26 people killed in Texas church shooting, suspect dead

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Occurring at about 11:30 Central time on Sunday, Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, of New Braunfels, Texas, approached the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, opened fire with a Ruger AR15-style rifle, and killed at least 26 persons.

Less than twenty-four hours after the event — just like the New York truck attack on Tuesday, October 31st where 8 persons were killed by a Muslim ISIS sympathizer — we know a good deal about the shooter and the circumstances. Quite unlike the Las Vegas mass shooting on Sunday, October 1st, where 58 people were killed by Stephen Paddock.

One way to know you’re in Texas. Look at the motto on the rear of the police SUV.

Whereas the bodies had not yet cooled before Demorats, Leftists and the American Media Maggots called for the abolition of the 2nd Amendment, two brave Texans, I believe, will be shown to be the reason that Kelley and killed before any sort of police response and, more importantly, was unable to drive to another location and perhaps kill even more people.

Let’s examine some of those Leftist comments.

Just off the top of my head, 37,000 people died in vehicle accidents in 2016. Not a peep. 44,000 to 98,000 people die in US hospitals each year due to medical mistakes — the third leading cause of death in the US. Not a peep. There were 762 murders, 3,550 shooting incidents, and 4,331 shooting victims in the city of Chicago — a Leftist haven — in 2016. Almost every victim and suspect was black. Not a peep. The FBI’s 2015 Uniform Crime Report found that nearly three times more Americans were killed by knives or other “cutting instruments” than shot and killed by long guns. Not a peep.

From AJC.com:

Bystander, neighbor chase gunman who killed 26 at Texas church

by Jared Leone

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas

Two men followed the gunman who killed 26 people and injured more than 20 others at a Texas church Sunday, leading police to the man’s location, according to reports.

Bystander Johnny Langendorff watched as Devin Kelley traded gunfire with a neighbor who had grabbed his own rifle and engaged the gunman as he tried to flee the scene at First Baptist Church.

“I pulled up to the intersection where the shooting happened and I saw two men exchanging gunfire,” Langendorff said, according to the San Antonio Express-News. “The other gentleman said we needed to pursue (Kelley) because he shot up the church. So that’s what I did. I just acted.”

The pair followed Kelley until he lost control of his vehicle and ran off the road. Authorities were there moments later, according to KSAT.

It is still unclear if Kelley was shot by the armed resident or if it was self-inflicted.

Then there was this from MySA.com:

Hero describes how he tracked down church shooter after attack

by Kelsey Bradshaw

As emergency responders rushed into Sutherland Springs following the state’s deadliest shooting, two men were headed the opposite direction – chasing after the suspected shooter.

Two locals took on the man who authorities say shot and killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church Sunday morning as the suspect was trying to flee the scene. 

Johnny Langendorff was one of the men who chased after suspected killer Devin Kelley, a 26-year-old from Comal County, he told KSAT in a television interview. 

The pair chased the man down FM 539 headed North before the shooter lost control and ran off the roadway. Langendorff said the other man with him jumped out of the car and drew his rifle on Kelley.

“He didn’t move after that,” Langendorff said.

I’d call that a rather ready clue in terms of who was responsible for the stopping of Kelley. Some additional insight here.

If there’s one thing we know — but Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots don’t — it’s that it takes a person with a firearm to stop a person with a firearm.

We now know, Monday, that the second citizen involved was 55-year-old Stephen Willeford, above.

  • Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, was leaving First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after he opened fire on parishioners, killing 26 people

  • Stephen Willeford had ‘grabbed his rifle and engaged the suspect’

  • Kelley fled the skirmish and got back in his SUV to flee the scene at 95mph

  • Willeford then jumped in the truck of neighbor Johnnie Langendorff and told him to chase Kelley

  • Kelley eventually lost control of his vehicle during the high speed chase 

  • He called his father to say he had been shot and didn’t think he would make it

  • Police then believe that Kelley shot himself dead

CNN reported about the suspect, Devin Kelley:

Kelley was once a member of the US Air Force, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. He served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, starting in 2010.

