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 San Jacinto, California;

    The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that deputies were sent to the store at 11:20 a.m. in the 700 block of San Jacinto Avenue.

    “During the investigation they found a shop owner, Nabeel Qandah, 42-year-old from San Jacinto, chased two subjects who were stealing two boxes of butane from his store,” the statement said. “Qandah attempted to stop the subjects who entered a waiting vehicle and drove away. Qandah fired his handgun at the vehicle.”

    Shortly after the shooting, Juan Miguel Macias, 41, San Jacinto, arrived at a nearby hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his arm.

    The sheriff’s statement said investigators learned Macias and a 16-year-old person, who was not named, had taken butane from the store without paying.

    “As they drove away, it appears Qandah discharged his firearm,” the statement said.

    From St. Paul, Iowa;

    A 15-year-old was arrested Friday afternoon several hours after he allegedly invaded a rural Lee County home, pulled a knife and demanded money from the residents.

    The teenager, whose name has not been released because of his age, was arrested Friday afternoon in Fort Madison by Lee County sheriff’s detectives, said Lee County Sheriff Stacy Weber.

    He was chased from the residence in the 1400 block of 210th Avenue in rural St. Paul and suffered injuries when he was assaulted by the homeowner, whose name has not been released.

    “I can’t comment at this time on very many details of the case, but I will say the homeowners were instrumental in the investigation and subsequent arrest,” Weber said, adding the investigation is ongoing and additional arrests could be made.

    From Midland, Michigan;

    Investigators say it happened just after 1:30 a.m. Monday when two men allegedly were caught breaking into a vehicle on East Ashman Street.

    Officers say they were chasing the suspects on foot when one of the men pulled out a gun and shot at police. The officer returned fire, killing the man.

    The second suspect was arrested.

  • AAFES brings back magazine sales

    AAFES brings back magazine sales

    AW1Ed sends us a link to Military Times which reports that the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the PX system, will begin selling ammunition magazines which hold more than 10 rounds after announcing recently that they would not stock those items. Complaints from their customers influenced the decision;

    Troops use these magazines, sold separately from firearms, to supplement the magazines they are issued. In addition, Guard and Reserve members said they need the magazines for training while they are not on active duty.

    “I’m currently deployed with 30-round PMAGs that I purchased at the PX, why don’t you trust us anymore?” one customer wrote on Facebook.

    Yeah, no shit. I mean, whose clientele has more actual need for those magazines than AAFEES? They want to be like Dick’s or WalMart, but they really can’t. The Marine Corps Exchange stopped selling the magazines in 2013, so AAFEES thought they should, too. Gumballs.

  • Ruben Lopez; phony SEAL

    Ruben Lopez; phony SEAL

    Our partners at Military Phonies share their work on this fellow, Ruben Lopez, who claims that he was a wounded Navy SEAL who participated in the Grenada Operation and Afghanistan in his more than 30 years of Naval service;

    The Navy doesn’t remember it that way;

    Ruben Lopez served in the United States Navy from December 1979 to November 1989. That is 21 fewer years than he claims. He left the Navy as a Construction Electricians Mate 2nd Class (E5). His medals include 2 Good Conduct Medals and one Expert Rifle Medal. His records show no schools associated with SEAL Training or a Purple Heart Medal.

  • Ahmed Alaklouk; illegal immigrant with an AR-style rifle

    Ahmed Alaklouk; illegal immigrant with an AR-style rifle

    22-year-old Ahmed Alaklouk, a Tunisian with Saudi Arabian citizenship is under arrest in Indiana. His student visa expired last September, but he’s still living in the US, in fact he owns a tire business. He also owned a half-dozen handguns and a “tricked out” Armalite-style rifle complete with scope and bump-stock.

    According to the Indy Star the local cops started investigating him when hotel security saw him with his weapon collection near the local Women’s March in downtown Indianapolis. They discovered his expired visa at about the time he pulled his handguns on a couple of customers in his tire repair shop. So that got him arrested;

    Alaklouk was charged in Marion Superior Court on Jan. 31 with two felony counts of criminal confinement, two felony counts of intimidation, one felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm and a battery misdemeanor.

    The federal gun charge came Wednesday.

    If convicted of the state charges, Alaklouk could face up to 16 years in state prison for each of two felony counts; up to six years each for two other counts; and up to 2 1/2 years for the fifth felony count.

