I think it rather ironic that the former president (Joe Biden) immediately previous to the current one (the Right Man For The Job Donald Trump) welcomed 11 million criminals or so, whom he considered to be worthy of our help, across our borders into the USA. That was regardless of the fact that none were properly vetted, that almost everyone of them was an illegal alien who thus had committed a crime entering the US, that many among those just mentioned were violent criminals and members of criminal organizations, others were mentally incompetent, many were children apparently being sex trafficked (hundreds of thousands of them lost in the shuffle yet the democrats moaned and groaned that Trump is separating families while Biden had no clue where are those missing smuggled children apparently all separated from their families), that many of the illegal aliens were smuggling illegal drugs into our country - especially fentanyl, that too many of them were terrorists and or from enemy nations such as red China. This was all taking place under Biden's direction while, since June of 2024 on what as to be a one week mission, there were two astronauts in the International Space Station (ISS) who became stranded that month (uncannily sounding like Gilligan's Island and the three hour cruise during which the crew & passengers on the SS Minnow were stranded on an island during a storm). Well, Biden did almost nothing, or absolutely nothing, to bring them home safely. They were stuck up there with no hope at all of getting home, for nine months while Biden was president.
Yes,you read that right, they went up for a one week mission, got stranded and were up there for about 9 months or so; that is until President Donald Trump (the so called dictator and Fascist as the leftists proclaim him to be, but actually the gets it done president) decided to do something about their predicament - all while he was also deporting criminal illegal aliens whom Biden had allowed in to the US.
Soon after he was elected for his second term, President Trump got together with Elon Musk who is saving us hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions, by cutting out waste in government - such as our tax dollars going to support those 11 million illegal aliens that Biden let in). Elon Musk who owns SpaceX, had his people there get together with NASA, and sent up a manned spacecraft to rendezvous with the ISS to rescue the two stranded astronauts. the SpaceX/NASA team (including a Russian cosmonaut - after all it is the ISS) accomplished the rescue mission today, only to months less one day after Trump was sworn in for a second term as president. Biden had around 7 months to get them back home to the terra firma of earth but seems to have ignored the issue and the two stranded astronauts altogether in favor of facilitating the illegal entry of 11 million illgal aliens into our nation. As of last evening the two astronauts were no longer stranded after splashing down in the Atlantic ocean off of Florida. I should mention, two other astronauts who went up on the SpaceX/NASA rescue mission were dropped to to continue whatever research was being done on the ISS.
Thank goodness for president Trump keeping out and deporting illegal aliens but also for having the respect, the compassion for the stranded crew by taking on the responsibility to bring them not only back to earth but also across our border into the USA.
Well,
I input embed codes for videos from the above linked article but they
did not take. So, go to the link (or cut and paste the address as
needed) and you can see the videos there.
If there is not irony in all of that, then me thinks nothing is ironic.
...and have had a liking for guns for even longer. I added that part about liking them longer because well before I ever shot an actual firearm, I like many young boys of my youth had a small collection of cap guns, friction ray guns, water guns, and even a muzzle loading cap-gun rifle that fired cork balls. That's me in the photo holding that rifle. It was a blast and helped lead to a long-term passion for shooting (real guns) when I was older. My mom is next to me, aunt Mary next to her (family but not really an aunt but we called her that) and my brother next to her.
I got the rifle at Freedom Land in the Bronx, NY back in 1961. I was 5 and would be 6 later in that same year.
Not all that long after, well actually it was five years later in 1966 when I was 10 going onto 11, I was in my second year of sleep away summer camp. I was mandated to be sent there, as a problem child, by the penguins holy sisters of the Dominican Order who ran St. Pancras RC School, my grammar school. (I think the church must have paid for camp because we did not have a pot to pee in, a window to throw it out of not the ground to catch it as my mom used to say - we were very poor but I did not realize it then). At camp, I was privileged to participate in things like Animal husbandry, Archery, Arts & Crafts, Athletics, Camping, Fishing, Hiking, Hunting (of a sort as in catching frogs, salamanders, snakes, turtles and trapping things like raccoons and rabbits in live traps), Nature Study and Riflery. The ones that stuck with me into adulthood were Animal husbandry (breeding reptiles), Athletics (moderately until severe arthritis), camping, fishing, hiking (same as for athletics), hunting, nature study, and the one I currently enjoy the most - riflery (or guns & shooting in general).
