Protesting at the VA with upside down flag is wrong

Did this group think of the other veterans going to the VA for medical treatments? Did they think that their actions for the sake of homeless veterans would actually emotionally harm other veterans?

This is VA property. It is not privately own. A person can do what they want on their own property but everywhere else, there are rules. Even on a city street there are rules to protect the rest of the public.

Their cause was for good reasons but what they did was wrong considering where they did it.

Judge Johnnie Rawlinson wrote "This veteran has earned the right to exercise the full spectrum of First Amendment protections, we should not whisk away those rights with the flick of a pen.” But it would have been great if the rights of other veterans mattered as well. They were entering VA property that is supposed to be there for them because they served this country under the flag used as a prop during a protest.

On flag protests, court takes the VA’s word
San Francisco Gate
By Bob Egelko
Posted on Friday, March 14, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs has rules prohibiting the “posting of materials” on its property without prior approval. But when a group of veterans draped a U.S. flag on a fence outside the VA’s health facility in West Los Angeles as part of a weekly protest, officials had no objections — until the the vets started hanging the flag upside down, and were promptly threatened with criminal prosecution.

The protesters responded with a First Amendment lawsuit, claiming viewpoint discrimination, and the VA then pledged to enforce its rules uniformly — a promise that didn’t satisfy the protest leader, but was good enough for a majority on a federal appeals court panel.

“We presume that the government acts in good faith,” Judge Jay Bybee said Friday in a 2-1 ruling of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that denied an injunction against the VA. If the agency goes back on its word, Bybee said, the veterans — who have already won a ruling that the previous practice was discriminatory — can go back to court.

All that means, said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Peter Eliasberg, is that the govrnment can violate someone’s rights and get away with it. “If you have a right,” he said, “you should have a remedy.”

Eliasberg’s client, Robert Rosebrock, is the leader of a group of veterans who have held protests every Sunday since March 2008 against the VA’s refusal to allow homeless veterans on a lawn inside the locked fence of its 400-acre facility in West Los Angeles. Eliasberg said the agency has rented some of its property to a car rental company and a private laundry while homeless vets sleep on the streets outside.
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Love in combat zone

A deployed love affair
DVIDS
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs
Story by Sgt. Marcus Fichtl
February 14, 2014

CAMP BEUHRING, KUWAIT – It’s a love story like any other, boy meets girl, they fall in love, they grow old together in a combat zone.

Spc. Alexandria Perez, a health care specialist, and Sgt. Eduardo Perez, a behavioral health specialist, met six years ago at “Charlie Med,” Company C of the 204th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, two privates as new to each other as they were to the Army.

One from Los Angeles the other from Laredo, Texas, one a lover of Tejano music the other joining the Army straight out of fashion school, culturally, two people as different as you could find anywhere. But in the Army, both hundreds a miles from home, they found a family in their unit and with each other.

“We connected on paper,” said Alexandria. We didn’t have much in common, but both coming from big Mexican families we shared values of faith and family.”

And seemingly, Eduardo’s Texan chivalry meshed with Alexandria’s Californian openness.

“He was always saving me and keeping me out of trouble,” said Alexandria. “He would help me with my ruck or always have a spare of whatever I forgot to formation.”

“We grew on each other,” said Eduardo. If I needed to someone to talk to or vent, I went to her, she would understand me.”

A few months into their stay on Fort Carson, they received the word that they were deploying to Iraq.
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Veterans long walk for Dryhootch PTSD group

Veterans return from walk to Los Angeles
620 WTMJ News
By Jesse Ritka
CREATED FEB. 11, 2014

MILWAUKEE - It was a journey that began 5 months ago at the Milwaukee County War Memorial.

Veterans Anthony Anderson and Tom Voss set out on a walk that would take them more than 2,000 miles to Los Angeles to support and raise money for Dryhootch, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping veterans return to civilian life after war and with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

153 days, ten pairs of shoes, and seven states later, Voss and Anderson have returned home to Wisconsin. “We were just two bearded idiots with some laptops and maps and we made our way from Milwaukee to LA,” Anderson says.

Despite being often mistaken for brothers with impressive beards, Anthony and Tom didn’t even know each other until they met at Dryhootch after returning home. “Neither of us really had any time to decompress after our deployments so the beginning idea was to take the time to work on yourself, better yourself by walking,” Voss explained.

