Firearms Friday: An Olympic Record

History was made today as Kim Rhode received a bronze medal for her extraordinary efforts which was her sixth consecutive summer Olympics in which she has stood on the podium dating back to the Atlanta games in 1996. She is the first athlete, man or woman, in any sport, to do so at the summer games. She is one of the athletes that you can count on to add to the United States’ total every four years. Unfortunately, there is little fanfare for her accomplishment as there is a tremendous stigma associated with her chosen specialty which she has mastered… skeet.

Rhode, who lives in California, has always been a firm proponent of second amendment rights and, following her recent victory, let her thoughts be known regarding the recently proposed legislation in her home state:

“I shoot 500 to 1,000 rounds a day, so having to do a background check every time I purchase ammo, or every time I want to bring ammo in or out of a competition or a match, those are very challenging for me,” said Rhode. “Also, I’ve had guns in my family for generations that have been passed down, and now I’m going to register them as assault weapons. And they will not be passed on to my son, or to me from my father. It definitely does effect me and give me a reason to speak out more.”

This is why the media doesn’t mention her dominance at the Olympic games and even downplays her significant accomplishment as was the case on the NBC Olympics homepage where the ‘reporter’ states: “Many would argue that a shooter doing this is far less impressive than, say, a gymnast or a swimmer. The act of shooting requires fewer physical attributes, extending Olympic lifespans...” Other outlets chose to focus on mass shootings and, as noted by Bloomberg News, “Olympics Sponsors Want Nothing to Do With Team USA Shooters”. Of course, this is why you won’t see this particular group of Olympians in any of the advertising spots flooding the television stations every night.

It truly is a sad state of affairs when our country refuses to support our Olympians especially those as distinguished and decorated at Rhode. It is sad but it is not surprising given the segregationist stance that the media has taken in recent years… after all we now have Olympians and “those other Olympians”. But, for me, I would like to convey my congratulations to Kim Rhode and to all of the other members of USA Shooting Team both for their performances and for representing themselves, our country, and our sport the way and Olympian should represent the best of us.

Where Did All The Nominees Go?

There is an interesting controversy brewing following the Golden Globes and the announcement of the Oscar nominees… there are several people upset at the lack of representation or minorities at the upcoming awards. Because Native American and Asian nominees were so prevalent for so many years, this radical change is seen as a slight. That being said, I think it should be noted that while there is a lack of representation of minority nominees as a whole this year, it does not mean that one shouldn’t support the industry which pays actors and actresses millions of dollars. Case in point, Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith will not be attending the awards ceremony the latter because of the fact that her husband, Will Smith, did not receive an Academy Award nomination for his role in Concussion despite being nominated for a Golden Globe.

While I doubt she will, Mrs. Smith can always simply take Aunt Viv’s advice (Janet Hubert was the first actress to play the role of Will Smith’s Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). In response to a video posted by Smith stating that she would be boycotting the Oscars and inviting others to join her in this action, Hubert, 60, posted her own video in which she condemns the Hollywood couple and stated the following in reference to Mrs. Smith:

"First of all, Miss Thing, does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak? The second thing is, girlfriend, there's a lot of s**t going on in the world that you all don't seem to recognize. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are hungry, starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you're talking about some m***********g actors and Oscars. It just ain't that deep… And here's the other thing: For you to ask other actors, and other black actresses and actors, too, to jeopardize their career and their standing in a town that you know damn well you don't do that... I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win."

However, let’s take a step back and look at the real issue and the real numbers. What is lost in the hype is the simple fact that the Golden Globes have two categories recognizing lead acting performances in Drama as well as Comedy or Musical. This makes for 10 total nominees at the Golden Globes with only room for 5 at the Oscars. Unfortunately, Smith got the short end of the stick and was replaced with Matt Damon with all other Drama nominees from the Golden Globes remaining in place. Damon won the Golden Globe in his category so someone had to take the hit.

