Tag Archives: violence

Parenting

I have been wanting to post something about this issue for years, but found others to talk about. However, the time has come that I MUST do it NOW! Thanks to my good friend and Marine brother, a retired Sergeant Major of Marines, who sent this to me this morning.  I enjoyed it and agreed with it so much that I had to read it twice. This guy has nailed it squarely on the head. 

COMMENTARY- The Blade, Toledo, OH

Parents, not guns, are responsible for keeping kids safe

 

BY MATT MARKEY BLADE OUTDOORS EDITOR

There were 361,119 hunters in Ohio in the most recent season. Michigan had 665,431 hunters. They carried shotguns, rifles, pistols, and lethal archery equipment, so they were armed to the hilt. But no one shot anyone else.

That’s more than one million individuals with firearms, but they didn’t settle a neighborhood squabble, a fight over a girlfriend, a dispute involving territory, a road rage incident, a case of perceived disrespect, or an instance of just looking at someone the wrong way, with violence.

They did not allow their guns, which most own for hunting and personal protection, to become weapons used to settle some petty discord, the result of which we see on the streets of our major cities on a frighteningly regular basis.

In that scenario, which seems to be playing out on an endless loop, lives end — too often those of innocent bystanders — families are devastated, mothers are left to mourn, the perpetrators end up in the prison system, and we pay to support them for decades.

And many of our politicians, community leaders, and sociologists hit the well-worn but ever-reliable default button of blame — Gun Violence. They are infatuated with that term. Make the lifeless device culpable. Focus your condemnation on a piece of steel. Claim that the inanimate object is the actual source of the evil.

There were more than 3,000 youths at the 2022 high school Target Shooting National Championship competition. Every one of them had a powerful shotgun, but nobody shot anyone. There will be more than 4,000 people taking part in the National Matches at Camp Perry this summer, firing rifles and pistols, but as has been the case for more than 100 years, nobody will shoot anyone, despite the abundance of firepower and ammunition on site.

Then we hear about a six-year-old in Virginia taking a handgun to school and shooting his teacher. The national news calls it Gun Violence, but nobody demands to know where he got the gun, where did he learn to use it, and where are his parents.

Two teens arrested after a recent brawl at a Columbus mall were found to be carrying fully-loaded handguns. In a Cleveland suburb, two boys, ages 12 and 13, were charged with aggravated murder for shooting down a 14-year-old schoolmate. The cases keep rolling in, and we lump them all into that convenient Gun Violence folder.

Much closer to home, the examples are equally abundant.

A 16-year-old is arrested for shooting and killing another teen near the playground area at Ravine Park Village apartment complex in East Toledo. A convenience store on Phillips Avenue is robbed by two gun-toting teens, and one of them dies in a shootout with police.

In January, a 15-year-old girl is found shot to death in a North Toledo alley. Three teens decide to shoot up a funeral in Toledo and two funeral home employees are wounded. A 15-year-old boy is killed and a 10-year-old seriously wounded during a Wednesday night shooting at Avondale and Brown avenues.

Other teens are injured in shootings at two in the morning where the gunslinger is also a juvenile. We have a news conference, bringing out the long faces and the somber tone, but nobody in authority asks mom and dad what their children are doing out at that hour. Nobody asks where they got the guns.

Instead, we make Gun Violence the boogeyman. We describe it as if it is the next coronavirus variant or an invasive species that just arrived from a foreign land. No one dares demand some personal responsibility from the parents of the youths involved in these shootings and other crimes.

We hear about these “violence interrupters” who are going to ride into town, work the streets, and put an end to kids killing other kids. That approach turned out to be a band aid that didn’t stick when applied over a metastasized gargantuan tumor, and a colossal waste of time, and money.

Still searching for a magic potion, we find a program from Kentucky. This is going to fix our Gun Violence problem. More programs, more government money, more meetings. But nobody wants to talk about parenting or your responsibility for the children you bring into this world.

When a juvenile believes that picking up a gun, pointing it at another human being, and pulling the trigger is the way to solve their problems or take what they want, we’ll have to go a lot further than Kentucky or Chicago — maybe to Heaven above — to find the solution. Because nobody wants to dare mention the source of the issue.

