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

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Mack Miller; deserter for Nevada Assembly

    Mack Miller; deserter for Nevada Assembly

    According to the Nevada Review-Journal, Mack Miller, a Republican candidate for the state Assembly, deserted his unit while they were deployed to Iraq in 2007. He came to the States from the deployment on mid-tour leave and never bothered to return to his unit. Miller tells the story that he got an email from unit while he was on leave to not bother returning to Iraq because of an injury.

    Miller said that while he was on a 14-day mandatory “rest and relaxation” leave a sergeant emailed him to say “don’t bother coming back.” Miller could not recall who sent the email or provide a copy of it.

    But Eric Owens, who was Miller’s platoon leader, said he was not notified of any injuries.

    ”I cannot recall an instance where he reported an injury to his leadership because we would have sent him to get checked out,” said Owens, who is now out of the Army and lives in Atlanta.

    “He made no statement that he was injured. He just left us in Iraq during quite possibly one of the most difficult lives in our lives.”

    After he was arrested by civilian authorities in Los Angeles and sent back to the Army, Miller appeared in a court martial and convicted of desertion, sentenced to 18 months confinement, reduction in rank to Private (E-1) and a bad conduct discharge.

    Miller, who also pleaded guilty last year to impersonating a police officer, said he never again saw the soldiers he served with in Iraq. But they see him campaigning for Assembly and posting tributes to a fallen comrade. A post on Memorial Day enraged those soldiers who said 16 lives were lost in Iraq while Miller was AWOL.

    “It seemed he was trying to score political points off of someone who died for us,” said Kyle Spletter, a former Army specialist who now lives in Wisconsin. “Miller ran from battle. He left us. Our leaders didn’t leave us.”

  • Saturday morning feel good stories

    Saturday morning feel good stories

    Russ sends us a link from Mobile, Alabama;

    The victim stated the suspects came to his residence and one of the suspects began kicking the door attempting to gain entry. The victim said as he opened the door to his residence he spotted the suspects pulling out their guns and that is when he shot at them. The suspects also shot back striking the residence numerous times.

    One of the suspects, 28-year-old Robert Bexley, was treated at the hospital and released. Bexley has been booked in to Metro Jail and is charged with burglary first degree, shooting into an occupied dwelling and possession of a short barrel rifle.

    The second suspect is still in the hospital and is listed in critical but stable condition.

    From Choctaw County, Mississippi;

    The adolescent was alone in the house when Jerry Lee Robinson arrived with the weapon, Choctaw County Chief Deputy Lee Upchurch said, according to The Associated Press.

    After the adult made a threatening move, the juvenile fired at Robinson, Upchurch said. Authorities reportedly discovered that the man, who was non-responsive and later pronounced dead, had been shot in the chest.

    The juveniles’ mother, Rachel Cork, told WCBI that her 16-year-old son “defended himself” against Robinson. The teen was identified as a relative of Robinson’s.

    “Yeah, my son defended himself,” Cork told the outlet. “It could have been the other way around. It could have been my son, I’m the one I’m picking up and having to bury, but it wasn’t.”

  • Weekend open thread

    Weekend open thread

    June 1, 2018

    City Sunset

    The sun sets over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, one spring evening. The city was founded by Portuguese explorers in 1565 and has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    Just a warning – our $6000 annual rent comes due next month, I pay a year in advance so that I save $1200/year. So start digging that change out from your couch cushions. I’ll be rattling my tin cup next month.

  • Samantha Bee is the feckless c### here

    The other night, Samantha Bee, the shrieking harpy on TBS’ low-rated “Full Frontal” program called Ivanka Trump a “feckless c###” and People reports that two of her sponsors, Autotrader and Farmers’ Insurance, have pulled their ads as a result.

    CNN Money reported that an Autotrader spokesperson explained the suspension is not a temporary thing. “We will not run Autotrader advertising on Samantha Bee’s show moving forward,” they wrote in a statement to the outlet.

    State Farm Insurance is also pulling their advertising dollars.

    The company told CNN Money, “[We have] asked TBS to suspend our advertising in the program and are reviewing any future placements. We constantly review programs to ensure alignment to our programming guidelines and brand values.”

    They haven’t been paying attention to the program if this single incident triggered a response. Every week, Bee calls the President a Nazi and a racist, with no real supporting evidence.

    Her whole shtick is that she’s the only woman with a late-night program and she insults women in the Trump Administration, you know, because conservative women are not worthy of her praise. The Canadian immigrant complained that her first vote in a Presidential election didn’t result in Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 election.

    So. Sally Field has to weigh in on Bee’s name calling episode, according to CNN;

    Sally Field…tweeted on Thursday afternoon that Bee was wrong to call the first daughter a “cunt.”

    “Cunts are powerful, beautiful, nurturing and honest,” Field wrote.

    I guess some women are more equal than others.

  • Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dahn saving the world

    Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dahn saving the world

    Stars & Stripes reports the story of how Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dahn rescued honeymooning Chinese citizen Ching-Yi Sze from drowning on Okinawa;

    Ching-Yi Sze — who was honeymooning on the southern Japanese island prefecture during the May 20 incident — ripped off her mask. When a dive leader put it back on, she pulled out her regulator, which he also replaced, said Dahn, who initially assumed the two were training.

    But when the woman again removed her mask and regulator, Dahn — a 3rd Maintenance Battalion training chief based at Camp Kinser — immediately responded.

