I Wonder, What Kind Of Barbed Wire Is That

Damned if I know but I'd bet Wirecutter knows.

All the best,
Glenn B

She Made Me Laugh Many Times & Made Me Cry A Few Times Too...

...but she was the mother that almost everybody who experienced her loved. Jeanne Stapleton, better known as Edith Bunker, passed away May 31, 2013. Now, you may be wondering why I am about to eulogize her at this late date. Well, a good friend of mine posted about her passing on Facebook (yes that anti-gun arsehole site that I still visit for some reason). I guess it was news to my friend because FB says she just posted about Jeanne only 13 hours ago or maybe she just wanted to remind us about her. When I read the FB post, I realized I had not said anything, in a blog post, about it at the time of her passing. I have been watching All In The Family reruns now and again as of late and thus figured I owed this wonderful actress at least a blurb or three regardless of it not being timely. 

Hopefully, Jeanne Stapleton has moved onto and been in a better place since her passing. If there is a heaven and a hell she most indubitably has been residing and performing in heaven but still has had them rolling in laughter in hell - she was that excellent of an entertainer. She may have had them shed a few tears too, she truly was capable of bringing out most, if not all, of one's emotions through her acting prowess.

While I usually laughed at the dim-witted side of her character Edith Bunker, there were a few times I actually shed a few tears over her more poignant scenes. Just recently, I saw the episode in which a rapist tried to accost her, on her 50th birthday, inside of her own home while her family readied a surprise party for her. I usually don't get emotional watching television shows or movies but that one just about had me sobbing at one or two points as she tried to deal with what she had just narrowly escaped. Hell - I don't think anyone ever wanted to see Edith having to suffer more than with what she put up with in Archie.

She also reminded me of my mother, in looks, not in wits, but that is another story. Although, I must say, there were times when my mother emulated Edith a little too much - or was it Edith emulating my mom, your mom, everyone's mom a little too much! I think maybe that last part was it and that was what made Jeanne Stapleton so beloved in that role as Edith Bunker - she was everyone's mom.

I will not say much more about her than I don't think anyone could have better played the role of Archie Bunker's wife in the long running sit-com All In The Family. Read more about her here and then take a moment to remember her and to honor her. Let me close by saying, if you have never seen All In The Family, you have no idea about what you are missing. Watch a few episodes and laugh a lot; by then you most likely will be hooked and want to see them all. That my friends would be the greatest honor you could pay her.

A hat tip to Eileen Y-F for the inspiration to write this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

America Turning Stoopid

All the best,
Glenn B

You Never Know

Payback can be a real bitch,...

...when you least expect it.
All the best,
GB

Which One Is Truly An Accomplished Song Writer/Singer?

The answer given was pretty blunt and to the point, totally disregarding any hint of political correctness, wasn't it!

All the best,
GB

Facebook's Gun Control Policy

This may get me banned from Facebook but I had to let them know how I feel about their new policy that forbids individuals from legally selling firearms to one another by way of their site. This may turn out to have been my last FB post:

" I am truly disappointed with Facebook curtailing the legal transfer of firearms between individuals on their site. See: http://www.reuters.com/…/us-facebook-guns-exclusive-idUSKCN…

I know, it is their site to do with as they please but I do not have to be happy about it. Just to show Facebook how unhappy I am with their decision to have done so, I figured I would show Facebook how unhappy I am with a graphic. I gladly will suffer any consequences and shall remain happy that I expressed my apolitically correct but logical reply to them.

"

 

I imagine that FB will not be all to happy about that post but as I said in it, I will gladly suffer the consequences.

 

A hat tip to Phil, aka: The Vulgar Curmudgeon, for the "fuck you facebook" graphic that I found in this post on his blog.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

Women And Bacon

All the best,
GB

Go Ahead, Vote For Hillary or Bernie, Then Take What You Get

Either Hillary or Bernie getting into office will likely result in something very similar to what we are warned about in this cartoon. Hell, we are well on our way to it under Obummer.
 

