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

Author: Hondo

  • It’s the Cover-Up That Gets Ya Every Time

    Even though the NFL plays football, this looks more like a slam dunk to me than anything else.

    You shouldn’t have prevented the other two guys involved from testifying, Tom.  You also shouldn’t have ordered your assistant to destroy your old phone immediately before your initial interview with investigators – particularly when you knew investigators (and your employer) wanted to examine it.  You shouldn’t have hidden the fact it had been destroyed from everyone for roughly 3 1/2 months. And you damn sure shouldn’t have claimed that destroying your old phone was merely something you routinely did on getting a new one when you hadn’t done that to its immediate predecessor.

    You should have owned up and come clean.  You’d probably be playing after the 1st game this season if you had.  And your team likely wouldn’t be out two draft picks and $1M, either – though it might have lost some $$$.

    But I’ll give you this much:  you stuck to your story, even after it became clear it was as plausible as ISIS suddenly converting to Buddhism en masse and turning pacifist.

    But it was . . . well, it was stupid.  This guy puts it all in perspective damn well.

    Enjoy the in-season vacation.  And the addendum to your legacy.

     

  • Clinton Comes “Clean” on Benghazi

    Well, she’s finally done it. Former SECSTATE Hillary Rodham Clinton has come clean!

    She recently provided another 2,000 emails from her private email system to the House committee investigating Benghazi. So she must have released everything!

    Yes, there’s a two-month gap in the emails released by Ms. Clinton to that House Committee. That’s because there simply weren’t any relevant emails from that private account from the months of May and June, 2012, in the material released. Per the State Department, “only those emails related to the security of the consulate or to the U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya were made public”.

    It’s irrelevant that May and June 2012 were a time of escalating security issues in Libya. What does it matter now that on 22 May 2012, the IRC office in Benghazi was struck by RPGs? Or that on 6 June 2012, an IED blew a 12 foot hole in the US Consulate’s wall?  Those incidents weren’t something about which Clinton corresponded with anyone from here “private” account.  In fact, that must mean there simply was nothing of note “related to the security of the US consulate or to the U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya” about which she corresponded with anyone from her private account during  those two months – unlike the months immediately preceding and afterwards. Isn’t that obvious?

    The fact that the pre-release review of those email messages recently released appears to have been done by Clinton’s lawyers and not by the State Department or Congress is a mere coincidence.  It’s understandable that they’d conduct such a review, since emails from her private account for that time are particularly sensitive; this was also the time that Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin was obtaining her “special exemption” to work for Clinton as both a government employee and an employee of the Clinton foundation.  We all know that was completely legit and aboveboard.  Besides – Clinton’s lawyers would never put protecting their client’s interests ahead of fully disclosing the truth!

    No, chicanery, political CYA, or obstruction couldn’t possibly have been the reason for the lack of independent review, or for the gap covering May and June.  No Clinton would ever withhold information, fail to testify fully, or shade the truth about a material issue of fact.  Her husband’s conduct while POTUS proves that.  So does her own past conduct while First Lady and afterwards – as well as while a member of the House Judiciary Committee investigating the Watergate Scandal.

    No, nothing to see here at all; we’re done here. Next topic!

    In fact, how about everybody just leave the lady alone.  I mean, really – she barely has time to get a $600 hairstyle in NYC these days due to all of these impertinent questions!   And because of the crush, her doing so requires so much security that it means a rather large building has to be put on virtual lockdown!  But like her husband proved at the LA International Airport years ago:  getting a reasonably-priced haircut of is necessary from time to time, so she simply has to do it!

     

    (Yeah, the above is sarcasm.  Anyone who’d swallow all of that at face value has my sympathy.)

  • Another Group Doing Good Things

    In 2011, a lady died in Washington state.  Her name was Shirley McNaughton.  She was 57.

    Shirley McNaughton was a veteran.  She’d served in the USAF for two years during the Vietnam War (1971-1973), and in the ANG for an additional two years thereafter.  She was honorably discharged from the ANG as a Sergeant.

    Unfortunately, at the time of death her surviving daughter had lost her job and did not have the money for a proper funeral.  So Sgt. McNaughton’s remains were cremated (a local program funded that), then were placed in storage for a protracted period at the county coroner’s office.

    Enter the Missing In America Project.

    Per its website, the MIAP is organized to “to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations.”  They learned of Sgt. McNaughton’s yet-to-be-interred cremains, and arranged for them to receive a proper military funeral.

