Down But Not Out

Damn, I had a stroke today. First a nurse practicioner said it was 3 small emboli (I think that was the term) then the doctor said it was a small stroke. That after about 8 or 8 1/2 hours in the ER, at least a few sitting forgotten in the waiting room.

Had trouble using my right arm today, it felt heavy and clumsy. Then, when driving my hand kept slipping off the steering wheel because my upper arm lost any control. Got home and it got better. Did not think much of it. Ate lunch and had a shot for 9/11. Maybe half an hour or 45 minutes later the arm acted up again. Took my blood pressure, it was 74/50, yikes, I called my doc. Doc on call told me to go to ER.

Put dishes in kitchen and noticed my right foot was not stepping as much as dragging along the floor. I figured it for what it was. Walked the dog a very short walk for a pisser and the foot got better. Drove toward the hospital. On the way, I had to stop at a red light. Light turned green, cars in front of me went but foot was not cooprating with the gas pedal. Guy behind me in a white pick up.or SUV starts honking like crazy then drives into my rear bumper, evidently on.purpose. It maybe was fortunate for that piece of shit that I had left my pistols home.

I then pulled over and called 911 both to report a hit and run accident and that I needed help to get to hospital for a possible heart attack or stroke. Fire department showed up first followed by an ambulance and the police in that order. While Inwas put into the ambulance, a cop asked me where I wanted my car towed and I said to my apartment. They took my keys and moved it and said they sent for a tow truck and gave my keys back to me. Jumping ahead on that a bit, I called the PD a few hours later, they had no record of my vehicle. Wonderful.

Then at hospital where it has been a waitning game. Probably got here around 3PM or just before. They have drawn my blood, taken chest x-rays, done an EKG, then a CT Scan if my brain without contrast, then an MRI, then put an IV in my arm to do another CT Scan this time with contrast. The nurse practicioner came in and told me about the emboli (?), then the doc came in and said it was not that but a small stroke and he took my medical history. My very pretty nurse has been in and out several times, last time shebtold me I was crazy, she knows me well already. She also hooked me up to an EKG monitor. Back to waiting, no one has been here for a while.

Luckily, my only friend in these parts came to the ER to get my apartment key to get in and get Skye out for a walk. She is a very good friend, one of the best ever.

I expect to be admitted and to be here two or three days. That reminds me, the admitting department told me earlier, my Medicare part A has been suspended for some reason, so I have no coverage for the hospital stay.

What a day.

All the best,

Glenn B

My Memories of 9/11 & The Immediate Aftermath

I can only remember where I was on 9/11 and the effects its aftermath had on me. Other than that, I can only imagine the effects it had on others. This is my 9/11 story with a bit of that of some other folks mingled into it as well. As I share my story, maybe you can share yours today, so no one ever forgets.

My cousin John and I were both firearms instructors with U.S. Customs Office of Investigations on that day. I was a special agent but had been assigned assigned to full time range duties back then. That morning, we were at Glock Armorer Training in CT. We sat in the classroom when an pair of instructors came in and said they had an announcement to make. They told us a plane had crashed into one of the towers, rolled in a television to show us the news about the first plane hitting the north tower and then rolled it back out and class continued. We students all thought it had been a terrible accident. A short time later, they brought the TV back and had distant and dismal looks on their paled faces; then they showed us the news of the second attack on the WTC. We knew then it was no accident.

John & I cut the rest of the class and departed to head back to NYC, I drove us back at over 100 mph, the roads were void of traffic. The CT State troopers evidently had closed down the highway and it was devoid of vehicles except for a multitude of emergency vehicles that were parked on the shoulder of I95 which were waiting to be dispatched. When we were crossing over the Throgs Neck Bridge, we saw the pillars of black smoke where the Towers had stood and I uttered something to the effect: ‘they really are gone’ and John said, something like: ‘what did you expect”. I guess I still had had hope up until then but it was all lost in that moment as the reality sank in.

I called our Sector Communications and we were soon told to report to our JFK Airport office. Once there, we saw everyone was in shock to one extent or another. After a short while of getting organized, we soon began the tedious task of trying to account for every last person who worked in the Custom House at the WTC even though phone service was nonexistent to abysmal. As best I recall, I was the one able to get through to the last missing person from our NY office later that night – he happened to be the Primary Firearms Instructor of our firearms training division and a good friend of mine Rich M.. It was a joyous moment, on a very sad day, when I reached him at home. If I remember right, he had walked home to College Point Queens from Manhattan – a distance of about 14 miles and he was no spring chicken even back then but he had old school determination.

That day, long before the last phone call was made, a couple of other agents I worked with had made it back to JFK Airport to report in. Both were essentially shell shocked. One told me he heard a loud plopping noise in what had been the courtyard between the buildings of the WTC complex where he had been looking for survivors to help. He turned and saw a dead body on the ground and then something from above caught his peripheral vision. He looked up and saw a dreadful sight. It was a man or woman falling toward the ground frantically flapping his or her arms as if to try to fly. He soon heard that same noise repeated as that person also hit the ground. It is a haunting memory just for me to recall him telling me it, one I hope he has somehow come to grips with it since he is the one who witnessed it. 

