This one traditional:

Strongly suggest everyone to read the entire article written by Jake Tapper.

[…] …”Many of Bergdahl’s fellow troops — from the seven or so who knew him best in his squad, to the larger group that comprised the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division — told CNN that they signed nondisclosure agreements agreeing to never share any information about Bergdahl’s disappearance and the efforts to recapture him. Some were willing to dismiss that document in hopes that the truth would come out about a soldier who they now fear is being hailed as a hero, while the men who lost their lives looking for him are ignored”…..

(Jake Tapper @CNN) — The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him — veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose “selfish act” ended up costing the lives of better men.

“I was pissed off then and I am even more so now with everything going on,” said former Sergeant Matt Vierkant, a member of Bergdahl’s platoon when he went missing on June 30, 2009. “Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him.” (more…)

This is a follow-up to an alarming story outlined last week.

MARYLAND – A 20-year-old Maryland man has been charged in Maryland and Virginia in connection with a series of incidents involving so-called “bottle bombs” at movie theaters in the Washington D.C. suburbs.

Manuel Joyner [pictured below], of Bowie, was arrested Saturday and has been charged in Maryland with manufacture, possession and detonation with a destructive device, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, fire officials said. The charges were in relation to the evacuation of a movie theater in Largo, Md. May 24. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Al Sharpton ? Ben Jealous ? Jesse Jackson ? “A Million Elementary Schoolers March”?… Outrage from State Representatives seeking Justice for grade schoolers ?….   Anderson Cooper 24/7 ?   Sonny Hostin ?…  Don’t hold your breath.

A 7-YEAR-OLD boy was dead and 7-year-old girl was critically injured after they were both stabbed in East New York Sunday, cops said.

One of the children was found inside 845 Schenck Ave. near the elevator and the other was found outside the building just before 6 p.m., cops said.

Neighbors who saw the children moments after they were stabbed said they were shocked.

“She was laying face up, they were on her chest. They opened up her jacket and all you could see is blood,” said Kevin Velez, 41. (more…)

It should be contemplated the White House position, when trying to get the GITMO detainees moved to -and tried in- New York federal court, was that we were not at war, these were not enemy combatants – they were terrorists and the DOJ was the agency to prosecute them and not a Military Court at GITMO.

Remember that !  Because what you are about to hear in 2014 is 180° in exactly the opposite direction.    You can’t logically call them “terrorists” and NOT enemies of war in 2010, and then turn around in 2014 and claim they are prisoners of a war and not terrorists.

Well, actually you can do that, but only so long as the media don’t call you out on it.  Do you think they will?   Think about it…… then watch.

First the ever pretzellian Susan Rice:

Now Listen To Chuck Hagel’s version of pretzel logic:  (more…)

FRANCE – A Frenchman [Mehdi Nemmouche – pictured left] with suspected ties to Islamic extremists in Syria has been arrested over last week’s shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that left four people dead, according to sources linked to the investigation.

The 29-year-old suspect was arrested Friday in the southern French city of Marseille, the sources told the AFP news agency.

He was detained by customs officials at the city’s coach station on board a bus arriving from Amsterdam via Brussels and was found carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and a gun with ammunition in his luggage, as well as a miniature video camera.

He has been detained on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, a judicial source said. (more…)

The process for the deception was actually outlined on the bottom of page #4 of the interim OIG report. The VA facilities, and in many cases the VA regional offices, were keeping two sets of treatment records. One set was what they were using – the second set was what they were reporting to VA in Washington.

To pull off the deception the “audit trail” function on the computer software was disabled. Meaning, there was no way to identify who was manipulating the records and when.

The only way to fix this is to fire all the administrators, fire the top and mid-level managers, fire the auditors and compliance officers, and then deconstruct the SEIU and AFSCME union stranglehold within the VA.

Yeah, good luck with that…

WASHINGTON DC – Appointments’ wait times were manipulated at more than 60 percent of the Department of Veterans Affairs health facilities investigated as part of a new internal audit.

The White House-ordered audit found that schedulers faced pressure to manipulate the system and concluded there was a “systemic lack of integrity within some Veterans Health Administration facilities.”

The audit, issued as VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned Friday, found that 64 percent of the 216 VA facilities reviewed had at least one instance where a veterans’ desired appointment date had been changed.

The review found 13 percent of schedulers had received specific instructions to misrepresent wait times.

“Information indicates that in some cases, pressures were placed on schedulers to utilize inappropriate practices in order to make waiting times appear more favorable,” the audit said. (more…)

Maxine Lee is grandmother of our good friend carterzest. We will continue to share the narrative of her family’s history as presented in the book she published in 2005 entitled Some Assembly Required.  The gathering of her stories in the book was a result of her dream “to leave a printed account to my family, of my beginning, my birth place and childhood, and a few of the lessons life has taught to me.”  Thank you, Maxine, for sharing with us what you gathered for them.

Links to previous posts in the series will be shared at the end of each Sunday’s post.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

Minnesota gets cold, bitter cold. Blizzards roar in without warning. We walked three miles through the swamp and over a couple of high hills to school. We dressed for the cold. We wore long underwear, shirts, wool socks in our shoes, and sometimes even over the shoes. We bundled up in trousers, snow pants, snow jackets, a snow cap, earmuffs, gloves and rubber overshoes to keep out the wet snow. Off we went, my sister, my older brother and I. Dressing up like this and spending lots of time outside really makes you appreciate when you get back home and get warm under the best patio heater, drinking a tea or hot chocolate.

One winter, when I was in first or second grade, I had not broken in my new shoes. It was a cold day and the snow was deep, and I wore snow boots over my shoes for the long hike to school. I was alright until about half way, when my feet began to hurt. My new shoes did not allow me to wiggle my toes and they began to get very cold. The teacher could hear me howl all the way to school. She met us at the door and hurried me inside. She removed all my clothes, down to the shirt, sweater and inside trousers, then my rubber overshoes and my new shoes. My feet were bright red, frostbite was setting in. The cure for that was to rub my feet with snow until they thawed out to prevent serious problems. I can still remember how it hurt to have my feet rubbed with that soft-looking snow that felt like sandpaper on a raw wound. (more…)