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

Author: AW1Ed

  • Wednesday Feel Good Stories

    1911

    Generally speaking, it’s better to bring your own gun to a gun fight.
    BRPD says LSU athletes shot, killed man who tried to rob them
    Juliana Mazza

    BATON ROUGE, La. — Baton Rouge police said 18-year-old Kobe Johnson was shot during an attempted robbery of two LSU athletes Saturday afternoon, according to WDSU’s Baton Rouge affiliate WVLA.

    According to police, the two student athletes were trying to sell an electronic item when Johnson pulled out a gun, attempting to rob the athletes. Authorities said one of the athletes was able to get the handgun away and fire, hitting Johnson multiple times WVLA reports.

    Johnson died at the scene on 68th Ave. around noon Saturday.

    The two students were detained for questioning after calling police to report the incident. After questioning and reviewing evidence, police released both of the student athletes from BRPD custody without charges. Sources say police are investigating whether the shooting was self-defense.

    Read the rest of the article and watch the video at: WDSU News

    Stubborn or stupid?
    Bradenton man shot during break-in, Sarasota sheriff says
    By Carlos R. Munoz
    The homeowner shot the 28-year-old man who tried to enter his home in self-defense Friday night.

    SARASOTA — A 28-year-old Bradenton man who attempted to enter a home illegally on Friday night was shot by the homeowner in self-defense, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said.

    The victim was identified as James Jarvis of Bradenton, who detectives say left a bar Friday after 1 a.m. and, at about 2 a.m., attempted to enter a home through the back door in the 2800 block of Mayflower Street.

    Jarvis was confronted by the homeowner, who told him to leave, but he refused, and the homeowner shot him in self-defense, according to detectives.

    He is currently at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in critical but stable condition.

    The entire article may be viewed at: The Herald Tribune

  • Trump keeps up drumbeat for border wall

    trump oval officePresident Donald Trump stated: “It’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country. But other than that, I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.” | Zach Gibson/Getty Images
    By DAVID COHEN

    President Donald Trump used a Christmas morning gathering in the Oval Office to reiterate the reasons he insists funding is needed for a border wall, even if it means the federal government will continue to be partially shut down.

    “I can’t tell you when the government is going to reopen,“ Trump said, according to pool reports.

    Not until, he explained, “we have a wall, a fence, whatever they’d like to call it. I’ll call it whatever they want. But it’s all the same thing. It’s a barrier from people pouring into our country.”

    ~~~~

    The president said he thought that even those federal workers who were losing their paychecks would be supportive of his efforts.

    “I think they understand what’s happening,“ he said. “They want border security. The people of this country want border security. It’s not a question of me. I’d rather not be doing shutdowns.”

    I can assure President Trump DON civilians, myself included, would rather not be doing shutdowns, either. Non-essential employees will be furloughed and go home without pay; the lucky exempt folks, including myself, will go in tomorrow and work without pay. Since this isn’t a sequester, there’s a reasonable belief that lost pay will be reinstated. Pretty good deal for the furloughed, who get an unexpected paid vacation, even if the pay is belated. What really chaffs my ass is this is for only $5B USD, which is essentially a rounding error in the US budget. Money isn’t the issue of course, or even The Wall. It’s brinkmanship between Trump and Schumer with us caught in the middle. Again.

    Lars, before you jump in with both feet loudly declaring how Trump sucks, take a calming breath and try for that rational sweet spot you hit yesterday, and recognize that both sides pretty much suck here. Thanks.

    The rest of the article may be viewed at: The Politico

  • Sully, President Bush’s service dog, trains for work at Walter Reed

    sullyGeorge H.W. Bush’s service dog Sully recognized for his service.
    By Nicole Darrah | Fox News

    Sully, former President George H.W. Bush’s service dog, has temporarily moved back to his birthplace before he heads to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center next year.

    The 2-year-old service dog, who captured Americans’ hearts after the 41st president died late last month, was welcomed back with open arms and a round of applause by America’s VetDogs on Wednesday.

    “We’re very honored that we had the opportunity over the course of the last six or seven months to work with former President George H.W. Bush,” John Miller, president and CEO of the organization, said at a press event in Long Island, New York.

    Miller said that Bush and his family, along with their team, “were first class in every way and worked very hard with us to make sure that Sully … served the president the best he could.”

    Sully’s final trainer and service dog program manager, Valerie Cramer, said she was the one who received the call from Bush’s team in April inquiring about a service dog for the onetime president.

    _ _ _ _ _

    When Bush died, “it was his wish that Sully serve other veterans,” she said. Bush’s wish will be granted sometime around February, when Sully will provide animal-assisted intervention at the military medical center in Bethesda, Maryland.

    Sully will visit with injured veterans and help to provide comfort during rehabilitation sessions, Cramer said. “He will be fulfilling President Bush’s request.”

    Several labs have been family members at la Casa de AW1Ed. They are friendly, loyal, playful, and don’t be fooled by that somewhat goofy personality; they are one of the smartest of the working breeds. What a great gesture of 41 and family. I can’t think of a better place for Sully to be.

