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For now, I am back and blowing the dust off this thing.

We know a hand full of things about the birth of Jesus. It was during a census and we know shepherds were grazing their flocks. We know that neither of these things happened in December, not even in what we now know as Israel. 

Now, as with most Christian holidays there are many parts of Christmas which were adapted from other religions, most of which were pagan. As Christianity converted and absorbed masses of followers, often from lobbing for new laws, they would absorb whatever cultural or religious beliefs to make it easier for new followers to acclimate. 

The truth is none of us, including me, know exactly when Jesus was born, but the one time it is easy to prove it was not, is Winter. 

So, back to my point… In true Christian fashioned the holiday has been coopted over the years into something much more secular. Unfortunately, much of this hijacking has been commercial and materialistic, but certainly not all. Christmas in the United States has become the “holiday season”. This encompasses most faiths as many have their own holiday during this winter season. 

The US Holiday Season kicks off with Thanksgiving, which is exactly as it sounds, a holiday to give thanks. This holiday goes all the way back to the beginning of the nation, or so the story goes. Now many want to make this a religious affair too and that is fine if that is how you want to celebrate it, but every American of every faith as well as no faith have reason to give thanks for this country of ours. 

The US Holiday Season is filled with various holidays, but in general is a time for families and friends to gather, give gifts, and have feasts. It is also a time when Americans are more open to helping charitable causes and those who are more in need. Most would say that these themes honor Jesus’ teachings more than anything any church does all year. 

Despite what you believe, Jesus was a real person. He did teach us to treat each other with respect, dignity and most of all charity. He taught us to be better than we are. I personally don’t believe in his divinity which is one of the many reasons I am not a Christian or religious, however he was one of the greatest men this world has ever seen and in these times it’s important to remember him and honor his teachings. 

To those who would criticize me for celebrating someone who a faith is built on and I don’t believe in, I say this: I don’t have to agree with everything someone says or does to celebrate or even respect them. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners and many other terrible things, but I still celebrate them and believe they were great men. All men have flaws and aspects of their life I don’t agree with. I can objectively judge things based on the time in which they occur and overall outcome. 

My overall point here is that Christmas may have been created by Christians, but it is now a holiday season, and is a holiday season for all people. How can you not get behind a holiday which celebrates our love for each other? 

• Homemade Chicken Potpie
• Gourmet Meatloaf
• Ham & Au gratin Potatoes
• Spaghetti
• Homemade Chili & Grilled Cheese
• Chili Dogs (Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs, Steak & Shake Chili)
• Turkey & Dressing
• Country Fried Steak
• Grilled Rib-eye
• Prime Rib
• Tacos
• Pot Roast
• Oven Baked/Breaded Pork Chops
• Breaded Pork Tenderloins
• Homemade Pulled Pork
• Barbecued Pork Steak (Crock Pot)
• Mexican Casserole
• Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
• Homemade Chicken Stew
• Homemade Beef Stew
• Homemade Cheeseburger Soup
• Sausage (polish), Yellow Potatoes, & Carrots in butter sauce (Crock Pot)
• Homemade Cheeseburger Macaroni
• Fried Chicken
• Lasagna
• Oven Baked Cheddar Breaded Chicken
• Baked Chicken in Corn & Stuffing
• Homemade Macaroni & Cheese
• Pork Chops in Cream of Mushroom Soup (Crock Pot)
• Barbecued Baby Back Ribs (Crock Pot)
• Smoked Baby Back Ribs
• Homemade Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
• Turkey Turnovers
• HHS Pasta Day/Night (Spaghetti & Meat Sauce with Velveeta Cheese Sauce)
• Ham & Cheese Roll Ups
• Homemade Pizza
• Homemade Salisbury Steak
• Homemade Beef Stroganoff
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Rotisserie Chicken
• Chicken Piccata with Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Homemade Chicken Tenders with Jan’s Sauce
• Crock pot Ground Beef & Marinara Cheese Tortellini
• Hawaiian Grilled Chicken
• Homemade Meatballs
• Chuck Wagon Stew
• Creamy Chicken & Biscuits
• Homemade Cheeseburgers
• Hawaiian Baked Beans
• Cheesy Chicken & Noodle Casserole
• Grilled Brats
• Pigs in a Blanket
• Ham & Great Northern Beans with Corn Bread
• Homemade Biscuits & Gravy
• Deep Fried French Toast
• Homemade Omelets
• Maid Rites
• Open Faced Hot Beef Sandwiches
• Barbecued Grilled Chicken Thighs
• Oven Baked Chicken with Rotisserie Seasoning
• Pulled Pork (Smoked or Crock Pot)

