Andy Kim: Petraeus gave out medals for "schmoozing"

Poor Andy Kim.  Trying to make himself out to be some kind of warlord while working for two of the wildest hanky-panky loving generals in memory. 

Andy Kim claims to have been on assignment in Afghanistan in 2011.  That's when two now disgraced generals ran the United Nations operation there.  Kim claims it was a NATO deal, but that is just more of his b.s. -- it was a U.N. operation. 

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001 by Resolution 1386.  Its main purpose was to train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions.  In October 2003, the UN Security Council authorized the expansion of the ISAF mission throughout Afghanistan.  ISAF ceased operations and was disbanded in December 2014. 

And while Andy Kim wants to beat his chest about it, the truth is much sadder, as these headlines show...

Taliban control of Afghanistan continues to grow, US data reveals - CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/asia/afghanistan-taliban-us-control.../index.html

Jan 30, 2018 - The Taliban strengthened its hold over Afghanistan in the second half of last year, according to new US military data released to CNN on ..

Taliban threaten 70% of Afghanistan, BBC finds - BBC News

www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42863116

Jan 31, 2018 - The BBC study shows the Taliban are now in full control of 14 districts .... a bloody insurgency which continues today; In 2016, Afghan civilian ...

Afghan Forces Battle Taliban for Control of Western City, Farah - The ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-farah-.html

9 hours ago - KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents entered the capital of the ... “We are hoping to get control of the fighting in the city by today,” Gen.

No, it doesn't look like Andy and the Obama administration solved much. 

But there was time for fun... and a lot of hanky panky.  According to numerous media reports, one of the guys Kim worked for -- John Allen -- exchanged 30,000 emails with a lovely beauty in Tampa, Florida.  No kidding -- 30,000 emails.  How did the guy manage to get anything done with all that playmail?

All that carrying on made the American military a laughingstock...

'Commander, you are SUCH a tease!' How Gen Petraeus was nicknamed James Bond by the socialite who felt his quads over dinner - and who exchanged 30,000 flirty emails with another top general

(Daily Mail, March 28, 2016)

In Andy Kim's defense, he is never mentioned in connection to any of the hanky panky -- unless he answered to one of the nicknames "snoopy" or "moe of planet moe".  No, Andy Kim didn't merit a mention in the biography of General Petraeus written by the lady reservist Petraeus was getting it on with.  But they did get the same photo-op:

And as for awards.  Poor Andy was left in the dust again.  The civilian service award that Andy Kim got was a paltry affair compared to the big-deal Joint Chiefs of Staff award that the "quad-feeler" socialite got.  Apparently they were handing out civilian awards like candy over at Fort Runamuck. 

Jill Kelley awarded prestigious medal from Joint Chiefs in 2011

(New York Post, November 22, 2012)

COMRADES: Jill Kelley demonstrates her “selfless contributions” for which Gen. David Petraeus (left) bestowed the second-highest citation for a civilian.

They’ll give a medal to anyone.

Military schmoozer Jill Kelley — a central figure in the investigation of Gen. David Petraeus — in March 2011 was awarded a prestigious medal from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The award, the country’s second-highest honor for a civilian, was given to acknowledge Kelley’s “selfless contributions” and “willingness to host engagements” for top pols and military brass.

Beads... Maybe Andy should have worn beads.

Meanwhile, actual heroes were getting screwed by the Petraeus crew that Andy Kim worked for...

Ex-Army Gen. David Petraeus tried to downgrade war hero’s valor award: Pentagon

(New York Daily News, November 8, 2013)

A soldier nominated for the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, had to endure a sneak attack from then-Army Gen. David Petraeus, who reportedly wanted to downgrade his heroism.

A Pentagon investigation into the botched nomination of Army Capt. William Swenson revealed Petraeus surreptitiously tried to give Swenson the nation's second-highest award, according to reports.  Swenson, 34, ultimately was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama last month for nearly singlehandedly fighting off 60 Taliban insurgents in 2009. He heroically assisted injured U.S. and Afghan troops following an assault in the Ganjgal Valley, and further proved his mettle by returning to the dangerous scene multiple times to recover his fallen brothers and sisters.

Never fear though, Petraeus did manage to dish out the civilian awards like hot dogs at a baseball game...

General Petraeus Gave Jill Kelley A Medal For Schmoozing

(Business Insider, November 22, 2012)

Did you know you can get a medal from the U.S. military for schmoozing?

Apparently you can.

