webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

Veterans

see VA Veterans Admin

see also tag (no S), see also concerned vets

 see spec ops delta and various grift

see voter suppress mail in ballot

SEE SCHED F PJT 2025 VOUGHT // DOGE

REMEMBER STANDING ROCK DAPL FIGHT

formerly decorated, then to congr who serve vs chickenhawks, now generic

eg 7-8 deployments, VA, disenfranchise, debt, homeless, pvt online school ripoffs

systemic: attracts low income ppl of color, especially during a recession, promises job skills; somewhat institutionalized, so tough to manage personal finances when suddenly out, plus PTSD.

then predatory loans for school.

VA pvtize djt crony cap'lism; djt claims he fixed ie pvtize aspect of VA but actually BO 

SEE DOGE COUP 1/3 FED WORKERS, VA

concerned vets kOch took over hegseth 1st failed org astro

bak 2 25

===

---

AN 4 26

Trump is going all in on efforts to attack military veterans and their career prospects, one naval veteran warned in a piece for Rolling Stone, seeking to go around Congress to undermine "veterans’ hiring preferences in the federal government."

Michael Embrich is a Navy veteran who served during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, later serving as policy advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs and as a congressional staffer. On Monday, he published a piece for Rolling Stone dissecting Trump's efforts to destroy a program that has given veterans a leg-up when seeking jobs in the federal government.

"After World War I, veterans organized on Capitol Hill to protest being shafted by the federal government for pay earned serving in wars of the past," Embrich explained. "In response, President Franklin Roosevelt and members of Congress moved to make sure veterans never would have to go through that again, enacting the Veterans Preference Act of 1944 (VPA). Since then, the VPA has been strengthened, giving veterans with disabilities and seniority stronger hiring preferences and added protections during reduction-in-force (RIF) actions. The Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA) created even greater incentives for both veterans to seek federal employment and for the government to hire them."

How, Embrich warned, "Trump wants to end all of that." A new proposal from the Office of Personnel Management, led by Project 2025 mastermind Russell Vought, seeks to replace the VPA and VRA policies with “'merit'-based hiring, firing, and rehiring practices."

"Under the OPM’s new proposal, layoffs would be determined primarily by performance ratings rather than service," Embrich added. "Veterans would receive a small boost, but no longer the meaningful protection they once had. In practical terms, that means a veteran with 20 years of service could be laid off ahead of a newer, non-veteran employee or one with slightly higher performance scores. Years of experience, institutional knowledge, and service to the country would be reduced to a tie-breaker. This would help the federal government elevate political hires over career people, veteran or not."

The U.S. government, Embrich noted, is the country's biggest employer of military veterans, who make up around 25 percent of the federal workforce. Under these new rules from the OPM, laid-off veterans would not even have to be rehired after a reduction-in-force period ends, which "For a veteran with 10, 15, or 20 years of service or more, and a debilitating condition... could mean a life sentence of poverty."

"The VPA has lifted a whole generation of veterans, myself included, out of poverty and helped make them productive taxpaying citizens," Embrich concluded. "The federal deficit has soared to over a trillion dollars. Saving money is not the reason for these cruel and senseless rule changes. The only logical explanation is that Trump couldn’t care less about the vulnerable, and will never pass up an opportunity to crush them in order to enrich himself and his cronies."

---

---

PUZZLE HOW HE GETS AWAY W FUCKING OVER VETS

AN 3 26

President Donald Trump’s new proposal for addressing widespread veteran homelessness involves forcibly institutionalizing hundreds or even thousands of them — and this is raising concerns about civil liberties.

“Our new partnership with the Justice Department reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that every veteran receives timely, appropriate care,” explained Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Doug Collins in a public statement. The VA says that they will initiate legal guardianships for veterans who are either homeless or “at risk of homelessness,” thereby empowering the federal government to involuntarily commit them to care facilities.

"Critics say the policy shift raises significant civil liberties concerns, noting that in earlier generations, people with severe mental illness were routinely stripped of their legal rights and confined to state hospitals,” reported The New York Times.

Representative Mark Takano, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said that “the Trump-Vance administration is pursuing policies that would push hundreds, if not thousands, of veterans into institutions and court-ordered guardianships.”

Takano added, “Guardianship should always be a last resort, after all less restrictive options have been exhausted, to ensure veterans’ rights are respected.”

By contrast, Michael Figlioli, the director of the National Veterans Service for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said “that some of our nation’s most vulnerable veterans must be approached through a public health and social services framework” and argued that if the program is carried out thoughtfully, guardianships could offer more “structured support” for vulnerable veterans. At the same time, he said that there would need to be due diligence taken to account for “veterans’ privacy, potential implementation gaps and the need for sufficient resources.”

As the Times reported, “There are about 33,000 homeless veterans in the United States, about 14,000 of whom live on the streets. Veterans make up around 5 percent of the unsheltered homeless population.”

Prior to this policy change, Trump has often disappointed veterans. He reneged earlier in March on a promise to establish a National Center for Warrior Independence, and his sweeping cuts to the federal workforce led to 62,000 veterans losing their jobs.

“The Trump Administration has radically slashed the federal civilian workforce, sidestepping Congress and causing disruptions, slowdowns, and fragility in a range of critical public services that people and communities depend on,” wrote the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities earlier in March. “Veterans have been affected by these cuts both as members of the federal workforce and as recipients of federal health care and other benefits available to them based on their service.”

Trump has also been accused of showing disrespect toward veterans, such as earlier in March when he ignored protocol and left his hat on while greeting the remains of six soldiers killed in his Iran war.

“This fool has ABSOLUTELY no sense of dignity or appreciation for the moment,” Michael Steele, Republican National Committee chair from 2009 to 2011, wrote on X. “It is called the Dignified Transfer for a reason. Take your damn hat off!!”

Douglas Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee, said that there is a partisan double standard.

“I know what Republicans would have said if Obama had done this — I would have written the statement,” Heye posted on X. “Shameful.”

A number of administration sources, including Trump’s former chief of staff and retired Marine Corps. General John F. Kelly, have said that Trump privately referred to soldiers as “suckers” and “losers” because he could not understand them fighting for things other than self-interest.

---

---

AN 2 26

President Donald Trump’s sweeping government cuts have cost 62,000 veterans their jobs, according to a budget-oriented think tank — and worse is yet to come.

“The Trump Administration has radically slashed the federal civilian workforce, sidestepping Congress and causing disruptions, slowdowns, and fragility in a range of critical public services that people and communities depend on,” wrote the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on Friday. “Veterans have been affected by these cuts both as members of the federal workforce and as recipients of federal health care and other benefits available to them based on their service.”

The federal government has been a large employer of veterans for many decades, with veterans accounting for roughly 30 percent of all federal employees in recent years. The number of veterans working in the federal government fell by nearly 10 percent between September 2024 and December 2025, resulting in the lowest number of veterans in the federal workforce in over 15 years, according to data no longer available online from the Office of Personnel Management.

“Veterans have felt the impact of the Administration’s chaotic and sweeping personnel policies across the federal government, including at the IRS, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Department of Education,” the think tank writes. “But it’s at the VA — the federal agency dedicated to running programs and services that benefit veterans and their families, including providing care through nearly 1,400 health care facilities — where the harm to veterans may be most acute.” Trump has eliminated nearly 28,000 VA employees, or roughly 6 percent of the agency’s staff, including more than 2,700 nurses, more than 1,000 medical officers, more than 1,000 psychologists and social workers and more than 1,800 people tasked with evaluating veterans’ claims for benefits.

“Congress needs to continue to crack down on the Administration’s abuse and weaponization of personnel policy and address its unilateral cuts in federal capacity,” the think tank concluded. “Otherwise, the delivery of services and programs that Congress chooses to fund will continue to deteriorate, and everyone, including veterans, will continue to feel the worsening impact.”

The Trump administration has only walked back its past cuts to veterans services when facing intense pressure. On Thursday Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins ended a controversial VA policy that lowered veterans’ disability ratings and subsequent monthly compensation.

“DAV is extremely disappointed and alarmed by VA’s decision to issue an interim final rule today that could potentially reduce disability compensation for millions of disabled veterans,” Coleman Nee, national commander of Disabled American Veterans, said prior to Trump’s reversal.

In addition to rolling back veterans benefits, Trump is also accused of politicizing the military. The Atlantic's Missy Ryan, who has covered 10 defense secretaries, recently wrote that she has never seen anything like Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s political actions, such as trying to penalize veterans such as Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for their political speech.

"Expanding the military’s ability to control veterans’ speech would be a major and historic reversal of basic freedoms," Ryan wrote. "Retired service members turned public officials have a long history of criticizing Pentagon leaders in ways those leaders might find objectionable."

She added, "If the government prevails, the silencing of longtime service members would be like barring retired doctors from opining on health policy. When debating matters of war and peace, he said, it serves the public to hear from the very people who have served on the front lines — and lived through the consequences."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal (Ret.) recently told The New York Times something similar, arguing that“once lost, the legitimacy of a military that reflects and represents all Americans will be difficult to recover." Meanwhile MS NOW's Steve Benen wrote that Trump's partisan speeches to the military erode “a foundational, bedrock principle of the United States. Partisan, ideological and electoral considerations must be utterly irrelevant to what the military is and how it functions. It is nevertheless a principle for which Trump appears to have no use, creating an untenable dynamic."

---

---

an 8 25

Veterans and legal analysts say the Trump administration’s arrest of a former army sergeant and roadside bomb victim marks an escalation in the administration’s attacks on first amendment rights, reports the Guardian.

Officials arrested Afghanistan war veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II for “conspiracy to impede or injure officers” after joining a demonstration against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Spokane, Washington.

“Here’s a guy who held a top-secret clearance and was privy to some of the most sensitive information we have, who served in a combat zone,” said Kenneth Koop, a retired colonel who trained the Afghan military and police during Mavalwalla’s deployment. “To see him treated like this really sticks in my craw.”

READ MORE: Emotionally damaged Trump is a born loser

The Guardian reports Mavalwalla was not among the more than two dozen people arrested at the scene of a June protest that left a government van with a broken windshield. Nevertheless, FBI officials arrived at the door of Mavalwalla and his Afghanistan war veteran wife one month later.

