Category: Who knows

According to the Dallas Morning News, former CIA director Michael Hayden told TV viewers that most of the hysteria over the Jade Helm conspiracy theory was generated by Russian bots.

Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe as part of a book tour, Hayden, a retired Air Force four-star general who also ran the National Security Agency, said Russians fueled the distrust over the military training exercise in an attempt to influence the American public.

“There was an exercise in Texas called Jade Helm 15 that Russian bots and the American alt-right media convinced most — many — Texans was an Obama plan to round up political dissidents,” Hayden said… Hayden said the Russians have continued to use that strategy, notably on other topics such as NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem and coverage of a meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr.; former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort; the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and several Russians.

Yeah, well, some of us have been inoculated against foreign bots and refuse to be sucked in.

The other day, we discussed James Shaw, Jr who disarmed a gunman in an Antioch, Tennessee Waffle House, saving countless lives. Soon afterwards, he started a GoFundMe tincup to benefit the families of the victims and the survivors. At this writing, he has amassed $182,237 – more than ten times the goal. Another guy was moved to start a GoFundMe account to benefit James and his family. That endeavor has resulted in $191,536 so far.

From CNN;

Tennessee lawmakers this week also paid tribute to Shaw, 29, for his heroism and his compassion for the victims. The state General Assembly officially recognized his heroism, along with his “penchant for honesty,” in a joint resolution.

“You are my hero,” state Rep. Jason Powell said, “and Tennessee’s hero.”

I’m sure that Mr Shaw never figured this would happen when he first grabbed the hot barrel of the gunman’s rifle, but it is nothing less than what he deserves.

Someone noticed an obituary in which Robert Hammell was memorialized and whoever wrote it thinks that Robert was a Navy SEAL;

However, he wasn’t a Navy SEAL according to Don Shipley and the US Navy;

I have no proof that Robert ever made the claim that he was a SEAL. Often, confused family members write things in an obituary that aren’t true. The same goes for Funeral service providers. So, I’m not calling this stolen valor. I’m just correcting the historical record. Robert Hammell was never a Navy SEAL.

According to his records, he spent three years in the Navy. He served on the USS Cayuga – Cayuga did see some action in Vietnam when they provided support to Operation Song Than, a Marine Corps amphibious assault in support of the defense of Hue City in May 1972. Cayuga was on the receiving end of some North Vietnamese Army indirect fire which earned the ship the Combat Action Ribbon. However Hammell didn’t join the crew until about six months later in December, 1972, so he is not an actual Vietnam veteran with service in the area. He’s a Vietnam-era veteran.

According to the Washington Examiner, French President Emmanuel Macron brought a sapling from Belleau Wood and the Presidents planted the tree on White House grounds. Belleau Wood is where the US Marines earned their nick name “Teufel Hunden” or Devil Dogs from their German opponents.

Marines have made what was left of the scorched wood Holy. Stories of heroism — like 1st Sgt. Daniel Day, who shouted “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” before plunging his attacking Marines into machine-gun cross fire — are part of the branch’s enduring mythology. The trees have grown back since and there is a memorial to them today.

It is well deserved. Years later, historian Alan Axelrod would rightly compare the small, outnumbered, and relatively inexperienced Marines at Belleau Wood “to the Spartans at Thermopylae.” Their battle didn’t turn the war. It did prevent a catastrophe…“100 years ago, American soldiers fought in France, in Belleau to defend our freedom,” Macron wrote in a statement. “This oak tree, my gift to President Trump, will be a reminder at the White House of these ties that bind us.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron with U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. first lady Melania Trump today on the White House's South Lawn. pic.twitter.com/1Ow4FlmAoW

— Francesca Chambers (@fran_chambers) April 23, 2018

Early this morning, a gunman killed four people and wounded four others at an Antioch, Tennessee Waffle House. 29-year-old James Shaw Jr. prevented the body count from being much higher, according to the Tennessean;

James Shaw Jr., 29, said after feeling cornered he saw an opportunity to tackle the man shooting into an Antioch Waffle House. He said he doesn’t feel like a hero.

Police spokesman Don Aaron told reporters Sunday morning that the Waffle House hero rushed the suspected shooter, disarmed him and threw the assault rifle he was carrying over the counter.

