Tuesday Tidbits

Remember Greville Clark, the Ft. Hood sergeant who was sentenced to life earlier this year for over 30 charges including rape, kidnapping, robbery, and burglary? He was given the opportunity to relocate from the sunny climes of Ft. Hood to lovely eastern Kansas.

Sgt. Greville Clarke, 32, who was sentenced to 112 years in prison without parole, was found unresponsive in his cell in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to an emailed statement from Maj. Travis Shaw, an Army spokesperson. Task and Purpose

His death was announced last Wednesday. No cause of death was released.

Here’s an old one – Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who killed a New Jersey policeman in a shootout in 1977. She escaped from prison in 1979 and has been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list since surfacing in 1984 in Cuba where she remained since until she died Thursday last week.. Well, here is the Chicago Teacher’s Union response:

“Rest in Power, Rest in Peace, Assata Shakur,” the CTU’s post read. “Today we honor the life and legacy of a revolutionary fighter, a fierce writer, a revered elder of Black liberation, and a leader of freedom whose spirit continues to live in our struggle.

“Assata refused to be silenced. She taught us that ‘It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.'”  Fox News

I’ll just bet that CTU President Stacy Davis Gates is pulling down one strong paycheck – after all, that IS Chicago. Kinda makes you wish troops were being sent to Chicago.

It is an old trope that gun registration has always led to gun confiscation, right?  Well, President Trump has actually in one small way influenced Venezuelans’ rights.

When Edith Perales was younger, he enlisted in the National Bolivarian Militia, a civilian force created by the late President Hugo Chávez in 2009 to help defend Venezuela.

The rag-tag force, mainly made up of senior citizens, has been called up following the deployment of US navy ships in the South Caribbean on what US officials said were counter-narcotics operations.

On a Saturday afternoon, soldiers fan out in Caracas’ Petare neighbourhood to fulfil Maduro’s order that “the barracks come to the people”.

The soldiers’ task is to teach the locals how to handle arms to respond to “the enemy”.

The training scenario includes tanks, Russian-made rifles – not loaded – and instruction posters.

A soldier is giving instructions to a small group on a loud speaker.

“The important thing is to familiarise yourselves with the weapons; we aim at the target and make a hit.”BBC

Well, they get to play with guns, at least – not quite like getting their own back. Think we’re going to have to kill a  lot more drug mules before they actually get bullets, though.

In closing, SecDef Hegseth has called a meeting of all flag rank officers today at Quantico. Rumors say it will focus on grooming and the warrior ethos. One would think this is the sort of thing which could he done on a Zoom call (or, dare I suggest, on Signal? Or is Pete a little gunshy on that subject?) With all the needed travel, seems an awfully costly way to talk to all the flags. Hopefully it will cost less than rererenaming bases, adding a giant ballroom to the White House, or rehiring the folks DOGE fired who turned out to be more essential than was originally thought.

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army, Crime