Is It Also "Unacceptable" For Israelis To Exist

A map maker / publisher decided that in order to boost sales of its atlas in the Middle East, they would eliminate Israel from the maps of that region. They said it was "unacceptable" to include Israel on an atlas being distributed in the Middle East (source). It begs the question: What is the next step - would it be eliminating Israelis, specifically Jews, from the Middle East? With a mindset like the one that allowed the elimination of an entire nation, on a map because it was said to be unacceptable, I cannot see that as the next step as being far off - at least in the minds of the publishers of that atlas.

It is the kissing of Muslim arse (and you know Islam is the reason Israel was not included on those maps) that will someday result in them eliminating Israel and then conquering the entire world.

I am thinking that the publisher, reported as being HarperCollins, may be one whose publications might be well worth avoiding.

 All the best,
Glenn B

Reloading Equipment Sale

Palmetto State Armory has an excellent sale ongoing on reloading equipment - 30% off their normal prices. I had been pricing reloading die sets for rifle calibers and they had prices close to or equal to the lowest ones I found. Taking another 30% of their already very competitive prices made ordering from them a no-brainer. I ordered two sets of rifle dies, 8mm Mauser and .308 Winchester for a total of about $55 shipped. That is nothing to shake a stick at so, if you need reloading equipment, check them out before the sale ends on January 4th at 11:59 PM.

All the best,
Glenn B

Florida Bound

Looks like I am heading down to WPB, FL for about two weeks. Will be leaving this Sunday. Will be spending all, or at least most, of my time with my uncle as long as he can bear me. Maybe I can get him to take in something relaxing like a fishing trip. That would be nice. Hope to see all of my FL cousins too, that would be excellent!

All the best,
Glenn B

Facebook Has Its Uses

Wow, it has been an unsettling experience finding out from a stranger, and on Facebook at that, that my uncle is in need of prayers and in some sort of distress. My wife and I called my uncle on Christmas to wish him a Merry Christmas and we left him a message. It was not unusual that I could not get him or that he did not return the call so we did not think anything was amiss. Then I tried maybe a half hour ago to call him to wish him a Happy New Year but no answer at his home phone. Shortly after I made that call, I saw a post on Facebook saying someone on FB was praying for him! I called him on his cell phone (which he rarely answers) and to my surprise he picked up right away. I was shocked to find out he has been in the hospital for the past 10 days and no one let us know about it! Luckily, he is getting out tomorrow but they still don't know what is or was wrong with him that put him inside a hospital in the first place. Hopefully he will be well sooner than later.

Of course, I only thought of this a bit later, maybe he told my cousins not to tell me he was not well. Who knows. I am not placing blame or anything like that, just shocked to find out, he was in the hospital, the way I found out. 

This may require a trip to FL. My uncle is much closer to me and loved much more by me than was my own father - much, much, much more than was that man loved by me - if ever after I was eight.

All the best,
Glenn B

Mayor Spineless Scumbag

New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio might just as well change his name to Mayor Spineless Scumbag if what is being reported is true (heaven knows he has changed it often enough before). More here on his latest disrespect for the NYPD.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Hunt of a Lifetime

Sometimes - when you wish hard enough, and do something to make the wish come true - wishes can come true. It can even happen when you totally blunder as to whom you send your wish. For a nice story of heartwarming efforts by the boys mom and by two sheriffs' departments to make one boys wishes come true read about it here.

They don't say if the young hunter bagged anything or not but while that's the goal of the hunt it's not what the hunt is all about.

All the best,
Glenn B

CDC Predicting Severe Flu Outbreak But Who Is Listening

The CDC has predicted that 2015 flu season may produce a severe outbreak of the flu (but also say it won't be terribly severe - how is that for hedging their bets). They are saying that one of the reasons that the flu outbreak may reach severe proportions this year is because the flu vaccine produced for this flu season is probably going to be ineffective against the strains of flu that will be out there. According to this article, the CDC is claiming that the flu strain H3N2 started to mutate after the production of this year's vaccine (so they are implying it's not like the CDC screwed up and made the wrong vaccine or anything like that). Well, if it was the case that they knew the damned bug was mutating then why didn't the CDC get on the bandwagon and create a new vaccine or at least try to do so! What they are telling us now is, in essence, that we should get vaccinated anyway and  then hope that it works to protect us.

Meanwhile, while the flu isn't running rampant, it is seemingly effecting us earlier than usual. Major flu outbreaks normally do not occur until February or March but this year several states have already been hard hit in the Midwest and the Southeast.

 

Now, I am none to worried about there being a major flu epidemic or even a severe outbreak. Nor am I all that worried about getting the flu. If I get it, I get it. Yet, I was vaccinated (not that it will do much good this year but I did not know that when I got my flu shot). I am a firm believer that vaccinations do more good than harm. On the other hand, I do not put all that much belief into predictions made by the CDC. They have been wrong before about which flu vaccine to produce and about their forecasts for major outbreaks of the flu. Just recently they were apparently very wrong about the Ebola virus epidemic.