I was not the greatest shot in camp but I shot fairly well. More importantly, I enjoyed shooting a lot. In 1965, my first year in camp, we shot BB guns to break us in, I shot BB guns in 1966 and part of 67 as well. My first certificates for shooting were for the BB guns.
That next summer, 1967, near the midterm of the camp season or so, I started shooting rifles chambered in .22 LR. I got another couple of awards for my shooting that year - Pro-Marksman & Marksman just like in 1966 for BB gun and also got certificates for the real rifles in 22 LR chambering. In a later year, I achieved Sharpshooter but have no clue where my sharpshooter certificate is now. As you can see, I do have the Pro-Marksman and Marksman certs from 1966, my first ever certifications for shooting even if only for BB guns; I treasure them. I also have another two for BB gun 1967. After certifying in 67 with BB guns, my age group moved onto rifles chambered in .22 LR. I got similar certifications for them and also certified as Sharpshooter with the 22s but those certificates were lost over the years in between now and way back then; wish I still had them.
The real firearms, that we shot at camp, were box magazine fed Winchester and Remington bolt action rifles. I was kind of a wimp and preferred the lighter Winchester but one of the brothers/firearms instructors (the camp counselors were Marist brothers) convinced me to man up and shoot the seemingly much heavier Remington. It became my preferred rifle back then. In fact, I still very much like Remingtons today. I have owned several over the years and still have seven of them currently. I am pretty certain I qualified for my Pro-Marksman and Marksman rifle certificates with a Remington. I do not know the model of either the Winchesters or Remingtons, it is just too long ago for my aged little gray cells to remember.
I also used to have a camp jacket with the corresponding NRA pacthes (and some archery patches) sewn onto one of the sleeves. That was a treasure I had into adulthood but somewhere, sometime, years or decades ago it disappeared never to be seen by me again.Which I still had it but that is how things go as you get older - all to often, the treasures of your youth vanish just as does your youth and when they are gone they are lost forever except maybe in memory.
Since back then, I earned many shooting certificates over the years after I started my career as a federal agent in the Border Patrol. Later on I switched over to U.S. Customs as a Patrol Officer and later as a special agent. It was while I was in Customs as a patrol officer that I first was certified as an NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor. I performed collateral duties as a firearms instructor for 16 years. Below is my first certification as a firearm instructor while with U.S. Customs.
In Customs, I achieved the rank of distinguished expert a couple or few times with revolver, semi-automatic pistol, shotgun, rifle and submachine gun. I shot well enough that when the Customs Office of Investigations acquired Heckler & Koch MP-5 submachine guns I was trained in their use and was issued one. A requirement was that anyone to be issued an MP-5 had to shoot at either 95% score or better in several qualifications before getting one. A score of 95% was considered Distinguished Expert and I had been shooting that well for years before being given the chance to have an MP-5 issued to me instructor.
I was trained with and was issued an MP-5 and can say without a doubt, that was one heck of a fun gun. Not much longer after that, we got more of the MP-5s and I was offered training to become an MP-5 instructor. I jumped at the opportunity and I became the first special agent within the U.S. Customs service to become an instructor or so I was told by RM who was our Primary Firearms Instructor and a good friend. I miss him dearly, RIP.
RM got his job with Customs after retiring from the NYPD. He and his predecessor as primary firearms instructor EH, at Customs, were as I recall both members of the Stake-Out Unit - official name. So were two other Customs instructors: HD and Jimmy Cirillo (maybe the most known from that unit). It was also called and is probably better known as The Stakeout Squad - unofficial name, a famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) elite team of NY City Police Officers who did stake out duties in high risk retail targets for armed robberies such as bodegas. They shot several armed robbers dead, the ones who refused to surrender and who used very poor judgement and tried to shoot it out with the squad (it is such a shame that AOC uses that term today). Sadly the unit did not last long enough at least in my opinion. It ran from 1968 - 1973. It was supposedly shut down due to budgetary concerns but it was more likely due to the ultra liberal politics of those in NYC government who loved to cry foul when the scum of the earth were justifiably shot & killed by the police. Of course they did not kill them all but too many for the libturds to tolerate. That is my guess anyway.
