a Rabbi say that you could live by G-d’s law or die by man’s. He said that was exactly correct. He went on to explain that in the Knesset that a politician had stated that there were 13 case of licensed concealed carry holders shooting someone. I’m guessing he had a notion that statement was coming because when it did he refuted it by adding the information that of the 13, 12 of the cases were shootings by guards that had been hired by companies and schools. They were not using privately owned guns, but ones supplied by their company. What hit me on this one was apparently Israelis like their children and are willing to pursue even politically incorrect solutions to keeping them safe. As opposed to…oh well, you get the idea. He went on to state that with gangs and robbers the ceiling of security would be much better with more people carrying. Apparently the laws do not seem to stop Bedouins and Arabs from carrying weapons. My thought is they seem to use them with appalling frequency.

One thing that is different in Israel than America is the soldiers riding the buses and trains. Of course soldiers in America ride buses and trains. But in Israel they do so with their automatic weapons. And it’s a non-issue. In America politicians would have you believe that to allow a weapon on a bus or train is to invite mayhem. That those weapons will be breaking free of restraining hands and begin to fire at random, innocent targets. Israelis suffer under no such misconception. I felt just fine and dandy standing or sitting on those buses and trains. Should a terrorist be on the bus there would be something way different than disarmed victims to deal with.

Which led to my next question. Are soldiers allowed to carry concealed when they are off duty? I mean, they are the same trustworthy person they were in uniform as they are out of it.

To my somewhat surprise, they are not. He explained there is quite a chain of command question that comes into play when someone is going to discharge a weapon. The to use or not to use. Unfortunately by the time they get clearance it can be a bit late. I suggested perhaps it might be something to consider as if they were carrying the next peaceful Palestinian that aimed his car for a group that appeared to be plain civilians standing at a bus station. The budding terrorist might find quite a surprise when about 3 of the group turned out to be off duty soldiers that were carrying concealed.

While I was there a group of Ethiopians decided they would shut down Menachem Begin highway in Tel Aviv due to accusations of “racisim”. I told him about the riots of Ferguson and Baltimore where the Governor and Mayor chose not to protect the property of shop owners and lives of the Fire fighters and Police. Could Israelis defend their property and life?

Mr. Feiglin pulled back the lens even more than that. He replied that the entire world is losing the concept of freedom in the name of Democracy. He said Israel is losing it, and the younger generation will not know what they have lost. That they will not have a familiarity with what freedom really is to know they need to regain it. He is hoping that the upcoming generation of young Israelis can begin to turn this around and that Israel will come back from this. Our country? He wasn’t so hopeful. He said it may or may not come back. But he didn’t sound very optimistic. I told him that was compliments of our biased media and current educational system. He didn’t disagree.

I asked if the next time I came, would be all right to contact him for another interview. He said of course it would. And I intend to. Perhaps the next one will be the face to face interview.

The Coffee Shop Jerusalem Bus Station — The Coffee Shop
Jerusalem Bus Station

gun grabbers

Dear Dr. Rosen…

June 9, 2015 Nicki 9 Comments

I recently read your letter to the editor of the Greensboro News and Record. In it you claim that since “physicians’ advice to patients routinely includes urging safe sex to protect against sexually transmitted diseases; using seat belts and child car seats; urging smokers to quit; and providing vaccines against flu and pneumonia,” you should be able to give your patients advice on firearms safety – advice I’m not sure you’re qualified to give.

So I tell ya what…

Why don’t you provide documentation of your qualifications to dispense firearms advice — and please include any hard copy certificates, proof of knowledge about the mechanics of firearms, your training as a safety expert in the field, etc. — and I’ll think about allowing you to dispense said advice to my family.

