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

Category: Dumbass Bullshit

  • Purple Heart for PTSD

    Nathaniel P. Morris who claims to be a doctor writes in the pages of the Washington Post hat he thinks that Post Traumatic Stress is actually a combat wound which should be recognized with the award of a Purple Heart Medal from the Pentagon;

    But a great deal has changed in the near-decade since that ruling. We now know more about PTSD than ever before. New findings suggest PTSD may stem from physical damage to the brain, much like chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the National Football League. Researchers have novel insights into the role that blast waves and traumatic brain injury play in its development. Suicide among veterans has become a national crisis, and we’ve learned those with PTSD have markedly increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

    The ranks of those supporting Purple Hearts for PTSD has swelled, including public endorsements from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, mental health experts, and outspoken veterans. In fact, during 2011, branches of the military expanded Purple Heart eligibility for those who sustained concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries; but again, PTSD was left aside.

    The good doctor admits that the award should be taken lightly, citing the fact that his own Grandfather had received one for his shrapnel wounds in World War II. That he believes that “Handing out this medal to anyone with mild anxiety, depression, or sleeplessness could undermine its inherent value.”

    Well, then, Doc, you need to talk to your peers. There are probably thousands of people out there pretending to be afflicted with PTSD. People who are barely veterans blame PTSD for everything from speeding in their car to murdering their wives. We have the VA doctor who approved 100% disability payments to Joe Cryer for a totally manufactured story of him killing 77 Libyans in 1986. Dan Bernath claims that he got PTSD while taking his GED exam while on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam. Shaun MacMurray caught the PTSD while explaining to an ALJ judge how he caught the PTSD in the Navy. Jason Gourley, a military PTSD activist, claims he caught the PTSD in a class about guarding ships. Wesley Baxley got the PTSD while he was in basic training. Steven Goldmann claims that PTSD made him impersonate an FBI agent. Larry Rodriguez heard an explosion once, caught the PTSD and strangled a hooker because of it.

    The pages of TAH are replete with folks who blame their bad behavior on imagined PTSD – and those of us who criticize these numerous incidents as bullshit, are subjected to a flurry of emails and comments about how PTSD is this mysterious disorder that is mercurial in consistency. That the medical profession has no grasp on what manifests as symptoms.

    I’m sure there are millions of phonies just salivating at the thought of getting a medal that they can wave like a bloody shirt at the scene of their next crime.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • Keep ’em, Canada

    There are still US deserters from the Iraq War in Canada. They’ve all been ordered out, but they keep going back to court. Now they’re begging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene, since he’s such a hippie creampuff.

    Immigration Minister John McCallum referred a request for comment Friday to the Immigration Ministry, which said it would “not be appropriate to speculate on future actions the government may take.”

    New Democrat immigration critic Jenny Kwan noted that war resister Rodney Watson, who has a Canadian-born son, has spent almost seven years in church sanctuary in Vancouver. Conscientious objectors must have a pathway to citizenship in Canada, Kwan said.

    “Let the families get on with their lives,” she said.

    Michelle Robidoux, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign, said the U.K. inquiry into the Iraq war concluded that the “war was based on lies” and would lead to catastrophe. U.S. soldiers who sought refuge in Canada because they could not in good conscience fight in Iraq, she said, should be welcome to stay.

    Fine keep the little weasels – we have enough problems here. If they don’t want to be Americans and they don’t want to pay for dishonoring their commitment to the country, screw ’em. We don’t need them. They weren’t forced to serve in uniform, they all volunteered and then bailed on their promise. At this point, they aren’t making a coherent point – they’re just trying to avoid jail. the stank-ass Canadian hippies deserve to pay for their needs and wants. Maybe they can be buried in cemetery just for cowards, too.

  • Flag burning at RNC leads to 18 arrests

    Flag burning at RNC leads to 18 arrests

    Cleveland flag burning

    Yahoo News reports that 18 people were arrested outside the Republican National Convention when their little protest got out of hand during the burning of an American flag. The Cleveland police claim that none were arrested for actually burning the flag, but rather felony assault on a police officer, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

    Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said during a press briefing Wednesday night that the protester who set the flag alight inadvertently set his pants leg on fire. When police officers tried to extinguish the flames, he fought back, which led to the felony assault charge.

