I Would Hope It's Not

All the best,
Glenn B

Yes, That's Me All Too Often

 

All the best,

Glenn  B

My Son and I Wish You A Warm...

...Christmas night.  With a few hard ciders, a few strong ales, some German bier and about 90% of a jar of Moonshine Cherries and a bit of vodka - along with a nice fire - we surely have had a nice warm Christmas night!

All the best,
GB

What Better Christmas Breakfeast...

...than German cold cuts on Linseed Rye could there be for me. Maybe if I had had it with a German bier instead of coffee it could have been better but I am holding off on the bier until later and I really needed that coffee this morning. Now for that sandwich, it was made from a slice of linseed (flax) seed rye and had a thick helping of Kassler liverwurst. This particular Kassler liverwurst is a store specialty made only one day a year, for Christsmas, by Morscher's Pork Store where I bought it. It is an excellent old style butcher shop with truly delectable foods and an aroma of smoked meats that is other worldly. I added several slices of gelbwurst (also made by Morscher's) to my sandwich and slathered it all with a good helping of Whalen's horseradish mustard (which was a Christmas present from Hans, my brother-in-law).

It was truly a divine feast as should be any meal on Christmas day. Maybe later another sandwich made from goose-liver liverwurst  (yes I picked up one of them too but this time with Bauer's mustard with horseradish and a slice of onion). That would be either before (as in lunch) or after (as in a midnight snack) we sit down for our dinner. inner is slated to be roast duck (which my wife will be cooking) and smoked chicken thighs (which my son will smoke) and all the fixings. My meager contribution, I bought them all and also brought home some Linzer tarts from Rudy's Pastry Shop (the name on the storefront is as I put it but name on the website is Rudy's Bakery & Café) in Ridgewood, NY. I have been eating cookies, pastries and the like for well over 30 years. Their Linzer tarts are the best I have ever eaten.

I've got to go, it's almost time for lunch and a bier or maybe a nice crisp hard cider.

Merry Christmas,
Glenn B

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THOSE DEPLOYED...

...IN OUR ARMED FORCES WHO ARE ON FOREIGN SOIL, SEAS OR IN FOREIGN SKIES THIS DAY. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND KEEP YOU FROM HARM'S WAY. MAY YOUR RETURN HOME COME SOON AND FIND YOU IN GOOD HEALTH. MERRY CHRISTMS AND HAPPY NEW YOU TO YOU ALL, EACH AND EVERY ONE.

So as not to forget the reason for the season, listen to this one:



Then, listen to these; there are a lot of Christmas classics, for you to enjoy, here:



Merry Christmas,
Glenn B

Santa Claus - His Work All Done...

...except for two things he still needs to do, heads back to the North Pole to do them right.

In Sharing Some Christmas Eve Cheer...

...I'm hoping that you and your loved ones dear, have a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

When some say that we have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, say that we think about gift giving too much on Christmas and that we need to remember to keep Christ in Christmas - well, you truly need to remember that Christmas is all about gift giving. It has been that way ever since the Immaculate Conception when Mary, who would become the mother of Jesus, was conceived without sin. It was the greatest gift that God ever bestowed upon a single human being.

Sometime, probably between the eighth and ninth month of her pregnancy, God bestowed another gift - this one for us all - in the form of a star to guide those who would seek the messiah. 

Then, on the day that Jesus was to be born, a much more humble gift was given - this by a man whom history does not name - to the expectant parents. It was the gift of the manger. It truly was a humble gift of meager lodgings among farm animals but it was a gift nonetheless and it was a gift fitting a King. 

Of course, on the very first Christmas, the day of the birth of Jesus, God the Father gave us the gift of his only begotten son. What better gift could he give to all mankind.

Even with the birth of the Christ child, the gift giving did not end. It is said that the magi journeyed from afar in the east and bestowed upon the child King gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  In other words, people gave to people on that first Christmas, God gave to mankind, and men gave gifts to God. Today, we keep it going and if we do it in the spirit of that first Christmas it indeed will be a Merry Christmas.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Hope...

...that your aluminum pole was sturdy and strong, that your grievances were aired completely and to your satisfaction and that no one pinned you to the floor until you had beaten them soundly at least three times on this Festivus, for the rest of us, 2016.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Am Going Christmas Shopping...

...and I am going to love it even if it kills me! Really now, I need to go to Costco and that can raise my BP enough to make my head burst so maybe I should take some extra BP meds before I go there. It promises to be a madhouse today based on my past experiences but I need to get some supplies that were forgotten. Then I need to get at least a couple more presents today.

Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, I will do likewise. I have gone Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve every year since I was about 10 - 12 years old. I am virtually certain I have done so without fail although I suppose it possible, though not probable, that I might have missed once or twice and forgotten about it. Anyway, I will be going shopping again tomorrow. It is my tradition and I love doing it although I cannot say I always love dealing with some of the arsehats out and about on Christmas Eve. If you go shopping on Christmas Eve, you like me can wind up running into any of the multitude of arsehats that seem to abound during the last minutes of the Christmas shopping season.

On Christmas, when I was in my late twenties or early thirties, I had the sinking feeling that someone was following me. I stopped by a store and pulled an old movie trick that the director probably learned from a cop. I used a store window as a mirror and after a few stores where I was able to repeat that, I realized two guys were indeed following me. They looked like Puerto Rican (most prevalent group f Hispanics in NYC at that time) junkies. I even saw they peering into a store I had entered to look at jewelry. I made it look as if I was going into another store and came out of its recessed store front at full speed and one of them almost walked into me as he approached. He was frazzled after that; yet, him but he and his accomplice persisted in following me store to store and I went in and out of many. I walked into another recessed storefront and made sure my pistol was ready in the holster with my coat out of the way so it was showing. The guy just about ran up to the store front to try to get a glimpse of what I was buying or maybe if I paid with cash. He was shocked to see me standing there, and saw what was on my hip. I did not see him or his pal after that.

Other times dealing with Christmas Eve arsehats has been much more benign but maybe more annoying. I have had to fight off a woman trying to grab an item I was buying right out of my hands. She said something stupid like she saw it first but she was nowhere in sight when I found it on the shelf, to the pushers and bumpers who think of you as an impediment to move out of their way, to the jerks who don't know how to or refuse to hold a door for you, to those who seem incapable of saying thank you if you hold the door for them or show them some common courtesy, to the morons cutting you off in the parking lot or on the road so they can get there before you or before all the deals are gone, to the drunken Santas demanding you drop a donation in the kettle to the protesting atheists who show up at shopping centers to try to make you and others miserable. Yes, I go regardless and I will love having gone even if it kills me.

And now I had better get going before there are too many of them out and about.

Merry Christmas to all of them in advance because shortly I may not feel like saying it to them at all.

All the best,
Glenn B

There Ought To Be An Adulthood Test...

...before anyone considers you to be an adult. Really, I mean that. I say so because of how obviously childlike, in the most spoiled of fashions, the leftists (aka: Democrats, Liberals, Progressives) are acting now tat Donald Trump will become our next president. From professors excusing college students from final exams, to universities setting safe spaces, Play-Doh and coloring books for students traumatized by Trump's victory, to those claiming that their desire for sex has ended because of the election results, to those unfriending their friends on social media sites such as Facebook because the friends voted for Trump, to those furious with family members for doing the same and reacting in a way as would spoiled brats, to those liberals now buying guns because they suffer from what I can only imagine is paranoia in that they anticipate being attacked Trump supporters (funny how they never armed themselves fearing attacks from the right before Trump, who mind you is more middle of the road than anything), to others falsely alleging hate crimes and trying to make it look as if a Trump supporters were the guilty parties (imagine if they had those guns - maybe they would shoot first and falsely accuse later), all the way to those deniers of reality claiming that Donald Trump is not my president.

Really folks - we have become a nation half filled with cry baby make believe adults, with no respect for anyone with whom they disagree, and who are subject to temper tantrums beyond the scope of sanity even though they have reached the legal age of adulthood (voting age). So, there ought to be an adulthood test required before leftists are legally found to be adults and permitted to do adult things. If you fail the test, you remain in the legal status of a minor until you can pass it, that is unless you fail it three times and thus must remain in childhood for the remainder of your life. You know - I'd bet even half of them wouldn't even bother with taking such a test even if legally mandated for all of us; they would prefer remaining just the way they are now - in a state of being immature, spoiled, piss pants babies, who needlessly fear daddy and who still need mommy's tit to suckle.

All the best,
Glenn B

One of Santa's Elves Impatiently...

...waiting to get out of Santa's house, get those gifts into the sleigh and get those reindeer flying.

All the best,
Glenn B

Guilty Until Proven Innocent...