“I don’t really know, when everyone said that (of being a hero), it feels selfish,” Shaw Jr. “I was just trying to get myself out. I saw the opportunity and pretty much took it.”

Shaw was grazed by a bullet and spent a few hours at the hospital;

“While I was in hospital, a girl that was there said you saved my life,” he said. “I didn’t do it to be hero.”

The gunman is still on the loose but he won’t see his name here.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo is about to become President Trump’s next Secretary of State and today we hear from Splinter News that a number of his bios on the internet claim that he was a veteran of Desert Storm. Pompeo was an Army captain and West Point grad from 1986 – 1991. At the time of the Gulf War, he was assigned to the 2d Squadron, 7th Cavalry with the 4th Infantry Division. 2/7 Cav didn’t deploy to Desert Storm.

Splinter News admits that none of the bios are directly quoting Pompeo.

The question was first raised on Twitter Friday morning by Ned Price, a former CIA officer who served under President Obama, and who very publicly quit the CIA rather than work for President Trump, announcing the decision in a February 2017 op-ed in the Washington Post. Price pointed out that among other places, Pompeo’s Wikipedia page suggests that he was deployed. It currently states that Pompeo “served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division in the Gulf War.”…The claim has also been repeated in numerous media outlets, either due to sloppy writing or outright incorrect information.

Well, when I expose valor thieves for a false narrative, I only use direct quotes from the individual – not from the press, unless I can find photos of them wearing certain articles of clothing that condemn them. That’s pretty much what Splinter News has done, since no one can a find a direct quote from Pompeo where he claims to have been a Desert Storm Veteran.

Tim sends a link to Fox News which tells the story of Vanessa Guerra, a nurse who happened to spot two police officers struggling with a male and a female criminal while she stopped by a convenience store.

As Sgt. Walters attempted to restrain the woman, identified as 21-year-old Olivia J. Boomsma, the “male was able to blade his body toward Sgt. Walters and forcefully kick Sgt. Walters on the right side of his face and head,” according to the police department.

The kick was so forceful Walters lost consciousness.

Around that same time, an off-duty medical assistant who had stopped in the convenience store on her way home came to the rescue.

Divine Savior Hospital employee Vanessa Guerra ran toward the officers after she noticed Walters had fallen unconscious. As she was checking on him, the “female suspect was beginning to fight with Officer Loewenhagen again and was yelling about having a knife in her pocket,” police said.

From the Portage, Wisconsin Police Department’s Facebook page;

An off duty nurse from Divine Savior Hospital saw the struggle and realized Sgt. Walters was not moving and unconscious. The nurse came to Sgt. Walters aid and while checking on him realized the female suspect was beginning to fight with Officer Loewenhagen again and was yelling about having a knife in her pocket. Concerned that the female was going to stab Officer Loewenhagen or the unconscious Sgt. Walters, the nurse disregarded her own safety to help protect the officers and took it upon herself to engage the female suspect by body slamming the female suspect against a wall and held her there until Sgt. Walters resumed consciousness and was able to handcuff the female.

From AZFamily;

The nurse restrained the woman until Walters regained consciousness and arrested her.

“When I heard the word knife, at that point I thought: ‘It’s going to be you or me,’” Guerra said. “At that point it was her.”

Fox News reports that Tammie Jo Shults, one of the Navy’s first female fighter pilots, was forced to land her damaged Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 saving the lives of the 143 passengers and five crew on board.

Jennifer Riordan, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was identified as the woman who died. Riordan was the mother of two and a Wells Fargo bank executive.

Witnesses told WCAU that a woman was “partially sucked out” of an airplane window and shrapnel from the exploded engine smashed it, but it remains unclear whether Riordan was that passenger.

Seven others were injured.

“We have a part of the aircraft missing, so we’re going to need to slow down a bit,” Shults told air traffic controllers from the cockpit, Reuters reported.

Shults took the plane into a rapid descent as passengers employed oxygen masks and braced for impact. The veteran pilot managed to safely land the plane at Philadelphia International at 11:30 a.m.

One passenger cited by The Kansas City Star, lauded Shults’ “nerves of steel.”