Walking provided the time to decompress emotionally but physically, pain became a problem. Especially in the first half of the trek Voss adds, “Iowa and into Nebraska we had some pretty bad blisters going on so there was some painful days in the beginning but we came around." Anderson admits he was mentally prepared in the beginning but the toll the walk was taking on his body was wearing on him, “You start to question whether or not your body's going to be able to deal with the rigors of it and people start to reach out to you and start saying you've gone 400 miles so far, this is amazing.”

Support came in all forms Voss details, “We had a farm dog walk with us for about 20 miles. This dog decided to walk with us, it led the way for 20 miles and we gave it water and food when we would take a break. Turns out the that owner of that dog has a daughter who's married to a veteran with PTSD so we thought it was kind of interesting that that happened.
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Iraq veteran faces charges after two shot in Los Angeles

Reseda shooter ID’d as war veteran with PTSD
Los Angeles Daily News
By Kelly Goff
POSTED: 12/21/13

Witnesses told media at the scene that he had been yelling loudly about “Hitler,” “Obama” and “terrorism.”

The man arrested for killing one man and critically wounding a woman in a Reseda shooting is an Iraq war veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, police said Saturday.

Ricardo Javier Tapia, 32, was arrested on suspicion of murder Friday night after police say he opened fire at an apartment complex in the 7500 block of Canby Avenue.

“He suffers from PTSD as a result of multiple deployments to the Middle East,” said Officer Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department.
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Homeless vets weather the holidays

'Always a Marine': Homeless vets weather the holidays as national numbers dip
NBC News
By Bill Briggs, contributor
December 3, 2013

LOS ANGELES – The Navy veteran keeps his few possessions in shipshape order. Hidden on a girder ledge, five cans of chicken-enchilada soup flank an alarm clock, a stack of hardcover mysteries and a plastic jug of water - half empty - scrawled with black marker to clearly designate ownership: "Bill's."

A few feet from the underbelly of the storm-drain bridge where Bill has lived since June, his perch holds whispers of daily survival and yesterdays lost. Above his bunk – a thin mattress long enough for a child – the cement wall is adorned with a 2013 calendar, a crucifix and three American flags.

On paper, Bill is one of 6,291 homeless veterans in Los Angeles – the highest number in any metro area – almost double the count in New York City (3,547), nearly five times the population in San Diego (1,486). Nationally, according to a fresh census released Nov. 21, Bill is one of 57,849 homeless veterans – a tally the Obama Administration has pledged to drive to zero by the end of 2015. Since 2010, a federal initiative has reduced that number by 24 percent, according to VA officials.

For now, the streets remain home for the holidays for tens of thousands of former military personnel.
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Arrests made after deployed Army Reservists were targeted by identity thieves

Active-duty Army reservists victims of identity theft; 2 men arrested
LA Times
By Adolfo Flores
November 29, 2013

Two men were arrested in connection with the identity theft of U.S. Army Reserve officers who were on active duty in Afghanistan, authorities said.

Mauro Cortez, 25, and Rigoberto Cortez, 29, were arrested Wednesday after the Los Angeles County Identity Theft Task Force served a search warrant at a home in Pomona, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The men were allegedly provided the identity information of more than five U.S. Army Reserve officers who were serving overseas in Afghanistan and then used it to establish lines of credit and buy cars.

Deputies found evidence at the home allegedly linking the Cortez men to the identity theft.
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Flight carrying fallen soldier home video hits over a million in 3 days

Fallen Soldier Delta Flight: Passengers Honored to Accompany Fallen Soldier
By Zachary Stieber
Epoch Times
November 1, 2013

A fallen soldier was on a Delta flight on Thursday, and passengers were honored to hear that they were on the same plane as the soldier.

The pilot told passengers over the PA system about 45 minutes prior to landing that the plane was transporting the soldier.

Everyone was told to wait several minutes after landing so that the military escort could get off first, a passenger wrote on the travel blog Johnny Jet. Los Angeles fire trucks greeted the plane with a water canon salute.

A military officer came onto the plane before the passengers disembarked and thanked them.

“I just addressed the escort. It is a sworn oath to bring home, to the family, the fallen,” he said. “Today you all did that, you are all escorts, escorts of the heart.”