IFrame Content

IFrame Content

IFrame Content

According to the indictment, Mavalwalla and his co-defendants “physically blocked the drive-way of the federal facility and/or physically pushed against officers despite orders to disburse and efforts to remove them from the property”.

Video shows Mavalwalla, who has no criminal record, locked arms with other demonstrators to block a gate.

Mavalwalla has pleaded not guilty, and the Guardian reports Richard Barker, the former acting US attorney for eastern Washington state, resigned before signing the arrest warrant.

READ MORE: The last straw for the Supreme Court could spell trouble for Trump

“I am grateful that I never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn’t believe in,” Barker wrote on Linkedin.

However, replacing Barker is Trump-appointed acting US attorney Pete Serrano, which the Guardian reports as having filed an amicus briefat odds with the 14th amendment. Serrano also has no prosecutorial experience and has described Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol rioters as “political prisoners.”

Luis Miranda, former chief spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Guardian Serrano appears willing to test the waters for Trump’s use of political detainment.

“He’s a test case to see how far they can go,” said Miranda.

Read the full Guardian report at this link.

---

===

an 4 25

'At-risk voters': Military servicemembers among 260 votes Republican panel threw out in NC election

---

an 7 25

'Done everything they can to avoid hearing from' us: Veteran interrupts GOP celebration in Florida

---

AN 3 25

'Betrayal': Democrats blast Trump’s 'assault' on VA over plan to cut 80,000 employees

---

OMFG AN 2 25

'Unthinkable': 'Massive layoffs at VA' as Trump tries to balance 'the budget on the back of veterans'

---

===

MMA

Fox joins the Trump administration’s war on the veteran-heavy federal workforce

Veterans make up nearly a third of civilian federal workers, the vast majority of whom are employed to assist veterans and the military

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published 02/14/25

Many Fox News personalities have celebrated the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on the federal workforce, which have ranged from offering questionable buyouts, purposefully demoralizing those who choose to remain in their jobs, and mass firings of recent hires.

But the federal workforce is the nation’s single largest employer of American military veterans, and the vast majority of civilian federal employees at Cabinet-level or otherwise major agencies work with veterans or the military.

The Trump administration has gone to war against the federal workforce

//

  1. ### After “disappointing” jobs report, Fox Business guest excitedly predicts future government job losses

02/07/25

  1. ### Fox host to federal workers: “Get a real job”

02/06/25 1:48 PM EST

  1. ### Fox News' Dana Perino calls public sector unions a “new nemesis”

02/11/25

===

vets doku # Against All Enemies – FULL MOVIE jdv

Against All Enemies – FULL MOVIE

===

===

cruz fist bump ----

bun pits, passed 84-14 a mo ago, 180 for spite after manchin 180 jon s livid

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/jon-stewart-veterans-health-bill/

===

===

an 8 23

rocky Mountain Values, a progressive Colorado-based dark money group has launched an ad campaign calling out United States Representative Lauren Boebert's (R-CO) refusal to support legislation that benefits veterans, The Pueblo Chieftain reports.

Per the Chieftain, "The PACT Act funds benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances from burning waste in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as exposure to other harmful chemicals during other wars. It also funds research into how they were affected."

The new ad, which features aGeorge Autobee, a "Pueblo veteran attacking Boebert's voting record" on "health care issues," according to the news outlet, comes on the one year anniversary of President Joe Biden's signing of the bill.

READ MORE:**An entire decade of benefits denial for vets after toxic chemical exposure?**

"We have a responsibility to make sure these veterans are taken care of when they return from war," he said in an ad. "Lauren Boebert has voted against veterans' health care many times and she's left them behind."

According to the Chieftain, Boebert previously "told Grand Junction TV station KKCO in a statement that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was 'politicizing' the bill by bringing forward another bill instead of similar one that had unanimously passed the Senate on a voice vote."

The MAGA congresswoman's campaign manager Drew Sexton defended Boebert in an email to the news outlet writing that "longtime liberal extremist" Autobee "and progressive, dark-money groups can keep shoveling money into attacking Congresswoman Boebert, but 3rd District voters know better when it comes to her strong record of supporting our veterans."

According to The Chieftain, Biden passed the bill last year "with a final vote of 86-11 in the U.S. Senate, with all 11 dissenting votes coming from Republicans."

===

----

mma 5 23

:{

}:

right-wing media figures uncritically amplified a now-debunked New York Post story to demonize immigrants and attack Democratic lawmakers.

On May 13, the New York Post published a story alleging that a group of 20 homeless military veterans had been “evicted” from two upstate New York hotels to make room for immigrants who had settled in New York City. The Post claimed the supposed migrants were part of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ plans to secure temporary housing for immigrants entering the city. 

After the New York Post published its story, local outlet the Mid Hudson News spoke with hotel management and service providers the Post claimed were involved in the removals. On May 18, the paper reported that not only had no homeless veterans been removed, but they were never there to begin with — one hotel manager “had never heard of” the veteran's group supposedly involved, while another said it “had not put any veterans in the hotel for ‘a long time.’” The report also discredited a receipt presented by State Assemblyman Brian Maher as supposed evidence that the group representing the homeless veterans had paid for the rooms. The Post later reported that the group’s longtime advocate had lied to the newspaper about the entire situation, and today the Mid Hudson News uncovered that 15 homeless men were paid to pretend they were veterans who had been staying at the hotel.

[twt]

by the time the story fell apart, right-wing media had already latched onto the now-debunked narrative and immediately weaponized the shoddily reported story as part of their ongoingfear campaign over a so-called “invasion” of migrants coming across the southern border.

===

===

omfg

https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/biden-trump/

A recent Washington demonstration supporting those charged with crimes for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol fizzled, with no more than 200 demonstrators showing up. The organizers had promised 700 people would turn out – or more.

But the threat from far-right insurrectionists is not over.

For months, my colleagues and I at the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats have been tracking insurrectionist sentiments in U.S. adults, most recently in surveys in June. We have found that 47 million American adults – nearly 1 in 5 – agree with the statement that “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president." Of those, 21 million also agree that “use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency."

Our survey found that many of these 21 million people with insurrectionist sentiments have the capacity for violent mobilization. At least 7 million of them already own a gun, and at least3 million have served in the U.S. military and so have lethal skills. Of those 21 million, 6 million said they supported right-wing militias and extremist groups, and 1 million said they are themselves or personally know a member of such a group, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

Only a small percentage of people who hold extremist views ever actually commit acts of violence, but our findings reveal how many Americans hold views that could turn them toward insurrection.

A solid survey

[method grfx]

extreme beliefs

This polling found that 9% of American adults say they agree with the statement that “Use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency." And 25% of adults either strongly or somewhat agree with the statement that “The 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president."

Overall, 8% of the survey participants share both of those views.

The margin of error of this survey was plus or minus 4 percentage points. So when calculating the number of the 258 million adult Americans who hold these views, we looked at the range of between 4% and 12% – which gave us between 10 million and 31 million. The best single figure is the middle of that range, 21 million.

People who said force is justified to restore Trump were consistent in their insurrectionist sentiments: Of them, 90% also see Biden as illegitimate, and 68% also think force may be needed to preserve America's traditional way of life.

The fringe moving into the mainstream

Combined with their military experience, gun ownership and connections to extremist groups and militias, this signals the existence of significant mainstream support in America for a violent insurrection.

This group of 21 million who agree both that force is justified to restore Trump and that Biden is an illegitimate president has two additional views that are also on the fringes of mainstream society:

Some people with insurrectionist sentiments hold one of these political views but not the other, suggesting there are multiple ways of thinking that lead a person toward the insurrectionist movement.

Broader support

This latest research reinforces our previous findings, that the Jan. 6 insurrection represents a far more mainstream movement than earlier instances of right-wing extremism across the country. Those events, mostly limited to white supremacist and militia groups, saw more than 100 individuals arrested from 2015 to 2020. But just 14% of those arrested for their actions on Jan. 6 are members of those groups. More than half are business owners or middle-aged white-collar professionals, and only 7% are unemployed.

There is no way to say for sure when – or even whether – these insurrectionists will take action. On Jan. 6, it took clear direction from Donald Trump and other political leaders to turn these dangerous sentiments into a violent reality. But the movement itself is larger and more complex than many people might like to think.

Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science, **University of Chicago**

===

===

post 1/6 vets tom disp vets want peace

https://www.alternet.org/2021/03/america-goes-to-war/

===

===

qanon said infiltrate inaug w/ nat g uniforms; FBI has to do bkgd checks to stop insider attack, 2 guys booted inaugural

===

https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2650025524

U.S. authorities have arrested the leader of an extremist group on a conspiracy charge for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to interfere with the certification of the electoral college vote.

According to The Washington Post, alleged "Oath Keeper" Thomas Edward Caldwell of Clarke County, Va., was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 19, and is now facing four federal charges including "conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States in the attack on the Capitol. The conspiracy charge is reserved for offenses interfering with or obstructing the lawful operation of government."

Law enforcement officials' affidavit notes that Caldwell was reportedly responsible for organizing a group of 8 to 10 individuals, including some who have been identified as "styled Ohio militia members" who "wore helmets and military-style gear and were seen moving purposefully toward the top of the Capitol steps and leading the move against police lines." The Ohio members of the group were reportedly arrested on Sunday, Jan. 17. [DUNNO IF GRAB BUDDY COLLAR MEANS ANYTHING]

The affidavit also references a message Caldwell shared on Facebook on Jan. 1, just days before the pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. In that message, Caldwell noted that he had looked into travel accommodations for a group of individuals. One hotel location, in particular, was located in Ballston, Va., just 8 miles away from the U.S. Capitol. Caldwell reportedly highlighted that location because it "would allow us to go hunting at night if we wanted to."

That message was sent to a woman named Jessica Watkins. The 38-year-old U.S. Army veteranwas among the Ohio residents arrested on Sunday, Jan.17 for storming the Capitol along with other members of the "Ohio State Regular Militia," an extremist group she allegedly founded back in 2019.

The FBI also highlighted another message Caldwell sent suggesting they would be mobilizing since Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes had not made his "call to arms."