Kids learn a lot at home — both good and bad — and if home shirks this responsibility, then there are plenty of nefarious outside sources ready to fill the gap. And when kids see that irresponsible behavior is acceptable, as well as a lack of concern and culpability for their actions, they often take these same traits into a troubled adult life.

Like many kids, I found that my father was a very effective violence interrupter. You treated your neighbors, teachers, women, law enforcement, and your friends with respect because, from the earliest age, that is the way you saw your role model treating other people. And you did not want to transgress and end up in Dad’s court.

While searching for an appropriate and acceptable description for the kind of leadership we need at this critical juncture, when kids killing other kids has become so common, this came up — a comment from a Toledo police officer following yet another slaying involving our children.

“We need parents involved in kids’ lives. We need structure. We need routine. We need discipline. We need rules and boundaries,” this female officer said.

That should have been the mic drop moment that ended this circus of news conferences and proclamations and addressing this issue with wads of money and more bureaucratic folderol.

She nailed it, but I don’t think that perspective has been raised by anyone in authority ever since.

Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.

My question has always been who is responsible when when a 10 or 12-year-old takes a gun from home to school and kills someone? No one wants to place the blame where it should be. instead we feel sorry for the parents, Oh my it’s so sad that my 10 year-old Johnny shot and killed his best friend over an argument. R U shitting me? Furthermore, the parents cannot believe that their son did something so horrific. It’s those damn slack guns laws. Really?

I know I will be criticized by some as being crazy or out of touch with reality, but I believe we should lock both parents up for ten years. Put that kid in a juvenile home and get his ass straightened out once and for all. It is time we start looking at who is actually responsible for a 10 year-old killing another kid.  Nuff said, and bring it on liberals!

 

Originally posted 2023-06-14 15:21:37.

Facts are Facts

Okay America, if you or your friends still don’t believe the protests are just opportunists using recent BLM accounts, you have your head in the sand and ignoring the facts and warnings!

Kari Donovan| Opinion|  Catherine Herridge from CBS News posted on Twitter about a series of emails from July about the violence in Portland Oregon, that had been leaked to CBS news from the Department of Homeland Security, that showed President Donald J. Trump was right to call Antifa an organized group.

#Whistleblower#PortlandProtest Breaking: According to this @DHSgov internal email, obtained @CBSNews, former Acting Under Secretary for Intelligence & Analysis Brian Murphy wrote colleagues on July 25th that the Portland violence was not “opportunistic” but “organized”,” Herridge posted.

“The individuals are violently attacking the Federal facilities based on these ideologies,” one email read.

Herridge said that one email read: “We can’t say any longer that this violent situation is opportunistic. Additionally, we have overwhelmingly(sic) intelligence regarding the ideologies driving individuals toward violence + why the violence has continued. A core set of Threat actors are organized and show up night after night, and share common TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures)..”

“Threat actors who are motivated by Anarchists or ANTIFA (or a combination of both) ideologies to carry out acts of violence against State, Local and Federal authorities..” Herridge posted.

These emails are an important development in the national conversation about how President Donald J. Trump and law enforcement should handle the violent uprisings that have plagued many American towns and cites.

“Confirming what we suspected and knew all along: Antifa is an organized movement to carry out acts of violence against state, local, and federal authorities,” Independent reporter Ian Miles Cheong, wrote.

It is especially important in understand the origins of the violence Americans face just 50 days from the next Presidential election.

The millennial post reported, “Murphy urged for an immediate change of definitions for the violent activity in Portland following a review of the individuals arrested by federal authorities, as well as intelligence surrounding their affiliations and activities.
Click on theses below to go to the link.

Oddly, The discovery came from emails that were obtained in response to Democrat Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who claimed, last week, that based on Murphy’s claims the administration of Donald J. Trump was censoring information for political purposes.

Mondays email discovery proves that was not true.

Herridge posted the same.

The emails were clear about the ways in which Antifa operated on the ground and on social media.

“I recognize we may not be able to attribute every individual as VAAI however we need to look at the totality of the intelligence both current and previous and recognize the motivation for the violence and why people have shown up to commit violence for about 60 days. And why the individuals are using social media to encourage the VAAI on the ground to carry out acts of violence,” one email said.

