by Travis Mateer

One of the most enjoyable moments of my recent trip to Kansas City was taking the kids to see the WWI Memorial and the exhibit honoring their great grandpa, John Lewis Barkley. Even more exciting (for a bibliophile like me) was the honor of bringing back an original copy of his book, No Hard Feelings.

For anyone who may be confused about what a decorated hero of war looks like, here’s a picture I took (sorry for the glare):

And here’s what makes him “decorated”.

There’s also a picture of the medal of honor he received, but you get the point.

When I worked at the homeless shelter in Missoula, I had a vested interest in vetting street claims of veteran status because, if the claims were legitimate, resources might be accessible for housing and other support services.

It’s an obvious rule of thumb when you consider the nature of military work, especially the covert and clandestine variety: those who talk are usually full of shit.

In all my seven years only one client seemed to be genuine with his claim of covert military ops, and that’s because he didn’t really claim anything at all other than being somewhere we weren’t supposed to be. Anything more, he said, would put ME in danger.

The way he said it, I believed him.

I really am aiming at helping here, because if David Barsotti is NOT good at identifying REAL veterans of war, I feel like that could be problematic for him. And David has enough problems, like an urgent need for a bed, recliner, night stand and Roku.

Why else would this poor, disabled man use the courts to obtain these crucial items?

Hopefully David Barsotti can obtain these items and get comfortable for his first lesson in identifying real veterans, because it’s already started on Facebook. Lesson #1 comes courtesy Jason Maxwell. Thanks Jason!

Another veteran I know told me about Don Shipley, a Navy SEAL who had a popular YouTube channel outing valor grabbers until he outed Nathan Phillips, touching a political live-wire that got him banned. Too bad. There’s apparently plenty of work for guy like Don to do when it comes to people misrepresenting their service, or lack thereof.

In addition to Jason Maxwell bringing attention to David Barsotti’s bullshit claims of combat–including a bullshit assertion that the pirate accoutrement he wears to cover his eye is necessary due to an IED explosion–the private investigator, James Terry, has been hitting the airwaves. Here’s his second appearance on a North Dakota radio show.

One of my main complaints about James Terry is how firmly he has placed his lips in the vicinity of Sheriff Toth’s ass–figuratively speaking, of course (James hasn’t been in Montana, physically, to do his PI thing, so ACTUAL ass kissing wouldn’t be possible). That said, Mr. Terry HAS produced results, although what he said in his most recent radio appearance ensures one key witness DOES NOT want to speak with him again.

I had been asked several times by James Terry to help him get some publicity, even on my own podcast, but I put him off precisely because of my worry he would burn people, like the person who claims David Barsotti told her he was ACTUALLY THERE and saw Rebekah drown in the Clark Fork river.

It’s too bad James Terry shared unnecessary details about this person, like where she works, instead of sharing other relevant details about other relevant people, like how Sheriff Toth supposedly told James Terry about reprimanding David Barsotti for TEARING DOWN Rebekah’s missing persons posters around town.

The rabbit hole that is this case continues to get stranger and stranger, including basic assumptions, like the date Rebekah went missing. Was it July 20th, 2021, or was it earlier? And WHY is the 911 call STILL not being released to the family?

There are people out there who have answers to these questions, or pieces that could lead to answers, and those people should think long and hard about the cost of NOT coming forward.

I’ll leave it there, for now. But trust me when I say more is coming.

Thanks for reading.