There was another agent, who showed up at the airport, who had heard the news while going to work that morning. He had parked his government vehicle then flagged down and hopped onto a fire engine responding to the scene. Anything to help is what he was thinking. After he arrived on scene, as one of the towers was collapsing, he and others made a mad dash to safety. At the last possible moment, before being engulfed by the debris, I think it was - as best I remember this 20 years later - a fireman who grabbed him and pushed him into the recess of a building's doorway and they were spared certain bodily injury if not death but probably not spared the mental anguish and scars both must have received. He was covered with ash, with his eyes open super wide, as he told me his story. At the airport office, we tried our best to comfort these of our brothers who had been there when the towers fell.

Two days after the attack, George M., a friend and fellow agent asked me if I was going to help out at the site, and explained he had been there already. I had not known the NYPD would let us through let alone to help. He convinced me though to go there and do whatever I could do. Then, on the third day post 9/11, at the end of my shift at work, I told my supervisor I wanted to go to assist at the site and my supervisor Mark L. authorized me taking my G-ride. Driving to the WTC, on the virtually deserted Belt Parkway through Brooklyn toward Manhattan, was eerie. Once there at the site, I helped with digging through the rubble and with a bucket brigade moving away 5 gallon buckets of debris that had been dug away. We were looking for survivors or bodies. Later, I assisted with unloading a truck of emergency supplies. Even later, I helped in recovering evidence from the Custom House vault which had been breached by part of a building collapse. 

As I was leaving around midnight, pretty exhausted, I ran into the Customs duty agent Mike O’B… arriving on the scene. He had been alerted because a report had been received that the Customs vault had been breached and evidence was obviously missing because there were bare patches on the shelves where the missing items had been covered by dirt, dust & debris (like everything else) after the attack. I stuck with Mike and we helped retrieve evidence all through the night (along with other agents who showed up later) and part of the next day. It was terrifying to walk over a smoldering hill of rubble, my shoes actually smoking the rubber soles melting a bit, then walk across twisted I-beams and over more rubble to get down into what had become the pit where the vault was now located. I needed help to do it. A bridge worker who was with us helped me traverse the I-beam by holding my belt at my lower back, I was and remain forever grateful for that bit of assistance. We all did it though and to tell the truth, it was not the scariest thing I ever did, that thing came weeks later.

The next week or so, after an Assistant Special Agent In Charge forbade Customs Agents of the NYC office to do any work on the site unless specifically assigned to those duties (thus no more volunteering for the digs) I jumped at the chance to volunteer for something very different that I thought would make a difference. Only one other Customs Agent in the NYC office also volunteered but she allegedly was talked out of it eventually by her supervisor. So, shortly after 9/11, a few weeks later, I wound up getting on my first commercial flight as a volunteer Federal Air Marshal (FAM) in October 2001. That was after first showing them I was a competent shot (that was the first hurdle to cross after volunteering, they wanted no wild shots on a commercial airliner). That was followed by some very brief FAM training about legal issues and about: how to defend an aircraft by protecting the flight cabin, getting secret messages from flight attendants about their suspicions, how to communicate with our lone partner on the plane, how to shoot on a plane, about whom to shoot (essentially anyone trying to get into or even who was approaching the cabin who would not stop on command), cover stories to keep our identities secret (it was the longest undercover job I ever did; yet, many passengers soon easily figured out whom we were - the same two guys in the same two seats on 4 shuttle flights each day over and over again for months back and forth from NYC to DC; sometimes the whole cabin of passengers erupted into applause when one passenger would approach us and thank us as they deplaned), about how to pick up a bomb and move it to the right part of the aircraft, how to form a bomb buffer near the least vulnerable part of the plane using passengers' carry-on luggage and the flight's food carts and so on. It was, no pun intended, a crash course.

All in all we had been trained to protect the aircraft but mostly just the flight cabin so it could not be breached and thus to protect the cabin crew so they remained in control. If they had even thought we might be failing at that, they had options including to depressurize the  plane or to do maneuvers to assure no one would be standing or both. Thus, in the event of terrorists trying to take over our flight, we all were to do whatever we could do so the plane could not be used as a missile by the terrorists.

To tell the truth, I just about started blubbering like a baby and peeing in my pants the first time the doors closed and the plane started to move on the taxi-way during my first flight as a FAM. That was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life even to date ten years later. In fact, I almost never made it onto the second flight the next day. I was that scared and let a friend from work know it. That fellow special agent, Pete K., soon sent me the words of Thomas Paine to boost my courage and shed my fears; while they may have boosted my courage a bit - I was still more scared than ever before. Those words were…:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

... only words but they helped - a lot along with Pete’s own words of encouragement to me. Yet, that overwhelming fear and certainty that I was on death's doorstep lasted for about 2 weeks before I calmed down. Somehow though, I did get on those flights - two long ones a day, a round trip from NYC to Miami for two or three weeks at first. Then in the ensuing weeks, many short shuttle flights back and forth from NYC to DC. There were also trips to places like New Orleans to fly to Tampa and back - the Super Bowl was being held in New Orleans that year, then onto the Olympics held in Salt Lake City where we flew shuttles back and forth from Pocatello, ID to there. Then back to shuttle flights from NYC’s LaGuardia Airport to DC.