"I don't know if Stewie has even gotten out his call to arms, but it's a little friggin late," Caldwell wrote on Jan. 1, adding, "This is one we are doing on our own. We will link up with the North Carolina [sic] crew."

The affidavit also reveals that Caldwell also sent a video message from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Accompanying the disturbing clip, he wrote, "us storming the castle. Please share. Sharon was right with me! I am such an instigator! She was ready for it man! Didn't even mind the tear gas."

"Proud boys scuffled with cops and drove them inside to hide. Breached the doors. One guy made it all the way to the house floor, another to Pelosi's office. A good time," Caldwell said. Shortly after making that remark, Caldwell added, "We need to do this at the local level. Lets [sic] storm the capitol in Ohio. Tell me when!"

As of Tuesday, Jan. 19, more than 100 people have been arrested in connection with the riot that took place on Capitol Hill.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

===

===

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/military-veterans

It's time for Americans to end their ritualistic fawning over veterans. When former members of the U.S. armed forces visit the White House to promote military coups, they prove that veterans do not automatically, uncritically warrant our praise.

In an era of perpetual war, this may appear blasphemous. America's all-volunteer force has borne the burden of a militarized foreign policy in the wake of 9/11 that has sent more than two million servicemen and women overseas to keep our nation safe. These veterans have sacrificed immensely, some in heroic fashion. Incredibly brave men and women still populate our military ranks.

Yet in society's haste to thank them for their service, veterans have become, in far too many ways, an inviolable sect beyond reproach. Any criticism risks bringing forth a slew of anti-patriotic opprobrium. Such blanket adulation must end. And this most chaotic of years demonstrates why.

In one of the more contentious political seasons in American history, few malefactors have exceeded the duplicity of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has called on President Trump to suspend the Constitution and declare martial law so military leaders can oversee a redo of the 2020 election. Never mind that Flynn, who pled guilty to misleading the FBI, once swore an oath to uphold that very Constitution.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney has echoed Flynn's sedition entreaties. The Vietnam War veteran also petitioned for martial law in the aftermath of a free and fair election, but then went further still, imploring Trump to cancel the Electoral College, suspend habeas corpus and arrest Democrats for treason.

Below these conspiracy theorists might be found veterans like Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, embracing his party's hyper-partisan talking points to ridicule the working-class background of his colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. To Crenshaw, his political opponents were "nuts" and didn't "know hardship" like he did. (Democratic senatorial candidate MJ Hegar relied on similar tactics in Texas.) Apparently, in these narratives, only veterans understand adversity and suffering.

Nor have senior military leaders and veterans accorded themselves well in foreign policy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a 1986 West Point graduate, slow-rolled acknowledging Joe Biden as president-elect and publicly quipped he would help usher a "smooth transition to a second Trump administration." The policies Pompeo have supported — one source recently described him as a "global arsonist" — hardly have advanced our national interests overseas.

Even well-respected officers have been largely derivative in their approach to U.S. foreign policy. Retired Lt. Gen. and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, in his latest book, has recommended a national security strategy based on little beyond what one reviewer has deemed "a more muscular and constant use of force." When President Trump authorized the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, chief of Iran's Quds Force, other retired generals described the act only in terms of "American deterrence," without questioning its moral or legal justifications.

And none of us should discount that some American veterans have acted immorally in our recent wars, a point of vital concern for our society, if not for our president. Texas Republican chair Allen West — who recently called for secession — received a military reprimand for threatening to shoot an Iraqi detainee,while Eddie Gallagher, Clint Lorance and Robert Bales, among others, either have been accused or convicted of killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do these men deserve our admiration simply because they wore a uniform?

Without question, these examples are not, thankfully, representative of the larger whole. The vast majority of Americans serving in the armed forces do so in a way that make their families and local communities proud. In large measure, we should take pride in those citizens who voluntarily serve their nation in uniform and appreciate their sacrifices on our behalf.

But instances of impropriety should not be dismissed because we are required, by some unwritten rule, to mechanically thank veterans for their service. Wearing a uniform should not shield the wearer from scrutiny, criticism or disciplinary action. Like all of us, veterans and current serving members of the armed forces are human beings, with the same gifts and foibles we all carry on a daily basis.

Armies often are a reflection of the societies they serve. Such is true of the U.S. armed forces today which is "more racially and ethnically diverse than in previous generations." Yet despite our claims of American exceptionalism, our society remains imperfect. We should not be surprised that military service members might be imperfect as well.

We need to come to a reckoning with our military affair, for it has become dangerous to our republic at a time when our fundamental political values and norms have been threatened by an imperial presidency and its timorous supporters. Our adulation makes it more difficult to hold institutions accountable, to forge, under civilian control, more appropriate military policies, and to determine the costs of our national security.

In the end, when veterans call to suspend the Constitution in times of peace or discount their immoral acts in times of war, then we, as a society, have the right and responsibility to hold them accountable.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

===

==

920 an

Stewart joins veterans in DC to demand attention for a deadly policy killing US troops

Aysha Qamar / Daily Kos

==

===

9/20 trump sez POW MIA KIA losers and suckers ~ gen lost dad VN pilot dog tag you are no patriot

voices of vets video/ad powerful, quick so accused of staged by organized ppl w/ agenda?

===

mma 920

Fox News reporter confirmed Trump's insults of fallen troops. Fox hosts are still calling the story a hoax.

The new bombshell report from The Atlantic, reporting that President Donald Trump had repeatedly disparaged fallen U.S. troops as “losers” and “suckers,” has now been echoed by Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. This latest confirmation comes after Fox’s previous coverage of the story continually backed Trump’s denials.

Griffin’s reporting corroborated multiple details of The Atlantic’s article: That Trump simply didn’t want to drive to the World War I cemetery, though it was possible to do so; that he did not want wounded veterans included in his July 4, 2019, military parade, calling it “not a good look”; and that Trump maintained an obsessive hatred of the late Sen. John McCain(R-AZ) — Trump had famously insulted McCain’s history as a prisoner of war in 2015 — and opposed lowering the American flag to half-staff when McCain died in 2018. One of Griffin’s sources even added another detail: “When the president spoke about the Vietnam War, he said, ‘It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker.’”

This of course, completely contradicts Fox News' earlier coverage, in which the network’s commentators insisted that The Atlantic article had to be completely false. (It also comes after years of Fox News ginning up fake scandals to accuse former President Barack Obama of disrespecting the troops, everything from the "latte salute" to saying that he visited the wrong cemetary in 2010.)

Fox hosts called the story a "scam" and a "hoax" after Griffin's reporting was already public. On Saturday night, Jeanine Pirro declared that it was a "perfect time for a hoax" without ever mentioning that Griffin had corroborated the report.

More interesting, though, is how Fox's news side gave more credence to Trump's denials than it did to what its own correspondent filed. Fox's flagship "straight news" program Special Report used the chyron "Fake News" when covering the story. One Fox contributor called the story an "information operation" against Trump and Fox's chief political anchor Bret Baier cast doubt on the story as well.

Media Matters' Madeline Peltz put together a timeline of how Fox threw Griffin under the bus on Friday.

It all goes to show how Fox is not a news organization.

===

aha/yikes: vets whowed up to put bodies betwwen military/cops and peaceful prayerful protest/protectors but the MAJORITY would go the other way?  Portland pipebomb ~ antifa; militia takeovers of 2 state houses on covid? 2nd civil war:

ref

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-happens-when-ex-navy-seals-go-full-qanon?ref=home

no lnx many

a man filmed leaving the area of an attempted pipe bomb attack on protesters in Portland, Oregon, was a former Navy SEAL who writes conspiracy theory-heavy social media posts decrying the left, Portland activists and news media recently reported.

But the man is just one of an eclectic mix of former SEALs apparently taken in by conspiracy theories online or citing those theories in violent writings. If acted on by highly trained ex-military elite, those paranoias have deadly potential.

Witnesses in Portland say two men threw three homemade explosives at protesters early on the morning of Aug. 8. Although no one was harmed and the men do not appear to have been filmed, citizen journalist Scott Keeler pursued a man spotted in the area and filmed his face. Activists and Oregon Public Broadcasting identified the man asLouis Garrick Fernbaugh, a former SEAL and CIA contractor. Fernbaugh, 52, has been named by police as a person of interest, but not charged with a crime.

Online, Fernbaugh has an extensive history of writing about conspiracy theories, particularly where they implicated the left. In this respect, he is part of a broader pattern of ex-SEALs, many of them with large digital followings, espousing conspiratorial ideas. They’re armed, suspicious, and in some cases, write in detail about potential plans to kill people they view as evildoers.

“People who are ex-military say, ‘I’m going to go liberate the kids.’ Is it bravado or is it a legitimate call to action?”

— Marc-André Argentino]

In particular, some ex-SEALs are promoting belief in QAnon or related theories that falsely accuse many of President Donald Trump’s opponents of being involved in Satanic pedophilia and cannibalism.

Marc-André Argentino, an associate fellow at the Global Network on Extremism & Technology,who monitors the QAnon conspiracy theory, said that theory—which has become one of the foremost in U.S. politics—has inspired an uptick in criminal acts by believers. (The Navy did not return a request for comment.)

“The violence we’ve seen has been by people without acumen and physical training,” Argentino told The Daily Beast. “Where it could get scary is with people who do have training.”

[QAnon Pushes Pedo-Ring Plots. Now They’re Stealing Kids.

RAMPING UP THE CRAZY

Will Sommer]

SEALs like Fernbaugh, who could not be reached for comment for this story, have extensive military training, and might be better equipped than the average person to build an explosive device or take up weapons. A grizzled ex-special operative with a graying beard, Fernbaugh has spent years dabbling in false conspiracy theories, some of them anti-Semitic and many targeting anti-fascists, who have been highly visible at Portland protests. (The Daily Beast did not review any posts in which he expressed affinity for QAnon.)

“George Soros is known to have paid ANTIFA to instigate rioting and create chaos that has caused millions in damage across numerous cities, but especially Portland, OR,” he wrote on Facebook in 2018, citing a conspiracy theory that falsely accuses a Jewish philanthropist of paying off protesters.

In the caption of a video on the same topic, Fernbaugh mused that “I’m surprised no one has slaughtered these sheep that have grown horns (ANTIFA),” and recent posts boasted of “infiltrating” groups of Portland anti-fascists during ongoing racial justice protests.