...seems to be the situation with a couple of college students who drove through a college campus shouting pro-Trump slogans. They were immediately accused of harassment and of shouting racial slurs. Then they were expelled from their fraternity and professors at the college signed a letter condemning the alleged actions of the two students. On Friday, they went before (now get this) the college's honor board and were exonerated of all charges. The thing is they suffered since the day of the alleged incident on November 9th until this past Friday! (Source.)

As seems to be the usual case when accusations are made by leftists, against anyone who even so much as leans to the right, the professors and others believed the two students guilty before any formal investigation or hearing was completed. If the college's honor board was truly interested in preserving honor among faculty and students, it would immediately demand a written apology and compensation for the students from the professors who signed the letter condemning them. In addition, the fraternity should immediately reinstate them, apologize to them, condemn the hateful professors and their letter, and compensate the students monetarily.

All the best,
Glenn B

Happy Winter Solstice

It is the last day of fall and the first day of winter, which started at 0544 this morning in my neck of the woods (and in yours in the northern hemisphere). So winter is finally here with its likely much colder but assuredly longer days. Yes, the sun will be shining a bit more tomorrow - only by a mere six seconds (at my location and only if my math was right) but nonetheless shining longer. That's a sure sign warmer weather is on its way - at least sooner or later.

All the best,
Glenn B

Social Media Champions of Intolerance - The Democrats

Yes, as we on the right have long suspected and often made mention of, it is they on the left who are the most intolerant even though the leftists continually babble about how tolerant are themselves. A new study has shown that when using social media - democrats were far more likely to unfriend their contacts on sites like Facebook than were conservatives because of political or ideological differences. More here.

All the best,
Glenn B

So The Price Of Guns & Ammo May Be Going Up...

...now that Trump has been elected and the librterds are buying guns, reportedly to defend against the hard core right wing extremists. What a bunch of fucking hypocrites are those anti-gunners on the left because now it sees it is okie dokie for them to arm themselves. In other words - according to their words and actions - guns are not good in the hand of those on the right but apparently okay for leftists! More here.

If there is any truth to the linked article, that the leftists liberals fear the right, I guess I may not waiting for ammo prices to fall as I thought they would be falling after Trump's victory. So, if the political opposition is buying it - with the intent of defending themselves against the right (of which I am a member - and which by the way is a truly absurd idea and one that should convince you that they, in their delusional manner, see their own countrymen as the enemy instead of merely folks with political and cultural differences) - then I am going to prepare myself to defend myself and my loved ones more than ever before against these tyranny loving bastards. I mean, I mean, I mean - well, let's face it - the zombie apocalypse may be imminent!



All the best,
Glenn B

Joke of the Year

 

 

Whoever thought that one up hit it squarely on the head.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Feisty Young Finnish Lasses

At least some of the people have the will and are fighting back against these so called refuges who truly seem to be little more than thugs and invaders.

Hat tip to Herr Milla for that one

All he best,
Glenn B

UPS Never Makes Wrong Deliveries Like This To Me...

...and neither does FedEx, the U.S. Post Office or Santa Claus and what a shame is that from my point of view! Of course had any of them mistakenly delivered a "sniper rifle" (Barrett 50 caliber rifle) to my house this past Wednesday, you can bet I would call the police immediately, after fondling it for awhile, because I would be worried it was some kind of a sting operation. Why worry about that? After all - this is the ultra leftist - socialistic - communistic - anti-constitutional land of NewYorkistan under King Cuomo. FUAC (F--- You Andrew Cuomo).

Anyway, the story is that a man and his wife in NY received a package delivered by UPS. They thought it was a gift they had bought for a child in the neighborhood. Instead of opening the box, which he did in front of his young granddaughter, and finding a toy plane in the box, he found the rifle. Apparently aghast at seeing the rifle, the obvious left wing NY'er immediately had his granddaughter leave the room because she was "horrified" when she saw the rifle (source). Heck, had it be me when my son or daughter were youngsters, I would have shown it to them and they would have loved seeing it and would have hoped to be able to shoot it - no doubt.

There is no plausible explanation given in the linked article, or others I have read, as to how this happened but I heard a reason while listening to the news on the radio yesterday. According to the radio report, the correct shipping label was on the box but a second shipping label addressed to the NY man was placed over it. That sounds to me as if a clerk at UPS somehow placed two labels on the same box but who knows at this point.

The intended recipient was a NY gunsmith with a federal firearms license. FFL holders within NY State can receive and possess what NYS has determined to be assault rifles despite the NY S.A.F.E. Act making acquisition of such by the citizenry illegal. I guess they allow that so the police - who need no license or registration - can buy one for personal use if they want one because they are better than the rest of us. Let me say it again - FUAC!

