This is why there is so much corruption in Washington. Too many vote for the party instead of the person and refuse to hold them accountable!
Rep. Duncan Hunter’s legal fight tougher as wife pleads guilty in corruption case
The Associated Press
By: Julie Watson
June 14, 2019
She said other expenses charged on the card included $399 for zip lining for Rep. Hunter and two of his three children; $500 in airline travel expenses for their pet bunny, Eggburt; and $351 for a family lunch in connection with a child's Irish dance competition.
SAN DIEGO — Indicted six-term GOP Congressman Duncan Hunter has held steadfast to his contention that a corruption case against him is the result of a political witch hunt.
Margaret Hunter, left, wife of indicted Republican U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, arrives at federal courthouse in downtown San Diego on Thursday, June 13, 2019. (John Gibbins/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
But that argument got tougher Thursday for the former Marine and close ally of President Donald Trump after his wife, who worked as his campaign manager, pleaded guilty to a single corruption count and acknowledged being a co-conspirator with her husband in spending more than $200,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses.
Margaret Hunter accepted a plea deal that calls for 59 charges to be dismissed in exchange for her testimony, full cooperation with prosecutors and other concessions. The conspiracy charge to which she pleaded includes all the allegations contained in the 60-count indictment.
"The walls were closing in on him before, now this just makes it more claustrophobic," said Jason Forge, a former federal attorney who prosecuted California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in 2005 for one of the worst bribery scandals to ever bring down a federal lawmaker.
Rep. Hunter "has fewer and fewer options. It's not just his campaign manager. It's his campaign manager and his wife," Forge said.
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Police: Fort Bragg Soldier Wearing Military Gear Opened Fire into Home
The Associated Press
June 14, 2019
The active duty soldier is charged with attempted first-degree murder and shooting into an occupied dwelling, both of which are felonies. He will be taken into custody if he is released from the hospital, officials said.
Fort Bragg soldier Eric Jerrod Davis is accused of shooting at someone with a shotgun inside a home, officials said. (Scotland County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigative Unit/Facebook)
LAUREL HILL, N.C. — A soldier wearing military-issued ballistic gear opened fire inside a North Carolina home and was wounded by return gunfire before he left and was injured in a car crash, according to authorities.
U.S. Army E-4 Specialist Eric Jerrod Davis was in critical condition at a hospital, news outlets reported Wednesday. Davis is accused of shooting at someone with a shotgun on Sunday morning inside the home in Laurel Hill, officials said.
"Several innocent bystanders were present at the time, and one innocent bystander returned fire, shooting Davis," the Scotland County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. It is not clear if anyone else was injured.
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Senate Passes Blue Water Navy Bill, Cementing Victory for Ill Vietnam Veterans
Military.com
By Patricia Kime
13 Jun 2019
"If they get their claim in, it may be grandfathered," Wells said. "If you were on a ship, especially a carrier that served on the fringe of the territorial sea, it's imperative that they get their claim in now."
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Intrepid (CVS-11) steams in the South China Sea on Sept. 13, 1966, with aircraft of Attack Carrier Air Wing 10 (CVW-10) parked on the flight deck. CVW-10 was assigned to the Intrepid for a deployment to Vietnam from April 4 to Nov. 21, 1966. V.O. McColley/Navy
The Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to extend disability benefits to veterans who served on Navy ships off the coast of Vietnam, signaling the end of a decades-long fight for these former sailors and Marines to receive compensation for diseases presumed to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange and other defoliants used during the Vietnam War.
Following similar approval by the House last month, the Senate vote sends the bill to President Donald Trump for his signature.
The legislation could affect up to 90,000 veterans, although Retired Navy Cmdr. John Wells, an attorney with Military Veterans Advocacy who represented Alfred Procopio Jr., the plaintiff in the case decided in January, said the way the bill is written may limit awards, excluding as many as 55,000 service members, including many assigned to aircraft carriers that operated farther out to sea.
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New Beginning for Abused Pit Bull, Franky, and Combat Veteran
Clarksville Now
By Jessica Goldberg
June 15, 2019
Retired Sergeant Major Chris Self, is no stranger to overcoming adversity. An Army Special Forces veteran, Self has also served as a military police K-9 officer. In 2005, Self sustained gunshot wounds to both his legs. In 2006, he had to have his right leg amputated to return to active duty.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – What some thought may be the end of one dog’s life, turned into a beautiful new beginning. Courage, tenacity, and the strength to overcome brought one Fort Campbell solider and man’s best friend together. Franky, the pit bull discovered earlier this year suspected of being used as a bait dog, has finally found a forever home.
On Friday, Retired Army Sergeant Major, Chris Self, was surprised at Nashville International Airport with 18-month-old Franky. “It’s a boy,” shouted Dana Self, Chris Self’s wife. Chris Self bent down to meet his new companion.
Montgomery County Animal Control received a call April 14 to pick up a dog. What they saw shocked everyone. A pit bull with gruesome head injuries, including half his scalp missing and ear flaps ripped off. Maggots infested the open wounds. Bite marks surrounding his head, neck, and legs, coupled with the other injuries led authorities to believe this poor creature had been used as a bait dog in dog fighting.
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Fighting for the love of Jack...and everyone else
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 15, 2019
Last week I sat down with Sgt. Dave Matthews of Remember the Fallen radio show on KLRN.
Dave wanted to talk about my book, For the Love of Jack, His War My Battle.
The copyright was issued in 2002. It was republished on Amazon in 2012 for the 10th anniversary. Republishing it was extremely hard on me.
Our lives are so much different than what they were back then. That was the point of writing this in the first place. All lives can change.