    Read the article in its entirety at: Fox News

  • Christmas Day Feel Good Stories

    christmas trees

    tree of life

    In the spirit of the season, the TAH FGS staff wishes all a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Especially during the holiday season, our thoughts turn to those who have made our progress possible here, and I think I speak for all when I say thank you.
    Best Regards,
    AW1Ed

  • US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan to have little impact, official says

    us marinesU.S. Marines stand in formation during a ceremony in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The Pentagon is developing plans to withdraw up to half of the 14,000 American troops serving in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said, marking a sharp change in the Trump administration’s policy aimed at forcing the Taliban to the peace table after more than 17 years of war. (Massoud Hossaini/AP)
    By: Amir Shah, The Associated Press

    KABUL, Afghanistan — The withdrawal of half of the 14,000 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan will have little impact on the fighting capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces, the spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani said Friday.

    Haroon Chakansuri was responding to reports the Pentagon is developing plans to withdraw 7,000 American soldiers by the summer. He said Afghanistan’s military has been in charge of the country’s security since 2014 when more than 100,000 NATO troops withdrew.

    Since then, U.S. forces have provided training and advice, assisting in military operations only when requested by Afghan troops.

    However, the Taliban are stronger today than they have been since their ouster in 2001. They control or hold sway over nearly half the country, carrying out near daily attacks that mostly target Afghan security forces.

    A Taliban official, who did not want to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, called the planned withdrawal a “positive step” that can aid efforts at a negotiated end to the fighting.

    Since leading the multi-nation invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. has lost more than 2,400 soldiers and spent more than $900 billion in its longest war

    First Syria, now Afghanistan. President Trump has directed the Pentagon to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from there as well, ending the 17-year deployment of American forces in-country.

    More than 7,000 service members will begin returning from Afghanistan in coming months, per White House order. This comes shortly after Trump signaled plans to remove all U.S. forces from Syria, declaring that “We have won against ISIS.”

    This and Syria are quite a Christmas present. Standing by for the obligatory howls of angst from IVAW and others of chattering class, who just a short while ago were protesting our military presence there.

    The rest of the article may be viewed at: The Military Times

  • Christmas Eve Feel Good Stories

    santa gun
    Cookies and milk? I don’t THINK so!

    Illegal released because, California.
    California man, previously deported in 2014, goes on 24-hour ‘reign of terror’ before dying in police chase
    By Ryan Gaydos | Fox News

    garciaCalifornia shooting spree suspect was deported in 2014. This undated photo provided by the Tulare County, Calif., Sheriff’s Office shows Gustavo Garcia. Central California authorities say Garcia, who went on a robbery, shooting and carjacking rampage, died Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, in a high-speed crash during which he intentionally tried to smash into other cars. (Tulare County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

    A 36-year-old man who had been deported at least once and who owned a lengthy rap sheet died Monday after a day-long “reign of terror” in which he shot and killed someone, carjacked another person and led California police on a dangerous high-speed pursuit.

    Gustavo Garcia, of Visalia, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on State Route 65 in Porterville when he was ejected from a stolen truck. Four others were injured, including one person who was in critical. Garcia, who was deported in 2014, had engaged in a gun battle with police and purposely tried to smash into other cars during the chase, officials said.

    “We have one man that essentially [has] been on a personal reign of terror,” Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at a news conference.

    Garcia has a lengthy criminal record that dates back to 2002, including charges for illegal firearm possession and meth, according to the Fresno Bee. Before his 2014 deportation, Garcia had three Immigration and Customs Enforcement violations. Boudreaux wouldn’t confirm Garcia’s immigration status at the time of his death or what country Garcia originated from.

    Garcia’s rampage started at around 1 p.m. Sunday when he shot a farm worker who was in the middle of unpacking fruit in Exeter. The farm worker was expected to recover.

    Moments later, Garcia robbed a convenience store with surveillance footage showing Garcia firing shots at the ceiling and demanding more than $2,000 in cash, according to the Fresno Bee. Police believe the shooting of the farm worker was meant to be a distraction for the robbery.

    At 7:30 p.m., Garcia shot a Motel 6 guest in the arm and chest in Tulare, police said. Her wounds weren’t considered to be life-threatening.

    “She had made eye contact with the subject and he had followed her to her parking spot, where he got out of the car and for an unbeknownst reason began firing at her vehicle,” Tulare interim Police Chief Matt Machado said.

    At around 1:30 a.m. Monday, Garcia shot up a Shell gas station near Pixley and then killed Rocky Paul Jones, 51, about an hour later outside an Arco AMPM in Visalia, police Chief Jason Salazar said.

    “It appears his rampage and his acts of violence were random and they were not chosen targets, which makes it even more dangerous,” Boudreaux said. “This person was targeting anyone who got in the way.”

    He then fired shots from the backyard of his ex-girlfriend’s Visalia home as she and her children were inside. Police said the girlfriend and her children escaped unscathed.

    Garcia fired shots into a home in the Sultana area and then crashed his car after a two-minute police chase during which he shot and hit pursuing sheriff’s cars and deputies fired back.

