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

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Wednesday morning feel good stories

    Wednesday morning feel good stories

    From Akron, Ohio;

    The resident called police to report a man trying to break into her home in the 600 block of Wyandot Avenue shortly after midnight. The resident’s 36-year-old son struggled to keep the man from coming in the back door. The resident grabbed a handgun and gave it to her son, who shot the intruder, police say.

    The two men continued to struggle and the son shoved the man out of the house and fired another shot. Police found the man in the backyard, where he was pronounced dead, police say.

    “Send an ambulance,” the upset resident told a dispatcher in a 911 call. “My son had to shoot him!”

    The woman told the dispatcher that the doorbell rang and she went to the front door, while her son went to the back door. She said the man kept trying to break in and her son shouted at him, “Get out of here!” and “Get off my mom’s property!” but he didn’t listen.

    She said neither of them knew the man.

    From Houston, Texas;

    Police said a burglar first knocked on the door to see if anyone was home and then broke through a back window to gain entry to the house.

    Two young sisters, 12 and 14, were inside when the man broke in through the back window, said Asst. Chief Sheryl Victorian. The siblings realized a burglar was inside, hid in a bedroom and called their mother. She alerted police, telling them there was a burglary in process at her home.

    The mother then activated an alarm system, which the neighbor heard, according to police. He saw the burglary suspect coming out of the house and told him to stop. When he didn’t, the neighbor apparently felt threatened and shot the burglar twice with a rifle, Victorian said.

    Around the same time that the neighbor confronted the suspect, the girls’ father came home and thought his daughters were still in danger, Victorian said. He broke down the front window and pulled the girls out to rescue them.

  • Charles Clymer goes full tiara-boy

    Charles Clymer goes full tiara-boy

    You probably remember when we were first introduced to Charles Clymer last year when he accused David Clarke of “Stolen Valor” for his sheriff’s uniform. We went ahead and got Clymer’s military records just to verify his claims – he was an Army Specialist in the Old Guard and he went on to the US Military Academy as a cadet, but he was somehow injured and didn’t continue.

    Well, I read an article about a transgender woman (that means he was born a man) by the name of Charlotte Clymer who had trouble in a DC restaurant when he tried to use the ladies’ room.

    Sometime close to midnight Friday, Clymer made her way with a friend through Cuba Libre’s crowded hallways to use the women’s restroom. Before she could enter, however, Clymer said a male attendant stopped her – and her only – to request her ID.

    “When I asked why, he said that ‘female’ must be on an ID to use the women’s restroom,” Clymer wrote. “I told him that’s nonsense, turned on my heel, and continued into the restroom.”

    Clymer, a transgender woman who works as an activist and spokeswoman with the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBTQ equality, knew she was in the right. Nevertheless, the male attendant followed after her into the women’s restroom.

    “I go into a stall to do my business, and I hear him walk in and search for me in this busy restroom full of women,” Clymer wrote. “He is doing everything but opening the stall doors.”

    Even after she had finished, Clymer said the male attendant was waiting for her outside the restroom. This time, he had Cuba Libre’s manager with him, who also insisted there was a D.C. law that backed up the attendant’s belief. The manager demanded to see Clymer’s ID, even after she repeatedly told him there was no such law.

    Clymer refused to show her ID. An uncomfortable standoff ensued. The hallways were crammed, and people were beginning to notice them, she said.

    “A part of me was already going into gaslight territory,” Clymer told The Washington Post in an interview Sunday morning. “I knew what I was talking about. I work on [these issues] all the time. But the more insistent he was, the more doubt crept into my mind.”

    Well, I wondered if Charlotte was the person who we knew as Charles last year, and sure enough.

    Charlotte Clymer claims to work for the Human Rights Campaign – it’s a misnamed organization – they are exclusively dedicated to LGBQT rights.

    So, yeah, the Army dodged a bullet when Clymer was injured at West Point – they certainly didn’t need another activist officer.

  • Veteran protests treatment at the VA with self-immolation

    Claymore sends us a link to the story of a veteran who set himself on fire using fireworks and gasoline on the Georgia Capitol grounds;

    The incident happened on Washington Street around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

    “We have somebody who claims to be a veteran that is disgruntled by treatment by the V.A.,” he said.

    The man is awake and being treated at the hospital. 11Alive is working to gather more details.

    During a news conference on Central Ave. about the new hands free driving law, a group of Georgia State Troopers paused because of activity happening off-camera and then they took off running.

    A Georgia state trooper acted quickly to extinguish the burning veteran.

    It happened during a news conference;

    Please find another way to protest – fire is painful.