However, I will concede the basis of the point that Lee and Smith have made in their boycotting efforts, there is a bias when it comes to awards. However, is has nothing to do with race… it is a much bigger issue that transcends race, religion, politics, etc. While there are some that are able to break through these terrible walls, the fact of the matter remains… the Oscars don’t take to kindly to Comedies or facial hair.

That’s right, I said it. Someone had to put it all out there and risk the backlash. Just take a look at the nominees this year in the Best Lead Actor Category for the Oscars in comparison to those up for the award at the Golden Globes. Nearly all those who didn’t make the cut with the Academy were up for the award in the Comedy or Musical category. However, a more startling revelation is that when you look at the photos, ALL of the eliminated nominees have either full-fledged facial hair or are a bit past the five o’clock shadow period.

We simply can’t stand for this blatant bias for the clean shaven actors who take on serious roles. They’re no better than the other nominees and it is time to take a stand. So, I would like to propose to Mr. Lee and Mrs. Smith that if they are serious about having an impact, don’t shave for the next month and walk that red carpet with the longest beard that you are able to grow. I am certain that the media will take notice.

Firearms Friday: Another Mass Murder!

Once again, the headline told of another mass shooting this time in Oklahoma. Based on the initial reports there were four dead and thirty wounded. However, the president as well as the usual roster of politicians and activists remained silent. And the reason for this was quite simple… it wasn’t a shooting. Ah, media bias at its finest. What actually happened was reported by CNN:

A woman suspected of drunken driving crashed a car into a crowd of spectators at Oklahoma State University's homecoming parade, killing four people -- including a 2-year-old -- authorities in Stillwater said Saturday.

Three adults were pronounced dead at the scene, while the fourth victim, the young boy, died from his injuries at OU Medical Center Children's Hospital, according to a Stillwater police statement. 

Spokesman Capt. Kyle Gibbs said Saturday night that 44 people had been injured, an uptick from previous reports.

Still no words have been spoken about the dangers of cars, the inanimate object this woman used to carry out the mass slaughter of innocent people. That’s right, liberals drive cars. They don’t fear these potential weapons so there is no uproar to be found despite the loss of innocent lives. What happened to the “if we can just save on life” line of thinking?

If the woman had used a firearm the reaction would have been much different although the headline would have been the same. If the vehicle in question was a police cruiser the story would have been different. Those details would have provided a means for the left to vilify something and someone else beside the criminal whether it be firearms, gun owners, or law enforcement. But it was a drunk woman driving Hyundai and no one is calling for prohibition or the banning of cars.

And here lies the crux of our problem and why the ills of society are getting worse and not better. The individual is the one at fault… evil lies in black hearts not in inanimate objects and groups of people cannot be blamed for the evil actions carried out by that individual. When we finally come to accept this, to make people responsible for their own actions, then we will make progress and see fewer reports of such heinous acts.

Personal responsibility is too often associated with dirt words. We have to be self-sufficient and be held accountable, as individuals, for what we do in life. We can’t rely on the support of others, especially the federal government, and we can’t keep feeding the viral sense of entitlement to our children. We need to return to a mentality of self-reliance, self-support, and self-defense. This is the kind of “me” generation that I can stand behind!

When The Mayor Takes Action

Now this is definitely something that I couldn’t see Mayor Nutter doing in the streets of Philadelphia. In fact, I don’t know if I could see any mayor in a major city in the United States doing this in their respective streets. I guess this is one of those situations that demonstrates the clear difference between Israel and the United States and Israelis and Americans in particular.

Last month I was skimming through my news feed and came across an article in Haaretz that immediately got my attention. As it turns out, the Mayor of Jerusalem (a city and a place close to my heart), Nir Barkat, was driving down the road when he suddenly asked his bodyguard to stop the car. He had seen a Palestinian terrorist (and that is what he is) stabbing a Jewish man at Tzahal Square. In the end, the bodyguard pulled his gun causing the teenager to drop the knife and the Mayor wrestled the madman to the ground, subdued him, and offered aid to the victim until police arrived on the scene.

