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

Category: James Branum

  • Under the Hood takes another life

    Meet SPC Kyle Wesolowski of Delta Company 1-12 Cav, Fort Hood, TX. I guess he recently he decided that he’s a Buddist and that he doesn’t belong in the Army, so he’s applied for conscientious objector status and by reading his statement, it look like he’s been approved. So he figures that because he’s a CO, he’s on The Army Welfare Queen Support Program;

    I refuse to take part in any field exercises that go against my core values as a Buddhist such as but not limited to: handling of ammunition and weapons under any circumstances, maintenance of any army vehicles, taking part in any classes in army job education as these activities prepare either myself or others for war. Participation in such activities is perpetuation of war which is an objection of my conscience.

    I guess he’ll also refuse to wear Army uniforms, do PT, pick up cigarette butts, scratch his ass, since all of that somehow “prepare either myself or others for war”. Dingus.

    Oh, and he figures he’s going to take out a career NCO who has probably used a whole lot of restraint in not pounding Wesolowski’s pink pimpled ass into the Fort Hood sand. Just reading that paragraph in Wesolowski’s statement on his “Free Kyle” website (probably set up by Branum, Wesolowski’s lawyer. Can’t you tell?) negates all of his complaints about his NCOs and commander as far as I’m concerned.

    Little punk-ass douche. When does he get his “namuh” tattoo?

    If you don’t believe that he’s a Buddist, his Facebook page has pictures of him sitting cross-legged on the floor looking at the wall. Kinda like that picture of Adam Perlman on an Israeli beach from yesterday – how can you argue with photographic proof?

  • I thought Johnny Yuma was a rebel

    This is pretty funny, The American Bar Associaton features the Lionel Hutz of the peace lawyers, James Branum, in their Legal Rebels column this issue.

    “I’ve had clients confess to me things that would be war crimes, like having to kill children who came too close to their vehicle when they were in combat,” Branum says. “On the other hand, I hear about soldiers who take tremendous risks to do the right things.”

    Clients, many of whom find Branum on the Internet through Google ads or the blog on his website GIRightsLawyer.com, pay a sliding fee, usually between $60 and $150 an hour.

    A lawyer who is aware of crimes and doesn’t report them? Isn’t that unethical? $150/hour? For soldiers and their familes? I notice he didn’t mention that sometimes he lives with his clients, eats them out of house and home and then when his clients get evicted because they can’t pay their rent, Branum moves on to the next patsy.

    Branum estimates that last year he earned about $20,000, and he is hoping to earn $25,000 this year. An active member of the Joy Mennonite Church in Oklahoma City, he lives in an apartment owned by the congregation and serves as their minister of peace and justice.

    I should apply to be that church’s War and Torture minister so I can get me a free house.

    He also decided a law degree would serve his faith more than protesting and agitating, although he still does that too, often just outside army bases where his clients are detained. “I came to the conclusion that the best thing I could do to make the world a more peaceful place was to help one soldier at a time get out,” he says

    Well, they all get out of the service, alright, after a quick trip through a hoosegow. Speaking of which, Victor Agosto, one of Branum’s clients and a former inmate at Bell County, Texas jail has nothing but praise for Branum, the leech. I wonder if they’re as happy about Branum’s performance as their lawyer while they’re in jail.

  • Free Nasser

    Greetings from an undisclosed location in Indianapolis.

    Someone sent me this link while I was on the road and I had to share it while I’m trying to find the liquor. It’s a link to a “Free Nasser” websiteto benefit Nasser Abdo, the guy TSO mentioned last night.

    The person who sent me the link said something about “Abdo is not even in jail”. I responded that since James Branum is his lawyer, it’s only a matter of time. I’ll remind any potential donors that this website was probably created by Branum himself to line his pockets and more than likely he’ll end up getting Abdo the maximum sentence at any trial – the same thing Abdo could get with the worst possible military counsel for free.

    But, as far as I know, Abdo isn’t facing any trial – a CO application is an administrative action in front of a panel. Maybe that’s why Branum weaseled his way intothiscase – it’s very unlikely that anyone can end up in jail – a first for Branum.

  • James Branum the big-hearted leech

    We haven’t had an opportunity to discuss James Branum (background here and here) lately because I’d heard he’d been keeping his nose clean and actually helped soldiers instead of getting them tossed in jail for “The Cause” and story lines for Dahr Jamail. But someone sent me this link to his website “GI Rights lawyer” that I just couldn’t let pass.