At General David Petraeus's recommendation, the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave Tampa Bay socialite Jill Kelley the country's second-highest honor a civilian can receive, reports Jeane MacIntosh of the New York Post.

Kelley received the award from Petraeus himself in a ceremony in Washington DC last year.

Jeane MacIntosh quotes from the citation, which lauds Kelley for many achievements:

·       "outstanding public service to the United States Central Command, the MacDill Air Force Base community and the Department of Defense from October 31, 2008 to May 31, 2010."

·       Kelley's work in "advancing various military endeavors" and her "willingness to host engagements with senior national representatives from more than 60 countries," according to the Tampa Tribune.

·       "On multiple occasions, Mrs. Kelley invited senior national representatives, their spouses and senior leaders to her home to demonstrate their gratitude and support. These events promoted camaraderie, understanding and a better appreciation for coalition and military customs, concerns and abilities."

·       "She [was] instrumental in introducing the commander, early in his tenure, to local and state officials, particularly the mayor of Tampa and the governor of Florida."

·       "The singularly distinctive accomplishments of Mrs. Jill Kelley are in keeping with the finest traditions of public service and reflect great credit upon herself, United States Central Command and the Department of Defense."

Amazing the things you learn from a sex scandal.

We have excerpts below for those of you who have not had the opportunity to read General Petraeus' biography, All In, written by former "squeeze" Paula Broadwell...

Why did Andy Kim funder shut down a Sikh Temple?

Remember back on April 18th, when Andy Kim held a fundraiser at a big-deal law firm in Cherry Hill.  It looks like he tried to hide what he was doing.  He didn't put it on his campaign's Facebook page.  No pictures, no report on who the host committee was or what fat cats showed up with their checkbooks.  But here's the invitation below.  Note who it is paid by...

Now it turns out that one of the hosts at this big-deal campaign cash event was none other than Gregg A. Shivers.  This guy is a very big-deal trial attorney who has brought in some pretty good settlements for his firm.  That said, members of the Sikh community were not at all happy with his actions a few years back. 

We found this in the Sikh Times (www.sikhtimes.com) which covers "noteworthy news and analysis from around the world" and "in-depth coverage of issues concerning the global Sikh community including self-determination, democracy, human rights, civil liberties, antiracism, religion, and South Asian geopolitics."  The story cites "dlevinsky@phillyburbs.com and mmathis@phillyburbs.com" and the Courier-Post of April 26, 2005.  This is what it states:

A judge has temporarily closed a Sikh temple in Springfield at which several members were stabbed during a dispute over church leadership.

Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Bookbinder shut down the temple pending a hearing this week in a civil lawsuit the Sikh organization filed last year.

Issues in the ongoing civil case apparently led to the melee Friday night inside the Gurdwara Sahib Temple at 1040 Old York Road.

Five members were slashed with kirpans, or crescent-shaped ceremonial knives worn in a belt.

Two members - K. Singh Sandhu, 40, of Yardley, Pa., and Alamjit Singh Gill, 39, of the first block of Chambord Lane in Voorhees - were charged with aggravated assault.

Bookbinder has jurisdiction over the civil case but not the criminal charges.

Khalsa Darbar of South Jersey, Inc., the organization that operates the temple, had sought a temporary restraining order in December against what it said were dissident, disruptive members.

Bookbinder issued the order but has continued to work with both sides over the past four months to reach a resolution.

The stabbings occurred two days after the two sides had agreed to appoint a mediator to settle their differences.

The judge closed the temple on the recommendation of Gregg A. Shivers, a security custodian Bookbinder appointed on Saturday after learning of the stabbings.

Bookbinder decided there was an imminent danger based on the findings of Shivers, a former assistant Burlington County prosecutor.

Now not everyone will agree with us, but we feel it is a very slippery slope to allow judges to close down houses of worship.  And according to the Burlington County Times (October 28, 2005) the temple was still closed six months later...

MOUNT HOLLY -- Six months after a judge closed a Sikh temple in Springfield following a brawl among members, the factions in the dispute are no closer to resolving their differences.

A court-appointed attorney said yesterday the disagreement over the future of Gurdwara Khalsa Darbar temple on Old York Road might not be settled until next year, following a trial.

One faction filed a lawsuit against the other last year involving finances and control of the board of directors

Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Bookbinder ordered the temple closed April 21, a day after a legal dispute involving two factions seeking control of the temple erupted into violence.

The two factions have said the disagreement centers on whether members of the temple's governing body need to make payments to repay construction loans for the temple and religious matters related to Friday evening ceremonies.

