I admit, I need to make time to write about Masada. But as I was prowling the JPFO website I came across a page dedicated to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. You know, the usual kind of stuff you find on the other Second Amendment groups pages.
They knew they weren’t going to win. They fought on anyway because it was the right thing to do. Some battles are worth having, because some things matter that much. Freedom, to live where and how you would, to worship, to speak, to peaceable assemble, to write and say what is on your mind and to keep the things that ensure those G-d given rights. Those things would be guns. Of course in this day an age, only certain groups have those “permissions”. Those of Judeo-Christian values, maybe not so much. In this day and age of the nanny state do you have the freedom to eat bacon or pink cookies as you choose?
How did they wind up in the Warsaw Ghetto?
I went to a lecture Wednesday on Females in the Fatherland. Did you know in the 1930s Germany they had the largest Feminist movement in the world? And yet the Reich had no leadership roles for women, women were basically baby factories (much like modern day Islam) and the Reich (much like modern day Islam) expected women to be subservient to men and to act for the benefit of others. What self respecting woman in her right mind would want her daughters to grow up that way?Turns out, tons of them. Women CHOSE to vote for the tyrant hitler (no, I did NOT mean to capitalize his name). They CHOSE to condemn their children both boys and girls to growing up under tyranny. Why? Because of the 1920s, 1930s German versions of MSNBC, CNN and basically all the mainstream media outlets of the day. Posters, pictures, and newspaper articles won over the weak minded sheeple and the voted for hitler in DROVES! I have no clue if they got their free “hitlerphone” or “freestuff” or not.
But I guess I just feel like thinking about those long ago resistance fighters, the JFO. Yep, the Jewish Fighting Organization.
This is the full text of the Declaration of the JFO that is talked about in the video. Yes, in English.
Poles, Citizens, Freedom’s Soldiers.
Amidst the din of artillery with which the German army is firing into our houses, into the
homes of our mothers, children and wives;
Amidst the rattle of the machine guns which we are capturing while battling cowardly
gendarmes and SS-men
Amidst the smoke of fires and the dust of the blood of the murdered Warsaw Ghetto – we –
the prisoners of the Ghetto – send you our brotherly and cordial greetings.
We know that in heartfelt pain and tears of sympathy, that with admiration and fear for
the outcome of this battle you are watching the war that for many days now we are fighting
with the merciless occupiers.
But know also that each threshold in the Ghetto is a bastion and will remain so, that
though we may all perish in the battle but we will not surrender, that like you we are
gasping for revenge and punishment for all the criminal acts of our common enemy.
The fight is on for your and our F r e e d o m.
For your and our – human, societal, national – honor and dignity.
We shall avenge the crimes of Oświencim, Treblika, Belz, Majdanek.
Long live the brotherhood of blood and arms of Fighting Poland!
Long live F r e e d o m!
Death to the torturers and tormentors!
Long live the battle to the death with the occupiers!
THE JEWISH FIGHTING ORGANIZATION
Because some of them made it out alive some things survived. The stories of what they went through, the coping mechanisms they used, the resistance methods they used, the history, the culture, the legacy, and some lives. They went on, had wives, husbands and children. In the end they defeated the evil that would have destroyed them all. Because they lived. Not as slaves, as free people.
There is nothing I can write that will rival, or even equal what my fellow JPFO writer has published for her final alert for JPFO. The legendary Claire Wolfe has done a column in honor of and a tribute to Aaron Zelman. He was the founder of JPFO and they worked together on Rebel Fire.
They are both one of a kind. I’m privileged to have talked to Aaron on the phone several time. I’m more honored he knew who I was when I called.
And now I exchange emails with Claire Wolfe, because of Aaron. I’ve been privileged to fight along side Claire in the battle to save JPFO, to maintain the legacy that Aaron left. To keep it from being squandered by foolish short sighted men.
My heart is just breaking. IF JPFO goes down, there is no place left for people like me. People who want freedom without compromise. What other group is as honest with their members? I can’t think of one either.
Some of us have been praying all along. I know that G-d is perfectly capable of changing hearts and mind of people. If you feel so inclined, would you too, pray for JPFO to survive, as Aaron intended it. As he founded it, worked for it and left it?
As for me? I know G-d has a path, and I will do my best to follow it. But this is a job I would dearly have loved. To be Public Relations Director for a group with JPFO’s “Brass Cajones”. If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, that’s one of the awards JPFO has garnered.
For right now, there is not enough Sweet Tea and okra in the world to drown my sorrow.
Please, read the incredible Claire Wolfe’s post on “In Praise of an Uncompromising Bastard”. You will understand what there is at stake, what we are losing and why I am inconsolable.
