Secret Service Security Lapses For Obama - Do Ya Thinks It's All GWB's Fault

Obama has blamed George W. Bush for so many faults of the Obama Administration then why not also for the latest reported lapse of his own presidential security details when an armed convicted felon rode in the same elevator with him recently at the CDC.

Yep, let's blame Bush. I mean why not look at it this way: George W. Bush and his wife Laura were usually, if not always, very nice and respectful toward Secret Service Agents (just as they were to other government employees and maybe a bit more to Secret Service personnel because they realized they owed their safety to them). The Secret Service Agents got used to that respectful and courteous treatment they received during the 8 years course of GWB's presidential term. Then Obama came into office and I am thinking maybe he and his wife were, quite frankly, the typical less than respectful leftist-libturd -president-wife team.

Due to his upbringing, apparent totally spoiled and seemingly disrespectful un-American personality, is he totally incapable of showing anything near the level of respect and common courtesy to the Secret Service Agents that the Bush's had shown them. (I would guess he has showed them no such respect.) In addition as it turns out, Obama seemingly and continually has proven himself as having less than the usual amount of patriotic fervor of past presidents, and to me it seems maybe even less than some traitors, and evidently much less than the same feeling of owing anything to federal agents. In other words, he possibly is simply incapable of stirring any sense of duty or loyalty within the hearts of the men and women who are charged to protect him as our president. Chances are that he in fact does just the exact opposite and foments an atmosphere of indifference or possibly one of even outright disrespect and resentment that leads to, shall I say, inattentiveness to duty on their part where his safety is concerned. I do not advocate it, but I think it may well be what is happening.

Yes, that must all be George W. Bush's fault for treating those Secret Service Agents so well in the first place and showing them respect and common courtesy thus making it tough for Obama because he seems absolutely inept in that same department. Instead, is it possible that Obama shows sheer and utter disrespect for his office, our country, its military, its agents and most of its laws. Examples abound, at least as I see it, for instance: failure to salute the flag during the national Anthem, Operation Fast & Furious, the IRS scandal, his apologies to the world for America doing the right thing, Benghazi and his failure to support U.S. personnel,
his coffee cup salutes to Marine guards, agents shot and killed by guns supplied by Obama's administration, his incessant claims he was unaware of what was going on, his golf outings at times of crisis, and the list goes on and on and on.  One would think all those things might be enough to make a Secret Service Agent (or any government agent or military personnel) almost hope that Obama wasn't his boss or that maybe he would resign and leave office early. Get the picture Mr. President - maybe they just don't give a shit about you because maybe they think you are the biggest piece of shit they have ever seen. Again, I am just pointing out a possibility - not advocating for it.

Anyway, why not just blame it all on George W. Bush for spoiling those agents by having had the good manners, common sense, patriotism, loyalty, integrity and whatever else it is you don't seem capable of having.

All the best,
Glenn B

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ALERT - The N-Word In Charge Has Let Ebola In The Door

Yes folks, the Nincompoop-In-Charge has apparently done absolutely nothing to prevent Ebola infected persons from entering across our borders, and today, the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) confirms the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed on American soil. (source).

If what the CDC recently said about the spread of Ebola in Africa turns out to be true, there may be from 550,000,000 to 1.4 million (yes MILLION) cases of it there by this January. Well, now our nation too has joined the epidemic with our first case here (that barring health care workers who were intentionally brought here for treatment). Who knows how many others, who are infected with Ebola, have already landed on our shores and are human time-bombs just waiting to spread one of the most deadly viruses known to man. Sure, the politicians, medical types and the media are soon going to all be talking about this and you can rest assured they are going to tell you how it will remain contained within the USA and how we need not worry. The thing is, they do not have a clue ,that will be wishful thinking and nothing more. I seem to recall that just months ago, anyone who said they feared it would wind up spreading to the USA was looked at as some sort of a kook by those same politicians, medical personnel and the media. NOW HERE IT IS WITHIN OUR BORDERS. Not so kooky after all and bear in mind it all started with only one case in Africa too. Also remember, that for the person to be symptomatic means that he or she has had it for up to weeks already and during at least part of that time it was transmissible to others.

For now, the CDC, other health officials and the government are remaining pretty quiet on this. They are probably tripping over their own wagging tongues while blaming one another and trying to figure out a good sounding story to tell to us - the American people. The patient has been placed into strict isolation according to the article I linked to above and his "recent travel history" was mentioned.

Him having a recent travel history could lead back to the source but it can also guarantee that there are probably hundreds of other potential vectors for this disease whom he may have infected along the way and they most certainly must include other people here in the USA. Folks he encountered during his flight(s), or other mode(s) of travel, such as other passengers or crew,  folks he encountered in Immigration and Customs (or folks he encountered while being smuggled across our borders), folks he encountered once at his destination, folks he encountered in the medical facility where in sought and or was given treatment before he was isolated, folks in any place he stopped to piss, crap, eat, buy a newspaper, shake a hand, or whatever he did through which he could have spread his bodily fluids like perspiration (that is a known vector for Ebola).

If he infected two people, within weeks they too could each infect two and there it goes taking off like it did in Africa. The frigging zombie apocalypse is, in essence, upon us and bear in mind that just a few years back we could not even produce enough flu vaccine to sufficiently vaccinate Americans and this virus has no vaccination to fight it. More recently, think of Enterovirus D68, that is the virus that the government assured us was quite rare  but yet has had spread to children in 40 states to date and has infected hundreds of them with us unable to stop it. If Ebola spreads in a similar fashion and as quickly, we are fucked and very badly so at that.

I recommend buying all the alcohol gel you can find on the shelves and maybe several large bottles of vodka too. I will be wearing rubber gloves when and if I can called into work (I work with immigrants) and will be taking all reasonable precautions and maybe some that medical professionals think not so reasonable but that I deem necessary. Wearing a vapor mask comes to mind. Washing after any skin to skin contact or disinfecting with alcohol gel is another. Keeping on gloves at work is another. Drinking some booze after being coughed on while speaking to someone, or likewise, another. Sound silly or paranoid to you? I am willing to bet you that if the guy who has it now is located in a hospital in your neighborhood or neck of the woods you will not think so. If you are a thousand miles away from him you may laugh at my precautions, that is until maybe you hear about a dozen or more cases of it if it spreads. When one of them winds up being close to your home, you won't see what I am suggesting as silly any more. By the way, you can read up some on maybe how to prevent an Ebola infection in this linked article, it appears near the end of the piece.