 

You may remember that they said that the number of people infected by Ebola, in Africa, would reach 550,000 to 1.4 million by this month. As far as I am aware, we are nowhere near that mark. Granted, they said that it could be controlled but they said that in order to so, at least 70% of Ebola victims would have to be treated in isolation in Ebola units. That has not yet been achieved by a long shot but thankfully we have not seen that massive epidemic that the CDC was predicting.

 

The CDC also gets a lot of other things wrong. For instance there have been several cases of them mishandling extremely deadly pathogens such as anthrax, Ebola and flu strains. With all they get wrong it is no wonder that many folks have little to no faith in them when they talk about the efficacy of vaccines or when they make their predictions relative to outbreaks of disease. They cry wolf so often that it has me wondering who if anyone is listening to them besides me. Yeah, I still listen to them but am becoming more and more skeptical of what they say as each new CDC screw-up comes to pass.

 

Anyway, flu season is upon us, and I think that overall it pays to take some precautions as a nation and as an individual. Along those lines I got the flu vaccine. I also regularly clean my hands with alcohol gel, while at work. I come into contact with lots of people from all of the far corners of the earth every day while at work and it gives me the heebie-jeebies each time one of those fuckers picks or wipes his or her runny nose and then hands me something without at least first wiping off their hands. If work had examination gloves there for me to wear, that actually fit me, then I would wear them. They provided gloves but the only ones I found at the office where I have been working lately have been too small for me. Oh well, so I do what else I can, as recommended by the dunderheads at the CDC, to avoid catching whatever.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. Hoping you find peace, love, joy, the bluebird of happiness or whatever in the new year and or that the new year brings to you find out you have become a realist and now realize we need to kick the arse of they who would destroy America and our freedoms (whether foreign or domestic).

Did you stay up to celebrate at midnight? Not me, I passed out long before that this year. Not that I was celebrating, I simply was too pooped to party and I usually don't celebrate the new year anyway except to watch the ball drop and think 'there went another year dropped out of time and here comes another'.

All the best,
Glenn B

Looking For That Blue Flame

Right now, I am enjoying a larger sized dollop of Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine White Lightning and some Moonshine cherries too. Their white lightning is only 100 proof and not near the much more zesty white lightning I have enjoyed in the past. For instance, the father of a couple of my friends used to make some truly excellent distilled spirits from things like grape, plum and other fruit peels (I kid you not grape peels were in the mix). As I remember, after all these years, his went from about 120 to 180 proof and what he made right around 136 proof was simply his best and marvelously smooth and delicious. He swore it could cure a cold and after imbibing it while so afflicted - I swear so too.

While that is forever gone to me, and certainly is also very missed (as is the dad of my two pals, he was a really nice guy) I just learned that they have a product at Ole Smokey of which I was previously unawares. It is called Blue Flame Moonshine and is 128 proof. You can bet I will commence seeking it out both high and low until I find a jar or three. I am hoping it will bring back memories of younger days with Mr. S insisting  that I have another and of me being only too happy to oblige him.

All the best,
Glenn B

Carrying A Concealed Firearm In A Purse...

...or in an attaché case or in any other type of handbag (or bag hanging by a shoulder strap) is almost always something I have suggested against (there are very few exceptions that I make to that recommendation). My biggest gripe with that type of carry is that it is virtually inevitable, that at some point during the course of a day while carrying that way, the person carrying a weapon that way will put the bag down and thus not be in control of the pistol that is inside it. In addition, it is way too easy to have a bag snatched away from you by an opportunist and let's face it - most crooks are most certainly opportunists. Another thing is that if a pistol is carried that way, and not in a holster within the bag, then there is the risk of something getting wedged into the trigger guard and actuating the trigger or maybe even blocking it when you need the pistol. The possibility also exists that a small item that is loose in the bag, say a pen, could get stuck in the barrel and cause an obstruction with a potential for disaster. Thus I have always recommended my preferred style of carrying - on my strong side hip in a multiple retention type holster that is secured to my belt by loops integral to the holster itself. I prefer an outside the waistband holster but I suppose an inside the waistband holster is equally acceptable.
 
A tragic example of why one should shy away from such carry was reported in the media today. While article I am about to cite does not specifically mention one of the above pitfalls of handbag carry that I just outlined, it gives a fairly strong indication that a bag containing a firearm was put down and at least momentarily left unattended leading to a fatal accidental shooting and that the firearm was probably loose in the bag and not in a secure holster inside the bag. According to this report a 2 year old reached into his mother's purse and fired one shot from the mother's pistol which was in the purse, the shot struck his mother and killed her. This happened as she was shopping in a Walmart and while the child was "left" in a shopping cart. 
 