Fernbaugh appears to wear the same jacket in one of the videos as the man identified as him did in the footage from the aftermath of the Portland attack.He currently works selling shooting targets, including one made to look like a person dressed as a Portland anti-fascist.

Multiple people who know Fernbaugh, including a former colleague, told OPB that he was the man featured in Keeler’s video from near the scene of the explosive devices. A former law enforcement official told the publication that, based on the voice of the man in the video, they were comfortable enough in his identity that they were calling the FBI.

Meanwhile, the larger online conspiracy community is sprawling—the top QAnon groups on Facebook, alone, count more than 3 million combined members, according to an internal Facebook investigation, NBC News reported last week. These theories sometimes overlap in membership, and encompass millions of other people, spanning a range of false claims like that vaccines cause autism to the idea that the world is flat. In a group that large, some will almost inevitably be military or veterans.

But QAnon and related conspiracy theories like Pizzagate (both of which baselessly accuse Democrats of child abuse) seem to have an unusually high incidence among ex-SEALs. And some retired SEALs have been vocal in more explicit support for QAnon in particular, even if they have not been tied to the scene of alleged protest-related violence.

“If these people aren’t brought to justice, there’s gonna be some fuckin’ street justice doled out.”

— Stephen Ralston, ex-Navy SEAL

Stephen Ralston is a veteran who served on SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One from 1990 to 1994, and SEAL Team Three from 1994 to 1998. Currently, he works as a private military contractor, according to his online bio, and has a podcast about special operations forces. On the Instagram for that podcast, and on his own Instagram feed, Ralston frequently uses QAnon hashtags, promotes Q videos, and posts about his interest in killing pedophiles. (Although opposition to pedophilia is an overwhelmingly popular sentiment across political parties, QAnon turns the concern into a bogus call to arms against Trump’s foes.)

Some of the Instagram memes specifically frame elite military as a force for “Q,” the anonymous forum poster behind the conspiracy theory. One typical example, a picture that calls special operatives “the teeth of the light,” promises that thousands of specially trained veterans are willing to use their skills if QAnon’s claims are validated. “If any of the claims prove accurate, justice will be served one way or the other,” the caption reads, in part. “We don’t forgive. We don’t forget.”

Ralston’s special forces podcast has also devoted at least one recent episode to QAnon.

“If these people aren’t brought to justice, there’s gonna be some fuckin’ street justice doled out,” he says while petting a dachshund in a teaser trailer for the episode, uploaded to Instagram.

Ralston, who has not been accused of any conspiracy-related violence, told The Daily Beast he was unsure of QAnon’s popularity with former SEALs or any other group, and declined to otherwise comment for this story.

Attacks by conspiratorial veterans have long been lethal. The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, was carried out by veteran Tim McVeigh, who was steeped in anti-government theories and reportedly told people the Army had implanted him with a microchip. McVeigh’s own failure to join the Army’s special ops forces was reportedly a major factor in his anger, and he viewed himself as a kind of one-man operator. (“In his mind, much of his life has been one of thinking that he is in a kind of Special Forces of his own,” a law enforcement source told The Washington Post after the attack.)

Several recent violent plots associated with the anti-government Boogaloo movement have also allegedly been carried out by veterans or active service members. In May, two veterans and a current Army Reserve soldier were arrested in an alleged plot to throw explosives at a Black Lives Matter rally. That same month, a current Air Force staff sergeant was arrested for allegedly killing a federal security officer and attempting to kill another, in an apparent plot to kick off a new civil war that Boogaloo adherents believe is imminent.

QAnon has inspired its own wave of crimes, with the FBI labeling the movement as a terror threat. Some prominent QAnon personalities are not veterans, but pose as elite Defense Department operatives, including one man linked to several recent Q-inspired kidnappings, who poses as the head of the fictional Pentagon Pedophile Task Force, The Daily Beast reported.

QAnon support extends to at least one SEAL-founded company.Project Warpath is a clothing line owned by Tej Gill, a former member of SEAL Team Five who made headlines for selling “Hillary Clinton Killed My Friends” T-shirts after the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya. Project Warpath also posts QAnon content to Instagram, including a recent post falsely linking the debunked Wayfair conspiracy (a QAnon-adjacent theory that falsely claimed children were being sold inside furniture on the home decor site) to Soros and the Clintons. Gill, who has not been accused of any conspiracy-related violence, could not be reached for comment for this story.

Argentino said QAnon’s popularity with special ops veterans might initially seem perplexing. Believers claim Q is a high-level military official. But as veterans of military intelligence circles should know, Q’s muddled posts do not operate anything like military work. (One former QAnon believer whose father had worked for the CIA previously told The Daily Beast she’d abandoned the theory when she realized Q was artlessly aping military language, in a way no service member would.)

A gray-bearded SEAL Team Five veteran, [Clark] Impastato served until recently as a police officer in Phoenix, Arizona, where he fatally shot a 15-year-old accused of making a drug deal.]

Yet elements of QAnon might be alluring to veterans, Argentino noted.

“QAnon is rooted in this war narrative, in the sense that they’re in an information war against the ‘Deep State,’” he said. “Information wars are typically combined with a more physical element ... [Veterans] may want to be called upon to free the children from the pedophiles.”

Some conspiratorial ex-SEAL content is compatible with QAnon, but it’s unclear whether those former SEALs are aware of its full connotations.

One former member of the elite SEAL Team Six recently shared a post falsely linking Black Lives Matter to the Palestinian militant movement Hamas. The ex-SEAL appears to have copy-pasted the post’s caption, which was full of Q hashtags, although he did not write them himself. “Thoughts on this? I am only sharing, so don’t start throwing a tantrum,” he asked his followers.

[The Disturbing Appeal of Boogaloo Violence to Military Men

OUTSIDE AGITATORS

Kelly Weill]

Mitch Aguiar, another former member of SEAL Team Five, has since left the military and gone on to build a name for himself as an MMA fighter and a salesman of military-themed apparel. Like some of his fellow brothers-in-arms,he’s also shared conspiratorial content on his 133,000-follower Instagram, including a post about the death of a QAnon supporter, but used a “PizzaGate” hashtag.(The Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed prominent Democrats were engaging in sex trafficking in a D.C. pizzeria, was a predecessor to QAnon, but fell out of favor after a Pizzagater shot up the restaurant. Another man set fire to the restaurant two years later, in January 2019.)

Aguiar also commented “he’s a pedo” on a fellow ex-SEAL’s meme that falsely claimed actorTom Hanks was wearing an ankle monitor, presumably because a secret court had found him guilty of child sex-trafficking. (This did not happen.)

The fellow ex-SEAL, podcaster Clark Impastato, regularly shares QAnon-flavored conspiracy memes on his Instagram, where he has more than 87,000 followers. A gray-bearded SEAL Team Five veteran, Impastato served until recently as a police officer in Phoenix, Arizona, where he fatally shot a 15-year-old accused of making a drug deal. Although the teen was unarmed, Impastato’s use of force was found to be justified, because the teen rushed Impastato, “pulling his previously concealed hand from his waistband and forming it into a fist with a single, hooked finger extended,” as if to imply holding a gun, according to court records.

Impastato voluntarily relinquished his police certification in January 2016, after racking up multiple misconduct complaints, state records show. Among them are two civil rights misconduct complaints, which state records describe as excessive force, one of them for allegedly punching a suspect. Another misconduct complaint against Impastato is for alleged “dishonesty/false statements” during the hiring process because he “did not disclose past sales of marijuana.” It was not immediately apparent from police records whether the complaints had been substantiated by police, and Phoenix Police did not return multiple requests for comment. In an interview with a military-themed energy drink company, Impastato said he left the force to become an entrepreneur on his own beard-care line.

As protests broke out over the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in late May, Impastato posted a picture of himself carrying a gun with the caption, “The current chaos makes me wish I was still in to help out. ???????? I’m with you in spirit BROTHERS and SISTERS..” He also posted several memes about killing anti-fascists, including one about the movement coming to the suburbs “so I can get a stateside kill.”

Neither Aguiar nor Impastato have been accused of conspiracy-related violence, and neither returned requests for comment for this story.

The extent of these ex-SEALs’ commitment to the QAnon cause, even when they flirt with it, isn’t always clear.

Increasingly, QAnon belief exists on a spectrum. Where once the theory appealed mostly to a core group of diehards who waited for the next “Q drop” (posts on a forum by an anonymous person claiming to be military intelligence), a diluted version of the conspiracy has reached a broader audience with less absurd claims about pedophilia.

As The New York Times noted last week, QAnon content has recently surged in popularity with a broader crowd, including those who are unaware of its core claims, because it attached itself to a campaign to “save the children.”

Well-intentioned fears can have counterproductive results. Sensationalized fears about Wayfair can obscure the reality that many (nearly half, per one study) of trafficked children are exploited by relatives. And the sudden popularity of sex-trafficking conspiracy theories has overwhelmed legitimate anti-trafficking organizations with bogus complaints. In late July, the National Human Trafficking Hotline released a statement saying “the extreme volume of these contacts has made it more difficult for the Trafficking Hotline to provide support and attention to others who are in need of help.”

Some ex-SEALs operate in the murky area of Q-ish talk about sex-trafficking, conflating real cases with bogus statistics and linking their theories to high-profile celebrities and politicians, usually on the left.

Craig Sawyer, a Texas-based former SEAL Team Six member, runs an anti-trafficking group, and produced a documentary about child sex-trafficking. The group is distinct from theories like QAnon. Some QAnon believers, including the person pretending to be a member of the fictional Pentagon Pedophile Task Force, have targeted Sawyer, falsely accusing him of trafficking. Sawyer has even been openly critical of Q on Twitter, although not of all its claims.

“I’m not big on q, mainly due to how scary some of the followers are in their cult follower tendencies of an entity they can’t vet,” he tweeted in June. “But as long as the q narrative is ‘Do your own research’ & the info is accurate, that’s a good thing.”

Nevertheless, Sawyer frequently interacts with pro-Q personalities, and shares a wealth of Q-adjacent material, including a conspiracy meme about figures like Bill Gates and George Soros pursuing a number of fantastical aims like population control and “one world government.” (He shared the meme, asking followers’ opinion on it, without explicitly endorsing it.) Sawyer, who has not been accused of conspiracy-related violence and declined to comment, shared a picture last Tuesday night of Sen. Kamala Harris posing with Soros’s son.