Kelly was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts of Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, assault on his spouse and assault on their child, Stefanek said. Kelley received a bad conduct discharge, confinement for 12 months and a reduction in rank, she said. The Air Force did not provide a date of the discharge.

Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle in April 2016 from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, a law enforcement official told CNN.

When Kelley filled out the background check paperwork at the store, he checked the box to indicate he didn’t have disqualifying criminal history, the official said. He listed an address in Colorado Springs, Colorado when he bought the rifle, the official said.

We know that Kelley worked as a security guard for a Texas waterpark this past summer, according to a resume under his name that appears online.

We know that he is married to Danielle Shields Kelley, and that his mother-in-law has an address in Sutherland Springs, where Danielle is from. His wife’s mother, in fact, attends the First Baptist Church. My first question knowing that: is she one of the victims?

It is becoming evident that Kelley had ties to and/or knew about that church. How personal was this attack?

Heavy.com writes:

Another former classmate, Nina Rose Nava, wrote on her Facebook page: “…in complete shock! I legit just deleted him off my fb cause I couldn’t stand his post. He was always talking about how people who believe in God we’re stupid and trying to preach his atheism. Smh.” It’s not clear why the killer would say he briefly taught Bible classes if he was fixated on atheism.

CBS unearthed a photo of Devin Kelley that shows him with the beard. According to KSAT-TV, “His parents lived in one home, while Kelley lived in a ‘barndominium’” on a “wooded property behind a cattle guard.” His neighbor, Mark Moravitz, told KSAT: “Nothing abnormal. Regular guy. I mean, the only thing unusual across the street is we hear a lot of gunfire, a lot of times at night. We hear gunfire a lot, but we’re out in the country.” The New York Times reported that his parents’ home is worth $1 million.

This, by the way, cinches my first thought: the shooting was personal.

Court records in Comal County show they got married in April 2014, when he was 23 and she was 19. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), told The LosAngeles Times of the motive, “I’ve been talking to some community members. They think there was a relative there. It was not random…There’s going to be some sort of nexus between the shooter and this small community… somebody in that church will help us find answers.”

As per normal these days we look to social media for some answers. Kelley’s Facebook page was pulled rather rapidly, but not before I captures this and other screen shots from various sources. Please note them.

Then there was the below photo with an Antifa reference. True or not? Unknown yet.

Kelley also had this post about a firearm. Oddly enough, it is a Ruger AR-556 with a number of accessories attached.

It would appear at first blush that Kelley leaned Left considering his associations on Facebook and other forms of social media.

And why do I say I frequently seek news sources from UK media? Here is one excellent example, from the UKDailyMail.com:

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Creepy, crazy and weird’: Former classmates say Texas gunman was an ‘outcast’ who ‘preached his atheism’ online before killing 26 in the state’s worst ever mass shooting

by Jenny Stanton

  • Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, shot dead 26 people and injured 24 others in Texas
  • Walked into First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas and opened fire 
  • He was wearing black, tactical gear and carrying a military style assault rifle
  • Kelley was shot by local Stephen Willeford, 55, and died after a car chase
  • Former classmates have described him as an ‘outcast’, ‘creepy’ and ‘weird’
  • Another said he talked ‘about how people who believe in God were stupid’
  • LinkedIn reveals Kelley was an Air Force veteran and ex-Bible studies teacher
  • He was court martialed in 2014 for two counts of assault on his spouse and child
  • He was living in New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio, and was married 
  • Did you know Devin Patrick Kelley? Please contact Jenny Stanton by emailing jenny.stanton@mailonline.com

The Texas church shooter who mercilessly shot dead 26 people and injured 24 others was an ‘outcast’ who ‘preached his atheism’ online.

Former classmates say Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, who stormed First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas and opened fire on Sunday, was ‘creepy’, ‘crazy’ and ‘weird’.

Patrick Boyce, who attended New Braunfels High School with the killer, told DailyMail.com: ‘He had a kid or two, fairly normal, but kinda quiet and lately seemed depressed.

‘He was the first atheist I met. He went Air Force after high school, got discharged but I don’t know why. 

Nina Rose Nava, who went to school with the gunman, wrote on Facebook: ‘In (sic) in complete shock! I legit just deleted him off my fb cause I couldn’t stand his post. 

‘He was always talking about how people who believe in God we’re stupid and trying to preach his atheism’ 

Christopher Leo Longoria replied: ‘I removed him off FB for those same reasons! He was being super nagtive (sic) all the timd (sic).’

I think we’re beginning to realize something of a theme.

He was married to Danielle Shields, and they appear to have a child together. She was previously a teacher at the First Baptist Church.

Kelley lived at his parents’ home with his wife and child and neighbor Mark Moravitz told ABC News he would sometimes hear gunshots coming from near that house late at night.

The gunman’s mother-in-law, Michelle Shields, also appears to have been a parishioner at the church and was friends on social media with the pastor’s wife.

It is not clear whether they were at the church at the time of the shooting.

As it turns out: yes, it was personal. From the UKDailyMail.com:

REVEALED: Texas shooter sent ‘threatening texts’ to his mother-in-law, who attended church where he massacred 26 people before calling his father to say goodbye before committing suicide

by Ashley Collman

  • Officials say Devin Patrick Kelley was in a domestic dispute with his mother-in-law Michelle Shields, who attended First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas

  • At an afternoon press conference, it was revealed that Kelley sent ‘threatening texts’ to his mother-in-law

  • Officials wouldn’t go into further details about the family fight

  • Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackett said that Kelley and his wife Danielle were estranged 

  • Danielle used to work as a teacher at the church, her mother is friends with the pastor’s wife

  • Records show they were married in April 2014, when Kelley was 23 and his bride was 19

  • He was also married at least once before, to a Tessa K Kelley

  • The couple divorced in 2012, the same year he was court-martialed for domestic violence   

  • After killing 26 in the church on Sunday, Kelley fled in his car and was found dead behind the wheel 

  • The official cause of death is pending, but officials believe he committed suicide by gun 

  • Before killing himself, he called his father and said he didn’t think he was going to make it, officials said  

All things considered, I say this: contrast and compare to the Las Vegas shootings. Examine and notice how quickly we learn things about all the other shooters, killers and terrorists.

Las Vegas still does not pass the smell test. Another reason why myself and others do not trust the investigators running the Las Vegas case. There is good reason, I submit.

Finally and most importantly, condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the First Baptist shooting. Your names have not yet all been revealed but trust me, you are in the thoughts and prayers of thousands and thousands of Americans throughout the United States.

BZ

 

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26 persons killed in Texas church shooting

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The original story is here.

Following a press conference from Texas Governor Abbott, new information is:

There are 26 confirmed deaths in the Texas church shooting.

The suspect, 26-year-old Devin Kelley was armed with a Ruger AR15 type rifle. As the suspect exited the church, a local resident armed with a rifle engaged the suspect, who dropped his firearm and fled from the church. The citizen pursued the suspect.

Kelley fled in his vehicle, crashed, and was found dead. It is unknown if the suspect shot himself or was shot by the citizen.

Kelley was dressed in all black gear and wearing a ballistic vest.The victims range in age from 5 to 72.

More information forthcoming.

BZ

 

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Brazile admits: Hillary rigged the Dem campaign against Sanders

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You want to find collusion?

You want to find corruption?

Donna Brazile, former DNC chair, comes clean. And it ain’t grand for the Demorats.

From Politico.com:

Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC

by Donna Brazile

When I was asked to run the Democratic Party after the Russians hacked our emails, I stumbled onto a shocking truth about the Clinton campaign.

And what would that be, Donna?

Before I called Bernie Sanders, I lit a candle in my living room and put on some gospel music. I wanted to center myself for what I knew would be an emotional phone call.

I had promised Bernie when I took the helm of the Democratic National Committee after the convention that I would get to the bottom of whether Hillary Clinton’s team had rigged the nomination process, as a cache of emails stolen by Russian hackers and posted online had suggested. I’d had my suspicions from the moment I walked in the door of the DNC a month or so earlier, based on the leaked emails. But who knew if some of them might have been forged? I needed to have solid proof, and so did Bernie.

Anyone’s Spidey Sense tingling right about now? Anyone thinking of that Santayana quote?

By September 7, the day I called Bernie, I had found my proof and it broke my heart. 

Brazile held her mud during the campaign through gritted teeth. She did so because, well, she and Hillary are women. But once the dam breaks on the powerful — witness Harvey Weinstein — and the first person takes the hit or spills the beans, then the gates open and those once holding back for fear of the powerful no longer fear the powerful. There is vulnerability.

And oh yes, Hillary’s people were lying to the DNC.

The Saturday morning after the convention in July, I called Gary Gensler, the chief financial officer of Hillary’s campaign. He wasted no words. He told me the Democratic Party was broke and $2 million in debt.

“What?” I screamed. “I am an officer of the party and they’ve been telling us everything is fine and they were raising money with no problems.”

You can imagine that Bernie Sanders and his people weren’t terribly pleased though it did tend to validate their beliefs all along.

Things changed when Brazile found this, the crux of the biscuit.

When I got back from a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, I at last found the document that described it all: the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America.

Meaning: the fix for Hillary was in black-and-white.

The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook with a copy to Marc Elias—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.

I had been wondering why it was that I couldn’t write a press release without passing it by Brooklyn. Well, here was the answer.

In a word, rigged. Rigged for Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders.

Braile, of course, is no saint. She’d cheated for one of Hillary Clinton’s presidential debates. From the WashingtonExaminer.com:

Donna Brazile finally admits she shared debate questions with Clinton campaign

by Eddie Scarry

Veteran Democratic operative Donna Brazile finally admitted that she used her former position as a CNN commentator to relay questions ahead of debates to Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary.

For months, Brazile has avoided confirming that hacked emails from the campaign showed her forwarding the questions, which were asked at separate debates. But in a new essay for Time magazine looking back on the hackings, she said it was true.

This, by the way, resulted in CNN dropping Donna Brazile as a commentator like a yak drops a hot rock.

I dunno. Anyone starting to identify a trend or a pattern here?

Even more shocking, Brazile considered kicking Hillary to the curb altogether following a September 11th incident involving Clinton. From PBS.org:

Brazile says she considered replacing Clinton with Biden

WASHINGTON — The former head of the Democratic National Committee says she considered replacing Hillary Clinton as the party’s presidential nominee with then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Brazile writes that she considered initiating Clinton’s removal after she collapsed while leaving a 9/11 memorial service in New York City. Clinton later acknowledged she was suffering from pneumonia.

But Brazile says the larger issue was that her campaign was “anemic” and had taken on “the odor of failure.”

Ultimately, the DNC head says she thought of Clinton and all the women in the country who were so excited about her and decided she “could not do this to them.”

The NewYorkPost.com also wrote:

Did Hillary’s rigging at the DNC push Biden out of the race?

by John Podhoretz

The stunning revelation by longtime operative Donna Brazile that the Hillary Clinton campaign secretly took control — literal control — of the Democratic National Committee a year before Hillary became the party’s nominee is the talk of American politics.

As it should be.

Consider, then, that a formal agreement signed by the DNC and the Clinton campaign was executed in August 2015, two months before Biden made his decision.

There was another person out there — then-Vice President Joe Biden. Though grieving over the tragic loss of his son Beau, Biden was still seriously considering a late entry into the race. Indeed, it would not be until October that Biden would declare himself out of contention.

Over the previous six years, Democrats had lost 60-plus House seats, nine Senate seats, 14 governorships and 1,000 state and local offices. Russians didn’t do that. Democrats did — with the help of a surging Republican Party that found itself after election night in its strongest electoral position across the country since 1928.

Even Fauxcahontas, Elizabeth Warren, was displeased with the news about Hillary Clinton. Insert your finest Dr Smith voice here: “Oh the pain!”

For God’s sake, the fix was in against anyone but Hillary Clinton since 2015. Oh, by the way; Warren is the person the DNC is eyeballing for 2020. I say: “please oh please.”

The Demorats in disarray? From the DailyBeast.com:

Democrats Determined to Wage Civil War Forever

by Gideon Resnick and Sam Stein

Donna Brazile lit another match. But, really, the flame hasn’t gone out since Trump won.

During the final week of the most important election of the calendar year, the Democratic Party finds itself in a familiar place: subsumed by internal divisions and sniping.

Some DNC members argued that it behooved the party to come to grips with its past—even in full public view—before moving forward; that it took particular courage for Brazile, who infamously passed Clinton a debate question, to help validate Democrats’ complaints with the DNC.

Others outside the DNC were furious with Brazile, calling the essay a selfish attempt to sell books at a time when the party’s fundraising is flagging and its attention should be on the upcoming, critical races. “She’s playing into Trump’s hands,” one Clinton campaign vet said. Brazile declined to comment until her book was formally released.

Clinton allies, meanwhile, insist that they did more to help the DNC than to harm it. The joint fundraising agreements were made available to her and Sanders (which DNC Chairman Tom Perez noted in a letter to DNC members on Friday.). And though Clinton was afforded a large degree of operational control over the committee (which former Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told The Washington Post they did not have), she also helped it get out of debt, even as she reportedly pillaged a huge amount of the money that had been ostensibly donated to help state parties.

Note to Conservatives: just when you think the Demorats are infinitely more cohesive than you could imagine, they are less cohesive than you could imagine. Go team.

But where are the American Media Maggots in the whole affair? From TheHill.com:

Network newscasts don’t mention Brazile Clinton-DNC revelations

by Joe Concha

The broadcast evening newscasts on three major networks on Thursday didn’t mention bombshell revelations by former Democratic National Committee interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile.

Brazile has written in a new book that she discovered evidence that she said showed Hillary Clinton’s campaign “rigged” the Democratic presidential primary.

“ABC’s World News Tonight,” “NBC Nightly News” and “CBS Evening News” all didn’t report the allegations by Brazile on Thursday evening despite it receiving considerable coverage on cable news and in print and online media. Brazile was also trending as one of Twitter’s top topics on Thursday.

Despite the Brazile blackout, the ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts all featured reports on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and the recent indictments of Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business associate, Richard Gates.

The so-called Big Three evening newscasts draw more than 20 million viewers combined on a nightly basis.

Nah. No media bias in American newsrooms, eh wot?

Is there possible criminality involved? From FoxNews.com:

Gregg Jarrett: Hillary Clinton’s scheme in ‘rigging’ the nomination may have been criminal

by Gregg Jarrett

Hillary Clinton has spent a year crying about how the presidency was stolen from her. Turns out, she stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders.

The critical question now is whether she committed crimes in her theft of the nomination. 

There appears to be little doubt that Clinton rigged the election process. It was so unconscionable and unprincipled, that Brazile’s discovery of the incriminating document left her in tears. So she says.

It gets better. As I am wont to say: “but wait, there’s more.”

The Federal Election Commission must immediately launch an investigation. So, too, must the Department of Justice and the FBI. It appears that Clinton may well have violated several laws which could constitute serious crimes. 

First, federal law sets strict limits on campaign contributions.  Financial records must now be subpoenaed to determine whether these laws were broken. Given Clinton’s past record of shady transactions such as the Whitewater land deal and her sale of cattle futures, there is a strong chance that a document trail will lead investigators to multiple violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act. 

Second, if Brazile’s account of Clinton’s artifice is true, it is likely that campaign finance reporting laws were broken under the same Act. Hiding campaign money through false or misleading campaign reports is illegal. In egregious cases it is a crime, not just a civil penalty.    

Finally, the funneling of campaign funds from one source to another smacks of money laundering. Any transaction that seeks to conceal or disguise proceeds of illegal activity constitutes money laundering. So, if it can be shown that Clinton violated campaign contribution limits or reporting requirements, then the channeling of the proceeds from one source to another would be the “laundering” of it.

Let’s let Tucker Carlson fade out with a Bernie Sanders representative, shall we?

Woo-hoo. Cheating Demorat women. Represent.

BZ

P.S.

Like a good cat in a fresh cat box, the Demorats are pawing the sand over their shite, glancing around to see who’s actually paying attention.