This is one hell of a serious virus as can be seen not only by its spread in Africa but by the fact it has reached our shores, is fatal from about 50% up to 90% of he time and because there is no known vaccination or cure for it. If you don't want to take precautions - fine by me but I think I will start to take at least some, like frequent use of alcohol gel and frequent hand washings.

All the best,
Glenn B



 

Funeral Parlor Visits Suck...

...especially when for family, loved ones and friends. Then again, the people who come make all the difference and today, even though a sad event being it was my mom's wake, tuned out to be a joy of sorts. While not as many people showed up as I kind of, sort of, would have expected a few to several years ago. In fact not one person right around her age from her friends or relatives was there. Mom was born on Christmas day 1924 and that was almost 90 years, or a long time, ago. That made me realize, she had outlived everyone of her friends or relatives that were about her age; that takes some getting used to. So you may be wondering how come I thought it was ad but also a joy; that was because of who did come.

As for the visitors, one of my cousins, from my father's side, showed up and that was much appreciated. Our families were not very close but I hooked up with him again several years ago - it's a small world. I like to think we have a good relationship now. Also got some other visitors, folks I used to work with, and that was much appreciated - all good friends. There were also some good friends of mine from Glendale (the old neighborhood) who showed up and that was excellent. Also met some more or less distant relatives, for the first time, but who had known my mom. Was nice to meet them and nice of them to come. In addition, a friend of my wife from her job also came by and that too was much appreciated.

Of course, my sister and her son were there and her now ex-hubby also showed up (which was very nice). Then there was me and my immediate family, and my in-laws on the wife's side. My sister-in-law, who is brother's widow, was there. So too were her sister and brother-in-law (again very nice of them). All in all though, the place at times seemed kind of empty. I still could not really get over that none of my moms old time friends or relatives were there - not my godmother or godfather, not my stepfather, not my great grandparents, not my grandparents, not my brother even not that POS father of mine. It is still hard to accept she was the last of her group and that she even outlived my brother. Then again, even though it looked  bit empty, I think maybe at least some of the old timers were there in spirit. As my mom used to say, the older we get the more friends and loved ones we lose. She had no more friends to lose - I guess it was her time to go and meet them in another place.

Anyway, as for the folks who came, if there is a God I hope that he (or she) blesses them all. They are all good folks, those who showed up today either in body or in spirit. If there is not a God, then let me just say that they have blessed themselves by being good folk.

Now I have to hit the hay, the funeral is tomorrow. Goodnight all.

All the best,
Glenn B

Law Enforcement Officers Many Of Them Truly Are The Good Guys

There has been a lot on the TV news, in the papers and on the Internet lately about police using too much force or doing other bad, sometimes even criminal, things. I sometimes agree that too much force was used and I definitely agree that police and federal agencies should not be allowed to militarize themselves as they have been doing. What you do not often hear about, probably because it happens every day and numerous times every day, are law enforcement officers who do their jobs as they should and who use only use force when necessary and then who use only the amount of force needed to legally get the job done.

One such officer has made the news lately, if only because she is connected to the man who allegedly beheaded the woman in OK days ago. That officer is a member of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. She reportedly encountered Alton Alexander Nolen in 2012 when she attempted to arrest him. As she tried to handcuff him, he violently pulled away from her ripping a piece of the flesh away from one of her hands and breaking at least one of her fingers. He ran, she pursued (source). According to Trooper Betsy Randolph:

"He kept looking over his shoulder because he knew I wanted to shoot him, but obviously I couldn't shoot him in the back,". "If there had been any way to know the things he is alleged to have done a few days ago I would have killed him when I had a chance." (source)

Actually she could have shot him in the back; the thing is though that she did not. She followed procedure, she followed regulations, she followed the law and she followed her conscious. She did not use excessive or even questionable force, she was a good trooper. The result, in a long drawn out remotely connected way, was that a lady lost her life and another was severely injured at the hands of an Islamist (let's call him what he apparently was and is) who in my mind is also a terrorist. That is not Betsy Randolph's fault, not in any way shape or form. For her to have made that statement though has me believing that she feels at least partly responsible although I hope that I am mistaken. She should feel no remorse for having done her job the right way even if it resulted in that scumbag being able to take even just one more breath because how could she have known - there was no way to know.

I can understand her though, the whole idea of wishing she could have known what he would have become and done and thus saying she would have killed him had she known. Does that make her in anyway a bad cop or a bad person, that wish that she could have known and then killed him? No it does not if only because of the way she said it with the condition "If there had been any way to know...". Of course she realizes there was no way to have known and thus she never would have gunned him down illegally. She is compensating for her feelings of having been powerless to stop a man who would become a seeming raving Islamic madman and with that I can empathize.

I am willing to bet that throughout the remainder of her career, she never abuses her authority to shoot or otherwise harm anyone, that she will keep with her whatever it was that made her exercise restraint that day back in 2012 when she could easily have shot him, that she will be remain one of the unsung good guys. I tip my hat to her.

All the best,
Glenn B

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month Is Almost At Its End...

...have you made a donation to kilted to Kick Cancer yet? If not and if you are considering giving something, any little bit helps, then please consider giving through team Jay G at Kilted to Kick Cancer. Go there, then cick on the donate icon, enter your donation amount, then select "This donation is made as part of a Fundraising Team" and then pick out the team of your choosing from the drop-down list (or you can donate without having it go through one of the teams). I would hope you pick Team Jay G. Jay G explains it all here: http://www.ma-rooned.com/2014/09/kilted-pic-day-28.html. Please give something if you can even if not via one of the fund raising teams. These guys wearing kilts each and every day this month, to raise funds to fight prostate cancer, has got to be worth something.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead...

...well only figuratively but that will have to do for now. Eric Holder is not dead but is resigning as Wicked Witch of the East Attorney General. Just about the only political news I could hear better than that would be if Obama did so too.

Read more about Holder's resignation here:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/25/contempt-congress-case-will-proceed-without-holder/#ixzz3ENP8iU1j

All the best,
Glenn B

Mom & Flowers

I was picking out photographs from my mom's albums today for display at the funeral parlor tomorrow. I picked up those albums from my sister's old house, the one she just sold and moved out of, a couple of weeks ago. Back then, I found a small clipping about flowers. When I started to go through the albums today, I searched for the clipping because I want to read it at her services. At first I could not find it and that was a little stressful but then there it was as if it had just bloomed before me.