"The woman, whose identity was not released, had a concealed weapons permit. Miller said the young boy was left in a shopping cart, reached into the victim's purse and grabbed a small caliber handgun, which discharged one time." (source)

So how do I arrive at the conclusion that the bag with the gun in it was left unattended? Well, if the reporting is spot on, then had the bag been in the woman's hands, or hanging by a strap on her shoulder, it probably would not have been within reach of the toddler who had been "left" in the cart. Even if it was on the mom's person but within the child's reach, had the kid been fishing around in mom's bag - she probably would have seen or felt it and had time to prevent this tragedy (especially if it had been holstered inside the bag). My guess is that the bag was left in the cart with the child. Of course it is just a guess but I am basing it on what is said in the article about the child being left in the cart thus implying that the mother may have moved away from it briefly.  Had the pistol been secured in a holster, it probably would have taken a lot more fiddling with by the youngster and quite possibly would have resulted in the mom seeing his messing in her bag in time to prevent this.

Regardless of how it happened though, it remains a tragedy and it also should be a wake up call to folks who carry concealed weapons in bags that sooner or latter will almost indubitably wind up at least momentarily out of their control. A moment was probably all it took for this to happen with the all too sad results being the loss of a life, a baby left without his mother, a husband left without his wife and father left with the obligation of having to someday explain to his son exactly what happened.

Please note that I often wait day or three before posting about a tragedy, out of respect for the victims, instead of posting so immediately afterward. However, in a case like this, my posting without waiting is not meant to be disrespectful to the family or the victim but only as a warning to others who might find themselves in a similar situation. In other words, I am posting immediately afterward in the hope that my advising you of the potential for disaster, when carrying in a similar fashion, may help prevent a similar tragic situation from taking place.

My condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased.

All the best,
Glenn B
 

HO-HO-HO NOW YOU CAN MAKE A MACHINEGUN

So, what did you get for Christmas? Here is what I got:

On Christmas day, I got four Mounds Bars in my stocking. I also got to have the pleasure of watching my wife, son, daughter, son-in-law and my mother-in-law opening the extra presents I had gotten for them. Since we were doing the Secret Santa thing this year, where each of us would get a gift or gifts for only one person up to a set price limit, those presents from me were totally unexpected. Evidently though, judging by the smiles, those gifts were well appreciated. That was my best gift - seeing the smiles on their faces. I also got a thank you email from my nephew who I sent a gift card from Amazon.com. I got nothing else on Christmas day except some Merry Christmas wishes and kisses. That was because our family celebration was set for yesterday (the Saturday after Christmas) due to family work obligations. On Saturday, during our celebration, I got to see my two brother's-in-law smile when they got the extras I gave them, as well as seeing everyone smile when they got their gifts from their Secret Santas - myself included (well I did not see my smile but felt it there on my face)..

Yesterday, my Secret Santa (my son, it was not hard at all to figure out) gave me three things from my wish list. A jar of Ole Smokey Moonshine Cherries, a gift certificate for Zum Stammtisch restaurant (one of my favorite places to eat) and a complete lower build A2 parts kit with a note from him on the box saying: "HO-HO-HO NOW YOU CAN MAKE A MACHINEGUN".

The note is now hanging off of the bottom of a picture frame just above my desk.

I already had a stripped lower that needed a parts kit and that was just the thing I needed. Now I have to put the darned thing together  and there is not even a parts list in the box let alone instructions on how to do it. I guess I'll be looking to YouTube for instructional videos. And by the way - NO IT WILL NOT BE FULL AUTO NOR EVEN SELECT FIRE no matter how much my Secret Santa thinks I can now make a machingun.

So, What Did You Get For Christmas?

All the best,
Glenn B

If I Was In A Similar Situation...

...I think that instead of me being focused like this:

...I would be more focused like this:

I mean, I'd like to think I was man enough to admire the beauty of the body whenever possible but at times like that I'd think I have another thing on my mind. Maybe that's just me though.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Officer Down - End Of Watch

Police Officers - how did Jaden Ramos, the son of slain NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos, say it shortly after he learned that his father had been assassinated and stolen from his life:

"Everyone says they hate cops but they are the people that they call for help."

He was not exactly right about everyone saying they hate cops, not everyone says that although most people do criticize them freely with frequency. So, he was very close to being right on the mark. It's natural to criticize, at least here in America where we can enjoy our rights by way of exercising liberty and that criticism often is directed at public servants. Heck, I was in law enforcement for a career spanning just over 32 years and I found myself on the receiving end and find myself doing it too; that is when I think it warranted. It's not me hating cops (and other law enforcers) but criticizing them and calling for changes because I see law enforcement in general getting out of hand, not just now and then but as a regular occurrence in today's world. Yet, I also respect those in LE a great deal - at least those who stand behind the shield honorably and who do not abuse their authority especially by way of rights and liberty violations. We all need to respect them, I think we are obliged to do so out of a sense of what is right. We should respect and honor those who perform that duty that Jaden mentioned.

