Tag: Washington

Here is another example of a race baiting article being pushed by the media insinuating that the poor black soldier in this article that could not afford an attorney is some how getting treated unfairly compared to the white soldier who’s family could afford a civilian attorney.  The article claims they committed similar crimes and received very different sentences.  However, upon closer scrutiny the two crimes were very different and tried in different court systems thus different outcomes not that facts matter in click bait articles like this:

Two soldiers from the same Joint Base Lewis-McChord infantry battalion experienced two very different kinds of justice when they came home from training events a year apart and carried out deadly crimes.

Pvt. Jeremiah Hill, prosecuted in Army court, received a sentence of 45 years in prison for knifing another soldier in the heart on a Lakewood street.

The rookie soldier from a poor Chicago family had an Army-provided defense attorney and rarely showed remorse when he testified.

Spc. Skylar Nemetz, prosecuted in Pierce County Superior Court, last week received a sentence of less than 14 years for causing the death of his wife, Danielle, when he accidentally shot her in the head with a rifle.

His Northern California family reached deep into their savings to hire an experienced private attorney. Nemetz wept on the witness stand and persuaded a jury he didn’t mean to kill his wife.

The disparities in outcomes for two soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment show the differences in what can happen when the Army and Pierce County carry out their informal agreement to decide which agency should prosecute soldiers who commit crimes outside of JBLM. [News Tribune]

You can read the rest at the link to learn the details of each case.

I am not surprised how little US non-profit and corporate support the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is receiving.  It is called “The Forgotten War” for a reason.  However, it is great to see how much South Korean corporations have stepped up to help the National Park Service maintain the memorial.  With that all said shouldn’t this be something the government should be funding in the first place and not rely on private donations?:

The Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall is often considered one of the most striking of the war memorials, with the seven-foot-tall stainless steel statues of soldiers anticipating combat, and its dark gray granite wall etched with images of those who supported the troops.

While more than 36,000 Americans died in the combat mission in the Korean War, historians often call it the “forgotten war.” And now, with the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation struggling to set up a maintenance fund for the memorial, and to build a Wall of Remembrance, those looking for the necessary financing are feeling forgotten all over again — the only backing is coming from overseas.

“Our greatest support comes from corporate Korea,” said William E. Weber, the chairman of the foundation and a retired colonel in the United States Army who served in the Korean War. “American corporations — forget it.” He said no American corporate entities had committed to supporting the foundation’s efforts to meet its $5 million fund-raising goal.  [New York Times]

You can read the rest at the link.