The plaintiffs recently asked Bookbinder to reopen the temple but later withdrew the request, said Gregg Shivers, a court-appointed attorney. Bookbinder appointed Shivers to take temporary control of temple finances and to devise a security plan in advance of the reopening.

Shivers and attorneys for both factions spoke with Bookbinder via telephone yesterday to discuss whether the temple could be reopened, but no agreement was reached, Shivers said.

Bookbinder scheduled another conference in the case for Nov. 9, but Shivers said it was unlikely the dispute would be settled.

Several mediation attempts to settle the disagreement with a former appeals court judge and a Superior Court Assignment Judge in Atlantic County were unsuccessful.

"The temple is going to remain closed until the trial," Shivers said.

Leaders from both factions have said they would worship in the interim at private homes or other Sikh temples in the area. Sikhs typically attend services Friday and Sunday nights.

When the dispute erupted in violence in April, five people suffered minor wounds inflicted by crescent-shaped ceremonial knives, called kirpans, part of the religious dress of some Sikhs. More than 100 people were involved in the fight.

The Sikh religion was founded more than 500 years ago in the Punjab region of India. Based on the teachings of 10 gurus, its principles include belief in God, equality of mankind, elimination of social inequality and the value of family and honest work.

The temple opened in December 2002 with about 150 members.

On January 2, 2007, the Burlington County Times reported:

MOUNT HOLLY -- A dispute involving a Sikh temple in Springfield shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

It's been almost two years since a judge ordered Gurdwara Khalsa Darbar temple on Old York Road closed, and the two sides involved in the disagreement appear as far apart as ever and no closer to resolving their differences.

The house of worship remained closed until July 20, 2007 -- two and a half years.

Of course, we invite Mr. Shivers to provide us with his perspective on this issue.  We will publish it in full.  But here are three questions we think it worth considering:

(1) Have such actions been taken against more "established" or less "exotic" faiths in New Jersey?  Have churches been shut down under similar protective orders?

(2) Depriving a people of their house of worship for 2 1/2 years seems extreme to us.  Was there no way to allow for the safe conduct of services, at separate times,  by both disputing parties?  

(3) In the future, could we see judges -- for the best apparent reasons -- using such precedents to build cases to close down other houses of worship?  To prevent "bullying", perhaps?  To mediate "perceived" harm or "potential" harm?

As it was his fundraiser, maybe candidate Andy Kim would like to comment?  Then perhaps we could hear from the incumbent?

A curious note:  Democrat Governor Phil Murphy designated April as Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month.  The state's attorney general is a Sikh.  Gurbir Grewal is the first Sikh-American Attorney General in United States history.   

He was formerly the county prosecutor of Bergen County, where he was the first Sikh American to be named a county prosecutor in the United States.  It does make one wonder if the same sanctions would be imposed today, as in 2005-07.

Andy Kim keeps exaggerating his experience to cover up his lack of it.

Democrat Andy Kim's campaign just keeps putting out bullshit.  In a press release yesterday, they issued this statement from the hero of the Battle of the Little Big Horn himself:

But the press release this statement was attached to was about a poll done for Andy Kim by a corrupt "dark money" group.  According to the Pulitzer award winning Center for Public Integrity, the group -- Patriot Majority USA -- was "fueled by secret, big-dollar donors."  The Center, which won Pulitzers in 2014 and 2017 for its investigative  reporting on money in politics, wrote that despite its claims to be "grassroots...  This hasn’t proven true. The organization reported no volunteers last year."

The kind of "special interests" Kim's friends represent are among the scummiest of the scum and include the gambling industry and the eleven biggest owners of for-profit nursing homes.  You know, the guys who penny-pinch on the care and feeding of vulnerable seniors in order to buy a wardrobe of $3,000 suits.

But never mind, because it is all in a good cause -- and that's the cause of Andy "war zone" Kim, the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Marines who have done six tours overseas do not talk about "war zones" as much as our Andy does.  It's an awful lot coming from somebody who never served a day in uniform and who is deathly afraid of guns... even toy guns.

Even more than "war zones" Kim likes to throw around the phrase "situation room" -- so much so that we debated whether or not to call him, "The Situation."

We just think we'll call him "the great cornholio".  It captures Andy Kim's ambitions, celebrity delusions, pathological self-regard, and perfect lack of commitment to his adopted state... aka the state he rents a house in (NJ) while keeping that million dollar condo in DC.

Tell us your choice:  "War Zones"; "The Situation": or Great Cornholio... which do you prefer?

Is Democrat Andy Kim "embellishing" his resume?

