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

Author: Dave Hardin

  • Veteran Suicide Data Report

    Veteran Suicide Data Report

    The VA published this year’s suicide data for veterans.   According to their raw numbers, there were 16.6 veterans a day who committed suicide.   If we deduct veterans suffering in pain from some terminal illness who decided not to end their life in a puddle of their own piss…that number gets dramatically reduced.

    Feel free to read the study yourself HERE.

    The WSJ published an article about it.

    “If any other population of 20 million people were exposed to these threats it would be considered a public health priority,” said Paul Rieckhoff, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which has many younger veterans as members. “There has never been a national call to action.”

    Quoting Paul Rieckhoff on a veteran issue is like quoting Mikey Weinstein on veteran issues.  They both have self-serving interests that promote the stereotypical image that veterans are victims of their service to this nation.

    IAVA and Paul Rieckhoff continue to have problems with integrity.

     

    Any veteran group that associates with a Valor Whore like Megan Morse, or whatever name she is going by these days, has no creditability with me whatsoever.  Paulie leans so far left he wouldn’t understand an objective opinion if it were spoon fed to him.   Just look at some of the IAVA events and see who is attending.  Steven Colbert is the keynote speaker at one of Paulie’s upcoming events.  Colbert defines what being Libtarded is all about and is not admired by the vast majority of veterans.   Paulie is pimping him out anyway.  But I digress… let me get back to those that canceled their birthday.

    In 2016, 58.1 percent of Veteran suicides were among Veterans age 55 and older.

    So about 7 veterans who are too young for AARP choose self-murder on a daily basis.    What does the CDC have to say about suicide rates in the general population?

    The principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warned on Wednesday that suicide is on the rise in the U.S. among almost every age group.

    “Suicide – in all ages except for young children and the elderly – is one of the few conditions that’s getting worse instead of better around the country,” Anne Schuchat told “Rising” Hill.TV co-hosts Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton.

    Suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S.

    Nearly 45,000 Americans have lost their lives to suicide in 2016, and suicide rates have spiked more than 30 percent in half of states across the country since 1999, according to the CDC.

    Wait…What?  Suicide in the general population has spiked 30 percent?  The article on the CDC results is HERE.  But, but, but, I thought to serve this country in the military resulted in…victim related stuff.

    Look, I do not want to make light of those who are in legit pain and struggle with emotional dysfunctions.  There are over 45,000 veteran-related charities in this country.  All this do-gooder charitable work really sucks at preventing people, who are victims of protecting this nation, from wanting to self-murder.  I have told people for years to stop giving money to these groups.  Let veterans take care of veterans.  When I hear someone pimping the “22 A Day” thing,  all I see is a huckster or an idiot.

    Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Mental Health

    and Suicide Prevention. Veteran Suicide Data Report, 2005–2016. September 2018.

    https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/OMHSP_National_Suicide_Data_Report_
    2005-2016_508-compliant.pdf

     

  • Friday morning feel good stories.

    Friday morning feel good stories.

    From Detroit, MI

    A homeowner on Detroit’s east side shot in intruder early Thursday, police said.

    The shooting took place about 2 a.m. on the 12000 block of Minden, which is south of East McNichols and east of Gunston.

    Officer Dan Donakowski said the suspect forced entry through a window, but then heard the victim moving around and tried to hide behind a couch.

    But the victim, a 42-year-old man, was armed and fired shots at the suspect, hitting him on his left side.

    Medics transported the suspect, a 36-year-old man, to an area hospital, but his condition was not immediately available.

    From Garden Grove, CA

    A witness said the homeowner is his cousin and they were together when the homeowner saw two suspects coming out of a home located behind his carrying two bags. The resident challenged them with “What are you guys doing in my backyard?”

    The intruders denied coming from his backyard. The homeowner, who was armed, pulled a gun out and tried to detain the two men. They, in turn, attacked the homeowner and tried to disarm him.

