Multicultural army staff sergeant shoots dead wife and Virginia police officer



An Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon has been charged with shooting dead a rookie police officer on her first day and his wife.

Ronald Hamilton, 32, is being held without bond accused of shooting dead 29-year-old Officer Ashley Guindon after she and two coworkers answered a domestic violence call at his home on Saturday evening.

According to an affidavit, Hamilton's wife Crystal, 29, called police begging for help at 5.30pm.

By the time Guindon arrived with her field officer Jesse Hempen, 31, and ten-year police veteran David McKeown, 33, Crystal was shot dead, the affidavit states.

Hamilton allegedly opened fire as soon as the officers arrived, fatally shooting Guindon and wounding the other two. The Hamiltons' 11-year-old son was in the house at the time but survived unscathed.

On Sunday, police chief Stephen Hudson paid tribute to Guindon's work and gave a poignant account of the passion she showed when she interviewed for the job.

Crystal Hamilton's sister also paid tribute to Guindon as she thanked the police force for their attempts to apprehend the suspect. 'Most importantly, the officer who sacrificed her life for my sister and my nephew,' she told ABC7.

The suspect is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, according to Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Officer Brandon Carpenter, at the county's adult detention center, says Hamilton is being held without bond at the jail on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer, first-degree murder, two counts of malicious assault and two counts of use of a firearm during a felony.

Hamilton is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning.

Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert told The Associated Press on Sunday morning that the gunman's wife was the victim in the domestic incident. He did not provide her name.

The shooting occurred Saturday evening at Hamilton's home in Woodbridge, where neighbors say he lived with his wife and their son.

Guindon had a degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a master's degree from George Washington University in forensic science.

She served in the military from 2007 to 2013 as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Prince William County, where Woodbridge is located, is a suburb 30 minutes outside Washington, D.C., and has a relatively low crime rate.

Guindon had been a county police officer a few years ago and had left and returned to the force, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday night.

The shooting occurred in the Lake Ridge neighborhood, on a curving street with $500,000 suburban houses with brick and siding exteriors, manicured lawns and two-car garages about a five-minute drive from the county office building.

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Catholic Archbishop Orders Parishes to ‘Strongly Consider’ Alternatives to unchristian Girl Scouts

Noting that Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA) and its parent organization, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), promotes contraception, “abortion rights,” homosexuality, and other issues “incompatible” with Catholic values, the Archbishop of St. Louis, Mo., has ordered all the parishes in his archdiocese to review their Girl Scouts programs and “strongly consider” offering “alternative options for the formation of our girls.”

“Our primary obligation is to help our girls grow as women of God,” said Archbishop Robert J. Carlson in his Feb. 18 letter to priests, Scout leaders, and all Catholics in the archdiocese.

In the letter Archbishop Carlson notes that his archdiocese and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents all the Catholic bishops in the country, have investigated and raised concerns about some of the activities carried out by the GSUSA and the WAGGGS.

Some of the concerns include:

-- WAGGGS’ continued promotion of contraception and “abortion rights” on behalf of its girl members, the majority of whom are minors.

-- GSUSA resources and social media highlight and promote role models in conflict with Catholic values, such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan.

-- Organizations that GSUSA promotes and partners with are in conflict with Catholic values, such as Amnesty International, Coalition for Adolescent Girls, OxFam and more. This is especially troubling in regards to sex education and advocacy for “reproductive rights” (i.e. abortion and contraceptive access, even for minors).

Further, “recent concerns about GSUSA and their position on and inclusion of transgender and homosexual issues are proving problematic,” said the archbishop. “Our culture is becoming increasingly intolerant of a Catholic worldview regarding these issues.”

In a related document, Scouting and the Catholic Church, on the archdiocese’s website, it notes that the GSUSA rejected a donation of $100,000 because the gift stipulated that the money “wouldn’t support transgender girls.”

In addition, “troops in Utah have recently been formed exclusively to reach out to transgendered youth,” said the archdiocese. Also, “internal policies in Girl Scouts has even suggested that some parents and troop leaders should not be informed if there is a transgender child in their troop.”

“Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri has posted a ‘statement of inclusivity,’ explaining their policy on how to welcome a transgender child into your troop,” reads the document.