Yes, he mentioned their duty - the duty to come when they hear us call for help! They come at all hours of the day or night, in any weather, whether they are feeling up to it or not to serve and protect - to answer our cries for help. They actually do serve and protect, no matter how many times they may also be criticized for things they get wrong (and yes they are human too and screw up just like anyone else). The fact is the police are the ones we call for help - we the: men, women, hard core right, whacko leftists, moderates, Republicans, Democrats, Tea Party folks, children, adults, whites, blacks, red men, yellow men, brown, men, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, atheists, straights, gays, plumbers, professors, prostitutes, politicians, homeless bums, preppers, 3 percenters, agitators, racists, race baiters, and even cop-haters call them for help when thy need them. Sure, they do some bad, they are often way too in line with soft tyranny (sometimes even real tyranny). There are some bad apples in the bunch, real bad ones at that who probably commit more crime than prevent it BUT they are the exception.

Cops also come when called, by us, for help; that is the rule for them and not the exception. They do so to face all sorts of unknowns. Sometimes they come to help deliver a baby, or to give medical assistance (this cop thought he was about to issue a speeding violation), or to find a missing person, or keep the peace during demonstrations (even when the demonstrators call out for dead cops) or to respond to calls on alleged or actual: burglaries, assaults, and to more heinous crimes like rapes and murders. They even get called for cats up trees (and wind up need help from the fire department). Then there are the catastrophes to which they rush to save lives, well knowing that their lives are at risk, such as school shootings, terrorist attacks and the like. Of course there are the more mundane things they do, like sit and eat lunch in their patrol cars, and even they wind up dead - just for being cops. When some among them are criticized, alleged to have done things, accused of crimes, convicted of criminal acts - we tend to lump them together and see them as bad. The truth is though, most of them do good and try to answer our calls for help, to serve us and protect us, as best they can and as I said, they never know what lies in wait on any given call.

Somewhere between a lunch break, a routine and a heinous murder or terrible catastrophe are calls about domestic violence. They can be the easiest going call or the most dangerous calls a police officer will ever receive. Police officers often become the target of both the caller (who called 911 for help) and of the person who the caller accused of wrongdoing (spouse or domestic partner). When they arrive on the scene of a domestic violence call, young Jaden's words come true all to often because it sometimes seems that everyone involved in those calls hates the police! If not everyone then many times at least one of the parties involved turns their anger on the cops but it is all too often that everyone involved sees them as the bad guys. Drunken violent badgering husbands attack the cops, badly beaten and abused wives who called the police for help suddenly turn on the cops as the cops put their husbands in cuffs, parents attack the police or accuse them of wrongdoing when the police use force to control their emotionally disturbed and dangerous child, the same child they called the police to control because moments before they feared for their lives at the hands of their own child.

Sadly, it has happened again and this time with fatal results. Yesterday, the police in Flagstaff, AZ were called to a domestic violence situation. Later on, an officer, while following up on the investigation, was speaking to one of the parties allegedly involved. As they stood talking to one another - the officer and the alleged suspect - the man reportedly pulled a gun and, at close range, shot the officer in the face. The officer, Tyler Stewart, was rushed to a hospital by but succumbed to his wounds.



 

Police Officer Tyler Stewart RIP

The piece of dirt who shot him then killed himself rather than having the courage to face what he had coming on this earth.

Police answered that call too, the call of shots fired - officer down. They never know what each day, each hour, each minute, each moment will bring them - they never know what call for help will come next or what will lie in wait for them on that call. Officer Stewart was a rookie ,with less than a year on the job, and he was only 24 years old. (I started my LE career just days before my 24th birthday so this really hits home with me.) You can bet that he did not wake up yesterday, put on his uniform and strap on his gun-belt, with the thought: Today is a good day to die and then rush off to work hoping for a life or death encounter in which he would lose his life but it happened. He is gone, he is dead, he was killed answering a call to help, he was killed in the line of duty, he was killed while both trying to serve and protect, he was killed doing a job that most people would never even consider doing, he was killed while being a police officer who was answering the call. 

Now, the police in Flagstaff, from all round AZ and the adjoin states and probably from all over the country, maybe even from around the world, will come to answer another call - the call of camaraderie to attend his funeral services. They will come to pay their last respects to a brother officer who fell in the line of duty. They will come to give support to the family, loved ones, friends and partners of Officer Stewart. They will come to show support for one another just as they came in New York for the funeral of Officer Ramos and as most certainly they will come for the funeral of Ramos' partner Officer Liu. They will come looking their finest, they will stand at attention, they will salute him, they will play the pipes for him, they will honor his memory and honor his family all to pay their respects to one of the finest - who died in a way they all fear - a police officer who lost his life in the line of duty answering a call for help.

