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

Category: Stolen Valor Act

  • Missing the point on Stolen Valor

    We’ve been getting email over the last several days from some of our valor thieves demanding that we remove the posts about them. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. They claim that the Supreme Court has made their sociopathic behavior legal, while that’s somewhat correct, the Supreme Court did not make what we do illegal. Justice Kennedy wrote that the remedy for false speech is more speech and TAH is more speech.

    Our idiot buddy, Dallas Wittgenfeld, thinks that somehow coming on a forum chocked full of veterans and telling us that the Supreme Court protects his false claims is some sort of rational defense for his “costume”.

    He tried to get TSO fired from his job, but since TSO’s employers know that busting phonies and sociopaths is his job, they gave him a pass. So Wittgenfeld took to putting graffiti on the internet with pictures of TSO with a line drawing of a penis on his face – now I thought that was funny. TSO is posting about it later, and I’m sure you’ll get a chuckle, too.

    But Wittgenfeld, along with Jonathon the Inhaler Sharkey have missed the whole point of the Supreme Court decision – the judges decided that we’re doing a fine job of policing the internet of phonies and that the possibility that the government could abuse the Stolen Valor Act outweighed the need for criminalization of the phonies.

    So after engaging in verbal battle with Mr. The Inhaler all day Saturday, he tried to convince me that I should go into business with him – a true sociopath. And because I said he must be insane, he said I don’t care about veterans. Whatever. Anyway, this is a teaser for TSO’s tome, so stand by for the longest blog post on TAH ever.

  • Schroeder Indicted

    “The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine.”  Looks like Paul A. Schroeder- the bogus former Houston-area PTSD counselor for the PTSD Foundation of America Jonn wrote about here and here – is about to find out the truth of that old saying up close and personal.

    A Federal grand jury indicted Schroeder onThursday, June 29, 2012.  The charge:  falsifying his DD214.  Schroeder faces up to $100,000 in fines and a year in jail.

    No, it’s not a felony.  But it’s still a good start.  And if he’s convicted, it’s a Federal criminal conviction.

    You may no longer get prosecuted for lying in a bar, or to your buddies, about your military record due to the recent SCOTUS decision regarding the Stolen Valor Act of 2005.   But I’d still recommend thinking twice before wearing decorations you don’t rate, or forging a DD214 to support a bogus claim.  Those are still Federal crimes; the laws defining them weren’t affected by the recent SCOTUS decision on the Stolen Valor Act of 2005.

    Ain’t that right, Paulie-boy?

  • Stolen Valor Act 2012

    So, I’m still pretty angry about the Supreme Court’s decision the other day. During the deliberation a few months ago, the justices admitted that there was actually harm committed by valor thieves, but then they ruled in their favor. I still think that only reason people, justices, lawyers think that stealing valor is only free speech is because they think it makes them sound smart.

    As Doug Sterner and I pointed out to the ABC News crew and the St. Louis Tribune the other day, using Greg Schaffer as an example, we first reported on Schaffer in April, by June he had raped a 15-year-old girl. If authorities had arrested him for Stolen Valor, that teen wouldn’t have been raped.

    My inbox is filling up with emails from stolen valor thieves who are tap dancing on the grave of the SVA/2005. Just today, Mary emailed us a celebratory exclamation from Jonathon the Dick Inhaler Sharkey;

    How about that ruling yesterday from the US Supreme Court? I can just imagine how many people are about to sue you. I thought about it, but my attorney told me, by the time you get done settling all your lawsuits, you won’t have anything.

    Of course, Sharkey missed the whole point of the court’s decision. The USSC decided that the public sector is doing a fine job of policing the ranks. There may be some illiterate f*cks, like Sharkey who think that the USSC’s overturning of the Stolen Valor Act means that we can’t do here what the government won’t do – but that’s not it at all. Like I told the ABC crew, it probably means that decision was good for our business. More idiots, like Sharkey, think they can get away with their thievery.

    But This Ain’t Hell and all of our partners are the stocks and dunking chairs in the village square of the internet – a place where folks can come and throw rotten tomatoes at the valor thieves. The Supreme Court gave us a warrant to be the internet’s vigilantes and bounty hunters.

    But on to phase two of the Stolen Valor Act. Nevada Republican Joe Heck is sponsoring HR 1775 which will make illegal profiting from stolen valor. You can read the whole bill here, but the main part amends Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code;

    § 1041. Certain misrepresentations about military service.

    (a) OFFENSE.—Whoever, with intent to obtain anything of value, knowingly makes a misrepresentation regarding his or her military service, shall—

    (1) if the misrepresentation is that such individual served in a combat zone, served in a special operations force, or was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both; and

    (2) in any other case, be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.

    (b) EXCEPTION FOR DENIAL OF SERVICE.—Sub20 section (a) does not apply to a misrepresentation that an individual did not serve in the Armed Forces of the United States.

    The bill goes on to criminalize lying about rank, combat service and other decorations besides the Medal of Honor if those lies are used for tangible gain. Of course, it’s a lawyer-employment opportunity because “thing of value” will be subject to interpretation. Jonathon Turley’s defense of stolen valor’s free speech aspect as pickup lines in a bar still results in a “thing of value” to some people.

    But you need to call your Congressman to jump on the Stolen Valor train by supporting Congressman Heck’s HR 1775 and tell your Senator to join in on S.1782 introduced by Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown.

  • The ABC interview

    They gave me about two seconds, but my wife and her new dress made the cut. Howard Stern had more time than I did.

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    The way that sentence finished, the part they didn’t put in was “When I see those bits of ribbon and metal, I think of my friend, Tim Martin, who died on the streets of Mogadishu and left behind his wife and three daughters.”

