Ben Carson Concocts West Point Story:
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday conceded that he never applied nor was granted admission to West Point and attempted to recast his previous claims of a full scholarship to the military academy — despite numerous public and written statements to the contrary over the last few decades.
West Point has occupied a central place in Carson’s personal story for years. According to a tale told in his book, “Gifted Hands,” the then-17 year old was introduced in 1969 to Gen. William Westmoreland, who had just ended his command of U.S. forces in Vietnam, and the two dined together. That meeting, according to Carson’s telling, was followed by the offer of a “full scholarship” to the military academy.
West Point, however, has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admission.
“In 1969, those who would have completed the entire process would have received their acceptance letters from the Army Adjutant General,” said Theresa Brinkerhoff, a spokeswoman for the academy. She said West Point has no records that indicate Carson even began the application process. “If he chose to pursue (the application process), then we would have records indicating such,” she said.
COME ON, GUY. Maybe this is the beginning of the end for Dr. Ben Carson. Is it fair? Well, not really. All politicians lie, but some lies are more damning than others. I mean, Hillary Clinton lied about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia, and Barack Obama lied about numerous girls that he dated, but there’s a huge difference: Carson is a Republican, hence, the media hates him. And he says a lot of weird shit.
I don’t know what it is with this dude. Bro, your life story is impressive enough. You don’t need to keep churching it up with all this bullshit about how you almost had to cut a bitch. You’re a neurosurgeon who came from poverty. You were born in Detroit, Michigan without a pot to piss in. And then you made it all the way to Yale and the University of Michigan’s medical school. You were in ROTC. Stop with the embellishments. Why do you have to make up stories about West Point?
If there’s one thing that Americans collectively hate, it’s people who are caught lying about stuff that has to do with the military. There is a special, deep-rooted ridicule there that other lies or embellishments simply don’t match. And thanks to social media, AKA Satan’s Timewaster, those caught in it suffer scorn that lives on in eternity. Right, Brian Williams?
I’m starting to see a pattern here. Carson says way too many strange things for a guy running for president. Like saying he didn’t have a business relationship with some shyster supplement company when he clearly did. Or his bizarre statements about evolution and Satan. Or that whole thing about how the Egyptian pyramids were actually used to store grain or something. Well, they weren’t. The hieroglyphs on the walls of the pyramids make it quite clear what they were used for, so what is he even talking about?
My enjoyment of the great Trump video aside, I have no emotional investment in any candidate, except (and I think I can speak for most of the SOFREP writers here) a deep-rooted loathing for Hillary Clinton. So I don’t care either way about Ben Carson. I have respect for him being the rare politician who actually accomplished something in his life, but it just boggles my mind that he would feel a need to brag about getting a scholarship offer to West Point. And once the media smells blood in the water (on a republican) they go into a frenzy, going to the ends of the earth to unearth even more dirt. At this moment, I guarantee that they are going through every single thing Carson has said or published, looking for more embellishments/weird stuff.
Think I’m exaggerating? Remember when the New York Times pleaded with it’s readers to go through Sarah Palin’s thousands of emails to find some juicy nuggets? I do. On the other hand, when it comes to Hillary Clinton’s emails, they’d rather the entire story just go away. Weird, huh? It ain’t fair, but that’s the deal when it comes to the media. Carson has to know that. Look how quickly the story of Bernie Sanders’s creepy rape fantasies went away. I think Carson is a nice guy and probably a great surgeon, but he doesn’t really seem to be prepared for the dirtiness of a political campaign.
And now he and his people are going on the offensive, trying to change the wording and meaning of what he said. Look, let’s not try and play semantic verbal judo games here. He could have corrected the record a long time ago, saying something like, “Hey, I wrote the book years ago and I made some technical errors. Let me clarify.” But he didn’t. He’s been running with this story for years, including recently. And now, I see some of his defenders are saying, “Well, he wasn’t TECHNICALLY offered; it was more of a verbal understanding! That still counts!”
Just stop it. I got to take a picture with the secretary of the Air Force once. That doesn’t mean he offered to have me come over to his house and bang his wife.
I suppose that probably wasn’t a very good analogy. DEAL WITH IT.
Airman Faces 130 Years in Prison for Flirting:
He is an award-winning combat photographer who stands accused of trying to pick up women in the public affairs office at MinotAir Force Base in North Dakota, and for that prosecutors wanted to put him in prison for 130 years.
