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

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Marine Sgt. Sean-Paul Donovan saving the world

    Marine Sgt. Sean-Paul Donovan saving the world

    The Marine Corps Times tells the story of former Marine Sgt. Sean-Paul Donovan who was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescuing one of his Marines from his attempt at suicide;

    The young Marine told Donovan — his acting platoon sergeant at the time with 2nd Radio Battalion — that he had “reached a point in his life that he felt he needed to take his own life,” Donovan said, recounting the phone conversation. “It took me by surprise.”

    Donovan tried to calm the Marine down, and convinced him to return to his house, where Donovan headed out to meet him.

    As Donovan left for the house he phoned his chain of command and the Jacksonville, North Carolina, police department.

    The junior Marine was holding two pistols in his hands when Donovan entered the house.

    And once inside the house with the armed Marine, Donovan kept his phone on and the line open with the police, so they could hear everything that was going on.

    Eventually, Donovan and another Marine wrestled the pistols from the distraught Marine. The pistols misfired when the Marine tried to shoot Donovan;

    After leaving the Corps in 2017 after five years, including two six-month combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Donovan received a call from his chain of command informing him that the unit was considering him for the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

    “It blew my mind I was even being put in for such an award,” he told Marine Corps Times. “At the end of the day, what transpired that day, is what I would expect anyone to do.”

    Thanks to AW1Ed for the link.

  • John Spodofora’s stolen valor comes back to haunt him

    John Spodofora’s stolen valor comes back to haunt him

    We’ve been after Stafford Township, New Jersey mayor John Spodofora for six years. He has been pretending to be a secret squirrel Navy SEAL for at least that long. Well someone defaced one of his campaign signs with the words “Stolen Valor” and he’s in a snit according to the Sandpiper;

    The insult alludes to a controversy that began shortly before the 2015 election, when retired U.S. Navy man and stolen valor activist Earl Galloway accused Spodofora of exaggerating his military service, by describing himself as a Vietnam War veteran in his professional bio on the town’s website. All along, the mayor has said his security classification prohibits him from talking specifically about his involvement in that war or being able to prove he ever set “boots on the ground” in Vietnam. He nonetheless changed his bio to read Vietnam Era veteran.

    In the mayor’s defense, [Township Administrator James] Moran said Spodofora legitimately served eight years in the Navy and received a medal for being under enemy fire during the Vietnam War.

    I wonder which medal that is; the Good Conduct Medal or the National Defense Service Medal, because those are his sole awards. He was stationed in Puerto Rico and the Canal Zone, but never anywhere near Vietnam;

    The Vietnam War ended 43 years ago. The biggest secret of World War II, the US possessing the Enigma Machine, was declassified 25 years after that war ended, but I’m sure Spodofora’s secret service was more important than the Enigma Machine.

    If his service in Vietnam was so secret that he can’t prove he was there, why was he highlighting his service in Vietnam on his public website?

  • Saturday morning feel good stories

    Saturday morning feel good stories

    From Wisner, Nebraska;

    Police and rescue personnel were called to a residence in Wisner Thursday morning just before 7:00 a.m., according to the Cuming County Attorney.

    They say that Jabin Sateren, 26, of Wisner, was shot by the owner after Sateren tried to forcibly gain entrance to the residence.

    Sateren was taken to an area hospital before being transferred to an Omaha hospital.

    No charges will be filed against the homeowner.

    An update to yesterday’s story from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina;

    The Roanoke Rapids Police Department says Wade Carter, 54, of Roanoke Rapids, will be charged with first degree burglary when he is cleared from the hospital.

    Roanoke Rapids police say the home invasion happened around 3:30 a.m. Thursday in the 500 block of Raleigh Street.

    The homeowner told police they awoke after hearing a noise, retrieved a firearm, and then confronted the person inside the home.

    Police say the homeowner shot three times, hitting the person at least once before they ran from the home.

    Around 4:15 p.m., officers were told that there was a man at the hospital with a possible gunshot wound, which turned out to be Carter.