[Navy SEAL Promoted After Choking Green Beret to Death

WTFO

Kevin Maurer]

The post, about Harris being named Joe Biden’s vice-presidential pick, referred to a sexist conspiracy theory about her. “We now know who’s on team New World Order / Global Marxism,” Sawyer wrote. “Literally GOOD vs EVIL.”

Argentino, who recently authored a scholarly article about QAnon’s potential as a national security threat, said while most violent incidents carried out in the theory’s name were done so by people in a state of crisis, calls by military types are acting as a steady drumbeat.

“People who are ex-military say, ‘I’m going to go liberate the kids,’” he said. “Is it bravado or is it a legitimate call to action?”

For his part, Garrick Fernbaugh’s primary preoccupation has appeared to be theories about anti-fascists. But after years of posting about his interest in hurting them, someone appears to have attempted just that in Portland—while Fernbaugh was very nearby.

Approximately three weeks before the pipe bomb incident, Fernbaugh contacted Sawyer about his interest in anti-fascists. On LinkedIn, Sawyer had authored a post defending the federal agents who notoriously pulled Portland protesters into unmarked vans earlier this summer.

“I think this is actually a very calm & gracious response in the face of such destructive terrorism funded by our nation’s subversive enemies,” Sawyer wrote. “Law & order must prevail??”

Fernbaugh replied in the comments. “I infiltrated ANTIFA in downtown PDX 3 nights ago,” he wrote. “(Dudes in camo) Hit me up, I’ll throw on my Cryes [a brand of combat apparel] and give you a hand restoring law and order, then we’ll go grab a well deserved beer!”

With reporting by Adam Rawnsley

Kelly Weill

Reporter

kelly.weill@thedailybeast.com

==

==

vote vets ad ~ putin bounty

https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/veterans-rip-trump-as-a-traitor-for-his-mask-photo-op-at-walter-reed-hospital

===

chickenhawk? TD defends army officer twin who obeyed subpoena in impeachment; doug collins question her patriotism? replied she left body part in ME

Carlson used deceptive edits to accuse veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth of hating America

07/07/20 9:51 AM EDT

===

==

trump trashed VA chloroquin study, ~ me?! 5/20

===

===

https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/another-trump-con-now-hes-cheating-frontline-workers-and-national-guard-troops/

89 day deploy? trms

===

==

men and women who fight America’s ‘forever wars’: Who fights our “forever wars”? Pulitzer-winner on the true cost of Iraq and Afghanistan

Chauncey DeVega / Salon

Award-winning author of "The Fighters" and "The Gun" on the "enormous human consequence" of America's wars.

==

https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/how-mitch-mcconnells-legislative-graveyard-is-leaving-veterans-behind/

https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/how-mitch-mcconnells-legislative-graveyard-is-leaving-veterans-behind/

no lnx

How Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard is leaving veterans behind

Written by Joan McCarter / Daily Kos November 11, 2019

On this Veterans Day, here’s a reminder from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about recognizing the service of the men and women in our military. “On Veterans Day, a grateful nation gives thanks for the heroism and indomitable spirit of the 22 million veterans who have fought for freedom around the world and strengthened our democracy here at home,” she writes.

In recognization of that service, House Committees have “held 32 hearings and passed 25 bipartisan bills on the Floor, and are now advancing robust legislation that provides equity for women veterans accessing VA,” she points out. “Democrats have worked across the aisle to secure historic funding levels for VA’s mental health and suicide prevention initiatives, passed fixes to end unjust and unfair taxes on military families and expanded benefits for Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.”

A total of 56 House bills have passed that have addressed veterans either as a focus or peripherally. But of the 25 Pelosi discusses, none have passed in the Senate, aka Moscow Mitch McConnell’s graveyard. Those include:

H.R. 95: Homeless Veteran Families Act, passed on October 15, with a 28% chance of being enacted;

H.R. 2045: To establish in the Department the Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration, passed on May 21, with a 2% chance of being enacted;

H.R. 1812, to furnish Vet Center readjustment counseling and related mental health services to certain individuals, passed on May 21, with a 2% chance of being enacted;

H.R. 2333: Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act, passed on May 21, with a 2% chance of being enacted;

H.R. 2372: Veterans’ Care Quality Transparency Act, passed on May 21, with a 2% chance of being enacted.

Since the Senate hasn’t passed any of those bills, McConnell’s remarks marking this day are limited to the anodyne: “The Senate will not be in session on Monday, as we honor Veterans Day. But I know that each of our members will be remembering and giving thanks for all veterans, and for those brave men and women serving today,” he said on the floor last week.

From Moscow Mitch, there’s nothing but lip service to America’s veterans.

===

===

https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/trump-used-money-raised-for-vets-as-campaign-slush-fund-that-should-end-his-political-career

teflon --> kevlar?  attacked mccain and gold star parents?!

==

FOIA’d emails show the VA took no action to spare veterans from a harsh Trump immigration policy

Yeganeh Torbati, Isaac Arnsdorf, Dara Lind / ProPublicaAugust 20, 2019

The VA’s approach differs sharply from the Pentagon’s, which won an exemption for active-duty members of the military.

==

AHA: trump pretends to be pro vet, patriots and some of his tough guy possie, but throws them under the bus repeatedly, claims to have fix VA tho choice/pvt pgm actually done by BO?

===

https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/how-betsy-devoss-department-of-education-props-up-for-profit-educational-companies-and-help-financially-troubled-colleges-rip-off-veterans/

no lnx

How Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education helps financially troubled colleges rip off veterans

Written by Jillian Ambroz / DC Report August 2, 2019

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s move to reverse Obama-era restrictions on for-profit colleges and reinvigorate the shady industry has backfired spectacularly.

Since DeVos and team greenlighted the accreditation of one of the nation’s largest chains of for-profit colleges, Dream Center Education Holdings, and its purchase of schools, thousands of students have been affected by school closures and conversion to nonprofit status. One group of students that have been greatly affected are military veterans, who have racked up useless credits and massive debts that can become the burden of taxpayers and the federal government to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The deregulation efforts of the for-profit college sector began back in 2017, soon after Dream Center—a charity affiliated with aLos Angeles-based megachurch with no higher-education experience—acquired some colleges from a major for-profit player in bankruptcy. DeVos had made it a priority to bolster for-profit schools, according to an article by The New York Times. In addition to relaxing oversight on the sector, DeVos also allowed for-profit schools to convert to non-profit status by loosening the rules of that process.

School closures also cost taxpayers and our federal government hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses in discharged federal student loans.

It’s also come to light that a DeVos aide, Diane Auer Jones, a former lobbyist and executive for for-profit colleges, was granting personal favors to help Dream Center, which controls more than 100 campuses with 50,000 students, to help the company gain accreditation. DeVos, before becoming Education secretary, had invested in companies with ties to for-profit schools.

Back in 2016, Dream Center had its eyes on the failing ITT Technical Institutes but the Obama administration astutely blocked that acquisition as part of its crackdown on the for-profit college sector. And ITT ultimately shuttered its doors. But Dream Center found a new deal that would be blessed and moved forward by DeVos and team to purchase three large for-profit chains, the Art Institutes, Argosy University and South University from the bankrupt Education Management Corp.

Fast forward to the present. Dozens of Dream Center’s campuses are out of money and set to close, more than a dozen more campuses have already been sold—some to a New York private equity firm in a deal arranged by DeVos and team—and more than 40 other schools are under the control of a court-appointed receiver. In total, some 26,000 students have been affected by the demise of Dream Center Education Holdings.

Thousands of those students left scrambling to salvage their education plans are Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients, who are hard targets of the predatory for-profit schools because they can use the GI Bill funds to collect up to 100% in federal aid. For-profit schools must pull in at least 10% of their funding from sources outside of federal aid, the so-called 90/10 rule. But Congress wrote a big loophole, excluding GI Bill funding from the 90% limit, and for-profit schools actively seek-out veterans as students.

“For-profit schools really aggressively target veteran students and spend a ton on marketing, but spend little on instruction,” Walter Ochinko, research director at Veterans Educations Services, told DCReport. “They have large marketing teams that do robocalls all the time and use lead generators to reach out to veterans.”

With the closures of ITT Technical Institutes schools and the failing of Corinthian Colleges Inc., another 12,000 GI Bill students were affected by the failings of the for-profits in the past few years.

“Deregulation efforts have created a situation where vets are being harmed, they don’t have much recourse,” Ochinko said. “When a school closes, there’s only a partial restoration of benefits for veterans. Essentially they are left out in the cold.”

When these schools close, students transferring from for-profit to public schools could lose an estimated 94% of their credits. And if they retain their credits, they often don’t apply toward fulfilling their degree requirements toward their majors, according to a report filed in June by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). For many veteran students, school closures and transfers can exhaust their GI Bill benefits.

School closures also can cost the federal government and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses due to discharged federal student loans.

Lax Oversight

For GI Bill beneficiaries, the Department of Education works with the Veterans Business Affairs agency and State Approving Agencies (SAA), known as “the triad.” State Approving Agencies, state employees under contract with the VA, have the authority to shut down schools and remove GI Bill benefits, the VA does not. But DeVos’ deregulation efforts would undermine protections for GI Bill beneficiaries by making it more difficult for state approving agencies to hold schools accountable, according to a report by Veterans Education Success, which works with military service organizations to educate federal and state policymakers to ensure the success of the GI Bill and its beneficiaries.

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) conducted an audit of the Veterans Business Affairs and state approving agencies oversight of all programs for military veterans from February 2015 through January 2016, and estimated 44 of the 51 state agencies “did not adequately oversee the education and training programs to ensure only eligible programs participated in the Post-9/11 GI Bill program.”

The report, published in December 2018, found that out of an estimated $585 million paid for these “improper payments,” a staggering 81% or $473.8 million went to for-profit schools. If the Veterans Business Affairs agency does not implement oversight and better recommendations to the SAAs about $2.5 billion in related improper payments will go to potentially ineligible programs over the next five years, “putting billions of dollars at risk for fraud and waste and hindering efforts to provide quality education to eligible students,” according to the audit.