Well, this stinks to high heaven. Worse than roadkill. Make sure you click on the media player. It’s the perfect song to go along with this post. It comes from the JPFO “Freedom Music Page”.
JPFO, Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership, has wandered in the desert since it’s founder Aaron Zelman died. Aaron founded JPFO in 1989 and was an absolute fighter for freedom. He did not believe in compromise of freedom, liberty or gun rights. JPFO has produced movies, pamphlets and books all aimed at educating people about freedom and how to effectively fight for freedom. He would not accept smoky back room deals that would betray members and their trust of the organization. There is a reason that JPFO had earned the reputation as a fearless, uncompromising and fierce defender of the Second Amendment. JPFO has won numerous awards for the material it has produced including, but not limited to:in 2000 – Brass Roots, Brass Cajones Award. The group raked in several other awards for the materials it turned out. But I work for a organization that won the Brass Cajones award. There is a reason for that.
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!”~~Barry Goldwater
So, with all this in mind, I’m going to post some of Claire Wolfe’s blog, she has done an excellent summary of what is going on. As much as we know. I first found out about this last week on Thursday when Deb and I were working on the Israeli booths. The team of “resistance fighters” began forming that night. I’ve only been PR Director since the first part of August, and I truly looked forward to that job as it’s a group I believe in so whole heartedly. I won’t give the names of the other two fighters, but we join the legendary Claire Wolfe in fighting back against the forces of evil. And evil it is.
JPFO approached SAF. Well, at least ONE board member of JPFO approached SAF. In the article David quotes Gottlieb as saying SAF had absorbed KeepandBearArms.com and kept it running as it was before. That is a bat rabid lie. ANYONE who knows what KeepandBearArms was before knows it is a bat rabid lie.
This is a FaceBook exchange on the KeepandBearArms fiasco:
Former KeepAndBearArms Insider: KeepAndBearArms.com is nothing like it was before the SAF takeover.
The original writers were all hard line, “no compromise” firebrands. So it attracted that kind of stalwart.
Now it’s vanilla by comparison, with a small fraction of the reach and influence.
A similar motivation was at play: financial dire straits and raw fatigue.
Hindsight is 20/20. Shoulda coulda woulda frustration has plagued me for a decade.
JPFO friend: So having read Claire’s blog, what would your advice be?
Former KeepAndBearArms Insider: Her general idea of a member/owner group that keeps JPFO real and honors Aaron is essential.
Selling to SAF is going to cost JPFO’s identity. The word “merger” is disingenuous. “Absorption and dilution” are more like it.
At some point, after it’s done, current JPFO leaders won’t even be able to get Gottlieb on the phone — let alone get their voices out to JPFO members.
Initially it appeared that SAF might want to keep some of the JPFO team intact and I was asked if I would write for SAF. I said maybe. Having been in a group that chose to censor the truth rather than to be honest with it’s membership before I was edgy about the prospect. After a few days we found out it was the same board member that had approached SAF to betray us that wanted to know. SAF never had any intention it seems of preserving JPFO, as JPFO. Rather they want the mailing list, the list of members, inventory and best of all the respectability and “chops” that JPFO has EARNED by not COMPROMISING on freedom. As opposed to Gottlieb who goes along with Barak Obama, Manchin and Toomy that Universal Background Checks are a good deal. SAF will dismember JPFO in more ways than one.
Understand this, there is a STRONG plan in place to save JPFO, we have members of the resistance that will step up as board members, and G-d knows, they need to be replaced. Well, maybe not Doug. Doug is a very good boss, and has done an amazing job of pulling JPFO back up after Aaron died, but the other two? I mean, who betrays a group to it’s enemy? We have financial backing. So WHY would the board choose to give a group like JPFO away to it’s enemy rather than let control be assumed by people that obviously love it and are fighting as hard as they can to save it. A question certainly worth asking isn’t it?
Now back to Claire:
Don’t threaten, yell, or be profane (not that you would, anyhow). But tell them what JPFO really is to you — not just some disposable appendage of Gottlieb’s fundraising factory.
Tell them whatever is true for you. But if one of those truths is that you have supported a strong, hardcore, independent JPFO and you want no other kind, tell them that.
If you admired Aaron and consider the planned merger a betrayal of his life’s work, tell them that.
If you want your donations back because you now believe that you gave under false pretenses, tell them that.
If you want them to halt the SAF merger and give our alternative plan a fair hearing, tell them that.
If you want them to halt the SAF merger but do something else besides hear our plan, tell them that. I am not trying to push our particular plan. I’m telling you it’s the only active alternative to the SAF sellout, and it’s a good one, and it’s by dedicated JPFO people, and the board acts like it’s not even there. But if something even better could keep JPFO independent I’d be all for it and I think others who care about JPFO would agree.
