Vietnam vet hurt after $1,300 tickets for Rolling Stones concert in Phoenix vanish
AZ Family
LiAna Enriquez
August 26, 2019
Things quickly changed when Constable tried to retrieve those downloaded tickets, and they were gone. He said he called Vivid Seats, the company he purchased the tickets from. He said he was shocked when they told him his purchase had been disputed and reversed, so they re-sold his tickets.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A Marine veteran who went to a Rolling Stones concert in the 1960s says he was thrilled to get the opportunity to go again more than 50 years later. But he says his tickets for Monday's concert vanished after purchasing them.
"This will probably be my last hoorah cause I’m in my 70s and they’re in their 70s," said Vietnam veteran Lenny Constable. "One of us may go before the other one, but this might very well be the last chance I have to see their concert."
Constable says he's been a life-long Rolling Stones fan.
“That was good machine-gun music. It got ya wired up a little bit," he said.
He says their music helped him through the hard times.
“You'd come back after being out in the bush for 30 days or so, and they'd blast them out," said Constable. "'Paint It Black’ and stuff like that."
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2 men falsely claimed military service to get their cases moved to a veterans court
Associated Press
August 25, 2019
Before they can be eligible for parole, Pinski ordered both men to hand write the names of all 6,756 Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan; write out the obituaries of the 40 Montanans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and send hand-written letters of apology to several veterans groups identifying themselves as having lied about military service to receive help and possibly a lesser sentence through a veterans court.
The first Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) was started in 2008 in Buffalo, N.Y. There are 220 operational VTCs in the United States with approximately 11,000 veterans currently participating. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Two Montana men who were sentenced to prison for violating the terms of the probation in separate crimes won’t be eligible for parole until they complete a writing assignment given because they falsely claimed to have served in the military to have their cases moved to a veterans court.
Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski sentenced Ryan Patrick Morris, 28, and Troy Allan Nelson, 33, on Friday. Morris got 10 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation for felony burglary, while Nelson got five years on a drug possession conviction. Pinski suspended three years of each defendant’s sentence.
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UPDATE: Death of veteran at Clarksburg VA ruled a homicide; Claim alleges there could be up to 10 more cases
WDTV News
August 23, 2019
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WDTV)
A claim filed by Tiano O'Dell law firm says that retired Army Sergeant Felix McDermott received a fatal dose of insulin while a patient at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center.
According to the claim obtained by 5 News, first reported by the Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram, McDermott was admitted to the VAMC on April 6, 2018. He died of hypoglycemia, or severe low blood sugar, on April 9, 2018. He was 82.
The claim states that employees never told McDermott's family how he died. He was buried 4 days later.
On Oct. 23, 2018, McDermott's remains were exhumed and sent to the Dover Air Force Base for an autopsy and investigation.
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Family and friends searching for missing Fort Hood soldier
KWTX News
By Brandon Hamilton
Aug 24, 2019
FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) Family and friends of a missing Fort Hood soldier are actively searching, hoping for his safe return.
Gregory Wedel-Morales, according to his family, was last seen Monday night.
His family says they have filed missing persons reports with Fort Hood and the Killeen Police Department.
Fort Hood confirmed to News 10 that Morales has been placed on Absent Without Leave status since Aug. 20.
"His chain of command is in touch with his family seeking his whereabouts," officials said.
His mother, Kim Wedel, posted on Facebook that he just purchased a black 2018 Kia Rio.
"He is scheduled to process out of the military in September so going AWOL just doesn’t make sense," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact local authorities.
get updates here
Veterans are paying attention
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 24, 2019
The President drained the swamp, like he said he would. He did not warn us he meant he would drain it of intelligent life!
Most of us are turning off the TV whenever President Trump makes another stump speech, or attempts to hit and run the country with Tweets. The problem with that is, if we are not paying attention, we're going to wake up one day and discover that there are no longer any more veterans in the country. They will be called something else to avoid any connection to the sickening way they have been treated since the Revolutionary War.
If you do not know the history of betraying they have endured, begin with the mutiny in Pennsylvania.
So far, we have heard that President Trump thought it was a good idea to take away "unemployable" from older veterans. He had been advised that since they are too old to work, they should not depend on what "permanent and total" compensation they budgeted their lives with.
This message sent veterans into panic mode. It meant thousands a month from their disability awards, loss of covered medical care for them and their families, loss of property tax benefits...and the list goes on.
Never an apology for what veterans were needlessly subjected to, he just moved on. Now we read from the White House that everything is wonderful for veterans in his eyes.
QUOTE
"My administration is committed to taking care of every warrior that returns home as a veteran."
Does that mean the veterans already here will not be taken care of? It may seem like a silly question, but given what we have already seen, it is a fair question.
At least that is what the headline is from the White House. Like every other administration, it all depends on what they know and who they have advising them.
