Southwest PA Self-defense Network Blog

This is an editorial that crossed my path while researching pacifism and self-defense. My words are in red.   https://ndcatholic.org/yourresources/editorials/column0319/ About Take Action Resources Deadly Force Can Rarely be Justified by Christopher Dodson Executive Director North Dakota Catholic Conference March 2019 For the second consecutive legislative session, the North      Dakota Legislative Assembly has considered legislation to expand when a person can use deadly force against another. Proponents call these proposals “stand your ground” laws. Some law enforcement officials call them “shoot to kill” bills. ( Sure, maybe some liberal police chief somewhere stated this but d oubtful this is true representation of most law enforcement.)   As in 2017, the latest bill was defeated, but the margin was narrow. Both bills would have allowed the use of deadly force to protect theft of property, even if no life was threatened. (Not a fan of using deadly ...

  Review of Guilty by Reason of Insanity by Dorothy Otnow 338pg , c1998 This was a very hard book to read. The author does a good job of recounting her interactions with really sick people. She does the usual telling of her history of getting into psychiatry and what changed and how it affected her outlook, etc.  She doesn't give solid dates of this or that but you get the sense this was during the 70's and beyond because she referenced the rise of Sybil and 3 Faces of Eve.  She intertwines her personal growth and life, the persons she interviews, the courts and the state of belief in multiple personality disorder. Although heavily accepted today split personality or DID was disregarded back then and it's adoption was slow in coming. Even the author was skeptical until she came face to face with some one who had alters.  The author has 4 or 5 case studies that highlight the points and experiences she had with them. The hard part to read was the horrific abuse that th...

  When I first started the book, I had high hopes for it. Although it stated from the outset that it was a semi-expose on the dysfunctional culture of the CIA I was hoping for more ' interesting ' stuff.  Like most biographies, he details his time in the Marines, his life before the CIA, how he joined, some of the recruitment, advice he was given and overall thoughts on directions his life took....Getting married, having kids.  He does a good job of highlighting the main part of the book - CIA dysfunction.  The culture within the CIA is one of risk aversion so you don't lose your job or get stuck for years in some dead in, cubicle in a basement somewhere; layers of management that have to approve any type of meeting or outreach; slowness on even getting things approved or reviewed. For example, being a YEAR behind in having current paychecks.  The book details meetings, moving to other countries, trainings, turf battles, who pissed off who.  Although critic...

Because I have an interest in women's rights issue and self-determination I wanted to watch this to see how things were presented and I was not disappointed. It was eye opening on a number of levels.  It presented a brief history of the issue of women driving in Saudi Arabia and how it went from no driving allowed to the repeal of the dreaded Guardianship. Guardianship rules set the idea that Saudi women would need permission to do certain things like drive or travel outside of the country.  The issue of driving was both a civil rights and women's empowerment issue and in some areas was a point of civil disobedience. Several women drivers were arrested and branded as traitors.  In time, the King overturned the No Driving Rule and allowed for women to drive and it gave rise to the largest driving school in the world. Over 700 female instructors were on staff to teach women from all over Saudi Arabia.  Some notable points: - The cities are fully modern and most signs a...

  Review of Alternatives to Domestic Violence; A Homework Manual for Battering Intervention Groups  by Kevin Fall and Shareen Howard This was an usual read for me as it is actually  a work book for adult male abusers involved in a ( usually ) court mandated batterers group.  The book assumes one thing - that batters and abuses can change if they are willing to put in the work.  It progress from one topic to another in increasing complexity.  The book starts off with the expected introductions over " Why are you here" and " what can be expected" with a good chapter on Myths and realities of a group. There are 14 chapters and the chapters are centered around a power and control topic the abusers is supposed to utilize to look inward and adjust their thinking and behavior.  Chapter topics are pretty in depth such as Negotiating a Partnership Trust Relationships, Giving and Receiving Respect, Taking Responsibility for Yourself, Positive Sexual Relationship...

 Holy Spider ( 2022)  11-12-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugq_aTKMh4U https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18550140/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_Holy%2520Spi I just finished watching Holy Spider, an Iran based crime drama based on the true life serial killer  Saeed Hanaei (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeed_Hanaei ).  This was a great movie which showed the attempts by an Iranian Journalist to investigate and uncover the truth about the string of prostitutes death in a smaller city in Iran. The killer ends up with 16 victims and in the end claims to be doing Allah's work cleansing the world of the evil women.  Unlike American made movies, this focused a lot more on the journalist efforts in making connections, talking to people rather than the exploits and and showing of the crimes.  Although the movie does shows the crimes and a brief but graphic oral sex scene at the beginning, they are tame compared to American fare.  The journalist has to navigate ...

 Walk the Blue Line  by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann c2023, 341pgs Of all the first hand account books that I've read about being a cop, this one is the gold shield.  The  book is broken up into 30 -40 short 3-5 page stories of various officers in various departments.  Young and older, new patrolmen sometimes days on the job to 30 year veterans getting ready  to retire, detectives, sheriff's deputies, US Marshalls, state police and FBI so it's a very  nice cross section of people. The book doesn't go into, or maybe I missed it, of how the authors got the stories. Are these all first hand, interviewed accounts that they then took and wrote up using their own talent for creating drama ? Or are these written by the officers and the collected and edited by the authors ?  The stories they bring to the table are also varied but compelling.  Tense traffic stops that are de-escalated and everyone goes about their evening.. Foot pursuits... Pres...