For much of that time, as I said especially in the first two weeks, I was absolutely certain I had volunteered to die and often wondered why I had done it. It seemed as if there would be no other possible outcome, we were all pretty certain that they would try again. Of course, there really was no wonder why we had volunteered. I, like just about everyone else in the country, was angry. I was madder than hell about the innocent people on those flights, about those in the World Trade Center, those on the ground, those in the Pentagon and the first responders who had all lost their lives on that unforgettable day. 

 So, I was there with my partner on our flights, and with all the others who were on other flights, to protect those flight crews and aircraft and any potential targets on the ground. Scared as we were, we kept doing it. Some people say if you are scared of something like that you must be a coward but I can tell you this, anyone who was not as scared as I and the others to get on those planes right after the previously unimaginable events of 9/11 was just outright crazy. We were all gung ho but we also were all - the FAMs, the pilots, the flight attendants, the passengers - just scared shitless and still doing our jobs (most of the passengers flying then were doing it for work) and trying to keep America normal after the worst disaster in our nation’s history. As for us, the so called ‘augmentee’ air marshals (apparently meant to be a demeaning title but that is another story) every last one of us had volunteered. Why did each of us volunteer? Who knows but we all had our reasons and I guess most of all those reasons had to do with being angry and with being Americans wanting to protect America. I do not know about the others but I never even got a thank you from the Federal Air Marshal service. Did not do it for a thank you but one certainly would have been nice.

Anyway, as time went on, I was happy the great majority of the passengers and flight attendants never quite figured out what & whom we were protecting (some though did figure it out) because when it came down to it, they were all of secondary consideration as were my partners to me or me to them. We primarily were protecting the flight crew - the passengers, flight attendants and even our own partners and ourselves all being secondary. We had it drummed into us, that at all costs, the flight crew and the flight decks of the aircraft were our main concern because if they were overtaken the planes again could be used as they had been on 9/11 – as missiles directed at the innocent.

I really don't know what exactly it was that gave me the fortitude to keep doing it, except maybe for being so angered at the attacks, so worried about others especially my family and that my fellow Customs Agent, Pete K., had sent me those words from Thomas Paine's The Federalist Papers. I do know that I figured the least I could do was to try my best to help to prevent another such attack from taking place. Then, after 5 1/2 months the detail was over, not even a scratch on me from even a minor altercation and of course I am happy to say not one other flight crew member, passenger or plane was lost to another terrorist attack within that time.

That was not the end though of things being done by folks who had volunteered after 9/11. While I was flying as a FAM, many others from my office had volunteered to do something that in the end may have taken a lot more bravery than many others had exhibited. True they did not need to be brave when they volunteered but were certainly courageous, as it turned out, to persevere in the task they had chosen to do. 

Those agents and other officials were the ones who went through the debris of the fallen WTC towers, at a NYC landfill, painstakingly searching for the remains of the victims of 9/11. They did it for many months if not for over a year (maybe even for a couple more years) after my detail was completed. It became a more grisly job as each day went by because what remains they encountered had been decomposing over time. Yet, they stuck with that dirty, dismal, distressing and often extremely heartrending job and they were able, many times, to give this family or that family (be it an actual biological family or friends or coworkers) closure because they had discovered, and then forensic experts had identified, even the tiniest bits of what once had been a living person. 

Maybe in life that person had been happy or sad, smiling often or frowning a lot, very successful or a dismal failure, a family person or a loner, a hard worker or a loafer, a U.S. Citizen or a Legal Resident Alien (or even an illegal one) but nonetheless a person who deserved to be accounted for and likely a person who was sorely missed and whose families, loved ones and friends deserved closure. Those on that detail (the searchers & the forensic experts and everyone else at the landfill) truly are the forgotten heroes after 9/11. If you ever meet one of them, and find out that is what they did, thank them for it – give them a hug - tell them they were heroes. I doubt they ever will receive the praise and thanks they truly deserve nor that any of them will ever fully recover from the traumatic stresses of that job; yet, you can help them though by letting them know how much they and their work were appreciated. 

Of course, there were many others who persisted carrying out dismal duties of one sort or another post 9/11 - such as demolition workers at the site and those searching for remains therein. Then there were those who developed intelligence, those who unrelentingly kept up the hunt for Osama bin Laden and of course our military personnel who spent 20 years in Afghanistan - many suffering severe injuries and many losing their lives defending us. At the very least, we owe each and every one of them lots of praise and thanks.

Most of all, let us never forget the innocent people who perished on 9/11. 

All the best,

Glenn B

If Someone Put A Bullet In His Brain...

 ...and wiped out the life of the totalitarian wanna-be Joe Biden, I'd not mind all that much, in fact it might make me do a happy dance. Now mind you, I am not condoning violence nor am I, in absolutely any way, trying to suggest that anyone even consider doing violent things to him to make me happy (or for any reason). I am just telling you how pleased I'd be if this mindless puppet of the ultra-left, the man who apparently would be be dictator (if he only had a brain), would go away as in forever (and take Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer and several others with him). He could just vanish into thin air or die from Covid-19 or have a debilitating stroke or be diagnosed with dementia and found to be ubnale to remain in office - any of those things or others could potentially bring a smile to my face and an even bigger one if his entourage of leftist flunkies went with him. So why mention something as extreme as a bullet in his brains? Because him being gone, for whatever reason, would make me smile just because of the fact he'd no longer be ruining the United States of America and because I feel that strongly about him being gone for the good of our nation (no violence against him being condoned or suggested by me or my words). To make it completely obvious to all of you, that is my opinion because I think he has commenced the destruction of our constitutional republic.