The passenger wrote: “As you can imagine, everyone was silent, no one got up, not even that person from the back row who pretends they don’t speak English so they can be first off the plane. I’m sure most had meteor-sized lumps in their throats and tears in their eyes like I did.”
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As of November 2 at 7:00 pm the count is 1,682,367. What do you think it will be by the 11th for Veterans Day?

FBI investigating police shooting at VA Nursing facility

Gunman scare at VA hospital in North Hills
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Carlos Granda
News Team

NORTH HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- LAPD officers searched the VA hospital in North Hills on Tuesday after a report of a man with a gun, but after searching the facility all morning, no gunman was found.

While that search was going on, VA police saw a man they say appeared suspicious going into a nursing facility at the other end of the campus.

"[The man] had barricaded himself in a bathroom. The officers engaged the subject and we had an officer-involved shooting. No persons were injured," said VA Police Chief Ed Casey.
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Vietnam vet inspires Calif. town to help the wounded

Vietnam vet inspires Calif. town to help the wounded
By Carter Evans
CBS News) LOS ANGELES

A Vietnam veteran has literally been on the march to help severely injured vets from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while this former marine has embraced those wounded warriors.

The tiny town of Murphys, Calif., has embraced him.

For Ric Ryan, it began with a quest: Walking every day, hoping to escape the demons of Vietnam.

"I'm the walking man of Murphys," he said.

In Murphys, people began to notice. Their attention first surprised, and then inspired.

"What's going on?" one neighbor asked.

"Same old thing," Ryan replied. "Walking for the vets"

Each time someone waved, Ryan would wave back and donate 25 cents to a UCLA program called "Operation Mend" for soldiers disfigured by war.

"It's something that's helping him mentally and physically and emotionally," said Ryan's wife, Joanne.

"This is our man, this is our hero," a neighbor remarked.
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VA West Los Angeles Medical Center evacuated due to a possible grenade

UPDATE
Inert grenade causes scare at LA VA hospital
Published: April 29, 2013
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Authorities say an object that appeared to be a grenade caused a partial evacuation of the Veterans Affairs hospital in West Los Angeles before experts confirmed it wasn't live.

Bomb technicians from the FBI and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went to the hospital around 7 a.m. Monday after a 66-year-old man handed over the object. The man said he found it in a bathroom.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says it was reported to be a practice grenade.
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VA Hospital ER Evacuated Over Possible Grenade
1 hour ago
by Kellan Connor
Web Producer

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — The emergency room at the VA West Los Angeles Medical Center has been evacuated due to a possible grenade.

The facility is located in the 11000 block of Wilshire Boulevard.

Authorities say that, around 8 a.m., an employee reported the discovery of what’s believed to be a hand grenade in the bathroom.
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Amputee Iraq veteran gets his own baseball card

Amputee veteran gets his own baseball card
A veteran gets the hero treatment he deserves
USA Today
By CHRIS CHASE
April 22, 2013

A veteran who lost his leg in Iraq and recently participated in a tryout with the Los Angeles Dodgers is getting his own trading card, thanks to the folks at Upper Deck.

Daniel “Doc” Jacobs will be honored in a set the company will release in July. The card was unveiled this weekend. read more here

Ex-Marine arrested in alleged hate crime

Ex-Marine arrested in alleged hate crime in attack outside California gay bar
By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer
NBC News

A former Marine has been arrested in the beating of two men outside a popular gay bar in Southern California last year and will face hate-crime charges for using anti-gay slurs during the attack, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

John Kelly O'Leary, 21, was arrested Monday by police in Evergreen Park, Ill., Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Ford of the hate crimes unit said in a statement. O'Leary was discharged from the Marines on Oct. 19, about six weeks after the attack, Marine Corps’ spokesman Master Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva told NBC News. He will be extradited from Illinois to California to face the charges.

O'Leary and a group of friends, including other Marines, went to the Silver Fox bar in Long Beach, Calif. in the early morning hours of Sept. 3, 2012. O'Leary was accused of shouting anti-gay slurs outside the bar at closing time, which triggered the hate crime charge, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.
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Iraq veteran who lost leg tries out for Los Angeles Dodgers

Iraq veteran who lost leg tries out for Los Angeles Dodgers
Published March 01, 2013
Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. – A war veteran from Iraq who lost part of his leg in an explosion has tried out for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Daniel "Doc" Jacobs was among 80 hopefuls Thursday at the spring training complex of the Dodgers.
He was encouraged to attend by Hall of Famer and former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda. read more here

Daughter receives medals Dad earned in WWII

Long-missing WWII medal awarded in LA
By ROBERT JABLON
Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013

LOS ANGELES — Hyla Merin grew up without a father and for a long time never knew why.

