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

Author: Dave Hardin

  • Marine veteran, 80, receives Medal of Honor for Vietnam bravery | Fox News

    Marine veteran, 80, receives Medal of Honor for Vietnam bravery | Fox News

    Marine veteran John Canley, now 80 and a retired sergeant major, received the nation’s highest military honor Wednesday for his “conspicuous gallantry” during the Vietnam War 50 years ago.

    President Trump bestowed the award for valorous action at The White House, beginning the ceremony, saying: “I like brave people, and you meet them right here.”

    Trump noted the utmost respect Canley’s fellow warriors have for him, quoting John Ligato, a Marine and FBI agent, who attended the ceremony: “‘We followed him because he was a true leader, he was totally fearless. He loved his Marines, and we loved him back.’”

    Trump said that Canley still goes to the gym, and his fellow Marines call him a Marine Warrior, “who is bigger than life and beyond the reach of death.”

     

    Source: Marine veteran, 80, receives Medal of Honor for Vietnam bravery | Fox News

  • Trump could be the most honest president in modern history – The Washington Post

    Trump could be the most honest president in modern history – The Washington Post

    The Washington Post has gone off the rails.  Just when I thought small fractions of truth were meaningless…

     

    He may stretch the truth, but he gets things done.

    Trump kept his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, something his three immediate predecessors also promised yet failed to do. He promised to “crush and destroy ISIS,” and two years later he is on the verge of eliminating the Islamic State’s physical caliphate. He promised to impose a travel ban on countries that he saw as posing a terrorist threat, and after several false starts the final version of his ban was upheld by the Supreme Court. He promised to punish Syria if it used chemical weapons on its people, and, unlike his immediate predecessor, he followed through — not once but twice.

    Trump pledged to nominate Supreme Court justices “in the mold of Justice [Antonin] Scalia,” and now Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh sit on the high court. Trump also pledged to fill the federal appellate courts with young, conservative judges, and so far the Senate has confirmed 29 — more than any recent president at this point in his administration.

    Trump vowed to pass historic tax reforms and signed the first major overhaul of the tax code in three decades. He vowed an unprecedented regulatory rollback, with a strict policy to eliminate two existing regulations for every new regulation. In his first year, he achieved $8.1 billion in lifetime regulatory savings and is on track to achieve an additional $9.8 billion this year.

    During the campaign, he told African American voters, “What do you have to lose? .?.?. I will straighten it out. I’ll bring jobs back. We’ll bring spirit back.” On his watch, African American unemployment reached the lowest level ever recorded, and his tax reform included a little-noticed provision creating “Opportunity Zones” to try to revitalize struggling towns and inner-city communities.

    Trump promised to cancel President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, withdraw from the Paris climate accord, approve the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refugeto oil exploration. He fulfilled all of those pledges.

    On trade, he kept his promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. He also committed to renegotiating NAFTA and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement — and recently signed new deals with Mexico, Canada and South Korea. He committed to imposing tariffs on China to force it to open its markets and stop its theft of intellectual property — and is following through on that pledge. Whatever one thinks of Trump’s trade policies, he is doing exactly what he said.

    The president pledged historic increases in defense spending, and delivered. He pledged to bring back manufacturing jobs, and manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest pace in more than two decades. He pledged to sign “Right to Try” legislation to give dying Americans access to experimental treatments, and did. He pledged to take on the opioid epidemic and will soon sign a sweeping bipartisan opioids package into law.

    Where Trump has failed to keep promises, such as building the wall or repealing Obamacare, it has not been for a lack of trying. Only in a few rare instances has he backtracked on a campaign pledge — such as when he admitted that he was wrong to promise a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and reversed course. I’m glad he did.

    But whether one agrees or disagrees is not the point. When Trump says he will do something, you can take it to the bank. Yes, he takes liberties with the truth. But unlike his predecessor, he did not pass his signature legislative achievement on the basis of a lie (“If you like your health care plan, you can keep it ”) — which is clearly worse than falsely bragging that your tax cut is the biggest ever.

    The fact is, in his first two years, Trump has compiled a remarkable record of presidential promise – keeping. He’d probably say it’s the best in history — which may or may not end up being true. It’s too soon to tell.

    Source: Trump could be the most honest president in modern history – The Washington Post

  • Engineer who changed the way the Navy designed ships and fought discrimination dies at 83 – U.S. – Stripes

    Engineer who changed the way the Navy designed ships and fought discrimination dies at 83 – U.S. – Stripes

    Raye Montague, a trailblazing black woman from Arkansas who revolutionized the way the U.S. Navy designed ships, has died. She was 83.

    Montague, who had a 33-year career in the Navy, developed a computer program that created rough drafts of ship specifications. She told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2012 that the program allowed the Navy to cut the time it took to build a ship’s draft design from two years to 18 hours and 26 minutes.

    The newspaper reports she died Wednesday at a hospital in Little Rock. Her son, David Montague, says his mother died of congestive heart failure.

