The Death and Resurrection of Liberty Island Books
A new beginning is coming…
By David M. Swindle
For the last six months Liberty Island Books has been on hiatus while the editorial team and I developed plans for a relaunch. This has taken longer than the initial weeks anticipated because on September 16, 2021 I was the victim of criminal violence which has resulted in often debilitating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. Efforts to heal and pursue justice for the crimes committed against me have slowed down plans to begin publishing new titles. However, at this point I am ready to announce how we will move forward and the new team who will be aiding us in doing so.
‘Shoot Them in the Leg’ and Other Idiocies
No, If You Have To Shoot, Shoot Center Mass
By David Churchill Barrow
The shooting by a police officer of the knife-wielding teenager in Columbus, Ohio has summoned forth the same absurd comments by media and politicians who know nothing about firearms – and their use in adrenaline-filled situations – that we heard from Joe Biden more than once during the campaign: Perhaps the words of wisdom Miyagi gave to Daniel-San should be given unto them: “You… too much TV.” Since they do watch TV, and presumably the movies shown thereon, perhaps the most famous gunfight in the history of the United States would serve to drive the point home: If you have to shoot, put your target down.
October 26, 1881 – Tombstone, Arizona Territory. All of the participants in this fight were skilled with the powerful weapons they possessed; i.e. .44 and .45 cal. pistols, a 12 gauge double-barrel shotgun, and Winchester rifles. Some of the participants had killed men before this fight, and would kill again afterwards. When the fight commenced, the combatants were only about six feet apart in an empty lot next to Fly’s photograph studio. (Some of the “cowboys” had come through the back entrance to the OK Corral nearby, but that is its only connection to the fight.) The shooting lasted only thirty seconds, but in that time about thirty shots were fired. Consider that for a moment – six feet apart, thirty seconds, thirty shots. What were the hits?
A West Side Story
By Scott Seward Smith
Willy, our retired super and part-time Bachata musician, told us that the street used to be a major avenue for drug dealing until Giuliani cleaned it up. He said that one of the local drug dealers once told him, after Willie refused to take money to not report the dealing, “the only reason I haven’t killed you is because you’re a nice guy.”
Theatre Review: The Mueller Report-Based ‘The Investigation: A Search for Truth’
The Church Report
By Robert Cooperman
Well, it didn’t take long! Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report was made public on April 18, 2019 and by June 24, 2019 we had a “play” about it! Eighteen notable actors—including John Lithgow, Annette Bening, and Kevin Kline—took the stage at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, and offered an hour-long reading of the Mueller report, entitled The Investigation: A Search for Truth, a title that forces one to sing “Dah-dah-daaahhh” after saying it.
Obviously, it would take way more than an hour to read the 400+ pages of the Mueller report. However, playwright Robert Schankken efficiently cut out most of the report—including the large portion that found no collusion committed by President Donald Trump or anyone on his campaign staff—focusing instead on the obstruction of justice section, which Mueller apparently was unsure about. Schankken himself is a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, whose most recent piece before The Investigation(Dah-dah-daaahhh!) was Building the Wall, a May 2017 play about “life in the Donald Trump era.” I’ve yet to figure out how a President can define an “era” just five months into his administration.
Ohio Premiere of Controversial Pro-Police Play Needs Your Help!
By Robert Cooperman
Stage Right Theatrics, the country’s only conservative theatre company, is staging the Ohio premiere of Phelim McAleer’s controversial play Ferguson: Truth Matters. The production runs from July 13-15 at the Shedd Theatre in Columbus, Ohio.
Ferguson: Truth Matters dramatizes the actual grand jury testimony from the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. All dialogue in the play is taken verbatim from the grand jury testimony of November 2014 and presents exactly what the grand jury heard, leading to the decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown.