Tell the board members as nicely and firmly as you can what they’re doing to your JPFO and what you think or realistically plan to do in response.
Ask them if they really want their own legacy to be “the men who sold out Aaron Zelman for a few shekels” or “the men who were too weak even to sustain what a giant built for them.”
Remember, I said Doug is a very good boss! He is not the problem, but he does need to know what you think. His email address is Doug Schuett —jpfoscty@att.net
And lastly, do some people just make you think of Judas? You know, like a Judas Goat? Or maybe Judas Iscariot, which is where the term Judas Goat came from. In the end he sure didn’t enjoy the 30 pieces of silver he gained for the betrayal of Jesus did he. Hanged himself in regret for the betrayal as I recall. So perhaps Judas Iscariot had a conscience, too little and too late. Which is what it will be if this merger goes through. Too little, too late. JPFO, as it really is will be gone. Betrayed by people that wouldn’t allow it to be saved by people that really love it. HOW ON EARTH can you work with a man like Aaron Zelman, who loved freedom and the Second Amendment so fiercely and then CHOOSE to betray JPFO to a group like SAF who supports Universal Background Checks? I mean REALLY, they worked out SO flippin’ well for the Jews, Christians, Gypsies and Political dissenters in the 30s and 40s in Germany didn’t it? And if they don’t understand that I can recommend a GREAT book called Gun Control-Gateway to Tyranny. It’s available from a freedom loving group called JPFO, or perhaps taking a peek at the JPFO Genocide chart. If you have ANY doubts about what the end game is, go back and read my column on “Yad Vashem“. That should clear it right up.
Oh, I’m sorry, did I travel far afield? That brings us to our last board member.
Executive Board Director
Robert (Bob) Meier — bob@rhmeier.com
So, sign the petition Online Petition, email the board. And pray. Because this IS a spiritual battle. Believe it. When innocent people are being set up to be at the mercy of thugs and tyrants it is always a spiritual battle. When strong honest people are being betrayed it is a spiritual battle. G-d is perfectly capable of changing hearts and minds, he is also capable of making roads where none exist. But understand this clearly. The board to this moment has NOT acknowledged our counter offer. I confess it, at this point I’d be more in favor of a Hellfire missile. I’m beyond ticked! Perhaps SAF has done some good things, and perhaps it has it’s place. But that place is NOT taking over JPFO!
Yes indeed, it seems JPFO has added some new team members. From what I’m hearing the new team members are very excited and happy to be part of the “A” team. JPFO is a group that is strong, principled, tenacious and fearless!
I’ve heard the new team members are thrilled! To be working with JPFO, the team of writers and the members.
Lets wish them every success and help them spread the information that can help us and U.S. live in freedom, as G_d and our forefathers so clearly intended!
August 2nd 2014
Stokes-Begley and Alpert Join
Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) is pleased to announce that two long-time activists and supporters have now joined our staff.
Sheila Stokes-Begley, former president of the Western Missouri Shooters’ Alliance, has signed on as our new Public Relations Director. Bullet manufacturer Brad Alpert is our new Operations Director.
Sheila, a health-care professional, has been a gun-rights activist since 2003. She has written many articles and editorials. As Public Relations Director, she will interact with JPFO writers, serve as a spokesperson, and reach out to members and donors. We have been extremely impressed by her attitude, friendliness, tenacity, knowledge, and Second Amendment experience.
Sheila believes that G-d intended for people to live in freedom. She thinks that America is asleep because of a “normalcy bias” — the misguided belief that because nothing “really bad” has ever happened in America, nothing ever will. When she says, “Never Again,” she means never again for Jews, Christians, or any other vulnerable group of people.
Brad is the founder and owner of the Missouri Bullet Company and also one of the founders of the Western Missouri Shooters’ Alliance. He is an experienced op-ed writer who was once fired for defending the Second Amendment too passionately. He will work to build JPFO’s presence within the firearms industry, advise us on strategies, and (along with our advisor, Rabbi Dovid Bendory) help ensure JPFO’s legacy and future as an ardently Jewish pro-gun voice.
Brad’s love affair with the Second Amendment began when he was five and his father first allowed him to handle a .22 (and taught him the rules of gun safety). As a farm boy, he had plenty of opportunity to shoot. He was also a thinker and a reader, and it was reading that led directly to his lifelong activism.
When a crazed ex-Marine named Charles Whitman climbed a tower in Austin, Texas in 1966, and began killing people, a national periodical used the tragedy to issue a virulent call for “gun control.” This despite the fact that armed citizens had saved countless lives by joining police in stopping Whitman. The then-15 year-old Brad was outraged at the publication’s bigotry. The letter he wrote them was published and he realized he had a mission in life to correct wrongful information about firearms. He has since written and spoken about gun rights countless times, including making appearances at the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference.