Of course, the police showed up and confiscated the rifle. UPS has reportedly delivered it to the correct consignee since then. UPS also delivered the toy plane to the right place in time for Christmas.

Now a note as to the bullshit spread by the media. Some reports (here, here and here) have claimed the rifle in question to be a Barrett 50 caliber semi-automatic assault rifle. If you did not already notice, go look at those last three linked articles again. Have you seen it this time? The rifle pictured is not a semi-automatic. It appears to be a Barrett Model 95 and I base that on the position of the magazine in comparison to the position on Barrett's actual semi-automatic rifles (source). The Model 95 is a bolt fed rifle and thus is not under NY law, nor under any other stretch of the imagination except maybe within the twisted imaginations of anti-gun leftists, an assault rifle. Help end truly Fake News such as these reports - send letters and emails of complaint to the media outlets that reported it as an assault rifle.

All the best,
Glenn B

Italian Technology

All the best,
Glenn B

Pee Ball (Urinal Soccer)

Just when you think you've seen it all. Ever dream of being a soccer player and running down the field to kick in the winning goal. Maybe you've gotten really excited over a game at a local pub and had such ambitions run through your head as you stood their getting rid of some of the beers you had been drinking. 

More Pay = Less Workers

It seems that higher promised minimum wages have changed the way things will work at businesses other than fast food restaurants with their automated order kiosks. I was in a large U.S. retailer recently, Walmart, and was a little taken aback when I saw this large orange monstrosity ling the front wall of the store.

It appears that now, instead of having the stockroom workers stock the shelves in a stockroom with items from orders placed online, they will now be stocking the pick-up boxes at the front of the store and customers will retrieve their items directly from the boxes. A computer console (near middle of the photo) is set up for the customer to evidently put in a code he receives online to unlock the box with his merchandise in it.

I imagine that should cut out at least several employees who used to go back into the stockroom to find the items for the customers and who were slower than molasses running uphill on a below zero day (IMO). Just keep raising that minimum wage for low-end go nowhere jobs and soon there will be nobody but robots working in our stores (and the technology for that is problem not that far off).

All the best,
Glenn B

On Becoming Santa Claus

The story below is a truly heartwarming one. I do not know if it is for real or just made up but it does not matter which so long as just one parent teaches that lesson to his or her child. I think, without a doubt, many will do so and it will become a tradition. It is indeed a wonderful idea in the true spirit of Christmas, that of giving.

I wish that, when I was a young lad or at least while still younger adult, someone would have told me that story or taught me its lesson; that way I could have shared it with my young children. Maybe someday, if I live long enough, I can teach it to my grandson.

Make sure to click on next to see all 4 pages.

If your kid stops believing in Santa this year...

All the best,
Glenn B

Being Sorry & Wanting A To Take His Place...

...just do not cut it. The linked article tells of a tragic case of being unsafe with a firearm by one party goer that led to the death of another party goer.

 

Cleveland man charged in deadly accidental shooting at dinner party 'extremely sorry,' attorney says

 

There were several rules of firearms safety that were violated and the article and accompanying video give a clue as to some of them beyond the so called four rules of firearms safety. Indeed there are several more rules than a mere four but they somehow seem to have been all but forgotten by many gun owners since J. Cooper memorialized only four of them.

 

The thing about not following rules of firearms safety (or possibly not even knowing about them since some believe there are only four of them or at least only four that matter) is that getting a do-over is often impossible because the result of not following the rules was crippling or fatal as in this particular case.

 

If you are only aware of the four rules and want to see some of the others, some of which are just as important, go to the below links:

 

NRA Explore | NRA Gun Safety Rules (make sure to scroll down passed the first three)

 

https://www.remington.com/country/articles/ten-commandments-firearms-safety

 

http://www.ruger.com/safety/basicSafetyRules.html

 

https://support.marlinfirearms.com/Bolt_Action_Rimfire_Rifle/10_The_Ten_Commandments_of_Firearm_Safety

http://www.smith-wesson.com/safety/product-safety-information (Make sure to click on Firearm Safety, Operation & Maintenance)

Amazingly, even some of these large firearms companies have forgotten or otherwise overlooked the importance of including some of the rules - such as not mixing gunpowder with alcohol or better put not handling firearms and or ammunition when drinking alcoholic beverages or taking mind altering drugs and another one such as keeping firearms from unauthorized users.