I suppose a vote for the likes of Rubio, Christie, Bush and some of the other so called conservatives would have similar results too.

I may have to vote for Trump yet.

Hat tip to peter Q.

All the best,
GB

Safe From Terrorists

I took down my Rebel flag (which you can't buy on ebay anymore) and peeled the NRA sticker off the front door.

I disconnected my home alarm system and quit the candy-ass Neighborhood Watch.

I bought two Pakistani flags and put one at each corner of the front yard. Then I purchased the black flag of ISIS (which you CAN buy on ebay) and ran it up the flag pole ...

Now, the local police, sheriff, FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, Secret Service and other agencies are all watching my house 24/7.   I've NEVER felt safer and I'm saving $69.95 a month that ADT used to charge me.

Plus, I bought burkas for my family when we shop or travel. Everyone moves out of the way and security can't pat us down.

Hot Damn -- Safe at last – Thanks to Obama!

A hat tip to Harry F for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ah, Some Fresh Air At Last

As per an article in the New York Post, a New York City bureaucrat is hoping decriminalize public urination. While New York City has not done it yet, you can bet they will do it if only because they have been caught with their pants down - so to speak.

San FranSicko, has outdone New York in the arena of public urination. They have installed their first open air urinal in a public park. I guess the pervs will now have a valid excuse for whipping out their winkies and wriggling them in front of children; an excuse that doubtlessly will protect them from charges of indecent exposure and child molestation in the land of fruits, nuts and granolas! More here.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

Only Days Away From The Best...

...holiday of the year and it's all in honor of a rodent! Yes, I mean Groundhog Day. No gift giving - thus no shopping, no relative over for a holiday feast - thus no hours and hours preparing for those picky pains in the arse, no Groundhog Day decorations - thus no aching back to stretching and reaching and bending to hang them, no religious connotations in any way shape or form - thus no way to offend anyone (except rodent haters). You, or at least I, have just got to love the crap of a holiday that gets thousands of folks to stand out in the bitter cold just to see if a fat little porker of a rodent (groundhog) sees its own shadow or not to figure out if we will still have six more weeks of winter or not, especially since the little bastard has no clue what he (or she) is doing and neither do the spectators because winter is another six weeks and five days, or so, long regardless of if he sees his shadow or not.

Hope your Groundhog Day is a wonderful one.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Was Ruined Long Before The Internet

A hat tip to Mike McC for that one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

...plague me relative to our (Brendan and me) planned trip to Alaska this spring. I have a good amount of cash stashed away for the trip, about three grand so far. That will cover both of our airfares and my part of lodging, vehicle rental and most of my expenses.

When there, I would like to assure we are properly armed to deter and if necessary kill any bears that may become problematic. This is no joking matter for me especially since I found out that to be eligible to work for the state of Alaska, on jobs like seasonal maintenance of campgrounds and whatever, you need to be eligible to carry a firearm to deter bears. That is a requirement found within in the laws of the state of Alaska. If they see the necessity you can bet I do too.

Anyway, that leaves me with a big decision to make. The decision being whether or not I should shell out now for a revolver in 44 magnum (and thus having to find that much more money for the trip) and if so, do I get the Taurus Tracker with 4" barrel or Ruger Redhawk with 5.5" barrel. 

I am leaning toward the Ruger based in part on their reputation versus the reputation of Taurus. Besides reputation, the Ruger has a six chambers and the Taurus only five. I would hate to need that sixth round and have to reload to get it even though it would be likely that I would have the chance to get off that many shots on a charging brown bear. In addition, Ruger has some outstanding features that the Taurus, as far as I am aware, does not such as the solid frame without side panels (adding lots of strength to the frame) and the triple locking cylinder. Then there is the weight difference, the Ruger is about 10 oz. heavier, which is a good thing in that sized caliber (or so I would think). And of course, there is the barrel length issue. The 44 magnum is likely to have at least just a bit more punch out of a 5.5" barrel as opposed to coming out of a 4" barrel. As for price, I can pick up a Taurus Tracker with 4" barrel for about $575 but the Ruger would cost about $905 - that's a difference of $330 (or an awful lot of 44 magnum ammo). Even with that price difference, the Ruger is the one I am leaning toward and that even tough the $330 is about the cost of a day's fishing (for one person) on a charter out of Seward, AK. Decisions, decisions, decisions...it sucks not being filthy rich and not being able to buy both - or even just independently wealthy enough not to have to worry about the price difference!

