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

Category: “Teh Stoopid”

  • Wunderbare.

    Remember those two dead terrorist bastards who killed 14 and wounded 20+ in San Bernardino earlier this month? You know, the case where a US citizen went to a nation with a high level of support for radical Islamic terrorism; found himself a “bride”; and brought her to the US on a spousal visa?  The case where the terrorist “bride” apparently had made past posts on social media supporting violent jihad and indicating a desire to participate in same, but was admitted to the US anyway because checking her social media accounts during the visa approval process was against DHS policy?

    Well, sit down – it gets even “better”.

    When a US citizen wants to bring a foreigner to the US as a spouse, there is a existing requirement in Federal law that the two individuals must have met face-to-face at least once prior to that prospective spouse being granted a visa to enter the US.  The purpose of this requirement is to combat “sham marriage” rackets.

    Well, regarding our two dead terrorists . . . do I really need to spell it out?

    Yeah, you guessed it:  turns out there’s no real evidence that a face-to-face meeting ever happened prior to the spouse receiving her visa.  And it also appears that (1) INS noticed a lack of evidence for such a meeting, (2) asked for more information documenting that such a meeting happened, (3) got nothing . . . but approved her entry into the US on a spousal visa anyway.

    Further, there’s actually rather strong circumstantial evidence that such a meeting likely never happened.

    Fox has a decent story from a couple of days ago detailing the timeline and evidence.  It’s worthwhile reading.

    Oh, and remember the dead terrorists’ friend who acted as straw buyer for the weapons they used in their attack?  Turns out he was getting paid $200 a month for his “marriage” to an in-law of the dead male terrorist.  It certainly looks at this point like that “marriage” was a sham, too.

    “Curiouser and curioser”, said . . . well, damn near anyone with a working brain.

    Yeah, Secretary Johnson – looks like your department’s certainly “got some ‘splainin’ to do.”  About multiple things.

  • “Red Line”, Eh?

    Former SECDEF Hagel is in the news again.  And this time, it looks like he’s talking about his former boss.

    In a recent interview, Hagel claims that he gave the OK in 2013 to plans for a strike on Syria – on Damascus, specifically.  Hagel indicates he OKed those plans on 30 August 2013, after Assad’s forces had apparently used chemical weapons. The POTUS had very publicly previously indicated that use of chemical weapons by Assad was a “red line” that would result in US action.

    Hagel claims, point blank, that the POTUS overruled him later that day, while forces were standing by awaiting orders to execute.

    Here’s what the Administration had to say in reply:

    A senior administration official defended the decision to Foreign Policy, saying Obama was not prepared to take military action without consulting Congress first – and the diplomatic deal that had Assad relinquish his weapons resulted in a Syria “free of its chemical weapons program.”

    Pure bullsh!t. The current Occupant, 1600 Penn Ave, Wash DC, and his enablers didn’t give a hoot in hell about Congressional authorization for the use of force when we conducted military operations against the government of Libya in 2011 – nor did they comply with the War Powers Act’s requirements for Congressional notification as the operation dragged on. The Administration’s claim here nothing but a transparently obvious attempt at spin. Nor do I believe for one minute that Syria has given up 100% of their chem weapons, either.

    Fox News has a longish article about Hagel’s claims. Regardless of what you think of Hagel, this one’s probably worth reading.

  • Speechless. Just Speechless.

    You know how they say “lightning never strikes twice”? Well, they’re wrong.

    Apparently another cabinet-level official in the current      clown krewe running the show in DC       Administration has been using a private email account to conduct official government business.  Word is that they’ve now quit.

    Who was it, you ask? A guy named “Ashton Carter”.

    Yeah – that Ashton Carter.  The SECDEF.

    Apparently for a few months after his appointment, Carter continued using a private email address vice his government email account to conduct at least some official business.  Reportedly copies of any such emails were also forwarded to his government account for record purposes – though how one would verify that without examining ALL of his personal email from the time frame in question is a good question.

    Carter reportedly continued to use his private account for about two months after the fact that a certain former SECSTATE had done the same was publicly revealed.  Further, Carter’s use of his personal account was often enough that at least some “members of his staff feared he would be hacked and worried about his not following the rules”.  But of course, that’s a misplaced concern – no foreign intelligence service would ever take an interest in a US cabinet secretary’s personal communications, right?

    (I do hope the sarcasm in the last sentence above was obvious.)

    Fox News as well as the New York Times have articles with more info (the NYT broke the story).  IMO they’re worth a few minutes to read.

    Sheesh.  Do these people simply quit freaking thinking when they take office?

  • Did Someone Say, “YGBSM?!?!” Unfortunately . . . They’re Not.

