I have now begun my last editing 2nd "The Badge and the Cross" series book. Now though the books follow my career, so I can use a lot of my old cases, I am using totally new characters. The book title is "Stronghold", and as I earlier wrote in the line above, this story is based on my time in Skagway, Alaska. My main character is a young police officer, fresh out of the service, who marries a strong Christian woman, who also become his ally, as they do battle with the town's ghosts- who do not want him here. There is also a 90-year old witch's coven that they must also deal with. Along the way, 3 of the locals die and the young officer has his hands full with the arrival of summer and 3 major softball tournaments. Maybe later I'll write out the official back page synopsis for you.
I glance at that photo of me with Cher, maybe I need to move it. I still miss her. I've always wondered how she picked up the name of "Cher". I guess the person doing the naming in the program was a big fan. When I first got her she was 11 months old and she was known as one "Test Tube" puppies. She was the only one in our group. Our instructor gave her to me because of my prior On The Job (OJT) work I had with military working dogs in Vietnam. My dog then was a 120lb white brute of a German Shepherd as a Sentry Dog. I got bit a lot until I finally learned he was waiting for me to show him that I was in charge. So, after kicking on the jaw a couple times, he came to me decided and allowed me to rub his ears. I never had to do this with Cher. She was both a patrol dog and a narcotic dog. With her extended eyesight, ability to smell farther and hear better, these dogs would have saved a lot of patrol from walking into ambushes in Vietnam. If you come by the house you'll notice how much she resembles either a young wolf, until they see her eyes, or a really large coyote. No one enjoyed wearing the arm sleeve and catching here when we trained or held demonstrations for visitors and at different scheduled events. No one knew she was coming outside the upper NCOs, officers of the Security Police. After putting on a demo for the commanders, who were greatly impressed, I first hit the barracks. We made 150 some busts the first two days an I cannot even recall how many by the time we were done. Cher was too smart for the tricks they liked to pull...putting pepper around the room or right in front of their locker. We'd have the occasional old fish hanging in the locker but we trained for these tricks. As far as I know, she was 100%. Once, she found several sticks of dynamite, and she wasn't trained for it. Only thing I figured was whoever was messing with those sticks had been getting high when they handled them. I asked the crime lab to check for any residue of drugs. Ended up being cocaine. The idiot was hoping to sell them to the strikers over at the Borax Plant. The plant bordered with the Air Force Base. During one of their employee strikes I was on South-base Patrol and discovered a large black leather case out in the middle of the desert. I opened it , hoping to find someone's name in it, only to see 24...maybe it was 34 sticks of dynamite. I was diving a 1969 Chev 4x4 P/U- this is 1973 and this made the perfect vehicle for desert travel. I left the dynamite in the back of the truck-bed and walked nearly 50 feet away or a bit more and reported my problem. I now had to wait for the EOD boys, the guys who played with bombs and it took them nearly an hour to reach me. Will, I'm still here, so I survived that one.
Now for some news:
United Nation's UNESCO's Director, who supported the proposal against Israel's claim to the Western Wall in Jerusalem came out to say, "Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism". But this was after the vote was already taken.
India is buying Russian S-400 Triumf Systems for $5 Billion dollars.
Washington Free Beacon: Congress is push back against recent action by UN body, which had moved this week to designate Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem : the West Wall, as only having connections to the Muslim Faith. According to a communication by Congress to the U.N. Secretary General-Elect
Report from Baltic States and Poland, that they now "distrust" NATO on responding to any Russian Invasion. They Doubt NATO will invoke Article 5 to protect them if Russia invades.
Gatestone Institute: Sharia Councils are thriving because there is no other authentic or credible mechanism for a Muslim woman to obtain an Islamic Divorce. If the government did offer an alternative , "90% of Sharia councils would end." Reported by Moulana Director of Muslim Law Council, UK.
Gatestone Institute: There is only one punishment for insulters: cut off their heads, cut off their heads, cut off their heads. This was stated by Taveer Ahmed, 32-years old, who murdered a Glasgow Shopkeeper for disrespecting Islam, who was calling on supporters to behead insulters.
Gatestone Institute: Britain's Home Office recently released statistics in the Daily Express, under Freedom of Information Law, revealed that 12,000 migrants who had come to Britain seeking Asylum in the UK are now missing. (These are people who want to stay longer to find a job and fear checking in would get them deported, or they are of the criminal or terrorist grouping and also fear being deported before they can carry off their master plan. Be it terror or England.)