 

Some may ask, why is that my opinion. At least as I see him - he is a hypocritical tyrant, or trying to become one, who has no to little regard for the good of the nation; or should I say he is being manipulated to act like one by those who pull his strings. There are many things he has done, or not done, that make me think so from: the botched departure from Afghanistan, to pulling out most of our troops before civilians, to leaving citizens behind there, to getting our military personnel killed when there was zero reason to trust the Taliban who were responsible for releasing ISIS-K members from prison, to closing Bagram Air Base before pulling our civilians and most of our troops, to our super inflated economy, the devaluation of the dollar, the seemingly unstoppable waves of illegal aliens crossing our borders under his administration then blaming it on Trump, to a promise of rampant government spending in the trillions of dollars to which they want to add additional trillions in spending, to welfare at an all time high, promised and almost assured huge tax increases and to Biden incessantly blaming all of his own failings on President Trump - even though Biden has been in office now almost 8 full months. Of course, there is his inept handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccination program or should I say vaccination mandate. Let me continue on the subject of the vaccines.

 

I pretty much am all for vaccines, I believe they are a wonderful tool of medicine and that while they may have unwanted side effects, sometime even resulting in death for a relative few, they have done much to tame, if not actually eradicate, some diseases that have plagued mankind for centuries if not millennia. Thus I have gotten vaccines for: polio, chicken pox (I think but not sure on that one),  shingles, pneumonia, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis A & B, yellow fever and typhoid (the last two prior to 2 work trips to Haiti, along with taking anti-malaria meds on those trips). I may also have gotten the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine but am uncertain as I definitely had a form of measles and supposedly had mumps twice when younger; still though I think that after those I got that vaccine for some reason, maybe before my son was born. Anyway, my point is I am not afraid of vaccines, I believe they are a great help. That is why, even after suffering through and surviving Covid-19 last winter, I got the Moderna version of the Covid-19 vaccine that March. It was a bit concerning getting a vaccine that had not yet and remains not fully tested (even though the FDA has approved it with lightning speed not only as experimental but now as with their complete blessing so to speak). No ill effects yet of which I am aware except the aches, pains and slight fever for about 2 days with each of the two doses I received.

 

There are many folks though who refuse to get the vaccines, any version of them. They are scared or at least concerned for whatever reason or lack of reason such as conspiracy theories that Bill Gates is trying to control their minds (more likely their pocketbooks as I see it - anyone remember pocketbooks), the government is trying to turn us all into zombies or mindless slaves, governments are trying to kill off the elderly, this is out 12 Monkeys moment and the vaccines will kill us all or whatever. Others will not take it dues to religious concerns. Some others due to valid health concerns, other due to imaginary ones. Then there is the politics - many conservatives saying that forcing people to take the vaccine is unconstitutional and a violation of our rights (and it may well be so) and of course there are those who will not take it because they do not trust president Joe Biden as far as they can spit into a 100 mile per hour gust of wind and who can blame them he is such a screw-up of a seemingly mentally ill person. 

 

Of course, Biden trying to ram the vaccine almost literally up peoples other ends is also one of the problems. It was less than a year ago, during the presidential debates and campaigning that Joe Biden in effect said: he would not take any vaccines for Covid-19 if one was produced because while he trusted scientists &  doctors he did not trust president Trump who was pushing its production through at unheard of lightning quick speed. Thus Biden immediately turned millions of leftists against taking the vaccines because he turned it into an anti- Trump political issue. Now though that Biden is president, suddenly the vaccine is safe in his eyes and he touts its effectiveness and has ordered that millions of American must take it such as those in our military, those in the executive branch of the government, those who work for government medical facilities AND he has mandated that any employer with over 100 employees must order their employees to take it or face what I believe is weekly testing (source)! President Trump wanted it and it was evil in Biden's eyes - Biden wants it and it essentially is the law of the land his wanna-be tyrant's eyes and the lefties praise him for it while they too, just last year, had rallied against the vaccine becasue it had been promoted by President Trump!

 

While he may have mandated it, I do not recall seeing that Biden has ordered every member of Congress or of the Supreme Court, and the staffers of both, to take it. (Yes, I understand separation of powers but I also understand the constitution and it grants him zero specific power to force non-military citizens to take it and maybe no even the authority to force military personnel to take it.) I also have kind of noticed, maybe you have too, he has not ordered Afghan refugees to take it nor has he ordered any of the tens or thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of illegal aliens who are rampantly pouring across our borders to take it. Why has he not ordered every one of them to be vaccinated? It is politics pure and simple, because if he ordered every illegal to be forced to take it - illegal immigration would slow to a trickle and future hoped for democrat voters would be lost.