Blippi is the alter ego of Stevin John, a 30 year old youtube star. He started his career in the Airforce as a loadmaster. After serving he bounced around a bit doing odd jobs and started working in branding, film, and other online media. He was inspired by his toddler nephew to create Blippi to provide free online educational content for kids. He focuses on topics kids like and teach them values in a traditional Mr. Rodgers fashion with a modern twist.

My son is glued to the TV when he is on, and I don’t feel like I have to worry about him picking up negative things. Today you have to be careful with things like Spongebob, which are certainly funny as an adult, they can be harmful to a kid who is absorbing every little thing.

As someone of Blippi’s generation (I of course am a fair amount older) I appreciate his commitment to quality educational material, while maintaining the free platform of youtube. He does have a website, www.blippi.com where you can support him by buying promotional content and whatnot. I would encourage you to do so since most of things things kids love anyway.

If you would like to more about Blippi, here are some links:

http://www.blippi.com

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4581172/Meet-Blippi-veteran-turned-children-s-viral-superstar.html

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5PYHgAzJ1wLEidB58SK6Xw

https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/blippi.html

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevin-john-848675107

Sadly, you can’t read these stories without coming across the others that none of us want to hear. There are the tragic shootings of unarmed people. There was the arrest and excessive force against a Utah nurse who wouldn’t violate policy and the law for a detective, but there are more than I could even get in to listing.

I have been fascinated with the litigation surrounding cops who arrest firefighters over a pissing contest. I have just finished looking at 6 cases in the last 10 years where an officer on some sort of traffic crash arrests a firefighter who is helping a patient for not doing whatever the officer said. In every case, the officer was in the wrong.

My complaint here isn’t even all these issues, however that is certainly a HUGE problem. The thing I am so upset about today is the defense by the brothers in blue in ALL these cases.

Every time I see an officer doing wrong in the news, I go research it myself online. I try to get every fact and every side of the story before I make up my own mind on if the officer is in the wrong. Unfortunately the first thing I see online is the complete opposite among current law enforcement. They blindly defend whatever the officer in question did. When the officer in question has actually done wrong, or worse committed a crime they are themselves tarnishing the reputation of law enforcement.

I have said it before, but it bears repeating. We need to pay ALL law enforcement better. We need to train them better. We need to screen them better. We have too many cops out there who aren’t suited for the job, and they are getting the credit of the good guys who are coming to their defense when they do wrong.

If you have a impulse control, anger management problem, superiority complex or simply an axe to grind you shouldn’t be a police officer. Federal law enforcement screens for these types of things when they do backgrounds on their applicants. They actually talk to friends and family and even enemies of the applicant get a feel for who their applicants are. This isn’t done at hardly any other level of law enforcement. Its expensive. Additionally, its hard to get applicants who don’t have these issues when you pay $20,000 to $40,000 a year to start in a job where you put your life on the line.

When I was a police officer starting out, I paid my own way through academy (few departments in my state paid for it), I purchased my own weapon, duty gear and uniforms, and I started at $10 an hour. This wasn’t that uncommon in Missouri. A red state, who loves their guns, supports the troops and is supposed to be pro law enforcement doesn’t really back the badge financially.