I have sent an inquiry to my local dealer to see if he has the Ruger in stock right now. If he does, I may dive right in and pop back up on the surface holding a new Ruger Redhawk. If he doesn't have it in stock and cannot get one in a reasonable amount of time, I may just have to go for the Taurus and save myself some money. Whichever, I would like to have it in hand before Brendan and I travel up to New Hampshire for a blogger get together next month. If I get the Ruger, hopefully I will still have enough for at least 100 rounds of 44 magnum ammo so we can both practice some with it while in NH. 

All the best,
Glenn B

And Now For Something Almost Completely Different...

...among the huge number of gals and guns images on the Internet. I have never seen one quite like this one before:

All the best,
GB

I Am Happy I Retired From HSI/ICE/DHS When I Did...

...although it might have been the better move for me to have retired 6 years before when I first became eligible. It having had been better would have been due solely to the fact that I would have gotten out of the only truly aimless and pointless agency and department that I had ever worked for, during my 32 year career in federal law enforcement, at an earlier date than I did when I retired later on. DHS had almost the lowest rating in morale among federal departments for the few years before I retired and ICE almost the worst morale of all the agencies within DHS. Last year, it was reported they both had the worst rankings in morale - DHS the worst morale of any federal department and ICE the worst morale rating within DHS. I believe that was pretty much due to DHS and ICE having terrible executive and mid-management and to them being a department and an agency without a true mission to accomplish, in other words they are pointless and aimless.

Just about every time I have read something about DHS or ICE (including HSI) since I retired, just over four years ago, I feel certain flashbacks of despair and I feel newly sown shame. Let me just say it was not a good experience working there and almost everything I have seen about them, since I retired, has been bad news. For instance, take the latest article that is making the rounds on Internet news sites. It has been reported that (and this is in regard to DHS and its agencies):

"Inventory reports, obtained by the news site Complete Colorado and shared with FoxNews.com, show that over 1,300 badges, 165 firearms and 589 cell phones were lost or stolen over the span of 31 months between 2012 and 2015." (Source.)

While the article goes on to state that most of the losses were at Customs & Border Protection, apparently many were from ICE too. ICE has several agencies within it, so there might not have been any, or at least not many, losses from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) where I worked. Yet, this news is still depressing for me. I would think it likewise for anyone else with any amount of pride who also had worked there. At least it certainly makes me feel somewhat ashamed to admit to folks that I once worked there. I mean, how proud can one be that they worked for a department or agency with such low morale and from which these averages were generated:

Almost 42 badges (and I must assume also the credentials that went with them) were lost or stolen each month during the 31 month time frame mentioned above.

On average, 5.3 guns were lost or stolen, each month, in that same time frame.

About 19 cellphones a month went missing as well, again either lost or stolen.

That is an absolute disgrace in my estimation. In my 32 years of government service, I cannot recall ever having lost a piece of equipment that had been issued to me by the government except for a single cell phone that fell out of its clip and into the bay while I was boarding a boat in Florida. I promptly reported it. Since the phone was not waterproof and was not easily retrievable there was no worry about any information on it being compromised. There may have been something else I lost during my career but I do not think another phone, certainly never my credentials or badge (except what temporarily went missing in the collapse of the Customhouse on 9/11 and those were cancelled credentials and a government passport) and most definitely never a government issued firearm (except what was lost temporarily in the collapse of the Customhouse at the WTC on 9/11 and that was recovered later from the firearms vault). I never lost an issued gun, as in leaving it somewhere and not recalling where and never had one stolen from me. Same with my credentials.