 

Yet, it is (in his eyes) okay for him to order an inconclusively and only slightly somewhat tested vaccine - in fact one of any of the 3 virtually unproven versions currently available - into our veins as he and the leftists now see it. That has been the case though only since President Trump has not been the one pushing for vaccinations. Had Trump remained in power, the biggest antagonists of the vaccine program would have remained leftists. Mind you, this is not an issue I am blaming solely on the left. Those on the right are almost just as guilty. Some on the right thought vaccines were good when Trump was in and now think they are bad because Biden is in. Most though, at least I think so, believe vaccines are good but should be voluntary. 

 

Maybe they should be voluntary with Covid-19 as with the flu. The Novel Corona virus, and all its strains to date, have come nowhere close to being as bad as a truly terrible flu pandemic - not in number of cases nor deaths. Yet - as to those folks who say it should be voluntary - I wonder if they ever have seen the crippling effects of polio. I did when working in Haiti; so, some forced vaccinations would be just fine by me but only when absolutely necessary to end a horrible disease that is a truly terrible threat to all mankind. 

 

So, I am none too sure though that these current vaccines need to be forced and neither I think really are any of the so called save us all medical experts, power hungry politicians or control freak bureaucrats. Why not - well, because no one seems to have much of a clue about how bad is the current virus in reality. Other viruses, that have fairly effective vaccines to combat them do not require folks to receive forced vaccinations or wear don masks by mandate - the flu being the prime example. The experts, politicians & bureaucrats mostly seem to be using the virus scare and the vaccine, portrayed as a wonder drug, to their political benefit. Just look to Dr. Fauci. He, like Biden, has changed his mind so many times about the virus, masks and vaccines as to make one's head spin more than that of Regan MacNeil, so much so it makes me want to puke.

 

Me, I will take a booster shot when and if it comes out that they, the medical professionals other than those into politics, think it is safe. I'll take the risk weighed against the risk of getting the virus again as I see the risks. You, I think you should be allowed to do as you please with your body. It's just as all the leftists, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer and all the others say about a woman's body when it comes to abortion - isn't it? It's supposedly the woman's body (with no concern to the life she is killing) to do with as she wants; so, why isn't it your body (regardless of anyone else getting sick & maybe dying) to do with as you want when it comes to vaccinations? By the way, that really is a rhetorical question, I was making a point and if you missed it because you are a lefty extremist or a righty extremist - well then you missed it. It really does not need an answer because the answer is - because of purely politicized bullshit. Damn, I'd like to see the current whole administration,and quite a few RINOs, gone in a huge puff of smoke and the reflections of a thousand shattered mirrors (no violence being suggested nor condoned).

 

All the best,

Glenn B

For Jean-Pierre Adams - The Fever Called Living Is Conquered At Last

After 39 years in a coma, Senegalese born Jean-Pierre Adams a legend of French football (soccer) has passed on. He went into a coma, in 1982 during knee surgery, the coma having been caused by errors by the anesthetist and a trainee (who was basically left in charge of the anesthesia and who reportedly later admitted it was too much for him to handle).

When I read the story it immediately brought Edgar Allan Poe's poem - For Annie - to my mind:

For Annie

By Edgar Allan Poe

Thank Heaven! the crisis,

The danger, is past,

And the lingering illness

Is over at last—

And the fever called "Living"

Is conquered at last.

Sadly, I know

I am shorn of my strength,

And no muscle I move

As I lie at full length—

But no matter!—I feel

I am better at length.

And I rest so composedly,

Now, in my bed,

That any beholder

Might fancy me dead—

Might start at beholding me,

Thinking me dead.

The moaning and groaning,

The sighing and sobbing,

Are quieted now,

With that horrible throbbing

At heart:—ah, that horrible,

Horrible throbbing!

The sickness—the nausea—

The pitiless pain—

Have ceased, with the fever

That maddened my brain—

With the fever called "Living"

That burned in my brain.

And oh! of all tortures

That torture the worst

Has abated—the terrible

Torture of thirst

For the naphthaline river

Of Passion accurst:—

I have drank of a water

That quenches all thirst:—

Of a water that flows,

With a lullaby sound,

From a spring but a very few

Feet under ground—

From a cavern not very far

Down under ground.

And ah! let it never

Be foolishly said

That my room it is gloomy

And narrow my bed;

For man never slept

In a different bed—

And, to sleep, you must slumber

In just such a bed.

My tantalized spirit

Here blandly reposes,

Forgetting, or never

Regretting, its roses—

Its old agitations

Of myrtles and roses:

For now, while so quietly

Lying, it fancies

A holier odor

About it, of pansies—

A rosemary odor,

Commingled with pansies—

With rue and the beautiful

Puritan pansies.

And so it lies happily,

Bathing in many

A dream of the truth

And the beauty of Annie—

Drowned in a bath

Of the tresses of Annie.

She tenderly kissed me,

She fondly caressed,

And then I fell gently

To sleep on her breast—

Deeply to sleep

From the heaven of her breast.

When the light was extinguished,

She covered me warm,

And she prayed to the angels

To keep me from harm—

To the queen of the angels

To shield me from harm.

And I lie so composedly,

Now, in my bed,

(Knowing her love)

That you fancy me dead—

And I rest so contentedly,

Now in my bed

(With her love at my breast).