    The kick in the gut? Garcia was arrested for a misdemeanor by the sheriff’s office and ICE put a detainer request on him. Garcia had a lengthy rap sheet, including being deported TWICE. But because of California’s new sanctuary city law, SB54, the sheriff’s office was unable to comply with the detainer request and had to release Garcia. Catch and release at its finest.

    Read the rest of this completely avoidable one-man crime spree at: Fox News

    “Critically wounded?” Hope it’s nothing trivial.
    Robbery suspect shot, critically wounded at New Orleans East auto-parts store: NOPD
    By Laura McKnight

    A robbery suspect was critically wounded when he was shot Friday night at a New Orleans East auto-parts store, New Orleans police confirmed.

    Police responded just after 6 p.m. to a call of shots fired in the 9300 block of Chef Menteur Highway and arrived to find a robbery victim had shot a suspected robber, the NOPD said late Friday. The NOPD did not indicate whether the robbery victim is affiliated with the store.

    Police on Saturday identified the suspect as 22-year-old Toney Brown. An update on Brown’s condition was not immediately available.

    An ambulance picked up the wounded man and took him to a local hospital, according to New Orleans EMS spokesman Lt. Jonathan Fourcade.

    Friday night, NOPD officers were investigating inside of the AutoZone Auto Parts in the 9300 block of Chef Menteur. One of the store’s glass front doors and a window were shattered from apparent bullet holes. Three lime-green evidence comes had been placed in front of the doorway. At least one more cone sat on the floor inside the store.

    The rest of the article may be viewed here: NOLA.com

  • NBC reports Turkish President promised President Trump he’d finish ISIS in Syria

    erdogan
    OAN Newsroom

    The president of Turkey reportedly promises that his country will finish the fight against ISIS in Syria, according to an NBC News report on Saturday citing senior White House officials.

    Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan allegedly gave his word to President Trump as a “friend,” stating that if the U.S. were to pull out of Syria, Turkey would be able to handle the remaining ISIS fighters in the country’s northern region.

    Trump tweeted,

    I am in the White House, working hard. News reports concerning the Shutdown and Syria are mostly FAKE. We are negotiating with the Democrats on desperately needed Border Security (Gangs, Drugs, Human Trafficking & more) but it could be a long stay. On Syria, we were originally…

    ….going to be there for three months, and that was seven years ago – we never left. When I became President, ISIS was going wild. Now ISIS is largely defeated and other local countries, including Turkey, should be able to easily take care of whatever remains. We’re coming home!

    Trump claimed Middle Eastern countries and NATO allies such as Turkey, could handle the fight on terror. Maybe so, but I see no mention of the Kurds, and Turkey’s intentions towards them.

    Read the article at: One America News Network

  • A Different Kind Of Stolen Valor

    viet-of-the-namPhoto by Rocklin Lyons

    Here’s a guest post from our very own Perry Gaskins. Perry was kind enough to school me a bit in copyrights, fair use, and protection of original expressions. I really appreciated that, and I try to walk with the angels in my posts. I can count on Perry to smack me if I stray.

    It’s no secret the news media has its fair share of hustlers, scoundrels, and fools. Still, only rarely does the press cross over to taking on the military in a personal manner. In a recent piece in Salon the writer Lucian K. Truscott IV comments on the recent resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis with a story titled Good riddance to James Mattis, Trump’s last general:

    Salon Link

    According to Salon’s own bio, Truscott is a graduate of West Point. Woven into the Mattis hit piece are also minor factoids about how Truscott was also once a platoon leader which is apparently supposed to show Truscott’s bonafides as a member of the warrior clan and resident Salon expert on things military.

    But here’s the thing: What the Salon bio doesn’t show is that Lucian K. Truscott IV did indeed graduate from West Point in 1969, and was stationed at Fort Carson for the next 13 months. Then when it apparently became likely that Truscott would be shipped to Viet Nam, our future Salon scribbler resigned his commission and received a discharge “under other than honorable conditions.” Evidently, and without putting too fine a point on it, when Truscott couldn’t be a REMF anymore, he decided to be a coward.

    Such a biographical omission, at least it seems to me, makes Truscott’s hypocrisy in the Mattis piece remarkable. What the piece also does is point out that not all stolen valor posers are those wearing a blinged-out biker vest, a do-rag, and hugging an emotional support dog. Sometimes they can hide in plain sight.

    And that would probably be more-or-less okay in the overall kharmic scheme of things, except that when the Army kicked Truscott to the curb, he didn’t fade into the background. Instead, he’s spent decades making a living by being a leftist press go-to guy for military issues. First at the Village Voice and now at Salon. Along the way, he’s also written six books. Most of those apparently having a military theme where Truscott is able to cash in on his West Point experience. Because, or so Truscott and Salon would apparently have you believe, being a graduate of West Point is the same as, like James Mattis, spending decades in active service.

    My own view is that Lucian K. Truscott IV, on his best day, isn’t qualified to shine James Mattis’ shoes. And the real mystery is why Salon pretends otherwise.