This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • UK commits to increase troops in Afghanistan after Trump request

    According to Stars & Stripes, the British Prime Minister Theresa May, promised to add 440 troops to the UK’s mission in Afghanistan after President Trump urged allies to shoulder some of the US commitments overseas. The additional troops will bring the UK’s total to 1100;

    “NATO is as vital today as it ever has been and our commitment to it remains steadfast,” May said Tuesday, according to Reuters. “The alliance can rely on the U.K. to lead by example.”

    NATO ended combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 but a separate U.S. counterterrorism mission continues.

    The announcement of more British troops came as Reuters reported that the U.S. is preparing to review its Afghanistan strategy after Trump expressed frustration over a lack of progress.

  • Wesley Mattox’ scary black rifles in a Colorado shootout

    Bobo sends us a link to the story of 28-year-old Austin Benson who stole a Mazda and went on a terror spree in a Colorado national forest until he ran into retired Russellville, Alabama police officer Wesley Mattox and his AR rifles.

    Benson shot at several campers he met after stealing the hatch-back Mazda, including a couple camping with their grandchildren. Then he encountered Mattox;

    The retired 51-year-old officer told authorities that he was camping in Pike National Forest with his wife when Benson pulled into their campsite and began yelling.

    Mattox told Douglas County deputies that when he approached the Mazda to find out what the man wanted, Benson pointed a rifle at him and told him to “get him water” and said “the law was after him,” KOAA reported.

    The former officer said he returned to his camper and gave his wife a handgun, and told her to take cover, KUSA reported. Then he grabbed an AR-15 rifle for himself.

    Mattox told deputies that he took up a position behind the Mazda and ordered Benson to drop his weapon, but Benson shot at him and his camper as he began to drive away. Mattox returned fire.

    The former officer told deputies that during the gunfight, he moved away from his truck to direct Benson’s fire away from his camper, where his wife was hiding, KOAA reported.

    Benson drove into a tree, but then fired a few more rounds at Mattox.

    Mattox told deputies that he believed he was out of ammunition in his rifle, so he went into his truck and grabbed a second AR-15.

    According to the arrest affidavit for Benson, Mattox said he fired one more shot at the Mazda to see if he would get a reaction because he didn’t see any movement inside the car, KUSA reported.

    About that time, Manitou Springs police officers arrived at the campsite and arrested Benson.

    Police said Benson had been shot several times and had wounds to his face and his arm, KUSA reported.

    Both Mattox and his wife were uninjured.

    Colorado bans magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, so I guess the way around that is to have multiple rifles.

    Benson has been charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of attempted aggravated robbery.

  • Edward Campbell; phony SEAL goes to jail

    Edward Campbell; phony SEAL goes to jail

    Another Pat sends us a link to the news that Edward I. Campbell, who we discussed nearly a year ago when he pleaded guilty to bilking his investment clients of over a million bucks, is on his way to prison. While he was taking their money he was pretending to be a Navy SEAL.

    The Reynoldsburg man with his own investment firm always had a story for his nearly four dozen clients.

    Edward I. Campbell, 41, said he was a former Navy SEAL with international business connections. He told investors his niece had been shot in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

    He promised big returns on investments and when there were delays, he told of how international catastrophes or some U.S. agency was holding things up.

    It was all untrue.

    “Campbell blatantly and repeatedly lied and violated the trust placed in him by the individuals who invested with him,” said Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, based in Columbus. “Besides falsely representing experience and expertise, he told contemptible lies about a tragic incident.”

    In federal court Tuesday in Columbus, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced Campbell to five years in federal prison on money laundering and wire fraud charges. Campbell earlier had entered a plea agreement to the charges.

    As part of the sentence, Campbell also agreed to pay $1,408,854 in restitution – the amount of money he stole from 44 investors between July 2011 and June 2013.

    That phony SEAL training is going to come in handy in prison.

  • Lyn Jon Cree; phony Marine

    Lyn Jon Cree; phony Marine

    Someone sent us their work on this fellow Lyn Jon Cree, from Dothan, Alabama, who tells perspective clients for his home remodeling business that he’s a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant. This photo was on his social media page;

    It looks like he photoshopped his gourd on a photo of Master Gunnery Sergeant Scott H. Stalker;

    The National Personnel Records Center and the Navy replied to a FOIA inquiry with the query “Who?”

