How did we go from "yes we can" to "because I said so"

This goes beyond politics as usual

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 12, 2019

Seriously wondering how did we go from "yes we can" to "because I said so" and far too many have no problem with that at all.

Politically I am an Independent Centrist. I agree with some things on both sides. I am tired of hearing all the claims that are simply not true. 

First, we need to open our eyes to the fact that just because someone said something, that does not mean it is true. This is for all my Republican friends because I care about you and if you have only received your information from Facebook, you are being deceived.

"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind." 1 Peter 2

 Here are some things you may not know.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling. (Reuters)

“Somebody needs to remind Mr. Trump that the military is not his palace guards. They take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. They also abide by the rules — not only of the uniform code of military justice, the UCMJ — but they also abide by the U.N. mandate against torture and the Geneva Convention protocols against torture.” Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling March 2016 The Washington Post

This "wall" is not about our National Security but it is about the President's ego and Republican politicians unwilling to hold POTUS accountable for anything, while the other side wants to nail him on everything. 

Had our security actually mattered more than anything else, then these other providers of our security would not be paying the price.

DHS RELEASES SOUTHWEST BORDER ENFORCEMENT STATISTICS 

January 9, 2019

Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the number of enforcement actions at the southwest border for the month of December.  Due to the lapse in funding, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is unable to publish the enforcement actions for December on its website. 

These are the Departments that are under Homeland Security. 

Component Agency Contacts

Below is contact information for different Department of Homeland Security components.

• FEMA
• Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
• Transportation Security Administration
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
• U.S. Coast Guard
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• U.S. Secret Service

President Trump also seems willing to take funds from the Army Corp of Engineers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approximately 37,000 dedicated Civilians and Soldiers delivering engineering services to customers in more than 130 countries worldwide.

With environmental sustainability as a guiding principle, our disciplined Corps team is working diligently to strengthen our Nation’s security by building and maintaining America’s infrastructure and providing military facilities where our servicemembers train, work and live. We are also researching and developing technology for our war fighters while protecting America’s interests abroad by using our engineering expertise to promote stability and improve quality of life.

We are energizing the economy by dredging America’s waterways to support the movement of critical commodities and providing recreation opportunities at our campgrounds, lakes and marinas.

And by devising hurricane and storm damage reduction infrastructure, we are reducing risks from disasters.

Our men and women are protecting and restoring the Nation’s environment including critical efforts in the Everglades, the Louisiana coast, and along many of our Nation’s major waterways. The Corps is also cleaning sites contaminated with hazardous, toxic or radioactive waste and material in an effort to sustain the environment.

Through deeds, not words, we are BUILDING STRONG.

This is the report from FOX News that should freak out everyone beyond what you just read.

The White House has directed the Army Corps of Engineers to "look at possible ways of funding border security," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News on Thursday night, as the ongoing partial federal government shutdown over money for a border wall is less than two days away from becoming the longest in the nation's history. Separately, Fox News is told the White House directed the Corps to examine the February 2018 emergency supplemental, which included disaster relief for California, Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico, among other states, to see what unspent funds could be diverted to a border wall, according to a congressional aide familiar with the matter.

And this is what the funds were supposed to be for from the same article.

Approximately $13.9 billion is available from the congressionally approved February 2018 supplemental spending bill, intended to cover natural disasters, and much of the available money comes from flood control projects, Fox News is told. The Military Construction appropriations bill could provide additional funding in the event of an emergency declaration.

Here is a list of more things that have been cut during the shutdown.

Keep in mind that these are people who dedicated their lives to providing our National Security and now, they are paying for what we have allowed the President to simply say he wants it done.

The question is, what are you going to do about any of this?

All female veterans have waited too long

All female veterans have waited too long for equal honor

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 13, 2018

First the positive 

“The time to act is now” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of IAVA in the statement. “The unveiling of the Women Serve monument at Calverton National Cemetery is an important time to recognize and support women veterans.”

And now the negative headline that came with this on Newsweek

VETERANS GROUPS ACCUSE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OF DERELICTION OVER CHANGING VA’S ‘OUTDATED AND SEXIST’ MOTTO

In the article there was this

"More than 345,000 women have deployed since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to IAVA. The VA reported last month that in 2016, the suicide rate for women veterans was 1.8 percent higher than for civilians."  

Does this mean that older female veterans did not deserve the same from all the other Administrations going back to President Lincoln?

