The Cold War Never Ended – AMS client, a veteran of the FBI and author Jack Owens shares his views on #TheSteveGruberShow and his take on whether the Cold War really ended, Russian intelligence and ‘Red’ China.
If you enjoy dark humor and serial killers, then you’ll love the newest novel by Jack Owens titled POCK (Pock Trilogy Book 1). Get a copy today https://www.amazon.com/Pock-Trilogy-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01M2BGXUN
Leonard, Coleman and Blunt performed classic hits to a sold-out crowd at the historical MetroStage, the oldest professional theatre in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Glenn Leonard, Joe Coleman and Joe Blunt wowed the audience with snazzy jazzy choreography, Motown oldies but goodies, rhythm and romance, rock n roll, doo wop, and soul-stirring sing-along favorites.
Where did it all begin? The three singing sensations are native Washingtonians, living a reminiscent story right out of a Hollywood movie; young men singing on street corners throughout the 1960s and singing together in church.
Joe Coleman remembers meeting Joe Blunt at church for the first time as members of the Junior Choir, which was directed by his mom Rev. Effie Coleman and Joe’s Blunt’s mom Rev. Nan Brown. “We were seven or eight years old, my mom told me to get ready for choir rehearsal to which I said, ‘Mom, I’m not in the choir.’ Mom replied, ‘Oh, I didn’t tell you… you’re in the choir!’, he recalls. Then, in 1967, Joe Blunt and Glenn Leonard, fresh out of D.C.’s McKinley Tech High School joined forces in a local vocal group.
Leonard, Coleman & Blunt with their faith rooted in God, each followed their individual dreams and was blessed to become lead vocalists in three separate legendary groups. This foundation starting the trio on the road to fame and fortune and collectively, Leonard, Coleman & Blunt’s groups have sold over 100 million records with dozens of #1 hits everyone in the audience can dance and sing along to.
Three veterans of the music industry, from three of the premier vocal groups of our time, have come together to form the ultimate vocal group experience, “Leonard, Coleman & Blunt”. The trio has a wealth of experience as a result of the many years they’ve spent traveling the globe, with their respective organizations, bringing first-class entertainment to the world stage. Now, they have joined forces in one, powerful collaboration, to perform hits like, “Only You”, “Just My Imagination” and “Under the Boardwalk” and many of the songs, that we all know and love, that will take you back to a time when love was young and you could understand all of the words to the songs.
MetroStage, executive director Carolyn Griffin was delightfully in awe with the performance and asked the trio to return to MetroStage soon. Washington, DC’s very own Nick Johnson of WPFW-FM, 89.3 was the event announcer.
Back in 2009, I had the honor of interviewing best-selling author and West Virginia native Homer Hickam about the space program. He was near apoplectic at the idea that the U.S. was about to mothball the space shuttle and we would be depending on the Russians to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
“We can’t trust the Russians,” he said.
This was in October of 2009. Don’t say we weren’t warned.
According to the Russians, there was an “anomaly” with the booster rocket and the capsule was jettisoned and made a rough landing on terra firma. No injuries were reported, except Russia’s pride, I guess.
And a few weeks back, there was the discovery of a hole in the Russian capsule docked to the space station. Oxygen was leaking out, but it was quickly repaired.
But since then, the origin of the hole has been something of a mystery. Was it made by a piece of space junk flying at hundreds of miles per hour? Or was it deliberately put there by some Russian technician before the capsule left Earth?
Having read Scott Kelly’s book “Endurance,” I learned that the Russian space equipment is pretty basic. He wrote that it’s not as sophisticated as what NASA is used to but, he said, it gets the job done.
Since the space shuttle program is no more, the only U.S. vehicle to the space station will be a SpaceX capsule due to launch next June. Until then, we will have to continue counting on the Russians to get us there.
There are three crew members on the space station now and it remains unclear when they might see their two colleagues. They have enough supplies, so there is no real crisis. At least not until the Doritos run out.
I remember when I interviewed Hickam, the famed Rocket Boy said it was “a national disgrace” that the U.S. had abandoned the space shuttle with no replacement in the works.
As it is, we are still awaiting a U.S.-made vehicle a decade later. And it’s being manufactured by a company whose top guy smokes pot on podcasts and insults people on Twitter.
Elon Musk launched one of his Tesla cars into space not long ago, but getting humans to the space station in one piece will be a bit more difficult.
Hickam proved to be quite prescient some 9 years ago about two things — it was probably not a good idea to trust the Russians to ferry us to the space station and it was a dumb, dumb, dumb idea to ground the space shuttle without a replacement waiting in the wings.