It was a call Officer Stewart answered, that they almost would all answer, regardless of the callers race, religion, gender, sexual preference, politics, or any other consideration because the only thing that mattered is that someone called for help and he was a police officer so he answered the call. Yes, other officers will answer the call now and they will come to his side, this one last time. He was a brother officer who was gunned down in the line of duty and if they do not come - then who will come to answer that call of Officer Down - End Of Watch.

My condolences to the family and loved ones of Officer Tyler Stewart and to his fellow officers. At the very least we owe him that much respect, it is our duty to answer that call, the call to see him off with honor.

All the best,
Glenn B

Lest We Forget - Let's Take A Moment To Remember...

...the almost quarter of a million people, right around 230,000 of them, who lost their lives 10 years ago today. That was during an unprecedented show of Nature's unrelenting force, on December 26, 2004. Early that morning, less than an hour into the new day, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake ripped up the floor of the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian Ocean Tsunami that swept through south Asian countries whose shorelines ran along the Indian Ocean.

It was devastation, caused by a single natural event in the course of hours, like we have not seen at any other time in our lifetimes. The event also caused one of the largest, if not the largest, outpourings of charity for a single disaster - some claim the total was approximately $10 billion US dollars while others claim it was as high as $14 billion dollars.

Let us hope we do not witness another similar disaster - not ever. Keep those who were lost and they who lost loved ones in your thoughts and or prayers today.

All the best,
Glenn B

Worst Fireams Tactics Training Video

I feel compelled to share the laughs I had while watching the below video. So, for the second time today, I am lifting something off of another blogger's blog. I found this firearms training video over at Keads' blog Another Day.....Another..... and let me tell you it could become a classic video to train you what not to do. With all due respect to his credentials, I think the guy in the video is a million miles off the mark or he made that video in jest. He seems so serious about it though that I am hard pressed to think he is kidding and that it was a jest (and it is explained here that it apparently was meant to be a real training video).

Seriously folks, if you want to live, find another way to handle getting caught in - what did he call it: "...some weirdo crossfire or something like that..."! I have never seen anything, that I can recall, as laughable as that nor as absolutely wrong as that relative to firearms and tactical training.



For the newbies to shooting here are some things this 'operator' did that were absolutely ridiculous:

He tells you if you are in your vehicle and get shot at from the front or side, to get out. Why not just stay in the front and get into his contorted pose on the floor hanging out the right front door? Why get out and then turn his back to the shooters?

He is supposedly getting shot at and does not draw his weapon to return fire as he retreats toward the rear. Why not retreat while firing?

Also, why not just drive away or run the bastards over? Ok, in his defense, we will assume the vehicle is dead. So what next?

He gets back in, the rear of the cab, then crawls to the far side of the vehicle and uses a vehicle door as what - cover, concealment and wobbly support while he shoots, one handed, at an assailant in front of the truck from an angle that even Superman would find difficult to maintain!

He effectively wedges himself into a spot that is not easy to get out of as will soon be seen in what he does in his next move. For some reason, maybe an odd one to him but not t me, I think that getting behind the truck so I was in line with one of the tires (or both front and back tires on one side) would provide much better cover with any round needing to go through the whole length of the truck or at least two sides of a tire to hit me rather than the bottom of the vehicle door . I must be missing some advantage, that his superior knowledge holds is hidden only in the murky depths of his mind, about that type of shooting position.

Then there is his drop the gun, flop out onto the ground macho-man style exiting of the vehicle, while abandoning any cover and or concealment that was behind the door only to bring himself into the prone position on the ground completely out in the open where he grabs the gun and starts shooting again. Whom is he trying to kid! In what movie or kids cartoon did he see a move like that?Again, I must be missing something because I just don't get it but then I am sometimes slow to fully comprehend the finer aspects of such obviously vastly superior ridiculous methods as compared to my more mundane but oft taught tactics.

Anyway, it sure gave me a good belly laugh especially when he said: "As you can see, it wasn't that bad". Yes sir - it was definitely that bad and that bad was much worse than he had thought because it was terrible! I am still laughing.

All laughter aside, it concerned me greatly to think that there may be some unknowledgeable folks who, in seeking firearms training, ran across that thinking it an intelligent and reliable way to defend yourself. In my opinion, based upon my experience, it definitely is not that at all and would more likely get you killed than save your life. Sure, it actually may work for you once in real life but only if you are the very lucky type and probably only if it also makes your adversaries fall on the floor laughing in disbelief at your antics.

As I said above, if you want to live, then find another way to do it . One last thing, make sure that includes finding someone else to train you if only because he forgot to tell you to make sure that the child safety locks on the rear doors are not engaged! How could he have missed that tip!

