May 4, 2018
Peak Morning
Sunrise reaches Mount Fuji before reaching the city of Fujiyoshida, Japan. The highest peak in Japan (elevation 12,389 feet) is also an active volcano, which last erupted more than 300 years ago.
By the way, the official TAH watering hole is now open in the nation’s capitol. All proceeds go straight into my pocket. It’s called Slash Run and it’s managed by my daughter. The Washington Post has judged the burgers to be among the very best in the DC Area.
According to the Dallas Morning News, former CIA director Michael Hayden told TV viewers that most of the hysteria over the Jade Helm conspiracy theory was generated by Russian bots.
Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe as part of a book tour, Hayden, a retired Air Force four-star general who also ran the National Security Agency, said Russians fueled the distrust over the military training exercise in an attempt to influence the American public.
“There was an exercise in Texas called Jade Helm 15 that Russian bots and the American alt-right media convinced most — many — Texans was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents,” Hayden said… Hayden said the Russians have continued to use that strategy, notably on other topics such as NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem and coverage of a meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr.; former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort; the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and several Russians.
Yeah, well, some of us have been inoculated against foreign bots and refuse to be sucked in.
About four years ago, we republished a blog post from Military Phonies about Dennis Chevalier who claimed to be an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel pilot. It turns out that his only military service was 20 days in the Texas National Guard;
He joined forces with Dan Bernath and Dallas Wittgenfeld in a joint effort to put an end to TAH. It looks like he’s followed the same path as the other DRG members. He’s been arrested for aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon;
It looks like he’s being held without bail.
And TAH still stands.
Our partners at Military Phonies send us their work on this Alvin “Double A” Boone fellow. He’s been claiming to be a Navy SEAL for decades;
From Military Phonies;
The records show that Boone did go to Coronado in 1986 to attend BUD/S training. With that information, we contacted past instructors that were there at the time. He is remembered for being there but did not make it through training. He would have classed up with class 140 which would have been a hell of a guess for the training announcement for the class he was teaching. On his resume, he stated he “attended BUD/S.” That’s not really a lie but at the end of the day, most people don’t list schools that they failed on a resume – since it is implied that they are accomplishments.
After all, if someone lists that they attended law school one would reasonably expect them to be a lawyer. If someone lists that they attended medical school we would, in turn, expect them to be a doctor. Stated another way – there is a reasonable expectation that they completed the training.
The SCRA is added to clarify for the FOIA.
From Port Orchard, Washington;
A man who shot an intruder in his yard last week told a Kitsap County sheriff’s detective that after hearing somebody bang on the windows of his house, he armed himself and went outside to confront the suspect, who appeared to be on drugs or having a mental crisis.
The homeowner said he shot at the man when he came around a corner and charged him, but didn’t believe he hit him. During the confrontation, the homeowner “bear-hugged” the suspect and took him to the ground, then ordered him to stay there until officers arrived. His wife and children watched from the doorway.
“He scared the daylights out of me,” the homeowner told a detective, according to court documents.
The suspect, 28-year-old Jeffrey Preston Ratcliff, was taken to a Tacoma hospital for surgery following the April 26 shooting and was discharged Tuesday morning. Deputies arrested him at his house in Port Orchard in the afternoon and booked him into the Kitsap County Jail.
From Atlanta, Georgia;
A teenager was shot and killed while attempting to rob someone in southwest Atlanta late Wednesday evening, according to police.
The shooting happened around 10:10 p.m. along Drummond Street near Joseph E Lowery SW.
Quindarious Billinger told police he opened fire on the suspect after being robbed and shot. The teen suspect was struck during the shootout and died as a result.
Billinger was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. No word yet on his current condition.
Update; MassLive has finally removed the picture of LT Fuller.
MassLive wrote an article about Kyle Reyes, whose conservative politics got him uninvited to Southwick-Tolland Regional School’s Veterans Memorial Foyer. For some reason, MassLive used an image of Marine 1st Lt. Travis J. Fuller;
The positioning of the photo and the caption gives the impression that it’s a picture of Reyes. As near as we can determine, Kyle Reyes has no military service. The family of Lieutenant Fuller tells us that Reyes asked for permission to use the picture of Lieutenant Fuller for another different media gig, and they refused to grant their permission. No one asked their permission for this particular article.
According to Military Times Lieutenant Fuller was killed in a CH-53 crash in Iraq along with 29 other Marines and a sailor on January 26, 2005. Kyle Reyes was not.
The family has tried to contact MassLive and Mr Reyes to remove the image and disassociate the picture from the article, but they’ve been unsuccessful. It appears that the author of the article is Hope Tremblay.
Update; MassLive has finally removed the picture of LT Fuller.
Jose Pazos confronted some panhandlers in Miami when the former Marine saw them in Army uniforms representing the organization that calls themselves Veterans and Patriots Citadel Incorporated. According to the NBC affiliate, their license to solicit has been suspended by the State of Florida;
The Florida Department of Agriculture suspended the authority for Veterans and Patriots Citadel Incorporated to collect donations as a charity on the day of the incident.
Veterans and Patriots Citadel Incorporated told NBC 6 that it was the state’s fault their license was suspended, but Florida said the group did not file the correct paperwork to keep its license.
From Local 10 News;
Pazos, who served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he confronted the two men after he witnessed them collecting donations in full uniform at Bird Road and Southwest 67th Avenue in southwest Miami-Dade County.
“I am 99.9 percent sure these guys are scam artists,” Pazos said.
Pazos confronted the two men last week when he spotted them when he was on his way to work.
“They’re not doing anything for veterans and that’s what infuriated me,” Pazos said.
The Department of Defense announced the release of Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi to the Saudi government;
The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In a February 2014 plea, al Darbi pled guilty at a military commission. Now, having complied with the terms of that agreement, al Darbi will serve out the balance of his 13-year sentence in Saudi Arabia. He has waived his right to appeal.
In accordance with statutory requirements, the secretary of defense informed Congress of the United States’ intent to transfer this individual and of the secretary’s determination that this transfer met the statutory standard. The last announcement of a Guantanamo detainee transfer took place Jan. 19, 2017.
al Darbi pleaded guilty to helping to plan the October 6, 2002 attack on the French oil tanker Limburg near the port of Mukalla, Yemen. Al-Darbi admitted to having “bought boats, Global Positioning System devices and a hydraulic crane in the United Arab Emirates for use in the operation” and handling money “earmarked for it by Al Qaeda.” He admitted intending for civilians to be killed; one Bulgarian crew died and 12 sailors were injured. He has been held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba since August 2002.