    One of the two suspects was carrying a safe that he refused to drop throughout the scuffle. A shot went off during the fight, which in turn caused that intruder (We’ll call him suspect #1) to try to escape on foot.

    Other neighbors tackled him and held him down until police arrived. Responding Officers took that suspect into custody.

    The homeowner told investigators that suspect #1 might have been shot, but still managed to get into a black Lincoln Navigator with paper plates. The SUV was then driven away by a third suspect.

    The second suspect, who was left behind, was identified as 36-year-old Long Beach resident and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Detectives were working to locate the first suspect and the getaway driver.

    Investigators searching the house behind the homeowner’s house found a sliding glass window had been smashed and the house was ransacked.

    From Wichita, KS

    Police think a man who was fatally shot in northwest Wichita on Wednesday night was trying to rob the person who shot him.

    Officers were called to a reported shooting at around 9 p.m. in the 2700 block of North Amidon and found a man in his 20s lying in the street who was pronounced dead at the scene, Sgt. John Bogle said.

    The shooting took place at the same time as a robbery attempt in the street, which may have stemmed from a road rage incident, Bogle said. Police think the man who fired the shots was the victim in the robbery attempt, and the man who was killed was the suspect in the robbery.
    There doesn’t appear to be any other connection among the people involved, police said.

    Police think two gunshots were fired in the incident. The person who fired the shots was not injured. Investigators are talking with the person who fired the shots and with someone who was with the man who was killed.

    Bogle said this may be a self-defense shooting. The case will be presented to the district attorney’s office, which will make the final decision on whether the case was self-defense or if the shooter will be charged criminally.

  • Michael E. Stone – Phony SEAL

    Michael E. Stone – Phony SEAL

    Military Phony sent us their work on this Michael Edward Stone fella, who claims that he was a Navy SEAL with SEAL Team 3 in Vietnam.

    He seems to love to wear the SEAL Trident on his ball caps.

    His official military records tell a different story, however…

    Michael Stone retired from the US Navy as a Chief (E-7) vs. a Senior Chief (E-8).

    He was a second class diver but there is nothing in his records to support his claim of being a Navy SEAL.  There is no BUD/S or SEAL training listed.

    There are no medals or assignments that would support his claim of being in Vietnam, let alone his claim of being with SEAL Team 3.

    As a sidenote – Stone is qualified as a divemaster.

    I wonder how many people go on dives with him and listen to him speak of Vietnam and SEAL Team 3?

    Chief E-7 Stone had an honorable career that spanned several decades.  Anyone that has a record as he does should not feel the need to embellish.  Depth does not make the diver and embellishing does not make you a Navy SEAL.

  • Thursday morning feel good stories.

    Thursday morning feel good stories.

    From MACON COUNTY, MO

    Right now, authorities are still investigating the incident and trying to determine if any charges will be filed against the homeowner.  A man is dead after a Macon County homeowner shot and killed an intruder in his home early Tuesday morning.

    Shortly before 4 a.m., the Macon County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a report of an intruder shot inside a residence.  Deputies responded to the scene on Macon County Route UU, northwest of Callao, Missouri.  Officers spoke with the homeowner at the scene and determined that the suspect used a ladder to get into the house through a second-story sliding glass door that had been left open.

    Investigators said the suspect then made his way to the first floor and first threatened the homeowner in his bedroom with an air nailer.  After a brief verbal altercation, authorities said the suspect then pulled a handgun on the homeowner.

    That is when the homeowner fired at the suspect, hitting him in the upper body.

    When deputies arrived, the suspect was found dead with a loaded handgun in his possession. The suspect had fired the handgun at least one time.  The homeowner was not injured.  Macon County Sheriff Kevin Shoemaker told KTVO that, at this time, his office is not releasing the names of those involved.

    UPDATE: KTVO has now learned the name of the man fatally shot during an overnight home break-in outside Callao, Missouri.  Macon County Sheriff Kevin Shoemaker identifies the man as Jonathan Richardson, 37, of Gladstone, Missouri.