It isn't as if this president came up with the motto, nor did he cause all the problems veterans have been facing since they returned from the Revolutionary War.
Ever hear of Shay's Rebellion?

"Veterans had received little pay during the war and faced added difficulty collecting pay owed them from the State or the Congress of the Confederation, and some soldiers began to organize protests against these oppressive economic conditions. In 1780, Daniel Shays resigned from the army unpaid and went home to find himself in court for non-payment of debts. He soon realized that he was not alone in his inability to pay his debts and began organizing for debt relief."

Female veterans deserve more than we could ever repay but again, the way they were treated goes all the way back to the time they decided to do whatever it took to defend this nation...including, when they had to dress like men to do it!


President Trump has made a lot of bad decisions, including pushing to privatize the VA and forcing veterans into the same healthcare the rest of us have to endure. 

It seems like his advisors have decided they could sell caring for veterans out forgetting they prepaid for all of it. Yet again, the problems our veterans have did not begin with this president.

Do women deserve to be treated like veterans? Hell no! None of our veterans should ever be treated the way they have been treated throughout the history of this nation!

We need to do the right thing but we need to keep the political BS out of it to actually accomplish it!

POTUS thinks Apocalypse Now is not napalm?

Trump and Omarosa Had a ‘F*cking Weird’ Fight With Vietnam Vets
The Daily Beast
Asawin Suebsaeng
08.17.18

As if having Omarosa heading up veterans’ issues wasn’t strange enough, President Trump started arguing with Vietnam vets about napalm and Agent Orange.

Source present at the time tell The Daily Beast that multiple people—including Vietnam War veterans—chimed in to inform the president that the Apocalypse Now set piece he was talking about showcased the U.S. military using napalm, not Agent Orange.

Trump refused to accept that he was mistaken and proceeded to say things like, “no, I think it’s that stuff from that movie.”

Early on in the Donald Trump administration, the president vested many of his nearest and dearest with tasks they were woefully unprepared for—and Apprentice superstar Omarosa Manigault-Newman was no exception.

Long before she was his chief antagonist, Manigault-Newman was tapped by President Trump to handle veterans’ issues for the White House—causing immediate backlash from vets organizations who read this as a slap in the face and a betrayal of his campaign rhetoric about “taking care of our veterans.”
read more here

VA finds 'deteriorating' conditions at DC hospital

This is what happens when the President decided that it was a good thing to privatize the VA and then appointed people to make sure that happened.

Too bad when people tried to warn about this, some just passed it off and wanted to "give him a chance" to pull it off!

He is finishing the job the others in Congress started a long time ago. Destroy the VA instead of honoring the fact that veterans, unlike civilians, prepaid for the care they need BY GETTING DISABLED IN THE FIRST PLACE SERVING THIS COUNTRY!

Memo: VA finds 'deteriorating' conditions at DC hospital
STARS AND STRIPES
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: August 1, 2018

Since then, inspection reports from the Food and Drug Administration and the VA’s National Program Office for Sterile Processing have revealed ongoing problems. The reports, obtained by Stars and Stripes this spring, detailed instances of dirty syringe bottles, unsanitary conditions, rooms in disarray and staff and supply shortages that led to canceled procedures.

WASHINGTON – After being deemed high risk in January, the flagship Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington has continued to deteriorate in quality during the first six months of 2018.

The hospital was designated “critical” and its performance is under administrative review, including possible changes of leadership, according to a memorandum sent to the D.C. hospital July 17 from Carolyn Clancy, then executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration. The memo was obtained Wednesday by Stars and Stripes.

“Unfortunately, we have not seen the amount of improvement desired over the past two quarters and now see benefit in utilizing additional measures to support the facility in stabilizing the hospital’s quality to the extent that it can be sustained,” Clancy wrote.

According to the memo, the hospital isn’t getting better, despite public assertions from VA officials over the past several months that problems there were being fixed.
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POTUS parade will stomp on honors earned and dignity denied

As I pointed out very early this morning on Google+

OK, so we have troops and their families on food stamps but POTUS wants a parade? "Still, the official said Trump is determined to have a parade. "The president wants to do something that highlights the service and sacrifice of the military and have a unifying moment for the country," the official said."

But as the morning went on, it got even worse as it turns out that POTUS does not want to treat all veterans and families as equal. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin doesn't seem to get it. When older veterans are the majority of veterans committing suicide and families have waited longer, struggled longer and have been forgotten about by all the new groups, who don't care about us, this is yet one more backhanded slap!