    The melee involved a group, identified by local media as the Revolutionary Communist Party, outside the secure delegate entrance to the Republican National Convention hall and near Cleveland’s East Fourth Street entertainment district.

    Protesters Joseph Scogin, 38, of Oxnard, Calif., and Dominique Knox, age unknown, of Cleveland, were charged with felony assault on a police officer.

    […]

    Williams said that the suspects were not arrested for lighting the flag on fire, but rather for inciting violence and assault.

    “[The protester] lit himself on fire … he lit other people on fire,” which turned the demonstration into what police deemed an “unlawful assembly,” Williams said.

    Let ’em burn, baby. Darwin was hard at work culling the herd, but the Cleveland police got in his way.

    One of the flag burners was Gregory Lee “Joey” Johnson who burned a flag at the 1984 GOP Convention – his arrest went to the Supreme Court. I guess he missed the attention.

    I’m wondering what their point was. if they even had one beyond pissing people off.

  • Fred Flynn booted from court room

    Fred Flynn booted from court room

    Fred Flynn

    Someone sends us a link from Pocatello, Idaho, where Lieutenant Colonel Fred Flynn wanted to show support for his friend, Dustin Sweeney, who was eventually found guilty of possession and delivery of methamphetamine. Flynn wore his military uniform in the Bannock County Courthouse;

    Flynn said that immediately after entering the courtroom, a court marshal approached him and told him that [Sixth District Judge David C.] Nye was not comfortable with him wearing a military uniform during Sweeney’s jury trial.

    “What the marshal told me is that the judge didn’t want anyone wrapped in a flag during the trial,” Flynn said.

    If Flynn was wearing the Army Camouflaged Uniform, as it appears he was, I don’t blame the judge for booting him. He traveled to the court room from his current home in South Carolina and that’s the uniform he wore? If he was wearing anything other than a Class A or Class B uniform, he deserved to be thrown out.

    Now, if he had been wearing Class As and the judge tossed him “for wrapping himself in the flag” I’d be outraged and vocal about it, but not in this case. A lieutenant colonel should know better.

  • SGT Derek Calderon; indicted drug dealer

    SGT Derek Calderon; indicted drug dealer

    calderon-PNG

    Geet Wilikers sends us a link to the story of Fort Bliss, Texas Sergeant Derek Calderon who sold meth to a to an undercover federal agent in El Paso earlier this year;

    According to the complaint affidavit, Calderon, who was living in El Paso, was contacted by phone by a confidential source working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in South Florida on March 23.

    The source told Calderon that he knew someone who wanted to buy “work,” which is a slang term for drugs, the affidavit states. Calderon allegedly asked if they wanted to buy “green (marijuana), white (cocaine) or crystal (methamphetamine).” The buyer was an undercover DEA agent.

    Calderon called the undercover agent to discuss the possible purchase of the meth. He told the agent that he lowered the price for a pound from $8,500 to $7,500 as an incentive to purchase the drugs from Texas.

    During a March 27 phone call, the undercover agent agreed to travel from Florida to El Paso to buy one pound of meth for $7,500, the affidavit states.

    When he showed up for the sale, Calderone was wearing his uniform, you know, with his name tags on it, so it would be hard to deny that it was him who sold the drugs. The bag containing the drugs also had his name sewn into it. Then the rocket surgeon took a video of himself with the bills and put it on Instagram. The serial numbers on the bills in the selfie matched those recorded for the transfer with the federal agent. So, he’s a real criminal mastermind.

  • Brandon Wayne isn’t being completely honest with you

    Brandon Wayne isn’t being completely honest with you

    McAnally

    Last month, someone sent me this link and asked if Brandon Wayne was legit. He penned this article in which he used his military career to boost his creds to condemn the ownership of AR-style rifles – a rifle that he admits that he owns.