When I was a kid, my mom always liked the flowers that I gave her on days like Easter and Mother's Day (even if I got them questionably maybe with some mischief involved). So I guess I just was carrying on a tradition, one I started long ago. When I read the words in that little clipping, it made me happy, that most of the times I visited my mom in recent years, I kept up that tradition by bringing her those flowers ( and cookies too). Not all the time mind you but certainly the majority of the times I saw her. She was living in a dementia ward, in an assisted living home, for almost 6 years before she passed. I visited her just about every week over the first three and a half years. Then I had a bout with cancer and suffered through the torture of the treatments; I guess that it was understandable that my visits slacked off but I may never know why I did not pick up the pace again when I was feeling better. While I may not have seen her as often as I should have since I had the cancer, I usually still brought her flowers. They were usually mixed bouquets, sometimes just roses or daisies or lilies and now and again Pussy Willow cuttings (and usually some cookies - especially Mallomars and Milanos). On some days, when I was not up for the walk while pushing her wheelchair to the nearby marina, we also sat in the facility's gardens. She loved being able to get outside with me to enjoy the flowers and watch the birds flit back and forth to the bird feeders. Once not that long ago, she told me how she had planted the home's garden, that was two springs ago. I let her tell me the story and went along with it, fantasy as it was, because it made her happy.

As for the flowers I brought to her, and the ones I brought her to, she always said she loved them and I was always sure she did but I never knew maybe just how much they meant to her. I now think they meant more than I would have imagined. It only was when I first read the words on the clipping that I knew the importance they held for her. To her they meant someone cared for her, loved her, thought about her, and probably most importantly that she was alive to enjoy them. Sadly, I was not able to bring her another bunch after I found the clipping and I will have to live with that forever now. Here is that aged and yellowed clipping and the words on it that I now treasure dearly. I read it to you now so for those of you whose moms are still living, you can bring her flowers before it is too late; and for those of you whose moms have passed, you can know that those flowers you gave your mom meant the world to her while she was still with you:

Poignant to say the least but it makes me all the happier that I brought her at least those flowers that I did. If your mom is still alive, why not bring, or send, her some flowers today; I highly recommend  doing it now because one day, all too soon, it will be too late.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

The World's Greatest Liar

 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Then & Now

Sadly, the Republicans are not much different.

 

 

All the best,
Glenn B 

Obama Gets It Wrong Again - The USA Is Not A Muslim Nation No Matter What He Says

Watch this and tell me how you can look at the man talking without utter contempt and disgust. At least you should think that way if you are at all a patriotic American. I understand that all of us tell lies at some point or other in our lives but this guy lives in a fantasy land of his own leftist and Islamic making. I think he is the most disgraceful president in my lifetime and I have lived through quite a few of their administrations so far. In fact, I see him as about the most despicable anti-American person whom I have ever encountered.
 


All the best,
Glenn B

Once Again A Terrorist Act But There Is No Link To Terrorism...

...or so say government officials in the case of Alton Nolen.  Earlier

"Friday, U.S. law enforcement officials said there were no indication the attack was linked to terrorism."

,The attack they are talking about was allegedly committed  y Alton Nolen, a Vaughn Food processing plant employee, who was terminated by the company. He is alleged to have returned there, just after being fired and to have rammed a vehicle with his own as he returned. Then he allegedly got out of his car and stabbed and beheaded the first employee he saw; she was reported to be Colleen Hufford (my condolences to her family, friends and loved ones). He allegedly also stabbed a second employee. (source)

Now on the face of it, this may not sound like it is related to terrorism but there is more. Mr. Nolen reportedly recently had tried to convert some of his coworkers to Islam (source)! There you have it, a connection to terrorism that apparently somehow has eluded detection by law enforcement. While the connection may be a thread and only tenuous at that, allow me to point out that Islam and its followers are known to promote conversions of all infidels (non-believers) to Islam, and also to promote the executions of they who refuse to convert, and also have carried out the beheadings of such people, and that the beheadings seem mostly to be carried out by Islamic extremists or in other words by Islamic terrorists. In addition, there have been recent calls from ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) for lone wolf type terrorists to begin striking within the United States and these calls have been made by a group already notorious for its cowardly beheadings of several Western individuals and probably for the beheadings of at least hundreds of other Muslims from opposing sects. Yes, there is a link to terrorism and there is a link to Islam - the so called religion of terrorism peace and the government had better opens its eyes to it before the shit hits the fan and it is too late to prevent the bloodbath that may follow.

Edited to add: How could I have missed the best part. The assailant was shot, wounded and stopped while attacking his second victim. The shooter was Vaughn Food's operations manager who also just so happened to be a reserve county deputy (source). What mattered is that someone in the workplace was armed with a pistol and was able to prevent the suspect from killing more people. I guess Vaughn Foods was a firearms friendly workplace but if they were not maybe they will now reconsider and become one!

Also one other note to add, the FBI is now investigating to see if there is a link to terrorism. Why bother when they already know they are going to say there was not - that even though the link is obvious because this was a terroristic act carried out by way of the preferred method of cowardly Islamic terrorists and it was by a Muslim who had just tried to convert his coworkers to Islam.

All the best,
Glenn B

Illegal Aliens Enter And Evade - And This Comes As A Surprise To Whom?

The recent surge of illegal aliens who entered the USA was in the tens of thousands. After entry they went to an agency like U.S. Immigration & Customs Services (USCIS) or to Immigration & Customs Enforcement to register. After registration they were supposed to return for follow-up appointments with government agencies. Should it come as any surprise that up to 70% of those so called immigrants (all illegal aliens not really lawful immigrants) did not show up for those follow-up visits. Seventy percent, 7 out of every 10 of them, a vast majority, almost 3/4s of them apparently just skedaddled like roaches when the light are turned on and disappeared into whatever cracks they could find in which to hide. And the leftists all wail that the only illegal thing thy do, for the most part, is to enter illegally and then say they lead wonderfully law abiding lives as American residents. Well, it is time to call it as it is and that is that those claims are total bullshit! It cannot be any more evident than it is from the apparently secretly recorded revelation that came out of the mouth of a government official. The article reporting this shows the actual number to be approximately 41,000 illegal aliens who did not show up for those follow-up appointments (source). and once again are evidently violating the law or other government regulations or procedures.


I don't know about what you are thinking on this issue but I have a few thoughts:

Temporarily close down the border to all immigration from Mexico, until the Mexican government controls its own border shared with us.

Deport every illegal alien within the USA.

Strengthen sanctions against those who employ illegal aliens and eliminate mitigating factors that lessen fines or jail time.

