“What do you mean, ‘No heart surgeon’s available?’ That’s totally unacceptable! Do you know who I am?” the red-faced patient screamed, spittle flying. A tall, fifty-something nurse calmly wiped her face with a tissue and folded it, while staring intently into the livid patient’s dark eyes. “Of course I know who you are, senator. Every […]
Honoring the Challenger Seven
Space Shuttle Challenger Astronauts – 28 January 1986 Thirty-three years ago today, a dear friend and colleague, Colonel Ellison Onizuka, died in the horrific explosion that destroyed space shuttle Challenger and killed seven astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe. El was one of America’s finest—an accomplished astronaut, flight test engineer and Air Force officer. The native […]
SMALL TOWN SANTA
Flagler, CO Website The 1950s were tough times in Eastern Colorado. Locals called them the Dirty Fifties, thanks to drought-fueled dust storms that stripped life-giving topsoil from fields, shredded winter wheat sprouts and buried barbed-wire, tumbleweed-choked fence rows in fine blow-dirt. Worried farmers and ranchers, whose memories of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl Thirties […]
Release of “License to Kill: The Murder of Erik Scott”
License to Kill: The Murder of Erik Scott is the shocking story of a West Point graduate, decorated Army veteran and successful businessman being gunned down by Las Vegas police officers in front of a Costco big-box store. This expose of a senseless execution and its egregious cover-up is a riveting true-crime account that […]
U.S. Air Force’s Tight-Lip Policies Will Backfire
A new generation of U.S. Air Force leaders is about to relearn a painful lesson its predecessors had mastered decades ago. Unfortunately, the process of learning that lesson will damage both the air service and countless careers. As the Gazette’s Tom Roeder reported on March 14th (Gazette story prompts new Air Force secrecy efforts), USAF […]
PEOPLE ARE IMPORTANT
(Photo – KTVB.com – Kuna Fire) Fifty-some years ago, when I was a young buck working on a farm in Eastern Colorado, I learned a simple truth that ultimately had a profound impact on my life. My boss, Malcolm Shipman, was a diminutive Texan with a big heart. He and his wife, Judy, never had […]
ENVIRO INSANITY
In 1978, Bill L. Minor was looking forward to an enjoyable fishing trip, soaking up nature’s serenity, while dipping a line in the East Fork of the Walker River. He had flown into a friend’s private airstrip near the high desert foothills of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, about 40 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe, […]
The Insanity of Finding Fault vs Fixing Cause
Three tragedies shine light on solutions to the officer-involved shooting crisis By Michael M. Bell and William B. Scott Rarely does a month pass without U.S. cities erupting in protests and riots, after shootings by police officers. Far too many people—an average of three Americans per day, every day of the year—are dying as a result […]
ALLEGIANCE vs OATH: COPS MUST DECIDE NOW
In Liberty’s Last Stand, a superb new novel by bestselling author Stephen Coonts, a series of Islamic jihadist terrorism attacks on American soil prompts the U.S. president to declare martial law, suspend Congress, sideline the Supreme Court, and start rounding up his political enemies. Texans refuse to go along with the president’s heavy-handed violations of the Constitution […]
HOW TO STOP THE KILLING
On this, the sixth anniversary of my son, Erik’s, execution-by-cop, America is in serious danger of exploding into chaos. The horrific murder of five Dallas police officers and the wounding of another seven this week triggered a profound sense of deja vu. Three years ago, I predicted this would happen, if cops continued to […]