As a matter of fact, I never heard of a rate of such losses as being that high, in my career, when I worked for the Border Patrol, nor for the Customs Service, nor even when I was under DHS. It just boggles the mind that as many phones, credentials/badges and firearms go missing at such a high rate, and it is scary to think of how those government phones, credentials/badges, and guns could be used by those with evil intent. Then again it does not surprise me that it has been happening within DHS. So many are miserable because of working there that it simply is not surprising to me that proper care is not practiced by DHS employees in safeguarding these items. Note, I am not excusing proper safeguarding of those items, I just am saying I understand how such laxness has come about.

Scarier yet though is the thought of how much information, law enforcement sensitive to classified to classified as top secret, could be going missing from the hands of the employees of this same department and its agencies. I doubt thought that DHS will be revealing stats on losses of information though, at least not any time soon. That if only because they, in my opinion, probably see no need to compete with the potential losses of classified information by Hillary Clinton.

All the best,
GB





 

So Maybe The Preppers Are Not That Crazy After All...

...since the so called Doomsday Clock is now at 3 minutes to midnight; midnight being the hour at which we arrive at a global apocalypse due to something like a nuclear war. See this.

Pardon me while I order another 40 pounds of dried beans, 40 lbs. of flour, 1k rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo and a couple of 1/4 oz. gold coins. No, I cannot afford it all at once, so I order such things in dribs and drabs, at least once a month.

All the best,
GB

Funny No One Has Mentioned Narcotics Smuggling

So, American Airlines passenger, at JFKIA, get off the plane and some are ushered, through a doorway, into the domestic arrivals area without going through Customs. This has brought up a concern about terrorist entering the USA in this manner. It also just happened, another time, at the same airport with the same airline, within recent months.

Through the view of my now older but once highly observant and well trained investigative eyes (trained in part by none other that the U.S. Customs Service), I have to, kind of, sort of, almost make a bet that these incidents may have been due to an airline employee being on the take, and being involved in an internal conspiracy, who allowed narcotics mules through those doors with their drugs. More here.

All the best,
Glenn B

How Long Will It Take For The Feds To Call Him An Islamic Terrorist?

The FBI has arrested a Muslin POS who planned to attack a Masonic Temple and kill as many people as he could kill. How long will it be before the feds call him a muslim/islamic terrorist? My guess is anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months. I also am willing to bet that Obummer never calls this guy a terrorist.

More here.

All the best,
GB

Google Public Alerts Is Forecasting 24 - 28 Inches Of The White Stuff...

...for lower NY State, including NYC and Long Island (except for the eastern forks where they predict a few inches less). I am guess, that where we live, we have had at least 18 inches so far but it is very difficult to judge because of the winds causing drifts in some areas and bare spots, and I do mean virtually free of snow, in other spots. There I a pile of snow on my very small front lawn that is about 4 to 4.5 feet deep. Just a few feet away from there is an oblong area about 4x10 feet with no snow. I could not even shovel it that clean right now because when I have shoveled, where the snow is piled up, some of the snow underneath sticks to the ground keeping it white no matter what. In this particular spot though, it is virtually bare. I had thought the spot in my backyard, where the snow is only about a 1/4" deep, was strange but the bare spot in front of my house is freaky.

Right now, from what I can tell, they say the snow will stop falling at about 0200. That probably means at least another 6 inches by then at the rate it has been coming down and who knows how high the rifts will be. I just shoveled out the walk on the side of my garage and the snow was between at least 3 to 4 feet deep along it. After I got to the front, I saw the snow on the sidewalk is only about 8 inches deep in most places up to about three feet deep in a drift near my driveway. My son shoveled the sidewalk earlier today and it looks as if my neighbor may have also come by with his snow blower; if not that, then the wind has been helpful in that regard. As for me, I am waiting until it stops to do the sidewalk again.

