Southwest PA Self-defense Network Blog

  Review of Africa Samurai: the True story of Yasuke, A legendary Black Warrior in Fedual Japan By Thomas Lockley and Geoffrey Girard c. 2019; 380 Pages This was an amazing book. It detailed the true story of a African borne warrior named Yasuke who rose up through various positions in Japanese society around 1579, eventually being granted title of Samurai and allowed two swords. The story is supposed to be historically accurate while being entertaining similar to historical dramas.  A lot of understanding of Japanese culture and background was needed to flesh out the parts that were historically silent but the author did a good job of what would likely have happened. Yasuke was a kidnapped African sold into the slave trade but eventually ended being a valued body guard and warrior for whatever general or lord he was serving under.  He fought often and early in India eventually coming to the guard services for a Catholic regional manager with the Jesuits. The J...

  All Secure by Tom Satterly  c2019, 310 Pages The book tells the story of Tom Sattery who spent 20 years in the military, most as a highly skilled operative with " the Unit " a short hand version of  1st Special Forces Operational Detachment  - Delta or commonly known as Delta Force. This guy was a badass, a true warrior in every sense of the word.  The Ninja warrior of the modern age. The book chronicles his story of joining, training, moving up in rank, getting selected for Delta and his mission. Oh so many missions that he says he lost count.  I won't go into details for the sake of time but he relays a number of them they begin to blur together. He was involved in the famous Black Hawk Down scenario in Mogadishu and was one of the teams searching for Saddam Hussein.  If you can imagine Delta force, war stories, this guy lived it.  And he killed..and killed some more.  The book lays out the issue with killing and as Col. Dave Grossman poi...

  Review of Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann c2017 Great book, highly recommended. The investigative journalist investigates the systematic murders and cover up of the ( at the time ) oil rich Osage Indian nation murders. The conspiracy to defraud through stealing leases, marrying and then offing the spouses, destroying records, bribery, corruption, was astounding.  It wasn't until the FBI leaned heavily on getting this solved and despite many years of investigation they finally cracked it.  Heavily documented and authoritative. ( 2022) 

   NYPD: Stories of Survival from the World's Toughest Beat Edited by Clint Willis  c - 2002 This book is a collection of stories from various true crime writers and overall I was rather disappointed. The stories were an odd collection with some of them dating back 100 years to the 1927 or even 1800's.  It describes a lot of what life was in NY for cops.  A good book if you are into the history of law enforcement in a specific location ( NY ) but for overall info about cops and cop stories, there is better out ther. 

 The Myth of the Out of Character Crime by Stanton Samenow copyright 2010 Another great book on the criminal mind by Samenow.  "The theme of this book is that people always respond in character, that is impossible for a person to do otherwise. " Samenow tackles the tough but popular thought of "He just snapped" and  expression when someone does something bad, " That is so out of character !" or " They would never do that!" . Samenow's theory and supporting evidence is that people never act of character and when you dig deep you find a lot of supportive evidence that the person, all along had exhibited the traits that led up to the crime.  Samenow examines 5 cases studies for the book although he has examined hundreds of others.  1. Washington Snipers Lee Malvo and John Muhammed. 2. Steven, a talented young scientist with no criminal record accused of kidnapping, and threatening to blow a man's head off.  3. Stuart, 20 year old " all ...

  This Dear Abby has a lot of freight to it and because Sexual Assault is the secret affliction no one talks about, I wanted to highlight some points on this. My comments and observations are at the end. Rape Victim Has Kept It a Secret for Decades - October 19, 2021 - DEAR ABBY: Thirty-five years ago I was raped by a stranger. He told me he would kill me if I ever told anyone. I never told my husband (now ex-), mostly because I was afraid if I did he would never touch me again. So I lived with the secret. It eventually tore our marriage apart and we divorced. Although we have both moved on and remarried, we have remained in touch. I am 60 now and he is 64. I yearn to tell him the story before one of us leaves this Earth. I want him to understand and hopefully forgive me for the events that drove us apart. The need to tell him is so strong, I cry about it. Please advise me on this. -- STILL NOT OVER IT IN MARYLAND DEAR STILL NOT OVER: If it will bring you comfort, reveal the secre...

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/feud-ax-fishing-knife-bloody-085816129.html General Principles of Self-Defense Lesson 7: What Is the Escalation Principle? Why Is It Bad to Think 'They'll Never Do That’? This article highlights our Self-Defense Lesson #7 - Escalation principle.  The Escalation Principle is a self-defense dynamic where a conflict escalates and the victim does not anticipate that escalation. Because they don't anticipate it, they can't prepare for it and it catches them unawares.  Escalation is often seen in stalking, harassment and in emotionally charged situations where a percieved injustice has been inflicted. The later, is often referred to as the parking lot escalation where someone thinks you stole thier parking spot, you respond with some verbal retort and they get out with the crow bar.  With stalking and harassment, the escalation principle comes into play when the bad guy ramps up the intensity of the harassment.  It goes from a simple break...