    However, the MIAP this year selected a limited number of cremains to be interred in Arlington vice local state or national cemeteries.  (It’s unclear if this is a one-time event or something that MIAP does periodically.)  Sgt. McNaughton’s remains were among the 6 sets of such cremains selected for that honor – one from each of the 5 military services, plus the cremains of a US Army “Buffalo Soldier” who’d served during World War I.

    Sgt. McNaughton’s cremains will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on 1 September 2015.  Her surviving family is currently attempting to raise the funds to allow them to attend her funeral via a GoFundMe site.

    I don’t know much about MIAP, so I can’t recommend or endorse them.  But FWIW:  MIAP does post their financials on their website (2014 IRS Form 990).  A quick look at that document leads me to believe they don’t seem to pay their corporate officers or waste a lot of money on fluff, either.  And Guidestar seems to think well of them also.

    So if you have a few spare dollars that you plan to donate to charity anyway, it might be worth your while to investigate them further.  They do appear to be approved to receive donations under the Combined Federal Campaign – though that in and of itself is no guarantee they’re particularly well-run (caveat emptor).  And what they’re doing is certainly IMO worth supporting.

    Everyone deserves a proper burial.  It’s great to see an organization dedicated to trying to make that happen for the unclaimed cremains of veterans.

    . . .

    (Material for this article was obtained from published reports – specifically, this article and this article.)

  • Quietly Doing the Right Thing

    Most regular TAH readers know I’m a baseball fan.  Indeed, one of many things that p!ssed me off at the now-4-years-deceased Usama bin Laden is that my post-9/11 mobilization required me to travel on 4 November 2001 – the night of game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

    At the time, I was an Arizona resident. And yes: if you lived in Arizona and were a baseball fan, that was indeed a magical year.

    I’d have given much to have been in Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) that night. I’ve talked to someone who was there; when a certain very tall guy walked out of the bullpen to pitch in relief with 2 outs in the top of the 8th, it was truly an electric moment – followed by an equally electric moment about 15 minutes or so later when Luis Gonzalez choked up and hit a soft single off a guy named Mariano Rivera into center field in the bottom of the 9th to end the game.

    That very tall guy was, of course, Randy Johnson. This Sunday he’ll be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

    But that’s not what this article’s about.

    . . .

    Most regular readers know I’m a fan of Johnson the pitcher.  I personally think he’s got a great case for being the best lefty ever, bar none.  IMO his career is what Koufax’s career might have been absent arthritis and injury.

    But I’m an even bigger fan now. Because Johnson has quietly done something that you may not have heard much about if you live outside Arizona – and he appears to have done it simply because it was the right thing to do.

    Johnson today remains hugely popular in Arizona; he’s still employed by the Diamondbacks today as a special assistant. In honor of Johnson’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, at the request of the Diamondbacks the state of Arizona was planning to temporarily rename State Highway 51 in his honor.

    There’s just one issue. The highway – a freeway in the Phoenix metro area – already has a name. It’s the “Piestewa Freeway.”

    As in SPC Lori Piestewa, US Army – a Native American resident of Arizona who was KIA in Iraq on 23 March 2003.

    It turns out no one had asked the Piestewa family their opinion on the temporary renaming. And to put it mildly, they weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea.

    After hearing of the family’s objection, neither was Johnson. You see, Johnson is also a rather large (no pun intended) backer of the US military. He’s made 3 different USO tours to Afghanistan in support of US troops. He’s trying to arrange bringing two Wounded Warriors to his Hall of Fame Induction.

    So a few days ago, after hearing of the Piestewa family’s objections, Johnson apparently asked that the plan to temporarily rename the road be scrapped. It was. The highway will remain named the Piestewa Freeway. It won’t be temporarily renamed in his honor.

    Would it have been better had someone approached the Piestewa family earlier? Certainly. That should have happened well before it did.  IMO, someone should have asked that family’s permission for the proposed temporary renaming long ago – and abided by their wishes either way.  That would have avoided the problem.

    Still:  here, the right thing happened.  And it apparently happened because of one man saying, “No – that’s not the right thing to do.  I’d prefer you didn’t do that for me.”

    I always respected Johnson as a fierce competitor and an athlete. But now, I respect him even more as a man with his head “screwed on straight”.

    Well done, Mr. J.  Damn well done.

  • And In the (Historical) “WTF?” and “YGBSM!” Departments . . . .

    Remember how Jimmy the Clueless treated the military just “oh so well”? (Yes, that was sarcasm.  This article includes much of that.)

    The recent mention of Operation EAGLE CLAW here got me curious, so I did a bit of digging.  I discovered something I never knew.  And as the old Southern expression goes:   “Y’all ain’t gonna believe this sh!t!”