His particular emphasis matches JPFO’s: to inform the world that “gun control” is a cynical attempt to control and subdue populations and to stress that guns in private hands can ultimately prevent future Holocausts.
Sheila and Brad have worked jointly on many pro-gun efforts. With their established track record they will make a great team for JPFO.
In addition, we say farewell and thank you to long-time associate Charles Heller, who lent his public relations and gun-rights expertise to our organization in the difficult transition period after the 2010 passing of our founder, Aaron Zelman.
I didn’t get to see all the outside exhibits. I did get to see the ones that really called to me, and one that didn’t, but it stopped me cold when I got to it.
The first one we came to on the path we took was the cattle car. Beside the cattle car engraved into a wall behind it was testimony given at the Nuremberg trials. It’s the story of a man who was a prisoner in one of the cattle cars. He told what gems he traded a German towns person at a train stop for a cup of water. He traded some outrageous sum, a diamond maybe? But I think it was all the wealth he had left for that cup of water. There was a woman in the car with him who was determined he was going to give part of it to her little son. Not herself, her little son. And she kept after him, and kept after him until finally he did give her a little of the last for her son. He said when he left the cattle car the little boy was laying on the floor unresponsive and not moving. Yes, you can be unresponsive and the body still move.
Dedicated in memory
Cattle Car
There was a section called “The Garden of the Righteous Among The Nations”. There are walls arranged by country. On each countries wall are the names of those who are not Jewish that risked their lives to save the lives of Jews. On each tree is the name of a person and their country. No, it’s not a forest. There are a lot of trees, but it’s not a forest. I can only hope there were many cases of just regular people helping, that no one ever heard about.
The Garden of the Righteous Among The Nations
There is a a HUGE pillar called “Pillar of Heroism”. This is probably my favorite sculpture. It’s so tall I can’t even get the whole thing in a picture! This picture is from the Yad Vashem site. At least you can see what it looks like.
Pillar of Heroism
There is a stone plaque near it inscribed “Now and forever in memory of those who rebelled in the camps and ghettos, fought in the woods, in the underground and with the Allied forces; braved their way to Eretz Israel; and died sanctifying the name of God”.
Heroes
A few thoughts on all this. First, the movie Defiance. It starred the anti-gun twit Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski. Why does this anger me so much? Because part of the movie shows him going to a poor Russian farmer he had connections with and begging for a gun and ammunition. The farmer manages to procure one and gives it and the ammunition to him. The next time you see the Russian farmer he has been tortured and killed and the message left it was because he helped the Jews. One would think old Daniel might use some of his wealth to buy a clue, but that seems to happen with actors and actresses about never. He never catches on this stuff happened, and there is no reason it couldn’t again. And yet he uses the platform he gains from his movie fame to preach his anti-gun screed. No, I don’t see many movies. Most actors and actresses I refuse to enrich with either money or fame.
I think the world’s moral compass has gone nuts. While we see the outcome of allowing a group to be isolated and vilified, we now allow groups to freely play the “victim” or “racism” card to shut down open discussion on any topic they don’t want people to talk about, or when facts are about to get in the way of their agenda. And the opinions they seem to try hardest to shut down are the Judeo-Christian values that are most likely held by most of the population of this country at least. Politicians on the left and the “news” media freely join in this game labeling those that support traditional ways of life as “extremist”. They label returning military veterans as “extremist” and a threat. Then they condemn them to a socialized health care system, made worse purposefully by the VA. Politicians and the elitists on the left are creating different classes of citizens, but to what purpose I wonder. The majority in the past has rather meekly backed down when faced with such accusations of intolerance or racism or_____. I mean after all, most of us were raised to be polite, not purposefully giving offense to any. Far too many do not understand that giving offense, is the least of their problems. The left does this with a reason. It seems those preaching most loudly for “tolerance” have—none.
I remember when I first made the “hummus team” the fellow in charge at the time and I were having a discussion on guns. I know shocking. But he asked me why I was so insistent (ok, maybe he used a stronger word, I don’t remember) I turned and looked him in the eye and said “Because when I say NEVER AGAIN I MEAN IT! Not your people, not my people. Never again will any group of people be at the mercy of government that wants to exterminate them. EVER. I want to make sure there are tools there that can back it up. Words sometimes aren’t enough”. After he started breathing again, we ended up having a really good discussion about his time in the service and his M1.
The sculpture that tore at me? The one I hadn’t look for, the one that didn’t call to me? The one that was on our path out of the gardens. It was made of iron I suppose. It appeared to be just stick bodies piled up, arms and legs supporting the layer on top, horrifying in it’s simplicity. Perhaps I was meant to see and share it. There are things in this life that are not a game. They are a warning, a message. We ignore it at our own peril.