Recently, our friends at the Burlington County Times caught this flowing out of the mouth of Democrat congressional candidate Andy Kim...

“I feel like I have a track record for this,” Kim said Tuesday during a roundtable meeting with supporters in Moorestown. ”(The MacArthur campaign) calls me a partisan hack, but I was a career public servant. I served under Republican and Democratic administrations. 

Well... No.

Andy Kim is a career ideological activist.

Kim was a career college student and far-left community organizer pushing for some genuinely screwed up legislation before he got a job with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2005.

Kim wrote that the reason he wanted the USAID job was to "help shape the path that I take and will help me to decide what graduate school track and career path I would like to take."

Those are his words, from his USAID application.  That wasn't his career so much as an extension of his endless summer of college employment.  Kim's own LinkedIn page reports that he quit the USAID job after less than a year so that he could go back to school for five years and continue that long quest of self-discovery.  For Kim, that meant going abroad... to England.

It must be nice.

And when Andy Kim emerged to start his career, it was as an ideological warrior in the regime of Democrat President Barack Obama.  Andy Kim served the Obama administration the whole of his career in government. 

When that administration ended and Hillary Clinton's candidacy for President was rejected, Andy Kim did exactly what you would expect a committed ideological radical to do -- he formed a radical far-left group to "resist" the incoming Republican administration.

That isn't being a career public servant.  That's called being a committed ideological radical.

Hey, whatever floats your boat, Andy... but don't play like you were ever a Republican.

Andy Kim should tell NJ Citizen Action to beat it!

According to a press release issued by New Jersey for a Better Future, a group media accounts claim is tied to New Jersey Citizen Action, they plan to launch a $1 million media attack on Tom MacArthur, a two-term Republican congressman from Toms River.  Of course, this will benefit Andy Kim, the Democrat challenging MacArthur.

To understand who Andy Kim is getting into bed with and what New Jersey Citizen Action is all about, you need go no further than the group's attempt to scam New Jersey's taxpayers through something called the New Jersey Residential Foreclosure Transformation Act, better known as the “Residential Destruction Act”.  This legislation (S-1566/A-2168) was designed to grease the skids for banks to push property taxpaying, working families out on to the streets. 

The “Residential Destruction Act” legislation had the potential to completely and totally change the way New Jersey families live.  It enabled the state to create a corporation to sell bonds in order to purchase foreclosed homes in any neighborhood, slap them with a 30 year deed restriction making them low income subsidized housing, and then turn around and sell or rent the property to recently released criminals, homeless people, sexual predators, and a myriad of others who would never be able to afford to live in these homes. 

In short, this was the largest expansion of State Government ever undertaken by Trenton.  Property values would have been destroyed, once safe neighborhoods would become new hunting grounds for criminals, and the days of neighborhood tranquility shattered from Bergen County to Cape May County.

Support for this legislation came from an alliance of Wall Street banking interests and ACORN-like organizations who service “clients” who would get the homes that would be taken from hard-working taxpayers who fell behind on their mortgage.  Citigroup was one of the interest groups that testified on behalf of S-1566/A-2168 and it has an atrocious record of pushing families out of their homes and onto the streets. 

In fact, there's a federal class action lawsuit that accuses CitiMortgage of illegally foreclosing on the homes of "thousands" of service men and women on active military duty.  This is in direct violation of the Service members Civil Relief Act. 

While our troops were over in Iraq and Afghanistan worrying about how to stay alive, fighting for our freedom, back home these special interest were trying to figure out how to make it so they didn’t have a home to come back to.  It’s disgusting.

The “Residential Destruction Act” passed both chambers of the New Jersey Legislature with strong support from a lot of those same Democrats who Andy Kim calls allies.  Fortunately, it was vetoed by then Governor Chris Christie.

So here is the challenge for Andy Kim:  (1) Tell New Jersey for a Better Future and New Jersey Citizen Action to get out of the Third District and take their schemes -- like the “Residential Destruction Act” -- with them.  (2) Will you publically repudiate the members of your party who voted to make it easier for banking interests to throw working families out on the streets – and to use taxpayers’ money to do it?

(3) Will you repudiate the Wall Street lobbyists and groups like Citizen Action for getting together and supporting this scheme that tried to benefit from the misfortune of others?  Don’t you think it is immoral for your allies in the New Jersey Legislature to have anything to do with making it more advantageous to Wall Street to push families onto the streets? 

This issue isn’t going away Andy.  If you fail to take a stand, we will keep asking questions.