Sunday, May 25, 2014

Making Political Hay out of the Misfortunes of a Supposed Hero

Update: Andrew Tahmooressi is now free. Back home in California. For further blogomania, please consult my friend Mike at http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com
Earlier this month, I told my friend Mikeb302000 about a former U.S. Marine from Florida who unfortunately and perhaps accidentally crossed the international border at San Ysidro into Mexico with all of his worldly possessions in his Ford F-150 pickup truck. Unfortunately, these possessions included three legally owned firearms. Understand that guns are illegal in Mexico. I accepted his version of events in his own words. He just got lost looking for a restaurant off of I-5, trying to meet his friends. Even if you do believe his story, the fact that he was driving around with unsecured weapons in the cab of his pickup truck in the city of San Diego makes him a careless scofflaw. Bear in mind that he is a soldier suffering from PTSD, a form of mental illness. I unfairly speculated that he might have been slightly under the influence of alcohol given the fact that he simply continued driving south all of the way to the border without noticing any of the signs about the approaching international border, the last freeway exit into the U.S.A. and even a last ditch U-turn designed to give drivers one last chance to remain upon U.S. soil. Mike was kind enough to create a post from my tip. I was hoping that the regulars would get worked up about the injustice of it all. They did not completely disappoint. Now, three grueling weeks later, FOX has decided to release their take on all of this nonsense just in time for the Memorial Day Weekend. The headline is “Leave No Man Behind.” Obama has abandoned this poor soul, when just one phone call from the DOJ or the American Consul could have released this defender of freedom from the ravages of the Tijuana penitentiary system. The article by a FOX contributor does not seem to agree with the earliest press release from the San Diego Union-Tribune which reported that he attempted an escape and then subsequently attempted suicide while incarcerated. He was reported to have been doing much better in his incarceration when the prison provided him with an English-speaking chaplain. I am sorry, but it is difficult to view the U-T article without a paying subscription. Since there is really no way of confirming or denying any subsequent facts, FOX has chosen to say that originally he was chained by both arms and legs to his bed, and that now he only has to be chained by one leg by the Mexican prison guards. I mean, why not lie, if there is no way to check the facts? Much as the leftist blogosphere thrived under the sadistic presidency of GWB, FOX has no apparent reason to exist other than to spread hatred and lies about our president. This was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. Make hay while the sun shines!

9 comments:

  1. Are you saying you think Fox should be trying to make more of this than they are? In regards to president Obama leaving this vet behind? If it can be characterized that way... that is.

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  2. It is an interesting case which was hardly noticed when this vet was thrown in the Tijuana jail, March 29th of this year. The only reason I heard about it was because my friend who works at the liquor store saw it on the local TV news. I alerted Mikeb because he likes to blog about these types of incidents. The point of this particular post was mainly to point up that FOX waited until Memorial Day Weekend to introduce this to their viewers in order to cast aspersions on the president while patriotic and militaristic fervor were at a peak on the holiday weekend. I can't say for certain that it was the first time they wrote about it on their website, but they certainly played up the "No man left behind," angle. Which immediately became ironic when we witnessed the right-wing reaction to the rescue of Bowe Bergdahl.

    My local republican congress critter took up Tahmooressi's cause with the State Department very early on. So the DINO incumbent in my district had to follow suit not to be labelled anti-veteran. I see absolutely no legitimate comparison between a guy who was held in dark prison cells in Pakistan and Afghanistan for five years (cold winters!) and another guy who was caught bringing guns and ammunition into Mexico at the border.

    It turns out that the Mexican Federales have decided to charge him. To me that's the only honorable way out of this mess. A trial. Most sensible pundits and B-listers believe that he will eventually be sent home after paying a fine. To expect the Mexican Customs and Judicial System to simply intervene on his behalf is not going to happen. I don't think Obama has mentioned his case publicly.

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  3. Get this... The extreme-right extremely racist (constant stories warning of "Black mobs") World Nut Daily says that a biker gang is going to ride to the border to try and intimidate Mexico into turning over Tahmooressi.

    John Harrington, president of gun seller Shield Tactical warns "Don't take one of ours. We'll do something about it".

    Ha ha ha ha. I'm with you in seeing absolutely no legitimate comparison between this guy and Bergdahl.

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  4. How many thousands upon thousands of Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans are being held indefinitely in our ICE detention centers?

    More to the point, the unchecked flow of guns and bullets into Mexico from the U.S. that has fueled so much violence in the drug trade south of the border. No American politician is even willing to talk about it, much less do anything. Mexico has a right to view these types of incursions with grave concern.

    According to the chief of Mexican Customs they catch some doofy American with a gun at the border every week. This case is more serious.

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  6. Just found this petition on the WH "we the people" website while browsing...

    Demand Release of U.S.M.C. Sgt. Tahmooressi Suffering with PTSD from Mexico Imprisonment.

    Created: May 01, 2014.

    Note that this petition has more than the 100k signatures needed to prompt a reply from the WH.

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  7. Thank you for the update. The only news sources currently involved are the LAT and FOX News. The case is going to trial. I am sure that the Mexican authorities understand that they are under a great deal of pressure not to hand out a prison sentence. It will be very interesting to see what the president has to say on this.

    Nobody seriously believes that Tahmooressi got lost, unless they believe that he was driving under the influence. He wasn't just alone in California. There is no reason on God's green earth why he couldn't have checked his guns in with one of his Marine buddies. The whole story stinks to high heaven.

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  8. Thanks, Flying Junior. I figure anyone being interviewed about their experience in a Mexican jail would exaggerate the difficulty. It's only a question of how much. That's why I was disappointed in Greta's soft-ball approach to the interview.

    This poor young man was already a serious gun criminal before he so stupidly crossed the border. He reminds me of what we used to call ourselves when I was a teenage Marine: Uncle Sams Misguided Children.

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