  • Weekend open thread

    Weekend open thread

    May 25, 2018

    Sunny Days

    Off the coast of California, Your Shot photographer Adam Martin was rewarded for his patience. “I sat for 30 minutes and watched an explosion of color unfold before my eyes,” he says. “Bright orange Garibaldi, the state fish of California, bathed in the sunbeams on a warm and sunny day.”

  • Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez pleads guilty in McCain collision

    Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez pleads guilty in McCain collision

    Stars & Stripes reports that Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez pleaded guilty today for dereliction of duty in regards to the collision of the USS McCain;

    Former Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez appeared somber and tearful during a special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard for the criminal charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sanchez pleaded guilty as part of an agreement reached earlier this year and has yet to be sentenced, but could face a letter of reprimand and forfeiture of a portion of his pay for three months.

    The criminal conviction could be a career-ending move for Sanchez, who has spent more than 20 years in the service.

    “He negligently failed to ensure the safe navigation of the said vessel,” the charge sheet said, “as it was his duty to do as Commanding Officer to ensure a proper watch was set for transiting a high-density contact contact environment; take proper action and control of the vessel during system casualty; follow operational Standing Orders during a conceived system casualty, and that such dereliction of duty contributing to the death” of the 10 sailors.

  • Rachel Dolezal faces felony charges

    Rachel Dolezal faces felony charges

    Rachel Dolezal, the woman who pretended to be a Black woman is now looking at felony charges for welfare fraud, perjury and false verification for public assistance according to Fox News;

    The charges against Dolezal, who changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in October 2016, were first reported by KHQ-TV.

    According to court documents, investigators with Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) started looking into Dolezal’s finances in March 2017 after the publication of her autobiography, “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.”

    DSHS investigator Kyle Bunge said Dolezal had claimed that “her only source of income was $300.00 per month in gifts from friends.” However, the department found that she had deposited nearly $84,000 in her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017 without reporting it.

    She still claims to be black, despite the fact that both of her parents are of European extraction;

    “People didn’t seem able to consider that maybe both were true,” she said at the time. “OK, I was born to white parents, but maybe I had an authentic black identity.”

  • A good guy with a gun in Oklahoma

    A number of folks have sent us links in regards to an active shooter in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma who entered a restaurant and opened fire wounding a mother and her daughter. An armed citizen used his own gun to stop the shooter;

    Another person at the establishment confronted the shooter with a pistol and ultimately shot the suspect who later died from injuries.

    OKCPD tweeted, “ALERT: The only confirmed fatality is the suspect. He was apparently shot-to-death by an armed citizen. Three citizens were injured, two of whom were shot. A large number of witnesses are detained. There is no indication of terrorism at this point.”

    From Daily Wire, police credit the armed citizen with saving lives;

    “It’s a blessing this was stopped [when it was] who knew when this guy was going to stop shooting people,” Captain Bo Matthews told KOCO.

  • Lt. Col. Christopher DeMure charged with fraud

    Lt. Col. Christopher DeMure charged with fraud

    Bobo sends us a link to the story of Lt. Col. Christopher DeMure, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment within the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, is charged with wire fraud and money laundering.

    According to charging documents, DeMure’s scheme involved claims made to military insurer USAA Federal Savings Bank as well as American Express on at least seven separate occasions. In one incident, he allegedly claimed more than $215,000 in false losses from a U-Haul van he said was burglarized in July 2016 when he moved to JBER from Fort Benning, Ga.

    DeMure filed forged documents from local police to bolster his claims;

    In a Palmer case from last year, DeMure allegedly told local police a backpack containing an Apple iWatch and goods worth thousands of dollars was stolen from the parking lot of the Palmer Fred Meyer. After speaking with Palmer police officer Virginia Calvert, he allegedly submitted a fake Palmer police report written by an “Officer Z. Calvert” to American Express to document his claim – a report denied by the real Officer Calvert when investigators spoke with her.

    He’s looking at 20 years in prison and a quarter-million dollar fine.