As I stated above, the thing that struck me the most when I came across this article is just how different this kind of story is to someone reading it in the United States. I couldn’t see a mayor from a major city in the states taking action in the same way. Additionally, even if they would simply make a call having seen a similar attack, the need to promote their actions would be quite evident. There would be a much more grandiose gesture following the incident not a simple reflection such as the one Barkat gave in the Haaretz article:

"My bodyguard and I jumped straight out of the car, he drew his weapon and together we caught the terrorist until police arrived, and we took care of the wounded, who, happily, was only lightly wounded."  

Barkat said that when he and his bodyguards faced the assailant, he threw down his knife.

"This too is part of our life in Jerusalem. It's clear that if he would have looked to continue stabbing he wouldn't have been alive now. But he threw the knife away," Barkat said. 

The second half of that quote is particularly striking… “This too is part of life in Jerusalem.” Unfortunately, that is a reality in the holy city and one that continues to be a pervasive certainty in the streets throughout Israel. Terrorism is still a reality and the cause of such incidents continues to be muddled in the pages and reports that are disseminated around the world. It is a crisis that needs to be addressed with more than just talks and 10 year plans.

The means by which the State of Israel is portrayed continues to be inaccurate which has perpetuated protests and attacks throughout the world. Israel as a whole and Jerusalem in particular are a place of peace in a region obsessed with war and Jihad. Until the world accepts the reality that Israel is a peaceful state, terrorism will continue to taint that reality in the streets of Jerusalem.

Thankfully, the Israeli people are some of the most resilient that the world has ever known. They are the reason that Israel remains strong in the face of international accusations and terrorism in the streets. To those leaders, IDF soldiers, and all those who live in the holy land I end this post with two simple words… Thank you!

Waking Up To Terrorism

Don't believe everything you read!

This morning I woke up to an all too familiar stream of posts on Facebook as there were ‘news’ reports and updates from friends in Israel letting me know of the terrorist attack that had taken place while I was sleeping. Some reports were accurate while others were, at the very least, skewed. After reading through many of the comments and condolences, I finally pulled up the Reuters article which summarized the events that took place within the first sentence, “Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city.”

Reuters reported the news while other agencies made their attempts at relaying the ‘news’ to their audiences. CNN was the first to demonstrate a lack of judgment and proper editorial oversight by including a headline that inferred that the terrorists were also victims during the attack. Later in the morning they also referred to the Orthodox synagogue where the murders took place as a mosque. I understand the rush to deliver the story but these kinds of things are not acceptable.

While over the top, one friend in Israel asked how people would have reacted had the 19 terrorists been included as killed during 9/11. Again, he took it a little too far but the message was clear. Also, I give him a lot of leeway as he was one of the first responders at the twin towers.

Of course, over in the UK, The Guardian decided to omit the mention of Palestinians altogether. They took the Reuters story and omitted all evidence of Palestinian involvement. This would be understandable if there were still some questions revolving around what had happened but events did not leave anything to interpretation. This was simply a means of not entering into the debate and placing blame on those who deserve it.

Even with all those ‘stories’ rife with inaccuracies, misleading statements, and omissions, what really bothered me once I finished reading through all of the articles was the Reuters story. In it, the publication included a quote from a statement released by President Obama in which he stated, "I strongly condemn today's terrorist attack on worshippers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which killed four innocent people, including U.S. citizens Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine and Mosheh Twersky, and injured several more." There is nothing to disagree with here, the President said what needed to be said and condemned the actions of the terrorists.

However, when speaking to reporters, the President’s words fell far short of reason. On a day when innocent Israelis were slain in their own place of worship, their own sanctuary, the President called for “both sides to lower tensions.” Really? During a time when Israel is the victim of heinous acts of terrorism (there have been a lot recently this is just the latest), Israel is put on equal footing as the cause of these horrendous events? That is, by far, a greater insult than that which was misrepresented in the media.

Hooray For Common Core!

