Tuesday Follow-ups
Zachary Young, the Navy vet who took CNN to the woodpile over their reporting of his actions during the botched Afghan withdrawal, is back in the news. He sued, but had his suit dismissed, against AP for saying he “smuggled” people out of Afghanistan, as “smuggling people” is a highly pejorative term nowadays. That judge tossed his case, likening it to a movie remake that doesn’t need to happen.Young has filed an appeal to re-open the case.
“In an order that inappropriately compares the criminal accusation of human smuggling to sneaking candy into a movie theater and flippantly refers to the lawsuit as a bad sequel that never should have been made, the court incorrectly determined AP’s accusation that ‘Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan’ was not defamatory,” Young’s appellate counsel Lisa Paige Glass wrote in the filing.
Young’s legal team also accused the court of “jumbling” the three distinct and sequential stages of defamation analysis and requested a new judge, suggesting Henry has “disdain” for the case. Fox News
Not sure what other term is available that is a non-pejorative synonym for smuggling. Person sneaking? Not sure if Young’s case has the legs his first case did.
I know she doesn’t LOOK Hawaiian, but she’s dressed appropriately, right?
Hawaii is headed to court, too. It’s a popular way for anti-gun legislatures to resist Federal law, especially the Bruen decision, by enacting laws that state “OK, you have a right to self-defense – but you are not allowed to carry a gun in these special cases: any public place, any day ending with Y, any date number less than 32” – yeah, I exaggerate a little, but not much. The states know they will get beat in court, but meanwhile the cases drag on forever and are expensive. Blame the Supremes for not making a clearcut, clearly stated decision. Hawaii is one of the top states on this list (along with New York, Illinois, California, Colorado, Maryland, etc.)
The Justice Department filed a friend of the court brief in support of the plaintiffs suing Hawaii over a new law that curbs where people with concealed carry permits can bring their firearms, making it a misdemeanor to carry on any private property without “unambiguous written or verbal authorization” or where “clear and conspicuous signage” grants permission from the owner.
“Hawaii’s law plainly violates the Second Amendment,” Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on X.
Irina Vernikov, a New York City councilwoman who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after bringing a licensed handgun to a pro-Israel rally in 2023 amid a spike in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City, thanked Bondi for intervening in the Hawaii case.Fox News II
Ironically enough, Vernikov was arrested carrying a disabled unloaded gun. In her possession, yes – functional, no. That’s what, where we come from, we call a poorly shaped club.
Recently passed fiscal year funding bills to support the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2026 budget called for the VA to use “further innovative tools,” including AI to pinpoint veterans showing high levels of suicidal ideation.
President Trump signed the bill, labeled the FY26 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill, into law on Nov. 12. The bill designates more than $115 billion for veteran healthcare. Of that, about $698 million was earmarked for VA’s suicide prevention program.The House Appropriations Committee noted in a recent report while it finds VA’s present suicide prevention programs to be effective, it supports exploring modern technology to prevent more veterans from taking their own lives. Military.com
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Afghanistan, Guns, Veterans in the news, Veterans Issues
I disagree with suicide prevention.
People have the right to choose their exit strategy, as long as it does not harm others.
But more importantly, the government does not have the right to use our tax money to fix a personal issue or decision.
Your body, your choice.
If a person doesn’t care about the loved ones they leave behind, dealing with the aftermath, why should the government care?
Mind you, my position is not that offing yourself is ok, there are obviously many variables when you make a permanent decision to solve temporary problems, as all problems in life are temporary, not to mention all the people left behind picking the pieces, but that the gruberment should not use our tax money for prevention.
Suicide does harm others. It harms those left behind.
When someone volunteers for the military and is sent to war, and that person is permanently disabled, isn’t that person responsible for their own maiming? Why should the government take care of them?
That is the logic I see in your argument.
I was suicidal many years ago. I didn’t want to die…I wanted the pain of my life to stop. Luckily I had people around me who PREVENTED me from doing the wrong thing, and I’m still here. So, I’d have to say that prevention is well worth the effort, and more than worth every tax dollar I spend.
–Rev. M.A. Lauer (AKA Skivvy Stacker)
I am glad you were able to work through that time in your life safely. Your story isn’t at all unusual. Some people go through phases of depression in different parts of their life and most, once they move past that phase, are fine. To lose someone permanently to an otherwise temporary problem is a tragedy.
I was suicidal many years ago. I didn’t want to die…I wanted the pain of my life to stop. Luckily I had people around me who PREVENTED me from doing the wrong thing, and I’m still here
This is where I was. In constant pain and I just wanted the pain to stop. That was 5 years ago and at the time, I had the support of 2 best friends that got me through it
With a suicide the government will nearly always be responsible for taking a number of actions that most often aren’t required when someone dies of natural causes. This will likely involve a police investigation and autopsy among other things.
The attempt is very likely to fail. In a typical year there are 1,500,000 attempts and around 50,000 dead. Of the attempts around 116,000 are hospitalized with a serious injury, and about half require some kind of treatment at an ER.
When someone tries to suck start their 12 gauge and remains alive, the wounds, as you can probably imagine are catastrophic. The jaw often being blown off as well as much of the face, possibly the eyes. The eardrums are destroyed, with permanent loss of hearing. So the person may end up blind, deaf and eating from a tube for the rest of their life, which if they are young, could be a long time. Not to mention being disfigured to the point of being completely unrecognizable. Many other kinds of suicide attempts result in brain damage or some other disability. Many people that are on disability are suicide attempt survivors.
So yes, the people have a strong interest in preventing suicide, if only from a cost standpoint.
Speaking of all things Afgan, NPR does NPR things.
Don’t worry guys, our new guest had ‘a personal crisis’.
(Link)
So glad that got all cleared up.
His “personal crisis” is easily solved in just a few simple steps:
1: Speedy trial.
2: Prompt execution.
Crisis ended.
IIRC, smuggling people into the US is a federal crime. Seems there is a certain “Maryland Dad” who has been federally indicted for committing that crime. Accusations that a person is or has smuggled people into the US is defamation per se, requiring no proof of actual damages and may support an award of punitive damages. Since the AP published that claim it is libel per se. But basic defamation law I was taught at law school apparently doesn’t matter to these black robed D-rats.