  • Richard ‘Old Man’ Harrison passes

    Richard ‘Old Man’ Harrison passes

    We get the sad news today that Richard Harrison, also known as “The Old Man” on the History Channel’s Pawn Stars, has passed at the age of 77. According to Wikipedia, he was a career Navy veteran;

    When he was 17, Harrison attended a barn dance, where he met his future wife, Joanne Rhue, the daughter of Joseph Rhue, a county judge, who later became one of the lead attorneys for Philip Morris in North Carolina. They married in 1960. Before they married, however, Harrison stole a car, and after he was arrested, was given a choice by the judge to go to prison or the military. Harrison chose the latter. JoAnne became pregnant with their first child immediately after they married, and Sherry, their first child, was born with Down syndrome. They also had three sons, Joseph, Rick, and Chris. Harrison left the Navy in February 1962, but re-enlisted fourteen months later in order to obtain the health care benefits necessary to meet Sherry’s medical expenses. She died when she was six years old.

    Harrison ultimately served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, including stints as a paymaster, and attaining the rank of petty officer first class. Harrison served on four ships, including his final five years on fleet tug ATF 100 USS Chowanoc, from 1972 to 1976.

    In 1967 Harrison was transferred by the Navy to San Diego, California. He continued to serve in the Navy, while JoAnne obtained her real estate license in 1970 and opened her own office in 1973. After Harrison was discharged from the Navy, he worked part-time in his wife’s office. Declining real estate sales caused by interest rates as high as 18 percent cost Harrison $1,000,000 and the collapse of this business in 1981.

  • Garlin “Murl” Conner, Cottonbaler, to receive Medal of Honor

    Garlin “Murl” Conner, Cottonbaler, to receive Medal of Honor

    The White House announces that First Lieutenant Garlin “Murl” Conner will be awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor today;

    Then-First Lieutenant Garlin M. Conner will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions on 24 January 1945, while serving as an intelligence officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Then-First Lieutenant Conner voluntarily left his position of relative safety to place himself in a better position to direct artillery fire onto the assaulting enemy infantry and armor. He remained in an exposed position which was 30 yards ahead of the defending force for a period of three hours. Despite the enemy coming within five yards of his position and friendly artillery shells exploding around him, he continued to direct the fire of friendly artillery, which ultimately repelled the assaulting enemy elements.

    Defense.gov reports that LT Connor’s widow will accept the award;

    Pauline, 89, of Albany, Kentucky, will accept the honor on behalf of her husband, who died 20 years ago at age 79. He was drafted March 1, 1941, and assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.

    First Lt. Garlin Conner spent 28 months on the front lines in eight campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, participated in four amphibious assault landings, was wounded seven times and earned a battlefield commission. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, four Silver Stars and the French Croix de Guerre for his actions in Italy and France. He also received a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

    The Medal of Honor for LT Connor upgrades his Distinguished Service Cross. The citation for his DSC reads;

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Garlin Murl Conner, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company K, 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 24 January 1945, in the vicinity of Houssen, France. On that date, at 0800 hours, First Lieutenant Conner ran 400 yards through the impact area of an intense concentration of enemy artillery fire to direct friendly artillery on a force of six Mark VI tanks and tank destroyers, followed by 600 fanatical German infantrymen, which was assaulting in full fury the spearhead position held by his battalion. Along the way, he unreeled a spool of telephone wire, disregarding shells which exploded 25 yards from him and set up an observation post which he manned for more than three hours during the intense fighting. He was individually credited with stopping more than 150 Germans, destroying all the tanks and completely disintegrating the powerful enemy assault force and preventing heavy loss of life in his own outfit. First Lieutenant Conner’s intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 3d Infantry Division, and the United States Army.

  • Army to add 8 weeks to infantry training

    Army to add 8 weeks to infantry training

    Military.com reports that infantry training for new soldiers in that specialty will be extended by two months from the current four-and-a-half weeks to more than 12 weeks;

    Currently soldiers in infantry OSUT go through nine weeks of Basic Combat Training and about 4.5 weeks of infantry advanced individual training. This would add an additional 8 weeks of advanced individual training, tripling the length of the instruction soldiers receive in that phase.

    “It’s more reps and sets; we are trying to make sure that infantry soldiers coming out of infantry OSUT are more than just familiar [with ground combat skills],” Col. Townley Hedrick, commandant of the Infantry School at Benning, told Military.com in a June 21 interview. “You are going to shoot more bullets; you are going to come out more proficient and more expert than just familiar.”

    I’m an advocate for more training – more training means less bleeding. The extra training time means that soldiers arriving at their units will be better prepared for deployments sooner.

    With 22 weeks of infantry OSUT, “you can see right off that bat, we are going to have a hell of a lot better soldier,” [Col. Kelly Kendrick, the outgoing commander of 198th Infantry Brigade at Benning] said. “I will tell you, we will produce infantry soldiers with unmatched lethality compared to what we have had in the past.”