Enforce laws already on the books against illegal entry into the USA and enforce to the maximum extent of the law.

Criminally prosecute repeat offenders and sentence them to hard labor in prison camps like the one run my Sheriff Arpaio in AZ

Rewrite Immigration and Naturalization law and require that the new law have at least 75 percent of the volume cut out making the law simpler and easier to understand and enforce.

Apply the law and Immigration quotas equally applicable to all nationalities.

Make it easier for educated but unskilled laborers to enter the USA but more difficult for highly educated and skilled ones o enter. They should have to start at the bottom and work their way up through the generations; this would give them incentive to achieve the American dream instead of allowing arrogant snobs entry here who mock our customs and laws.

Require that every legal alien apply for and take the test for citizenship within 5 years of entry into the USA.

Require a tough English language test and a decent US history test must be passed in order to acquire citizenship.

I could add more but that would be a good start. Oh yeah, I will add just one other small thing:

Impeach Obama and criminally prosecute anyone in his administration that had anything to do with facilitating Operation Fast & Furious.

All the best,
Glenn B



 

Ever Wonder Why You Never Received A Piece Of Expected Mail?

Well, if you live in new York City, the answer to the mystery of your missing mail may not be that it was lost, or that it got ripped to shreds in a post office sorting machine or that the dog ate it. The answer may well be that a mailman, Joseph Brucato, may have failed to deliver it and then hoarded it. He reportedly was arrested and arraigned this past Wednesday after his boss noticed undelivered mail piled up inside of Brucato's personal vehicle. According to the report, over 40,000 pieces of mail, weighing approximately 2,500 pounds were recovered that dated as far back as 2005 (more here).

Maybe he was hoping to score big in retirement (he is 67) by going through all that mail for valuables but I kind of doubt it. I can't think of anyone who routinely sends cash anymore. My guess is the guy just went postal in the nonviolent sort of way because the mail never stops. What was it that Newman said?


 
Of course it probably goes a bit deeper than what was shown in the previous video. I imagine there has to be more of an underlying cause than the mail never stops and along those lines all I can say is blame Hawaii. Yep, the state of Hawaii could well be one of the reasons your mail has not been delivered, at least according to Newman!



All the best,
Glenn B

If A Cop Orders Someone To Produce A Driver's License...

...it should come as no surprise if the guy reaches into his vehicle to get it. I think it certainly should not be a shooting situation, at least not in the case in question. Sure, I understand that a cop may be leery but he has to remember that he ordered the guy to give him the license and when the guy bent into the vehicle (apparently to retrieve it as evidenced by what the driver says after the cop shoots him and from his actions) the cop also then ordered him back out of the vehicle. 

The officer should have expected the guy would go to retrieve his license but should never have assumed it was on his person and also had to have expected the guy to get out of the car since he ordered it and the guy had been complying. As for the guy bending over into the car for his license, I for one, among many others, take my wallet out of my pocket while driving and place it on my center console or front passenger seat; that is for comfort and for my hip's sake if I am carrying it in my back pocket. I understand, that move could have been seen as potentially threatening but then why on earth order the guy back out of the car instead of telling him - STOP, DON'T MOVE once he bent into it. The officer's commands, were contradictory to those he should have given in light of what apparently were his perceptions of what was taking place.

Watch this video and watch what I think were the completely inappropriate commands and actions of the police officer. In my opinion, he was probably fearful at least to some degree to have taken the actions he took and that fear was probably in great part due to the incompetence of the officer himself.


More">http://abcnews.go.com/video">More ABC news videos

| Latest">http://abcnews.go.com/international">Latest world news

Yes again, a move like that on behalf of the driver he had stopped may seem suspicious but it did not warrant the officer shooting him, at least not in my now retired professional opinion. Maybe he should have drawn his gun as he got behind cover (a wise and legal move), I think he definitely should have ordered the guy not to move (also a prudent move on the part of the officer) once he bent over into the car INSTEAD OF ORDERING HIM TO GET OUT OF THE CAR and maybe he should have tackled the guy (a questionable move but not one that would get the officer arrested). Whatever - the guy evidently was complying with each order the officer gave him and the officer was so fired up as to not realize that the guy was indeed following his orders! The officer also apparently shot the guy after he had put his hands up in surrender, at least it sounded like that to me while watching the video. I think (based on the video) that there was a major foul-up on the part of the officer in as much as the orders he gave to the driver, and then were followed by the driver, along with the officers evident panic are exactly what made the officer think the man was an armed threat.

Maybe, just maybe - it all could have been prevented. Before the officer told the guy to produce the license - he should have been close up in a field interrogation/interview stance, told him not to move and to please keep his hands in plain view, asked him where was his license, and then decided on whether or not he wanted the guy to get the license by bending over into the car once informed it was in there somewhere. They was no way this should have devolved into a shooting even if he thought he was stopping an armed felon because there is no way that driver should have been out of the car and still next to the doorway to be able to reach inside of the vehicle if that was the suspicion on the part of the officer. I think that either this cop got some of the most piss poor training available, or totally disregarded appropriate training about communication and how to carry out a stop and control the situation and a subject. Otherwise, maybe he just was some sort of unstable and incompetent douche bag who should not have been an armed law enforcement officer. Hopefully the police department did not hire a guy who was a sociopath or psychopath and who was just hoping for any opportunity to kill someone.

Also, I am hopeful that the guy who got shot will recover enough to enjoy whatever wealth he garners from the lawsuit I would think he will file (and win).

Last paragraph edited (on 09/25 at 1632) to: I have to point out that under similar circumstances wherein the subject acted the way he did, I might think the officer justified to have shot him at least once but in such a case there are things that would have been different that what I saw in that video. Not drastically different, for instance, to me that the driver was not holding a weapon is not necessarily important in deciding if this shooting was justified or not. What is important to me here is how the officer seemingly paved the way, in his own mind, to turn this into a shooting situation. If he had been more logical and level headed, instead of seemingly panicky, shots would likely not have been fired. Please also note, I have given my opinion based on the video alone; well, and also on the fact that his department fired him but I am not on a jury and am not convicting him or the police in general. The officer should have his day in court as any other person so accused.  In my view though, that day in court will probably be the toughest day of his life to date.

All the best,
Glenn B

Happy Rosh Hashana

Happy New Year to all of my Jewish friends and readers. I think I'll have an apple dipped in pure honey. Later on I will also have a few dates too. That will be in your honor today in the hopes that you enjoy a Shana Tova U'Metukah.