    Take a look at this list. It does not include an entry for Operation EAGLE CLAW – AKA the Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission.

    Now, take a look at this list – specifically, at the 7th entry on the list’s 2nd page. I suspect you’ll be as shocked as I was.

    Yes, you’re reading that correctly. Military personnel who actually flew into Iran on that mission DID NOT receive the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM). Instead, they received . . . the Humanitarian Service Medal (HSM).

    I wish I was kidding.

    I’m not slamming the HSM; humanitarian assistance missions are legit, and they can be dangerous as hell too.  We recently lost some Marines on a humanitarian mission in Nepal.

    But it just seems to me that going in harm’s way to rescue American citizens and military personnel held hostage as the result of an act of war by a foreign government is fundamentally different than any kind of humanitarian relief operation. IMO serving in such an operation should receive a different kind of recognition.

    But it didn’t; don’t ask me why.  Only thing I can figure out is that either the Pentagon or the POTUS must have felt attempting to rescue US prisoners held by Iran after they invaded sovereign US territory (the US Embassy in Tehran) was essentially no different than helping resettle the criminals Castro palmed off on us during the Mariel Boat Lift.  Or maybe they were afraid of p!ssing off the Iranians even more if they offered appropriate recognition with an AFEM.  (Either way, my money’s on the POTUS – but I could be wrong.)

    In a bit of historic irony, US military support for resettlement of those Mariel Boat Lift “refugees” is the next operation on the list of officially recognized HSM operations. It started 2 days after Operation EAGLE CLAW.

    If this little bit of historical “appropriate recognition” doesn’t fall into the WTF? And YGBSM! categories, I’ll just be damned if I know what does.

    Thanks once again “oh so much”, Mr. Peanut.

  • Two Fought Back

    It appears that at least two of the individuals at the Chattanooga Navy Operational Support Center did considerably more than simply wait to be slaughtered when the facility was attacked last week.

    Multiple news reports (Fox, Navy Times, Washington Post) say that internal DoD investigation/reporting indicates two of the military personnel there appear to have been armed with personally owned weapons when the facility was attacked last week. Those individuals were one of the slain Marines (not further identified) and LCDR Timothy White, the Center’s CO. (CDR White survived the attack.)

    Both also appear to have returned fire at the facility’s terrorist assailant, Mohammed Abdulazeez, during his attack on the facility. It is not clear yet whether either fired shots that hit their attacker.  (Autopsy results are expected this week.)

    Both the slain Marine and LCDR White appear to have been in violation of DoD policy by being armed with a personally owned weapon while at their facility. In general, DoD policy prohibits personal firearms on DoD installations or facilities.

    Can’t say I blame either of them for apparently intentionally disregarding policy, though. Being an unprotected and unarmed soft target during a war is NOT a good thing.  Policy mandating that is simply freaking foolish, and we’ve got enough data now to know with certainty that the enemy – radical Islam – can on occasion strike targets here in the US directly or by proxy.

    I also hope further investigation shows that one or both of them fired shots that hit Abdulazeez, ending the attack. Maybe then DoD will finally find the backbone to do what’s been obviously necessary since at least 2009.

  • From the Beginning: A Musical Impression

    Longtime readers know I’m rather into music.  And longtime readers know that I’m also into musical parody.

    Yeah, I’m about to ramble again somewhat – both ways.  You’ve been warned.  (smile)

    . . .

    A couple of months back, I posted a short musical parody. At the time it seemed to be relatively well-received. (Smile)

    But it turns out that that was only half the job; it was based only on a short portion of a longer work. So I decided to go back and finish the job.

    I hate to speak for others. But this time I’ll go out on a limb and say that I can’t help but think that the sentiment in the first few verses below – or something damned similar – was on Jonn’s mind a few years ago when he founded TAH with TSO and COB.  And I’m guessing B. G. Burkett felt much the same 17 years ago when he and Glenna Whitley wrote Stolen Valor.

    [As an aside: if you’ve never read Burkett and Whitley’s book . . . you should go get a copy and read it.  Today.  It brought the issue of stolen valor to the forefront after Vietnam, and demonstrated just how widespread and serious it  was.  Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.]

    OK, enough intro blather.  With appropriate apologies to Greg Lake, here ya go – the complete

     

    Clown Central 69 (TAH Impression)

     

    Cold and misty morning, I heard disturbing rumors in the air
    Concerning lying bastards about whose lies no one did seem to care;
    Of true heroes ignored, their honor now purloined, just taken cold
    Their valor being stolen by packs of lowlife jackals damn bold.
    Liars here,
    Liars there,
    They’re everywhere.