  • Wednesday morning feel good stories

    Wednesday morning feel good stories

    From Broken Arrow, Oklahoma;

    Police are investigating after a homeowner shot an intruder early Tuesday morning in Broken Arrow.

    Police said just after 4 a.m., officers were dispatched to a residential robbery in the 2000 block of West Pittsburg Place.

    Police said a suspect had been shot after forcing entry into a home. The suspect was found in a bedroom with a gunshot wound in the leg.

    The suspect was taken to the hospital.

    Officers also detained three people who were walking from the home when they arrived.

    From Cleveland Ohio;

    The [78-year-old] man told police he was watching TV in his kitchen with a loud fan on when he noticed a man inside his home, police reports say.

    The robber walked through an open front door and ransacked several rooms on the first and second floors. The man stole a handgun hidden in the man’s dining room, according to police reports.

    The robber walked into the kitchen and pointed a knife at the man, police reports say. He demanded money from the man, according to police reports.

    The man grabbed the robber’s wrist below the knife and fought him off, according to police reports.

    The robber broke free and told the man to turnaround as he ran out of the door, police reports say. The robber left with the gun, police reports say.

    The man said he didn’t know the robber, but that the robber had stopped by his house the day before and offered to mow his lawn for money, police reports say.

    From D’Iberville, Mississippi;

    Police officials report four suspects tried to rob the Popp’s Lamey Convenience Store around 6 a.m. The store owner fired shots at the suspects. One suspect was hit. The extent of the suspect’s injuries is not known.

    Investigators said the suspects then took off in a car and ended near the Biloxi High School softball fields on Brodie Road. Some ran into the woods behind the field. D’Iberville police caught three of the suspects and Biloxi caught the fourth near Michelle Drive.

  • Jorge Santos; phony SEAL

    Jorge Santos; phony SEAL

    Our partners at Military Phonies share their work with us on this fellow Jorge Santos of San Antonio, Texas, who claims to be a former Navy SEAL. Judging by some of these pictures, he’s been at it for quite a while;

    If you haven’t guessed yet, he had no SEAL Assignments or Training. From his records, it looks like he spent a long time in the hospital and never made it to “A” school.

    Based off of Jorge Santos Jr Summary Sheet he spent 2 years, 9 months, 4 days on active duty and discharged as an Seaman (E-3). It doesn’t look like he attended an “A” school and was assigned to the USS Tarawa (LHA-1) and his last year he was at the Naval Hospital Long Beach, CA. In conclusion, he never attend BUD/S, he was never a SEAL, he was not authorized to wear the Trident and did not have the the rank to wear choker whites. Plus he is wearing 4 or 5 ribbons and he was not authorized to wear them either.

  • Labor Department awards $47 million in grants to employ homeless veterans

    The Department of Labor send us their press release announcing an award of $47,600,000 in grants to help employ homeless veterans;

    “While serving in the military, veterans learn many skills desired in today’s workforce,” said [U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander] Acosta. “These grants will help thousands of homeless veterans reintegrate themselves into society and secure good jobs.”

    Funds are being awarded on a competitive basis to state and local workforce investment boards; local public agencies and nonprofit organizations; tribal governments; and faith-based and community organizations. Homeless veterans may receive occupational skills training, apprenticeship opportunities, and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance.

    By the way, the unemployment rate for veterans in June was 3.3%. I figure that I should mention it, since the media has been reasonably silent on the issue recently.

  • Ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond pardoned

    Ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond pardoned

    The Associated Press reports that the father-son team of ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, whose imprisonment sparked the Malheur Valor Thief Convention in Oregon in 2016, were pardoned by President Trump.

    A sympathetic judge had sentenced the pair to reduced imprisonment terms, but prosecutors won an appeal that sentenced the ranchers to sentencing minimum of 5 years terms.

    In a statement Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called that decision to resentence the Hammonds “unjust.”

    “The Hammonds are devoted family men, respected contributors to their local community, and have widespread support from their neighbors, local law enforcement, and farmers and ranchers across the West,” she said. “Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency.”

    The Hammonds asked the valor thieves at Malheur to abandon their pointless occupation of the National Wildlife Refuge, but their pleas were largely ignored by the occupiers.