Poor Performance

Then there’s the problem of performance at these schools. The for-profit colleges examined in the GAO report showed the lowest graduation percentage of any type of college, at 22% for a four-year program, compared with 73% for public schools and 66% at nonprofit schools. Retention rates for full-time students also lagged, at 56%, compared with 88% for public schools and 85% for nonprofit schools.

The Department of Education recently filed a regulation in June stating plans to loosen requirements and oversight of accreditation agencies, which will only create more incentives for the Dream Centers of the nation.

“Essentially, they are up a creek,” Ochinko said. He and his organization, Veterans Education Success, recommend that Congress restore full benefits to GI Bill students in these circumstances.

Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) recently introduced a bill to close the 90/10 loophole at for-profit colleges, a small step in the right direction.

==

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/06/26/fox-news-host-pete-hegseth-working-profit-college-industry-against-protections-student-veterans/224047

Veterans groups have been asking Congress to close a loophole in the GI Bill that enables for-profit colleges to exploit veterans. The main lobbying group of the scam-plagued industry is fighting back and has recruited Fox News host Pete Hegseth to support their cause. Hegseth has denied that for-profit schools have preyed on veterans, attacked veterans groups as being “really drunk on the swamp,” and said he could potentially lobby President Donald Trump on the issue.

==

619 kos

...Speaking at a Monday conference for U.S. military veterans in Virginia, Donald Trump suggested those who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder when they return from war are not as “strong” as those who are able to “handle it.”

This coming from a man who is afraid of an American Eagle, 5 deferments and would not be able have anyone’s back if he had gone to a warzone.  He is more than despicable.  He is not worthy to breathe our oxygen.

When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over — and you’re strong and you can handle it — but a lot of people can’t handle it,” the Republican nominee said while taking questions at the Retired American Warriors event in Herndon, Va.

...

==

619 an

United States has never offered much more than lip service to military veterans, especially those of color. The “support the troops“ spiel is mostly employed to get politicians elected or the Pentagon’s budget increased. Now a new government report reveals just how little consideration some U.S. soldiers receive when they return home.

According to a report released last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) completely lacks records concerning the deportations of former military service members.

Historically, non-citizens have been vital to the nation’s military success. More than 100,000 lawful permanent residents have served in the U.S. armed forces since 2001.

Typically, if a foreign-born service member received an honorable discharge, he or she is eligible for citizenship. But it is not automatic — and some veterans don’t realize they must then apply for citizenship.

“Anyone with an honorable discharge … will not be subject to any kind of deportation,” former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters last year, announcing an agreement he said was made with former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Although every veteran’s case is supposed to be reviewed by a senior ICE official, the GAO’s investigation found that the agency didn’t bother to do this in 70%  of the cases.

...

==

Veterans are concerned about climate change, and that matters

Matthew Motta, University of Pennsylvania; Jennifer Spindel, University of Oklahoma, and Robert Ralston, University of Minnesota

Military veterans have concerns about climate change at about the same level as nonveterans, a recent study suggests. What might this mean for acceptance of climate science?

:{

}:

:{

News that the Trump administration plans to create a panel devoted to challenging government warnings about climate change has been met with opposition from members of the U.S. military. Citing concerns about the effects of climate change on national security, more than four dozen top-ranking military officials came out in opposition to the Trump administration’s plan.

Military concern about the effects of climate change on national security is not new. Months before former Secretary James Mattis left the Defense Department in January 2019, he acknowledged that increased coastal flooding and tropical storms, resulting from rising average global temperatures, pose a threat to as many as one-third of U.S. military bases.

In addition to its potential effect on military infrastructure, climate change could pose threats to global security. A recent IPCC report predicts that rising global temperatures, drought and other extreme weather patterns are likely to become more frequent and severe across the globe. This could create competition and conflict for increasingly scarce water and agricultural resources, particularly in the developing world or in fragile states.

Although climate change could pose major risks to national security, few have asked current and veteran members of the armed forces what they think about climate change and its potential effects. Our new survey research finds that most U.S. veteran members of the armed services in our sample think that the planet is warming, and many of them are concerned about what climate change means for U.S. security.

Combating climate change: A call to arms?

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, pictured Nov. 26, 2018 in Doral, Florida. Brynn Anderson/AP Photo

Past and present members of the military are more likely to support politically conservative views than politically liberal ones. But to characterize the military as uniformly conservative misses an important element of nuance.

Numerous surveys of active duty service members and veterans in the early 2000s demonstrated that enlisted members of the military tended to vote in patterns similar to their civilian counterparts. However, recent research has pointed to a shift rightward within the military and found that higher-ranking officers and younger vets are especially more likely to be conservative, identify as Republicans, and support President Trump than nonveterans.

Despite their conservative tendencies, there is reason to suspect that armed forces members are concerned about the effects of climate change – a position held most commonly by ideological liberals. Service members might, for example, have observed the impact of major storms or rising sea levels on the day-to-day functioning of military bases. Or they could have used weapons systems that run on renewable energy sources, including aircraft, tanks and solar energy-powered backpacks.

The Pentagon is continuing to take steps to address climate change, despite President Trump saying such preparation should stop. U.S. military personnel are thus likely to have more experience with climate change effects, solutions to it or both.

Our study

To study past and present military personnel’s attitudes about climate change, we conducted a survey between Jan. 17-21, 2019 of 293 U.S. active duty or veteran service members, recruited via the online service Lucid. While this sample is not perfectly representative of the military writ large, it is both ideologically and demographically diverse. Our sample closely resembles veteran population benchmarks on race, educational attainment, and, perhaps most importantly, party identification.

We asked two related questions. First, we asked respondents which of the following statements is closest to their view: (1) “The Earth is getting warmer mostly because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels;” (2) “The Earth is getting warmer mostly because of natural patterns in the Earth’s environment; (3) "There is no solid evidence that the Earth is getting warmer;” or (4) “not sure.”

If respondents answered that the Earth is getting warmer, we then asked how likely it is that “U.S. military bases in coastal or island regions will be damaged by flooding or severe storms” and that “Drought and famine will cause international military conflict for food and water resources.”

First, the survey results showed that even though veterans and active duty service members tend to be politically conservative, their levels of belief in human-caused climate change are virtually the same. In our sample, 44 percent of veterans and active duty service members expressed belief in anthropogenic climate change. This tracks closely with nationally representative estimates of anthropogenic climate change consensus in the U.S. adult population. A 2016 Pew survey that featured a question identical to ours found about 48 percent believed in anthropogenic climate change (although some surveys asking other versions of this question, like this 2018 survey from Gallup, sometimes find higher levels). The results also track closely with a recent survey on the Lucid platform, used to conduct our study, which found that about 50 percent of Americans believe in human-caused climate change.

Second, we found that many veterans and active duty service members are concerned about the effects that climate change might have on security. More than three-quarters, 77 percent, of respondents consider it fairly or very likely that military bases in coastal or island regions will be damaged by flooding or severe storms as a result of climate change. Fewer veterans and active duty service members – 61 percent – consider drought and famine-driven international military conflict over food and water resources fairly or very likely to occur.

Third, we found that veterans and active duty service members who accept the scientific consensus on the causes of climate change are considerably more likely to be concerned about its effects on national security than those who do not.

To be specific, 87 percent of veterans and active duty service members who accept anthropogenic climate change consider damage to U.S. military bases in coastal or island regions due to flooding or severe storms fairly or very likely to occur, compared to 64 percent of those who do not accept anthropogenic climate change. And, 70 percent of veterans and active duty service members who accept anthropogenic climate change consider drought and famine causing international military conflict for food and water resources fairly or very likely to occur, compared to 49 percent of those who do not accept anthropogenic climate change.

Why this matters

U.S. citizens appreciate and respect veterans. Some believe that veterans’ views on climate change could influence others. fiyaazz/Shutterstock.com

Belief in climate change among past and active military personnel is noteworthy, because veterans are an important and influential voting block in American politics. Veterans comprise about 7 percent of the U.S. voting population, and millions of dollars are spent every year trying to win their political support, and advance their policy priorities US$13 million in independent expenditures.

Service members’ views could also affect the views of civilians, thus also pressuring political leaders to take action. The American public is deferential to and has a high degree of trust in the military. If enough veterans express concern about climate change, this reliably conservative voting bloc may push Republican officials to take policy action on climate change.

}:

==

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/we-were-just-used-give-trump-money-veterans-say-saudi-regime-duped-them-funnel

In  a detailed new report Wednesday, journalists David Fahrenthold and Jonathan O'Connell at the Washington Post showed how the Saudi regime used a veterans group to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into President Donald Trump's business — an incident that has become emblematic of the Emoluments Clause case against the president.

The Constitution's Emoluments Clause bars the president and other officials from receving payments from foreign governments while in office. Attorneys general from Washington D.C. and Maryland are currently bringing a case against the president because his continued control of his business empire has allowed him to receive such payments.

And the Saudis, it seems, have been big customers. The Post reported that lobbyists for Saudi Arabia spent $270,000 at Trump International Hotel in D.C. shortly after Trump's election in 2016. It also found that the regime is finding other avenues to pay Trump money:

Since February 2017, Saudi customers have boosted the bottom line at two other Trump hotels. In Chicago, the Trump hotel’s internal statisticsshowed a sharp uptick in customers from Saudi Arabia after Trump took office. In New York this year, the general manager of Trump’s hotel at Central Park said a single stay by some Saudi customers — who were traveling with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman —was so lucrative, it helped the hotel turn a profit for the quarter.

But the D.C. case is particularly galling because of the way it used veterans.

Fahrenthold and O'Connell report that the lobbying firm Qorvis/MSLGroup, working for the Saudis, paid for groups of veterans to have lavish stays at Trump's hotel while lobbying lawmakers against legislation the reigme opposed. But many of the veterans said they didn't realize the Saudi regime was paying for the trip or that they only found out later, leaving them feeling "duped."

Michael Gibson, who helped organize the trips, insisted that the veterans were informed of the funding source and that the aim was not to win favorable treatment from the president by paying his businesses.

However, Henry Garcia, a Navy Veteran who took the trip, told the Post that once he found out the regime was behind the event, he said to himself, "Oh, we were just used to give Trump money.”