 

Be careful with firearms, the one time you screw up may be the last time you see the person in the path of the bullet that you fired or allowed someone else to fire.

 

A hat tip to Borepatch who had the article linked in a blog post.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

"The best way to win a gunfight is to not get in one"

With all due respect saying that "The best way to win a gunfight is to not get in one" is, in my opinion, oxymoronic bombast. While avoidance of life threatening situations is the best thing to do if possible, the thing is an armed attack cannot always be avoided and you may find yourself in the middle of such a setting with little to zero hope of avoidance. Regardless, avoidance of a gunfight (or other armed encounter) is not winning that fight - it is avoidance. There is a big difference between getting into a fight and avoiding one successfully. They are not the same thing and avoidance is not always an option, unless by avoidance you me surrendering yourself to the mercy of an armed assailant. Yes, instead of fighting I, or anyone, could merely give up and that would quite truthfully be avoiding a fight but when at the mercy of an armed assailant doing so might also get me killed if he was a merciless SOB. So, I would almost definitely choose to fight if I found myself in the middle of such an unavoidable incident and I believed there was a chance I could be successful.

By the way, sometimes armed encounters are unavoidable. In such cases as a home invasion, school shooting, other violent break-in, armed robbery attempt, mugging, attempted rape, a terrorist driving a car into a crowd jumping out and stabbing people, or other situations wherein someone is suddenly thrust into mayhem - and escape is either impractical or obviously unsafe - the best policy is to be armed, trained and ready & willing to defend yourself and others. The truth is, there sometimes is no way to avoid fighting for your life in a gunfight or other armed encounter. That is if you want to survive and don't believe in putting yourself at the mercy of your assailant.While situational awareness will go a long way toward avoiding danger, it is not always practical, safe or even possible to avoid a life threatening situation when someone is dead set on harming you or others. There are countless numbers of such incidents to learn from throughout recent history. In such situations, fighting for your life and the lives of others is often the best option.

Please tell me, how would these have been avoidable, in any practical manner, for those victims involved:
6 MEN SHOOT 2 AND ROB 75 IN A RESTAURANT

1991 Sacramento hostage crisis - Wikipedia

Massacre at Virginia Tech leaves 32 dead - Apr 16, 2007 - HISTORY.com

In each of these scenarios - all avoidable if you live in a shell or unavoidable within any sense of practicality for people who want to live normal lives - an armed individual or armed individuals may have well made the difference and lives may have been saved. The usually untold story is that, in at least one of those scenarios - that of the Sea crest Diner - there was reportedly an armed individual among the victims who could have fought back but chose to avoid doing so. Of course, the armed individual avoided a gunfight but certainly did not win - except maybe if you consider merely surviving to be winning. Some people were violently victimized and severely injured, quite possibly as a result of him choosing not to fight. Now that person has to live with the knowledge that he quite possibly could have prevented all that and al that followed had he gotten into a gunfight instead of avoiding one. That is second guessing but not on my part because you pretty much can rest assured that person, reportedly a police officer, has been second guessing himself ever since, or at least did so for many years, if he has any conscience at all.

This article reports on the aftermath of the chaos at the Sea Crest Diner:
Prison Release Recalls Horror In L.I. Diner; 1982 Rampage Led to Law Raising Felony Penalties

Had I been there and armed, I do not know that I would have been able to live with myself had I failed to engage the bad guys in an attempt to protect others there. Sure, I could have engaged and things might have gotten worse but then again maybe I would have won because of my training, my willingness, and the element of surprise. I am pretty certain, no matter the outcome, I would have been better able to live with the results had I at least tried to stop them. I think that would be true of most folks who choose to be armed. I also understand though that the decision to fight or not has to be made by the person who is there living through it. Reportedly, the officer who decided not to take action believed it would have been too risky to attempt to engage the bad guys. I cannot second guess him, I can only prepare myself for what options I might have in a similar situation while knowing that avoidance is not always going to be the best option.

Here is another recent example of a pretty much unavoidable armed encounter:
Somali student behind car, knife attack at Ohio State University that injured 11

Think about what would have taken place had a campus police officer not been there. Think about it along the lines of an armed student or armed professor was there - should any of them have avoided the fight? Whether it was a knife (as in this case), a car (also as in this case), a gun, a club, a Molotov cocktail or any other weapon - the thing is sometimes it is best to engage and to actually win the fight instead of avoiding it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Bacon's Love Versus Fake Love

All the best,
GB