Looking for Sgt. Bowe Berdahl carried a heavy price, troops testify at his sentencing

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-bergdahl-sentencing-hearing-20171025-story.html

"Taking the witness stand, he veered between stoicism and tears as he described a mission in Afghanistan that had resulted in 18 surgeries and left him permanently injured.

The helicopters carrying his men took heavy shrapnel fire before landing in the remote province of Paktika. The first victim that day was a military canine named Remco, who was shot in the head while leading the men through a poppy field.

Then enemy fire struck Hatch, shattering his right femur. He screamed in pain as a comrade applied a tourniquet."


I remember it was debated whether anyone was actually injured looking for Bergdahl. Well, they were. And this poor soldier cried on the stand as he described his military dog, Remco, getting shot.

Can you imagine the disgust these men felt when Bergdahl received a hero's welcome? The men who searched for him are the real heroes and their voices deserve to be heard.

I'm glad Bergdahl is home, since he suffered immensely for his stupidity, but still...he knew the military's "no man left behind" policy, and knew he would put his fellow soldiers at risk. What a sick fuck he is. I hope he can someday find peace.

"WASHINGTON — The White House said on Monday that President Trump would leave in place a 2014 Obama administration order that created new workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

In a statement issued in response to growing questions about whether Mr. Trump would reverse the Obama order, the White House said the president was proud to embrace gay rights.

“President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of L.G.B.T.Q. rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the statement said. “The president is proud to have been the first ever G.O.P. nominee to mention the L.G.B.T.Q. community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/politics/obama-trump-protections-lgbt-workers.html?_r=1

More at the New York Times site.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/opinion/malia-obamas-secret-trip-to-bolivia-and-peru.html?_r=0

"The Bolivian guides were convinced it was the blonde. It had to be the blonde. American Embassy officials in November had told three brothers who led guided hikes across Bolivia’s majestic Cordillera Real mountain range that they would soon be hosting an important American dignitary. When a group of teenagers and a small band of American bodyguards showed up on Nov. 24, it wasn’t apparent to the guides that it was the president’s eldest daughter, Malia Obama, and not a blond companion, who warranted the extraordinary security measures."

The blonde?

Anyway, what a wonderful opportunity for her! She seems like such a sweet kid.

couldn't-leave-the-goddamn-south-fast-enough-haters, I-look-down-on-you-stupid-southerner-haters, I-love-to-make-fun-of-Florida-haters...

Since many of you are so freaking proud of your superiority in hating the south, would you add your names to my list by posting here? Some of you are so damn arrogant, I know you will be happy to declare your superiority on Democratic Underground in this little enclave I've creating just for you.

I know...looks are shallow...blah, blah, blah, but she looks so energetic, happy, and full of life! She's ready to take on this challenge!

I was a Sanders supporter, but I'm proud to be a Clinton supporter, now.

Let's beat that jackass Trump!

Don't ya'll think he's crazy enough to pick up his toys and leave the playground if the polls are showing a blowout down the road?

I can actually entertain such a thought about a presidential candidate, because he's so crazy and unpredictable.

That's scary.

This is painful.

The face of this tragedy has had so much tragedy in his own life you wonder how he can do this without breaking down.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dallas-police-chief-david-brown-has-lost-his-son-former-partner-and-brother-to-violence/2016/07/08/01419ea8-451c-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_police-chief-315pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

"Few people understand loss better than David Brown, the Dallas police chief who stood before television cameras Friday morning and said, “We are heartbroken.”

Even before five police officers were killed Thursday at the site of a Black Lives Matter protest where seven other people were wounded, Brown had become intimate with loss, pummeled by it again and again in his career and personal life.

Before this week, violence had already taken from him a former partner, a brother, a son."

at the prayer meeting in downtown Dallas.

He looks like he belongs on a FLDS compound, but he speaks like a black preacher.

And he sure does like the microphone, and is now going to take questions. Huh?

Well, for starters the working classes highly resented that the EU mainly benefits the corporatists, banksters, and other assorted elites and bureaucrats. Sound familiar?

And it's just a fact that the EU was sold as a simple trade organization that has grown into a large undemocratic political organization with strong hints that an EU military is to follow.

Xenophobia absolutely played a part in it, but don't forget that people vote in their own self-interest.

The working class resents the fact that the British are told by the EU how many benefits migrants are owed upon arrival in Britain. This is one of the issues that Cameron has supposedly "negotiated."

The working class resents the crowded schools and overworked National Health Service brought about by an influx of immigrants (and a conservative government).

They resent numerous little things that we don't think about.

The working class resents that migrants can qualify for council (government) housing, while they remain on a wait list.

And the middle class resents that they can no longer get their foot on the bottom rung of the housing ladder due to a severe housing shortage.

The list of resentments against the EU is long! This is not just about xenophobia. While Labour party leaders were pro remain, labour party members voted leave!

I'm afraid that the EU just doesn't have the appeal to the working classes that it does to the upper middle class. Everyone I know in Britain (I lived in England) was hoping to retire in a little village in France or Spain, or even in one of the poorer EU countries where their pensions would have gained them a higher quality of life. Even if they never left, it was always going to be a dream.

The working classes can't afford to up and move. They won't have proceeds from the sale of their house to buy them a "little cottage" in the French countryside. They see no reason for borders to remain open. They aren't going out; all they see are more people coming in. They don't care if they will have to stand in line at border control; they can't afford to travel, anyway.

These are not petty issues and they are multiplied many times over
what I could type.

And, again, they resent the ridiculous bureaucracy of the EU.

"The EU is poised to ban high-powered appliances such as kettles, toasters, hair-dryers within months of Britain’s referendum vote, despite senior officials admitting the plan has brought them “ridicule”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/10/eu-to-launch-kettle-and-toaster-crackdown-after-brexit-vote2/

The bureaucrats in the EU can't help themselves. Even with the Brexit vote poised to take place, they were continuing to show how out of touch and petty they have become.

If this is a divorce, the EU did much to provoke it, and now they've got to figure out how to break up while still maintaining the peace for this millennia.

Source: Huffington Post

"Police discovered Michael Jackson had a large collection of pornography, which included images of children, animal torture and gore, reportedly used in his bid to seduce young boys. The collection was revealed in newly surfaced documents obtained by RadarOnline that detail a raid on Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch estate in 2003, carried out as part of an investigation into child molestation charges against the singer.

According to previously unseen reports from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, authorities seized more than 80 video recordings and computer hard drives, as well as notes, diaries, documents, photographs and audiotapes."



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-jackson-stockpiled-child-porn-animal-torture-photos-according-to-newly-surfaced-report_us_5769644fe4b0a75709b7d847??te=TMZ

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Why is this in the news now?