That you fancy me dead—

That you shudder to look at me,

Thinking me dead:—

But my heart it is brighter

Than all of the many

Stars in the sky,

For it sparkles with Annie—

It glows with the light

Of the love of my Annie—

With the thought of the light

Of the eyes of my Annie. 

For those 39 years that Jean-Pierre Adams was in a comatose state, his wife Bernadette devotedly took care of him with love, affection, tenderness and tenacity. She never gave up hope. More at the source. 

 

Bernadette Adams - like Annie (or the woman on whom Annie was based) who was so very special to Poe's protagonist or actually to Poe himself - must obviously have been one very special woman to Jean-Pierre. If you read the entire linked article, you will have noted that Jean-Pierre's nurses reported, despite his being in a brain-dead comatose state, Jean-Pierre had slight mood changes on those rare days when his beloved Bernadette was not there with him. While it may not have the same rhyming ring to it, substitute the name Bernadette for Annie in the last stanza (or even in every stanza) of Poe's poem and that may well explain how those mood changes were possible - even for a man in a deep vegetative coma! 

 

My condolences I offer to her for her loss after having endured such long term battle which - all the while, no doubt - she hoped to see turn out otherwise. I also give my sincere respect to her for the unfailing love she gave to him for virtually four decades. She truly must be an amazing woman and was a devoted and loving wife.

All the best,

Glenn B

It May Be Time To Vacate The Planet...

 ...when and if a Chicago security guard, who allegedly shot a man three times over a dispute about him not wearing a "Covid mask", is found not guilty based upon his defense lawyer's claim he shot the man in self defense (once while the victim was standing and two times after he fled and had already fallen to the ground) because he was not wearing a mask and posed a threat to others! 

 

As I seem to recall, you shoot to stop and the guy was stopped as he had fallen to the ground after the first shot. Also, except under very limited circumstances, a threat of death or serious bodily injury must be imminent for someone to shoot another person in self defense; I don't see how imminence was present. One more thing, the guard is allegedly a four (4) time convicted felon, twice convicted of sexual crimes against children, who was forbidden by law from carrying firearms. More at the source.

 

Honestly folks, if this guy's defense is successful based on that claim, well it really may be time to leave the planet. Hopefully the guy he shot will recover fully and will sue the company that hired the guy as a guard with that criminal record. In defense of the alleged shooter, he claimed he was not the guy with the sexual assault against children convictions; maybe he is and maybe he is not but he reportedly admitted to the cops he shot the guy. As for his defense of self-defense though, it should be laughed out of court and his lawyer disbarred in my opinion!

All the best,

Glenn B

Grandpa Kitchen

Over the past weekend, I was in Frisco, TX visiting Walter, a friend of my son. My son Brendan was there too. Brendan tuned into Grandpa Kitchen on YouTube and played it on Walter's huge, I think, 75" screen TV. It was a cooking channel with an amusing twist (to many but not all the videos) and was quite informative as to just how many dishes they make in India that contain red chili powder! I highly recommend watching videos at this YouTube channel and mind you many of the things they prepare are not Indian cuisine: 

 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1of9ELYwB623fWaAMRDVFA

 

Many of the recipes look easy to prepare, the prepared dishes often look mouthwatering and if you subscribe to the channel you are helping the creators not only to make some money but apparently also to donate to charity and to feed orphaned children.

 

This is Grandpa's favorite recipe, at least it was at the time he did this video. My mouth is watering:

 

I suppose I should note that sadly, Grandpa is gone now but the channel continues with new videos thanks to his grandchildren. Give it a look see, you may find yourself thinking of cooking up a dish or three and of eating somethings you have never tried before!

 

My son has turned me on and tuned me in to some really excellent YouTube channels; how he finds them is a mystery to me.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I Am Waiting To See - How Biden - Who Broke His Vow...

 ...to have U.S. troops remain inside Afghanistan until every last American citizen, who wanted to leave, was safely evacuated from that country (source) - will blame it on President Trump. 

 

You know it is probably inevitable that the incompetent boob will play the blame game if only because it is almost a given that one of his handlers will instruct him to do so. He seems little more than a trained chimpanzee (no insult to chimps intended) or closer yet to being a rock with lips who does nothing without permission of someone behind the curtain (probably behind the Iron Curtain or the Red Curtain or both). 

 

He is the candidate the libtards picked to be the president of the United States of America. Damn, there certainly were better ones in the running (even though I disliked them all - there were some much better picks than him if it had to go left); they scraped the shit right off someone's shoes when they selected Biden.

 

In my 65 plus years on this earth, I have never seen a more incompetent bumbling fool in the White House. He makes LBJ, Carter, and even Obama almost look close to having been good. No, I did not mention Clinton - nothing could make him look even almost close to having been good although he probably was not as bad as Biden will prove to have been by the end of his term.

 

As far as I am concerned, Biden is a traitor who has abandoned Americans and in coddling the Taliban has left us open to new terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by them, ISIS-K, al-Qaeda or all of them.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

We May Not Be Able To Petition The Lord With Prayer...

 ...but we sure as hell can petition to have Joe Biden removed from office. I will be writing to my Congressmen to have him removed by way of petition, or impeachment or the 25th Amendment to the Constitution or by whatever means is legal and quick. 