Her mother never spoke about the Army officer who died before Hyla was born. The scraps of information she gathered from other relatives were hazy: 2nd Lt. Hyman Markel was a rabbi’s son, brilliant at mathematics, the brave winner of a Purple Heart who died sometime in 1945.

Aside from wedding photos of Markel in uniform, Merin never glimpsed him.

But on Sunday, decades after he won it, Merin received her father’s Purple Heart, along with a Silver Star she never knew he’d won and a half-dozen other medals.

Merin wiped away tears as the Silver Star was pinned to her lapel during a short ceremony attended by friends and family at her home in Westlake Village, a community straddling the Ventura and Los Angeles county lines. The other medals were presented on a plaque.
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Manhunt searches for ex-LAPD Cop and Navy Veteran

UPDATE

LAPD Chief: Fired Officer's Rampage a "Vendetta" Against Law Enforcement
Officers were stopped at a red light in Riverside when they were "ambushed by the suspect"
By Jonathan Lloyd
Thursday, Feb 7, 2013

Officers Shot, One Killed in Riverside County

The search led to Riverside County early Thursday after two LAPD officers -- part of a security detail assigned to one of the families mentioned in the Dorner manifesto -- encountered Dorner in Corona, Lopez said. The LAPD officers were flagged down by someone who recognized Dorner's vehicle at Magnolia Avenue near the 15 Freeway.

The gunman exited the vehicle and opened fire on officers with a "shoulder-type" weapon, said Lopez. One of the officers was shot, suffering what was described as a "minor" graze wound.

"It's extremely intense," Lopez said. "We're trying to identify where he's been, where he's going. In this case, we are the targets. He's brazen. He's on a hunt to do whatever havoc he can.

"In my 22 years, it’s unusual that this many officers have been targeted."

About 20 minutes later, two Riverside officers responded to Magnolia and Arlington avenues (map) after receiving a call for assistance. Both Riverside officers were shot and transported to a hospital, where one was pronounced dead.

"By all accounts, it appears they were stopped at a red light and just ambushed by the suspect," said Riverside Lt. Guy Toussaint. "The suspect did flee the scene, and we're in the process of trying to identify and apprehend the suspect at this time."

The second officer remained in surgery Thursday morning, but authorities said the officer's condition was stable.

Christopher Dorner Manhunt: Police Search For Ex-Los Angeles Officer In Alleged Murder, Cop Killing
By TAMI ABDOLLAH and SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER
02/07/13

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of police officers throughout Southern California and Nevada hunted Thursday for a disgruntled former Los Angeles officer wanted for going on a deadly shooting rampage that he warned in an online posting would target those on the force who wronged him, authorities said.

Police issued a statewide "officer safety warning" and police were sent to protect people named in the posting that was believed to be written by the fired officer, Christopher Dorner, who has military training. Among those mentioned were members of the Los Angeles Police Department.

"I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty," said the manifesto. It also asserted: "Unfortunately, I will not be alive to see my name cleared. That's what this is about, my name. A man is nothing without his name."

Dorner has available multiple weapons including an assault rifle, said police Chief Charlie Beck, who urged Dorner to surrender. "Nobody else needs to die," he said.

More than 40 protection details were assigned to possible targets of Dorner. Police spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Smith said he couldn't remember a larger manhunt by the department.

In San Diego, where Dorner allegedly tied up an elderly man and unsuccessfully tried to steal his boat Wednesday night, Naval Base Point Loma was locked down Thursday after a Navy worker reported seeing someone who resembled Dorner.

Navy Cmdr. Brad Fagan said officials don't believe he was on base Thursday but had checked into a base hotel on Tuesday and left the next day without checking out. Numerous agencies guarded the base.

Fagan said Dorner was honorably discharged and that his last day in the Navy was last Friday.
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LAPD get rocket launchers in gun buyback?

Rocket launchers turned in to LAPD apparently were from military
By RICHARD WINTON
The Los Angeles Times
Published: December 29, 2012

LOS ANGELES — Two rocket launchers turned into the Los Angeles Police Department as part of the city's gun buyback event appear to be antitank weapons from the military, experts said.

