The Big Strong Attack

Offense needs room, defense prefers tight space.  To close in on offenders is to at once deny the offense advantage and enhance your defense advantage.

ma ai - the proper distance, safe distance, between opponents.

Defensive stance is not assume a position and wait for violation,  it is to put out an arm in expression of your own seriousness and measure the distance.  From the offender's point of view you are emphasising your intent.  From your point of view you are measuring at what distance to intervene.

From this position, you work the aikido (kendo) half steps to maintain the offender off balance.

If and when he falls within the ma ai, that is to say he has violated your space, give him the hand and arm to deal with.  “Grab my wrist” defense is ludicrous, to be static, and expect the attacker to do as you say, grab your wrist.  No, no...  you are moving at this point. With a dynamic extension, it does not matter if he does grab or not, or swing, in any case, you will do an art, probably tenkan, or irimi.

If there is no attack, you are merely in a position of unlikely attack.

if there is an attack you are in a good defensive position.

Another problem rarely addressed is the overwhelmingly powerful attack.  A large powerful person coming at you with the advantage of time and space.  In this instance avoid contact if possible, in any event, do at best a tenkan.  if you survive the onslaught, then the next wave will necessarily be half of the previous attack, since the sapped mass and surprise is now gone.  In that first pass by you made the measure of the attacker.

If still too powerful, escape again, like a bull fight.  If you get caught, well, your number was up.  If not you slowed the attacker down, with a better chance.  The more time he takes, the more you are learning, the more likely he makes a mistake, which you can exploit.

Keep moving. Always practice these in a dojo, not from a book.  Find a club.

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Christian New York Police Officer Threatens to Behead Prisoner & Desecrate

In the process of an illegal search, two police officers abuse captives and threaten to behead one for mentioning his constitutional rights.  And then desecrate his body.

The phrase the police officer used I've heard several times before over the decades, it is stock terrorism. But wait, it is only terrorism when others do it.

Nothing will come of this either, but it happened to be secretly videotaped.

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The Pledge of Allegiance

A meditation on the pledge of allegiance,

Daniel Sharp Ford, the owner of a magazine, called Youth’s Companion, was on a mission to sell American flags for every classroom nationwide.  The 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus provided him with an opportunity to solicit more sales. He announced that a salute to the flag would be taking place to commemorate the Columbus Day celebration and was part of theofficial program for schools all over America. He then commissioned Francis Bellamy, who wrote and published the Pledge. Ford attended the national meeting of school superintendents and implemented the pledge/salute nationwide.

Well worth a read, manufactured patriotism.

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Aikido & Competition

Compete comes from the root "to strive with" ... combat is to "fight with."  Competition is good, because everyone does better in a competitive environment.  I have my competitors in Misogi (I googled "Japan cold water swimming" and could find nothing) among the Chinese elderly (and I keep forgetting, at 60, people consider me "elderly").  I cannot dive from eight feet into cold water yet, but now I see a standard to compete against...  (NB: his hair is wet so it appears he has acclimated to the cold water and making a subsequent dive... this is easier than diving in dry...)



And in Michigan, a cowboy has gotten into the swim of things, hee haw style:



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USA Training the "Enemy"

Yet another "moderate Islamist" force trained and armed by the USA has defected to ISIS.

The Hazzm Movement, associated with the Free Syrian Army, is a secular Syrian insurgent group backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It was one of the last of the non-jihadist opposition groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria.
Its leadership has decided to join the Islamist coalition of the Levant Front fighting around the key Syrian city of Aleppo, according to Arab news sources, including NOW Lebanon.

Unmitigated madness.  Then Buchanan says this in passing:

While Reagan sent weapons to anti-Communist rebels in Angola, Nicaragua and Afghanistan, to the heroic Poles of Gdansk he sent only mimeograph machines.

Yes.  Where you send weapons, horrors.  Where you don't,  peaceful improvements.

If you google "moderate usa trained defect to isis" you'll see this has been going on for years.  Are we just stupid, or evil, meaning this is on purpose, to give Big War a steady income?

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Learning Aikido

A solid foundation in basic move exercises is becoming less on offer at aikido dojos, and it shows.  Another element missing is instructors taking ukemi.  As beginners there is much to learn as nage, trying to master the throws, but there is a point where you begin to learn far more as uke, by feeling what is going on, seeing where the opening are, and discovering counters.

We learn by teaching, and the higher up, the more ukemi should be taken.  I am just saying....

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Abner Jay - Vietnam

Delightfully ambiguous lyrics and fine music...

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