 

It has become painfully obvious that not only is he incompetent but it also appears to me that he is an ally to our enemies. Add to those the fact that today he blatantly admitted he was "instructed" to call on a certain list of reporters during the news conference in reference to the bombing in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. military personnel (so far) and 60 Afghans (so far) and it has become obvious that the president of the United States of America (or in other words the Commander In Chief) is not in command at all. Here is how his revelation, that someone else is instructing him as to what to do, was reported:

""Ladies and gentlemen, they gave me a list here. The first person I was instructed to call on was Kelly O'Donnell from NBC," Biden kicked off the press conference." (Source.)

I note, that if this was reported on CNN it was apparently hidden somewhere in an article that did not headline it or if headlined, then the article was hidden away not on their home page as far as I could see. 

 

As for the president, I believe Joe Biden is evidently incompetent as it is witnessed by the fact that someone has to give him instructions apparently as to which reporters to call on who likely will ask him softball type questions! Imagine, who then is giving him those instructions? Also, imagine that when it comes to really important decisions about U.S. policy here and abroad, like in Afghanistan, who is really in charge of our nation! Seemingly, it's not bumbling Joe Biden. If he cannot handle a group of reporters on his own, how can he be expected to handle national security issues (and as already seen he is not doing at all well with them such as Afghanistan, COVID-19, the border crisis and the economy). 

Folks, if we do not get this flubbing fool out of office, along with most of his administration, we are doomed. Let's face it, Laughing Hyena Harris has to go as well, she'd maybe be worse than Biden as president. Biden is so bad at accepting responsibility, even while he says he accepts it he immediately followed that up by trying to imply it was all President Trump's fault! So, he still is blaming things on president Trump - who had not been our president since January - 7 months ago (and bear in mind he reversed almost everything president Trump had put into place but not this withdrawal - then he faults President Trump while he, Biden, ran it like a moron)! Look here: 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1431013843438874628

 

Yes President Trump may have made an agreement with the Taliban with regard to the U.S. withdrawal of troops but let's face facts - Trump would have handled any withdrawal of troops and any aggression by the Taliban or others during the withdrawal of troops, U.S. personnel, U.S. citizens and other Afghan personnel in a very different fashion than the foolhardy way Joe Biden has been doing it. Imagine though had it been President Trump in charge of this debacle - they would have figuratively (maybe even literally) hung him for this mess but Biden they attempt to praise. Then again had President Trump been in charge of the pull-out, I am certain, there would have been little to absolutely no mess. Based upon his records within the area, I think President Trump would have ordered airstrikes against the Taliban and ISIS-K at the first signs of violent aggression by either and he would have had sufficient troops on the ground to aid with the evacuation way before it even began. The evacuation of U.S. Personnel, American citizens and our Afghan allies, under President Trump, would have commenced and continued in an orderly and secret fashion (secret in as much as no details being shared with the Taliban, to potentially pass along to ISIS-K, as Biden shared with the Taliban and then they possibly leaked to ISIS-K who killed our 13 service personnel and many Afghans today). 

 

The U.S. would have been in charge and remained in charge with President Trump at the helm instead of the way it's been with President Biden fumbling along and reportedly begging (and thus trusting) an enemy for help in evacuating our embassy (source) and getting more of our service personnel killed than has been the case in many years in Afghanistan! And yes, he is the one responsible for their deaths as I see it because he is a totally incompetent screw-up and has failed to run this operation properly from day one. I urge you to correspond with your elected officials demanding that he be removed from office, without delay, by any legal means.

All the best,

Glenn B

Lately The Situation In The USA & World Is Too Depressing/Dusgusting To Blog Much About...

 ...so, I will not blog about it in any great detail except to say Biden should be figuratively executed for what are in my mind his crimes against: humanity, intelligence (how he can have been so idiotic to in effect have said if the Taliban cooperated he would work out a smooth transition of power to them - after they had already conquered and thus already had taken control of most of Afghanistan - in what amounted to an unchecked blitzkrieg - is beyond my comprehension), the citizens of the USA, our rights & liberties. Add to to those crimes, his apparent complete lack of leadership abilities (hown did the dems ever make him their pick for president is unfathomable - he makes LBJ, Carter & Obama look like great presidents by comparison - heck, a fifth grader could have done better in the pullout from Afghanistan), his blatantly pompous attitude and the fact that he breathes the air that someone else could be breathing and I am convinced that not only does he not deserve to be, nor is qualified to be, the president of the United States of America but he does not even deserve to live in this country. I think it would be a befitting punishment (and yes I think he needs to be punished for his numerous and deplorable gaffes) that he be deported to Afghanistan - but only after a sex change operation  - so that his trusted buddies (at least he trusts them) in the Taliban can give him what he truly deserves after they turn him into a sex slave.

 

Yep, I think, that in a very brief manner, that about sums up how I feel about him. Heaven forbid that I rant on, in detail, about what I think of him - it would amount to a very thick & heavy tome with very fine print to fit it all.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I've Only Seen Scenes Like This In Movies Before...

 ...movies that depicted TEOTWAWKI scenes. I am referring to the videos I have seen of people clinging to U.S. aircraft, people trying to escape Afghanistan and the wrath of the Taliban (source).