Police said the people turning them in at the buyback told officers they had family members who were at one time in the military and "they no longer wanted the launchers in their homes."

Several military experts said one of the weapons was probably a version of the AT4, an unguided antitank weapon. It's a single-shot weapon that a soldier fires and then discards the tubing.
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New Directions and Wells Fargo Partner To Support Our Veterans

New Directions and Wells Fargo Partner To Support Our Veterans
November 14, 2012
Posted by: Admin

LOS ANGELES, CA – President & CEO Gregory C. Scott from New Directions, Inc., stood with Byron K. Reed, Wells Fargo Community Development Senior Vice President in supporting our veterans at a special presentation and “Home Buyer Seminar” on Wednesday, November 7th at the New Directions facility located at Veterans Administration complex in West Los Angeles.

The seminar, led by Wells Fargo Branch Manager and military veteran Jeffrey Clark, had close to 100 guests in attendance. The seminar introduced veterans the language of homeownership and gave an overview of innovative opportunities available to first-time homebuyers.

“Wells Fargo is one of my favorite banks. It’s the very first place where I saved $2,000.00 in tips as a teenager and opened my first account. I’m happy that New Directions is partnering with Wells Fargo to help veterans,” said seminar attendee and United States Marine Alejandro Leon.

Partnering with New Directions in this effort is Wells Fargo, who created a Military Affairs Program to elevate its efforts in serving active duty military and veterans. As part of the program, Wells Fargo has identified three top initiatives which include placing added focus on getting active duty military and veterans into homes, helping veterans get back to work, and providing financial education training. As the number one originator of VA loans, Wells Fargo continues to help provide safe, sustainable housing to veterans and active duty military through quality mortgages, financial assistance and donations via non-profit organizations.
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Man in wheelchair shot while buying Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Man in wheelchair shot, wounded outside LA store
Published 9:46 a.m., Tuesday, November 13, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police are hunting for a gunman who shot a man in a wheelchair as he waited to buy a new video game.

City News Service says it happened at about 1 a.m. Tuesday as the disabled man waited in a line outside a Koreatown store to buy the game "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2."
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Iraq veteran Ocampo faces death penalty for "thrill" killings

Death penalty sought for Iraq war vet in California killings
Dan Whitcomb
Reuters
May 21, 2012

Former U.S. Marine Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, an Iraq war veteran, has his arraignment postponed on charges of first degree murder in Santa Ana
(POOL New Reuters, REUTERS February 6, 2012)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an Iraq war veteran charged with six murders, including the serial "thrill" killings of four homeless men in Orange County, a top prosecutor said on Monday.

Itzcoatl Ocampo, a 24-year-old former U.S. Marine, is scheduled to stand trial in September on six counts of first degree murder with special circumstances, including the brutal stabbing deaths of four transients beginning in late December.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said he chose to seek the death penalty against Ocampo after consulting a special committee in his office that considers "the nature of the crime, the vulnerability of the victim, the defendant's criminal record and other factors."
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Troubled ex-Marine's disappearance weighs on family

Troubled ex-Marine's disappearance weighs on family
Francis X. Donnelly/ The Detroit News

Lake Ann, Mich.— After abruptly quitting his job as a Los Angeles police officer last year, Noah Pippin visited his parents in Michigan.

He was depressed, unsure about his future, said his parents. He didn't know where he would live or how he would earn a living. He tried to give the little money he had to his father.

His father, Mike Pippin, was so alarmed that he asked his son whether he was going to kill himself. Noah said no.

After the weeklong visit, Noah Pippin drove to Montana and hiked deep into Rocky Mountains wilderness, said police. That was 14 months ago. The 31-year-old hasn't been seen since.

"Whatever was driving him, whatever was going on, he wasn't sharing with anyone else," said Sgt. Pat Walsh, a detective with the Flathead County Sheriff's Office in Montana.

Pippin's disappearance has left his parents with a flurry of questions.

What drove the former Marine into the wilderness? What happened to him there? What was he running from? What was he running to?

Answers come grudgingly, when they come at all.

With Pippin's cell phone and credit card inactive since his disappearance, authorities presume he's dead, lying somewhere amid a million-acre nature preserve.

People who saw him on the trails said he look troubled. They also said he was ill-equipped for the remote terrain, which has no roads, structures or cell service.
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