Jury awards Ventura $1.8M in Chris Kyle defamation case

[BMCSean]

No. I have actually seen former law enforcement denied a clearance.

Just an FYI, disclosing your cleared status to anyone without the need-to-know is a violation of the NISP/OM. So whatever you may hold is none of anyone's business here. Being that mine is not active (not currently sponsored or caged) and I am not cleared to access SECRET, I can say that I held a SECRET.

Edit : and yes I always laughed at badges that are color coded to alert to someone's access. Even though some facilities down range that issue their own access badges did require them to be concealed when not in use in that particular facility.

We always enforced that if you were not in the restricted area, it needed to be concealed at all times.

[LANTIRN]

EW sounds like a fun job. You guys are working much further up in the band than the stuff I work on.

You would be surprised at how many jobs in the military sound really cool on paper or in recruitment videos, but are really just just mundane maintenance jobs. Granted some of them are pretty interesting and you can learn a lot of useful job skills for later, but most are not that exciting. Fighter pilots and spec ops might be an exception to the rule. At least the fighter pilots act like it is.

And on the clearance issue, I had a secret clearance and I will say it is rare for someone to be exposed to a ton of classified info. It is all need to know, and just because you have a secret clearance does not mean you can look at secret info. Take my AFSC, for instance. The only secret thing we actually worked with was a hard drive that had some programming that was classified secret. That was literally the only thing we had a need to know daily and the only reason any of us had a clearance. The only time the clearance came in handy where we got to see anything actually interesting was when our commander held a few briefings that we were invited to set in, and even that stuff wasn't that big of a deal but even he had to get authorization from higher up to expand the "need to know". My point is that while there are people in the military who are involved in really interesting and important classified stuff every day, they are not that common, and even they have need to know limits. In fact the only people I actually met who worked with alot of classified stuff worked on the stealth aircraft and they were exposed to a ton of secret or top secret stuff because almost everything on the plane was classified, but they certainly were not being briefed on spy operations or new weapons systems for carriers or the President's schedule.

I did meet one guy who was briefed an a classified event and told after that fact this is what he saw/didn't see, and that is only because they were doing some testing at night and security had cleared off that section of the base, but had somehow missed his shop. They all stepped out for a smoke break and saw whatever it was, and in about 5 minutes their building was locked down and they had some brass telling them to sign these papers saying they wouldn't talk about what they saw. He didn't discuss the actual classified stuff with me, but we were discussing this very subject and I thought it was interesting. The only reason he was told after the fact what he didn't see was because security fucked up and didn't make sure all the buildings were clear in the area. I am sure someone got an ass chewing over that one.

[jewozzy]

Why would it be murder if they tried to steal his truck? I'm pretty sure Texas is one of the most lenient places when it comes to things like this.

I don't really care if he did it or not, but I've worked in/for the Government most of my adult life and I know that if a legitimate official came to me and said I didn't see shit then I didn't see shit. Simple as that. When I got out of the AF I was told that I didn't see shit. When I was at my last job I was told that I didn't see shit. At my current job I am told that I didn't see shit...so guess what?

Well I can assure you law enforcement isn't going to cover that up. At the very least they would tell other law enforcement. But what do I know?

[LANTIRN]

Well I can assure you law enforcement isn't going to cover that up. At the very least they would tell other law enforcement. But what do I know?

There would be a record of any shooting, justified or not. In Texas it is likely that an obviously justifiable shooting won't even bring charges, but there would be a record and at least a short investigation, and bodies, none of which have been found in regards to Kyle's story. If there is any truth at all to what happened, there was probably an attempted carjacking, a gun was pulled and not fired, bad guys ran off, and 911 may or may not have been called. But I kind of doubt even that just based off the New Orleans sniper story. Kyle may have been the deadliest sniper in US history, I do not doubt his service record, and I respect him for what he did, but he does sound like a "one upper" as mentioned above.

[Trip McNeely]

G14 Classified.

[KBScobravert]

You would be surprised at how many jobs in the military sound really cool on paper or in recruitment videos, but are really just just mundane maintenance jobs. Granted some of them are pretty interesting and you can learn a lot of useful job skills for later, but most are not that exciting. Fighter pilots and spec ops might be an exception to the rule. At least the fighter pilots act like it is.

And on the clearance issue, I had a secret clearance and I will say it is rare for someone to be exposed to a ton of classified info. It is all need to know, and just because you have a secret clearance does not mean you can look at secret info. Take my AFSC, for instance. The only secret thing we actually worked with was a hard drive that had some programming that was classified secret. That was literally the only thing we had a need to know daily and the only reason any of us had a clearance. The only time the clearance came in handy where we got to see anything actually interesting was when our commander held a few briefings that we were invited to set in, and even that stuff wasn't that big of a deal but even he had to get authorization from higher up to expand the "need to know". My point is that while there are people in the military who are involved in really interesting and important classified stuff every day, they are not that common, and even they have need to know limits. In fact the only people I actually met who worked with alot of classified stuff worked on the stealth aircraft and they were exposed to a ton of secret or top secret stuff because almost everything on the plane was classified, but they certainly were not being briefed on spy operations or new weapons systems for carriers or the President's schedule.