    From BAKERSFIELD, CA

    A woman shot her adult son over the weekend to stop him from attacking his father, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.

    Truman Edward Fulfer, 33, died at the scene.

    The Sheriff’s Office said Fulfer’s parents were cooperative with the investigation, and no arrests were made.

  • Huey replacement? Nothing will ever replace the Huey.

    Huey replacement? Nothing will ever replace the Huey.

    In an upset, a Boeing-Leonardo team has won a $2.38 billion contract to manufacture a new batch of helicopters to replace the Air Force’s UH-1N Huey used to guard the service’s nuclear missile silos.

    Boeing and Leonardo’s MH-139, a militarized version of the commercial AW139 manufactured by Leonardo subsidiary AgustaWestland in Philadelphia, beat out Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Sierra Nevada Corp., which both offered versions of the UH-60 Black Hawk — which some analysts saw as the service’s aircraft of choice going into the competition.

    As such, the Sept. 24 contract announcement is a major victory for the Boeing-Leonardo team, which received an initial $375 million for the first four helicopters and the integration of military-specific items needed to bring the AW139 to the Air Force’s requirements.

    The Air Force touted the program of an example of cost savings, noting that the service was able to bring down the price of the program from its original $4.1 billion cost estimate.

    “Strong competition drove down costs for the program, resulting in $1.7 billion in savings to the taxpayer,” Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said in a statement.

    I realize things need to be updated … I just get this odd feeling in the pit of my stomach when they do it sometimes.   I remember when my driver managed to “come up with” the armor for our M151.  We felt so much better sporting about with that canvas and plastic enclosure protecting us.   Some things needed to be upgraded, I just have warm memories of days when everything was not bulletproof.

    They may upgrade to some newfangled gyrobird of some sort, but they can never replace Huey.

    The Huey and the Cobra have more combat flight time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare.

    Bell Helicopter built 10,005 Hueys from 1957 to 1975. Of the 10,005 production Hueys, 9,216 went to the U.S. Army, 127 to the U.S. Marine Corps, 79 to the U.S. Air Force and 42 to the U.S. Navy.  The rest went to other countries.

    Today, There are only 113 B models registered. 9 E models, 12 F models, 10 Training F Models, 1 HH-1K, 8 TH-1L’s, 14 UH-1L, 3 M models, 1 P model, 5 civilian 205’s and 547 UH-1H’s.   There are zero registered for all other makes and models of the military variant hueys, leaving only 723 Military varient Huey models in all registered today.

    The Huey remains a legend as the most successful rotorcraft in Aviation History.    Link HERE.

     

  • President Trump visits the UN

    President Trump gave the UN another “talking to”.  I am not sure how many were actually listening.

    “We are standing up for America and for the American people and we are also standing up for the world. This is great news for our citizens and for peace-loving people everywhere,” Trump said. “We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy. America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.”
    It remained equally clear that Trump’s message is still not widely embraced by other countries; in contrast to past US presidents, his speech was not once interrupted by applause.
    I am encouraged by the fact that he was not interrupted by applause by a circus of greedy clowns that are being told they can no longer panhandle their way to riches.
    “Iran’s leaders sow chaos, death and destruction. They do not respect their neighbors’ borders or the sovereign rights of nations,” Trump said, before slamming Iranian leaders of plundering “the nation’s resources to enrich themselves and to spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond.”
    Iran is still busy counting the pallets of American cash set by that other guy and his bloviated babe of state.  I would protest Iran by not purchasing anything made there…but I can’t find anything of value that is made in Iran…Or any other Islamic state.  I wonder why that is…maybe they are little more than international parasites.
    You can read the CNN take on things here.   or watch the entire thing yourself in the video below.
  • Wednesday morning feel good stories.

    Wednesday morning feel good stories.

