Dean Potter, Extreme Climber is Dead Following Yosemite’s Taft Point Base Jumping Accident

Extreme climber and BASE jumper Dean Potter dies following Yosemite base jumping accident. If you have ever seen videos of Dean Potter and his dog Whisper flying through the air in a wingsuit, you will know the dangerous jumps that Dean Potter is famous for. Sadly, Dean Potter died on Saturday doing what he loved to do. According to accounts, on Saturday evening, May 16, BASE jumpers Dean Potter and Graham Hunt died after attempting a wingsuit flight from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot promontory that overlooks Yosemite Valley and El Capitan. On Sunday, a state police helicopter was able to spot both bodies from the air. They found that no parachutes had been deployed.

I cant even imagine doing anything like this. Rest in Peace Dean, we sadly lost some one who believed not only in pushing the limits, but pretty much thought there were no limits, unless he felt the jump or climb was wrong. Don’t worry, Whisper was not with Dean Potter on his last base jump. Dean Potter is survived by his girlfriend Jennifer Rapp and his dog, Whisper, a blue heeler.

From National Geographic – Dean Potter BASE Jumps With His Dog Whisper … When Dogs Fly

After years of risky climbing, he began the even more treacherous sport of  base jumping, which involves leaping off of cliffs and other high-up structures and waiting till the last possible moment to deploy a parachute.

In the end, Potter’s recurring dream proved prophetic: Saturday evening he died in a base jumping accident at Yosemite National Park. He and a fellow jumper were found dead below Taft Point, a 7,500 foot cliff overlooking the park’s famous valley. Their parachutes were never deployed.

For years, Potter had toed the line between deadly falls and impossible flight.

“I know it’s insane to think that I could fly,” Potter told ESPN. “But to make it possible, you truly have to believe in it — to go to a place that’s not accepted.”

Outside Online: Dean Potter Killed in BASE-Jumping Accident – The climbing great died Saturday while attempting a wingsuit flight from Yosemite’s Taft Point.

On Saturday evening, May 16, BASE jumpers Dean Potter and Graham Hunt died after attempting a wingsuit flight from Taft Point, a 7,500-foot promontory that overlooks Yosemite Valley and El Capitan.

Potter has been a fixture on the climbing and BASE-jumping scene in Yosemite since the late 1990s. According to Yosemite chief of staff Mike Gauthier, the pair made the jump late Saturday. Their spotter heard two sounds that could have been impacts or could have been the noises made by parachutes snapping open. She followed standard protocols, first trying to reach the pair by radio, with no luck, and then moving to a predetermined meeting place. “They were optimistic, thinking that the men might have been arrested,” says Gauthier. BASE jumping is illegal in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) initiated a hasty search, but the rangers were unable to locate the pair overnight. Potter and Hunt had been attempting to fly along terrain that required them to clear a notch in a rocky ridgeline. “It’s kind of a trickier flight to go through this notch,” Gauthier says. On Sunday morning, a state police helicopter was able to spot both bodies from the air. No parachutes had been deployed. Two rangers were then airlifted to the site to perform the recovery.

Survivors include Potter’s girlfriend Jennifer Rapp and his dog, Whisper, a blue heeler who has played a prominent role in Potter’s adventure life for the past few years.

Ramadi Falls to ISIS in Anbar Province in Iraq … Obama is a Miserable Failure

THANKS BARACK OBAMA … THE JV HAS TAKEN RAMADI.

Barack Obama’s failed foreign policy continues as Ramadi falls to ISIS in Iraq to ISIS. Thanks Barack! According to iCasualties, via the Gateway Pundit, the United States lost 1335 soldiers in Anbar Province during Operation Iraqi Freedom and another 8,205 soldiers were injured in fighting in Anbar. During the presidency of George W. Bush, the terrorists were truly on the run thanks to the surge. However, with all that American treasure and blood lost, Barack Obama found a way to render it all futile as he prematurely withdrew US troops from Iraq paving the way for ISIS to retake Iraq. UNREAL.

With Memorial Day coming up, Obama should simply be ashamed of himself and what he has done to the memory and legacy of Our brave fallen soldiers in Iraq.

The capture of Ramadi — a major city in Anbar province — by ISIS forces yesterday is another indicator of the Obama administration’s failed policies in Iraq, a foreign policy expert said yesterday.

The contested city of Ramadi fell to the Islamic State group yesterday, as Iraqi forces abandoned their weapons and armored vehicles, fleeing the provincial capital despite intensified U.S.-led airstrikes. Bodies littered the streets as local officials reported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians.