Anguish
Why do I write about such sad things? Patterns, for one. Are you seeing them? Such a tragedy in the history of man-kind? Because if I can put enough detail about some of these people out there that you remember them, and you think about them from time to time, even though you never met them? Then in a way their lives are still touching others. The nazis failed. They didn’t snuff out their lives. People are still thinking of them, they are remembered, perhaps their surviving family will merit a prayer? Perhaps our country will get a prayer? Then the nazis failed. I win. You win. They lose. Good plan.
I’m not really Israeli, I’m not Jewish, but I care deeply about Yad Vashem, and you should too. Why? Read on.
Get coffee, get a BIG cup of coffee.
This was my first big adventure, after landing at Ben Gurion airport with it’s plaque telling when it was freed by the IDF on the 10th of July 1948 in the War for Independence.
The visit to Yad Vashem starts out in a theater. It has a looping film showing slices of life, conversation and music in the days before the madness began. It’s like being behind the lens of a camera that is panning a street. There are apartment buildings and you see people through the windows doing things like having dinner, practicing a violin, teaching, visiting. Then you might see a office building, or a factory. Through their windows you see people doing things. Eventually the panning shifts and you see country side with people working, children playing. Slices of normal life, the way life should have remained for them, but didn’t. Yad Vashem covers why it didn’t, what happened when it didn’t and the final “victory”, which it was, but at a fearful price.
The first of the displays talks about what life was like, before the nazis really had power, they were just beginning to grow in their influence. How many of the Jews were professional people, like doctors, lawyers, teachers. Many if not most, I imagine, of the children went to school, like other children. They had families, lives and their synagogues. Slowly that began to change. Initially Germans resisted the attempts to vilify their neighbors that had lived among them for so long. It took hitler a while to change people’s mindsets. When he first began to attempt to blame the Jews for all the ills Germany was undergoing, they didn’t buy in. Given time, and help they were not only willing to turn a blind eye, they did buy in.
I think if we look at where some of that help came from and what it was it could be very useful for us today. What is it they say? Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.
I guess one of the things that struck me about how life was “before” was the feeling of trust. The Jews thought they were safe. The Germans, Poles, and others were their neighbors. They had “coexisted” for a very long time. Co-exist is a lovely sentiment, makes a darling bumper sticker (or an advertisement for who would be an easy target when things go south) and if all parties were willing it would be wonderful. But history seems to show us one of the parties in the “coexist” will decide they don’t want to “coexist” they want to rule, or destroy another party, and they set about doing it. The rest of the museum deals with the result of the “coexist” mindset.
Some of the exhibits, many actually would have film clips you could watch. Some of footage shot during the holocaust, some of survivors, some of observers. One was of a woman that told of her Mother having made a hiding place in the closet and when the nazis would come she would shove them in it. The last time the nazis came she talked them into letting her get her coat. She opened the closet, quietly said “Good-bye girls, if I’m not back by night, go to the TenBooms” I have to wonder if that would be Corrie TenBoom, the author of “The Hiding Place”. Quite a book and a movie. She didn’t come back. Some of the people knew who betrayed them. It was their friends, and neighbors. People they had known and trusted for years. But why would these former friends betray them to such a horrific fate? The museum had some very compelling evidence how it could happen.
A very charismatic leader came to power using the slogan “Hope and Change”, whoops wrong slogan, hitler’s was just “Hope”. Hope for Germany. Germany had been in a sad state of affairs since the last war they started, their debt was crushing them. And Mr. Germany (who wasn’t really German) knew who to blame. The Jews, he was very upfront about his feelings, but the low info voters blew off the warning signs in his book Mein Kampf. So hitler promised Germans he would provide ice cream, rainbow strew and free hitler phones to all when he was elected. He purchased a newspaper to spread his screed. Tyrants today do not need to go to such lengths as the print media is pretty well on board and does the screed spreading for free, as they’ve bought in to the ideology. Pretty much the same with TV, for those that get out of line and really are investigative journalists you can read my post on Sharyl Atkisson. Or perhaps study the late Andrew Breitbart. And, he had his new propaganda minister to help out. I don’t know if the media back then were willing participants, or if they were forced but you began to see “cartoons” of Jews handing out poison candy to unsuspecting children. In fact there is a whole collection of these cartoons. Some of them were used in schools, proving “common core” is really nothing new. You can see several of them here. http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/thumb.htm They sort of remind me of the way that cartoonist for the “Red Star” portrays gun owners. I haven’t taken that rag for years, if they can’t report a story involving a firearm accurately after it has happened why would I think anything else they report is accurate? Vilification of Jews in cartoons was nothing new, it occurred in the middle ages as well, and the nazis happily revived some of the old woodcuts. Wikipedia has info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewpig it’s called Judensau. I will tell you before you look, it’s vile, the only reason I’m giving the link is I saw a platter with that woodcut image in the museum. Yep, people served food on them, there were also plates so people ate off them.