Perhaps most damning of all about the report is that the veterans weren't even provided with sufficient training to be good lobbyists. If the operation wasn't aiming to actually influence law, it seems more likely that it was used to directly influence the president.

All of this is espcially damning because of Trump's behavior toward Saudi Arabia. He has consistently touted the regime as a central ally, even though this claim is dubious, and the administration has supported the ongoing war and human rights catastrophe in Yemen. Most recently, the administration has been helping to cover up the evidence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's involvement in the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

After receiving criticism for his shady ties to the country, the president said on Nov. 20, "I have no business whatsoever with Saudi Arabia."

Even the mere appearance of foreign corruption, putting aside the frightful amount of evidence of corruption, should be reason enough for the president to be blocked from receiving these funds. It's intolerable to think the country's foreign policy might be driven by Trump's private greed.

==

===

also AN

Semper WTF? Trump tells FOX News that he only supports the military when they bow down to him

throws vets under bus

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trumps-use-and-abuse-military-reveals-even-his-core-promises-are-worthless

Among Donald Trump's favorite stump-speech cliches is insisting on his fervent veneration of our military veterans. He often posts flowery tweets about them too, referring to them as "amazing people" and promising to "take care of the vets" because "we love the vets." It is a sentiment that almost every politician -- or citizen -- should be able to utter with perfect sincerity.

Given the insults he has heaped on veterans lately, those words now sound as hollow as any other Trump lie.

Twice in three days, the president decided not to show up at ceremonies honoring American veterans, evidently fearing rain. (Were his old bone spurs acting up? Or was he afraid of disturbing that vulnerable comb-over on his head?)

Visiting France to commemorate the centennial of the World War I armistice last weekend, Trump canceled his scheduled appearance to honor more than 2,000 of our dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial. He made matters worse by lying about the reason, claiming that his helicopter couldn't fly due to weather. But he could easily have traveled by car instead.

This pathetic display inspired the French Army to troll Trump on Twitter with a photo of a young recruit braving an obstacle course amid drenching precipitation. The caption, translated roughly, said: "It's raining but no big deal. We're motivated."

Back in Washington on Veterans Day, the president simply skipped the annual ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Imagine the indignant rebukes that would have poured forth from Trump -- and dozens of other Republicans -- if former President Barack Obama had simply blown off that hallowed hour, as he never did and never would.

On that same national holiday, Trump had time to type an early morning tweet. He urged Florida election officials to end recounts of the state's races for senator and governor. He whined that the recount process is "infected," for which there is no evidence. To throw out absentee ballots would also mean discarding the votes of thousands of service members -- just another casual insult to those who sacrifice for American freedom.

And of course, Trump has done greater damage still to American service members and their families merely for his partisan advantage.

At the moment, more than 7,000 soldiers are coping with muddy roads, cold weather and other challenges as they construct temporary bases near the Mexican border. According to Trump, their mission is to deter that terrifying "caravan" of destitute women and children heading northward from Central America. In reality, their deployment was nothing but a wasteful stunt.

Now the midterm elections are over, but Trump's political misuse of those unfortunate troops will continue at least until Dec. 15 -- depriving them of a chance to spend Thanksgiving with their families and perhaps ruining Christmas for many of them as well.

The disturbing truth is that Trump sees the military and veterans not through the eyes of a democratically elected commander but a self-glorifying despot. That is why he so brazenly insulted the service of the late John McCain and Captain Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq defending fellow soldiers in his unit. That is why he has only gone to Dover Air Force Base on a single occasion to meet the coffins of the fallen -- and why he has yet to visit troops on combat duty abroad. But he wants them to hold a big parade that makes a chicken hawk look powerful.

In this, as in so many things, he is a disgrace to his office. And his conduct mocks every Republican who still pretends that he is a patriot.

To find out more about Joe Conason

==

==

https://www.alternet.org/here-are-10-hard-truths-about-war-veterans-day-and-every-other-day

eisenberg

Veterans Day, which Americans celebrate on November 11, was originally called Armistice Day, to commemorate the cessation of fighting in the Great War of 1914-1918. In the United States, the idea that this was “the war to end all wars,” (a phrase coined by H.G. Wells in a pamphlet of that name and echoed by Woodrow Wilson with equal earnestness) was challenged by an outspoken and persecuted peace movement, including poor farmers and black Americans conscripted at disproportionate rates.

Most Americans may have accepted the justification at the war's start, but by the war's end, with a U.S. body count of 117,000 and double that in serious injuries (and 37 million casualties overall on both sides, 16 million deaths and 21 million wounded), the signing of the Armistice by Allies and Germans at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 was met with celebration that it might mean a true “end of war.” In 1919, a year later, Armistice Day was established to celebrate "the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed."

After World War II and the Korean War, and the start of a heated Cold War, it was clear to the government that an armistice and peace were not in sync with the times. In 1954, Congress changed the name of the November 11 holiday to Veterans Day, exchanging peace for celebrating patriotic valor, and the ultimate sacrifice of life, limb and health in battling for one's country.

Today's veterans are survivors of more than a half century of American wars—World War II, Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, the 1991 Gulf War (which has never been officially declared over), and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As we celebrate our veterans this week, we would do well to remember the following realities that the public is barely aware of, but veterans know only too well:

1)It took almost 50 years for the government to acknowledge the suffering of more than 200,000 U.S. veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange, which the U.S. military used for a decade to defoliate forests and destroy food sources in Vietnam. Despite higher incidences of cancer, neurological, digestive, skin, lung and heart disorders along with miscarriages and birth defects, the DoD denied any linkage of exposure and disease, and disability claims, which veterans initiated in 1977 were mostly denied. By 1993 only 400 veterans exposed to Agent Orange had been granted some compensation.

Class action suits against companies like Monsanto and Dow Chemical settled out of court for small amounts. After much advocacy by veterans and their supporters, the 1991 Agent Orange Act was passed, allowing the VA to declare specific conditions "presumptive" to Agent Orange. This summer the list was expanded to include B cell leukemias, such as hairy cell leukemia, Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease. Still, after five decades, compensation is small with the vast majority of awards at 20 percent or $243 montly.

2)Almost a third of the 700,000 veterans of the 1991 Gulf War suffer from a profound physiological disorder called Gulf War Illness (formerly Gulf War Syndrome). For almost 20 years, the DoD and VA insisted that psychological stress alone was the cause of the fatigue, mood disorders, cognition and memory problems, and disorders of every physical system as well as birth defects of veterans' children. To date, some 11,000 veterans have died from the illness, and most survivors continue to suffer chronic symptoms. In 2008, the Gulf War Research Advisory Committee (RAC) reported what veterans have known too well—that wartime toxins, not stress, caused profound physical illness in almost 300,000 veterans of Desert Storm.

RAC identified in particular a class of neurotoxins found in experimental anti-nerve gas pills that troops were forced to take upon threat of court martial, pesticides and sarin gas, which plumed for hundreds of miles when Iraq munition storage facilities known to contain nerve gas were exploded. RAC did not rule out vaccines or depleted uranium, pioneered during the Gulf War for its ability to penetrate most anything. Yet the RAC report's recommendations for immediate interventions and programs have not been followed, but rather remain the subject of further study by the Institute of Medicine.

3) Veterans of ongoing fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered a variety of physical traumas beyond the widespread maiming and loss of limbs. Last year, the DoD warned that as many as 20 percent of veterans (360,000) may have suffered traumatic brain injury from IED blasts. Blast injuries generally do not result in skull fractures or loss of consciousness, yet the Institute of Medicine has reported that these traumatic brain injuries may cause diffuse brain bleeding and result in PTSD and problems with mood, concentration, memory, pain, balance, hearing and vision.

In addition, veterans have suffered multiple toxic exposures, including contaminated water, and dioxin and other carcinogenic compounds from the widespread use of burn pits instead of incinerators in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everything from refrigerators to trucks to body parts has been reported burning in the vast pits, which spew black smoke for miles and cause the black phlegm known as “Iraq crud.” Several class action suits have been filed against contractors like KBR on behalf of veterans sickened by toxic exposure.

4) On any given night, more than 200,000 veterans are homeless, and 1.5 million veterans are considered at risk for homelessness. Because of lack of work, support networks and substandard housing, veterans without homes have served in every war with surviving populations--World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, the 1991 Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vietnam veterans have long comprised the largest portion of the homeless veteran population, but veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become homeless much sooner than veterans of the Vietnam War did. PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause severe psychiatric symptoms from mood disorders to depression, aggressive and dangerous behaviors, substance abuse and alcoholism. In addition to psychiatric, neurological and physical injury, multiple deployments, the high cost of housing, reduced job opportunities, and low wages endanger family stability, employability and maintaining a steady residence.

5) The population of homeless women has skyrocketed from 5 to 20 percent over the last decade as more women are deployed into battle. Women veterans are two to four times more likely than non-veteran women to be homeless. Approximately 40 percent of homeless female veterans of today's wars report being sexually assaulted by male soldiers while in service, with sexual abuse being a major risk factor for homeless according to the VA Homeless Programs director. Fifty-six percent of all homeless veterans are African American or Hispanic, despite being only 12.8 percent and 15.4 percent of the population, respectively.

6) According to VA figures gathered by the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense through FOIA, almost 600,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are patients in the VA system. Thousands more wait as much as a year for VA treatment for serious ailments including traumatic brain injury. Forty-eight percent (243,685) are mental health patients and 28 percent (143,530) are being treated for PTSD. A recent internal VA memo revealed systematic gaming of the VA application process, whereby bureaucrats at facilities seek to improve access data by denying treatment.

7) Every day, five U.S. soldiers attempt suicide, a 500 percent increase since 2001. Every day 18 U.S. veterans attempt suicide, more than four times the national average. Of the 30,000 suicides each year in the U.S., 20 percent are committed by veterans, though veterans make up only 7.6 percent of the population. Female veteran suicide is rising at a rate higher than male veteran suicides.

8) The number of U.S. service men and women killed in Afghanistan has doubled in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same quarter last year. In the first two months of 2010, injuries tripled.