“Ramadi has fallen,” said Muhannad Haimour, a spokesman for the governor of Anbar province. “The city was completely taken. … The military is fleeing.”

Yesterday’s retreat recalled the collapse of Iraqi security forces in last summer’s ISIS blitz, and calls into question the Obama administration’s hopes of relying solely on airstrikes to support the Iraqi forces.

“It’s a reminder the complete withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 was one of the worst diplomatic mistakes in the last decade,” said Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute. “Anybody who knew Iraq knew that the Iraqi Army in 2011 was not going to be able to take care of itself.

“It’s a tragedy that was preventable,” Hanson said. “It made no sense. We created a vacuum and ISIS was born. When the president left he said, ‘I’m leaving a stable and secure Iraq.’?”

Hey Obama, who is the JV? You might want to look in the mirror on that one.

9 Dead in Rival Motorcycle Gang Fight Shootout at Twin Peaks in Waco, TX (VIDEO) (Update: 3 of the 5 Motorcycle Gangs ID’d as the Bandidos, Cossacks & Scimitars)(Update: 192 Arrested)

THANKFULLY, NO POLICE OR CIVILIANS WERE INJURED IN THE SHOOTOUT …

As per the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, there are 9 dead and 18 injured following a shootout between rival motorcycle gangs in Waco, Texas. The shooting took place Sunday afternoon just after 12 in the Twin Peaks restaurant located in the Central Texas Market Place. According to accounts, the fight first started inside the restaurant and spilled into the parking lot where the fight quickly escalated from fists and feet to chains, clubs and knives, then to gunfire. In the aftermath of the chaos, the police recovered more than 100 weapons from the scene. Trooper D.L. Wilson said officers arrested three men near the Cabella’s store after they seized their weapons. According to CNN, the fight may have started over a parking space. When asked if the police knew what the three gangs were that took part in the shooting, Sergeant Swanton said, “We do, but we’re not going to give them the privilege at this point of putting their names out there.” However, according to this one report, at least five were present and some of the gangs were fighting as allies. Police estimate that between 150-200 gang members were involved.

VIDEO – FOX News

Rival motorcycle gangs turned a local restaurant into a shooting gallery Sunday afternoon and when the gunfire was over, nine people were dead and 17 were injured.

Waco police Sunday afternoon, assisted by Department of Public Safety troopers, police officers from several cities and deputies from the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office were surrounding the Twin Peaks Restaurant, in the Central Texas Market Place after several people were reported shot during a rival motorcycle gang fight, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Police initially said three gangs were involved, but later said factions from at least five gangs took part in the melee.

Police and troopers were in the parking lot trying to secure the area and protect citizens when a fight broke out inside the restaurant and spilled into the parking lot.

Swanton said the fight quickly escalated from fists and feet to chains, clubs and knives, then to gunfire.

Gang members were shooting at each other and officers at the scene fired their weapons, as well, Swanton said.

Other patrons in Twin Peaks and some employees locked themselves in a freezer to escape the fight.

The scene at the Market Place between Don Carlos and Twin Peaks was absolute chaos, Swanton said.

“It is one of the most violent scene I’ve seen in my 34 years as a police officer in Waco,” Swanton said.

Swanton said officers recovered more than 100 weapons from the scene and there were several vehicles that had bullet holes in them.

Swanton said no officers and no civilians were injured.

Authorities had anticipated trouble and pre-positioned officers; however, it appears that the establishment wanted the business rather than working with the police. In a post shooting presser, District Attorney Abel Reyna said that trouble at Twin Peaks among rival bikers had been brewing for some time. Reyna said local police were on heightened alert in anticipation of trouble on Thursday nights, when Twin Peaks hosts a Biker Night. Twin Peaks might want to rethink that marketing plan.

“There were at least three rival gang groups here this morning for whatever reason. As they were here, we had officers on scene. We expected issues,” said Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, a police spokesman. He later said there were at least five gangs.

UPDATE I: The Twin Peaks Restaurant had hosted motorcycle gang members in the past.

Are these people friggin insane, Bikers Night … there is a recipe for disaster. Hell, these folks didn’t even wait for Thursday, they decided to have a shootout on the Sabbath. This Twin Peaks in Waco advertizes Biker night as  “Get revved up and ready to go at Twin Peaks bike night.” Or shot. What’s Wednesday, Crips and Bloods night? Hey, maybe they can have Skin head Saturday where all of a white supremacist and antisemitic groups get two for 1 beers? Have I been absurd enough?  It is hard to believe that Twin Peaks corporate would allow this to go forward. This is not a local strip club catering to bikers, its a national chain.