WASHINGTON — They were called the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” by people inside the government. A damning exposé dubbed them the “shadow rulers of the VA.”
In the early days of the Trump administration, a trio of businessmen — one of whom was a member of the president’s private Mar-a-Lago club — worked behind the scenes to shape policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the $200-billion federal agency that provides healthcare to nearly 9 million vets. As ProPublica and other news organizations documented, Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter, a doctor in West Palm Beach named Bruce Moskowitz, and a D.C. lawyer named Marc Sherman formed a triumvirate of outside advisers, vetting VA personnel decisions, corresponding with the agency’s leader, and proposing their own ideas for reforming the VA. Rolling Stone
Add to that the latest on "suicide prevention efforts" that have been slammed by experts, but praised by FOX along with using the ear worm of "22 a day" committing suicide, instead of actually reporting facts on that one too!
But even the VA isn’t sure about the drug, named Spravato. Its medical advisory panel voted in June to classify the drug, known in its generic form as esketamine, as “non-formulary,” meaning it was not included on a list of VA-approved medications that are covered by the agency’s pharmacy benefits. The Center for Public Integrity was the first to report on the June vote. McClatchy
There is a list of things claimed, but apparently, the White House must not be aware of closely we do pay attention to what is going on. No President can possibly know everything that goes into making a country work right. He/she, has to depend on experts in their fields to intelligently advise, instead of just agreeing. If you have not been a long time reader, there is not one single President or party that has not been subjected to accountability. I have done it on various sites since I got online in 1993.
Last year it was reported that many disabled veterans had to pay income taxes for their student loans to be forgiven.
Disabled no longer face big tax hit when student loans are forgiven
The bad news is that the change, part of a massive overhaul of the tax code spelled out by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is not retroactive.
Borrowers whose student loans are forgiven on or after Jan. 1, 2018, due to “total and permanent disability” no longer have to pay federal income taxes on those forgiven loans."
We know we cannot trust politicians. They do one thing after saying they were going to do something the opposite way. We cannot trust reporters to make sure what they say has been verified or not. We sure as hell cannot trust them to actually look into the archives to discover what the historical record has to reveal. We have to do those jobs for them! After all, considering that this is our lives on the line, it is all too personal to us.
PROVIDING THE SUPPORT OUR HEROES DESERVE: President Trump will continue to ensure our veterans receive quality healthcare and have access to the resources they need to succeed.
This Administration is working tirelessly to ensure that veterans receive the highest quality of care and support possible.
The President signed the VA MISSION Act, providing more healthcare options for veterans by consolidating existing programs and expanding access to care in veterans’ own communities.
President Trump is also committed to ending the tragedy of veterans’ suicide, securing $8.6 billion in funding for VA mental health services.
President Trump’s PREVENTS Initiative executive order established a task force to help better understand and prevent suicide.
Since the President’s election, veteran unemployment was reduced to the lowest level ever recorded.
Seriously? With the results we have been living with? Instead of waiting in line at the VA for an appointment, they have to wait in line for private doctors to be taking new patients. Then they have to wait for a referral once they finally find one. Top that off with a lot of doctors do not want to accept VA payments since they take too long to pay.
Spending up for privatizing efforts.(I blame both on this one including all the members of congress who were no longer ashamed of how they failed our veterans.)
Trump said he passed a private-sector health care program, Veterans Choice, after failed attempts by past presidents for the last “45 years.” That’s not true. The Choice program, which allows veterans to see doctors outside the government-run VA system at taxpayer expense, was first passed in 2014 under President Barack Obama.
The part that gets me is, as much as members of Congress belonging to the Republican Party complain about how lousy civilian healthcare is, they think it is a good thing to subject veterans to it! Thank them for this one even though Obama signed it. He should have known better because before he took over the oval chair, he was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
The Veteran Unemployment Rate Dropped To Lowest Level In 20 Years In 2017
A fascinating report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has more on this.
Military suicides reached an all-time high in 2018, Pentagon says
Increase in homeless veterans. You can find this by a simple Google search in your state.
More veterans committing suicide in public, and at VA facilities. They are also facing off with police officers more often.
If there is any wonder as to why 68% of Americans disapprove of the "job" he is doing, ask a disabled veteran who has had to suffer after doing their jobs because politicians don't do theirs.
UPDATE
Add this to all of that.
Internal VA emails critical of unofficial Trump 'advisors'
CNN
By: Zachary Cohen
Posted: Aug 25, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Career officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs expressed deep frustrations over having to entertain "ridiculous" policy recommendations from a trio of influential Mar-a-Lago club members during President Donald Trump's time in office, according to documents released by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
A series of internal emails spanning from November 2017 to June 2018, show that VA officials wrote to senior staffers with concerns about how this group of three, known within the department as "the Mar-a-Lago crowd," was given the authority to influence policy despite having no government experience or expertise in veterans issues.
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