 

 

I cannot imagine the fear that is driving these people to attempt to flee Afghanistan by clinging to the outside of a U.S. aircraft but they are doing it and a few have reportedly fallen from a U.S. C-17 to their deaths in trying to escape the Taliban takeover. Some wonder why the Afghans in their military forces were unable to stop the Taliban surge over the past week or so; well, my guess is they fear the torture and terrible deaths by beheading the Taliban are known for and which they lived through before the U.S. invaded. Of course, I also imagine because the U.S. military has been ordered to stand down as far as assisting them or advising them goes. 

 

Why the United States of American, led by that no good POS Joe Biden, did not have an exit strategy that would have had the Afghan Army ready to at least try fighting off the Taliban is beyond comprehension. Now Biden and his administration are trying to blame it on President Trump! Yeah, I know, last year Trump told the Taliban he would remove troops by a certain date and they began preparing for a take over BUT my bet is Trump would have had our military strafing & bombing the shit out of them along with having advisors help direct the Afghan Army in a counter attack to prevent the successful takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. 

 

Anyone who wants to say different about what President Trump likely would have done - as in you leftist, liberal, Democrat detractors of President Trump - President Trump has a strong record on how he decisively had our military deal with terror groups! Biden has been a befuddled failing fool. After all, what did bumbling Biden do as the Taliban raged across Afghanistan - he went on vacation! He should not only be impeached - if at all possible, if there are any applicable charges at all, he should be prosecuted for war crimes or dereliction of duty, in my opinion. The man is a disgrace and so is his entire administration. To think - this is the best that the left had to offer to lead the United States of America - if you voted for him you should be ashamed of yourselves.

All the best,

Glenn B

Another Weekend Coming Sooner Or Later...

 ...and another gun show coming along with the next one. That gun show will be in Conway, AR and I am sorely debating (with myself) whether or not I should make the drive there. In all likelihood that will be a yes because my son will have a couple of tables there. So, I guess that means we will have tables there. 

 

Oh well, it's always a good day even if I don't sell much of anything or sell nothing at all. Since ammo prices have gone down for the most part, if I want to sell any of what I have, I either have to sell some at break even prices or maybe a small loss. Regardless, I have to pay sales tax to AR and after already having paid sales tax on it in TX that sucks as far as trying to actually make any money to support the gun addiction thing. Oh well, I think you can safely bet that I'll be there anyway becasue it means visiting Brendan.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

A Waste Of Time...

...and gasoline it was today when I drove about a 270 mile round trip to attend the gun show in Bonham, TX today. I know, Sundays are slow days at gun shows as opposed to Saturdays but I still would have expected more than 36 attendees, including myself, inside the event hall when I got there. I suppose that was an excellent sign that I was not going to be able to sell either of the two AR-15 style rifles, nor the Colt Lord Deringer (SIC) 2 Derringer set in 22 Short, nor the High Standard DM-101 Derringer in 22 Mag, nor the Glock 19 GEN5 9 mm pistol I had brought along.

In fact, that sign in essence pointed me back home with all of the guns I had brought along. It had to be one of the most terrible gun shows I have ever attended. There were several tables with no dealers at them and nothing on them. Of course, there also were the usual mix of tables with guns, tables with knives, tables with accessories, and tables with junk that never should be seen at a gun show. As for the tables with guns, I did not see one gun get removed from the table, paid for, and walk out the door with a happy buyer. Prices on ammo were very high but lower than  they then they would have been two months ago. Prices of guns were somewhere beyond the stratosphere, for example a well used Ruger 10/22 standard model, with a wooden stock, a piece of junk old scope, and a 30 round magazine had a price tag on it of $475.00. A DPMS AR-15 had a price tag with $1,200.00 on it! I was there for about an hour and a half before leaving in disgust. 

I would not have travelled there in the first place if there were more gun shows near Texarkana on the Texas side of the Texas-Arkansas border; thus allowing me to sell rifles, shotguns and handguns to anyone with a Texas driver's license without having to go through a dealer with an FFL. In the future though, I will not bother with that show again as long as my little grey cells can remember how disgusted I felt when I was there today. If I somehow come to remember that I was there last year as well, I may just have to kick myself in my own arse once or twice to make sure I remember next year not to go again. Truth be told, I really do not want to be reminded if I was there before and returned again today because if that is the case, I deserve a really hard kick.

All the best,

Glenn B

Hey New York...

 ...when does the celebration begin now that your POS governor has resigned.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-cuomo-resigns

It's certainly a good day for New York in as much as Cuomo is gone but it will soon be followed by another terrible day when the next demoncrat takes his place. 

 

He was, the biggest POS politician I have ever had the displeasure of having had as a governor of one of my prior states of residence. In fact, while I do not think he was the worst, I believe he was one of the most horrendous POS politicians ever in the USA. In my opinion, he was right down there near in the crud at the bottom of the barrel of swill wallowing along with Woodrow Wilson (who comes to mind as possibly the worst U.S. president/politician of all time) and others like FDR, LBJ, WJC & BHO - who also come to mind as terrible. Maybe there is a bit of hope things will get better in NY but I tend to doubt it; anyway - good riddance! Party on New Yorkers - at least until the next POS takes his place.

 

All the best,

Glenn B