The culture was changing that made it not only acceptable but desirable to isolate and vilify one group of people. An artist named Charlotte Salomon (Apr 1917-10 Oct 1943 Auschwitz) did a series of paintings that chronicled her life entitled “Life or Theater”. They showed the changes in life the longer the nazis were in power. Her family had been quite comfortable before all the “hopey-changey” stuff took place. Her Dad was a surgeon, which became one of the prohibited professions for Jews. Charlotte had gained University acceptance to the United State school of pure arts, but in time she refused to go as it wasn’t safe. She and her husband fled to France where she continued to paint. When the nazis intensified their search in France for Jews, she and her husband were found. They were sent to Auschwitz, she was gassed the day she arrived and she was pregnant. Charlotte had turned over her paintings to a trusted friend for protection. She told the friend they were her life, she painted frantically towards the end. She lives on through the series of paintings. You can read more about Charlotte in wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Salomon
There was a picture of a beautiful young girl, she had long thick auburn braids in the picture. The braids are in the display case below, still braided, still thick and rich in auburn color. The owner long ago murdered. Part of the piles of things collected in the camps, like hair, teeth, glasses, shoes, some of this was re-purposed for the German army. And piles of bones and bodies, lots of bodies those things used to belong to. The jewelry of course had been confiscated.
My hands down favorite part of the museum was the section dedicated to the resistance. It was pitifully small. When you realize what the nazis did to the children of G_d, I suspect it might make the Egyptians look like a bad date. The weapons of resistance were pitifully few, and pitifully poor. I saw a rifle labeled as a pistol grip. Phooey! It was a rifle with the stock broke off. I’m sure it was easier to hide, but that’s all it was. There was one or two magazines laying beside it. Yes, there were a few other things in that section, but not enough. There should have been a room piled with magazines, rifles and all manner of things that had been used to defend the people. Two quotes struck me from this section.
Today it will be half a year since our destruction began [July 1942]. Had we but resisted then, at least as much as we resisted during the last deportation [January 1943], the Nazis would not have succeeded so easily in destroying such a large Jewish community. If the Jews had at the very least not gone of their own free will, but stubbornly hidden as they have been doing in the last few days – then the deportation would have lasted for months on end. One shudders to think that it required a quarter of a million Jews to give their lives, for the remainder to understand the reality of the situation and come to the right conclusions. From the diary of Shmuel Winter
and
“It is impossible to put into words what we have been through. What happened exceeded our boldest dreams. The Germans fled twice from the ghetto… My life’s dream has come true. Defense in the ghetto has become a fact. Armed Jewish resistance and revenge are actually happening. I have witnessed the glorious and heroic combat of the Jewish fighters.”~~Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw Ghetto, April 1943
I had coffee with a friend not long ago, we were talking about this. I said “If I were in charge, Yad Vashem would be a very different place. There would be rooms and rooms showing the different methods that were used to fight off an aggressor dedicated to erasing a section of the population off the face of the earth”. There would have been rooms showing the trials, and what happened to those that became tyrants and served tyrants. There would have been rooms dedicated to the victory celebration and one room to commemorate the six people that died fighting to save the lives of the innocents, because six people would have been all of the innocents that died. The death toll on the tyrant side would have been much higher.
So while the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto realized they were in a fight for their lives (finally) and news of the uprising began to come out, the rest of the world seems to have emitted a collective yawn. And so the poison gas flowed through the sewers, the tanks rolled in, fire spread and the people died. In recent times events have occurred that should make people sit up and take notice or at least open their eyes a bit wider in alarm, seems only to prompt only the changing of the channel to American Idol and people grab a coke with a smile. Putin rolls into the Ukraine and barry draws another red line in the sand. Isn’t it interesting that Putin is using the same excuse hitler did to invade countries? Well, when a country has ineffective leadership (at least in a positive direction, taking the country down the drain he’s a master at) you get things like the first lady holding up a sign begging a terrorist group to give back kidnapped girls. Yeah Mooch, that’ll do it.
Women in the camps didn’t have it any easier. They had to deal with things like Bloody Brigitte, she always struck till there was blood, she released her dogs on the prisoners. This sadistic German nurse spent time in prison for her crimes. I’m quite sure the prison she spent time in was much nicer than the ones she presided over.
There were also displays of pieces of medical equipment that could be used to determine if someone was Jewish, based on facial feature measurements. Now we don’t need those things, we have biometrics. They had helpful little “family tree” examples to determine the fate of someone’s life based on their grandparents.
