One of the things I always tell my students is that hand-to-hand self defense options require a high level of physical fitness.

The race may not be won by the swift, nor the fight by the strong, but that is the way to bet.

The best way to think of a hand-to-hand conflict where weapons are not present is that it is an energy exchange.  The aggressor is trying to force the victim to submit by dumping kinetic energy in to his target.  He does this by punching and kicking the victim.  The victim is trying to either resist the attack by throwing their own punches and kicks, or by running away.

The person who is larger and stronger has the decided advantage, not only because their attacks will have more kinetic energy but also because their bodies will have more mass to absorb the blows of their opponent.

Learning a martial art is useful, but only up to a point.

All practical martial arts will provide a framework to make your blows more efficient, as well as encourage vigorous work outs to improve fitness levels.  They are operating systems for self defense, as it were, and I encouraged all of my students that were capable to take up the martial arts of their choice.  Even so, age or injury and the size of an opponent will nullify even the best of these systems.  Physics are physics, and we all have to live within the rules.

And so we come to the subject of this essay: less-lethal weapons.

Batons and defensive sprays such as tear gas or pepper spray are portrayed in moves and on TV as some sort of fight ending wonder weapons.  Spray a little irritating liquid in the face of your attacker, or strike them with your baton, and down they go in a quivering heap!

Below is a very short video of part of an actual riot that took place in Portland on June 30, 2018.

(I didn’t edit this video, just using it for illustrative purposes.)
The person with the baton attacked an unarmed opponent, but that person was significantly larger and in better condition.  Combine that with a disregard for getting bruised and the outcome was never really in doubt.  One could say that the baton armed aggressor chose….poorly.

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It has been a couple of weeks, but lets talk about 30-year-old Kino Jimenez.

Looks pretty tough.  Obviously exercises a bit, and is proud of the results.

He was arrested in 2016, and again in 2017.  I can’t find any information on why he was arrested, which probably means Mr. Jimenez had a lawyer smart enough to request that the record be sealed.  I did find the 2017 mugshot, though.

A real charmer, I’d say!

Mr. Jimenez was eating at a fast food burger restaurant early morning July 3, 2018 when he saw two underage teenagers who were also enjoying a late night bite.  Every kid was no older than 16 years old.  One of them was wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a baseball cap displaying the campaign slogan of President Trump.  Mr. Jimenez decided to take action.

Please be aware that the following video is not safe for work due to foul language.

Lots of aggression, lots of hate.  It appears to me that Mr. Jimenez was just looking for an excuse to throw a punch.  If so, then the kids at that table were smart to take the abuse without protesting too much.

Mr. Jimenez was identified through social media, and the police arrested him on a felony charge of Theft of Person.  This is normally a misdemeanor if the property taken is less than $100.00 USD, but it can lead to a felony charge under certain circumstances.  Texas Penal Code 31.03(e)(4)(D) states that the crime is  “a state jail felony if: (D) the value of the property stolen is less than $2,500 and the defendant has been previously convicted two or more times of any grade of theft;...”

Okay, so he was charged with a felony this time around, but we have no concrete information as to why.  I’m sure that the prosecutor has his reasons as to why stealing a $20.00 baseball cap prompted a felony charge.

Here is the latest mugshot taken of Mr. Jimenez.

What happened to the hairy-scary guy?  Dunno!

I wrote this post because I am rather puzzled.  Why isn’t the Justice Department pursuing charges of a hate crime?

I am not too happy with the whole hate crime concept myself, as I think any group the victim belongs to should not increase the severity of the punishment.  But if violent people are getting extra punishment because they choose their victims because they belong to a certain race or social group, shouldn’t the same criteria be applied to Leftists who attack children because they are wearing a hat with a political slogan?

I took about a year of karate lessons in my home town.  Not enough to become anything near proficient, of course, but at least I could throw a punch and maybe a snap kick or two.

One thing my old instructor liked to say was “If you are outnumbered, RUN!”

Sound wisdom.  Words to live by.

You guys really need to follow this link right now.  Watch the video.

See the bald guy with the walrus mustache and the glasses?  He had just been opened up under his left arm by a box cutter.  16 stitches were needed to close the wound.  It looks like he wasn’t about to give up or give in.

Note how the robber was younger and in much better shape then the people who move to subdue.  Didn’t matter, though.

One last thing.  Watch the video to the end, right at the last two or three seconds, and look down on the floor by the loose cash register paper rolls.  You will see a good amount of blood that wasn’t there when the fight started.  I think it came from the suspect.

(Hat tip to Glenn.)