The recent sanction relief of Iran gives legitimacy to the Revolutionary Guards on a global scale. Iranian companies owned by senior figures in Iran's Revolutionary Guards Judiciary, have involved themselves in crimes against humanity violating International Laws, breaching UN Resolutions, money laundering and monstrous human rights violations. Now they may do business worldwide without fear of repercussions.
President Obama also secretly agreed to remove sanctions on several Iranian Banks, including banks that have sanctioned by the UN due to their illegal activities in missile financing and skirting UN security resolutions regarding the arms embargo.
China Globe: Namibia, Africa - 27% of Namibia , an estimated 600,000 people, are now living in poverty- according to a UN Official.
China Globe: New Guinea- 6.8 magnitude earthquake Monday. No report of tsunami, no report on injuries or damages so far.
China Globe: Norway- Norway cancels its hospital "Clown" shows for Norwegian children who need treatment. This was due to the latest trend of "Killer Clown" craze that has hit the USA and Norway. Reported in Norwegian Newspaper "Afterposten".
China Globe: Eurostat- 119 million people , or 23.7 percent of the European Union's population is at poverty level or social exclusion in 2015. Data released last Monday. (These are the kind of numbers that help lead to war.)
Washington Free Beacon: Norwegian military spots fleet of Russian warships reportedly heading for Syria & Aleppo.
Central Asia Times: More than 350,000 Afghan refugees return home from Pakistan.
Central Asia Times: Tehran- Flotilla of Iranian's Navy Warships arrived in the Republic of Azerbaijan's Territorial Waters and berthed at the port of Baku. Fleet includes a Damavand Destroyer and Jordan Missile-launching Frigate. The Fleet had come from the Caspian Port City. Crew of 200 aboard the ships.
Russian Herald: "Truth the First Casualty of War, Syria 2012-2016" (Op-ed by Dr. Ramzy Baroud Thursday 20th of October 2016) "Only recently, we discovered that the Pentagon had spent over $500 Million Dollars in manufacturing propaganda war videos on Iraq. The money was largely spent on developing fake al-Qaeda videos."
"The truth on Syria is that, regardless of how the war ends, Syria has been destroyed and its future is bloody and bleak; that, regardless of the regional and global winners of the conflict, the Syrian people have already lost."
Philippines: Manila Times in Qaraqosh, Iraq- Hundreds of displaced Iraqi Christians on Tuesday danced and sang to celebrate an Iraqi military operation retake their community's main hub of Qaraqosh from the Jihadists. Iraqi Christian men, women and children, some of them holding candles, gathered at Mar Shimon Church in the Kurdish Capital of Arbil to pray and celebrate, an AFP Correspondent reported. Before the Insurgent's attack, Qaraqosh was mostly Christian, making it the largest town of Christians in Iraq. Waves of attacks by Jihadists have depleted the Christian ranks down from around 300,000 Christians, making it the largest and oldest Christian community in the world.
Asia Times : Philippines- Manila- Local police used tear gas to disperse about 1,000 anti-American protesters outside the U.S. Embassy in Manila. President Duterte now visiting China to strengthen ties with his Oriental big brother. Protesters were demanding American troops be removed from the Island of Mindanao. 29 arrests were made .
Egypt: Egypt Independent News- Bill equalizing punishments for Adultery faces stiff opposition from their Members of Parliament (MP). MP Mariam Azer has proposed the Bill, calling for equal punishments for men and women in cases of adultery, which has provoked strong reactions among her fellow MPs and other political figures. Though the Egyptian Constitution guarantees equality before the law for men and women, for this charge of Adultery and conviction, the woman does now face a stiffer sentence. Any women found guilty of Adultery faces up to two years in prison, but a man will often escape his punishment or if not, he'll serve the maximum of 6 months. In arguing her case, MP AZER said that neither Islamic Sharia nor any of the Abrahamic Religions, nor Coptic Christians discriminates between sexes on basis of gender, and Egyptian Law should reflect to women regardless of where the act took place. But for men, the man must be caught committing this act in the woman's home, and she must also be married. But for a woman, she can be brought upon the charge of Adultery, no matter the location no matter by who. In some cases, the charge was used, even when evidence was shown she was in the process of being raped.
( I have yet to have heard an outcome to this trial and will notify you when I do.
All for now- time for bed. Hope all is well with everyone. God Bless, BILL