  • Just in Case Ya Missed it? RE: Stolen Valor

    Jonn put this up on FB, a coupla hours ago, but for those of you who don’t indulge:

    ABC called to say that we’re going to be on ABC’s World News Tonight (whatever that is) so tell me how it turns out. I was angry guy.

    Update from the comments (Thanks):

    MSNBC has an article AND a pix.

  • It Ain’t Over Quite Yet – Or Looking For A Silver Lining?

    As TSO points out here there IS a bill pending that may actually be a better option for dealing with Stolen Valor anyway.

    The Summary:

    Stolen Valor Act of 2011 – Amends the federal criminal code to subject an individual who, with intent to obtain anything of value, knowingly makes a misrepresentiation regarding his or her military service to: (1) a fine, one year’s imprisonment, or both if the misrepresentation is that such individual served in a combat zone or in a special operations force or was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; and (2) a fine, six months’ imprisonment, or both, in any other case. Provides that: (1) this Act shall not apply to a misrepresentation that an individual did not serve in the Armed Forces, and (2) it is a defense to prosecution that the thing of value is de minimis.

    Time to shake off this set back and get to work!

     

  • Stolen Valor in Spades

    Anyone who checks in at this command post on a regular basis is all too aware that the first sergeant suffers neither fools nor phonies gladly. Well I have a guy who qualifies as both that I think is deserving of the Wrath of Jonn. This phony hero’s a bit different because he doesn’t mis-wear a special operations uniform with multiple rows of improperly worn, unearned ribbons. He doesn’t claim to have been a P.O.W. although there are some gaps in his questionable travels regarding unexplained time overseas and he takes pains to hide his history right from birth.

    What he does do that is so typical of phony heroes is try to take credit for the combat exploits of others, true warriors who meet, engage and defeat the enemy while this phony is living very high on the hog, thousands of miles from the hardships of the battle zone. Another trait he shares with the legions of phonies, is the love of the camera and being in the public eye, bragging about his wartime accomplishments, awing the ignorant and uninformed.

    But this phony doesn’t fool us vets does he? One look and we know he never served. We hear him brag of his triumphs and we who have served know the truth of the old military adage, “True heroes don’t brag.” I served in units with several highly decorated soldiers, One of my sergeant majors was a WWII Medal of Honor recipient. An officer in our battalion earned the MOH in Korea. After Vietnam, my roommate at Fort Bragg, the future CSM Charles B. Morris, R.I.P., was also an MOH awardee for action with the 173rd Airborne. I was too junior to ever get close to those first two heroes but I heard from battalion NCO’s that they never spoke of their valorous deeds. I can assure you that you couldn’t pry anything out of Charley with a crowbar and those who tried were curtly instructed to change the subject. I did share some of his combat experiences from his nearly nightly nightmares which could become quite loud and active.

    Point is, they didn’t talk about it and I’ll wager that most of you reading here know how true that is across the board. Hell, it made me squirm a little just writing that above paragraph because I don’t care to be accused of bragging about who I knew back when. Believe me, it had nothing to do with me; it was nothing more than an accident of time and place that afforded me the unique opportunity to serve with real heroes. But it did teach me to listen sharp when some dude starts woofing about what a stud he was in combat or how crucial a role he played in winning a fight.

    By now, I’m sure you realize, I’m not talking about some pathetic wannabee out there with his beret on sideways and his C.I.B. worn upside down. No, in fact, the pathetic pretender I’ve been describing won’t even wear a flag lapel pin. He’s the less than 90 day wonder we now have sitting in our top command post, hindering our forces and quick to condemn their behaviors to assuage his lemming followers, while eagerly taking credit for their accomplishments.

    Democrats seem to have a different take on heroes and medals than most military folks, with their unquestioning acceptance of Kerry and his endless Purple Hearts as the classic example. Remember how Clinton, who bragged about reducing federal employment without revealing he did it through severe military force cuts, awarded pardons to all those criminals and terrorists in his last hours in office? It wouldn’t surprise me if this egomaniac wannabee hero we have in the White House now will try to wangle himself a Medal of Honor for his courage and valor in the killing of Osama bin Laden. That would be a monumental case of Stolen Valor. In spades.

    Crossposted at American Thinker.

  • George Will and Stolen Valor

    I like George Will, I’ve met him twice and the conversations we had were some of the most memorable I’ve ever engaged in my entire life. That’s why I tried to ignore this column he did a few weeks ago in the Washington Post “Who gets to judge political truth?“, but it haunts me.

    First, I’d ask Mr. Will, what’s the difference between “political truth” and “good old every day, run-of-the-mill truth?” A lie is a lie no matter who is say it. He cites the Alvarez case in which Xavier Alvarez lies at a political to potential voters that he was a 25-year Marine with a Medal of Honor in an obvious attempt to win votes from sympathetic military supporters. He was defrauding voters. If there is no Stolen Valor Act, how are voters compensated and protected from this malfeasance?

    But Alvarez defamed no one, and it is unclear how his fabrications about himself caused America’s armed forces reputational harm. Furthermore, his lies did not fit any of the other four traditional categories of unprotected speech — obscenity, fraud, incitement, or speech integral to criminal conduct.

    Well, without the Stolen Valor Act, Will is right, it’s not criminal conduct, except that he did defraud the voters with his lie. Wouldn’t Will like to see politicians forced to tell the truth during their campaigns? I would and this might be a good start.

    Like I said, I like George Will as a person, but unfortunately, it looks like he has joined the folks who think that opposing the Stolen Valor Act makes them look smart. It doesn’t, George. It makes you look blind.