All the best,
Glenn B

She's Gone

Our mom passed last night, she had a major stroke the night before. I got the call from my sister just after midnight and was at the hospital by about 1AM. My sister joined me there and we spent the night and all day yesterday at the hospital with her. Marlene (who was the health care proxy) finally was able to get her transferred to a hospice, I am guessing that was sometime between 530-6PM. Shortly after, I persuaded Marlene to go home since she had a much longer ride than me and she needed to pick up her son who has been feeling under the weather lately; anyway she was pooped. I stayed at the hospice with my mom planning to stay another half hour or hour there. Not five or ten minutes after Marlene took off for home, our mom passed, better my sister did not have to be there right then. I called her and it was right back to the hospice for her so she could take care of the responsibilities there. For my mom - at least it was not prolonged or painful. Our mom led a long eventful life and will dance a polka through the afterlife. She would have been 90 this coming Christmas. Just as she had three children (our brother passed two years ago) she has three grandchildren to carry on, my daughter and son and Marlene's son.

All the best,
Glenn B

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE IS NOW!!!

As hard as it may be to believe, the Zombie Apocalypse is quite possibly already taking place and has been for some months now. No, of course I don't mean real human hunting flesh eating zombies but reality is close enough. The CDC has predicted that the number of cases of reported and unreported Ebola infections could reach anywhere from 550,000 to 1.4 million by January 2015 (source).

Now, I figure they are either saying that because they believe it is true and if they are right, this will most assuredly be an apocalypse because there is no way to confine it to Africa if that many become infected. Otherwise, they are saying it with the intent of giving the taxpayer some explanation as to why the government is about to spend billions that they are about to suck out of taxpayers savings or salaries and that we do not yet realize they will be stealing taxing away from us to combat one of the most deadly diseases known to man.

Either way, we get fucked. At least with a zombie apocalypse (ie: a real worldwide Ebola outbreak), as opposed to the government taking my money to combat it, I stand a bit of a chance of making it through without being destroyed.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another "Aw Fuck" Moment

This is great.



Lucky for them it was, is all I will say.

Thanks to Wally for posting this on FB.

All the best,
GB

Autumn Is Upon Us...

...and what better way to celebrate its commencement than with a song by the Grateful Dead. No it's not a song about the fall (but in a way is about a fall); yet, I think you will see the connection in the name of the song. Anyway, the Dead were best seen at concerts in the crisp air of autumn while the leaves slowly dissolved their chlorophyll on their trip from a vibrant green to a more mellow and colorful state, at least in my opinion. So without further ado, here is Rosalie McFall by the Grateful Dead, who gave the best partying concerts in history!

Well, sorry but one further bit of ado, the name of the song, as first seen on a Grateful Dead album cover was Rosalie McFall and not Rosalee McFall nor Rosa Lee McFall as seen on the covers of albums of some other singers or in the lyrics as they appear online.



All the best,
Glenn B



 

The Autumnal Equinox...

...is just about upon us, it will arrive at 10:29 eastern time, that's just under an hour as I type. So what does that mean? It means Summer's Almost Gone.



When summer's gone, I know where I'll be sometime soon. I'll be out, on a crisp fall night, in some farmer's pumpkin field in the dark, doing what one does in a pumpkin field at that hour. Nuff said!

All the best,
Glenn B

'It Is A Frog, Frog Better Thing That I Do, Than I Have Ever Done;...

...it is a far, far better repast that I go to than I have ever known.' And so, went five frogs I had in a tank in my basement for the last two days. I got six of them at a Chinese fish market, on 8th Avenue, at 58th Street, in Brooklyn on Friday.



One thing is for sure, there was not much of a chance I could go
out and catch frogs of this size anywhere near me in New York.
They were a handful and their legs were a tasty mouthful.

Put them in a tank with clean water and changed the water a couple or few times over the past couple of days to let em get clean of the rather filthy water they had been in in the shop. Then today I took five of them out, stopped their clocks, pulled the skin off of their legs, cut the hind legs away from the body, split the legs where connected to one another, cleaned em, patted em dry with paper towels, rolled each in flower, rolled each in beaten egg, rolled em in seasoned bread crumbs and put em in a deep frying pan about 1/3 full of hot vegetable oil. About five minutes on side one until golden brown, flip em and about 3 or 4 minutes on the flip side until golden brown on that side and they were fall from the bone ready for my belly.




There were some nice looking fat legs on
these babies and that made for great eats.

I cooked them up as a special treat for my brother-in-law the elder who turns the big 60 this week. He, my brother-in-law the younger, my mother-in-law, wife, daughter and son and my sister-in-law (my late brother's wife) are having a birthday bash for the birthday boy. The wife cooked up a nice pot roast dinner (maybe sauerbraten - not sure yet since the rite kraut is giving off a strong but yummy aroma). So far, I think only me and my brother-in-law the elder have partaken in the froggy goodness. He loved them. So did I. I am pretty sure Brendan will gulp a few down but was surprised that my younger brother-in-law declined even one. Not much of a surprise that the wife, daughter and MIL will not have any. As for the sister-in-law, she is not here yet (edited to add: yes she too declined).



Man oh man was that ever some froggy goodness. Golden
brown, fall off of the bone done and absolutely delicious. 

A decent video, of frogs going from the catching to the cooking and eating can be seen here.



Oh yeah, in case you are wondering why I only cooked up 5 of the 6 frogs, I have given the 6th one a reprieve. It will live on, in a tank in my basement, at least until I get a hankering for frogs legs again and cook up another batch (dredged in flour/salt/pepper and sautéed in butter next time, I think). Chances are though, if I keep it for my next frogs' leg dinner, I'll be keeping it for quite awhile and it likely will live to a ripe old age for a frog. That's because the last time, before this, that I made frogs' legs was at least four or five years ago, so the odds are in the frog's favor of living a long life of froggy bliss until it dies of old age and goes to frog heaven long before I cook them again.

All the best,
Glenn B

Don't Feed The Bears...

...is good advice when you are in bear country just as don't feed the fish now also seems to make a lot of sense. At least that is, don't feed the fish with your body parts! This has got to be a whole different way to catch tarpon and judging by his seemingly already bloodied arm, I would think it was not the first fish that tried to eat him that day.



All the best,
Glenn B

It's Time To Get Another Bird Feeder...

...because since we took ours down a couple or a few years back, I have come to miss scenes like these right under it.

