07/16/15

Dark and Deadly Day in Chattanooga

Update: Born in Kuwait, naturalized citizen. Was living in Hixson, TN at the time of the murders. His vehicle had a large cache of small arms.

He apparently worked for the City of Chattanooga as an unarmed security officer in the Stormwater Management Division and wrote a letter to President to GW Bush and that link is here.

Muhammad Youssef Abdulzeez from Arizona where public records show Abdulzeez is approximately 24 years old and a native of Phoenix. Abdulzeez has no prior criminal record, except a 2013 traffic violation.

Rest in Peace

Here’s the new Pentagon statement on the killing of four Marines in Chattanooga:

“We can confirm that four DoD servicemembers were tragically killed and one wounded in two separate shootings in Chattanooga, Tennessee today. The shootings took place at a Network Operations Support Center operated by the U.S. Navy and at an armed forces recruiting center. Names of the deceased will be released following next of kin notification. We are working with local and federal authorities. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

The killer was from Phoenix and immediately the FBI and law enforcement in Chattanooga called this an act of domestic terror.

For additional photos of the shooter who is alleged to have had contact with the Garland, Texas shooters, click here.

From CBS:

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A gunman unleashed a barrage of gunfire at two military facilities Thursday in Tennessee, killing at least four Marines and wounding a soldier and a police officer, officials told CBS News. The suspect also was killed.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said five people died in all, including the gunman. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that the shooting suspect was identified as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

9 Photos

Chattanooga shooting

Five people are dead, including the gunman, and three injured in two shootings at military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said officials were treating the attacks as an “act of domestic terrorism,” though FBI Special Agent in Charge Ed Reinhold said authorities were still investigating a motive.

Officials told CBS News correspondent David Marin that four U.S. Marines were among the dead and another was injured. The U.S. Marines released a statement saying that the injured Marine was a recruiter who treated and released after sustaining a wound to the leg.

A police officer also was shot in the ankle and is expected to be ok.

“Lives have been lost from some faithful people who have been serving our country, and I think I join all Tennesseans in being both sickened and saddened by this,” Gov. Bill Haslam said.

A facility 7 miles away on Old Lee Highway also was attacked. Brian Lepley, a spokesman with the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky, said his recruiters there were told by law enforcement that the shooter was in a car, stopped in front of the facility, shot at the building and drove off.

The Army recruiters at the facility told Lepley they were not hurt and had evacuated; Lepley said he had no information about recruiters for the other branches at the facility.

Sgt. 1st Class Robert Dodge, 36, is the center leader for U.S. Army recruiting at the facility on Old Lee Highway. He said four Army personnel were in the office at the time. He said the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and National Guard all have their own offices right next to each other. Around 10:30 or 10:45 a.m., Dodge and the others heard a gunshot, “which kind of sparked our attention,” he said.

“Shortly after that, just a few seconds, the shooter began shooting more rounds. We realized it was an actual shooting,” he said. They then got on the ground and barricaded themselves in a safe place. Dodge estimated there were 30 to 50 shots fired.

He did not see the shooter or a vehicle.

The Army recruiting office was not damaged, but doors and glass were damaged at the neighboring Air Force, Navy and Marine offices.

Reinhold said all the dead were killed at the Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve Center Chattanooga. It sits between Amnicola Highway and a pathway that runs through Tennessee RiverPark, a popular park at a bend in the Tennessee River northeast of downtown Chattanooga. It’s in a light industrial area that includes a Coca-Cola bottling plant and Binswanger Glass.

The two entrances to the fenced facility have unmanned gates and concrete barriers that require approaching cars to slow down to drive around them.

Marilyn Hutcheson, who works at Binswanger Glass just across the street, said she heard a barrage of gunfire 11 a.m.

“I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many,” she said. “It was rapid fire, like pow pow pow pow pow, so quickly. The next thing I knew, there were police cars coming from every direction.”

She ran inside, where she remained locked down with other employees and a customer. The gunfire continued with occasional bursts she estimated for 20 minutes.

“We’re apprehensive,” Hutcheson said. “Not knowing what transpired, if it was a grievance or terroristic related, we just don’t know.”

They’ve seen dozens of emergency vehicles rush by: bomb teams, SWAT teams, and state, local and federal authorities.