A hat tip to Keads for posting that on his blog.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

I Just Lifted Some 1911 Animations

Was just surfing my blog-roll and felt it imperative that I steal someone else's thunder by pretty much copying what he had posted on his blog and reposting it here. What I stole lifted were these two links to nice animations of a 1911 in action. The first is basically a cutaway view so you see the internal parts as they operate. The second, and much more interesting GIF, is an interactive animation in that you can view a working 1911 as it normally would appear but that one has a twist. The twist is that you can also view the working 1911 as a cutaway in whole or in part (you select which parts to view as a cutaway and there are two different cutaway modes) and to twist it further you can hide parts to be able to see parts that other would not have been seen in their entirety in the cutaway mode. You can play with that one awhile, changing the view numerous ways, to learn about how the 1911 functions. I am not a gunsmith and cannot attest that each and every moving part is shown (from the left side of the pistol) but my guess is that they are there.

http://animagraffs.com/how-a-handgun-works-1911-45/

http://www.m1911.org/loader.swf

A hat tip to New Jovian Thunderbolt for posting these informative links.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Bush As President Probably Would Not Please Me...

...although I must say that it would please me a whole lot more than another screaming and whining liberal leftist. So when I read that Bush is stepping down from his position on a health care board (source), and thus looking as if he may be potentially more seriously in the running as a candidate than I had thought, I was not all that disappointed.

While I would rather not vote for him and while I have already stated who, right now, is my favored choice (although that choice may change) as the prime candidate for the presidency - I could see myself voting for another Bush (if nominated) instead of any liberal leftist demoncrat that might run in 2016.

Hopefully though, we will have a patriot with steel balls (or at least with brass balls) and with set convictions and ideals in the running and that's not certainly going to be a Bush, not by a longshot!

All the best,
Glenn B

First Christmas In My Lifetime Without...

...my mom. She would have been 90 years old today. She and I had a rough relationship at times and at others we were like bees to honey. That's just the truth of the way it was for us but we always wound up good together and loving one another. I was there at her side for her last breath and am a better son for it. I miss her dearly at this moment.

Happy birthday and Merry Christmas mama.

While I am at it, Merry Christmas Raymond (my brother, also gone).

You are both dearly missed.

Love
Glenn

PS:
You know something, I never quite understood how people could write and post stuff like this before but I do now and I hang my head in shame today for ever having thought it stupid or for thinking it was any other thing than an honest expression of the love of a child for a missed parent. How ignorant I can be, and certainly how less than empathetic I can be, that is until I go through something myself and learn the hard way.

 

A Very Special Merry Christmas Wish To...

...all of our military and civilian personnel who are on foreign and home soil protecting us, our freedoms, our rights and liberties and our Constitution from they who would destroy us and the things we cherish. God bless each and every one of you, keep you safe and hurry you home.

Merry Christmas,
Glenn B

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

 

Merry Christmas to All.

Holy Last Minute Shoppers...

...is it Christmas Eve already? Well, the day of Christmas Eve anyway. I had best get mine arse in gear, I need to get some Christmas shopping done today and need to set up the tree (so good old Saint Nick can decorate it tonight and leave some presents behind) and I'll need some time to relax with some sort of spirits tonight (in addition to the Christmas spirit). Yes, lets not forget the Christmas spirit, that one about the gift we received on that day.

I had best get going.

Later 4 U and
Merry Christmas,
Glenn B

Joe Cocker RIP - You Will Be Missed

After a long battle with lung cancer, Joe Cocker has passed, air guitar in hands, to the great beyond where I am sure his singing will be appreciated more than the songs of angels.

Once upon a time, in my early youth, I was a Beatles fan. Then I heard Joe Cocker sing some of their songs and I must say that the intensity with which he sang those hits put the Beatles to shame and he helped expand my music appreciation - a lot.










To say that Joe Cocker was intense though is an understatement. It's not like I was a Joe Cocker fan-boy or groupie or anything like that yet, I just have to say that when he sang a song - he gave it his everything - and for that I am thankful to have lived through his heyday and thankful to him for having giving it his absolute singing best while spazing out on stage playing his air-guitar.

Of course, it wasn't only Beatles songs he sang:





Man oh man - he was one of the truly great ones. Sorry I am posting a day later than I should have but was under the weather yesterday and unable to post a timely tribute then. Then again, who better to pay him tribute better than himself in his singing to us. He will be missed. Hope you are at peace Joe, maybe dropping a dot, toking a joint and sipping some Jack with a song on your lips and air-guitar close by you spasmodic hands. You are the man.