I did meet one guy who was briefed an a classified event and told after that fact this is what he saw/didn't see, and that is only because they were doing some testing at night and security had cleared off that section of the base, but had somehow missed his shop. They all stepped out for a smoke break and saw whatever it was, and in about 5 minutes their building was locked down and they had some brass telling them to sign these papers saying they wouldn't talk about what they saw. He didn't discuss the actual classified stuff with me, but we were discussing this very subject and I thought it was interesting. The only reason he was told after the fact what he didn't see was because security fucked up and didn't make sure all the buildings were clear in the area. I am sure someone got an ass chewing over that one.

I dealt with Intel briefings, maps, SIGACTS, threat and vulnerability assessments, secret squirrel compounds etc on a daily basis. I would learn things from military intelligence guys only to hear the exact same rumors from my carpenter level employees. It was always funny to be briefed on something I had just pulled off open source, "this is classified SECRET now ". Well tell that to Yahoo.

[LANTIRN]

I dealt with Intel briefings, maps, SIGACTS, threat and vulnerability assessments, secret squirrel compounds etc on a daily basis. I would learn things from military intelligence guys only to hear the exact same rumors from my carpenter level employees. It was always funny to be briefed on something I had just pulled off open source, "this is classified SECRET now ". Well tell that to Yahoo.

That is just like the "classified" briefing we received on North Korea when we arrived in country. Everything they told us I had already read from Google before I got there. It is funny some of the stuff that is considered classified that is openly available with a web search. Come to think of it, one of the "Secret" briefings we had with our commander one time was all about some info that was shown on Fox News just a few days later, but since we were briefed it was classified we couldn't talk about it even though it was all over the news.

[Ruffdaddy]

Ruffdaddy's an engineer ... mother fucka drives trains.

If only I were that lucky. Mafucka drives base model ford explorers...and go karts.

[Cooter]

If only I were that lucky. Mafucka drives base model ford explorers...and go karts.

I mean...

go-karts are fucking fun, so...

win?

[jw33]

[scootro]

thats gonna be a good JRE

[jw33]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/5/jesse-ventura-settles-american-sniper-lawsuit-take/

The “American Sniper” lawsuit between Jesse “The Body” Ventura and the estate of late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is finally over.

The former governor of Minnesota says he can “smile again” after reaching a settlement in his protracted legal battle with Chris Kyle’s estate. A judge awarded Mr. Ventura $1.8 million in 2014 for a defamation case stemming from a chapter in the Navy SEAL’s book — “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper In U.S. Military History” — but the ruling was overturned by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016.

“I offered the ‘American Liar’ Chris Kyle the opportunity to show honor and courage, and he didn’t have it,” Mr. Ventura told reporters on Monday. “I can smile again. The settlement is confidential, but I can smile.”

The former governor’s case revolved around a chapter in Mr. Kyle’s book called “Punching Out Scruff Face.” The sniper claimed that he was in a bar fight with a famous conspiracy theorist who said the SEALs “deserved to lose a few.”

Mr. Ventura took heat from veterans — including war hero and author Marcus Luttrell — for pursuing his lawsuit after Mr. Kyle was murdered on Feb. 2, 2013, on a Texas gun range along with fellow veteran Chad Littlefield.

Settlement money that Mr. Ventura received did not come from widow Taya Kyle or the deceased veteran’s estate, Fox News reported Tuesday.

It was not disclosed whether the cash came from publisher Harper Collins or its insurance company.

[Scott Mc]

Politics aside, I guess the smile is from beating a dead man in court. Kudos over shit that never mattered guy.

[LANTIRN]

Politics aside, I guess the smile is from beating a dead man in court. Kudos over shit that never mattered guy.

I doubt either side was telling the truth by this point, but assuming Ventura was 100% right on this, it was pretty stupid and makes him look like a huge assclown to pursue this after Kyle's death, especially considering his wife had nothing to do with the exaggerations or lies. Seeks stupid to go after the publisher as well since their author can't be brought into the hearing to answer questions. All Ventura really accomplished was proving he is still a douche.

[ceyko]

Well that and I found that the military classifies virtually everything SECRET because they put CONFIDENTIAL and just plain silly shit on their high side. It gets passed around and now Joe Private says that the ingredients to Chili-mac is TS and he will have to slit your throat if you spill the beans...pun intended.

I won't lie, I still can't get chili-mac like I've eaten while enlisted or any one of a bunch of places overseas. I think I'm missing the "set under heat lamp for 4-6 hours" portion of the process. Hell - I don't know if I was really hungry, but the damned MRE chili-mac with jalapeno cheese spread and tabasco is still better than the crap I make - or at least how I remember it.

I dealt with Intel briefings, maps, SIGACTS, threat and vulnerability assessments, secret squirrel compounds etc on a daily basis. I would learn things from military intelligence guys only to hear the exact same rumors from my carpenter level employees. It was always funny to be briefed on something I had just pulled off open source, "this is classified SECRET now ". Well tell that to Yahoo.

While this is true, then you also see the good shit go untold and the fucked up shit glossed over like it's minor. Working overseas is where I learned that not only does the media not have all the facts, they will bold face lie to put a story together. Then the people who watch this stuff - eat it up without question. Minor things are blown up, major things ....etc as already mentioned above.

Essentially, I'm reinforcing what you're saying. Hell, to this day I'll never understand why our government claimed no WMDs when it was clear there were biological and chemical weapons. Maybe nukes only fit the definition they were going for? There was a time there were SOME news articles about it, but none out of the MSM. So it was out there, just most did not see it or look for it. I only know because I googled before talking on the Inet about it.