    Remember the other day when it was revealed that the female San Bernardino jihadi terrorist bastard passed three background checks before being admitted to the US on a spousal visa? Remember when it looked like that at was at least partly due to her social media postings – where she’d expressed support for violent jihad, and indicated she wanted to be a part of same – not being screened during those investigations?

    Well, that’s indeed the case. But now we know why such social media screening was never performed.

    Doing that was against policy.

    It seems that DHS investigators were forbidden by DHS policy from  reviewing social media posts made by foreigners applying for a US visa..  Apparently DHS leadership was worried about about a possible “civil liberties backlash” and “bad public relations” – or some other similarly nebulous libidiot bullsh!t.

    Concerns about “civil liberties” regarding someone (1) who is not a US citizen or resident; (2) who isn’t even physically located in the US; and (3) who is voluntarily asking permission to come to the US to live.  Plus, worries over “bad public relations”.  Yeah, letting those concerns outweigh conducting thorough background checks on foreigners seeking to enter the US during a period of high terrorist threat really passes the freaking common sense test.

    But wait, it gets even better. Nearly two years ago, multiple senior DHS officials recommended to the DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, that the policy be changed.  They recommended that DHS change policy to allow screening of social media posts made by visa applicants. Wanna guess what the decision was – and who made it?

    No, the POTUS didn’t make the decision; reportedly DHS Secretary Johnson did.  He turned down the recommendation – in early 2014.

    The jihadi terrorist bastard in question entered the US in mid-2014.  You do the math.

    Yes, Mr. Secretary, I’d say you certainly “have some ‘splainin’ to do””  I only wish now you could end up doing it in a court of law, while on trial for dereliction of duty.

  • Great. Just Freaking Great.

    Remember when the current       DC clown krewe        Administration told us that it planned to admit thousands of “Syrian refugees”? Remember when it told us “don’t worry, be happy” – because any such referees would be “thoroughly” investigated and vetted and would therefore pose no threat to US security?

    Remember when people raised objections? You know, when numerous people – noting that a large number of fake Syrian passports had been observed among alleged Syrian refugees, and also noting that the Syrian government wasn’t exactly cooperative with the US these days – worried that terrorists might infiltrate the US by claiming to be refugees?

    Well, “riddle me this, Batman”.  Just how are we going to vet those “Syrian refugees” when the Syrian government is uncooperative – and if Da’esh not only has an authentic Syrian passport machine but also has “boxes of blank (Syrian) passports”?

    The question isn’t hypothetical.  Apparently Da’esh acquired both an actual Syrian passport printing machine and a supply of blank Syrian passports  when they captured the city of Deir ez-Zour this past summer.

    Yeah, it looks like this is gonna turn out great.  Just freaking great.

  • Scratch One Career

    The armed services have been trying to discourage alcohol use for at least the past 20 years, if not longer. In truth, sometimes I think they go to far in that respect.

    Regardless, it’s policy – and excessive alcohol consumption isn’t generally a behavior that should be encouraged.  But there are still people out there who don’t seem to “get the word”.

    Unfortunately, sometimes those folks are relatively senior. Like the former 20th Air Force Commander, for example.

    And, it turns out, like the Director for Strategy, Policy, Capabilities, and Logistics at TRANSCOM – RADM David Baucom. Apparently he was removed from his position in October for what amounts to “drunk and disorderly” while TDY on the night of 7-8 April of this year.

    I’m not going to go into the details of the “drunk and disorderly” here.  This Navy Times article on the subject does so; read it if you’re interested.  Suffice it to say that the details are rather . . . unusual.

    RADM Baucom has issued a statement blaming his conduct on a medical condition occurring on “the evening of April 8th which caused lightheadedness, disorientation, dizziness and confusion.” Other indications are he may have mixed prescription medicine with drinking.

    However, a Navy investigation found that RADM Baucom had consumed all or part of at least 8 drinks that evening. It seems to me that, according to this blood alcohol concentration (BAC) chart, that would yield a BAC of 0.11 in a 180-lb man four hours after he’d begun drinking (0.17 – 6 x 0.01). If he drank more than 8 drinks, that would have yielded an even higher BAC.

    Sorry, RADM; I can’t say I have very much sympathy.  A drink or 3 at an official function or conference is one thing; eight or more seems rather excessive.  Someone of your seniority should know that.  Ditto for knowing that mixing prescription drugs and alcohol is a fool’s game.  Either way, you should damn well have known better.

    At least you’ll get to keep your retirement.  It could have been worse.