The prosecutorial zeal was so great that an Air Force officer appointed to investigate the case said the piled-up charges were combined to “artificially exaggerate the criminality of the accused,” who often was simply “socially maladroit and crass.”…
…The accused is Tech. Sgt. Aaron D. Allmon II. The 39-year-old arrived at Minot, a nuclear arsenal on the northern edge of the continental United States, to teach others as one of the Air Force’s best at capturing war in photographs.
…What he witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan stalked him all the way to North Dakota, along with diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse. He carries prescription drugs to fight off nightmares and excruciating back pain. His supporters say the stigma of being an accused sexual harasser is so deep-seated that Minot top brass isolated him and deliberately tried to block medical care.
You really have to go read the whole thing to believe it. All this from a military leadership that wants to let Bowe Freaking Bergdahl walk away with no jail time. Indeed, the Air Force is pushing to have Allmon’s case tried in felony court, whereas Bergdahl’s prosecutors recommended a mere misdemeanor court-martial.
Well, let me check myself for a moment. Maybe it’s really bad. I mean, they want to give this 19-year combat veteran a dishonorable discharge, take away his benefits, and give him a century in jail. It has to be violent rape or something horrible, right?
One of these came during a conversation between him and a servicewoman about tattoos as they sat on a bench at the base’s gym.
After the woman told Allmon that she had a rose petal tattoo on her thigh, he allegedly moved up her shorts to see it. He is also accused of touching her back later in the session.
Another woman claimed he touched her hips while she was positioning herself in a Humvee to take photographs, and again when she was a model in one of his photo shoots.
You have got to be shitting me.
And yes, this is no joke. The prosecutors brought so many different charges, all of them of the “he said, she said,” variety, that if found guilty on all counts, he would have faced 130 years in prison. Thankfully, the investigating officer, Lt. Col. Brendon Tukey, actually has some sanity and condensed all of the charges. But still, the guy could face 15 years in prison. For that?
If this indeed occurred, give the guy a formal letter of reprimand, absolutely. Maybe even an Article 15. And throw in a stern talking-to. But this is ridiculous and absurd. You’re going to deny a combat veteran medical care because of flirting? It seems our institutions are in some sort of death race to see who can be nuttier when it comes to interactions between young men and women.
I swear, we have the worst class of military leadership in United States history.
Palestinian Terrorist Mom is Worst Mom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVb2zBByGCA&feature=youtu.be&t=1m23s
I love the reporter’s reaction. “Ehhhh…we don’t want to see such spectacles on TV.” Yeah, I bet. You see, the Palestinians really rely on this underdog image in their struggle against the Zionist interlopers, and this nutty broad is totally blowing it by showing how crazy they really are over there. That’s why the reporter wants her to put it away. Must. Maintain. Narrative.
She says she’s willing to sacrifice herself and all four of her kids in order to defend the Al-Aqsa mosque and Palestine. Yeah, I’m sure peace is right around the corner. Aaaaaaaany day now.
PJ Squadron About to Get Better Food, Hotter Chicks:
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — The Air Force is moving its search-and-rescue air operations from England to Italy, positioning them closer to potential trouble spots in eastern Europe and Africa.
The 56th and 57th Rescue Squadrons will start to relocate from RAF Lakenheath to Aviano in fiscal 2017. It is part of a series of moves outlined in the European Infrastructure Consolidation review.
“The relocation of our rescue airmen places them in a more strategic location to respond across Africa, Europe and Southwest Asia,” Gen. Frank Gorenc, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander, said in a news release issued Friday.
The move is expected to bring about 350 additional airmen and family members to Aviano. Five HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters would make the move.
How stoked are the PJs at the the 56th and 57th? Going from gloomy Mildenhall, England to Aviano AFB in northern Italy? I’d be thrilled.
In England, you have terrible, terrible food and chicks who look like this. In Italy, you have world-famous cuisine and women who look like this. I bet a ton of guys try to transfer to the units now.
I Never Thought I’d Say This Phrase in My Lifetime: Good Job, San Francisco Voters:
https://twitter.com/BKactual/status/661859618612756481
This wasn’t even close. Sheriff Ross Mirkirimi got blown out 61 to 33, with some other guy grabbing a few percentage points.
Now, it’s possible that his loss was due to the many, many other idiotic things he did, like crashing a city vehicle and failing a marksmanship test, among others. Isn’t that great? Your head cop can’t drive OR shoot. He was also under some domestic violence scrutiny, and ran some sort of jailhouse fight club.
