- Somehow Esquire was able to track down and interview the SEAL that shot and killed Osama bin Laden. Part of the article talks about the SEALs’ code of the “quiet professional” and not stepping forward or speaking publicly, which seems to be at odds with other former SEALs who have written books. The article also mentions how after bin Laden was dead, other members made sure to take a personal shot at the body, which I can’t blame them for doing, I just don’t like the story getting out. Other interesting tidbits or a KeithNote’s version of the article:
- His gun magazine still had 27 bullets left in it, he gave it to the the CIA woman that everyone now knows about.
- He’s about to divorce but he and his wife still live together to save money.
- He fears for his family’s safety and they have a “go bag” that will allow them to live for two weeks out in the wild. They are also considering changing all their names.
- He’s about to leave the Navy and is in financial hardship, and the government isn’t doing much to help. For some reason this reminds me of the time the government paid $26.6 million to family members of the astronauts who died on the space shuttle Columbia.
- Surprisingly he had very favorable things to say about Obama, mainly for how he was standing up for the SEALs.
- He told his children to never mention bin Laden’s name, that it’s a curse word, so they refer to him as “Poopyface”.
- They took an Ambien on their way to Afghanistan, first stopping in Germany.
- He wrote a letter to his kids before the mission in case he didn’t make it alive, with his tears hitting the paper.
- He’s a Redskins fan.
- He was just a little more than 36-months away from an official military retirement.
- He’s not too thrilled with the SEAL who published a book about the mission, the guy you saw on “60 Minutes”.
- The last briefing included a story from the movie Hoosiers.
- During the copter ride to the compound he counted to a thousand forward and then backwards to pass the time. Right when they entered Pakistani he stopped counting and just started to think about the George W .Bush 9/11 quote: Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended.
- His biggest concern getting off the copter . . . having to pee really bad.
- After killing the target he grabbed bin Laden’s son, placed him next to his mother, and washed his face.
- He watched the president’s speech about the raid with bin Laden’s body in view while eating a sausage-egg-cheese-and-extra-bacon sandwich.
- There seems to be just a small bit of confusion from the point man’s perspective on who actually got the kill shot.
- When an administration official who asked had the kill shot, the actually shooter spoke up and only said “We all did.”
- Twenty-four hours after the mission came an offer of witness protection, driving a beer truck in Milwaukee.
- The writer of the article watched Zero Dark 30 with the shooter and says he laughed at some parts for being incorrect, but a lot of his criticisms were minor.
- The dog in the raid actually survived being shot in the chest on a previous mission.
- The article used the word ‘truculent’ which I had to look up.
- Speaking of a former SEAL, I wonder who came up with the idea of having a memorial service for Chris Kyle at Cowboys stadium. Around 7,000 were in attendance. I think there are plenty of mega-churches in the area that can house that amount of people, and I wonder if anyone from the Cowboys or the Jones family reached out saying it was available.
- We’ve got two very sick kids at GeedingManor, yet WifeGeeding has a great sense of equanimity about her.
- Until yesterday, I wasn’t aware that any Catholic male could become Pope, I thought it was just limited to Cardinals.
- I’m a big user of Google Reader, but the last few days using it has been irritating as it’s been buggy.
- Mike Tyson making an appearance on HIMYM sure was a nice surprise.
- There’s been some promotion with Beyonce’s next tour stating she is a queen and the next Vogue cover gives her the title. I bet in the near future we hear Aretha Franklin upset that the title of “Queen” is being used.
- A new book about Hitler is a funny concept: The story follows the Führer as he awakens from a 66-year sleep in his bunker beneath Berlin to find an entirely changed Germany. In the celebrity-obsessed modern-day city, everyone assumes the fulminating leader of the Nazi party is a comedian in character — and soon he becomes a celebrity with a guest slot on a Turkish-born comedian’s TV show. His bigoted rants are interpreted as a satirical exposure of prejudice, leading him to decide to start his own political party.
- A Texas congressman is bringing Ted Nugent as a guest to the State of the Union, but to fair, many Democrats are bringing gun violence victims.
- Billy O’Reilly was on Letterman last night and expressed his thoughts on what should be done regarding gun laws, and for the most part, I was pretty supportive of the guy.
- Y’all all know me as a flaming liberal, but I’m probably more supportive regarding gun rights than you’d think.
- For my fellow “House of Cards” fans, it turns out Netflix created the series based on the viewing habits of its subscribers. And here is one tiny gripe about the show . . . They make it as if BBQ can be made like fast food. Underwood is able to get it in early morning and then he was able to have enough BBQ at the end of the day to help feed a fundraiser. Come on, . . . we all know proper BBQ takes hours.
- Capitol Hill Is Obsessed With “House Of Cards”
- Bill Gates has a great sense of humor.
- I’m not sure how well this will catch on (only available in San Francisco) even if the intention is good – Text people via their license plate number
- For some reason, chubby Neil Cavuto of Fox News decided to discuss Adele And Kelly Clarkson’s weight.
- An estimated 12 to 15 percent of Chinese men — a population nearly the size of Texas — will be unable to find a mate within the next seven years.
- Cute Disney proposal
- Golden State Warriors unveil new yellow alternate jerseys with sleeves
- MoviePass Gives Android Owners Unlimited Theater Tickets for $30 per Month
The SEAL code of being a “quiet professional” and not stepping forward or speaking publicly, has most likely bit the dust. There's just too much to be made in our media driven society now. The government being the government and not taking care of vets doesn't help the situation, but that's nothing new.
I saw O'Reilly and had the same opinion. He's done some funny stuff with Jon Stewart and to his credit, treats him fairly. He's more open minded than most people give him credit, but he is first and foremost a performer. He shifts with the wind and the wind is blowing moderate.
I just finished the last episode of House of Cards last night. What a well-written, superbly acted series.
It did raise a question for me, though, about the future of cable television, which is now so expensive. With so much content being created for pay-only services (like Netflix & Hulu, as well as the movie channels on cable like HBO, Showtime, and Starz) it's no wonder that the quality of network television has seemingly diminished. While the networks are appealing to the masses with broad comedies and dramas that are all derivative of each other (how many CSIs and NCISs do we need?), there is an entire segment of the population that not only doesn't watch network TV, but doesn't even pay for cable. I have several friends who don't have cable, because they watch all of their content online through Netflix or Hulu or the networks' websites. As it gets easier to stream the web through our TVs, it will be interesting to see how the cable companies adapt.