 
Yes, I was more than happy to feed all sorts of birds that visited our backyard. Some ate seeds and some ate the birds that ate the seeds - all thanks to me hanging a bird feeder from an old dogwood tree in my back yard.

A bird feeder will also give my dogs some good exercise. Mimi, our medium sized mutt, likes to catch them on the wing, as they take off. Then Roxie fights her for possession and if she gets the bird - down the hatch it goes. That was pretty much the excuse we sometimes give for getting rid of it, the dogs were getting the birds and the other half did not like it, not one bit (pun intended).

Really though, I think it had more to do with the pigeons that started to frequent our yard just a short while before we finally got rid of the bird feeders. That, I think, was really what made up our minds to remove the feeders. As far feeding the birds, we could have put up with almost anything: the cost of the seeds, seed hulls all over the place, weeds growing from uneaten seeds, a flock of up to maybe 100 birds chirping away outside our window, bird shit on the patio furniture, birds of prey swooping down and killing birds in the yard and then eating them right there, our dogs chasing and sometimes catching and eating birds - anything  - that is except a flock of rats with wings that kept coming by. Had we lived in a more gun free state, we would have been eating squab and that would have solved the problem. As it was, I had to get rid of the feeders.

Lately though, I miss all the birds - that is except for the pigeons - and I especially miss those hawks. I may just have to chance the return of the pigeons by putting in a new feeder, I can always take it down again if they come back.

All the best,
Glenn B

Lagniappe's Lair - Another Blog Added to the Blogroll

Lagniappe's Lair was added over on the right sidebar, under the header TAKE A SHOT WITH THESE SHOOTIST BLOGGERS, NOT AT THEM.

The link is: http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/

All the best,
Glenn B

There Is Another Blogshoot Upcoming...

...this one is going to be in West by God Virginia and I cannot wait to get there and have some shooty goodness fun even if it is going to take 5 - 6 hours to get there. It's not until November 1, so there will be a bit of a wait but that's going to allow me some time to stock up on some ammo and to get my guns ready for the shoot. Well, I guess the guns are already ready, I just have to decide which ones to drag along. I am hoping my son will come with me - if nothing else that will make dragging along the guns all that much easier.

More info on the blogshoot here:

http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/2014/09/blogshoot-invite-again.html

All the best,
Glenn B

Still Makes Me Want To Puke

 

So what ever happened to that guy, Nidal Hasan, anyway? Has Obama awarded him the medal of honor or made him a cabinet member yet!

 

A hat tip to Rich McN for sending me that one.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Is It Time For A Crusade Within America?

I am not about to answer that question, I'll let you decide for yourselves but it is obvious to me that deadly jihad is taking place within our borders. In fact, it could not be any more obvious than a reported confession given to police by an alleged Islamic cold blooded killer who reportedly admitted he shot and killed one American in NJ shortly after he was suspected of killing two others in Washington State. Apparently it was all, or at least the one in NJ was, committed in the name of Islam. So, why are the main stream mud slinging media and the authorities keeping mum on this or even trying to make it look like robbery or car jacking was the motive when they evidently know in fact that Islamic extremism and revenge by way of jihad were the motives.

Watch the embedded video but also make sure to click on the links below to see two other videos that give the suspect's admitted motives for the killing. Those two videos at the links differ markedly in how the murder of Brendan Tevlin is described. By the first video, you may get the idea he was carjacked and robbed. But when you watch the other two at the links - you will see it as the suspect reportedly confessed to the police and the motive sure wasn't robbery. 



Now watch the videos at these inks. See:
 

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3781823352001/was-teens-murder-an-act-of-domestic-terrorism/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips 

and see:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3781823352001/was-teens-murder-an-act-of-domestic-terrorism/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips

This apparent cover-up and the crimes committed by this guy are almost unbelievable and may well lead, maybe even should lead, to a crusade coming about in America.

All the best,
Glenn B

Meanwhile At A Local Watering Hole...

...the 911 call for shots fired was due to:

1. A drunk with a gun
2. A drunk cop with a gun
3. An drunken idiot who handed a gun to another drunk
4. All of the above

Off-duty New York cop reportedly shoots two after struggle over gun outside bar | Fox News

If I recall correctly,  and this is from like 15 years ago, the suspects in over 90% of all 911 calls in New York City about someone in a bar with a gun (other than someone committing an armed robbery) are found to be a drunken cop. Then again who else could it be unless it was an armed criminal. For the most part, the only people in NYC with guns are criminals and cops and if the above statistic is right - even the criminals seem to know better than the cops that alcohol and gunpowder do not mix.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Beg To Differ...

...but I must contradict what it says in this poster:

 

There really was a movie made with a title like that, while not the same exact wording, it translates to the exact same meaning. Click on the link to end your suspense:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2247692/

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

 

 





 

Never Take Having Both Hands and Both Arms For Granted...

...because if and when you lose one or both due to some foolishness on your part - you may just get an itch you can't scratch, a really bad itch at that! How bad?

 

Imagine not being able to scratch one like this - that would be absolute agony!

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

My Paycheck - My Luck

Got my first check from my new job today. I worked two days in the pay period but got paid for only one. Just my luck! They also took out much less than I asked for federal taxes. I am working on getting it corrected. Still, I have a little extra cash, or will have it once I cash the check, and that is a good thing.

All the best,
GB

5.11 Tactical - Taclite Pro Pants - A Review

I guess it was at least 4-5 years ago, when I was still working for DHS, that they issued us a bunch of duty gear. Among it all were a couple of pairs of 5.11 Tactical Taclite Pro pants, series number 74273. At the time, I figured they had to be absolute crap as was most of my issued equipment that had been issued to me since the Customs & Immigration investigative offices were merged in ICE (now Homeland Security Investigations) under DHS. I was wrong.

Actually, these are some of the best BDU or tactical type pants I have ever owned. (I usually buy Tru-Spec, cotton BDUs which I also like a lot.) Luckily for me, the government allowed me to keep them on my retirement almost three years ago and I still wear them. In fact, I wear them frequently. To date, the only issues I have with them is that one has a hole in the right side slash pocket, probably because for a while there I did something I don't always do and carried a pistol in that pocket, one pair also has a worn spot in the fabric where they were abraded by something or other, and both pairs are worn ragged at the bottom where they have dragged on the floor or ground while I was wearing flat soled shoes with them on, they are little long on me. In other words, they have held up very well in five years of medium to heavy use. The only problems were caused by me and I could certainly have prevented them from wearing out at the bottom by either having them altered or by not wearing flat soled shows while wearing those pants. Oh, there is on other issue, they have begun to get stained. The stains are probably mostly gun oil but the pants were pretty stain resistant over the years I have had them and that stain resistant quality seems to have worn off. I think they were Teflon coated or something like that and I guess it comes off over time and through many washings. Anyway, I think just 4-5 years or so without my pants getting stained is a damned good run.