    This is the story of Robert Bulechek and his family. His wife has written a plea for donations because apparently Robert is doing time for being AWOL. Poor guy joined the Army to get ahead, but unfortunately, the Army didn’t pay him enough to take care of his wife, two kids and their invalid parents, so after basic and AIT, Robert went AWOL to get a better job. Then for some reason the Army swore out a warrant for his arrest and he was picked up last February. For some reason the Army doesn’t trust him and kept him confined to barracks, blah, blah, blah.

    Now she wants you to send her money. But that’s not the worst part – Branum feels sorry for her to the point that he’ll blame the Army for punishing the law breaker and give her some bandwidth to beg for money, but that’s where his charity ends;

    50% of the donations raised in this appeal will go to pay for Robert’s legal bills.

    Translation; 50% of the money will go to buy Slurpees and Gut-busters. First of all, who thinks they can just walk away from the Army and get another job because E-1 pay sucks? Secondly, does knowing that 50% of the money Branum collects with his PayPal account is going in Hefty Boy’s gullet make you want to donate more or less? Seems to me that if Branum had any concern for this family, like he tries to tell us, all of the money would go to the family and he’d worry about his legal expenses later. But that’s just me.

    Now, I’m told that IVAW, (Seth Manzell, actually) is spreading the word around that Robert Bulechek didn’t go AWOL because of his family, but because he turned against the war. they did the same thing for that other fat turd, Leo Church who did the same thing as Bulechek – they turned Church into an anti-war boob from an average run-of-the-mill AWOL boob.

    ADDED:

    But I looked him up on FaceBook and there is a lot of things that raise a few questions. Like if he was arrested in February, then why does he have photos of himself outside of confinement. Some of the photos are of him and Family in New Mexico dated March 2010?

    Or his comment on FaceBook saying that he is on Staff Duty in June 16th 2010.

    on staff duty. not much to do but sit here, lol

    Also married to the same Tonya Bulechek that started the page for him. This whole things feels weird to me.

    ADDED 2nd

    Found out more about the unit he was a part of from this photo. Also he is a 21 series according to AKO. Seems he is part of the 1st Sustainment Brigade that deployed this March. But get this, they deployed to Kuwait in order to help with the troop drawdown in Iraq. So when Seth says that this deployment is Illegal does that mean he really wants our troops to stay there? Or does it reinforce that the is not paying attention to what is happening in Iraq and just repeating slogans like he always does.

  • IVAW board member Kindlinger on the skids

    So, I got some intel last night that IVAW Board member Michael “Trey” Kindlinger is one of those homeless veterans you’re always reading about. He was complaining that it’ll cost him money to get a copy of his teacher credentials so he can’t get a job. Of course, being a member of the International Socialist Organization, he blames capitalism for his woes. Kindlinger.

    You may remember Kindlinger was one of those IVAW members who has never been to Iraq. He was a nine year veteran of the Navy who suddenly had an attack of conscience, applied for CO status and was discharged. All the while his wife stayed on active duty, though.

    It gets worse, though. Now that he’s without a job and living in a shelter (probably with his wife and kids) the people who run the shelter assault him with terrible gospel music. Kindlinger is supposedly a born-again Christian and got out of the Navy for religious reasons, but somehow the gospel music offends him. I wonder how he balances the ISO with the church since the two seem at odds with each other.

    Kindlinger is broke now, but last August he had enough money to go to Fort Hood from his home in Maryland to protest the imprisonment of Travis Bishop in Fort Hood, Texas. here he’s interviewed by our favorite lawyer, James Branum;

    It looks to me that “Trey” is just a run of the mill bonehead who lets his dumbassery make his life hard. And it’s all capitalism’s fault.

  • Another Branum client goes to jail

    So *yawn* yet another James Branum, the GI RIGHTS Lawyer, client gets a stint in the hoosegow. This one, Specialist Nichole Mitchell, got lucky – she only went to jail for 30 days, but jail nonetheless. In Branum’s words;

    Living as a conscientious objector in the U.S. Army proved to be nearly impossible. SPC Mitchell was not assigned to a new M.O.S. (military occupational specialty), but instead remained as an M.P. She no longer carried a weapon but otherwise had to function as an M.P. So when personal problems arose in her life (something that happens to many soldiers), the emotional strain and stress became too much and she went AWOL.

    Upon return to her unit, SPC Mitchell did her best to be a good soldier. In many cases, combat veterans who go AWOL and return voluntarily are not prosecuted, but this did not happen to SPC Mitchell. Her command rejected our request for her to be given a chapter 10 discharge in lieu of court-martial, and instead she was given a summary court-martial.

    So once again, the Army is a big meanie because being in the military police makes soldiers noncombat arms – which is why women are in the MPs in the first place. Yes, I know some MP missions are comparable to combat arms units, however the Army classifies many MP units as non-combat units.