There is so much that needs to be fixed with our criminal justice system, but a good start would be fixing our police departments. Abuse of authority needs to stop, killing when an officer’s life isn’t in danger needs to stop, and blind support of bad cops needs to stop.

My second best friend’s name was George. George was a feline, whom I raised from birth. George was another example of the evolution of my personality. When George and I crossed paths I kinda hated cats. My previous wife and I were in the process of buying a house and a friend of ours had a cat who had just gotten pregnant. My wife convinced me to take a cat when she had them. I wasn’t thrilled. I told her she was cleaning up after it and feeding it.

Well the cat went into labor and we went over for the birth. She had two… guess what? I got talked in to taking a brother and sister. We watched Greys Anatomy at the time back in 2007 and ended up naming them George and Izzy. Within a month George melted my heart. Over the years he was with me through the hardest times I ever had, and I was with him through some of his. Izzy is a very special girl too and now is the only cat we have. George was so different. He really thought he was human. I never treated him as a cat and as a result I don’t think he believed he was one. He tried so hard to actually verbally communicate with me. We really understood each other.

Last summer George got really sick. We took him to the hospital and discovered he had diabetes really bad. They kept him a week and a half and he recovered. He was at deaths door when we dropped him off. He couldn’t walk or lift his head. They made him feel so much better, but by fall the medicine was no longer working. Lets be clear, I have been through some tough stuff in my life; I wont go into it here, but it will be on my blog at some point. The day George went downhill for the second time was the worst day of my life. I have never had to go through anything that broke me like that did. It literally makes me cry right now just thinking about it. People who have pets know what it’s like to be close to a pet. That isn’t what this was. George was my friend. He wasn’t a pet. Losing him ate me up inside for a very long time.

All this brings me to the real point of this post. We have had many cats over the years that were pets. A week ago we had two cats living in our house, Izzy, as we mentioned above, was George’s sister and is still my little angel. The other, was Lexi. She was another story entirely. She was antisocial from the day we got her. She was a true cat, never human like at all. She didn’t really like people. She preferred cats. She would never leave Izzy alone, always wanting attention and love. She would never let a human even get close enough to pet her. We got Lexi in 2011 with her brother Mark. By 2012 she was as big as a barn. She had a real eating problem. She was white with black spots. She looked like a cow, so we called her cowcat.

Apparently for some time she had heart disease. All the weight had put a lot of strain on her heart. Yesterday I heard some weird thumping under the loveseat where she pretty much lives. I waited to see her squeeze her fat butt out from under there as usual, but just more thumping. I wasn’t about to put my hand in there, as the last time I had to “capture” her she bit me harder than I have ever been bit by a cat before. A couple of minutes passed and here she came. It was different though, she was dragging her legs. Like they were broken. She drug herself around the kitchen then back to the living room. She laid in her other favorite spot (in front of the patio door) for 15 minutes or so, then the weirdest thing ever happened. She drug herself over to my recliner where I was looking down at her, and she reached out to my feet and pawed at them and made a whimper. I reached down and petted her and she seemed quite pleased.

I knew at this time something weird was going on, and after a lot of research, I am pretty sure she had a stroke by this point. I had discovered by this time that the issue with her legs was a blood clot. Cats often come back from blood clots, but just like George her days would be numbered. I had to decide if it was worth spending a fortune on this cat who hated me, only for her to die anyway very soon. I put her in our spare bathroom as I knew what was coming if she was out and couldn’t stand. I didn’t want to clean that up around the whole house. I checked on her at least hourly. We had to go out last night. I checked on her before leaving and she was laying there. I pet her and she gave me a sweet little meow.

3 hours later, upon returning home and checking on her, she had slipped away. I think if George hadn’t died last year, this would have been a small blip in my life, but I have a fair amount of guilt for not doing more for this poor pitiful creature who was my responsibility.

I am about to go clean the bathroom which is absolutely horrible. After that I have to figure out how to explain what happened to Lexi to my 2 1/2 year old little boy.