But the big one, of course, was the murder of 33-year-old Kate Steinle at the hands of a seven-times-deported illegal alien earlier this year. For those of you who may think it wasn’t his fault, the dope actually SENT A CAR to come to the jail and pick him up upon his release from federal prison, knowing full well that the San Francisco prosecutors had zero interest in pursuing a decades-old 20-buck marijuana charge. This was some sort of weird illegal immigrant rescue mission. Now if the voters start throwing out the insane lunatics of the city council, we’ll really have something.
What was in the hearts of San Francisco voters when they voted him out, we’ll never know. I choose to believe that his brazen disregard for the safety of his citizens in favor of an illegal alien felon had something to do with it.
Let me have this one, OK?
Soldier, Lover Arrested in Murder of Soldier’s Wife:
HONOLULU — An Army medic in Honolulu pleaded not guilty Thursday after a federal grand jury indictment accused him of conspiring with his lover to kill his wife.
Sgt. Michael Walker was arraigned on murder and other charges in the death of Catherine Walker, who was found stabbed multiple times in their home at Aliamanu Military Reservation last November.
Co-defendant Ailsa Jackson was arrested in April in Indiana and extradited to Honolulu. The indictment accuses Jackson of using a key left outside the Walkers’ back door to enter the home, grabbing a knife from the kitchen and killing Walker in a bedroom where she slept.
Jackson also has pleaded not guilty…
This is horrible. It seems to be an open-and-shut case, which is why it’s strange that they’re both pleading not guilty. Investigators claim they have all kinds of email and text message evidence, which would seem to be pretty damning. The story didn’t say whether they have the murder weapon or DNA, but the story DID say definitively that she “grabbed a knife from the kitchen,” so they must have it.
What a terrible way to go. Imagine your wake up call in the middle of the night is someone stabbing you to death. Absolutely awful. It seems that they are going after the husband, rather than the actual killer, though:
…Bervar said Jackson might change her plea in exchange for a reduced sentence. “I think they’ve got a deal in the works,” he said.
I bet they do. I always thought that the person who does the actual killing should get more time, but it appears the prosecutors don’t think the same way. This reminded me of that chick they executed earlier this year, that Kelly Gissendanner woman. Same thing. She had her lover do the actual killing, but he testified against her and got life, and she got the needle. I mean…why not both?
GoFundMe for Former Navy SEAL/Contractor Who Lost Legs to Land Mine:
Harry Bologna, a Virginia Beach resident, is a very worthy person to dedicate our local No Shave November initiative to this year. Our president Scott Adam’s has known Harry for 6 years and can attest to his character and attitude as someone we should step up for if at all possible.
Harry is expected to spend the next 9 months in Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland recovering from a tragic event in Afghanistan on October 21st of this year. Harry was there as a contractor with a U.S. national defense agency and stepped on a land mine; as a result of the explosion, he lost both of his legs and suffered a broken pelvis and internal injuries. Yet as with his prior 23 year career as a US Navy SEAL, Harry continues to exhibit a no quit, only move forward attitude that is a source of incredible inspiration. He expects to be fitted for prosthetics in the next few weeks and could possibly start rehab with them in the next month.
Great cause. Go read the whole thing and make a donation, if you are moved to do so.
Senate Report Scrutinizes ‘Paid Patriotism’ Events in Pro Sports:
That military tribute you saw at your last pro ballgame — a service member’s stirring rendition of “America The Beautiful,” a surprise “welcome home” celebration for returning troops, a soldier’s ceremonial first pitch — may not have been a charitable gesture by the home team.
Instead, that event may have been paid for by the Pentagon, part of a multimillion-dollar program to promote the armed services and boost recruitment through patriotic events, game tickets, player appearances and other perks…
…”Americans deserve the ability to assume that tributes for our men and women in military uniform are genuine displays of national pride, which many are, rather than taxpayer-funded DOD marketing gimmicks,” Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, the report’s co-authors, wrote.
This is some bullshit. These pro sports franchises are EACH worth a billion dollars, and they can’t hand out a few free tickets? Also, I’m kind of resentful that I never got any free tickets to anything when I was in, therefore, I hate them.
I understand exposure, and marketing, and all of the other stuff that the Pentagon is trying to accomplish here, but this is ridiculous. Keep in mind that the NFL, at least, is registered as a non-profit (!!!), of all things.
Go read the report. There’s some good stuff in there with specific dollar amounts. My favorite is the Boston Bruins, during military appreciation night, charging full price for a luxury box provided to soldiers. Dicks. And am I reading this right?