    Raye Montague, a civilian engineer, fought discrimination during her career. When a co-worker wouldn’t show her how to operate a computer, she taught herself.

    A remarkable story of success against the odds.  I hope you get the time to follow the link.

    Source: Engineer who changed the way the Navy designed ships and fought discrimination dies at 83 – U.S. – Stripes

  • Thursday morning feel good stories

    Thursday morning feel good stories

    From Cleveland, OH

    A Cleveland police officer fired after he was accused of shooting and killing an unarmed burglary suspect in 2015 has been reinstated.

    Cleveland police union officials told the Fox 8 I-Team Wednesday that Alan Buford won an arbitration ruling and will be reinstated.

    “This is another example of the city wrongly firing a good police officer,” said Jeff Follmer, president of the city’s police union.

    City officials could not be reached to discuss the matter. It is not known if the city will appeal the ruling.

    Buford was acquitted in 2017 of negligent homicide after fatally shooting Brandon Jones, 18, outside a Parkwood Avenue store March 19, 2015.

    Buford and his partner confronted Jones as he was leaving the store with a bag of stolen cigarettes, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office said.

    Cleveland police said the officers got into a struggle with Jones when they tried to arrest him. That’s when Buford fired his service weapon, killing Jones.

    Jones did not have a weapon. Buford’s attorney argued the shooting was justified because a reasonable officer would have feared for his life.

    Attorney Paul Cristallo, who represents the family of Brandon Jones, says a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the officer is still pending in court.

    Cristallo released a statement on behalf of Brandon Jones’ family, “We are shocked and saddened, yet not surprised. This is why civil rights lawsuits are necessary. What other job can you shoot and kill a young man without provocation and get your job back without any ramifications. Brandon’s family did not get justice in the criminal case and now they are denied the satisfaction of knowing that this officer would be held accountable by the Cleveland Police Department. We are left with their last hope for acknowledgment in the civil court. It may ultimately take a jury to objectively judge Officer Buford for his wrongful actions.”

    From CLARKSVILLE, IN

    A violent domestic dispute between a man, a woman and her daughter ended in gunshots when a neighbor stepped in, potentially saving a life.

    The shooting happened around 10 p.m. Tuesday night at the River Chase Apartments on Harvard Drive in Clarksville. Police said the man accused of battery is the one who ended up dead.

    Clarksville Police said that man was beating a woman and her young daughter when a neighbor attempted to break up the fight. The neighbor grabbed the handgun he owned and tried to stop him.

    “He did approach the individual who was assaulting the lady and her child and did, at gunpoint, instruct him to leave them alone and sit down on the curb,” said Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull.

    Police said the man complied for a while but then tried to attack the neighbor and ignored warnings to stop. When he came at the neighbor, police said he shot him.

    “Based upon what we learned last night, I’m of the belief that it was self-defense, that it was justified under the law and therefore there was no arrest made in the case,” Mull said. “In a case where an individual was acting violently and had just violently assaulted a child and a defenseless lady. Due to his intervention, that assault was terminated and this individual was ultimately killed in an act of self-defense.”

    On Wednesday, the River Chase Apartments sit quiet. Police filled the area near units on Harvard Drive Tuesday night after reports came in that a man had been shot and killed.

     

  • Believe in something.

    Believe in something.

    I wanted to give a short update on things in general.

    It has taken many of us to fill the void.  Most of what we needed to do behind the scenes has been taken care of.  TSO will finish the legal stuff here shortly.  I realize that there have not been a lot of posers posted lately, that is on purpose and my fault.  I apologize for the lapse but there are reasons for it.   We will be back to exposing these fake and embellishing frauds very soon.  Believe me, it’s not like there is a sudden shortage of them.

    I make more than my share of mistakes.  I realize things are not running as smoothly as they were when Jonn was alive…but we are getting there.  I post what seems to serve the mission Jonn set for this blog.  Yes, some articles are probably a bit of old news to some of you and other articles may be on the edge of acceptable to some others.

    It’s all I can do some days to stop a certain woman with a gravy ladle from turning the site background pink and posting pictures of kitty cats chasing rainbows.   This is going to hurt a little…she has done a remarkable job of keeping up with things behind the scenes.  Thank you, Gravy Lady.  You are the best EX I could ever hope for.

    So many others have stepped up as well.  Your submissions have been very, very, very helpful.  AW1Ed  is exactly the kind of person you want around when the shit hits the fan.  He is thoughtful, well organized and the epidemy of what a team player should be.  A huge ATTABOY goes out to Ed.

    I have been trying to get a certain Lawyer to do her job for a change.  I don’t think she likes me much.  I tried to introduce myself to her.  Caragh Fay pretends she is the authority on all things Beirut from time to time.  Seems to me Caragh Fay likes to do it when there is something in it for her.   Maybe she is just sweet on me…hard to tell at this point.

    The Soviet may be correct about me when I try to multitask.  She claims I can talk to people and piss them off all at the same time.  I just get a little pissy when a lawyer who has made millions off of the blood of my dead brothers seems to think its ok to ignore the needs of so many others.  How can someone know I am an Asshole without knowing me?  Is it really that obvious?