    The new pilot will start training two companies from July 13 to mid-December, Kendrick said. Once the new program of instruction is finalized, trainers will start implementing the 22-week cycle across infantry OSUT in October 2019.

    I don’t know when infantry training went to 4 1/2 weeks, it was 8 weeks for me back in the Jurassic Epoch.

  • Brian J. McCarthy; phony SEAL

    Brian J. McCarthy; phony SEAL

    Someone sent us their work on this fellow Brian J. McCarthy of Aurora, Colorado, who claims to be a Navy SEAL. He even provides photos of his adventures like this one;

    According to Tin Eye, McCarthy snagged that photo from a collection related to Special Boat Unit 20 and that the people in the picture are Pete Spooner and CPO Sweeny;

    And another – this time he’s diving the USS Oriskany on the Great *Carrier* Reef;

    The picture seems awfully similar to the bottom photo in this collection.

    Some of his pictures are snagged from Pinterest and Map Quest.

    In addition to Don Shipley’s verification that Brian McCarthy is not a Navy SEAL, the National Personnel Records Center has never heard of him and his expansive ass;

  • Tuesday morning feel good stories

    Tuesday morning feel good stories

    From Bloomfield, New Mexico;

    San Juan County deputies were called to a bizarre incident near Bloomfield in late May when a woman told deputies a man she didn’t know was bleeding all over her porch.

    “He’s still got the arrow in his arm,” said a dispatcher in the police video.

    The man on the woman’s porch turned out to be 38-year-old Eric Tillerson. Deputies and paramedics say he had an arrow lodged in his arm.

    “Does that hurt?” said a deputy to Tillerson heard in police video as he moans in pain.

    Deputies were trying to figure out what happened, and why someone had shot Tillerson with a bow and arrow.

    As Tillerson was rushed to a nearby hospital, deputies tracked his trail of blood back to the scene of the crime. When they found themselves at another house, the homeowner told them Tillerson had been coming by his home throughout the day, making threats.

    He then said Tillerson later hopped a fence and shot at a dog. That’s when he pulled out his bow and arrow and shot Tillerson in the arm.

    “How much pain are you in?” a detective is heard asking Tillerson during an interview, he replied, “Extreme. It f****** hurts man.”

    At the hospital, Tillerson bolted, but deputies found him soon after and eventually sat him down to ask what happened.

    “I’m looking for your side of the story,” said a detective.

    Tillerson said he did not know why the homeowner shot at him and claimed he was good friends with the person who shot him. But deputies weren’t buying it.

    Surveillance video ended up connecting Tillerson to an attempted break-in just days earlier at a Farmington home. One town over, and one arrow through his arm later, deputies said they had their guy.

    From Lady Lake, Florida;

    The culprit demanded money while pointing a gun at clerks and took an undisclosed amount of cash, deputies said.

    During the robbery, the assailant was believed to have been shot by an armed security guard, who fired two shots from his gun, according to officials.

    The thief dropped the cash and ran into the parking lot, where a getaway car was waiting, deputies said.

    The assailant was described as about 5 feet 7 inches tall and 250 pounds.

    From Bayonne, New Jersey;

    The two men, later identified as Bayonne residents Jonathan Belle, 35, and Tyrone A. Baskin, 48, approached the victim at a park bench around 11:30 a.m., threw him to the ground and began assaulting him, police said.

    They took his wallet and fled the scene, authorities said.

    The victim told police he was involved in past incidents involving the two men, although specific circumstances are unclear. Police Lt. Eric Amato could not immediately be reached for clarification.

    Baskin, of West 29th Street, has a detailed criminal history. He was arrested last month after being accused of brandishing a starter pistol inside the 7-Eleven on Avenue C, and in the same convenience store four years prior he was arrested for allegedly pulling a knife on a customer for being told he was “backing up the line.”

    Later in the day, officers responded to the Gorman Field parking lot near First Street and Humphrey Avenue on reports that four men in a white pickup truck had beaten two men with baseball bats, authorities said.

    Upon arrival just before 3 p.m., officers found a silver van belonging to Belle that had crashed into a wooden guard rail. Baskin was in the front passenger seat, unresponsive and bleeding from the head, while Belle was outside the vehicle, police said.

    “The assault is believed to be in retaliation for the robbery that had occurred earlier,” Amato said in a release.

    Both men were arrested and charged with robbery during the on-scene investigation after police headquarters informed the officers of their involvement in the attack earlier in the day. They were transported to Bayonne Medical Center for their injuries.

    Police, meanwhile, broadcasted a bulletin to units to be on the lookout for the pickup truck.

    The U.S. State Park Police quickly responded and notified police they had detained the four men at Liberty State Park.

    Gary Elam, 31; Elijah R. Porch, 24; Arthur L. Elam, 31; and Albert C. Smith, 33 — all Bayonne residents — were charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and endangering an injured victim.