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

Category: Who knows

  • SEAL defends “Go to Hell, Katy Perry” comment

    I guess singer Katy Perry pissed a lot of people off the other day when she Tweeted this message to her fans in the wake of the Manchester terrorist attack; “No barriers, no borders, we all just need to coexist.” Former Navy Seal Carl Higbie caught some flack for his response to Ms. Perry;

    “Go to hell, Katy Perry. Hold one of your concerts in Syria and see how that goes.”

    Later he told the Daily Caller;

    “The problem is that Katy Perry lives in a bubble,” Higbie said.

    “She influences millions of young children who believe everything that comes out of her mouth. It’s irresponsible of her to say something like this, when she has no understanding of the situation. Open borders would be a disaster.”

    Higbie believes that a spell has been cast on the American public by the entertainment industry. He thinks this is driving people to Hollywood for answers instead of reporters or media personalities.

    “People are captivated by pop culture,” Higbie said.

    Well, I’m out of touch when it comes to popular culture. All I know about Katy Perry is that she made a video that was supposed to be pro-military, but came up short, however it does look like a recruiting commercial. Higbie probably doesn’t need to defend himself – I haven’t seen a Venn diagram, but I’m guessing that his fan base demographic is different from Katy’s.

    Anyone who gets their political advice from entertainers (I include the Samantha Bee fans in that) are muttonheads who should keep away from the polling booth so they don’t hurt someone with their vote.

    Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

  • Joshua Jamesray Gueary

    Joshua Jamesray Gueary

    Earlier this month, someone sent us the tragic story of Josh Gueary published in the Topeka Capitol-Journal. Josh, here, shot his brother and two laborers before turning the gun on himself – and of course, his military service was to blame;

    On that day, Fletcher said, Josh Gueary displayed the paranoia and edginess that friends have seen in him since he returned from the military last year. He often believed someone was chasing him or lurking behind him. When someone knocked on Fletcher’s door, Josh Gueary jumped.

    […]

    He apparently resented his time in the military, telling Fletcher the day before he died, “The Army changed me.” The long overtime hours made him feel like a slave, he said. He called enlistment the worst decision of his life, despite the sunny locale to which he was sent — Oahu, Hawaii.

    Must’ve been brutal, you know, being stationed in Hawaii. Joshua Jamesray Gueary was an engineer in a bridging unit, according to his records. He never deployed, and, oh, by the way, he didn’t complete his commitment, either. He did three years and seven months, discharged as a private last Fall.

    While the story ends tragically, it plays into the stereotypical “all veterans are crazy and on a hair trigger”, but it seems that Josh, here, had problems before he joined the Army and nothing he did in the Army played into that tragic ending. He didn’t train with a handgun on the Army – they can’t even blame his marksmanship with his weapon of choice in his crime on the Army.

  • Snopes asks TAH about Sheriff Clarke’s Stolen Valor

    Snopes asks TAH about Sheriff Clarke’s Stolen Valor

    Snopes reached out to us on the question of Sheriff David Clarke’s Stolen Valor;

    But criticism of Clarke’s uniform is purely subjective. John Lilyea, a retired Army sergeant who runs the blog “This Ain’t Hell” which often deals with stolen valor cases, said he saw nothing wrong with Clarke’s pins, and thought the kerfuffle was much ado about nothing. In an e-mail, he told us:

    I don’t see anything wrong with what Sheriff Clarke is wearing. None of it is military-related… The people in the Salon article were just having an emotional reaction to the sight of the Sheriff in his uniform rather than anything substantial.

    Lilyea directed us to a blog post he had written on the topic (categorized under “Dumbass Bullshit”) in which he characterized the controversy as nothing more than partisanship:

    The whole thing is childish and it’s a political attack. We’ve busted phonies here on both sides of the political aisle, irrespective of their politics because that’s the nature of stolen valor. I can’t find any articles on Salon that take [Democratic Connecticut Senator] Dick Blumenthal to task on his fake claims that Blumenthal was a Vietnam veteran.

    Anthony Anderson, a staff sergeant who runs the web site “Guardian of Valor” and has taken on the task of busting military impostors, agreed with Lilyea. He told us by e-mail:

    From what we can see there are no official military badges or insignia on this man’s uniform.

    We see a bunch of pro-American and Law Enforcement pins. Not sure why anyone would approach this man and accuse him of Stolen Valor. Unless there is a background that we don’t know of, there’s nothing offensive or wrong with what he is wearing.

    More important, perhaps is Sheriff Clark’s response;

    You know they’re talking about some of the pins on my uniform, first of all they’re not medals, they’re pins. And they have very significant emotional and real value to me. Some of these have been handed to [me] by people who have lost sons and daughters in the line of duty, or a spouse.

    Tiara boy scrambles to save a shred of his dignity. Too late.

    Snopes concludes;

    Actual “stolen valor” is a serious offense — it’s a federal crime to wear authentic military medals like a silver star, a Purple Heart or a Combat Infantryman’s Badge without having earned them. Although Clarke has a penchant for meticulously arranging his personal pins on his dress uniform, he never claimed to have served in the military and says the items are personal belongings, not military-issued medals or badges.

    It may be a gray area for some, but the level of offense taken is in the eye of the beholder. Clarke does not misrepresent his past nor does he masquerade as a veteran of the armed forces.