    “She was flailing in the water, which is usually the sign of a panicked diver,” he said.

    When Dahn reached Sze, who was 30 feet away, he put the regulator back in her mouth. She spat it out, so he grabbed it and pushed against her teeth until she opened up, he said. Dahn then held the regulator to her face and signaled to the dive leader that they needed to head up.

    By the time they reached the surface, Sze was unresponsive and barely breathing. Her lips were blue, her eyes had rolled back into her head, and she was foaming at the mouth because of the saltwater she had ingested.

    Dahn inflated her buoyancy control vest and began towing her to shore.

    When they reached land, he carried her up several flights of stairs and helped her breath through an oxygen tank while his wife, April, called for paramedics.

    Dahn laid Sze on her left side while she coughed up seawater.

  • Donavan Macura passes

    Donavan Macura passes

    Stars & Stripes reports that a Marine, Donavan Macura, collapsed on a three-mile run in Okinawa, barely a week into his new assignment;

    Donavan Macura, 19, of Kalispell, Mont., was on a 3-mile run when he suddenly dropped to one knee, had a seizure and collapsed, according to the Daily Inter Lake newspaper of Kalispell. Family members were unaware of any previous medical conditions that could have caused his death.

    Macura — whose rank was not immediately available — had left Camp Pendleton for Okinawa on May 19, the Marine’s friends said on social media.

    Macura enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school, according to the Flathead Beacon. His high school wrestling coach told the Montana newspaper that Macura “stood for what the Marines stand for: doing the right things, working hard, being disciplined, watching out for each other.”

  • Friday morning feel good stories

    Friday morning feel good stories

    From Grand Junction, Colorado;

    A husband and wife who live in the 2100 block of 45½ Road told law enforcement that they “were happy they didn’t have to shoot” a man high on methamphetamine who kept trying to get in their home early Tuesday.

    Mesa County sheriff’s deputies arrested Robert Ortego, 53, after they found him on the back porch of a residence just after 4 a.m. The homeowner called authorities after Ortego allegedly tried to force open the back door, this after circling the home looking for a way inside. During the call, a dispatcher could hear the homeowner in the background “screaming he would shoot him,” according to an affidavit for Ortego’s arrest.

    Ortego was fidgety and incoherent at times, and he showed other physical signs of being high on methamphetamine, deputies noted. Ortego allegedly admitted to recently shooting up, according to deputies, and made numerous paranoid and nonsensical statements during questioning.

    The husband and wife who confronted Ortego as he tried to break into their home in the middle of the night told deputies Ortego got on their back porch and attempted to force open the back door.

    “(The homeowners) stated they were both terrified of him getting into the house but happy they didn’t have to shoot him,” an arrest affidavit reads.

    A judge issued Ortego a $5,000 cash-only bond on Wednesday.

    Ortego was on parole at the time of his arrest, and previously served a five-year sentence for a drug-related case.

    From Wales, Wisconsin;

    According to the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to a burglary-in-progress in the Village of Wales around 6:20 p.m.

    Officials say a 76-year-old male homeowner was involved in a physical altercation with a 33-year-old man. The 33-year-old man became unresponsive during the altercation and was later pronounced deceased.

    At this time, names are being withheld pending notifications and further investigation.

    From Harris County, Texas;

    Deputies say a robbery suspect is dead after he showed up to a hospital in north Harris County.

    Authorities tell Eyewitness News this all began as a gunfight between the robber and a resident in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 16700 Kuykendahl Rd. around 9 p.m. Wednesday.

    Investigators say the victim told them that the suspect shot at him first, so he pulled out his gun and fired back.

    That’s when the suspect was injured. Officials say he drove himself to Kindred Hospital.

    He was then transferred to Houston Northwest Hospital due to the severity of his injury. We’re told that’s where he died.

    In Farmington, New Mexico;

    Hours after sending an alert saying they sought a suspect shot with a bow and arrow, San Juan County deputies say they they found him.

    Eric Tillerson faces charges of aggravated assault, trespassing and cruelty to animals. Deputies say a homeowner shot Tillerson after Tillerson threatened him and began shooting the homeowner’s dog with a pellet gun.

    Tillerson reported walked out of the intensive care unit after being taken for treatment.

  • Immediate action drill rewritten for M4A1

    Immediate action drill rewritten for M4A1

    The Army has changed the immediate action drill for the M4A1 after a soldier found a malfunction in a converted M4A1 from an M4 carbine according to Military.com;

    “The operator pulled the trigger with the selector switch between the semi and auto detents (outside of detent). The weapon did not fire when the operator pulled the trigger and instead fired when the selector was moved further,” according to the messages.

    No one was injured in the incident. U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, or TACOM, issued Safety of Use messages in March and April to address the issue.

    So, now the IAD reads;

    TACOM has modified the traditional immediate action drill known as SPORTS to C-SPORTS, if the weapon does not fire when the trigger is pulled, message 18-005 states.

    1. Confirm that the selector is set to semi, auto or burst.

    2. Slap upward on the magazine to make sure it is properly seated.

    3. Pull the charging handle completely to the rear and hold.

    4. Observe for ejection of case or cartridge, and ensure the cartridge or case is ejected and the chamber is clear.

    5. Release the charging handle to feed a new round.

    6. Tap the forward assist to ensure the bolt is closed.

    7. Squeeze the trigger; the weapon should fire.

    Thanks to Stephen for the link.