As for the pants themselves, they are 5.11's style 74273 - Taclite Pro Pants. They are made of a 65/35 polyester-cotton blend. They appear to be ripstop, as they have the little squares in the material,  but that is not stated on the company website so, I am not sure if they are or not. The material is fairly lightweight and they are comfortable pants in the summer despite being 65% polyester. I have also worn them in the winter and although they certainly are not winter-wear, as in made to keep you warm, they okay for a fairly mild winter's day of in and out of the cold/warm like going from home to work or shopping or whatever. Speaking of work, they are dressy enough, I think, for casual wear at work in the office and rugged enough for in the shop, and actually suitable enough for tactical or other field work and comfortable for a day at the range and I have worn them in all such situations.

I suppose they live up to the 'tactical" in their name with two side cargo-like pockets with flap closures (the pockets are not expandable like true cargo pockets), a smaller pocket with flap closure above the cargo pocket on the left, two side slash pockets, two rear slash pockets, and a small open topped pocket above the cargo pocket on the right (I have used that one to hold needle nosed pliers while fishing). 5.11 says one of the pockets is a knife pocket. I figure you can use either the small flap closure pocket or the small open pocket depending on how quickly you want to get to the knife and whether or not your knife has a clip on it. The cargo-like pockets, the knife pocket and the rear pockets are secured with Velcro strips. There is also a metal ring attached to the front right side belt loop to which I imagine you could secure a key ring although I have never made use of it. Above the right rear pocket, there is a piece of webbing sown into the pants on each of its ends - I have no clue as to the purpose of it, to me it is pointless but I am not very tacticool and am on the ignorant side about such things. The pants have a snap and zipper closure with an additional internal button closure in the fly. The belt loops can accommodate at least a 1.5" wide belt and I think will take a 2" belt. The loops themselves are fairly wide too. The waistline is forgiving in that it is elasticized on the sides. Thanks to that, they are pretty comfortable pants for those of us who are, shall I say, endowed with a beer belly. I would guess they are just as comfortable for those among us with slimmer figures. For more info, go here: http://www.511tactical.com/taclite-pro-pants.html

All in all, I have got to give them this: They are one good pair of pretty rugged and comfortable pants made with tactical use in mind. The ones they make today seem to be identical (from what I can tell looking at their website) to those I was issued 4-5 years ago. Don't let their name fool you though, they are not just for tactical use and are quite suitable for everyday pants in a wide variety of situations, I think they should have been named 5.11 Practical Pants but I guess Tactical or Taclite sells better. Anyway, they get an A+ in my estimation.

All the best,
Glenn B

Note: As usual - no compensation of any kind was offered or given to me for this review - although if they wanted to throw a few pair of these pants my way, I do not think I would refuse such an offer from 5.11 (hint, hint).

 

A Warning Shot - Is It A Waste Of A Bullet?

I fired a warning shot once in my life. It had, luckily for me, the desired effect. A guy who was in my face and threatening to kill me, and his gang of about 20-25 accomplices whom he was urging to kill me and who were starting to come through a hole in the international boundary fence, took off running for their lives back into Mexico when I fired it. That was back in the early 80's when I was a young and fairly inexperienced border patrol agent. That they would have tried to kill me there was no doubt in my mind because about 5-6 of them had been fighting with me only moments before to take a prisoner away from me. They tried to pull me into Mexico along with the prisoner. They got him but not me as I fought like a Tasmanian Tiger on steroids. They, or at least one of them, also tried to get my revolver and I would bet not to go target shooting. I managed to retain it, to get in a few good whacks and to free myself from underneath the lot of them. As I was calling for help and heded back to my vehicle, the ringleader came back into the U.S. and confronted me saying he was going to kill me and urging his compadres to do likewise. He also said I could do nothing to stop him. I knew enough not to get caught up in tunnel vision and scanned quickly. That allowed me to see a group of his amigos coming through holes in the fence and others climbing over it, about 20-25 guys in all. As he literally puffed up his chest and advanced on me, I drew and fired my Colt Border Patrol. It was the first time I ever drew a handgun in self defense.

I was pretty inexperienced at the time. Sure, I had gone through the academy and done well there. I did pretty good in firearms training considering I literally could not hit the paper of the target with all six shots from 15 yards at first. I am pretty sure I even won a marksmanship award by that point. The thing was though, no one had ever prepared me for something like this - a confrontation with an unarmed individual or mob. The only thing about this situation that I had been trained for was that warning shots were forbidden by the Border Patrol's firearms policy. As my amigo pounded his chest and came at me, I drew, took good aim, and fired. He was mere feet away. The bullet, or the force of it through the air, actually parted his hair - I swear on anything on which one can swear - I saw it. When I took aim, I wasn't aiming at him but at the side of a building in Mexico. It was as I recall, a school and this was happening at night with no one in the school. Anyway, I aimed at a solid concrete wall of the structure. My shot would have gone further over his head had he stayed put but he advanced as I was about to shoot and I just held steady and squeezed one off. I wanted to be able to put the next one into his chest if need be so my warning shot was aimed to be just above his head. As I said, he and the others fled into Mexico.

That night, I went home, some aches and pains from the beating I had taken from them when they tried to pull me into Mexico. The ones pulling me were accompanied by others who were punching and kicking me, plus I had had a pretty good fight with he guy I had taken prisoner. All I cold think of was what trouble I was in for having fired a warning shot (and my supervisor made sure to keep reminding me of it before I went home for the night). The next day, when I awoke, I had a lot of aches and pains and some small bruises. My chest was killing me. Then, I coughed. I figure that a good two to four ounces of clotted blood came up with that cough. I was off to the hospital for an X-ray. The docs told me I had a fractured sternum and bruised lungs (I don't recall the medical term for bruised lungs so that will have to do). They said they could do nothing and it would heal over time. That same day, I also got some good news. The Chief patrol Agent for our sector had given the local news paper a scheduled interview and as an opportunist included a blurb about me in it. He said, in essence, that just the night before one of his agents had to fire a fully justified warning shot to save his own life from a gang of Mexican desperados. Fully justified! Yes, that was good news.