The authorities made little effort on Sunday to conceal their frustration with the restaurant’s managers, who they said had previously been uncooperative in dealing with the Police Department’s security concerns about biker gatherings there.

“We have attempted to work with the local management of Twin Peaks to no avail,” Sergeant Swanton said. “They have continued to allow these bikers to gather here, and this is the culmination of what has occurred.” He added: “What happened here today could have been avoided if we had had management at a local establishment listen to their police department and assist us. They failed to do that.”

As recently as last week, the restaurant advertised “Bike Night” on Thursdays and promised “beers, bites and bikes at the hottest place in town!”

In a statement from Twin Peaks Restaurant chain:

A spokesman for the Twin Peaks Restaurant chain emphasized that the shooting had occurred outside the restaurant but declined to provide details about the police security concerns.

“We were shocked by the shootings that took place in the parking lot of our franchised restaurant in Waco and are fully reviewing all the circumstances surrounding it,” the spokesman, Rick Van Warner, said. “We are thankful no employees, guests or police were injured in this senseless violence outside the restaurant, and our sympathies are with the families of those killed.”

UPDATE II: Waco Tribune – Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that the Bandidos and Cossacks biker gangs were at the center of the incident.

There were 5 motorcycle gangs involved in the shooting. Two of them at the heart of the trouble were the rival gangs, the Cossacks and the Bandidos. The third motorcycle gang involved in the shooting was the  Scimitars Motorcycle Club, who are aligned with the Cossacks Motorcycle Club against the Bandidos. The other two motorcycle gangs have yet to be identified.

At least two of the gangs were trying to do some recruiting in the area Sunday, and Twin Peaks was a known place for that kind of activity, Swanton said. Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that the Bandidos and Cossacks biker gangs were at the center of the incident.

UPDATE III: 192 arrested in motorcycle gang shooting in Waco, TX.

Some 192 people have been arrested and charged with engaging in organized crime in connection to the deadly shooting that broke out between five biker gangs at a Twin Peaks in Waco. Under a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission mandate, the restaurant is shut down for the next seven days as the investigation continues early Monday morning into the shooting that left nine people dead and at least 18 people injured — an investigation that has included biker gang death threats made against uniformed officers.

“Threats have been made to kill our uniformed officers,” said Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton early Monday morning, who added that the people arrested could be looking at capital murder charges. “This was a true gang fight.”

US Delta Force Commandos Kill ISIS Commander Abu Sayyaf in Syrian Raid

ISIS commander killed by DELTA FORCE …

The AP is reporting that US Army commandos from Delta Force have killed ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, in a Syrian raid. During the raid, deep into Syria, the commandos not only killed Abu Sayyaf, but also captuared his wife, Umm Sayyaf, who is being questioned in U.S. custody.  As stated at Hot Air, “Sayyaf was a top money guy for the terrorists, in charge of trafficking their oil and gas on the black market along with who knows what other revenue sources they rely on to fund their fighters and keep their operation running.”

Isn’t it amazing what happens when the US military is allowed to act like the elite fighting force that it is and is allowed to take the terrorist out.

In a rare ground attack deep into Syria, U.S. Army commandos killed a man described as the Islamic State’s head of oil operations, captured his wife and rescued a woman whom American officials said was enslaved.

A team of Delta Force commandos slipped across the border from Iraq under cover of darkness Saturday aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Osprey aircraft, according to a U.S. defense official knowledgeable about details of the raid. The official was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Americans intended to capture a militant identified by U.S. officials as Abu Sayyaf. When they arrived at his location, a multi-story building, they met stiff resistance, the U.S. official said, and a firefight ensued, resulting in bullet-hole damage to the U.S. aircraft.

Abu Sayyaf was killed, along with an estimated dozen IS fighters, U.S. officials said. No American was killed or wounded.

Before the sun had risen, the commandos flew back to Iraq where Abu Sayyaf’s wife, Umm Sayyaf, was being questioned in U.S. custody, officials said.

CNN: Abu Sayyaf, key ISIS figure in Syria, killed in U.S. raid.

The ISIS commander, Abu Sayyaf, was killed in a heavy firefight after he resisted capture in the raid at al-Omar, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement.

Sayyaf’s wife, an Iraqi named Umm Sayyaf, was caught and is being held in Iraq.

The ground operation was led by the Army’s Delta Force, sources familiar with the mission told CNN. There were about two dozen members of Delta Force involved, sources said. They were part of a multi-branch force of about 100, the sources told CNN’s Barbara Starr.