If you don’t have said training, I would propose you increase your malpractice insurance coverage to include advice you’re not even remotely qualified to give based on the following batch of stupid, “Inquiring if there are guns in the home, and whether they are locked, kept separate from ammunition and out of reach of children is basic.”

a) It’s none of your business.

b) Teaching gun safety to children appropriately and keeping an eye on them if there are guns in the house is basic.

c) Will you pay for the medical costs of the rape or assault victim after a confrontation with an armed thug, who took advantage of the precious seconds his victim took to fumble with the gun lock, retrieve the ammunition, thanks to your advice?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Now, I’m not a big fan of legislating silence. I wouldn’t be thrilled with a North Carolina legislative proposal that would restrict doctors’ ability to discuss guns in the home. Except, from what I’m seeing, that’s not what the bill does.

Any written questionnaire or other written form a health care provider asks a patient or the patient’s parent, guardian, or custodian to complete that contains any question regarding the patient’s lawful ownership, possession, handling, storage, maintenance of, or other conduct involving firearms and ammunition shall clearly and conspicuously contain or have attached to it a notice that the patient is not required to answer any question related to those matters. The notice shall be located or provided in a manner that is clearly visible to the patient prior to completion of any questionnaire or other written form containing a question about firearms and ammunition as provided in this section.

It merely makes sure that the patient understands he or she is under no obligation to answer your questions or bow to your paranoia.

I’m pretty sure it will also allow the patient to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to keep you as a physician, since you feel yourself qualified to dispense medical advice without proper training in firearms or their safe handling.

Heck, I’d be finding myself a new doctor right quick.

Maybe that’s what you’re worried about?

authoritarian swine, gun control, gun grabbers, guns

New assaults, old strategy

June 9, 2015 Nicki 6 Comments

You know…

It seems that once again the gun grabbers are using the tried and true strategy of simply modifying, updating, or otherwise altering existing laws in order to relieve us of our rights. Since they couldn’t bully Congress into passing more restrictions on the Second Amendment after the Sandy Hook tragedy, they’ve engaged in outright assaults on our rights in other ways. This is in addition to the slew of new legislative proposals that have no hope of actual passage in Congress… we hope.

Carolyn Maloney (D-imwit, NY) proposed legislation to force gun owners to have liability insurance or pay $10,000 fine, claiming since we mandate car insurance, why not gun liability insurance. Of course, she’s ignoring the fact that there is no federal mandate to insure your vehicle, but hey… why spoil a good narrative with facts?

A New Jersey Democrat last month introduced an effort to stop online ammunition purchases. Bonnie Watson’s bill would require federally licensed ammunition dealers to confirm the identity of those wanting to purchase ammunition online by verifying photo identification in person and require ammunition vendors to report any sales of more than 1,000 rounds within five consecutive days to the U.S. Attorney General, if the person purchasing ammunition is not a licensed dealer.

Carolyn Maloney, who introduced the insurance liability bill, also introduced this abortion of a bill that would require sellers to conduct background checks for all purchases at gun shows and require all purchases to be reported to the Attorney General. This time Maloney rages that “…more children die from gunshot wounds than cancer.”

The American Cancer Society says cancer is the second leading cause of death in children (after accidents). About 1,250 children younger than 15 years old are expected to die from cancer in 2015. Given advances in cancer research, I would think this number is actually on the decline.

In 2013, the last year for which data is available, according to the CDC, 193 children younger than 15 years of age died of firearm homicides, 69 died of accidental shootings, and 138 killed themselves using a firearm. If my calculator is correct, that makes 400, and that makes Maloney a liar. Again.

Plus, it’s not like dealers already don’t conduct background checks at gun shows! This is Maloney’s sneaky way to introduce background checks between private individuals – an effort that already has been rejected by legislators post Sandy Hook.

Last month, the State Department got into the gun-control fray with a proposal posted in the Federal Register that would require anyone who posts technical details about arms and ammunition online to first receive approval from the federal government or face a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years in jail.

This is a threat to the free speech of gun owners and enthusiasts about which we should all be concerned. State claims it’s merely clarifying some regulations that were passed prior to the advent of the Internet as a mass media tool. But when you threaten to penalize anyone posting technical information about firearms and ammunition online with outrageous fines and jail time, even the most ardent gun grabbers should take pause.

