Legal Monday, and not-nice charity
You deploy, you leave most of your stuff behind, and if you have a POV, you park it in the designated lot where it will presumably be somewhat safer than in back of your off-post digs, right?
We have talked before about some of the unscrupulous folks who prey on the military – hey, if a guy is 8,000 miles away, he’s not exactly responding to his car alarm, right? But generally it has been low quantity onesy-twosy type of things with rare exceptions. Today we are meeting S&K Towing (I think again, but my search function seems to be doing no searchy.)
S&K Towing Inc. has been accused of illegally selling or disposing of as many as 148 vehicles owned by service members, many of which were towed from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in southern California, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The lawsuit accuses the San Clemente-based company of ignoring the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which requires tow companies to obtain a court order before selling or disposing of a vehicle owned by a protected service member.
Ah, that pesky paperwork.
Prosecutors argue in the lawsuit that some of the vehicles S&K sold or disposed of were registered to Camp Pendleton addresses.
In other instances, the vehicles were auctioned off even after S&K was told its owner was in the military, prosecutors claim.The Independent
Their website does not list their ownership (Sleaze & Kink? Who knows) but this is one case where I am hoping the DOJ sends them to the Grey Bar Hotel. For a loooong time.
Next, a court in Germany that seems to have a shred of sanity. Who knew?
A landmark climate lawsuit aimed at forcing BMW and Mercedes-Benz to stop selling combustion engine cars by 2030 has failed in Germany’s top civil court, handing the country’s auto industry a consequential legal win at a moment when the future of ICE vehicles remains anything but settled.
The suits were brought by three Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) managing directors. The cases against BMW and Mercedes-Benz were heard by the Federal Court of Justice, known in Germany as the Bundesgerichtshof, or BGH, after lower courts in Munich and Stuttgart had already ruled in favor of the automakers.
DUH’s argument was ambitious. The group said that continuing to sell new combustion engine vehicles beyond 2030 would consume too much of the remaining carbon budget and, in effect, shift the burden of emissions cuts onto younger generations, potentially limiting their freedoms. The legal theory leaned heavily on Germany’s landmark 2021 Constitutional Court climate ruling, which found that the state has a duty to protect fundamental freedoms by not pushing disproportionate climate burdens into the future.Guesing Headlights
Sounds much like the folks who make our Postal service fund retirement plans for employees who have yet to be hired, doesn’t it?
Electric cars – well, I’m not a fan but buying one doesn’t scare me, either. When they have the range, recharging, and price I want. Not sooner.
And let’s close with a bit of fun of you don’t have cold feet. Seems Russian soldiers are getting aid shipments with all kinds of contributions, and recently got some (I am sure very welcome) electric foot warming insoles.
According to Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi, operatives from Ukraine’s special services allegedly inserted explosive-filled heated insoles into shipments destined for Russian military units. The items were reportedly moved with the help of Russian volunteers and charitable foundations, allowing them to pass as ordinary humanitarian aid.
That is what makes this sort of sabotage effective, Treston Wheat, chief geopolitical officer at Insight Forward, told me: it exploits weak points in military supply chains while forcing the target to treat routine deliveries as potential threats.
Each insole reportedly contained 1.5 grams of TNT. That is a tiny charge by battlefield standards. It will not destroy a vehicle or a bunker. But it does not need to. Against a foot at point-blank range, it could cause a serious injury. Forbes
I’m not too sure what 1.5 grams of TNT would so, but even if it’s equivalent to something like a cherry bomb, that soldier’s out of action for a while, if not forever.
Truly diabolical.
Reminds me of another work I have cited here before, “The Sea Devil’s Fo’c’sle” by Felix Von Luckner. He mentioned a WWI trick in which an agent might give someone a pocket Bible before travels… except he would remove the book mark. The book mark would start the fuze, the Bible was printed on gun cotton… and a few minutes later the recipient was rather dead.
Most Hand Grenades of the 20th Century that used TNT, used 50-200 grams with 60 grams being common. One gram has about 4000 joules of energy, so 6000 joules for 1.5 grams.
From the pics I saw of the bombs after effects they appear to be focused in the middle of the foot. This would be enough to destroy the fleshy part of the foot and leave the soldier a cripple and unable to walk with an assistive device such as crutches. Flesh on extremities is notably hard to repair which is why hand and feet amputations are not uncommon. It blows about dollar coin sized hole out the bottom of the boot as well.
It should be noted that there have been reports of orders that wounded Russian soldiers are supposed to finish off their wounded comrades and then themselves to keep from jamming the pipeline with wounded soldiers. This also prevents wounded soldiers from returning home with devastating injuries and impeding support for the war. Not sure how well these orders are being followed.
War is Hell.
Plus, if the Russkie soldiers “off” their komrads and themselves, there’s less cost to the Gooberment for long term care (and medical pensions?).
I recall reading many years ago about Zippo lighters being
packed with explosives. Not sure if it was TNT, C4 or some
other substance but must have been quite a smoke.
S&K Towing farmed out their vehicle disposal to another party. I imagine they will try to throw the disposal company under the bus and claim that the vendor should have checked that they were covered or not by SCRA. However. they shouldn’t have sent the vehicles out for disposal in the first place if they were subject to SCRA.
We all know that not every vehicle on post belongs to a service member so they exercised a very poor standard of care. I am a little surprised that the vendor wasn’t included in the complaint as well. They should have checked also.
https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1432656/dl?inline
Next pair of shoes I buy, I shoed check out the shoe shoed there be the same kind of one of the TNT shoes that got lost in the shuffle that shoed have been shipped to Russia. Shoed I or shoedn”t I, That is the Question. Okidoki, I’m done now. Maybe I shoed buy a pair of saddle shoes..
LOL!
Get with the beat Jeff and pick up your feet.
https://youtu.be/E5jNC1v2Ec0
Given the seriousness of the vehicle thefts and by a specific company, why hasn’t the post CG not banned them from base? Why isn’t NCIS and FBI not investigating and preparing prosecution for them?
Speaking of Camp Pendleton….
pssst…. hey buddy are you in the market for a complete Javelin Missile System? How about a million rounds of top shelf M855 still sealed in the can? Man, do I have a deal for you….
https://nypost.com/2026/03/29/us-news/camp-pendleton-marine-arrested-for-alleged-theft-and-sale-of-javelin-missile-systems/