But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
We are excited about the new album from our client Bob Malone. More details coming soon
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Democracy is not perfect, but it is better than anything in second place.” The FBI is also not perfect, but it is superb at interviewing, especially with background investigations of federal judges at stake. In this case, it’s whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh is qualified to sit as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
I have no doubt that Senate staffers are warm-hearted and dedicated to doing their best at interviews in background investigations of Supreme Court nominees. But staffers are not FBI agents backed by the full weight of and stellar experience of the Bureau. There is nothing like staring down the barrel of an agent interview to get your full attention. You lie at your peril—it’s a serious crime to lie to a federal agent.
I conducted dozens of background probes of federal judges during my 30-year career as an agent, both as the case agent or carrying out leads from other case agents. All of these inquiries are married to bureau deadlines that must be fully met. FBI headquarters demands it. Be good or be gone is the FBI mandate for agents when it comes to asking questions in interviews, whether you’re dealing with members of the Ku Klux Klan, mob figures, KGB defectors, kidnappers, common bank robbers, POWs in Iraq or Afghanistan, or Saddam Hussein for seven months after he crawled out of his rat hole in Iraq. There is no higher skill or art in the bureau.
Vetting federal judges is one of the FBI’s most important mandates, none more crucial than nominees to the Supreme Court. The bureau can conduct extensive and complicated interviews within a week. While the FBI does not make recommendations, it does write thorough and extensive reports reflecting the results of interviews gathered from simply sitting down with citizens, listening carefully, and following up leads wherever they point. Interviews are the DNA of agents’ investigations.
Currently, front and center are the allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her many decades ago at a party in a home when they were both in high school, an allegation vigorously denied by Kavanaugh. Blasey Ford has alleged that the assault was witnessed by a third person, Mark Judge, who was known to her and also a close friend of Kavanaugh. All three of them will be interviewed by agents to establish when and where the assault took place. All persons listed by Blasey Ford as having attended the party will be interviewed.
President Donald Trump authorized a limited scope investigation to be conducted with a one-week deadline to determine whether the sexual assault took place as alleged. While I do not know the president’s definition of limited scope or the parameters that he set, the FBI will pour into the investigation as many agents as required to determine whether there is evidence that the alleged sexual assault took place. Agents successfully live with deadlines all the time.
Here is what I would do. Since there is evidence that Mark Judge worked at a Safeway during the crucial time period of the summer of 1982, I would request that he sign an FBI form authorizing agents to look at his employment records at Safeway to establish when he worked there. This could set a more precise timeline since Blasey Ford claims that she entered the Safeway around six to eight weeks after the assault, and by chance met Judge, who was working there.
I would request that Blasey Ford ride with agents around neighborhoods that are her best guess as to the location of the home where the party and the alleged assault took place. We are looking for a house described by her as having a living room near the front door, stairs to a second-floor bedroom and a bathroom across the hall from the bedroom. If she can identify the home, Agents will knock on the front door and request permission from the owner to look at the interior of the house and have Blasey Ford examine the home as well, if she is agreeable to that.
If Blasey Ford can pinpoint a general neighborhood, agents will examine public real estate records as to the identities of the homeowners who lived there during that summer, find them, and interview them. I would canvass real estate companies and interview their agents who regularly sell homes in the area and were also doing so in 1982. If retired, find them.
Since Blasey Ford was 15 at the time and did not have a driver’s license, who drove her to the party, and who took her home?
Who hosted the party where the alleged assault took place? Agents will interview the high school friends, however numerous, of Kavanaugh, Blasey Ford, and Judge, for evidence. Also it’s important to ask these same friends as to whether Kavanaugh drank to excess during his high school years and suffered blackouts as a result. Blasey Ford alleges that Kavanaugh and Judge were very drunk at the party and during the alleged assault.
With authority from Blasey Ford, agents will examine the records of therapists, psychologists, or psychiatrists who treated Blasey Ford for evidence that she suffered trauma as a result of being sexually assaulted. Also, interview any person she told about the alleged assault.
The bureau will need Kavanaugh’s calendars to interview everyone listed on them during the critical period of 1982.
The FBI stands ready to polygraph Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh, and Judge, even though Blasey Ford was previously polygraphed by a non-bureau examiner.
The FBI pledges to the American people that all interviews will be impartial, non-judgmental, painstakingly thorough, and as relaxed as possible, given the inherently stressful nature of bureau interviews. Agents are friendly, well prepared, of professional attire and demeanor, and strive to establish rapport to get the best results from an interview. We owe our fellow citizens no less.