I have been an opponent of Common Core ever since the program was launched. Not only does it force schools to adopt an entirely new curriculum, it is a heavily liberal biased measure that forces many school districts to spend money that they simply don’t have. Simply put it is a program that is detrimental on an educational and financial level. That was my initial reaction and that has only been reinforced as more and more examples have some to the surface from the curriculum.

I was scanning through a pro-Israel Facebook page this past week and noticed an article mentioning Common Core. While the media source is questionable in their own bias, it was interesting to read the excerpts found in the textbooks. Those questions included:

“Was George Washington any different from Palestinian terrorists trying to protect their country?”

“Was Jefferson a hypocrite? Did he really think of a slave as a sub-human while writing the Declaration of Independence?”

The liberal assumptions that are applied to the history of our Nation is clear in the thoughts that they wish to plant in the minds of students. However, this was not the most blatant example that has been found as the following, much longer, musing can also be found in the fraudulent pages:

“What then were the causes of the American Revolution? It used to be argued that the Revolution was caused by the tyranny of the British government in the years following the Seven Years War. This view is no longer acceptable. Historians now recognize that the British colonies were the freest in the world…”

“The French menace was removed after 1763 and the colonies no longer felt dependent on England’s aid. This did not mean that they wished for independence. The great majority of the colonists were loyal, even after the Stamp Act. They were proud of the Empire and its liberties…In the years following the Stamp Act a small minority of radicals began to work for independence. They watched for every opportunity of making a crisis and in Boston it was this group who staged the Boston Tea Party… In the Thirteen Colonies the Revolution had really been a civil war in which the whole population was torn with conflicting loyalties. John Adams later said that in 1776 probably not more than one-third of the people favored war.”

The debate over Common Core has been going on for a few years now with one example coming to mind which I remember reading about in 2012 when parents of students at a Tennessee high school protested the anti-Israel content of one of the advanced placement textbooks. The example that was given during that time from the textbook “The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography” was the following question: “If a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli government policies and army actions?”

In the end, if you are wondering why the educational system is failing both in quality and fiscally, it is because of the limitations placed on districts and students stemming from Common Core. Things change as we get older and time passes but, as this example demonstrates, it doesn’t mean that things are changing for the better. Maybe we should go back to teaching the facts rather than accusations and encourage self-reliance, continued study, and pride in our history and heritage. Furthermore, let’s focus on teaching common sense rather than common core!

Israel Under Fire (From More Than Rockets)

So, while under rocket attack from Hamas, Israel negotiated a cease fire. But, honestly, let’s call this what it really is… giving in to the mounting international pressure (especially from the anti-Israel UN) so that you can have a few days of silence before Hamas launches more rockets, you retaliate, and Israel is deemed the aggressor. Basically, a giant Middle Eastern circle jerk.

What happened to the hard line that Bibi seemed so proud to be walking? What happened to the putting an end to this conflict once and for all? Where did the common sense go?

Honestly, we shouldn’t be surprised. This is basically what has happened every time ever since Israeli politicians began giving up land fought for and earned by the blood of their fellow Israelis. This is a dangerous trend that seems to have no end and that, at best, Israel comes out of the conflict a little worse off in the eyes of the media and the gullible public. Of course, this brings up another interesting story that was making the media rounds today.

A former AP correspondent, Motti Friedman, published a story in Tablet magazine about the failings of the main stream media in reporting the war in Israel and reporting on Israel in general. This is a tremendous read and one that should be noted as one of the few, if not the only, honest account of the world media and their treatment of the Jewish state. Unfortunately, this kind of reporting is not new as Freidman writes:

“The lasting importance of this summer’s war, I believe, doesn’t lie in the war itself. It lies instead in the way the war has been described and responded to abroad, and the way this has laid bare the resurgence of an old, twisted pattern of thought and its migration from the margins to the mainstream of Western discourse—namely, a hostile obsession with Jews. The key to understanding this resurgence is not to be found among jihadi webmasters, basement conspiracy theorists, or radical activists. It is instead to be found first among the educated and respectable people who populate the international news industry; decent people, many of them, and some of them my former colleagues.”