“The nightly riots in Portland numbered at sixty days when the email was composed. Rioting has shifted from Portland to other cities with some of the same actors, including Washington DC, Seattle, and Kenosha—violence of which was spurred largely by pro-Antifa advocates on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitch, and Twitter,” wrote Andy Ngo, who has studied Antifa, in great detail.

“Anyone on the ground in Portland who isn’t sympathetic to or part antifa can see how organized & well-funded the BLM-antifa rioting has been. Pulling back curtain shows organized communications & crowdfunding schemes + dedicated riot & auxiliary roles,” Ngo posted Monday night.

KARI DONOVAN

Kari is an ex-Community Organizer who writes about Voter Engagement, Cultural Marxism and Campaigns. She has been a grassroots volunteer with the GOP, on and off for 18 years. She is a Homeschool Mom in North Carolina and loves Photojournalism and Citizen Journalism

This weekend I had a long detailed talk with a very good friend and fellow retired Marine who after retirement became a LEO in the intelligence field. I will not give his name, title, or place of work for his own anonymity and safety of he and his extended family. BUT, I will not use the MSM term of “unnamed source. He is not unnamed to me. So, trust me, what he shared with me is gospel.

They have been watching Antifa for years and he says they are a very well organized terror threat to the U.S, They are organized in platoons of about ten with a leader designated as what else, a platoon commander and a lieutenant.  Above them are captains with several platoons under their control, then they go to battalions  and so forth. Just as the military is organized. They get their funds from the globalists e.g., Soros and other American and outside organisations. The funds are distributed down through the chain to provide transportation, training, and weapons, not guns, but ordinary implements that local Leo’s could not designate as weapons e.g., skate boards, heavy flashlights, insect spray, etc.

Folks, this is serious. You may ask what are they doing about this? Well, they are sharing their intell with all LEOS,; however, in the blue states they simply right it off as BS. Others are compiling the data and using it secretly so as to not alert Antifa or their organizers and financiers. But trust me they know exactly who those latter folks are. You know the saying, “Follow the money.”

Originally posted 2020-09-21 11:24:02.

Here Comes Another One Mr. Mattis

Gee, it never stops, everyone is coming out of the woodwork. As of this morning, in two days, my blog has gotten over 85,500  hits — gee. In all the years I have been running it, I have never received more that 450 hits on any one blog. It has gone viral. I am having trouble keeping up with the comments as I want all of them — except the vulgar ones — to get their shot at me. If you cannot write something without the “F” word, don’t bother, I will delete it. There are women who belong to this blog and they don’t need to read that trash.  I am sure your Mother would not be proud of you for using that language. I know I am old fashion, actually both LOL.

I am also getting tons of  personal emails I really cannot keep up with — sorry guys but I will answer you, I promise becasue you matter to me. They are mostly coming from my Marine brothers who chose not to comment on the blog itself for a variety of reasons — ALL have shown support.

I wonder if “he” has seen it? I hope so. And hopefully Mr. Kelly and Mr. Allen have seen it also. I did not know Mattis or Kelly in the Corps, I was quite a few years ahead of them. But I did know Allen as a captain. I’ll bet his battalion commander, who I knew very well, we were Cpl DI’s together, is cringing at Allen’s current attitude and the station in life he has chosen. Shame on them all.

Anyway, I have not done a critical analysis of the count, but a quick check, I’d say the vast majority have been in support of the blog, about 20 to 1. Oh, there have been those who spew the party line with all the standard talking points about how horrible Trump is, how he is a racist, and he has divided the country. Of course his predecessor was clean in that regard. Of course I jest. We all know better.

I have to laugh at some who accused me of being passed over for general which is why I had almost as much time in the Corps as Mattis and was therefore jealous. That’s a hoot. Marines and other service members know why that is, but I shall not try and educate liberal civilians as  to the reason — let them think they are right.

I have found with so many hits I have tired of trying to answer the liberal talking points over and mover again. So I have decided my time is more valuable than that.

Anyway, now to the point of this post. Another much more revealing criticism of Mr. Mattis’ asinine oped, specially given the timing where police are being murdered on our streets, millions looted from destroyed stored, civilians being maimed and killed all according to Mr. Mattis’ it’s only a few lawless people.  Please click on the link below and listen to another sounding the alarm about Mattis’ hypocrisy and untimely and unwarranted oped.