I tend to look at patterns, and I’m seeing one. I’m seeing a pattern of a segment of a population being vilified by politicians, cartoonist ridiculing political and religious beliefs. Any attempt by the pitifully small remnant of a “news” media to point out the corruption is stifled. Anyone speaking out against it can look forward to IRS intervention to shut them down. And one party has called for the IRS to shut down political dissent. And yet from those espousing “tolerance” (but only for certain groups) are the very ones that push such policies using bully politics. You think people aren’t losing their jobs because of political or religious beliefs? Ask a pair of twin brothers that lost their new show on HGTV because it came out they were……..sssshhhhh, “Christians”. The same tactics have been tried against a store selling chicken sandwiches and a man that made & sells duck calls. WOW. So, HGTV pulled the new show. Darn, I will miss “Property Brothers”, but hey, they don’t want “my kind” of viewer,so I will oblige them, and their sponsors. You know, that’s the thing about a pattern, I’ve never bought a pattern for a shirt and ended up with a saddle blanket. They are worth paying attention to.
Next we will cover the gardens outside Yad Vashem.
There was a horrible shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park yesterday. Three people were killed by a maniac. Yes, I know his name, no I won’t use it. I took a class from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman who made a point of not mentioning the criminals name, only those of the victims. They wanted notority, I will not give it to them. This man was filled with hatered, and he choose to leave Missouri and go to Kansas to the Jewish Community Center. I suppose he figured if he opened fire in the parking lot he was bound to hit some. I’m not sure he did, a young boy Reat Underwood and his Grandfather, Dr. William Lewis Corporon I believe were members of Church of the Resurrection. Terri LaManno, who was shot at Village Shalom was a member at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church. Dr. Corporon and Terri both had jobs in the healthcare profession, they spent their lives trying to help others.
But when they needed help, there was none. Yes, the Jewish Community Center has an armed guard, and when they’ve had big events they have had a good off duty police presence. But since the Community Center is posted as a gun free zone, I am not sure how many would chose to carry and leave their gun in their cars. Since the shooting happened in the parking lot it would seem that no one there was able to intervene. Had they been able to, Terri would still be alive because he left the JCC and went to Village Shalom (which means peace, in Hebrew). Terri was killed as she was taking her Mother something to eat.
I’ve heard people say, “Why does God let these things happen” God has given us free will. We are not puppets on strings that he manipulates like marionettes. We CHOOSE how we will live our lives. We CHOOSE to follow good or evil. And there are most assuredly evil people out there. Which is why I’m a big proponent of concealed carry. Had there been someone in the parking lot who could have intervened, the outcome might have been very different. Then we would have been grateful his evil soul was roasting in hell with adolph hitler whose name he cried in the nazi fashion “heil hitler” as he was loaded into the squad car. No, I didn’t mean to capitalize any of that, why do you ask?
Now there will be many people celebrating a very sad passover. Yes, it is still a celebration of the deliverance from slavery, but family and friends, I’m sure will have a hard time with the pain during what should be such a happy time of year. My heart goes out to them.
No, I’m not blood-thirsty, and my trigger finger isn’t just “itchin'” to shoot someone. But honestly, I can’t imagine anything much worse than watching someone you love or care about being attacked and having to stand by helplessly and watch. Unable to do something effective to stop it.
I’ve been involved with a Second Amendment group in leadership since 2006. That role has now come to an end. It’s tough as I see a group that was once strong and unswerving in defense of state Second Amendment legislation begin to defer to the NRA, that doesn’t always have our best interests at heart. I listen to one board member say the group will never be a NRA rubber stamp. I would find that reassuring except I had just listened to another board member explain that we can’t fight the NRA because of their money they can donate to candidates. That the group doesn’t have that many members that will actually get out and help candidates. Is he judging all the members by himself? So the group will oppose legislators and publications that lie about the Second Amendment legislation, but not the NRA, because of their money. Now, what is that word……it’s just floating in the back of my memory, that word where you sell out principles for money….hmm. He then crowed proudly about the power of the NRA at getting an amendment stripped out of a bill. VERY impressive! The NRA got a one sentence useless amendment (See full story) stripped out of a good bill and you are proud of that? It doesn’t matter they lied about the bill? Something is seriously wrong here! You don’t want the members of a group that pay dues to be informed of what is going on in Jeff City to know that the NRA lied and they shouldn’t contact their legislators about an awful bill because the amendment doesn’t say what they said it says? You censor information that tells them this and you still think the group hasn’t become a NRA rubber stamp? WOWZA, I’d hate to see their definition of a rubber stamp then.