This is from Stars and StripesOfficials with President Donald Trump’s administration told Congress last month that the White House couldn’t support an extension because of fiscal restraints, but Shulkin said Tuesday that new eligibility criteria would allow for an expansion without the cost.

So, they raised Tricare fees and lowered the money to go toward housing at the same time they gave troops a raise that still leaves McDonalds employees making more money than they do. 

They managed to funnel millions to private healthcare providers under "Choice" instead of fixing the VA, which is, in fact, the choice of veterans. They tried to cut funds for homeless veterans and cut benefits to senior veterans. But we're supposed to believe that POTUS cares because he wants to give a parade?

For who? I mean, Vietnam veterans have had enough parades and pins to "honor" them but what would really show they do in fact matter, IS TO BE TREATED AS IF THEY DID!

Trump wants a grand military parade. Some veterans say that won’t fix their problems
Washington Post
Eugene Scott
February 7, 2018

But the president's critics have called his support for the military shallow, noting that Trump has never served in uniform (he was approved of multiple deferments for bone spurs during the Vietnam War), and he has attempted to fill his administration with generals for the purpose of optics.

President Trump is receiving quite a bit of pushback for his plan for a grand military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Washington Post's Greg Jaffe and Philip Rucker reported:

Surrounded by the military’s highest-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Trump’s seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.

“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”

Even the hosts of Trump's beloved “Fox and Friends” expressed reservations about the spectacle that could cost millions.

“I don’t know,” co-host Brian Kilmeade said Wednesday. “It seems like a waste of money.”
read more here

UPDATE
Navy SEAL who says he killed Osama bin Laden calls President Trump's military parade 'third world BS'
CNBC
Dan Mangan Jeff Daniels
Published 2:26 PM ET Thu, 8 Feb 2018

The former Navy SEAL who says he killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden called President Donald Trump's idea for a military parade in Washington "third world bulls---."
Rob O'Neill's criticisms echoed others who say such a parade is more suited to countries like North Korea, Russia and China, and would be expensive.
The Pentagon said the parade is in the initial planning stage, with no firm details yet.

The former Navy SEAL who claims to have killed terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is calling President Donald Trump's idea for a military parade in Washington "third world bulls---."

Robert O'Neill's scathing dismissal Thursday of Trump's desired parade featuring soldiers, tanks and other military hardware came as a Pentagon spokeswoman said that march is still in the initial planning stage.

"We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation," O'Neill tweeted.
read more here

Homeless Veterans Faced Deeper Cuts Instead of Help

VA tried to reallocate $460 million earmarked for homeless veterans. Now it says that won’t happen.
The Washington Post
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
December 6, 2017

“It’s just unconscionable to take this action without consulting HUD or the many mayors who have been working so hard on this. The former troops who used these vouchers are the most likely to die on American streets.”

Elisha Harig-Blaine 

Flags are hoisted at the Los Angeles encampment of homeless veteran Kendrick Bailey on Nov. 10, 2017. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

The Department of Veterans Affairs appears to be backtracking on its divisive plan to reallocate nearly a half-billion dollars from a successful program to reduce homelessness among former military personnel, bowing to pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups who criticized the effort as cruel and counterproductive.

The about-face, announced in a statement Wednesday night from VA Secretary David Shulkin, followed a Washington Post inquiry about the Trump administration’s effort to divert the funding — totaling $460 million — instead to local VA hospitals for discretionary use. As Politico first reported, that money had been set aside specifically for a voucher program, run by VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, that provides long-term living accommodations for the country’s most vulnerable military veterans, many of whom suffer from mental illness.
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Budget POTUS Wants Can Hurt Homeless Veterans?

Trump's budget could hurt efforts to curb veteran homelessness
Associated Press
Jennifer McDermott
March 28, 2017

Navy veteran Stephen Matthews sits for a photograph in the bedroom of a relatives home, in Warwick, R.I., on Dec. 11, 2016. STEVEN SENNE/AP

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The push to end homelessness among veterans would suffer without the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is up for elimination under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, nonprofits and local officials say.

The council coordinates the efforts of 19 federal agencies that play a role in preventing and ending homelessness among all Americans. But the strides made with veterans — for whom homelessness has been effectively ended in three states and dozens of communities amid a concerted effort — make the proposed cuts particularly upsetting to advocates.

Homeless advocates in any given state consult the council, whose annual budget is about $3.5 million, on which strategies are working elsewhere as they seek to house veterans. They worry momentum will slow.