This global warming man-made climate change sure is something. It was almost 50 degrees a few days ago now we are in the middle of a mega blizzard (at least for Long Island) but it should hit the mid-forties by Tuesday. And to think, it is all early man's fault, as in mankind about 7,000 years ago (well according to the leftist eggheads anyway)!!!

I am going to do my share to keep the climate changing and have a couple or three alcoholic beverages along with some junk food of one sort or another. (I wonder if I still have those Andy Capp's Hot Fries somewhere.)I am sure all that alcohol and all that junk food will combine in my gut and will eventually come out as methane. Surely, that indubitably will help to destroy the natural order of our climate just as much as any farmer slashing and burning an acre or two several thousand years ago. You don't believe that do you but then you have never smelt one I have dealt cause if you had, you would believe I could destroy our climate in a night or two.

All the best,
GB

High Snow Alert - High Bid Achieved

As I had mentioned earlier, I did not drive up to Geneva, NY for the Hessney Auction Company's rod & gun auction because of the then predicted blizzard. Well they were right, as in the weathermen, and the snow has been coming down and piling high since late last night. We have drifts up to 4 feet high in our small backyard and yes that almost bare spot, I mentioned in an earlier post, is still virtually free of snow. The grass in that one spot of my backyard is laying flat but and is not covered by snow. In other words, the snow in that area, about 8 feet or so in diameter, is only about a 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch deep. In most places, where I just shoveled, it had built up another 6 to 8 inches within about the last 3 hours. Had to shovel to let the dogs out, otherwise the Chihuahuas would just do it in the house.

Along with the high snowfall I also had the high bid on one of the rifles I bid for in the Hessney Auction Company rod & gun auction - a Mossberg M44US. It was the very last firearm on which I had planned to place a bid in the order items that came up for bids. The auction info did not say anything about it being the version marked "U.S" Property" which would have made it somewhat more sought after but I don't care. I already have one marked that way and wanted this other one as a shooter and maybe later to sell or trade.

I wish I could have been present at the auction hall as I had planned but now that I have seen just how bad is the blizzard we are getting hammered by, I am quite content to have stayed at home. It would have been next to impossible to have returned home tonight, from the auction, as I had hoped. Oh well, maybe next time I'll be able to be there in person and have first hand idea of the condition of any items before I bid on them. I usually don't take the chance of buying an item, pretty much sight unseen, but in this case I decided what the heck.

This is the actual one on which I placed my bid. I can only
hope that the other side looks as good as this one appears.

I think I go it for a good price but it is hard to tell because there is scant to zero info on the condition of any of the auction items offered, unless the description notes a gun is offered as new or unfired. There was a single pic of one side of it and it looked good enough to take the chance. I'll see how I did, well or not, once it is delivered. I figure it will be about a week or ten days before that happens. If worse comes to worst, I'll have a spare parts gun for my other Mossberg M44US.

The Blizzard Had Me Wishing For Bikini Weather...

...and it looks like I did not have to wish to hard because for some folks it's always bikini weather.
 

All the best,
GB

I've Been Bidding On Guns...

...as an absentee bidder since about 1020 this morning. Hessney Auction Company is holding a Rod & Gun Auction today. I have not had the high bid on even one of about 10 guns I have bid on so far. Eiher prices just jumped even higher than they had been or people are truly stupid. A few guns being sold, in as new condition, had high bids at least a $100 to $200 above what you could get the same gun for new in a local gun store. Considering that the auction house tacks on a buyer's premium of 10 or 13% (depending on method of payment, cash or checks are the lower premium and credit cards the higher premium) and then they add 7.5% sales tax, someone buying a $1,000 gun for a hundred or two hundred bucks over retail at this auction has got to be out of his friggin mind or just an out and out idiot. I checked the prices at a local gun store in my neighborhood, and they were lower than some of the bids placed on these guns at auction and all my local gun tore adds is tax, there is no additional 10 or 13% buyer's premium. People are strange!