Parenting is always an adventure, but things like this really test your abilities.

Now that I rambled off topic a bit, back to my smoking…. I have always wanted to smoke my own ribs. I discovered that I absolutely loved ribs when I was 18. Believe it or not I had never had them before and I tried them at Ruby Tuesday’s. I was in love! I have made them in the crock pot ever since. I like them fall off the bone and they always came out great that way. The problem was I could never get that great smokey flavor. I tried liquid smoke and smoke seasoning, but it wasn’t the same. I do my pulled pork and other similar slow smoked things in the crock pot as well.

Last month when my wife’s sister and her husband visited I decided it was time for a smoker. I read up online and looked at the options. The gas are great, but temps are a lot harder to control and nobody likes overcooked meat. I nearly bought a little portable propane one since we like to camp, and may yet get one, but for now I opted for the Masterbuilt MES 130B. I got it on sale for $150 which was a great price for an introductory smoker I thought. Most start around $300. This one is digital and has a timer. The higher models have a remote and a probe, but I have my own probe thermometer so none of that really mattered to me. The one really nice feature is the chip loader on the right. You can add chips without actually opening the door and letting heat out.

So my ribs ended up to die for. I rubbed them with my own secret dry rub. Then let wrapped them and put them in the fridge overnight. Today I went and let my smoker preheat to 225 degrees. I placed each rack of ribs on a rack in the smoker with half mesquite and half hickory chips and smoked for 3 hours. Then I brought them in and wrapped them in foil adding a little apple juice to the the foil pouch and let them go another hour and a half.

These were literally the best ribs I have ever had. And that is saying something because I have had a lot of ribs in my day, but never with enough of this perfect smoke.

There are so many issues here I don’t know where to begin. As a former police officer I am often the biggest critic as well as the biggest defender of Law Enforcement. I try not to comment on things unless I see things that I think need clarification for those who haven’t worked in Law Enforcement, or if I see a blatant injustice going on, whether to a law enforcement officer or by one.

This is a case where I simply want to offer some insight from my perspective as a basic city cop.

The biggest clarification I see that needs to be made is the issue of this agent having his gun on him. Police Officers as well as Federal Agents have the right and in some situations the obligation (by policy) to have their firearm on them at any or all times. While I think this would have been very irresponsible if he was drinking, and we do not yet know if he was, he had every right to be armed. If that is the problem anyone has with this, it is a moot point. If he was in anyway intoxicated not only was he irresponsible, he may have violated policy.

As a professional federal agent I am so disappointed to see this happen. Here is my review of his failures. 1) The holster which held his firearm had poor retention. As a police officer we had training in academy on holsters both on and off duty and what level of retention they should have and also to practice different scenarios with them. You want to be able to retrieve your gun quickly without problem, but you not only don’t want it to come out on it’s own, but you don’t want a bad guy to be able to take it out easily. Believe it or not, most holsters aren’t just lift and remove. There is a trick to pulling the weapon. This obviously wasn’t one of those type of holsters and is very poor judgement on his part. 2) ANYONE who has had any firearms training knows the NUMBER 1 RULE: Don’t put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire and sure of your target. This agent picked up his gun and in the process not only put his finger on the trigger but fired it. Before you say it, NO this gun did not go off on it’s own upon impact. There is no firearm currently authorized by the Bureau for an agent to carry which hasn’t undergone accidental drop fire testing. 3) The worst thing of all that he did was after picking up the gun not only did he again not properly secure it. He raised his hands and walked away. Meanwhile, someone in the crowd not only had been hit, but allegedly was hit in a main artery in his leg and would have bled out if not for a Good Samaritan who placed a tourniquet on it. A responsible cop would have immediately secured the scene and checked for anyone with injuries and rendered aid.

This was obviously an accident, so I am unsure where the criminal charge comes in, but only time and facts will tell on that front. He has huge civil liability though because there was incredible negligence on his part. He will most likely lose his job either way.