The Armed Forces Career Center on Lee Highway sits in a short strip between a Cricket Wireless and an Italian restaurant with no apparent additional security.

Near the other shooting location on Lee Highway, Nicholas Donohue heard a blast of gunshots while working at Desktop Solutions. But he had music playing and wasn’t quite sure what the noise had been. He turned off the music and seconds later, a second blast thundered. He took shelter in a back room.

“Even though it knew it was most likely gunfire I heard, you also don’t want to believe it’s happening in the moment,” he said. “Since I didn’t see anything, I couldn’t be sure.”

By the time he emerged, police were cordoning off the area.

05/23/15

Jade Helm – Reason for Concern?

By: T F Stern
The Moral Liberal

Conspiracy rumors abound as Jade Helm military exercises begin to roll forward in various places of the United States. Is there reason to be concerned or is this simply a chance for our military personnel to practice?

One factor to consider would have to be the public’s loss of trust towards those in government.

“A key component of the controversial Jade Helm military exercise set to take part in nine U.S. states this summer will involve soldiers operating “undetected amongst civilian populations,” to see if they can infiltrate without being noticed.”

{…}

“Despite assurances that the training is to prepare troops for overseas missions, Army documents in the past have made clear that plans for martial law are in place for within the Continental United States (CONUS).

A leaked 2012 US Army Military Police training manual, entitled “Civil Disturbance Operations,” described how soldiers would be ordered to confiscate firearms and kill American “dissidents.” The manual also revealed that prisoners would be detained in temporary internment camps and “re-educated” to gain a new appreciation of “U.S. policies,” in accordance with U.S. Army FM 3-19.40 Internment/Resettlement Operations.”

I suppose we should trust the military; after all, they are paid to protect us…right? President Obama trusts the military completely; that’s why when he ordered U.S. Marines to be disarmed during his Inauguration Parade.

“He’s gutted their healthcare, plans to cut their pay and apparently, doesn’t trust them either. David Codrea over at Gun Rights Examiner points out that Marines marching in President Obama’s second inaugural parade recently were caring rifles without bolts, meaning they were removed.”

President Obama should bear full responsibility for the public’s loss of trust.

Obama’s administration has shown time and time again its ineptitude and utter contempt for following limitations placed on government by the Constitution. I’d list them all here; but space being at a premium…Fast & Furious scandal, Solyndra loan/gift of taxpayer funds, Obamacare’s “You can keep your doctor”, NSA spying on Americans, IRS targeting political enemies of Obama, Benghazi, racially dividing the nation, Executive Orders to get around Congress on Illegal Immigration, supplying arms to the Muslim Brotherhood, apologizing to the world for America’s greatness at the United Nations… Is it necessary to continue?

It wouldn’t be so bad if Obama’s administrators were simply inept; but their arrogance toward the public which employs them makes it even more difficult to excuse a total lack of respect for their stewardships. When asked to justify their actions the general rule is to stonewall requested information, refuse to answer or plead the 5^th in order to avoid prosecution for crimes against We The People.

When the largest military operation ever to take place on American soil during peacetime is being carried out with only Washington’s promise that it’s nothing out of the ordinary, there’s no reason to be concerned or the check’s in the mail…let’s just say a little skepticism is in order.

There was an old black and white movie made back in the early sixties, Seven Days in May, which dealt with the theoretical possibility of a military take over of the government. The plot called for a group of upper echelon military to stage war games exercise and use that moment to remove the president from office under the pretense that he was unfit for office.

While the story line doesn’t match up, at least not entirely with today’s political setting, there are many similarities which are worthy of consideration. Seven Days in May, was a fictional story; however, think on this:

“President Kennedy had read Seven Days in May shortly after its publication and believed the scenario as described could actually occur in the United States.”

Obama has removed top ranking officers from the military, men who had not planned on retiring; men who have publicly stated that they could not and would not follow orders from the White House to fire on American civilians.

“I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new “litmus test” in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not. Those who will not are being removed.”

Obama has scheduled Jade Helm as a military exercise to be carried out in several states, some labeled as “Hostile”, states which just happen to have voted against him and his agenda to transform America.

Is this a military take over, similar to the one in Seven Days in May, only in reverse; a president of the United States setting the stage for Martial Law?