The thing about that shot having been fully justified has haunted me ever since. Sure, I broke the rules but as the CPA had said, I did so to save my life and thus in his eyes justified that action. I tend to agree but that is not what bothers me. The thing that bothers me still is that, shortly after the incident, I realized I had fired a shot, that had it not had its intended effect of scaring off my adversary, would have amounted to a wasted bullet. At best, I had a 50/50 chance that it was going to have the desired outcome or that I would have been down one shot in the cylinder had I needed to stop my attackers. From that time forward, I pretty much realized, that unless under exceptional circumstances, a warning shot was indeed a wasted bullet even if it might have had the desired effect. Did you see how I said that. I did not say 'even if it had the desired effect' because there is no way of knowing beforehand that it would. As I said, at best, it is a 50/50 proposition that a warning shot will stop an aggressor.

On the other hand, a well placed shot into an assailant, whom you are legally justified to shoot, is much more likely to have the desired effect(s). First off, it may stop the threat to your life or limb outright. The threat to your life may end with one shot (or more) into your assailant. Secondly, even if it does not stop the threat, if you hit your target, it is likely to produce an injury that will at least somewhat incapacitate your foe and give you the advantage allowing you to stop the threat or to avoid it without injury to yourself. If there are multiple threats, them seeing the first at whom you fired upon go down can be all the warning they need and they may flee. If not, then you still have ammo left to fire at them and have not wasted any of it by firing into the air or the ground or whatever with a warning shot. In my case, had I shot the ringleader at almost point blank range, I figure he would have been out of the fight and I could have used my remaining five shots (the Colt Border Patrol was a six shot revolver) on the remaining 20-25 of his accomplices. Having the potential to put a single round into five more of my attackers instead of just four of them would have been all the better in such a situation had they kept coming if I had put down their leader. The same goes for their leader too - so make it me being able potentially to hit six of them. I like the remaining odds better than me maybe hitting only five because I had wasted a shot by firing it anywhere but into one of my opponents in what was a real life or death struggle. That one more shot into one more guy and his going down may get the rest of them to stop, or maybe it would be four shots into one other guy and the last shot into a third thug but those shots might well act not only as man-stoppers but also as a warning to the rest of them. That one extra shot could save my life. It could save yours too. Sure, you might get killed anyway with odds like what I faced but chances are, once the bad guys start going down, the others will flee. If they don't take off at the sound of shots fired and them seeing their criminal associates fall, then at least you have reduced the odds a bit of them getting you and have tilted them a bit more in favor of you surviving. One bullet can make a big difference in such a situation, so why waste it on a warning shot?

That said, there are times when you may need or want to take a warning shot. Most of the times you want to take one are probably going to be because you have never shot someone before and have that momentary doubt of whether or not a shot into your assailant is justified at the moment. There is always also that reluctance to seriously harm or kill another human being (at least among certain cultures) no matter how much of a heinous dirt-bag he or she is being. Then there are the times that you may actually need to take a warning shot - not so much to warn of the dirt-bag but to warn off innocent bystanders who may be in the line of fire. Firing a shot into the air, or the ground, or into something from which the shot is not likely to travel, might be the only feasible way to get others out of he way or the only practical way to stop the bad guy in his or her tracks without taking an overly high risk of wounding a bystander. Of course, you have to weight that risk, of you possibly injuring a bystander, against the risk of further injury or death that may be caused by the assailant. If the bad guy ios mowing down people with an automatic rifle, and you have a chance to shoot him, but there are say 10 kids right behind him (in your line of fire should you miss or if your bullet hits and travels through him) - would you take the shot to stop that threat. I, in all likelihood would shoot. Why - because the risk would be greater that the bad guy would keep harming or killing people if I did not.

There is a chance though, that in some similar circumstance, I might fire a warning shot. Say for instance that someone is threatening others with a gun on a crowded subway car and if I fire there is a distinct and good chance that if I miss my target, I will hit a bystander. I might fire a warning shot. Then again, I might just use verbal commands instead of wasting a bullet. if verbal commands fail, and if it seems as it might go either way, I may try a warning shot into the ceiling of the car again calculating the risk factors to innocents. Granted, there may not always be the luxury of enough time to try and figure out those risk factors but if there is, then do your figuring quickly - like in an instant. You have to consider one other thing about a warning shot (or even a verbal warning) - it may act not as a deterrent but as a trigger for violence or continued violence at an increased rate on the part of the armed offender or of his accomplices. Remember that most bad guys are not lone wolves. This is a lesson that should have been learned by us after the armed bystander stepped in trying to stop the armed assailant in a Las Vegas Walmart. He approached the bad guy, apparently with his own legal gun drawn, and was shot and killed by the bad guy's girlfriend/accomplice who just a moment before had been pushing a shopping cart as if she was a shopper and not a coldblooded or psychotic killer. Of course, that is another topic altogether - to get involved or not and if you do get involved then how to approach it - and being aware of your surroundings - but also I have to wonder did he give some type of warning that alerted the woman to him and gave her the chance to shoot him in cold blood. Warning shots, verbal warnings and other giveaways as to your intent and location can benefit the bad guy and that is something you need consider before giving your opponent the edge.

In any such a situation, the decision to fire a warning shot or not (or to give a verbal warning or verbal commands) is up to you and you alone. If you do decide to fire a warning shot, be ready to fire the next shot(s) directly into your assailant(s) if needed, and always try to be aware of your situation including other potential threats and try to be behind good cover before doing any of it. As for me, when it comes to warning shots, I'd rather not waste the bullet.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Quick Look At Some Family History

As I wrote, in an earlier post, I recently fund documentation about my grandfather Robert Oppel who was awarded a medal of valor for saving a child's life by diving into the east river to save the drowning boy. That was back in the early 1940's when Fiorello La Guardia was mayor of NYC. Tonight, I found one more piece of ephemera related to that event - a newspaper clipping showing a picture of the awards ceremony. Grandpa Oppel is the last guy in the line, the one in the suit and tie.

Now I don't know what paper that was in but I figured I'd show you both sides of the coin - or of the story - so to speak and also scanned in what was on the other side of the clipping. Remember, we were at war at the time and also remember that for the most part - we were a nation united. What a difference from todays USA wherein diversity, instead of unity, is the battle cry of about half of our citizens.

Just imagine how the leftist would whine and moan and groan if ads like that appeared in our newspapers (or online) trying us to support our country's economy during wartime and just prior to both Jewish and Christian holy/holidays.

All the best,
Glenn B