While reporters face tremendous danger, death threats, and, as we have seen recently, death, there is still little criticism surrounding those who are making these threats, posing these dangers, and taking innocent lives. Not only has it prevented reporting of the facts from actually occurring, it has prevented the truth from being told on more than one occasion. This is best explained when Freidman writes:

“There has been much discussion recently of Hamas attempts to intimidate reporters. Any veteran of the press corps here knows the intimidation is real, and I saw it in action myself as an editor on the AP news desk. During the 2008-2009 Gaza fighting I personally erased a key detail—that Hamas fighters were dressed as civilians and being counted as civilians in the death toll—because of a threat to our reporter in Gaza. (The policy was then, and remains, not to inform readers that the story is censored unless the censorship is Israeli. Earlier this month, the AP’s Jerusalem news editor reported and submitted a story on Hamas intimidation; the story was shunted into deep freeze by his superiors and has not been published.)”

This is particularly startling when taken into account the means by which Hamas is reported. Actually, it’s more about how much is not written and how focused the media wolves are on every aspect of Israeli politics, culture, etc. It is not about wanting to better understand, it is all about finding the minute failings (this is a term applied by the outsider) in individuals and groups and applying them to Israel as a whole. This is not reporting, this is find a way to paint a picture, frame a story, box a topic that fits the views of the reporter and the media outlet. As Freidman explains:

“Israeli actions are analyzed and criticized, and every flaw in Israeli society is aggressively reported. In one seven-week period, from Nov. 8 to Dec. 16, 2011, I decided to count the stories coming out of our bureau on the various moral failings of Israeli society—proposed legislation meant to suppress the media, the rising influence of Orthodox Jews, unauthorized settlement outposts, gender segregation, and so forth. I counted 27 separate articles, an average of a story every two days. In a very conservative estimate, this seven-week tally was higher than the total number of significantly critical stories about Palestinian government and society, including the totalitarian Islamists of Hamas, that our bureau had published in the preceding three years.”

For those of us who have been paying attention to the media, listening to what is actually being said, and talking to those living in Israel we have been aware of this massacre of the truth perpetuated by the media. I am grateful for the honesty that has been so succinctly reported in this piece and I hold out hope that, one day, actual reporting will return to the Middle East and Israel in particular. Maybe we can have a few honest voices on the ground when this current ceasefire is shattered by the sound of rocket fire.

WTF Of The Week: Missouri Riots Edition

Throughout this past week I have been listening to the radio, reading the articles, and watching the news surrounding the protests, riots, and general insanity taking place in Ferguson, Missouri. I have been hearing people talk about the militarization of the police in the this country and I have been watching Al Sharpton stirring up the crowds filling the streets in an attempt to further incite the racial hatred that continues to brew. All of this stemming from a tragic incident that no one is able to explain or even tell you exactly what happened. The only thing we really know for certain is that a community is so pissed off that they have decided to riot and tear apart their own community.

Yeah, I don’t understand it either.  

This is one of those events that is playing out across this country fueled by visceral reactions. Like many of the other polarizing heinous acts that we have all witnessed, people are taking to social media, writing editorials, and screaming from the sidelines without having any facts to support their intense feelings. This incident has also served as the jumping off point to further the agenda of those looking for a reason to leverage race to make and accusation of racism and inequality…. like Al Sharpton.

This just goes to show that the fact that we do have are being forgotten namely that we doing know what happened and that tragedy doesn’t have a race. Insisting that tragedy is associated with race is inherently racist. But this is what debates have come to today especially those that touch upon, in any way shape or form, politics. Knowing that we have a crappy President is, according to today’s standards, racist. Forget the fact that he is just a crap President who has played more rounds of golf since he took office than Tiger Woods (look it up).