If you want to comment on this proposal, you can do so. The State Department will listen. No… really! Stop laughing!

Public comments are currently being accepted on the proposal. Comments can be made at regulations.gov or via e-mail at DDTCPublicComments@state.gov with the subject line, ”ITAR Amendment—Revisions to Definitions; Data Transmission and Storage.” The deadline for comments is Aug. 3.

Seriously, a public outcry is the only way to stop this, and the more publicity it gets, the better. After all, how many of us read the Federal Register for pleasure? (OK – maybe me, but only sometimes! I swear!)

In all seriousness, this is an old strategy.

We’re not controlling guns! We’re simply requiring you to purchase liability insurance. Eventually the guns will be rendered cost-prohibitive. But hey, they’re not regulating guns, right?

We’re not controlling guns! We’re controlling ammunition! Nothing in the Second Amendment says your right to keep and bear ammo is sacrosanct!

We’re not controlling guns! We’re just limiting your right to discuss them in technical terms without government permission. And we’ll imprison you if you do. After all…

No gun owners… no guns.

hatred of Jews, Israel, Media, Political philosophy, Politics, resistance, Schools and campuses

An Early Warning Resource

June 8, 2015 Y.B. ben Avraham 4 Comments

A few days ago one of our valued readers recommended we check out a new group and their website, called Canary Mission.

In the event you had not been aware, many on the political Left have undertaken a Boycott-Divest-Sanction (hereinafter, BDS) movement against the modern State of Israel, its supporters, businesses, citizens, etc.

Modeled upon similar efforts undertaken against pre-Mandela/pre-ANC South Africa, they wish to pressure individuals, commercial enterprises, associations of every stripe, and governments themselves to boycott, divest from, and sanction any and all activities with Israel, Israelis, their businesses, associations, academia, government, etc.

This movement is intended make them a pariah, and thus to submit to the will of the BDS proponents, conforming everything about their lives, their land, and their society to these peoples’ dictates.

Even a brief review of various BDS proponents, organizers, and activists readily reveal, beyond their dripping self-righteousness, is that they 1) seethe with hatred for Israel and anything remotely like an observant Jew or patriotic Israeli, and 2) they vociferously hide and deny it whenever before an English-speaking, outside-the movement, audience.

Enter Canary Mission. Using the very methods of the BDS’ers themselves, they provide profiles on people and organizations active in the BDS movement. Further, they seem to have done their research and provide it for the reader.

At this point you might be asking “Is it not possible to criticize Israel, especially the actions of its government, without being a Jew Hater?”

Of course you can. In fact, the most harsh and unrelenting critics of Israel are Israeli Jews, followed closely behind (although, admittedly… for reasons that may become obvious, among fellow Jews) by Jews outside of Israel.

But is that not what the BDS movement is doing. Not at all.
I would urge our readers to visit Canary Mission and draw their own conclusions.

For myself, the shrill, spitting, outrage with which the BDS’ers are reacting to the appearance of this new voice is very heartwarming. I think they hit a vital organ in a very dangerous, and previously successful beast.

authoritarian swine, gun grabbers, Politics

Bloomberg: A heads-up

June 4, 2015 Claire Wolfe 4 Comments

We can hope nothing comes of it. It might be just the media having a slow day. But gun owners (and anybody who cares about freedom) should be aware: there’s apparently a campaign to draft Michael Bloomberg as the Dem candidate for president.

(Pretty ironic in light of yesterday’s blog about the other man who fancies himself to be something like our first Jewish president.)

Of course, aside from no-hoper Jim Webb, every Dem in the race is an anti-gunner to one degree or another. But Bloomberg? Forget Judaism. Gun control — and people control — is his real religion. Uber authoritarian! And given that he’s probably a more effective executive than the whole scurvy Dem field, he’d be a truly terrifying presidential prospect.