All the best,
Glenn B
 

I Think I Over Shopped For Christmas Dinner

I told she who must be adored, the wife, I would head out to Costco to pick up supplies for our family's Christmas dinner. She was going to wait until tomorrow but I told her that the roads would be clogged with last minute maniacs (who shop on Christmas Eve) looking for deals, stores would not put much new out on the shelves to replace what was missing, employees would have lots other than work and helping customers in mind, stores would be closing early making it a real pain in the arse. So, I volunteered to go today this evening even though I was feeling under the weather and despite the fact that I figured it would be much the same today as tomorrow. Yet, I thought I would stand a better chance of finding the vittles we wanted so away I went. 

Much to my surprise, there was almost no traffic to speak of on the way to the warehouse. Once there, I found a parking spot pretty quickly. Once inside, I was shocked to see how few people, as compared to what I expected based on past experience, were in Costco shopping. Yeah, it was fairly busy but not any busier than any evening in say the middle of August or February. I picked up all the veggies she wanted with he exception of fingerling potatoes and settled for small red potatoes instead. We'll have butternut squash, corn on the cob and asparagus in that department - along with the potatoes. I also grabbed some mushrooms and will figure something yummy to do with them.  I got the obligatory, for almost every Costco trip, milk, eggs and yogurt too. Besides that and the needed batteries, paper towels, TP and tissues, about the only other thing we needed was meat.

The bride had wanted Prime Rib. I settled for a standing rack of beef ribs, bone in, choice cut since they did not have Prime Rib. I figure since the ribeye steaks they cut from this same piece are always excellent so too should be this rack of ribs. My darling told me to get enough for ten people. Do you think that 17.8 pounds is enough for ten? I hope so and considering we already have a large smoked ham too, I am guessing it may be just enough to sate their appetites with some bones left over for the dogs (if the dogs are lucky).

While driving home with the goods, I thought of how big was that rack of beef ribs and figured maybe I went overboard. If she who will be roasting the meat thinks it too big, perhaps I will whittle it down to about half that size and cut the remainder into steaks that we can have tomorrow after grilling them on the BBQ or we could do the same on Christmas Day. Yeah, I said the ribs and ham were for our family's Christmas dinner, but this year we will be having that on Saturday instead of actually on Christmas day this Thursday. If not that, then I will let the son, aka: the male inheritor to my firearms kingdom, smoke them on his smoker. Yummy.

I also have some goodies for appetizers like a whole smoked whitefish, a nice sized smoked sweet Italian sausage, and some various cheeses. Add to that some seafood (probably some shrimp, squid, baby octopus, scallops, clams) that I will pick up tomorrow. Yes I am one of those maniacs whom I just mentioned who shops on Christmas Eve. No need for booze though, I probably have enough ale and wine already. We should be all set except maybe for some McIntosh and Granny Smith Apples for one or two of my apple pies.

I'll have to feel a whole lot more motivated than I do right now to make one or two of those. Shopping today, regardless of the store being only fairly busy almost knocked me on my arse, it literally exhausted me. I've been under the weather the last two days - stomach virus or something that had me running to the throne a lot. I even missed work today. I was so worn out from it that I slept until about 2:30 this afternoon and now that I am back from Costco I am about ready for another good night's sleep and it's only 730PM. Five hours of being up and I am about as run down and as tired as I have ever been before. Hopefully though, I will have my strength and spirit back by tomorrow to get me in the apple shopping and pie making mood - one for actual Christmas and then again on Friday night for another one or two for the family dinner.

It sounds as if we may make it a truly merry Christmas this year. I have to say, it will be the most expensive meal we will have eaten in years, that beef rack of ribs was not cheap but the expense is not the important thing. How delicious it is for us, along with how well it is liked by our company will be what matters. In as much as we have it, we are blessed with bountiful gifts.With all the other food added, with the good company who will be there, and all the Christmas gifts - it certainly promises to be an excellent celebration of gift giving. After all isn't that what Christmas is all about - gift giving! It is to me not so much that it is the birthday of Christ that is important but that it is the day on which God the Father shared the gift of his son with mankind. Yes, Christmas is truly is all about gift giving - it has been that way from the very first one when God gave the first Christmas gift to us and when the wise-men reciprocated with their gifts to Jesus. That we too give gifts, to one another, is just as important because it is in the giving that we express our love and make our sacrifices to do so - and in the receiving of gifts we can rejoice in the bounty we have reaped by way of the love we have sown and the sacrifices we have made.

Here is hoping that all of you, who
celebrate, have a very Merry Christmas,
Glenn B

I Might Give Up Ever Trying To Be A Good Boy For Christmas...

... and relinquish any future Christmas presents if Santa delivered me some of these this year and allowed me to be a naughty boy with them just this once.