    If convicted of the federal gun crime, Alaklouk could face up to 10 years in federal prison.

    Alaklouk claims that a customer gave him the rifle as a payment for work he did on the customer’s car. Non-US citizens aren’t allowed to possess firearms, but there you go.

  • Togo West passes

    Togo West passes

    Bobo sends us the sad news that Togo West has passed at the age of 75 from a heart attack while he was on a cruise in the Caribbean between Barbados and Puerto Rico.

    West served in the Army as an artillery officer and in the JAG Corps from 1965 – 1969. He went on to serve as General Counsel of the Navy and General Counsel of the Department of Defense during the Carter Administration. In the Clinton Administration, he served as Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. West also conducted the investigation into the Fort Hood terrorist attack.

  • Tuesday morning feel good stories

    Tuesday morning feel good stories

    From Jacksonville, Florida;

    Jacksonville Police were called around 11:30pm Sunday to the business on Beach Blvd. just east of Southside Blvd.

    Upon arrival, police found two people suffering from gunshot wounds. One died at the scene and the other died while being treated at a local hospital.

    According to JSO, three suspects entered the sweepstakes business armed with guns. During the robbery, an armed security guard who is employed by the business shot two of the suspects as they fled out the door.

    A third suspect was able to escape in a dark-colored SUV. JSO says it is reviewing video surveillance from Spin City Sweepstakes to provide a full description of the event.

    Bad day to be a crook in Jacksonville;

    Police said that two people, at least one of them armed with a gun, knocked at the door of a home on Thumper Street, off Jammes Road, about 11:30 a.m. When the resident opened, the door, they pushed their way inside. The resident was able to retrieve his gun and fired at least one shot.

    Police said the two robbers jumped out of second-floor windows of the home. One was found with a gunshot wound at the corner of Jammes and Harlow Boulevard. He was placed in custody, then taken to Orange Park Medical Center for treatment. Police are searching the area for the second robber.

  • Lizzie Warren: nobody is going to take that part of me away

    Lizzie Warren: nobody is going to take that part of me away

    On NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday, according to Yahoo News, Chuck Todd asked Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren why she won’t take a DNA spit test to shut up her opponents, most importantly, President Trump who calls her Pocahontas at every chance because of Warren’s questionable claims to a native-American heritage. Warren responded;

    Rather than address that question specifically, Warren told a story about how her mother and father, born and raised in Oklahoma, met as teenagers and fell head-over-heels in love. Her father’s family was bitterly opposed to their relationship, she said, because her mother was part Native American, but the couple eloped and persevered.

    “That’s the story that my brothers and I all learned from our Mom and our Dad, from our grandparents and all of our aunts and uncles. It’s a part of me, and nobody is going to take that part of me away — not ever,” Warren said.

    After hearing this story, Todd returned to his initial concern: Why not do genealogical research or take a DNA test to find out her actual heritage? What’s wrong with knowing whether her family’s story was the truth?

    “I do know. I know who I am. And never used it for anything, never got any benefit out of it anywhere,” she said.

    My follow up question would have been something about “how can they take anything from you?” You know, if a DNA test would prove her heritage. Unless, of course, she knows what the results would actually be – that she’s 100% full of crap. European crap. No one can take from her something she never had.

  • Exploding packages in Austin

    KXAN reports that, for the second time this month, a person was killed by an exploding package in Austin, Texas.

    Austin-Travis County EMS says a boy in his teens died at the scene and a woman was taken to a hospital after the explosion around 6:44 a.m. in the 4800 block of Oldfort Hill Drive, which is between 51st Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The woman has serious, potentially life-threatening injuries.

    Police are on scene and investigating another suspicious package. They cleared media and others away from the area and are using CapMetro buses to evacuate those in the area. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the postal inspector, will also help investigate.

    Anthony House was killed on his porch by a similar bomb ten days ago. At the time, Austin police said that they didn’t believe that “this is part of a bigger plan or a terrorist act”. I wonder what they think now.

    UPDATE: There has been another bombing today, the third in ten days;

    Multiple crews headed to the scene on the 6700 block of Galindo Street around 11:50 a.m., which is near Montopolis Drive and US Highway 183. Austin-Travis County EMS says a woman in her 70s went to the hospital with serious, potentially life-threatening injuries. Another woman in her 80s had an unrelated medical issue.