New Yorker story on "American Sniper" Chris Kyle

[Dick Whitman]

If you read one story this Memorial Day, make it this one on the life and death of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his killer:

http://m.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/06/03/130603fa_fact_schmidle

 

[Inky_Wretch]

His book is pretty good. It's out in paperback now.

 

[Dick Whitman]

His book is pretty good. It's out in paperback now.

The New Yorker piece makes it sound like you can probably believe about half of what's in there.

Great piece - though long. Sympathetic but tough on both shooter and victim. Not so sympathetic toward the Dallas V.A.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

His book is pretty good. It's out in paperback now.

The New Yorker piece makes it sound like you can probably believe about half of what's in there.

Great piece - though long. Sympathetic but tough on both shooter and victim. Not so sympathetic toward the Dallas V.A.

I take for granted that half of what's in a soldier's autobiography is true. But it's still an enjoyable read.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Yeah, it's not like the concept of "war stories" began with this generation.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Bump ...

Jury agrees with Ventura. Awards him nearly $2 million for defamation.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/07/29/jury-awards-ventura-18m-in-defamation-case-against-american-sniper-estate/?intcmp=latestnews

More complete story ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710018/Jesse-Ventura-wins-1-8million-defamation-suit-against-slain-Navy-SEAL-sniper-Chris-Kyle.html

 

[Joe Williams]

However Jesse Ventura was defamed in Kyle's book is dwarfed now by the damage he has done to his own reputation by calling attention to it and suing the soldier's widow. Only if he said, "I made my point. She can keep the money" could he walk this shameful episode back. He remains a horse's ass in every incarnation, from wrestler to podunk politician to conspiracy buff to this litigious piece of crap.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Apparently, Ventura doesn't wants the widow to pay him, but the publisher's insurance company. However, the reading of the insurance policy isn't clear.

From the AP:

Ventura doesn't expect to see a lot of the money, he said in interviews published or aired Wednesday. He also echoed what his camp had said Tuesday — that Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, won't be the one paying the damages.

Ventura lawyer David Bradley Olsen told reporters his reading of HarperCollins' insurance policy is that its carrier will cover all damages and costs of defending against the lawsuit.

"This money does not come out of a widow's pocket; it comes from an insurance company," Olsen said.

Ventura reiterated that on "CBS This Morning."

"Taya Kyle had all of her attorney fees paid by insurance. I did not. I incurred two and a half years of lawyer fees that I have to pay to clear my name, and she had insurance paying everything for her," he said.

But attorney John Borger, who represented Kyle in her capacity as executor of Chris Kyle's estate, said Tuesday that insurance won't cover everything. He said it will cover the $500,000 awarded for defamation, but not the $1.3 million for unjust enrichment.

"All of that comes directly from money that Taya and Chris received from royalties or whatever assets the estate may have," he said.

 

[Webster]

I can't believe that the Kyle estate has any money left after the lawsuits from the families of the people he shot from the roof of the Superdome.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Bump

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

If you read one story THIS Memorial Day, make it this one about Chris Kyle embellishing his record:

“American Sniper” Chris Kyle Distorted His Military Record, Documents Show

 

[Dick Whitman]

If you read one story THIS Memorial Day, make it this one about Chris Kyle embellishing his record:

“American Sniper” Chris Kyle Distorted His Military Record, Documents Show

That's what a considerable portion of the original story linked was about, as well. Well, not the military record. But his chronic exaggeration.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

That's what a considerable portion of the original story linked was about, as well. Well, not the military record. But his chronic exaggeration.

Read them both to make up for the last two Memorial Days.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I think Kyle was a bull****ter about his postwar exploits and had some asshole in him.
But it's hard to bust his balls when the official record of his military service backs up his story.
I am amazed and saddened by the venom shown the man for doing what he was sent to a foreign theatre of war to do.

 

[Stoney]

I think Kyle was a bull****ter about his postwar exploits and had some asshole in him.
But it's hard to bust his balls when the official record of his military service backs up his story.
I am amazed and saddened by the venom shown the man for doing what he was sent to a foreign theatre of war to do.

Except that "official record" depended in large part on the military accepting on his word kills that he "self-reported." Given that the guy proved himself in other areas of his life to be a serial embellisher--if not outright pathological liar--I think it not unreasonable to suspect some of those self reports may've also been bull****.

I've no doubt he killed a lot of people, but probably not the extraordinary number for which he's officially credited.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I think Kyle was a bull****ter about his postwar exploits and had some asshole in him.
But it's hard to bust his balls when the official record of his military service backs up his story.
I am amazed and saddened by the venom shown the man for doing what he was sent to a foreign theatre of war to do.

Librarians have it tough, too.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Stony-
I am not nearly cynical enough to believe a man, and especially a Navy SEAL, has cause to lie about his confirmed kills. SEALs don't need to brag.
I think the vitriol that has been directed at him is more about people's hatred of the war itself.
Whatever Kyle did after his time in the service, what he did in uniform was gallant.

 

[Stoney]

Stony-
I am not nearly cynical enough to believe a man, and especially a Navy SEAL, has cause to lie about his confirmed kills. SEALs don't need to brag.

Seriously? Do you believe a Navy Seal would have cause to blatantly lie about his military record and the number of honors and medals of valor the military bestowed upon him? Because it's just a fact that he did that.

Jesus, it's already well established that the guy was willing to lie and embellish in print about his military record, as well as making up cockamamie half-assed stories about **** like supposedly beating up Jesse Ventura. He was even willing to do so about things that could easily be disproven, yet you somehow think it inconceivable that he'd embellish about something that couldn't be easily disproven such as self-reported kills? You can't be that naïve.

Liars lie. It's what they do. Even ones that are Seals.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Oh, he's a big fat liar. Eh, vets tell war stories. It's weird, though, that there seems to be discrepancies within the Navy's own files.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Oh? There was an unheralded Finnish marksman in WWII who was credited with 500-plus kills. Was he lying just for ****s and grins, too?

Simo Häyhä - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia