I don't know if it's 'Lessons lost' or

control freaks who don't trust the peasants.  Of course, it's possible Gorman doesn't care about the stink after Katrina, or just thinks "People in uniform shouldn't have to worry about the commoners having tools in a disaster situation."

Note also that some LE really don't like this law, and tried to play back-door games to kill it.  And then tried to weasel around being held to account for it.


Think Progress* thinks(more like BELIEVES WITH A PASSION!) that 'innocent until proven guilty' doesn't belong in matters involving self-defense and guns.

Allow me to use bad language here: do these assholes not have any idea the hole to hell they're trying to open?  For themselves as well as everyone else?


Also thanks to GFZ,

What cartridge for giant friggin' rat?
And is there a PUFF bounty on them?


DC: a more wretched hive of scum and villainy you'll never see.
Now spend some time figuring how much money and time that could've been used going after actual criminals was wasted on this SO FAR.  Because you know it'll be appealed.

The prosecutors and police could've been chasing gangbangers and openly-lawbreaking politicians and journalists, but nooooo...









*If it were Think Progress Toward Tyranny, it would be more accurate

The other day I said something of what I think of Lt. Col. Folsom

and every asshole behind these idiot rules; and who enforces them and screws their own troops over.

I shouldn't be surprised; they're also behind letting wounded troops die and putting the medics and flights in danger. All in the name of blindly following idiot rules.

More and more I lean toward the 'lamppost-rope-politician' formula, with the corollary 'lamppost-rope-fucking idiots in uniform and politicians in uniform'.

Ilario Pantano cleared: and every sonofabitch in the Marine Corps and NCIS

involved in screwing this man over ought to be canned.
At the Dover morgue a year later, Mr. Rodriguez was troubled by all the murmuring of “guilty” he heard from investigators as he began to scrutinize the skeletons of Ali Hamaady Kareem and Tahah Ahmead Hanjil.

He also wondered why the Marine Corps lodged premeditated murder charges against Lt. Pantano without benefit of an autopsy of the two dead men — the chore he was now performing after the officer endured a grueling pretrial hearing.

“I think there was a rush to judgment,” Mr. Rodriguez, who retired last month, told The Washington Times.

“In a case like this, if I was charged with something, I would insist that the forensic evidence be looked at before I would be found guilty. They were looking at really going after him, making an example of him.

“People were kind of second-guessing the soldier in the field in a wartime situation. That to me, personally, upset me for people try to second-guess a soldier who’s in the field facing danger every day, not knowing who is their friend or foe.”
...
“When the remains arrived, I didn’t expect the large crowds of people to [be] present at the mortuary,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Most were NCIS agents and various representatives of the Marines.

“Prior to the exams, there was much discussion concerning the case, talk of court-martial, prosecution and being guilty. The image that came to my mind … was that of a lynch mob: ‘Let’s make an example of him.’ “

Charles Gittins, the civilian lawyer who represented Mr. Pantano, said it is unusual for a military medical examiner to take on the high command.

“The medical examiner’s letter underscores the fact that [the] government proceeded to murder charges and the hearing without doing their homework,” he said. “For the medical examiner to contact Ilario Pantano demonstrates a concern the doctor had for the political ramifications for the case.”
...
On May 12, 2005, a Marine hearing officer recommended that the Corps drop the murder charges. He said Mr. Pantano’s chief accuser was disgruntled over being demoted within the platoon and repeatedly changed his story.

No autopsy reports were submitted into evidence. Mr. Gittins said he was told that it was too dangerous for Navy investigators to try to exhume the bodies.

After the hearing verdict jolted and embarrassed the high command, things changed. The military won approval from the wives and village elders and dug up the remains.
And found the accuser lied. Repeatedly, and under oath. Which, if this so-called 'investigators' had done their friggin' jobs, would have been known a long time ago. Of course, that would have required the lawyers and politicians in uniform to be more concerned with FINDING THE FACTS instead of doing what they thought would make them popular with the 'right' people...

This kind of shit puts a really nasty stain on the Corps.

Today was one of those days it was proving that

that 'wind sweeping down the plain' line is serious. Being out in that sucks moisture out of you, and does just about the same for energy. Got a lot done, but pretty much worn down.

Which doesn't prevent this from being very good news:
Navy SEAL Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe was found not guilty Thursday evening on charges of assaulting detained terrorist Ahmed Hashim Abed, dereliction of duty, and impeding an investigation based on a false statement.A seven member military jury deliberated for an hour and forty minutes before reaching a verdict. For a verdict to be reached, two-thirds of the jury had to agree on each charge.
This case was bullshit from the beginning, and I'll borrow this from Insty on the matter:
“Pretty amazing that they brought this to trial with little more than Demartino and a jihadi attesting that it happened, but then the point here was always political. They wanted to show that they take detainee abuse seriously and were hoping the accused would accept some sort of deal. No dice. How’d that work out for them?” They were betting on Navy SEALs wimping out. How smart was that? And now we know to regard future charges with skepticism.
We know about the problem of innocent people being screwed over by a prosecutor wanting to burnish their image, or suck up to a politician; this is the other side of the problem caused, we know to regard future charges with skepticism. Any time a prosecutor brings such a case, everyone is going to remember this bullshit, which means even if there were a real case to be brought, every damn word will be doubted.

Speaking of dealing with terrorists, take a look at this: possible use of a military SIGINT aircraft to track the terrorist. All kinds of possible fallout from this.

And another SEAL is found not guilty

About damned time.

As to the lawyers in uniform involved in bringing this case... it's too late at night to use language like that.

Ref the SEALs on trial,

some good news:
A US military jury has cleared a US Navy Seal of helping to cover up an attack on an Iraqi suspected of killing four Blackwater guards in 2004.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, 28, was found not guilty of dereliction of duty and attempting to influence the testimony of another service member.

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the garden is growing

and here I sit. For now. For I must soon venture out, and clean out the garage. Again. In the meantime,
Once upon a time, when I first got online, Sullivan was one of the first bloggers I ran across. It's sad to see what a rabid, vindictive squirrel he's turned into. In general; this fixation he has to Palin is downright creepy.


Anyone who thinks Obama and the National Socialist Democrats is NOT drooling at the idea of a VAT, you haven't been paying attention to them.


So the NSD clowns bitching at the Republicans boils down to "Don't you DARE do what we did!" Well, screw you, socialists; any Stupid Party member who wants to play nice to make Obama and the NSD happy should be removed from office as soon as possible, and they'd better understand we think so.


Israel tells Obama ""You're annoying the adults." Or, in less polite terms, "Piss off."


All kinds of side-effects of the ash cloud. Which is still pumping nicely, by the way.


Our system is really screwed when troops are being charged with crimes over bullshit like this. And every lawyer in uniform involved should be ashamed of himself. If he has any idea of what 'shame' is, at least.


Britain has gone completely to shit. Not only do fools report 'GUN!!!' for a bloody cane, the police- instead of one quietly slipping in and taking a look- just set up an ambush. Guy's lucky they didn't kill him.


So it looks like it was indeed the Norks who sank the ship; and they'll pretty much get away with it. Wonderful.


No, Virginia, the Arctic isn't disappearing; just the brain cells of the Warming alarmists.
Indeed, he wanted to see the North Pole while it was still there: "Some scientists have even estimated that the polar ice cap will have entirely melted away by 2014!"

But Antarctica isn't melting away, and Arctic ice has slowly increased since its big low in 1997.

But no one seems to have told Tom, who soon found his extremities freezing.

Two weeks ago he nearly called off his trek after suffering excruciating pain in his fingers and thumbs, forcing him to call in emergency help.
RTWT, it's worth it.

The garage awaits, so that's it for now.

Speaking of lawyers- crooked ones- in uniform,

Despite the fact that prosecutors must disclose any exculpatory evidence they have to the defense, they denied having any such evidence despite having been told by their own expert witness that 1LT Behenna’s explanation was the only logical explanation.

Withholding of this evidence allowed prosecutors to argue that Behenna executed Ali Mansur while seated DESPITE THE FACT THAT forensic experts, including Dr. MacDonnell, agree that Ali was standing with his arms outstretched when shot.

After 1LT Behenna was convicted and sentenced in mid February 2009, the Defense, through Attorney Jack Zimmerman, made a claim that the trial was inherently unfair because a prosecution expert agreed with the defense experts that the forensic evidence suggested that Ali Mansur was probably standing at the time that he was shot. This was the central theme of the defense throughout the trial; Ali Mansur, although naked, had made a threatening move by standing up before he was shot by LT Behenna. This, combined with the fact that Ali Mansur was a suspected terrorist, should have lead the military panel to find that LT Behenna was legally justified in killing Ali Mansur.

In a sworn affidavit, dated April 21, Dr. MacDonnell explained how knowledge he acquired while waiting to testify in the case could have changed dramatically its outcome.

I'd suggest reading this all the way through. This is just flat disgusting; the prosecutors should be disbarred and, if possible, criminally charged for this crap.

I have referred in the past to 'Lawyers in uniform';

how about 'miserable scum-sucking God-cursed worthless lawyers in uniform'?
An Illinois National Guard soldier in Afghanistan has been charged by the U.S. Army with possessing child pornography over pictures of a young relative his mother says she sent him.

Terri Miller of Galesburg says she sent her son, Specialist Billy Miller, pictures of the little girl to help him get over his homesickness.

The pictures show the child in a swimsuit playing a wading pool and sitting on a truck. In one, the girl is wearing a swim suit and part of her buttocks are exposed.

The Army says Miller will stay in Afghanistan until his court martial. His unit came home last August. Miller faces jail time, if convicted.
Sound stupid? Idiotic? Disgusting? How's about some more background:
WQAD TV reports that the child is a relative whom the family says Billy treated as his own child when the girl was diagnosed with cancer as her father went through boot camp. Her father, the station reports, can't believe the charges, especially since they're on other family computers and on Facebook pages and no one else has been investigated.
Well, apparently the rest of the family is lucky some scum-sucking lawyer in uniform didn't happen across them and decide to demonstrate his 'Care For The Children' by reporting them to CPS; probably so he can trumpet it down the road when he plans to run for office somewhere.

Hey, Army: is there truly so little to do that you let these parasites screw soldiers over this way? And if there's so little for them to do that they have time to play bullshit games like this, GET RID OF THE BASTARDS.

I'd say 'thanks' to TAH for posting on this, except he just blew my blood pressure through the gauge.