All the best,
Glenn B

NYC Mayor de Blasio Says Assassination of NYPD Officers Is Not Time For Politics

Politicians repeatedly dumbfound me and they do it on an all to frequently regular basis. Yesterday, after the cold blooded assassinations of two NYPD Officers, de Blasio had the gall to come out and make a statement in which he said that the immediate aftermath of the murders was "not a time for politics" (source). I wish I had the whole statement but have been unable to find the full quote online, I did hear it on Fox News last night. If you are a normal person, it would appall you to hear it especially in light of the statements that de Blasio made immediately after the Eric Garner death in NY when Mr. Garner died at the hands of the police when they attempted to arrest him as he resisted arrest. As I have stated before, I think one officer in that case resorted to too high a level of force, I think he should have been charged with a crime in that death. Regardless of that though, such was no reason to target two other police officers and shoot them down for racial or revenge motives or just because they were cops.

The point here is that the mayor made such an irresponsible statement that this is not the time for politics when he indeed resorted to making politically driven statements a short time ago. That time, the apparent right time to make politically driven statements, was right after Mr. Garner died at the hands of the police. He made it clear then that he believed race was a factor and that Mr. Garner had died because he was black. He did that with the ridiculous statement in which he said that he had had a talk with his half black - half white son during which he in essence trained his son that he had to be careful around police officers because he was black (source). Yet it is the police who provide his son with a protective detail.

Remember that de Blasio, also undoubtedly with political considerations in mind, allowed protestors to have almost completely unrestrained control of New York City streets and of structures such as the Brooklyn Bridge. In addition he allowed protest marchers to carry on while one shouts: "What do we want?" and then the crowd, in unison, giving a resounding reply of : "Dead cops" (source). I note here while that march was booked as 'The Millions Protest March' (or something like that but definitely using the word millions), it sure does not look like millions were marching (see the video in that article) yet there were enough involved to cause disruption and later those at the Brooklyn Bridge caused mayhem. Still though, de Blasio allowed that to carry on without much restraint if any.

He also allowed the protests to go unhindered so much so that the lack of control over the crowds eventually led to and contributed to, without doubt in my mind, two NYPD Lieutenants being beaten. Both were later hospitalized, one sustaining a broken nose. They were attacked by a mob from among the protestors. This happened when the police lieutenants attempted to arrest one protestor who seemed to be about to throw a heavy trash can onto police officers and maybe also onto other protestors below him from an elevated platform of the bridge (source).

In the past, as is usual when such preplanned protests are held in NY City, the course of events is that a group expresses its desire to the city to hold a protest march and that the group applies for a permit to do so. The police department considers the request and if a permit is granted there are condition which must be met and maintained during the course of the protests. Those conditions are most often in the form of restrictions such as marking off a route which the protestors must use, keeping protestors peaceful, not allowing any illegal behavior, not allowing stoppage of traffic, all while allowing he protestors to exercise their right to free speech while at them same time not impinging on anyone else's rights or liberties.

Mayor de Blasio seemingly ignored all of the protocols and allowed the crowds to run rampant. My bet would be that if a similar situation had erupted under Mayror Rudy Giuliani, he would have called for an immediate end to the protest march once it had gotten out of hand. More than that though, he most likely would have made arrangements to try to assure that it never would have gotten out of hand in the first place. The current mayor is a political ass kisser and he has been playing politics from the very beginning but now that blood is on his hands he has the unmitigated nerve to say now is not the time for political rebuttals from his opposition.

What he should be doing is decrying the use of violence, not attempting to silence his opponents. He should be telling the public that any further illegal violence will be met with the maximum allowable force under the law and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Now, I am not saying that this was violence that came from the local community, the killer was not from Brooklyn as far as I am aware; however, I am saying that the mayor helped breed an atmosphere of total disrespect for law enforcement (especially the NYPD) by way of his politicizing the Eric Garner killing, by way of his race baiting its aftermath, and by way of truly turning his back on the NYPD. Now he is trying to tell us that it is not time for politics and that statement is political in nature in and of itself.

He is only saying that because all of the anti de Blasio politicking done now is sure to frame him in a bad light and assure that his first term as mayor will be his last term. So he is trying to quell anything political, he is merely trying to lower the political, ethical and emotional heat that is being blasted in his direction. He is going to get a lot more of it since he is as hypocritical as the worst hypocrite I have ever seen (my opinion). Amazingly enough, he expected the NYPD to take it when he turned his back on them but now is saying they should not be turning their backs on him; which by the way is exactly what they did and that was probably only the beginning of what he will have to face if he continues as the inept mayor he has been to date.



So what can he do? Well, it is too late to get it done right to avoid whatever is coming as a result of the killings of these two officers or to get it done right to avoid what already has come as a result of the Eric Garner death at the hands of police. Personally, I think the best thing he could do for the city would be to try to maintain the peace and then resign as quickly as possible. Since he apparently cannot accept the fact that this is the time for harsh criticism, political or otherwise, of his blundering buffoonery as mayor, I doubt he will accept any responsibility for any culpability leading to these assassinations and he will remain in office much to the degradation of the City of New York. What a shame because I am willing to bet that will only lead to more upheaval and violence.

All the best,
Glenn B