    Suffering in silence, good men are betrayed;
    Lies hurt them and steal from them, their honor now waylaid.
    Liars obtain false glory a dishonorable way.
    There is no damn excuse this game to play.
    Liars here,
    Liars there;
    They’re everywhere!

    It’s time that someone exposed their lies,
    Made sure their tall tales just don’t fly;
    Helped those who truly rate kudos
    And tore those liars some new a-hos.
    We agree,
    We agree,
    We agree!  Yeah

    Expose them?
    Expose them . . .
    Yes, expose them!
    They’ll know some sorrow.
    They’ll beg and borrow.
    Start tomorrow.

    . . .

    Step inside, HELLO!  It’s the Stolen Valor show,
    You’ll enjoy it all we know.
    Step inside! Step inside!

    You’ll see lies that will appall, sh!tbird bastards with no balls
    Then you’ll see their just downfalls.
    Come inside! Come inside!
    Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
    See the show!

    While they tell lies in bars their world gets knocked ajar
    Proven liars wide and far.
    Spectacular! Spectacular!

    Now come follow me, here’s today’s specialty
    Fresh poser tears you’ll see
    Misery, misery.
    Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
    See the show!

    Next to feel the flame in Jonn’s house of poser shame
    Who’s that liar truly lame?
    Pick a name! Pick a name!

    Watch that fake hero as he blusters and he blows,
    Then he tucks his tail and goes.
    Hurrah, bravo! Hurrah, bravo!
    Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
    See the show!

    . . .

    Welcome back my friends, it’s the show that never ends.
    We’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside!
    There behind the glass stands one more repeat jackass
    Smack full of BS gas, move along, move along!

    Come inside, the show’s about to start,
    Guaranteed to pick their lies apart!
    Rest assured you’ll get your money’s worth
    Bullsh!t tales ’bout Heaven, Hell and Earth!
    You’ve got to see the show, there’s some real a-hos!
    You’ve got to see the show, posers a-go-go!

    Right before your eyes you’ll watch the posers lie
    They’ll keep lyin’ till they die, till they die, till they die.

    Come inside, their lies pack quite a punch
    Guaranteed to make you wanna lose your lunch!
    You’ve got to see the show, here’s a real wacko
    You’ve got to see the show, poser rodeo, oh . . . .

    Soon the ARCOM Queen behind an on-line screen
    Will tell us we’re so mean – while Falconing, Blue Falconing.
    Next upon the stand will you please extend a hand
    To the “great” Dutch Rudder Band, Dixieland, Dixieland.

    Roll up, roll up, roll up!
    See the show!

    Performing on a stool we’ve a sight to make you drool
    Purple jumpsuit wearing fool (WhAt A tOoL, WhAt A tOoL).
    We would like it to be known that the shady tales we’ve shown
    Were exclusively their own, all their own, all their own!

    Come and see the show, come and see the show,
    Come and see the show!

    See the show!

     

    For those having a bit of trouble following along with the first part, here’s a clip of the full tune on which it’s based.  It’s ELP’s Karn Evil No 9 (1st Impression), from their 1973 album “Brain Salad Surgery”. The complete work is about 13 1/2 minutes, and includes several fairly extended instrumental interludes.

    The tune was part of a larger work:  Karn Evil No 9, which contained 3 sub-works:  1st Impression, 2nd Impression, and 3rd Impression.  The total work was over 29 minutes long.

    Because of it’s length and the album’s sequencing, 1st Impression was split on the original vinyl album into 2 parts; Part 1 was at the end of side 1, while part 2 began side 2.  Only the last roughly 4:43 – part 2, containing one of the instrumental interludes – generally got much airplay.

    So if you haven’t ever heard the whole 1st Impression (or if it’s been a while), grab a good set of headphones, crank up the volume, and enjoy.  If you enjoy music of that era and genre, it’s definitely worth the time.

     

  • More Good News from the Terror War

    Earlier today, Jonn wrote about French Special Forces sending an AQIM leader in Mali to meet Allah – or, IMO, more likely to meet Shaytan.  Turns out there’s more news along those same lines.

    The Army Times is reporting that a leader of the Islamic State in Afghanistan is also now taking the long dirtnap – along with a substantial number of his troops.  A US RPA strike Tuesday reportedly sent Shahidullah Shahid and more than two dozen of his colleagues on a long, one-way, and irreversible trip.  Shahid was the deputy for a region that Islamic State claims covers parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.

    A second senior leader of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, Gul Zaman, reportedly also was sent to the hereafter in the same attack.  That means we have a “HVT two-fer” here.

    Hey, whatever works.  To whoever “pulled the trigger”:  nice shot.