PTSD is change. It comes from being a victim of circumstance and changing into a survivor of something that tried to killed you. No shame in that but it is very telling that too many still want to cling to the thoughts they have something to be ashamed of.
What's up with that? I survived 10 times as just a civilian and there is no shame in me at all. I beat what tired to kill me and was not about to allow any of those times to define any part of my future.
It was the same with fighting PTSD in my home. I was not going to allow it to define my family.
You need to remember that when I wrote the book, no one was doing any "awareness" other than families like mine while we were America's secret war.
Listen to what families like mine have been talking about for decades and then ask yourself why have you been ignoring what is necessary to change the outcome?
Remember the Fallen on KLRN Wounded Times
A Suicide-by-Cop Attempt Prompts a Plan to Use Marijuana to Save Veterans
Miami New Times
CARLOS MILLER
JUNE 14, 2019
“Seeing that one of my own service members, a major that I’m supposed to look up to, couldn’t handle his own PTSD and decided to shoot up a soldier-reprocessing site made me feel absolutely terrible," Ortiz says. “I had survivor’s guilt, and I still have survivor’s guilt.”
Having failed at a previous suicide attempt, South Florida Army veteran J.C. Ortiz was determined to succeed the second time.
It was 2009 and he had just returned from his second tour of Iraq, where he had experienced a grueling 15 months of continual combat. Four years earlier, after another 18 months of war, he'd begun suffering from PTSD. He would become addicted to opioids.
Now the plan was to lock himself with bottles of rum and pills in the bathroom of his home on the Fort Hood military base in Texas. Through the door, he would tell his wife he was going to take his own life, knowing she would call military police.
Florida is home to 17 percent of the nation’s homeless, according to the U.S. Census. And the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates veterans make up 11 percent of the nation's homeless population. Ortiz says there are 3,500 homeless veterans in South Florida.
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Hero Down: Gothenburg Police Officer Jill Larson Murdered By Husband
Blue Lives Matter
Holly Matkin
June 14, 2019
Gothenburg Police Officer Jill Larson served her department for 12 years.
Gothenburg, NE – Gothenburg Police Officer Jill Larson was fatally shot by her husband at their home on June 7.
A relative discovered the bodies of the 53-year-old veteran officer and her 52-year-old husband, Jeff McCandless, at approximately 9p.m. the next day, and alerted police, the Kearney Hub reported.
Investigators said they believe Jeff murdered Officer Larson, then fatally shot himself, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.
The Dawson County Attorney’s Office and the Nebraska State Patrol are handling the ongoing investigation into the murder-suicide.
Officer Larson joined the Gothenburg Police Department in 2007, and became the third woman to ever serve on the city’s police force, according to her obituary.
“Jill was considered by many to be one of the best police officers this community has ever had,” the City of Gothenburg said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
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He Wanted to Apologize for Cutting Off Another Driver. It Ended in a Deadly Shootout
Sun Sentinel
By Wayne K. Roustan and Laurel Weibezahn
13 Jun 2019
DAVIE, Florida -- Keith Byrne was trying to do the right thing. After the Marine Corps veteran accidentally cut off another car, he was ready to apologize at the next light.
Before he could, a passenger got out of the cut-off car and shot him square in the chest.
The mortally wounded Byrne, 41, was also prepared to fight back. With his own gun, he fired two shots at 22-year-old Andre Sinclair, and Sinclair died of his injuries at the hospital two days later. Byrne died on scene.
Sinclair had been a passenger in the car his girlfriend was driving. Their toddler was in the backseat.
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Veteran 'literally body-slammed' by VA police: Lawmakers grill VA on use of force
USA TODAY
Donovan Slack
June 11, 2019
WASHINGTON – One described a Veterans Affairs police officer throwing a New York veteran seeking therapy to the ground. Another said a California veteran died after receiving similar treatment at the hands of VA police there.
A third noted that a VA officer training to be an instructor at the national VA police academy threatened employees with a gun at a Massachusetts car dealership.
The underlying question from lawmakers to VA officials Tuesday: What is going on with VA police?
“I mean really what are they doing over there?” asked Rep. Gilbert Cisneros, Jr, D-Calif., who questioned training in particular. “Why are we having these situations where individuals are being injured or hurt or killed?”
An investigation of the VA police force by the agency’s inspector general concluded in December that systemic management failures had resulted in short-staffing and millions in overtime charged to taxpayers, as well as missed opportunities to ensure staff and veteran patients were protected.
USA TODAY reported in December on a case in Missouri where a veteran died after being tackled and detained by VA police in Kansas City.
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After seeing an elderly veteran living in squalor, an Uber driver stepped in to help
CNN
By Sophie Sherry and Christina Zdanowicz
June 14, 2019
"He is so thankful, he cracks me up. He keeps saying, 'I don't know what I did to deserve all of this from all you guys,'" said Mulvihill. "It's giving him hope that he will be taken care of."
(CNN)Lauren Mulvihill did not know what to expect when she was called to the hospital for an Uber pick up.
89-year-old Ronald Dembner had just been discharged from the hospital with no one to take him home.
Last week, Mulvihill drove Dembner from the hospital in Henry County, Georgia, to his home and helped him inside. When she saw the terrible condition of his home, she knew she needed to help.
Dembner, who Mulvihill calls Mr. Ronald, is a widower and veteran who now lives alone with his dog King. He has no living family. Mulvihill said that Dembner had not called someone to help clean his house out of fear they would take it away from him.
The veteran has been living in squalor. Dembner has his wits about him, but he has a hard time getting around, cleaning the house and picking up after his dog.
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