…The report summarizes the conclusions of an investigation McCain and Flake began last spring, when they said they discovered that weekly “hometown hero” tributes hosted by the New York Jets and New England Patriots were paid for by taxpayer money. They said they asked the Pentagon for documentation, and found $53 million in spending on marketing and advertising contracts with sports teams between 2012 and 2015, $10 million of which went to clubs in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer.
Only 10 million of the 53 million went to the big leagues? Where the hell did the rest of it go? Lacrosse? Intramural sports? Wet T-shirt contests? I want to know where the rest of that 43 million bucks went. Who else would even get it?
November 10: Happy Marine Corps Birthday From SOFREP:
Indeed they are! We can all look forward to drunken Marines everywhere vomiting all over their dress blues. As a proud brother to two USMC officers, I extend my very best wishes to all of our young marines out there. I’m just glad I’m not in San Diego this week, which is home to tens of thousand of Marines, who will all be chasing the same married cougars down in the Gaslamp bars. Go get ’em, boys.
Worst Euphemism for Genitals Ever?
A British army officer who realised she was transgender during a tour of Afghanistan at the age of 25 has posted images from her hospital bed after undergoing the final stages of her transition.
Hannah Winterbourne, 28, who is now the army’s Transgender Representative, has documented the journey she’s undergone to reassign her gender, posting images and messages to followers.
Cardiff-based Hannah, who first came out as transgender in 2012, underwent sex reassignment surgery (SRS) on October 29 and has been recovering in hospital since.
Hannah also posted images of her friend Stephanie Hirst, a mentor on the Lorraine show, who visited her in hospital. Hirst wrote on her Twitter account: ‘Just been to see my wonderful friend @hannahw253, who has just had her lady garden installed! So proud of her!’
Hmmm. That is definitely not what I would call it. You mean Hannah had her penis chopped off and shaped into something vaguely resembling labia? Whatever floats your boat. For my complete, deep thoughts regarding sexual reassignment surgery, where it’s going, and what it all means for humanity, go read this.
Vendor Ordered to Stop Selling Muslim Shirt on Base:
DENVER — A vendor on a Colorado Army post was ordered to stop selling a T-shirt with an anti-Islam message after a shopper complained.
The T-shirt depicts the Statue of Liberty wearing a burqa, the all-covering dress worn by some Muslim women, with the words, “Don’t let this happen America.” It was being sold at a kiosk in a mall outside the post exchange, a retail store at Fort Carson outside Colorado Springs.
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service said Wednesday that it ordered the vendor to stop selling the shirt because it violates rules against religious or political merchandise.
Chris Ward, a spokesman for the exchange service, said the T-shirt was sold by ‘Merica Apparel. A woman who answered the phone at ‘Merica Apparel said the company had no immediate comment…
Meh. I guess. I mean, I’ve seen a lot worse shirts and patches than that overseas, so I’m probably jaded. I can definitely see some politically correct weiner officer flipping out about it and taking it way too seriously. And speaking of guys who take things way too seriously:
…”This is absolutely horrendous,” said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the foundation, which advocates on religious liberty issues in the military. He said the T-shirt epitomizes bigotry against Muslims in the U.S. military.
Mikey Weinstein is the guy who thought all of you mean, redneck bible-thumpers pretty much FORCED Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan to go apeshit and kill a bunch of people, and not at all his fanatic jihadi religious belief system, so take that for what it’s worth.
In the fall of 2014, civilian engineer Mostafa Ahmed Awwad provided schematics of the U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear aircraft carrier—the USS Gerald R. Ford—to an individual he thought was an Egyptian intelligence officer. At the time, Awwad was an employee of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and had access to naval nuclear propulsion information.
His actions could have potentially compromised the safety of some 4,000 American sailors who will be serving on the USS Gerald R. Ford after it joins the fleet of Navy vessels sometime next year—and the security of our nation in general. Fortunately, Awwad’s Egyptian contact turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. And last month, Awwad was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to attempted espionage.
Is nuclear engineering now a job that Americans just won’t do? Keep this story in mind whenever you hear ICE assuring us that the tens of thousands of Muslim refugees the president wants to import will all be “carefully vetted.” Uh-huh. This guy got a security clearance!
Note to all would-be jihadis in America: If you’re talking to someone on the Internet who wants to sell you some C-4 so you can go blow up the infidels, chances are roughly 100 percent that he’s a FBI agent. Proceed with caution.