    I don’t know what world Branum lives in, but most AWOLs and desertions are prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law allows. Especially if they’re one of Branum’s clients.

    I’m not sure why, but there’s not much on Mitchell’s case – which is especially odd since she’s a client of attention whore James Branum. She must’ve hired him late in the game otherwise we’d be treated to a video of her just before the jail door slams behind her.

    But he claims she is a pro-bono client so at least she got the representation she paid for as opposed to most of his clients.

  • The real difference.

    Recently Travis Bishop commented on a post about him a few days ago. One thing that he did bring up was the group called Disposable Warriors. Now don’t let the name fool you, this website is very different from it’s alleged counter parts that Travis linked it with in his post.

    The person running the show is Former Sgt Chuck Luther He has been working with those with honest to good real issues and really seems to care about the each person. In his recent case shows that it working with Private First Class Jacob Wade He went AWOL during mid-tour leave. While while I still think AWOL is never the right thing to do, it is more sympathetic then others.

    He said he made the decision after dealing with the effects of what he witnessed and experienced during his first six months in Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division.

    “Riding through town we got attacked,” he said. “I had a grenade go off five feet behind me, and only one other soldier that was with me made it into the truck, and we thought everyone was dead.”

    So Chuck talks about how to face this challenge and this is the real difference.

    “We have a large amount of AWOL cases; the rest are soldiers that are currently there that possibly if nobody intervened they would go AWOL,” Luther said.

    He said he has handled more than 175 cases across the country so far with more than 70 active cases.

    “It’s not something that can’t be taken over and fixed,” Luther said. “But there is help out there, and AWOL is seriously the last resort, and it shouldn’t ever get to that point.”

    That is just it the real divide over who wants to help the person or help their cause. Something we already know about you James.

  • The million dollar question for James Branum.

    Awhile back I wrote about Eric Jasinski and how James Branum helped him in getting jail time for going AWOL. Well James replied to me that he has many clients that he has defended successfully. It is only the ones that have been public have gotten the jail time and bad conduct discharge. It was just by chance that all the public ones got the bad verdict. Also he gives a excuse for any questions we have made so far about him..

    I have a policy of not responding to anyone affiliated with TAH. Responding to them gives their website credibility, which is why I do not respond to their posts on their website anymore.

    So I go back and check to find a un-named person asking the same type of questions we have. I guess it might take a person on the other side of the spectrum to get the point across.

    I like how no one can give a direct and honest answer to mastersporks simple question. How many people who refused deployment for moral or medical reasons that Branum represented not get the worst outcome possible? Eric Jasinki should be getting medical treatment and the fact he got jail time is absurd and while a strike against the Army it is also a strike against Under The Hood Cafe for feeding another Soldier who needed help to this incompetent practitioner of the law.

    The UCMJ allows for a Soldier to choose free representation from any lawyer from any branch all paid for by the Military. So there would be no need for Branum.

    AWOL does not mean automatic jail time. For anyone to suggest that is grossly misinformed. They just want to get that person off the books and move on. Branum seems to go in a botch things up so bad they end up getting jail time. No one is also the wiser because people on the outside like these activists don’t understand the UCMJ, hate the Army, so they will blame the Military because they are already predetermined to. Lack of knowledge and true understand allows Branum to operate in this manner. People need to look at the actual numbers for how many Soldiers actually get jail time for going AWOL. It is very very low.

    Another absurd accusation is that anyone who stands up to the Military will get punished to the severity in which Bramun’s clients do. How these people have forgotten active duty troops who stood up and all walked away with Honorable Discharges and zero jail time is sad. Colby Buzzel, Ronn Cantu, Casey Porter, Selena Coppa, just to name a few.

    Support war resisters, keep them away from Under The Hood and James Branum.

    James gives a typical reply about the John Doe clients.

    Anonymous, as I stated earlier, the overwhelming majority of my clients do NOT get jail time. I don’t know how much more clear I can get on this point.

    Even for my clients who aren’t just garden variety AWOL’s but actually refuse deployments, a high percentage get no jail time. (if you wait until the last minute to refuse, your odds go down obviously).

    But I make no guarantees. Sometimes I can swing a good deal. Sometimes I can’t. Any lawyer who claims they get good deals all of the time, either only take easy cases, is a liar, and/or is a fool.

    But this is the money shot question in the reply.

    Then Mr. Branum I ask you to answer a straight forward question: How many war resisters have you represented that did not get a negative discharge or get jail time? I’m not asking for court documents, or anything that would violate client attorney privilege. Actually, giving out such information would not violate that trust because any case would be a matter of public record and there is no foreseeable legal reason I can think of as to why a case like that would be sealed. So please, sir, can we get that number?

    So what is your answer James?