And it is this liberal mentality that has many newspaper outlets scared. It doesn’t matter if you are telling the truth about what is going on in Ferguson. If people don’t like what the picture is portraying they will let you know and, in the case of the Philadelphia Daily News, force the publication to change the cover. After all, media is a business. And with newspaper sales in the toilet, they can’t afford to alienate any readers. It’s not like the days when you your audience was so expansive that you didn’t have to worry about losing part of your audience. Of course, at that time people cared about the facts more than the emotion.

Given that the more confrontational and overall vocal portion of the audience is of the liberal persuasion, this is a big reason why journalism is beginning to rot away under heavy liberal bias required by much of the readership. Facts have become secondary as credible sources and quality reporting have become a target of doubt rather than news. Only time will tell if this will bring about the eventual downfall of the media as we used to know it or if the media polarization will soon neutralize and return to an unbiased state (or at least get close).  

‘Unbiased’ Coverage Of The Safe Carry Protection Act

This past week there was a huge decision made in Georgia that didn’t ripple across the national news… it swept across all media channels like a tsunami. When the southern state came to the realization that more common sense needed to be injected into the national firearms debate, there wasn’t a single silent voice on the subject. However, there was a clear difference in how the new law was reported in a variety of ‘unbiased’ media sources. While it may not be as clear to some, it is rather obvious when you take a second look at the language that is used.

Time Magazine can be balanced on a rare occasion and this was definitely not one of those instances as the first word in the article colored the remaining prose. Here is the title and tag line for the story:

Georgia Passes Sweeping Expansion of Gun Carry Laws

Radical new gun legislation signed into law on Wednesday allows licensed owners to carry guns in more public locations than ever before, as places like churches can opt in to permit the weapons and bars can opt out if they want them banned

The Washington Post offered a little more balance to what is written as they accurate described the expansion of the rights afforded to law abiding citizens:

Law expands rights on carrying guns

Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed a broad expansion of gun-carry rights into law Wednesday, allowing legal gun owners to take weapons into bars, churches and government buildings under certain conditions.

The measure, which will take effect July 1, also permits hunters to use silencers and authorizes schools to allow staff members to carry weapons on campus.

What you don’t see in this second example is the photo that was selected and prominently displayed at the top of the page before a single word is read. The caption to the photo of a grieving family standing over a casket reads, “Judith Skinner, mother of Indianapolis police officer Kim Carmack, and Dustin Carmack, son of Kim Carmack, take one last look at the casket after the burial services at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Carmack was slain by her ex-husband and fellow officer who then killed himself.” The story itself was a great piece of reporting but during the process that took place between the writing of the article by and the posting of the story was skewed by someone who clearly disagrees with the new law.

The law (House Bill 60 or the Safe Carry Protection Act of 2014), supported by politicians from both sides of the isle in the Georgia legislature (including President Jimmy Carter’s grandson) “specifies where Georgia residents can carry weapons. Included are provisions that allow residents who have concealed carry permits to take guns into some bars, churches, school zones, government buildings and certain parts of airports.” Essentially, those with carry permits (having no criminal background and are familiar with and accept the responsibility of carrying a firearm) will have greater freedom to carry in a variety of previously restricted places.

Is it a perfect bill? No, there are a few flaws in my view namely with the inability of law enforcement to question those carrying. However, if you are driving a car down the road a police officer needs just cause to pull you over and ask you for your license so, in that regard, I understand and accept this aspect. Honestly, I would rather lean on the side of individual rights and freedoms rather than control and fear mongering that seem to be so prevalent in the vocal views of the minority.

What do you expect from a group of people who have their priorities confused? While they teach children to fear firearms they teach them to respect and even revere an overbearing government. It should be the exact opposite… teach the next generation to respect firearms, treat them responsibility, and revere life. Fear those who strip you of your rights and freedom. Maybe if this fundamental formula was embraced by all we wouldn’t be having this debate and objects wouldn’t be feared because of the actions of criminals, law abiding people wouldn’t be punished for the monstrous acts of the insane. Maybe people should be our focus and the next generation should be our passion.