15 Years in: Afghanistan Air Force Has ONE C-130 Flight Engineer:
There has been just one Afghan engineer qualified to control the C-130 Hercules aircraft’s systems for nearly two years, reflecting Afghanistan’s struggle to develop an air force capable of meeting the demands of the escalating war.
With a single complete all-Afghan crew of four to six personnel needed to fly the heavy transport planes, not every request for troops and equipment can be met, although more engineers are being trained to ease the shortage.
“We manage to move troops around, but we’re not able to do everything the government asks of us,” said Afghan Air Force Kabul Air Wing Commander Saeed Suliman Shah, citing the lack of flight engineers as one of the fleet’s limitations.
C-130s, of which there are four in the Afghan Air Force, are called on to transport everything from casualties and human remains to troops, ammunition, vehicles, prisoners and VIPs. Far smaller Cessna C-208 planes and Mi-17 helicopters also help.
Nothing another 15 years can’t fix, right? I mean, in a couple of decades, we might be up to TWO. I keep wondering what the catalyst is going to be for our country to finally throw up their hands and say “enough” in Afghanistan.
Nut Job Shoots Flare Into Canopy for Safety Demonstration:
I’m assuming this kook was actually wearing three parachutes. I would hope that she wouldn’t purposely burn her main canopy with a flare gun and have only one chute left. And is this something that is really necessary? I’m pretty sure everyone is aware of the need to have a backup parachute. It’s not one of those things you have to keep harping about because people aren’t taking one along on their skydives.
Railroaded Marine Hero is Presented Bronze Star by Mad Dog Mattis:
Veteran Marine Sgt. Joshua Acevedo has been awarded the Corps’ fourth-highest valor award following a lengthy fight to have his battlefield heroism recognized after a legal battle cost him his career.
Retired Gen. Jim Mattis, the former head of U.S. Central Command, read Acevedo’s citation during a Bronze Star with “V” ceremony at an Oct. 31 Marine Corps birthday ball in Sonoma, California. The former squad leader was credited with leading his Marines on a patrol “through a heavily contended battlespace” during a Nov. 20, 2010, mission in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to his medal citation.
Go read the whole thing. The way Sergeant Acevedo was run out of the military was a disgrace. He faced allegations of murder in a combat zone for shooting an unarmed insurgent, allegations that were later dropped. However, his career was left in ruins and he left the Marines. But his teammates kept pushing to have his combat heroism recognized, leading to General Mattis himself pinning on his Bronze Star with “V.” Outstanding job.
Note that not only did Acevedo leave the corps, his company commander who pushed for him to receive this award is also out. These are the type of men that our current military leadership is determined to purge out of the new military. All of that combat heroism and killing is so icky.
DUNEDIN, Fla. — Mike Rieker, a 69-year-old Navy veteran who served in Vietnam, relies on his Veterans Affairs benefits to get him through the month.
That’s why the Pinellas County, Florida, resident was alarmed when his VA check didn’t show up in his bank account Monday. He called the Department of Veterans Affairs office to find out why, and their response was stunning: The benefits had been suspended because he was dead.
“Well, I’m not,” Rieker retorted. “I woke up this morning and I’m feeling rather chipper, in fact.”
As it turns out, Rieker is one of six Tampa Bay area residents who were getting veterans benefits, but then were declared dead — despite being very much alive.
I’m just going to keep a copy of Captain Piccard there on my desktop. I have a feeling I can use him every week, especially when it comes to the VA.
I Often End up Nude in a Fight:
Police found two naked men lying in the dirt after a fight Tuesday morning after one apparently tried to steal gas from the other’s truck.
An officer arrived at a home in the 4000 block of 8th Street at 4:54 a.m. on a report of an assault, but found two naked men, according to a police report. The nude resident’s clothes had somehow come off during a fight with an already-naked Daniel David Mutchler, 35, of Paton, who was allegedly siphoning gas.
The resident awoke to his dog barking, alerting him that someone was outside. He went out with the dog and a family member to check on their cars. They found Mutchler standing nude in their yard by the parked cars.
For some reason, the resident was also completely naked from fighting with Mutchler and trying to restrain him, according to the report.
Three full plastic gas cans and a drill were found next to the cars. Police saw the gas tank of one of the parked trucks had been punctured and drained of its contents. The caps to the gas cans were found in Mutchler’s car, parked a few blocks down the road.
This must be some new technique that I haven’t learned yet in my martial arts studies. Or did the boys get a little worked up in the midst of their hot, sweaty dirt roll and start playing touch the monkey?
Find me on Twitter @BKactual with your complaints.
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