The draft-Bloomberg plan is supposedly being pushed by Wall Streeters. So it’s potentially backed by big money but might not have either popular support or Bloomberg’s cooperation.

Uncategorized

Our first Jewish president???

June 3, 2015 Claire Wolfe 4 Comments

Obama, who has no shortage of admiration for his own intellect, character, learning, and general all-round goodness, now says he’s also the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in the presidential office.

Well, I guess in a world where Bill Clinton was “our first black president,” that could make sense.

But I’m beginning to suspect that the truth is that all recent U.S. presidents have actually been aliens. Not as in Mexican. But as in, “What planet are you from, man?” Mr. Obama may be the most alien of all in terms of light years from any earthly reality.

authoritarian swine, genocide, hatred of Jews, Jewish history, resistance

Assassinating evil

June 2, 2015 Vladka Peltel 5 Comments

This week marks the 73rd anniversary of the death of one of the most evil men who ever lived. He was also the only high Nazi official ever assassinated.

He was Reinhard Heydrich. Hitler called him the man with the iron heart.

He had an iron fist, too. Immediately after being installed as “protector” of two eastern European regions, he ordered 400 people slaughtered just so he could enjoy some quiet space. Four hundred was nothing to him, though. “Disappearing” political opponents was one of his jobs. He was the architect of Krystallnacht and a planner of the Holocaust. He chaired the infamous Wannsee Conference.

British-trained Czech and Slovak assassins hit him on May 27, 1942. It took him eight well-deserved days of misery to die.

Of course, the Nazis retaliated. First there was Lidice. Then Operation Reinhard, the code name for the truly final part of the Final Solution. (That would have happened anyhow; but it was named in grotesque “honor” of Heydrich.)

One of the favorite libertarian mental games is “would you go back in time and assassinate Hitler if you knew it would save millions of lives and prevent a war?” Of course even if you could travel backwards, you couldn’t know what the outcome would be. With Heydrich, we do know the outcome. At least we know the outcome of assassinating him after he had grown to full monsterhood and woven himself deep within the deadly fabric of Nazi officialdom.

There’s a man who should have been strangled in his cradle. Or if not that, been given the death penalty by his first intended victim.

——————————————————————————

ETA: Be sure to watch the video Y.B. posted below! It brings the brave story of the resisters to life.

gun control, gun grabbers, guns, Schools and campuses

Armed Campus Lies

May 27, 2015 Nicki 5 Comments

I woke up to some great news this morning. A Texas bill, restoring the fundamental right of faculty and students over the age of 21 with a concealed handgun permit to carry firearms inside classrooms on public and private college campuses, tentatively passed the Texas House the night before. It passed despite the sniveling objections of school administrators, although thanks to a last-minute amendment, schools are allowed to create “reasonable” regulations pertaining to the presence of firearms on school grounds.

What constitutes “reasonable,” is anyone’s guess.

The bill still has to be approved by the Texas state Senate before it’s signed into law by the governor, and you can be sure that the gun grabbers’ disinformation machine will kick into high gear before this happens.

The clueless, quivering bottom lip horde continue to bring up the specter of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre as justification for disarming law-abiding, innocent adults on America’s campuses, likely hoping you will ignore the fact that Virginia Tech was a “gun free” campus to begin with… well, gun free other than the gunman!

This year, a survivor of that shooting and another from the Virginia Tech massacre testified in a committee hearing that arming students wouldn’t make campuses safer. William H. McRaven, chancellor of the University of Texas System and a four-star admiral who led the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, argued that the policy would endanger students and teachers.

Arming students wouldn’t make campuses safer? Do the words: Appalachian School of Law ring a bell? Yeah, that’s the one where armed students actually stopped a gunman.

Oh, did we hope no one would bring that up?

Frankly, I’m appalled that McRaven – a retired flag officer and special ops expert who oversaw the mission that ended up in the death of Bin Ladin – would forget how critical firearms are to safety and security and outright lie by claiming that concealed carry would somehow make campuses “less safe.”