In addition, “on Instagram and Twitter, Girl Scouts recently celebrated the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage as one of their top moments of 2015,” states the archdiocesan document.

“While Catholics are called to treat all people with compassion and mercy, we must at the same time be mindful of whom we allow to teach and form our youth and the messages they present,” said Archbishop Carlson. “Girl Scouts is exhibiting a troubling pattern of behavior and it is clear to me that as they move in the ways of the world it is becoming increasingly incompatible with our Catholic  values.”

“Therefore, I am asking each pastor that allows Girl Scout troops to meet on parish property to conduct a meeting with troop leadership to review these concerns and discuss implementing alternative options for the formation of our girls,” said the archbishop.

“Several alternative organizations exist, many of which have a Catholic or Christian background,” he continued.  “For more information on each of these organizations and a more detailed listing of ongoing concerns, please visit http://archstl.org/scouting#options.”

“I ask that you carefully study each organization and strongly consider offering one of these programs in your parish instead of Girl Scouts,” said the archbishop.  He also noted, at the archdiocesan level,  “Effective immediately, I am disbanding the Catholic Committee on Girl Scouts and instead forming a Catholic Committee for Girls Formation that will be charged with ministry to all girls in various organizations.”

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When Hunters Leave Africa

Last year, the bleedin' heart liberals lost their collective mind over the fact that dentist Walter Palmer shot and killed a lion named Cecil during a hunting trip to Zimbabwe. Big whoop. Hunters go to Africa. They kill animals, and the licensing fees help the conservation efforts on the continent. But thanks to the outcry, hunters are no longer booking trips to the African Savanna. Now, the place where “Cecil the Lion” was bagged and tagged is facing a bit of a lion problem. The lion population at Bubye Valley Conservancy has ballooned to more than 500 felines. Combined with a dry summer that caused the grassland to grow stunted, the lions are laying waste to the other animal populations. As a result, the conservancy is saying it might have to go out and kill 200 lions.

“The astronomical fees foreign hunters paid to shoot animals in Africa directly supported the continent’s conservation efforts,” wrote The Truth About Guns' Nick Leghorn. “It was a mutually beneficial, self-sustaining system. Now that the hunters are gone, there isn’t enough money to support Hwange National Park’s operation and the ecosystem is out-of-whack. Lions will be killed, anyway, without any of hunting’s enormous economic benefits.”

Furthermore, think of the economic loss to the region. Think of the lost jobs, the money not coming into the area because there are not the hunters willing to pay for lodging, food, transportation and guides. Anti-hunting groups had their field day, but they aren’t going to be concerned about the effects of their rabid protesting.

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There is some controversy about this story on Gun Watch.






Wedding Service Industry Fights for Religious Liberty

The owners of a farm in Schaghticoke, New York, decided that they wanted to move on with their lives and end their defense against charges of discrimination for refusing to host a same-sex wedding. Cynthia and Robert Gifford declined to host the wedding of Melisa Erwin and Jennifer McCarthy at their family farm, Liberty Ridge Farm, in 2012. The call was recorded, and the Giffords were hauled to court for violating the Empire State’s Human Rights Law.

This week, they decided that they would pay the $13,000 fine and continue to live out their lives. This is just one example of the question facing the wedding service industry. Are the rights of owners of private property, cake bakers, photographers — their rights to express themselves as they see fit — ignored because the state decided it has a new definition of marriage?

While the Giffords have decided to leave the public spotlight, Aaron and Melissa Klein have compiled a new team of lawyers to take their case to the appellate level. The team is made up of First Liberty lawyers, a group that takes up religious liberty cases, and Boyden Gray, a former councilor to George H.W. Bush.

The Oregon cake bakers were fined $135,000 because they refused to bake a cake for a same-sex ceremony. First Liberty Senior Councel Jeremy Dys told the Daily Signal, “They’ve assembled a world-class team of appellate attorneys including Boyden Gray. When you get a man of his caliber who’s joining their legal team, it says a lot about not only the importance of the case, but the likelihood of success.” We hope this case will help clarify the law regarding the rights of small business owners in the face of government’s (im)moral decrees.

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here. 

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