 

 

 

 

 

murdock-urges-mattis-to-read-some-history-books-before-denouncing-trump-rs-dm

Originally posted 2020-06-07 14:30:06.

Another Open Letter

However, this one is not from some broken down, weather-beaten, aged, worn out retired Marine Grunt. LOL It’s from someone with a lot more personal knowledge and class.

John Maguire Dowd (born November 2, 1941) is an American attorney, former attorney for the United States Department of Justice, and former Marine Corps Judge Advocate. Dowd was employed by several law firms in the Washington, D.C. area for his expertise in defending clients accused of white-collar crimes. He was appointed by Major League Baseball (MLB) to lead the special counsel in multiple investigations with the organization in the 1980s and 1990s involving sports betting and bribery, the most notable investigation being the Dowd Report in 1989, which resulted in Pete Rose being banned from baseball for life.

From June 2017 to March 2018, Dowd was a legal advisor to President Donald Trump. On March 22, 2018, Dowd resigned as Trump’s lead counsel in the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference and possible ties to Trump associates.

Jim:
I slept on your statement and woke up appalled and upset. You lost me. Never dreamed you would let a bunch of hack politicians use your good name and reputation—earned with the blood and guts of young Marines. You did what you said you would—engage in this discourse. Marines keep their word.

The phony protesters near Lafayette park were not peaceful and are not real. They are terrorists using idle hate filled students to burn and destroy. They were abusing and disrespecting the police when the police were preparing the area for the 1900 curfew. Jim, this is the new nihilism. See Dan Henninger in WSJ today. Marines support the police in harms way.

Did you forget that President Bush used active duty Marines to quell the riots in LA? President Trump has countless cities and some snowflake governors and mayors wetting themselves in the use force to protect innocent lives and property. The AG of Massachusetts thinks burning property is good protest.
Three more policemen were stabbed and shot in NYC last night.
Think about it. Should he be upset about the obvious failure of leadership?

Where are you Jim?

Marines go to the fight.

No one divided this country more than Obama. He abandoned our black brothers and sisters. He gave guns to the cartels. He apologized for our precious sacrifice and generosity overseas.
President Trump has done more to help our minority brothers and sisters in the three years than anyone in the last fifty. Ask the black pastors. Ask the leaders of the black colleges and universities. He got them funded. Ask them about the prison reform which ended the draconian sentences imposed on young black men by the laws enacted by Biden and his hacks. You need to bone up on your homework and stop listening to Uncle Leon.

I understand, you had to stick to the assigned narrative which did not include three years of corrupt investigations and evidence to destroy this President, his office, and his lawful free election. Nancy has no tolerance for dissent in the ranks—including those with stars.
You said nothing of the ugly, hate filled, disgraceful comments of Pelosi, Schumer, Perez and other Democrat hacks defaming the President and his office. You said nothing of the unlawful sanctuary cities and the unlawful release of hoodlums. You said nothing of the resistance movement to paralyze our courts and our government operations. You said nothing of the obstruction and subversion of our immigration laws. You said nothing of MS-13 killers and the drug cartels who own huge sections of our major cities. Jim, do you think that hateful rhetoric and those corrupt actions were inspiring and unifying? Do you think the DI’s at Parris Island would find such behavior as unifying?

Maybe, your problem, is a lot deeper. Perhaps you ought to explain how and why you (and John Allen), as CG Central Command, did not engage and take out Iranian Major General Soleimani who roamed the Middle East and wreaked havoc and death of American boys with his infamous IEDs?

Why did it take President Trump to have the instinct and balls to take him out (of course over the objection the geniuses in the Pentagon)?

Looks like the Persian mullahs were a one horse sleigh and Trump nailed the horse….forever. It has been quiet ever since. Perhaps, your anger is borne of embarrassment for your own failure as the leader of Central command. Did you applaud when the President recognized the central problem in the middle east? Did you applaud the President when he wanted to save American lives by bringing them home in one piece?
John M Dowd

 

Postscript: LOL, my bride read this and wondered if the author was speaking to me as Mattis and I are both Jim’s. No, he was speaking to Mattis for sure. LOL

Originally posted 2020-06-06 12:17:48.