"We've learned how to end homelessness," said Nonie Brennan, chief executive of the nonprofit All Chicago. "It would be a tremendous shame if we were not able to continue to implement these strategies in our communities across the country."
read more here

Air Force One Savings Questioned by the Air Force?

Air Force Stumped by Trump's Claim of $1 Billion Savings on Jet
Bloomberg
by Anthony Capaccio
February 22, 2017

Cost estimates for a new Air Force One still being refined
Service awards next contracts for design, aircraft by June 30

The Air Force can’t account for $1 billion in savings that President Donald Trump said he’s negotiated for the program to develop, purchase and operate two new Boeing Co. jets to serve as Air Force One.

“To my knowledge I have not been told that we have that information,” Colonel Pat Ryder, an Air Force spokesman, told reporters Wednesday when asked how Trump had managed to reduce the price for the new presidential plane. “I refer you to the White House,” Ryder said. A White House spokesman didn’t respond to repeated inquiries about Trump’s comments.

Trump has boasted that he’s personally intervened to cut costs of two military aircraft -- the F-35, the fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin Corp., and Boeing’s Air Force One.

“They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One,” Trump said at a rally on Saturday in Florida. “Can you believe this? I said, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse.’”

Instead, Trump said, “we got that price down by over $1 billion, and I probably haven’t spoken, to be honest with you, for more than an hour on the project. I got the generals in, who are fantastic. I got Boeing in. But I told Boeing it’s not good enough. We’re not going to do it. The price is still too high.”
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VA Un-Freeze Job List Did Not Include Claims Processors?

It seems that POTUS had a busy week issuing Executive Orders, then discovering they are not Royal Decrees, had to undo them.

Among the things President Trump had to undo, was placing a hiring freeze on the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA released a list of jobs that are now excluded from the freeze. They seem to have thought of everything but Claims Processors.

It was a week filled with proof that the power, and will, of the American people will stand against what politicians do.

VA specifies jobs exempt from Trump's hiring freeze
The Hill
BY REBECCA KHEEL
01/27/17

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a full list of jobs exempt from President Trump’s federal hiring freezing that includes a slew of medical specialties.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to exempt anyone it deems necessary for public health and safety, including frontline caregivers,” acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Snyder said in a statement. “The president and VA remain committed to seeing that our veterans receive the quality care and benefits they’ve earned. This is the right thing to do for our veterans.”

Trump signed an executive order Monday that freezes all federal hiring except for the military. It also allows for exemptions for public safety.

The hiring freeze has come under fire from dozens of Democrats, including every Democrat in the Senate, who say it disproportionately affects veterans, as the VA won’t be able to hire support staff and veterans won’t be able to apply for federal jobs. The Democrats wanted Trump to exempt the entire VA from the order.
read more here

VA Still Needs Doctors and Nurses, And Will A Lot Longer Now

Trump’s hiring freeze comes as VA in Spokane seeks doctors, nurses
The Spokesman Review
Mike Prager
FRIDAY, JAN. 27, 2017

The Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Administration Medical Center in Spokane has job openings for doctors, nurses and other care specialists that may or may not be filled because of President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze of federal workers.

The president’s press secretary initially said the freeze would extend to the VA, which has been harshly criticized for the long wait times veterans face getting care.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said of the VA Tuesday, “Right now, the system’s broken,” and that the hiring freeze is meant as a “pause” while a new VA secretary takes stock of the situation.

“And I think the VA in particular, if you look at the problems that have plagued people, hiring more people isn’t the answer,” Spicer said, according to the Washington Post. “It’s hiring the right people, putting the procedures in place that ensure that our veterans – whether health care or mortgages or the other services that VA provides to those who have served our nation – get the services that they’ve earned.”
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Iraq Veteran Donnie Reis Explains What Freedom Means to Him

Local musician “honored” to perform at inauguration
Dayton Daily News
Randy Tucker Staff Writer
Jan. 21, 2017

“This is something that should unite us. I’m not attending the march in any anti-American stance. This is just democracy. This is what I fought for. I’ve been to places where democracy doesn’t exist.” 
Donnie Reis,

Donnie Reis, left, performs with Lee Greenwood, right, at a pre-Inaugural “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Donnie Reis, a national recording artist and producer from Tipp City and an Iraq War veteran, respects Civil Rights, women’s rights and the right to protest — but above all else, he respects the democratic process, which manifests itself every four years as the inauguration of the President of the United States.