    In response to a recent comment,  yes I do get embarrassed sometimes…but its not over anything to do with this blog.  I try to read all of the comments, you people have issues too.  Never met a better group of deplorable trouble causers in my life.

    Forgive us if the content sucks or just gets thin from time to time.  Most of us do have another life.  Best regards to all, and most of all… THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING IN SOMETHING.

     

    The Village Idiot

     

     

  • Wednesday morning feel good stories

    Wednesday morning feel good stories

    From Atlanta, GA

    A husband and wife are in the hospital following a terrifying encounter with a gunman. Police said the husband stepped in to save his wife after a man shot her in the arm, then the husband shot and killed the gunman possibly in self-defense.

    Investigators said the shootings happened Sunday afternoon in a home on Donnebrook Lane in southeast Atlanta.

    Investigators said one of the renters inside the home argued with a woman and threatened to kill her. Police said he shot her in the arm. Her husband then charged at the gunman and was shot as well.

    Police said the husband managed to wrestle the gun away, and fired at the gunman; he then burst through a window, and died in the backyard.

    The husband and wife were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition. All parties were between their late 30’s to 50’s.

    Police tell FOX 5 that the incident has been officially classified as a felon killed by a private citizen and that no charges will be filed.

    From BONNER COUNTY, ID

    A 39-year-old Spirit Lake man was shot and later died after an apparent attack of a woman and her mother in south Bonner County Friday evening.

    Friday around 5:15 p.m., Bonner County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to a disturbance report at the 100 block of Rebel Ridge Rd. Prior to arriving, dispatch advised that a man was shot by a 41-year-old female, who had been defending herself and her 70-year-old mother from the accused attacker.

    Lifesaving efforts were being conducted by bystanders before first responders arrived and took over. Joshua Cole of Spirit Lake would however succumb to his injuries.

    Upon investigation, preliminary findings showed the shooting was done in an act of self-defense. The investigation is ongoing.

  • ‘Mr. Secretary, are you a Democrat?’

    Mattis responds to Trump’s comment that the Defense Secretary is ‘sort of a Democrat.

    For the first time since he was appointed by President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was asked by reporters directly: “Are you a Democrat?”

    It’s not a question that crossed the minds of most reporters during Mattis’ early tenure. The former top Middle East general could be bellicose in the field; Trump had clear affection for that “Mad Dog” image in his rallies; Trump said Mattis was “a true generals’ general.” However Mattis had never identified himself as a Republican, nor as a Democrat.

    But in the past few weeks, the former four-star commander who saw his tenure as the head of U.S. Central Command cut short during Democrat President Barack Obama’s presidency over disagreements on his Iran policy was now facing regular questions over whether his time in Trump’s Republican cabinet would be similarly short-lived, particularly after Trump told “60 Minutes” on Sunday he thought his defense secretary may be “sort of a Democrat.”

    Mattis: “You know, we’re all built on our formative experiences. When I was 18, I joined the Marine Corps, and in the U.S. military we are proudly apolitical. By that, I mean that in our duties, we were brought up to obey the elected commander in chief, whoever that is. And we’ve seen, over those — since I was in the military longer than some of you have been alive, I have seen Republicans and Democrats come and go. Where am I today? I’m a member of the president’s administration. And you have seen that President Trump’s military policies, security policies, reaping significant bipartisan support. So my role, when you see 83 percent — think about this — for ? and I realize you all write about tension between this person and that, this administration and that party, and this sort of thing.”

    Mattis continued: “But when you think 83 percent of the U.S. Congress voting the same way on an issue put forward by the Republican president, you can see that my portfolio is bipartisan by its very basis, and that is the protection of the United States. That’s what President Trump has told me to do, and I eagerly carry that out, alongside probably the most selfless young men and women — not all young; some old men and women, too — civilian and military, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines working together. So that’s where I stand. That defines me.”

    Q: I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, but you haven’t registered Republican or Democrat. Is that what I’m hearing you say?

    Mattis: I’ve never registered for any political party.

    He is neither Democrat or Republican…what will they do now?

     

    Source: ‘Mr. Secretary, are you a Democrat?’

  • Trump signs ‘right-to-try’ legislation on experimental medicines

    The legislation allows patients with life-threatening conditions to ask drugmakers for medicines that have cleared some testing but still haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

    • President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had been major supporters of the “right-to-try” legislation, which would bypass drug regulators to give gravely ill patients access to experimental medicines.
    • Proponents say this gives patients hope they would not otherwise have.
    • Critics say the legislation undermines the FDA’s authority to regulate drugs and could leave patients vulnerable to medicines that might not work or may even be harmful.

    More progress and long overdue.  My daughter had cancer at 19, one of the drugs that increased her chances of survival had just been released back then.  Prior to that drug survival rates were 50/50 and with that drug, they have been about 94%.

    Source: Trump signs ‘right-to-try’ legislation on experimental medicines