While I’m saddened to see the direction the group is going, there isn’t much I can do to stop it, and perhaps the ship will right itself. But if the members trusted me to tell them things honestly, I can’t be part of something that has made a choice to deceive them by censoring information. Isn’t that what the “lamestream” media does? No, I’m not built that way. And so, that chapter in the book ends.
I know God builds us all with a purpose in mind. Where he will lead me next is unknown. I do know there is enough going on right now just with some of my family members to keep me busy, and then it’s spring. There is always a lot of work on a farm in spring, I hope I can get caught up on chores I’m behind on. My horse let me know very clearly yesterday that he thinks he needs some of my time. I should have more now to happily give the big guy. So, now I end one chapter and turn the page. Time to start a new chapter.
I have this blog, and I like writing about whatever topic I choose. I also like the alternative censorship free avenue to share information. If you find an article that you think has info that would be of interest to someone, send them the link, please.
I’m sure we would all like to think that those employed by the government to be in positions of keeping us safe, keeping law-breakers at bay are good at their jobs. Less and less that is becoming the case. The BATFE is again showing it’s true colors with Ares Armor.
Ares Armor sells gun parts, in particular what is called 80% receivers. They allow a person to buy them and then make their own AR-15 just the way the want it. Sort of like Burger King, only fewer calories, more fun and lasts longer.
It seems Ares Armor (and some other gun shops perhaps) have gotten some new receivers. These are plastic, in different colors, and have places indicating where to drill. This makes it less expensive and easier to build your own AR-15. What could be wrong? Well, it’s more who thinks somethings wrong.
The BATFE, the people who brought you Operation Gunwalker, aka Fast & Furious, are objecting. And since the BATFE think at shoestring can be a machine gun, that’s kind of scary. Photo obtained from our friends at JPFO. They have a whole file of this kind of stuff.
ATF says a shoestring can be a machine gun
So at first they attempted to extort, Ares Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras. He said they told him if he would just turn over the names of his customers they would leave all those names and newly illegal receivers and all will be well. Well, I’ll let Dimitri tell you. I like this guy.
So Ares got a restraining order, they offered to turn over the keys to the room the contested parts were in to ATF agents. The agents didn’t want the keys, they wanted the customer list. The list of who had bought the legal 80% lower receivers. Hmmmmm. The ATF and Ares had until March 20th to work out a solution. Oh, wait! That’s today, well that just can’t be right because Ares was raided over the weekend! It seems the ATF went to a judge WITHOUT Ares being present and told U.S. District Judge Janis Lynn Sammartino that it “is conducting a lawful criminal investigation of the illegal manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of AR-15 variant lower receivers, which are considered firearms under the Firearms Control Act.”
What the agency’s application failed to mention, however, was that none of the items were a complete product — they were “80% lower receivers,” which remove them from the “firearm” definition to be classified as “parts.”
Judge Janis Lynn Sammartino then said that the restraining order didn’t mean what it meant and that they could go ahead and do the raid. Which the ATF did. They seized, all the 80% receiver parts, metal as well as polymer AND all Ares computers, and the lists. Well, aren’t we all going to sleep better at night now!
David Codrea brings up some excellent points in his coverage of this story. It seems BATFE may have become interested in the 80% receivers because a couple of two Sacramento brothers who were making and selling guns out of parts. Ares wasn’t doing anything wrong, the brothers were. According to David’s research
“According to the Department of Homeland Security, Emiliano Cortez is a Mexican national who has previously been deported and is illegally present within the United States,” the search warrant package declares. “Further, Emiliano Cortez is a convicted felon. In 2010, in Nevada County, California, Emiliano Cortez was convicted of possession of an assault weapon and sentenced to sixteen months in prison.
“According to the Department of Homeland Security, Luis Cortez is a Mexican national that is illegally present within the United States,” the warrant package adds.
Well, isn’t that just precious! Rather than going after illegal aliens, barry’s “justice” department goes after a law abiding business! David also brings up the interesting point that if Ares was such a threat, why did they offer to forego the warrant if Ares would turn over their customer list? You can read David’s whole article here. And it is well worth the read.
Ares has been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and for that, the “justice” department must stop them. Another BATFE scandal in the making, and the response from our spineless congress? Was that yet another cricket I heard? YOUR tax dollars at work. I’m not sleeping sounder at night, are you?
So today what has been on my mind is the question to fight, or not. Some wars will never been won, but you fight them because it’s the right thing to do. You fight them because the alternative is to just give up and let evil succeed. We are seeing that WAY too much this days, in way to many arenas.
I may go down this rabbit trail more in the future, but for now I’ll just point you towards an excellent column by Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars.
It’s called The Window War, if only all Second Amendment Groups were so committed to freedom as just this group of regular folks!
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