Reis said he considered it an honor to perform Friday at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he sang and played violin with The Frontmen of Country band, led by country music singers Larry Stewart, Richie McDonald and Tim Rushlow.

The group was joined by fellow country artist, Lee Greenwood, to perform his iconic song “God Bless the U.S.A” for President Trump, his family and thousands of attendees on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall.

“That was the highlight for me,” said Reis during a phone interview Saturday from Washington. “Standing up on stage and looking out over a sea of people from all different walks of life, singing “God Bless the U.S.A,” and hearing them sing it back; It took everything I had not just to cry.”
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Will Trump's Bigger Army Mean More Suicides?

Will Trump's Bigger Army Mean More Suicides?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 21, 2017

I thought that reading Trump’s bigger Army could cost $12B by official’s math would be informative, however, it offered a lot more than math on the budget.

The Army hit a high of 566,000 active-duty troops in 2011 to sustain the American troop surge in Iraq along with the continuing war in Afghanistan. The number has steadily dropped since the U.S. pullout from Iraq in December 2011. The debate since then has been about the pace of a planned draw-down to 450,000 by the end of fiscal 2018. This year’s defense policy bill mandated that the Army not be reduced to fewer than 476,000.

When you read this about the numbers, consider the simple fact that when there are so many fewer serving, the actual outcomes of military suicides is even more frightening. This is from a report about 2015 Army suicides.

The Pentagon reported Friday that 265 active-duty service members killed themselves last year, continuing a trend of unusually high suicide rates that have plagued the U.S. military for at least seven years.

The actual percentage went up.

The number of suicides among troops was 145 in 2001 and began a steady increase until more than doubling to 321 in 2012, the worst year in recent history for servicemembers killing themselves.

The suicide rate for the Army that year was nearly 30 suicides per 100,000 soldiers, well above the national rate of 12.5 per 100,000 for 2012.

Military suicides dropped 20% the year after that, and then held roughly steady at numbers significantly higher than during the early 2000s. The 265 suicides last year compares with 273 in 2014 and 254 in 2013. By contrast, from 2001 through 2007, suicides never exceeded 197.

We don't know what the number was for 2016, because they have not released their data. We only know about the 1st and 2nd quarters.

In the first quarter of 2016, the military services reported the following:
 58 deaths by suicide in the Active Component
 18 deaths by suicide in the Reserves
 34 deaths by suicide in the National Guard
Please refer to Appendix A for a detailed breakdown of the number of deaths by suicide within each Service and Component.

And Army Suicides for the second quarter of 2016 In the second quarter of 2016, the military services reported the following:

 57 deaths by suicide in the Active Component
 23 deaths by suicide in the Reserves
 23 deaths by suicide in the National Guard

On veterans committing suicide, we need to look at a report from Idaho

Just between 2012 and 2014, there were more than 3,000 suicides in Washington, and 700 of them were past or current military.

In Washington, more than half of those veterans who committed suicide were over the age of 65, while in Idaho, it was a full 65 percent.

This is from Arizona

Men commit suicide more often (nearly 81 per 100,000) than women (25 per 100,000). Veterans outnumber non-veteran suicide rates 80 to 29 percent. 

Vietnam Veteran MOH Sammy Davis Attending Inaugurations Since 1969

Meet the Army Veteran Who’s Never Missed an Inauguration Day Since Nixon
NBC News
by ERIK ORTIZ
January 18, 2017

It doesn't matter whether he voted for that person or not, Davis said, he goes to each ceremony out of a "sense of duty — an obligation I feel in my soul."

"I didn't die for my country," he said, "but I'm living for it."

On each Inauguration Day, decorated Vietnam veteran Sammy Lee Davis is furnished with a front-row seat to history.

Davis, a Medal of Honor recipient, has been an eyewitness to every American president taking the oath of office since Richard Nixon's first swearing-in on a cold January afternoon in 1969. Davis is returning to Washington this week and says he is eager to watch Donald Trump become the next president of the United States — marking his 14th ceremony he will get to experience first-hand.

"How unique it is to have that privilege," said Davis, 70, who calls everyone "sir" or "ma'am" and lives outside a tiny Indiana community called Freedom, where he keeps framed programs from each inauguration he's attended.

While a particular president might inspire a trek to the nation's capital for such a revered event — President Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009 beckoned an estimated 1.8 million spectators — the desire to go is different for Davis.

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