Anyway, I did come very close to owning a Colt Anaconda, being sold "as new" in the original box, a hard plastic case. I bid $1750 and the high bid was $1850, I could hear a woman screaming it out in the background as I was on the phone with the auctioneer's wife placing my bids. The women who called out bid sounded like she was a maniac, well she sounded that way to me. The auctions on which I have bid so far have gone fast an very high in price. I don't think I was closer than $500 from the actual high bid for any bids I placed and I was placing bids based on either on prices for new guns in my area (if the gun being sold was listed as new) or on the prices I found in The Blue Book Of Gun Values, The Standard Catalog of Firearms, and the going prices (one with actual bids) on GunBroker.com. I just don't get it except maybe that it has to do with Obummer and the anti-gun hysteria of the left making people buy, buy, buy at any price (and of course with some of the gun buyers being out and out moronic arsehats).

I still have a few items left on which I plan to bid, that is if they call me for them. I missed the chance of bidding on a Remington Model 105 CTI 12 Ga. shotgun because they failed to call me when it went up for bids. Stuff happens like that with telephone bidding. I would have preferred to have been there in person but had to cancel my scheduled trip there because the storm that is hitting my home area would have made it impossible for me to have returned today and maybe even tomorrow. Roberta, the lady taking my bids, told me they are jam packed with about 800 bidders. I have been there in person several times and never saw it that crowded before.

Anyway, I am awaiting her call for a few more items. It should come soon, so I am going to stop typing for now. I'll add more later if I have the high bids on anything.

All the best,
Glenn B

It's Been A Long Week...

...working every day. I am not complaining, I can use the cash but I have to say that since retirement and in my post-cancer age, I find it a whole lot harder to find any time for blogging after a full day's work. I suppose it is not just because of the job but have to consider the getting here and back home again that has made it a tiring, if not sometimes exhausting, thing for me. The walking a mile to the train, taking three trains, then walking another half mile or so to the office, after which I walk about one to 1.5 miles during my lunch, and I walk another mile back to the rail road after work (I take a different train home, with no connections) and then another mile walk to my house from my local station is all a good thing though, because since I have been doing that almost every weekday, my BP has been down.  I know, it's not really all that much but it has been enough for me; I am no spring chicken anymore. Anyway, my days have been tuckering me out and I have little desire to blog when I get home. Sometime in the not too distant future (next month), the out fit for which I work is supposed to have a full timer come aboard and I probably will not be working more than a day or two a week (and eve that will be dependent on folks calling in sick or taking vacation). I plan to keep up the walking, probably at the gym on a treadmill but also some out and about through the neighborhood. I shouldn't stop a good thing, I have lost about 6 or 7 pounds since I started. Whatever, once I am working less, I will have more time to blog.

All the best,
Glenn B

Chilling Out

Yep, it's pretty obvious, it's gotten a bit colder out there today.

All the best,
Glenn B

So Much For The Alaska Bound Ruger 44 Magnum Fund

GoFundMe pulled the plug and deleted my Alaska Bound Ruger 44 Magnum Fund campaign. I was under the belief that this happened before it received even a single donation; however, the widget I installed on my blog page on the upper right side says that 50% of the desired funs were already collected. Yet, when I go to their payment site, WePay, it shows a zero balance. If anyone donated, please get in touch with me with the specifics ASAP. You can either leave a comment for this post or you can email me by clicking on View My Complete Profile (in the red sidebar on the right) and then on the provided email link within my profile. Sorry about this but I had missed that they prohibit collecting for money for firearms.

January 16, 2016 at 1722 hours, edited to add: GoFundMe has been in contact with me and assures me the account balance is zero and no donations were made.

Oh well, as usual, I will have to do it the old fashioned way and work for the money for a bit of bear protection in the form of a Ruger 44 magnum revolver.

All the best,
Glenn B