Obama didn’t trust U.S. Marines to have loaded weapons during his Inauguration Parade, he doesn’t trust American citizens with weapons either. Is Jade Helm the elephant in the middle of the room that nobody can see, Obama’s bold opportunity to seize American’s weapons via a supposed military exercise?

Are those FEMA buildings what they purport to be or is there a more sinister, a dark side to their being located behind schools or on Wal-mart properties shut down for “emergency plumbing repairs”?

While we’re into making outlandish comparisons…didn’t Richard ‘I am not a Crook’ Nixon have plumbers… White House Plumbers to fix those who stood against him? Maybe Obama has a team of plumbers going to fix what needs fixing and they’ll use Wal-mart as cover during Jade Helm.

Here’s my solution to restoring a smidgen of trust in our government at this time. Call off Jade Helm and put the public’s mind at ease. There’s enough unrest going on without pouring gasoline on an already smoldering fire.

Is there reason for concern regarding Jade Helm? You don’t have to be into conspiracy theories to come up with…yes.

The Moral Liberal’s Senior Editor, T.F. Stern, is a retired City of Houston police officer, self-employed locksmith, and gifted political and social commentator. His popular and insightful blog, T.F. Sterns Rantings, has been up and at it since January of 2005.

01/28/15

Bowe Bergdahl Deserter? – The Bergdahl Decision – Lt Col Ralph Peters

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Finally to Be Charged for Desertion and Here Are the Details [Video]

Obama WH Hiding Bowe Bergdahl Charges — Treason Too?

01/12/15

Sexy wartime pinups are back in style – this time in Ukraine

The People’s Cube

Red Square

Sexy American pinups of the ’40s and ’50s take a special place in the hearts of post-Soviet artists. When pinups were on the rise in the States, the Soviet government had decisively excluded such “bourgeois decadence” from the culture of the builders of communism. Instead, Soviet men were encouraged to rest their eyes on the portraits of exemplary workers and collective farmers who happened to be women, painted in the tradition of socialist realism.

Today, feeling nostalgic for that which never was, artists in different parts of the former USSR are trying to reconstruct the missing link in their cultural evolution – either by drawing a series of clever mashups, mixing vintage American pinup girls with Soviet propaganda posters, or by visualizing scantily clad retro-babes in classic pin-up poses but with Soviet enthusiastic fire in their eyes, who can only exist in an imaginary alternative timeline, in which the Soviet government hadn’t been so zealous in suppressing the sexuality of its citizens.

And today, Ukrainian graphic artist Sviatoslav Pashchuk is bringing back military-styled pinups – after all, it was during World War II that the pinup culture was born originally, satisfying the need of American GIs to gaze at creatures of beauty in the midst of cruel wartime brutality.

Now that a brutal war is raging in the east of Ukraine, the new series is quickly becoming a hot item among Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers, who are defending their country against the Russian aggression. The guys are grateful to the artist for the diversion. They get the reference, admitting that this patriotic erotica is even sweeter to their eyes than it was to the American GIs during WWII. These pinups are also a reminder of the bigger world they had left behind and to which they hope to return after the war is over. Alas, not all of them will.

Each pinup is dedicated to a different branch of armed service or a volunteer battalion, accompanied by humorous and often rhymed patriotic slogans, with a warning at the bottom in fine print: “separatism is dangerous to your health.”

The artist is offering them for sale with the understanding that part of the proceeds will go to support the Ukrainian military. Since this is not a real commercial operation, the only way to order them for now is by sending him an email at [email protected].

UPDATE:

Last night I contacted this Ukrainian artist via Facebook, sending him a link to the Cube and some additional questions. When I woke up I already had his responses (the time difference is seven hours). Here’s what he wrote:

Sviatoslav Pashchuk: Good day to you! We are already sending our posters to American buyers and soon we will also have a special website, it’s almost done now. I’m also going to make English-language versions for the American market.

You are correct – all money from the sales will go to help our soldiers. Most of the proceeds will be used to buy sniper equipment and ammunition for volunteer fighters. Thank you very much for the promotion.

I’m going to continue with this series, making as many as 12 posters. The site will have a link to the blog where I’ll keep the readers updated on my coming creations.

* * *

See the seven existing posters below:

Donbas Volunteer Battalion: Goodies For The Bullies

~
Special Forces: Fatal Dating