Whilst the American Media Maggots, trust me, are whistling past the graveyard.

 

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The Bergdahl verdict: a corruption of confidence

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Barack Obama used the Bergdahl situation as a means to release serious high-ranking Jihadists, a Taliban army chief of staff, a Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, a former Taliban interior minister, and two other senior Taliban fighters. A good deal? Why not five low-level combatants?

Beaudry Robert “Bowe” Bergdahl is a US Army soldier who deserted his unit in Afghanistan on June 30th of 2009. He was later reported captured by Taliban-aligned forces and then apparently sold from tribe to tribe. Some said Bergdahl had become an Afghan sympathizer after arrival in country and, after learning some Pashto, spent more time with Afghans than with his own platoon, a loner in every sense. Some indicated he had become a Muslim. Sources indicated a note was left behind in his tent stating he was leaving to start a new life, after his desertion.

A little known point is that Bergdahl entered US Coast Guard basic training in 2006 but was discharged after 26 days for psychological reasons and received an “uncharacterized discharge,” given to people who separate prior to completing 180 days of service. This is called a clue, one that the USCG failed to share or the Army failed to recognize.

Thinking that he was smarter than the US Army or the Taliban, Bergdahl somehow failed to see that he would become, via his desertion, nothing more than a Taliban bargaining chip.

Bergdahl was released on May 31st of 2014. On June 2nd, Susan Rice made this statement.

Now listen to what Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon members said about him.

But here’s what you primarily did not hear, provided by, of all places, Newsweek in 2016.

WHAT THE ARMY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT BOWE BERGDAHL

by Michael Ames

Just days after U.S. Army Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl went missing from his base in Afghanistan in 2009, the men in his platoon were ordered to sign papers vowing to never discuss what he did or their efforts to track him down. Many of those men were already exhausted, searching endlessly in the hot dust and misery of the Afghan desert for a guy they knew had chosen to walk away. More than six months later, long after Army officials learned Bergdahl’s captors had smuggled him into Pakistan, commanders still had a sweeping gag order on thousands of troops in the battlefield. Some were told they could not fly home until they signed the nondisclosure agreements.

Oh my. NDAs. What secrets must be kept? Why?

And even now, six years later, as America’s most notorious prisoner of war faces an August court-martial that could put him in prison for the rest of his life, the Army is still hiding the truth, refusing to let the public see critical documents in the case.

The Pentagon finished its formal investigation, known as an Army Regulation 15-6, more than a year ago. That report, led by a two-star general and a team of 22 investigators, includes interviews with roughly 57 people, including Bergdahl. In 371 pages of sworn testimony, he told General Kenneth Dahl what he did, why he did it and what he endured during his five years as a hostage of the militant Haqqani network. The 15-6 is not classified, and at a September preliminary hearing on the case, Dahl testified that he does not oppose its release. But the Army won’t budge.

What secrets must be kept? Why?

Despite the Army’s relentless campaign to hide the facts about Bergdahl’s disappearance and five years in captivity, the truth has slipped from its grasp. It’s out there. You don’t need to read Army Regulation 15-6 to know what Bergdahl did and why. The mystery is why the military, ignoring the findings of its own investigation, as well as the unspeakable torture Bergdahl endured as a hostage, seems determined to crucify him.

Having read that, wasn’t Friday’s court sentencing of Bergdahl bubbling with just a tad bit of irony? From FoxNews.com:

No prison for Bergdahl in sentencing for walking off post

by Jonathan Drew

FORT BRAGG, N.C. –  For the first time in eight years, Bowe Bergdahl doesn’t face confinement, or the threat of it, after a judge spared the soldier from a prison sentence for endangering his comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan.

The sentence, which also includes a dishonorable discharge, was quickly condemned by President Donald Trump as a “complete and total disgrace.”

President Trump is correct. Read on to discover why.

The punitive discharge means the case will automatically be appealed to a higher military court. And a top commander will also review the case and consider arguments for leniency, as is standard in Army legal cases.

The judge also gave the 31-year-old a dishonorable discharge, reduced his rank from sergeant to private and ordered him to forfeit pay equal to $1,000 per month for 10 months.

