“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My Name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
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Gun Violence: Here We Go Again
This article in CNN caught my eye: “3 Chicago police officers shot; injuries not life-threatening”.
And then I saw this report: Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cut Police Power for UIC Trump Rally – Ordered No Arrests. You need to watch the video below.
We are heading for a very interesting presidential election campaign. Democrats are proving that they are fundamentally unlawful and that they have a gigantic void where morals are concerned. Don’t rule anything out.
I have become supersensitive about gun violence in cities like Chicago and in places like malls. I know where talk about those types of incidents leads, and it’s not good.
A few days ago, I was listening to an NPR program that included an interview with a man whose son was killed with a handgun by a man who was on a violent rampage. The person from NPR asked the deceased boy’s father what could have been done to prevent that kind of thing from happening.
The man said that violence has become a part of the fabric of American culture, but he didn’t offer a specific solution. His response didn’t come close to what the NPR person had in mind, so she asked, “Is there anything that could have been done to prevent it?”
The boy’s father said that it would help to teach people that there are ways to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence.
It was obvious that the NPR person was getting frustrated. She repeated her question, but this time she had a pressing tone in her voice: “Is there anything else that could have been done?”
The man who lost a son never told her what she wanted to hear. Mercifully, she ended the interview.
As I listened to that exchange, I kept thinking The NPR person sounds really foolish.
She had an agenda. Nothing could prevent her from pursuing it. Testimony from a man who lost a son couldn’t move her in a commonsensical direction.
Chicago is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. The Windy City has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the U.S., but it also has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun violence.
Why? If restrictive gun laws were the solution to the problem, shouldn’t Chicago have much less gun violence than other cities?
The answer is so simple that it eludes people who refuse to accept reality.
Criminals and terrorists don’t give a tinker’s damn about the law. From fully automatic weapons to you name it, they have as many guns as they want, and they aren’t afraid to use them. That’s especially true in places like Chicago.
Myths abound, but the fact remains that criminals and terrorists would prefer not to die. That’s the reason they choose to ply their trade where law-abiding citizens are unarmed.
Sometimes I think people who have a gun restriction fetish aren’t very smart, but that’s not true. Most of them are smart, but they are naïve, foolish, stubborn, and narrow-minded.
There’s a cure for that. When someone puts a gun to the head of their loved one, they will wish that they had a weapon and knew how to use it.
That’s an expensive way to learn a lesson.
The other day, I went to the mall in Anderson, South Carolina. As I was walking toward the entrance, I noticed a sign. It was a pistol with a line through it and a circle around it. That means “No Concealed Weapons Allowed”.
I went back to my car to put my concealed weapon in the glove compartment. As I was walking, I thought The mall’s owners must not read the news or watch the news on television.
Those mall shootings that we keep hearing about aren’t coincidental. Most malls are safe havens for criminals and terrorists because shoppers are not allowed to arm themselves.
Diehard believers in gun control will respond by saying that mall security people are armed. That’s not true much of the time, but even when it is true, it’s laughable. Barney Fife would have been a good mall cop.
I’ve been exploring Israel for decades. When I started, it was normal to see ordinary Israeli citizens carrying guns on the streets of Jerusalem. Over the years, things changed. A couple of years ago, carrying a gun in Israel was deemed to be foolish.
In Israel, things are changing again. Jerusalem’s mayor, Nir Barkat, is urging residents of Jerusalem to carry guns. He even suggested the kind of gun that he prefers.
Barkat recommends a Glock 23 with a rifle conversion kit because it’s easier than the pistol alone for most people to shoot accurately. I like that one, too, but in the U.S., you need a federal stamp to own one.
Machine guns, sound suppressors (a.k.a., silencers), and short barrel rifles and shotguns are legal in the U.S., but to own them you must pay $200 for one of those stamps. It takes about a year for the feds to process the paperwork.
A Glock 23 is a .40 caliber pistol, but when you place it in a rifle conversion kit (it’s a simple drop-in procedure), instantly it becomes a short barrel rifle. You can own both the conversion kit and the pistol without a stamp, but when you join the two of them together, you are in violation of the law unless you have a stamp.
Most federal gun restrictions make no sense because, like that sign at the mall, only law-abiding citizens pay any attention to them.
What changed in Israel prompting Barkat to recommend that Jerusalemites arm themselves? Was it reality?
Nope. Reality in Israel remains what it has been since May 1948.
In Israel, perceptions about reality changed, and they are changing again. Perceptions can be right or wrong. In the U.S., our perceptions about gun ownership are wrong and getting worse by the day.
Israelis are coming back to their senses and admitting that they are safer when they are armed. In the U.S., we are heading in the opposite direction.
The 2016 presidential campaign may morph into a violent chapter in American history. The shenanigans at the Trump rally in Chicago could have gone haywire. I think Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama hoped they would. As Mayor of Chicago, Emanuel did his best to produce that result.
Things are just getting started. I fear that people who reject the Second Amendment will never come to their senses, or if they do, it will be too late.
The Darwin Award (it’s fictitious but it helps to make my point) was created for people like them.
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His Name is Yahweh, the website, is a companion of the book His Name is Yahweh.
To see videos that explain the importance of God’s Name, click here.
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1: Israel Hayom—Giuliani to Israel Hayom: Trump not afraid to say ‘Islamic terrorism’:
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has many critics, including his rival candidates, the Republican establishment and the media. But at the same time, he also has many supporters, including a strong plurality of voters in the Republican primaries and former Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie and Ben Carson. And Trump also has the support of an old friend, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The legendary Giuliani — who cleaned up crime in the Big Apple and guided the city during the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — believes Trump is the right man at the right time to succeed Barack Obama as president next January.