9)Estimates of civilian deaths from violence in Iraq alone range from a conservative 105,000 (Iraq Body Count project) to over 1.2 million (UK pollster Opinion Research Business), with estimates by Johns Hopkins at 655,000. More than 125,000 civilians have been injured in Iraq and 4 million displaced, with civilian death and injury in 2010 rising each month. By most estimates, tens of thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed or injured since the 2001 invasion; over 200,00 have been internally displaced; and over two million have become refugees, with civilian deaths and injuries rising dramatically in 2010. Since the Vietnam War, the major toxic exposures to troops and veterans, from Agent Orange to depleted uranium, have affected local populations catastrophically.

10) U.S. veterans live with these horrific realities daily. Many are acutely aware as they suffer, of the suffering they have inflicted on others.

==

AN holland, j 

818

*****

Embracing the reality of Trumpism means acknowledging the myriad ways in which he's broadened and deepened the swamp. Consider just a week of headlines about how his regime has made life easier for the plutocracy by giving them opportunities to fuck over working America -- in some cases, disproportionately targeting Trump's own credulous base.

"The Trump administration is planning to suspend routine examinations of lenders for violations of the Military Lending Act, which was devised to protect military service members and their families from financial fraud, predatory loans and credit card gouging," reported *The New York Times* this week.According to the exit polls, military veterans voted for Trump by a 2-1 ratio.

(Back in April, The Timesalso reported that Mulvaney had "advise[d] bankers on ways to curtail" his own agency's abilities to oversee their industry.)

A tangentially related story that did get prominent coverage this week was ProPublica's report about how three of Trump's "cronies" from Mar-a-Lago who have never "served in the U.S. military or government" are "exerting sweeping influence" on the regime's policies for veterans.

*****

===https://www.alternet.org/cost-war-end-empire

mem day

==

https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/2/veterans_helped_trump_win_but_critics

univ of phoenix

===

creditor corinthan with CoC, aei ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/davidhalperin/50000-owed-money-by-corin_b_7212134.html

==

n 2014, ProPublica published an investigation of USA Discounters, a subprime lender that, contrary to its name, specialized in enticing military service members into overpaying for furniture, electronics and appliances. When they fell behind on the high-interest loans, the company often took them to court in Virginia — a few miles from the company’s headquarters, but often nowhere near where the service members were based. With court judgments in hand, the company gained the power to seize money from soldiers’ paychecks or bank accounts.

Since our story ran, USA Discounters has gone out of business and declared bankruptcy, but still has faced legal challenges over its practices. This summer the company settled with the attorney general of Colorado over a suit filed last year.

The state’s suit focused on the company’s collection techniques, but it also alleged that USA Discounters had charged interest rates above what is allowed in Colorado. The deal involves a penalty of $1 million and breaks for thousands of customers on outstanding debt. Although the company has shut down its stores, it continues to collect on outstanding loans.

As part of the deal, USA Discounters did not admit or deny wrongdoing. The company disclosed in a filing in its bankruptcy case that other regulatory investigations are ongoing.

In addition to settling with USA Discounters, Colorado’s attorney general also settled a separate suit with two other retailers, Freedom Furniture and Electronics and Military Credit Services. These businesses, owned by a pair of brothers, used practices similar to those of USA Discounters. As we reported in 2014, these three companies had filed more than 35,000 collection suits in Virginia courts since 2006. And like USA Discounters, Freedom has also been hit with other investigations: In late 2014, Freedom settled similar lawsuits brought by two other states and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It closed its stores last year.

Colorado’s attorney general said that, together, the settlements with USA Discounters and Freedom would net $3.9 million in redress for harmed consumers. Freedom also did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement with Colorado.

==

http://www.propublica.org/article/company-that-sued-soldiers-closes-its-stores

http://www.propublica.org/article/thank-you-for-your-service-how-one-company-sues-soldiers-worldwide USA Discounters predatory

==

69-Year-Old Vietnam Vet with Throat Cancer Freezes to Death After Company Shuts off His Gas

==

Murtha left the Marines in 1955. He remained in the Reserves after his discharge from active duty until he volunteered for service in the Vietnam War, serving from 1966 to 1967, serving as a battalion staff officer (S-2 Intelligence Section), receiving the Bronze Star with Valor device, two Purple Hearts, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Colonel in 1990, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

=

Prominent Democrats

Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Working Assets Wireless

   Rick Noriega, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas -- joined the U.S. Army in 1979; currently Lt. Colonel in Texas Army National Guard, served in Afghanistan. (1)

   Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) -- rifle platoon and company commander with the Fifth Marine Regiment in the An Hoa Basin west of Danang; was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts. (1)

   Representative Tim Walz, D-MN - Twenty-four years of service in the Army National Guard, retiring in 2005.

   Representative Joe Sestak, D-PA - 31 years of service in the Navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral.

   Representative Chris Carney, D-PA - Lieutenant Commander in the United States Naval Reserve, Carney served multiple tours overseas and was activated for Operation Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle, and Southern Watch.

   Representative Patrick Murphy, D-PA - extensive career in the U.S. Army from 1993-2004; earned Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation.

   Representative Phil Hare, D-IL - Served in the United States Army Reserve for six years.

   Representative Jack Murtha (D-PA) - distinguished 37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in 1990. (1)

   Former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt - Missouri Air National Guard, 1965-71. (1, 2)

   Representative David Bonior - Staff Sgt., United States Air Force 1968-72 (1, 2)

   Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle - 1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72 (1, 2)

   Former Vice President Al Gore - enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon. More facts about Gore's Service

   Former Senator Bob Kerrey... Democrat... Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam (1, 2)

   Senator Daniel Inouye, US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two (1, 2)

   Senator John Kerry, Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat (1)

   Representative Charles Rangel, Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea (1, 2)

   Former Senator Max Cleland, Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam (1, 2)

   Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) - U.S. Army Reserve, 1968-1975.

   Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - U.S. Army, 1951-1953. (1)

   Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) - Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. (1, 2)

   Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) - U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91 (1)

   Former Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) - served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons. (1)

   Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA) - Lt. Col., U.S. Army 1956-76; two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal. (1, 2)

   Former Representative "Pete" Peterson, Air Force Captain, POW, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit. (1, 2)

   Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA: Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart. (1, 2)

   Bill McBride, Democratic Candidate for Florida Governor - volunteered and served as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam; awarded Bronze Star with a combat "V." (1)

   Gray Davis, former California Governor, Army Captain in Vietnam; received Bronze Star. (1)

   Pete Stark, D-CA, served in the Air Force 1955-57

   Wesley Clark, Democratic Presidential Candidate - 38-year career of public service in the Army, culminating as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

Who's that guy shaking hands with Don Rumsfeld? Was this footage shot on Rumsfeld's first trip to Baghdad, Dec. 19-20, 1983? Or was it on his second visit, March 24, 1984, the VERY SAME DAY that Iraq was using mustard gas and Tabun in its war with Iran?

Prominent Republicans

   Representative Patrick McHenry, R-NC - did not serve. Saw fit to endanger American troops' lives after a visit to Iraq by violating operational security and helping militias target their mortar attacks on the Green Zone.

   Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY - did not serve (1)

   Senate Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-MI - avoided the draft, did not serve.

   Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, R-AZ - did not serve.

   Senate Republican Conference Vice Chair John Cornyn, R-TX - did not serve.

   National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign, R-NV - did not serve.

   House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH - did not serve.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-MO - did not serve.

   House Republican Conerence Chair Adam Putnam, R-FL - did not serve.

   House Republican Policy Committee Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI - did not serve.

   National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-OK - did not serve.

   Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani - did not serve.

   Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney - did not serve in the military but did serve the Mormon Church on a 30-month mission to France.

   Former Senator Fred Thompson - did not serve.

   Senator John McCain - McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Why did the Bush campaign smear him so in 2000? At least Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him.

   Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - avoided the draft, did not serve.

   Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey - avoided the draft, did not serve.

   Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay - avoided the draft, did not serve (1). "So many minority youths had volunteered ... that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself."

   Former House Majority Whip Roy Blunt - did not serve

   Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - did not serve. (An impressive medical resume, but not such a friend to cats in Boston.)

Rick Santorum, R-PA, formerly third ranking Republican in the Senate - did not serve. (1)

George Felix Allen, former Republican Senator from Virginia - a supporter of Nixon and the Vietnam war, did not serve. (1)

   Former Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld - served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. (1) Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984.

   GW Bush - decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means four years. Still says that he's "been to war." Huh?

   VP Cheney - several deferments (1, 2), the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service") (1)

Former Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft - did not serve (1, 2); received seven deferment to teach business ed at SW Missouri State

   Jeb Bush, Florida Governor - did not serve. (1)

   The wealthy have never yet sacrificed themselves upon the altar of patriotism. Graphic courtesy Bartcop.com. Thanks, Bartcop!

Karl Rove - avoided the draft, did not serve (1), too busy being a Republican.

   Former Speaker Newt Gingrich - avoided the draft, did not serve (1, 2)

   Former President Ronald Reagan - due to poor eyesight, served in a noncombat role making movies for the Army in southern California during WWII. He later seems to have confused his role as an actor playing a tail gunner with the real thing.

"B-1" Bob Dornan - avoided Korean War combat duty by enrolling in college acting classes (Orange County Weekly article). Enlisted only after the fighting was over in Korea.

   Phil Gramm - avoided the draft, did not serve, four (?) student deferments

Congressman Ron Paul- active duty flight surgeon from 1963-65; Air National Guard from 1965-68. (link)

   Former Senator Bob Dole - an honorable man. http://www.bobdole.org/bio/wwII.php

   Chuck Hagel - two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam. http://www.senate.gov/~hagel/Information/bio.htm

   Duke Cunningham - nominated for the Medal of Honor, received the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, fifteen Air Medals, the Purple Heart, and several other decorations Recently entered plea bargain on felony charges of bribery, etc. etc.

   Senator Jeff Sessions U.S. Army Reserves, 1973-1986

   Colin Powell. What are we to make of Powell? On the one hand, a long career as a military manager. On the other hand, accused of covering up the My Lai massacre. Back on that first hand, one of the seemingly sane voices in this administration when it comes to Iraq (or at least he used to be). On the other hand, a clear hypocrite ("I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units...")

   Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), served in USMC in Vietnam; wounded in action.