    My weapons training began in college while in Army ROTC. While there, I enlisted in the Army National Guard Infantry. A few years later, I commissioned as an officer in the Army and in my career did tours in Afghanistan and Africa, was Airborne and Air Assault qualified, and commanded a support detachment for the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

    His real name is Brandon Wayne McAnally, he was enlisted and then he commissioned as an officer. He did serve in Afghanistan and he was a commander of a Special Forces detachment. McAnally was a chemical corps officer of an artillery battalion in Afghanistan. His Special Forces detachment was actually the Chemical Recon Detachment at Fort Carson, Colorado.

    McAnally FOIA

    McAnally Assignments

    I’m sure that if he wanted you to know that, he would have told you in the introduction.

    Along with anyone else who has been to war, I understand how dangerous it is. Given the past few years everyone else in the world should know as well. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria… Newtown, France, Orlando… It is an instrument of war. It was made to kill large amounts of people… in war.

    […]

    This is an assault rifle. I understand there is much derision in certain gun owner’s circles regarding this term, but that is the truth. This rifle was not made to go hunting. No one needs to take down thirty antelope inside of a minute to feed their family.

    […]

    As a responsible gun owner and citizen, I know that living in an atmosphere of paranoia of and isolationism from my government is the easiest path toward failing myself and my family.

    It’s time to grow up and have the discussion on gun reform. It’s time to grow up and realize that the world is a very different place from when the Constitution was written. It’s time to grow up and realize that none of us have any business owning an M4 or other high-capacity human assault rifle.

    Yeah, well, good for him. None of my firearms are for killing animals or hunting. They’re for self-defense – the same reason he may (or may not) have carried an M4 in Afghanistan, you know because that’s the only reason that a chemical officer in an artillery unit would have a weapon.

    I’m not calling this stolen valor, I’m just saying that McAnally should have been completely honest with his audience. Speaking of complete honesty, I wouldn’t have used that last name either.

  • July 15 Day of Rage

    There’s a rumor that there is a “Day of Rage” series of protests across the country scheduled for tomorrow. Snopes says that it’s an unfounded rumor. The Urban League denies that it’s involved – but you know some folks won’t get the word that it’s a rumor and they’ll show up. So the military has released a “Threat Advsory”

    On 15 July 2016, multiple protests are scheduled to be conducted across the
    United States. It is labeled as “Day of Rage Protest Across America” to
    protest the shootings in Baton Rouge Louisiana, St. Paul Minnesota and Dallas
    Texas. We have no information of potential violence at this time. However
    being anywhere near these protests greatly increases the chance that you may
    become a victim of violence. These demonstrations, intended to be peaceful can
    be unpredictable and may escalate into violence. While the organizers of the
    protest insist that their intentions are honorable and meant simply to bring
    the people together, the name itself, “Day of Rage”, suggest something more
    insidious. Organizers could be counting on recent tensions and unbridled
    emotions to serve as a catalyst for violence. No matter how great your empathy
    might be for those who have unjustly lost their lives, these protests are not
    a safe place to be. The following are the scheduled locations for the
    protest:

    Phoenix: 5:00PM (EASTLAKE PARK, 1549 E Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ 85034)

    Tucson: 5:00PM (CATALINA PARK, 900 N 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705)

    Little Rock: 6:00PM (OUTSIDE STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
    Dr., Little Rock, AR 72201)

    San Francisco: 4:00PM (CIVIC CENTER PLAZA, 355 McAllister St, San Francisco,
    California 94102)

    Oakland: 4:00PM (FRANK OGAWA PLAZA, 1 Frank H Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612)

    Los Angeles: 4:00PM (LEIMERT PLAZA PARK, 4395 Leimert Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
    90008)

    Denver: 5:00PM (CIVIC CENTER PARK, 100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, Colorado
    80204)

    Washington DC: 7:00PM (OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
    Washington, DC 20500)

    Atlanta: 7:00PM (OLD DECATUR COURTHOUSE, 101 E Court Sq., Decatur, GA 30030)

    Tampa: 7:00PM (OUTSIDE HILLSBOROUGH COURTHOUSE, 800 E Twiggs St, Tampa, FL)