Yes, I have digressed, but things like the Stakeout Squad (and movies like Death Wish and the cowboy, lawman and spy television shows of my younger years) fired up something inside of me that eventually led me to become a federal agent. That I liked guns was a plus since I had to carry them throughout my career. Enjoying shooting and such is what led me to become an instructor. I admit, I started this post to reminisce about when I first started shooting and how long I have been doing and enjoying it. The thing that got me to post about that was me going through a box of firearms related records that I have kept over the years and then finding those NRA Pro-Marksman and Marksman certificates from summer camp in 1966.
Now though, allow me to carry on a bit more about the Stakeout Squad by sharing this YouTube video with you. It is a video about very dedicated, truly brave men, who put their lives on the line to fight crime and violent criminals who gladly would have killed those officers just as soon as look at them. They got the job done so well they were disbanded. Sadly that is often the case when politicians who love to screw up a good thing get themselves involved.
I must say I was very lucky to have gone to summer camp where I was trained to shoot. I also consider myself extremely privileged to have met men such as RM - a good friend and excellent firearms instructor (RIP), EH - another excellent firearms instructor and the man who got me to go to firearms instructor training in the first place, HD - a big lovable lug of a man (RIP), and Jimmy Cirillo - whom I met at the range during qualifications who was also a great instructor not only for Customs in NYC but at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia (RIP). Not only were they all excellent firearms instructors, tactics instructors and so on - they were also the actual men legends are made of. As such men often are, they were also a lot of fun at the bar/restaurants we often visited on City Island after a long day at the NYPD range at Rodman's Neck (Customs used that range for many years). I miss those guys and those days very much from summer camp all the way to retirement and beyond.
Oh the f'ing toothache I have has been keeping me up all night or maybe
sleep is eluding me due to the six 5 mg oxycodone tablets I took over
the past several hours or so. Oxycodone keeps me awake, but feeling amazingly well rested about 50 to 60% of the times I take it soon before going to bed.
At least my back and right hip are painless right now but it is not
workimg very well on my tooth. I have an appointment for a root canal on
the 27th of this month, that is about a month and a half after I got a
referal from my dentist for it. Health care here and the availabilty, or
lack of availabilty, for medical and dental providers is pretty
horrendous.
Of course, that means there is not even a single endodontist who
participates in the Blue Cross dental plan within 100 miles of where I
reside. So, I expect to have to pay a substantial portion of the bill
out of pocket but BC says they will cover more than usual for a
non-participatng provider because of the lack of any participants within
that range. Still, my guess is I will need to pay big bucks. As for my
dentists, BC has paid everything for each visit I have made to two
participating ones so far.
Oh well, I need to have it done so will pay what I need to pay. I am
going to call the dentist later today to see if she can get the
endodontist to see me much sooner than the 27th and if she will give me
something that works better to quell the pain or at least will refill my prescription. It is just about exhausted.
Trump and the USA hold a royal flush to Zelensky's pair of deuces. See: https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-world/us-says-zelenskyy-has-agreed-sign-mineral-deal-well-see-he-follows-through.
...recommending that he consider Alan Gottlieb, the man at the helm of the Second Amendment Foundation, to take on the top job at ATF. I did likewise a few hours ago. You can go to this link and send a letter to him. If his flunkies, in the White House, receive and read enough of these, some one or more of them are bound to pass on our recommendation up the chain to him or so one can hope. If Trump checks out Gottlieb at all, I think he'd want him in charge of ATF. I would hope Gottlieb would see the advantage to him being in charge of ATF; I hope as well that he would accept it if offered.
Yep, I know ATF should be abolished but that will probably not happen in the immediate future so we may as well have someone who thinks like myself and most of my readers that the RKBA as enumerated in the 2nd Amendment is our most precious right which gives us the ability to overthrow tyrants and tyranny. See my post immediately prior to this one.
First of all let me say, the ATF should be abolished. Since that is probably not going to happen immediately; President Trump needs to put someone in charge of it.
If Trump wants someone who is extremely pro 2nd Amendment to run the ATF, and at the same time someone who is extremely knowledgeable about it and who is proactive in fighting for it then I think Trump should nominate Alan Gottlieb the man in charge of the Second Amendment Foundation. There probably is no better defender of the RKBA than him.