When I met with Giuliani two weeks ago in Las Vegas, he told me that one of the main things that sets Trump apart from Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is that Trump is not afraid to tell it like it is — that is to say, Trump is willing to use the words “Islamic terrorism.”
2: Jerusalem Post—Selective Memory on the Middle East:
President Obama’s interview last week with Jeffrey Goldberg in which he criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proves that he has “selective memory” about Israel-related events, Michael Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. during the first four and a half years of Obama’s presidency, said Sunday. Oren said that Obama did not give credit to Netanyahu for steps he took toward the Palestinians or hold accountable Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who he did not mention in the interview, for rejecting repeated American peace initiatives.
“The article is missing the faintest reference to Abbas,” Oren said. “This shows prejudice against Arabs, as if they have no role to play and are mere two-dimensional props for receiving Israeli concessions. Abbas walked away from the negotiating table. Why don’t Palestinians ever bear responsibility for a failed peace process?”
3: Algemeiner—Watchdog: Anti-Israel Activity at American Universities Fuels Antisemitism on Campus:
A new report by a watchdog group has found the “first hard evidence” demonstrating that anti-Israel activity at universities is “at the heart of the rise in campus antisemitism,” The Algemeiner has learned.
The AMCHA Initiative on Monday released its “Report on Antisemitic Activity in 2015 at US Colleges and Universities With the Largest Jewish Undergraduate Populations.” According to a corresponding press release, this report is the “first empirical study of its kind,” showing that “the primary agents of antisemitic activity are anti-Zionist students and faculty boycotters.”
Indeed, according to the report, “The strongest predictor of anti-Jewish hostility on campus” is the local presence of a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
4: Burak Bekdil—European Union Caving to Turkey’s Blackmail?:
Turkey has been sliding into an ugly Islamist despotism. Yet its relations with the European Union (EU) which it aspires to join has rarely been better. Some call it a mutually “transactional” improvement: “pragmatism.” Others, in less diplomatic language, call it Turkish blackmailing on the back of the refugee crisis. Even Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutogu admitted that his latest round of negotiations with Europe’s leaders was a fine bargaining “a la Kayseri,” a Turkish city famous for its tough-bargaining merchants.
In reality, modern Turkey has never been this galactically distant from the core values enshrined by the European civilization and its institutions, including even the EU.
When Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that the detention for 92 days of two journalists, Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, constituted a breach of their basic rights, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not hide his anger. He said he would not respect or obey the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The journalists had been charged with espionage and terrorism after their secular newspaper, Cumhuriyet, ran photos and a story about Turkish intelligence sending trucks full of arms to jihadists fighting in Syria. Prosecutors demand life sentences for the prominent journalists.
Erdogan does not mind playing the supreme leader beyond the check on power of law. In a March 11 speech, Erdogan said:
“The Constitutional Court has to be one of the institutions that should be the most sensitive about the interests and rights of the state and the people. But this institution and its president have not hesitated to rule against the country and its people on one of the most concrete examples of a massive attack towards Turkey in recent times.”
SnyderTalk Comment: Some argue that non-Muslims should take in Muslim “refugees” as a compassionate, humanitarian gesture. There are two fundamental problems with that perspective:
One—Most of the “refugees” are military-age males. That’s crazy. No one should look past that problem.
Two—When Muslims violate laws in Western countries, Westerners are accused of being Islamophobes when they apply their laws. That’s not the case in Muslim countries. They brutalize each other in full view of the world, and almost nothing is said about it.
When you weigh the pros and cons, not cooperating with President Erdogan is the way to go. I feel sorry for the people of Turkey, but not sorry enough to support an asinine proposal.
If Erdogan wants to do something stupid and the Turkish people let him, fine, but they shouldn’t ask us to help pay for it.
5: Raymond Ibrahim—U.S. Policy Made 2015 the Worst Persecution of Christians “in Modern History”:
2015 was the “worst year in modern history for Christian persecution,” according to Open Doors, a human rights organization that has been documenting the persecution of Christians since 1955.
According to its latest data, more than 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2015 — almost twice as many as in 2014. In addition, more than 2,400 churches were attacked, damaged or destroyed — again, more than double the number of the previous year.
In the words of Open Doors’ CEO, David Curry:
The 2016 World Watch List [which ranks the 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted] documents an unprecedented escalation of violence against Christians, making this past year the most violent and sustained attack on Christian faith in modern history. … This research has concluded that after the brutal persecution of Christians in 2014, 2015 proved to be even worse with the persecution continuing to increase, intensify and spread across the globe. … The level of exclusion, discrimination and violence against Christians is unprecedented, spreading and intensifying.
SnyderTalk Comment: Was that an accident? I think not. It’s Obama’s policies at work.
6: Bloomberg—Putin Tests European Resolve on Ukraine With His Syria Move:
European officials have insisted there’s no link between the sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine and the Kremlin’s intervention in Syria.
Russia’s move to scale back military support for President Bashar al-Assad is about to test that resolve.
The influx of millions of refugees fueling political turmoil, threatening the passport-free travel zone and even shaping the debate over whether Britain should leave the European Union, has made Syria’s five-year civil war a critical issue for the bloc’s leaders. While Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s calls for a detente with Russia have so far failed to win much support, the prospect of a Syria settlement may add weight to his argument.
“Russia is playing a very smart game,” said Sergio Fabbrini, director of the school of government at Luiss University in Rome. “Italy would not be the only one who would have an interest in supporting Putin. Germany would have an interest too because of the refugee issue.”
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SnyderTalk Comment: This is the bottom line: Palestinians lie, and they do it very well.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
See “His Name is Yahweh”.