The judge (Colonel Jeffrey Nancy) gave no explanation of how he arrived at his decision, but he reviewed evidence that included Bergdahl’s captivity and the wounds suffered by troops who searched for him.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham responded:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing hearing for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (all times local):

3:45 p.m.

Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s “incredibly disappointed” in the sentence Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl received from a military judge.

The South Carolina Republican, who served as an Air Force lawyer for more than 30 years, says Friday he has tremendous respect for the military justice system. But he says “this sentence in my view falls short of the gravity of the offense.”

Graham says, “an independent judiciary is the heart and soul of the rule of law but no one is beyond criticism.”

But perhaps the most honest and telling response to the “sentencing” is that of a man who served the United States with courage and integrity over and over, Rob O’Neill, who appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Friday show.

The entire event became a parody of itself, from the “serving” intonations of Susan Rice (a Useful Tool Obama initially pulled out his drawer for the application of the Benghazi Lies in 2012), to the subsequent White House ceremony involving Bergdahl’s parents.

To me it appears obvious that Bergdahl’s heart was not in military service and that he first “dabbled” with the military in 2006. Following the USCG interface Bergdahl stayed at a Buddhist monastery between 2007 and 2008. This indicates an individual whose resolve to serve was not present.

Honesty and clarity. Two aspects I admire in any person. Bergdahl was neither of those things, to himself or to the US Army. He and all would have been better served had he admitted the military was not for him. Time, effort and literally the lives of soldiers would have been saved but for the lack of Bergdahl’s honesty.

Bergdahl made a serious mistake and so did the Army in not noting his past apprehension in terms of service. A loner, perhaps too much the idealist, I suspect Bergdahl may have thought he could change the Army or his immediate situation once arriving on base. Both were wrong and because of that lives, good American lives, were lost.

It strikes me that Bowe Bergdahl was a jejune little Millennial dipping his toes into the soldier pool and thinking he could do anything he wished. Those thoughts got people killed. Not himself. He was saved. But the only person responsible for his own torture and the deaths associated with the search is Beaudry Robert “Bowe” Bergdahl.

He was finally saved by the US Army itself. The army for which he had so much disdain.

The sentencing, after the facts have emerged — present but tamped down from the very beginning — was an abrogation of common sense, a slap in the face to soldiers who serve and a complete dismissal of the significance of the brave lives laid down in search of Bowe Bergdahl.

The verdict was dismissive and terribly short-sighted. Those who serve now and have served in the past –Sheepdogs — know that in their gut.

This was wrong.

And therein lies a massive problem. One that needs to be addressed very soon.

That is this: the corruption of confidence in the US military. Friday’s verdict continues the corruption of confidence. It could, instead, have helped reverse same.

Corruption of confidence, crisis of confidence, call it what you will. It exists now and it is corrosive in ways we cannot yet even imagine. It’s as if you spilled a massive drum of acid into the street but most people think “oh well, that’s only water.”

We are nearing the proverbial Perfect Storm involving a lack of confidence in government. A corruption of confidence. A crisis in confidence.

Look at the FBI. If we cannot trust the FBI to do its job — the ultimate civilian federal law enforcement authority in the United States — then to whom do we go when the FBI fails?

If we cannot trust the alphabet agencies to do their job — the ultimate civilian federal law enforcement authorities in terms of surveillance, intelligence and collection — then to whom do we go when these 16 agencies fail?

If we cannot trust our US military to do the proper thing in terms of discipline and consequences, then to whom do we go when the US military fails?

Answer: there is no alternative.

No Plan B.

This cannot stand.

That is, if we wish to continue as a steady, forthright, strong, durable, proud, courageous and sovereign nation.

If the United States falls, so falls the rest of the planet.

Make no mistake.

BZ

 

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Fake News 101

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Frequently the American Media Maggots are so daft as to defy human ken.

This is one recent example from the past day that is altogether too chock full of buttery idiocy that even I cannot fail to make an immediate post about it.

Look at the above pictures. Stir, and add sarcasm to taste.

Then draw your own conclusions.

BZ

P.S.
Don’t forget this.

 

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