    From ST. LOUIS, MO

    A St. Louis homeowner shot and killed a man who was apparently trying to sell the homeowner his own tools, which had previously been stolen.

    According to police, the incident happened around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in an alley at Alcott and Theodore in north St. Louis.

    The homeowner was in his late 40s to early 50s. The man who was shot and killed a man was in his 40s. Police did not release their names.

    The homeowner is well-respected in the area – a block captain who owns multiple properties, neighbors said.

    The tools were stolen from a garage at one of his houses, neighbors said.

    Police only confirmed that there was an altercation between the men, which led to gunfire.

    “We’re talking about some property that may have come out of a garage; some tools, items like that,” said Major Mary Warnecke, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. “An argument began, it got physical. One individual fired some shots. The other person got struck and did succumb to his injuries.”

    The homeowner was initially held for questioning but it could turn out to be a case of self-defense, Warnecke said.

    From Mobile, AL

    A spokesperson for the Mobile County Sheriff’s Dept. confirms that a homeowner near Lott Rd. has shot at a suspect for trying to gain entry to his home.

    The suspect was described as a black male who fled in a blue vehicle.

    The daughter of the homeowner tells NBC 15 that the suspect approached the front of the home before moving to a window around back and throwing a brick through it. It was then that the homeowner shot the suspect 5 times.

    The daughter said, “I hope it hit them.”

  • The virtue of Military Service is a Myth and it is destroying this country.

    The virtue of Military Service is a Myth and it is destroying this country.

    Careful Citizen, having reverence for those who served in the military erodes our Democracy.

    The gap in civilian and military experiences in the United States over the 17 years since 9/11 has led to persuasive, persistent, and unrealistic myths that have eroded faith in civilian leadership of defense policy. Among these myths are the superior virtue of military over other kinds of public service; that battlefield experience is the most authoritative source of military policy expertise; and that an exclusively civilian background is inadequate for strategic defense leadership. In the United States, these myths are nurtured and perpetuated by both military and civilian communities and affect general public opinion as well as the attitudes of national security professionals. These myths are also corrosive. Unless they are acknowledged, addressed, and challenged, future civilian leaders may struggle to control the use of force—a profound problem for a democratic system. Downgrading civilian leadership will weaken U.S. national security and the military itself.

    I thought having experience in the field you were administering was a good thing.   Silly me.

    The myth with which the majority of Americans are most familiar is the notion that military service tops the hierarchy of civic duties. The Pew Research Center found in 2011 that 83 percent of American adults believe military personnel and their families have had to make sacrifices since 9/11, but at the same time less than half the population believes the American public has shared the burden of war. The kernel of truth underlying this perception has grown into a sense that there is a deficit on the civilian side of U.S. society.

    Civilians have made and equal sacrifice to those who serve in the military?  Someone explain this to me.

    Veterans are often offered early boarding for airplanes. Harris Teeter grocery stores provide preferred parking for veterans. Veterans’ issues top the list for dozens of major charities and are included among the charitable giving priorities of corporate foundations. On the one hand, this is all as it should be: Admiring and expressing gratitude for military service, especially in wartime, is simply the right thing for a society to do. The problem is that admiration for military service eclipses respect for other national-level institutions and other forms of service. In today’s polarized political environment, the chasm has put those in uniform in the awkward position of embodying civic virtue.

    I had no idea my service to this country was eroding Democracy.

    A Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll of veterans found in 2013 that nearly half believe the American public doesn’t genuinely respect their service.

    Shocked face.

    A 2017 Gallup poll found Americans’ trust in the military is more than twice what it is for the presidency and six times higher than faith in Congress.

    Well, we can’t have that.  Americans trusting in the military has to be stopped.   We should all entrust our safety to some Commie Pinko babe from NY.   We should put people who have no idea what the military is all about in charge of protecting us and stop this reverence for those who served before it destroys this nation.

     

    Read the whole article HERE.