    Orlando: 7:00PM (LAKE EOLA PARK, 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801)

    Miami: 7:00PM (GWEN CHERRY PARK, NW 71 St., Miami, Florida, 33147)

    Chicago: 6:00PM (RICHARD J DALEY CENTER, 50 W Washington St, Chicago, Illinois
    60602)

    Des Moines: 6:00PM (IOWA STATE CAPITOL, 1007 E Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA
    50319)

    New Orleans: 6:00PM (LAFAYETTE SQUARE, New Orleans, LA 70130)

    Baltimore: 7:00PM (201 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21202)

    Boston: 7:00PM (MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 01233)

    Detroit: 7:00PM (Campus Martius Park, Detroit, Michigan 48226)

    Lansing: 7:00PM (STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, Capitol Avenue at Michigan Avenue,
    Lansing, MI 48933)

    Ann Arbor: 7:00PM (THE DIAG, Burns Park, Ann Arbor, MI 48109)

    Minneapolis: 6:00PM (MINNEAPOLIS URBAN LEAGUE, 2100 Plymouth Ave N,
    Minneapolis, MN 55411

    St. Louis: 6:00PM (GATEWAY ARCH, St. Louis 63102) Carson City: 4:00PM

    (NEVADA STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, 101 N Carson St, Carson City, Nevada 89701)

    Manhattan, NY: 7:00PM (TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan, NY, 10036)

    Newark: 7:00PM (NEWARK CITY HALL, 920 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102)

    Durham: 7:00PM (200 E. Main St. Durham, North Carolina)

    Columbus: 7:00PM (GOODALE PARK, Columbus, Ohio 43215)

    Cleveland: 7:00PM (CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, 325 Superior Ave E, Cleveland,
    Ohio 44114)

    Portland: 4:00PM (PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE, 701 SW 6th Ave, Portland, Oregon
    97204)

    Philadelphia: 7:00PM (LOVE PARK, 1599 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia,
    Pennsylvania 19102)

    Pittsburgh: 7:00PM (PITTSBURGH CITY-COUNTY BUILDING, 414 Grant St, Pittsburgh,
    Pennsylvania 15219)

    Nashville: 6:00PM (801 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 Estes Kefauver Federal
    Building)

    Memphis: 6:00PM (Health Sciences Park Memphis, TN)

    Austin: 6:00PM (TEXAS STATE CAPITOL, Outside South Gate-11th and Congress
    Ave.)

    Salt Lake City: 5:00PM (SALT LAKE CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE, 4600 S Redwood Rd,
    Salt Lake City, Utah 84123)

    Seattle: 4:00PM (QUEEN ANNE BAPTIST CHURCH, 2011 1st Ave N, Seattle,
    Washington 98109)

    Milwaukee: 5:00PM (DINEEN PARK, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

    Once again they seem to be avoiding the strategically critical Fort Ashby, West Virginia, so you’re all welcomed to shelter in place here on the mountain until Armageddon is over.

  • Wil Weaton blames NRA for latest shooting

    Yesterday, in St. Joseph, Michigan, a criminal in the Berrien County Courthouse got his grubby paws on a deputy’s sidearm and killed 2 bailiffs, Joseph Zangaro, 61, and Ron Kienzle, 60, and injured James Atterbury, 41, before he was gunned down by officers. Actor, Wil Wheaton immediately sent a Tweet out to his fans; “Welcome to America. It has been 0 days since our last mass shooting. #F**ktheNRA,” according to the Washington Times.

    He backed off his initial post briefly;

    Apparently, Wheaton thinks that the NRA supports criminals disarming their law enforcement escorts.

    This demonstrates exactly what I’ve been saying for years – too many people have an emotional reaction to shootings and the internet gives them the opportunity to express their uninformed, barely literate opinions to millions instantly. That has turned the discussion on legal guns into an emotional issue rather than an intellectual discussion of facts.

    I’d boycott Wheaton, except I’ve never seen anything he was in, except as a guest on The Kaley Cuoco Show.