  • Newspeak in Washington State law enforcement

    Chris sends us a link to KIRO7 which reports that the police in Seattle’s Department now refer to “suspects” in their reports as “community members” because “labeling someone a suspect can sometimes be misleading if they are not suspected of anything.” In the incident specifically that triggered this report, there’s little doubt that the suspect wasn’t a suspect;

    Sources point to the suspect who shot three officers last month after a downtown Seattle armed robbery. When officers involved in that incident were writing their use of force reports they were required to refer to the shooter, Damarius Butts, as a “community member,” not a suspect, police sources said.

    Police fatally shot Butts after they said he shot the officers.

    Yeah, I suspect he’s decomposing as we read these words as a result of him being a suspect, rather than a member of the community. KIRO also reminds us that the Washington State Department of Corrections has ceased referring to their inmates as such;

    Last fall, the Washington Department of Corrections stopped calling inmates “offenders” and instead use the term “student.”

    At another KIRO link;

    In [Acting DOC Secretary Dick] Morgan’s memo, he wrote that the term offender “is a label that impacts more than the person to whom it is applied. The label has now been so broadly used that it is not uncommon to see it used to describe others such as ‘offender families’ and ‘offender employers or services.’”

    You can read the .pdf of that memo at this link.

  • Variations on a Theme

    The theme is timeless, so most readers can probably identify.

    Using a coin as metaphor:

    Obverse.

    Reverse.

    On Edge.

    Maybe there was something in the water back in the early/mid 1970s.

  • Semi-Gallic Panache

    The French are famous for their Gallic panache.  And while I understand that the present-day French don’t really consider French-Canadians to be – or to speak – “true French”, there are nonetheless some strong cultural similarities between the two peoples because of common heritage.

    Last year, I observed some of those similarities firsthand.  While visiting Montreal, I stayed at a small hotel.  The hotel had an arrangement with an adjacent café to serve breakfast to the hotel’s guests as part of the room’s cost.

    The breakfast was nothing fancy:  a small buffet consisting of boiled eggs, some ham, yoghurt, bagels (Montreal is big on both yoghurt and bagles), some fruit, bread, jam, etc . . . .  They had a toaster, and also had both coffee and juice.  You served yourself, and left when you were done.

    All in all, not a bad breakfast – especially considering the price.  (smile)

    However, they also had pancake batter and a self-serve griddle for making pancakes.  This in turn meant they had maple syrup on the buffet line as well.   (Yes, it was real maple syrup – this was in Montreal, remember?)

    As I recall, I’d gotten my breakfast and was seated.  While I was having breakfast I observed a young couple who were also in the café.  I wasn’t being nosy; the café was fairly small, so I really didn’t have much choice except to see and hear what they were doing.

    By accent and other indications, the man appeared to be French-Canadian.  His girlfriend appeared to be American – by accent, I’d guess from somewhere in the Midwest/Great Lakes region.

    They went up to the buffet.  The lady went to the griddle and made a pancake or two, apparently for herself.  In contrast, the man picked up some bread and toasted it.  He then put it on his plate and proceeded to put some maple syrup on it.  (Not exactly my “thing”, but hey: whatever.)

    His girlfriend looked at him and said in a mildly exasperated tone, “You Canadians put maple syrup o­n everything, don’t you?”

    The guy’s response was priceless.  Without missing a beat – and with perfect Gallic nonchalance and a distinct French-Canadian accent – he replied:  “It is . . . the Canadian way.”

    Since the guy was apparently French-Canadian, IMO that qualifies as at least semi-Gallic panache.  (smile)

  • Belated Birthday wishes to Richard Overton

    Belated Birthday wishes to Richard Overton

    I guess that every year we’re blessed to count 111-years-old Richard Overton, the country’s oldest veteran still among us. His birthday was yesterday according to Fox News;

    Richard Overton was born May 11, 1906 in Bastrop County. When he came of age, he served in the Pacific Theater from 1942 to 1945 as part of the all-black 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion. After the war, he returned to Austin, and he has lived in the same home ever since.

    While he has been honored by sitting presidents, governors and other global dignitaries for his distinguished service, most days he can be found sitting on his front porch proudly wearing his WWII Veteran baseball hat holding a cigar.

    He gives credit to God for his longevity and continues to attend church, but he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve, too.

    “I’ve been smoking cigars from when I was 18 years old, I’m still a smoking them, 12 a day,” Overton joked in 2014.

    I’m looking forward to being on time for next year’s birthday.

    Thanks to Mick for reminding us this year.

  • California ends commie ban

    Apparently, and who would have guessed it, but California has a law on the books that makes being a communist could get you fired from your state government job. I guess the law was affecting the state’s access to the job pool, because the legislature moved to abrogate the ban according to Fox News;

    Employees could still be fired for being members of organizations they know advocate for overthrowing the government by force or violence.

    The bill updates an outdated provision in state law, said Assemblyman Rob Bonta, the San Francisco Bay Area Democrat who authored the measure.

    Some Assembly Republicans said the Cold War-era law should not be changed.

    Of course, there were actual communists or people who were paid by the Soviets to infiltrate the US government – in fact, Allen Weinstein, in his book “The Haunted Wood”, documented a California New York Congressman on the Soviet payroll in the 1950s when Weinstein was granted access to the KGB archives after the fall of the Soviet Union.

    Communists do indeed want to take over the US government – ask any anti-FA terrorist. In fact, ask any Democrat how they feel about the Electoral College or the Second Amendment. Ask Bernie Sanders what he likes about the US government – when he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, he used to brag that he is a communist.

    Thanks to Mick for the link.