Worse, the gun grabbers are using his rank to bolster his credibility on this particular issue, and he appears only too happy to allow them to do it. Using your military rank to lend credence to your political views is abhorrent to me as a veteran.

Anti-gun armedcampuses.org claims that “ gun-free policies have helped to make our post-secondary education institutions some of the safest places in the country.” McRaven must have been huffing their glue.

While homicides on college campuses are relatively rare, I would submit that has more to do with the fact that college students and professors tend to be a less violent, more law-abiding bunch writ large, so it’s doubtful that “gun free” policies have had anything to do with that, despite the disingenuous claims of the group. Additionally, the states that do allow concealed carry on its college campuses – Idaho, Utah, and Colorado – have not been made less safe by the passage of concealed carry laws.

“Our parents, students, faculty, administrators, and law enforcement all continue to express their concerns that the presence of concealed handguns on campus would contribute to a less-safe environment, not a safer one,” McRaven wrote in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus.

The paranoid fantasies of cowards do not interest us. We’ve seen time and time again that disarming the law-abiding does nothing to protect them from violence, and we’ve seen near daily reports of armed citizens stopping criminals.

Perhaps McRaven should spend a bit more time focusing on how better to educate America’s college students and a bit less time inventing excuses to render them defenseless.

After all there is a negative relationship between education and violent crime.

Elsewhere, gun control, hatred of Jews, Israel, mindset, Politics

One of These Things May Be Like The Other

May 26, 2015 Sheila Stokes 3 Comments

I listened to a radio broadcast a few weeks ago that pointed out that the things that happen in Israel are then reflected in America. The first example the radio host gave was the amount of residents displaced from Gush Katif due to pressure exerted by the US and the U.N. was proportional to the amount of residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina just a week later. I admit it, I was ignorant of the connection.

The next example the radio host discussed was a recent Molotov cocktail attack and what the streets have looked like during the intifadas. How the US is pressuring Israel to accept a two state solution, which will give them indefensible borders. He then talked about turning on the TV and seeing Baltimore burning. He said it looked like the streets in parts of Israel during the intifadas.

So if America is a reflection of what takes place in Israel and the two are tied together, what might we be expecting? What things do we hold near and dear that we may see affected as they have been in Israel.

Is religious freedom in America under attack? This video was shot on Har Habayit, the Temple Mount. The holiest site in Judaism, it is in Israel, the Jewish state. But, Jews are not allowed to pray there. Moshe Dyan handed it back over to the Jordanians about 15 minutes after Israel regained control of it in the Six Day War. All faiths were to have been allowed equal access to pray. But that’s not what has happened. Muslims harass the Jewish and Christian visitors to the site. If they feel someone is praying the wafq (who also decides if you get to go up or not) has the Israeli police throw you out, and they will. The Israeli police discriminate against the Jewish and Christians that come to Har Habayit, against the Muslims? Naw, not so much. The courts have declared Jews and Christians are allowed to pray there, but as you can see, it’s not happening. To be fair, I wouldn’t want their job, but they aren’t exactly being fair either.

Would you be willing to walk through this to go to pray at your house of worship?

This is taking place inside of Israel, and the government is not standing up for the people. In fact the government is making it harder. The harpies that are screaming at the visitors are paid by Hamas, this is how they earn their living. They show up, steal stuff off the Temple Mount, protest the Jews and Christians and get paid by Hamas. Is that our tax dollars by chance? Well, what do we have? Oh, as it turns out the protestors in Ferguson Missouri that rioted were paid also! Or, not paid, so they are protesting not getting paid to protest. Any guesses as to the chances some of the rioters in Baltimore that were given room to steal and destroy were paid imports?

Could you ever envision a time within American borders when your free speech is threatened by someone who disagrees with it? Naw, that won’t happen here, not within our borders. Just because it’s already affected free speech for our neighbors to the north, Canada.