  • “Your Tax Dollars At Work”

    Some in Congress do seem to care about our taxes being wasted. This year, a number of US Senators have documented ways in which the US government wastes our tax revenues. Two of them are Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

    Senators Flake and Lansford have each published lists showing how the US government wastes money out the wazoo. Each list documents approximately 100 real “winners” funded by the Federal government.

    Some examples?

    • Organizing craft festivals in Russia.

    • Handing out “tailgating” packages before the Nebraska-Wisconsin football game.

    • A different “DRC” – the DARPA Robotics Challenge – that absolutely cratered. (This quote from Senator Flake’s blurb about the event should raise a chuckle from TAH readers: “If the DRC hadn’t been so rife with slapstick, it would have put everyone to sleep.”)

    • Funding the construction of a building at a cosmetology college.

    • Producing and distributing bar coasters.

    • DoD’s adventures with gas stations and empty buildings in Afghanistan.

    These are just a few of the 100 “winners” listed by Senator Flake.  Some are repeated in Senator Lankford’s list; but the overlap between the two lists doesn’t seem to be total.

    Yeah, this is funny – in a “laughing to keep from crying” kinda way. It’s our freaking tax money being wasted.

    Senator Flake documents around $133.6 BILLION  in apparent waste. (It wasn’t as easy to extract costs from Senator Lankford’s list, so I passed on trying to do that.) That’s approaching the budget of the entire Department of Veterans Affairs.

    As the late Senator Everett Dirksen reputedly said: “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money.” And since Uncle Sam’s as broke as an E3 with 3 kids and a stay-at-home spouse a week after payday, well . . . every dollar counts.

    Senator Flake’s list can be found here; Senator Lankford’s can be found here. If you have the time reading them is worth your while – for as long as you can stand to read either.

    But maybe give them a pass if you’re having a bad day, or are having blood pressure issues. Punching a wall or computer screen kinda smarts, and raising your blood pressure too high can be bad news indeed.

  • Another Bogus ID, Courtesy of the DRC

    Well, that didn’t take too long.  Looks like the DRC has “found” me.

    Again.

    For at least the sixth time.

    And just like the five previous times . . . they’re full of it.

    A little “birdie” sent me the photo of the guy the DRC has identified as me this time around.  That individual doesn’t need any more DRC grief, so I’ll pass on posting the photo here.

    I should probably be flattered.  I’m no great judge of handsome, but the fella in the photo I received seemed to be a rather good-looking guy.  I’d guess he has no problem in getting all the female companionship he wants.  I’m sure the DRC members are envious.

    And, yeah:  he was sporting a Trident, plus some Navy decorations.  So that means that – once again – I’m supposedly ex-Navy and a former SEAL.

    Geez.  Remember when I previously asked if our “good friends” in the DRC had the common sense to urinate in the toilet vice the trash can when they went to the head?  I guess we have our answer now.

    Listen up, you bunch of Dumb Royally Clueless j-holes:  best I can tell, I’ve never been closer than maybe 40 or so miles to where this latest guy you’ve falsely identified as being me lives today – and that was approaching 20 years ago.  I haven’t been anywhere near that close since.

    Again, for the record:  no, I’m not a former Navy SEAL. This is at the third damn time I’ve told you dipsticks that I’m not a former SEAL.  Are you too freaking stupid to understand plain English?

    At the risk of being repetitive:  I’ve never served in the Navy.  I’ve never set foot on an active Navy warship.  I’ve never been at sea other than on a couple of tour boat or ferry rides.

    “Never served in the Navy” means I’m not a former SEAL.  How about you let that fact penetrate your thick skulls, m’kay?

    Bottom line:  you’re barking up the wrong tree.  Again.

    That doesn’t surprise me, though.  IMO mercury is an excellent metaphor for you fools’ minds: dense, liquid, and toxic.

    Here’s the obligatory recap.  First, close to two years ago supposedly I was a now-retired and relatively well-known Army GO.  Second, I was wrongly identified as being The Hair himself, Don Shipley.  After that, I was allegedly a retired Special Forces Sergeant Major.  Fourth, I was supposedly a serving Army CPT   (or maybe by now MAJ) teaching ROTC.  Then a few weeks ago, according to the DRC’s fifth flight of false-ID fancy I was allegedly CAPT Larry Bailey.

    Hell, maybe there were other bogus IDs I missed.  I don’t really know; and I don’t much care.

    Now this time around, according to you DRC j-holes I’m supposedly a third different ex-SEAL – when in reality, I’m not. That’s at least the sixth time that you damn fools have “gotten it wrong”.

    They say everyone has a role in life.  The DRC IMO has now shown they have not one role, but two. The first appears to be serving as a counterexample regarding life in general.  Their second role – as shown by this ridiculous series of comically inept “identifications” – must be providing comic relief.