“Abu Sayyaf was a senior ISIL leader who, among other things, had a senior role in overseeing ISIL’s illicit oil and gas operations — a key source of revenue that enables the terrorist organization to carry out their brutal tactics and oppress thousands of innocent civilians,” she said in a statement.

“He was also involved with the group’s military operations.”

Abu Sayyaf was a Tunisian citizen, a senior administration official said.

A U.S. official with direct knowledge of the intelligence and the ground operation described Sayyaf as “CFO of all of ISIS with expertise in oil and gas” who played a increasing role in operations, planning and communications.

Blues Legend B.B. King Dies at 89, RIP

BLUES LEGEND BB KING DEAD AT AGE 89 … THE THRILL MAY BE GONE, BUT HIS MUSIC GENIUS WILL LAST FOREVER.

Blues just became even more and today as it has lost one of its greats. B.B. King passed away in Las Vegas at the age of 89. King had been hospitalized in April for a few days after suffering from dehydration related to Type 2 diabetes. In May he said in a Facebook post that he was in hospice care at his home. B.B. King will for ever be associated with his trademark black Gibson guitars, all of which he called Lucille.  King was one in a million. He won 15 Grammys and in 1987 received a lifetime award. B.B. King was  inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. King was among the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006. Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time ranked King at No. 3, behind only Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman.

BB King.com

B.B. King: September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015, RIP

Blues legend B.B. King, who took his music from rural juke joints to the mainstream and inspired a generation of guitarists from Eric Clapton to Stevie Ray Vaughan, has died in Las Vegas. He was 89.

News of King’s death, confirmed late Thursday on a Facebook page linked to the website of his daughter Claudette, triggered shockwaves across social media, with blues, rock and country music stars lining up to pay tribute.

King was hospitalized in April for a few days after suffering from dehydration related to Type 2 diabetes. In May he said in a Facebook post that he was in hospice care at his home.

Born on a plantation to sharecropper parents, he outlived his post-World War Two blues peers – Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Lightnin’ Hopkins and John Lee Hooker – to see the rough music born in the cotton fields of the segregated South reach a new audience.

“Being a blues singer is like being black twice,” King wrote in his autobiography, “Blues All Around Me,” of the lack of respect the music got compared with rock and jazz.

“The Thrill is Gone” – B.B King

B. B. King, Defining Bluesman for Generations, Dies at 89.

Mr. King married country blues to big-city rhythms and created a sound instantly recognizable to millions: a stinging guitar with a shimmering vibrato, notes that coiled and lept like an animal, and a voice that groaned and bent with the weight of lust, longing and lost love.

“I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions,” Mr. King said in his autobiography, “Blues All Around Me” (1996), written with David Ritz.

In performances, his singing and his solos flowed into each other as he wrung notes from the neck of his guitar, vibrating his hand as if it were wounded, his face a mask of suffering. Many of the songs he sang — like his biggest hit, “The Thrill Is Gone” (“I’ll still live on/But so lonely I’ll be”) — were poems of pain and perseverance.

The music historian Peter Guralnick once noted that Mr. King helped expand the audience for the blues through “the urbanity of his playing, the absorption of a multiplicity of influences, not simply from the blues, along with a graciousness of manner and willingness to adapt to new audiences and give them something they were able to respond to.”

B. B. stood for Blues Boy, a name he took with his first taste of fame in the 1940s. His peers were bluesmen like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, whose nicknames fit their hard-bitten lives. But he was born a King, albeit in a sharecropper’s shack surrounded by dirt-poor laborers and wealthy landowners.

But you can’t say Memphis Blues without saying BB King …  Beale Street Blues Boy.

He was a hit, and quickly became a popular disc jockey playing the blues on a Memphis radio station, WDIA. “Before Memphis,” he wrote in his autobiography, “I never even owned a record player. Now I was sitting in a room with a thousand records and the ability to play them whenever I wanted. I was the kid in the candy store, able to eat it all. I gorged myself.”

Memphis had heard five decades of the blues: country sounds from the Delta, barrelhouse boogie-woogie, jumps and shuffles and gospel shouts. He made it all his own. From records he absorbed the big-band sounds of Count Basie, the rollicking jump blues of Louis Jordan, the electric-guitar styles of the jazzman Charlie Christian and the bluesman T-Bone Walker.

On the air in Memphis, Mr. King was nicknamed the Beale Street Blues Boy. That became Blues Boy, which became B. B. In December 1951, two years after arriving in Memphis, Mr. King released a single, “Three O’Clock Blues,” which reached No. 1 on the rhythm-and-blues charts and stayed there for 15 weeks.