The Department of Veterans Affairs office dedicated to rooting out racism and harassment is itself a “hostile, toxic work environment with a permissive culture of rampant gossiping and innuendo,” where multiple layers of top officials participated in and covered up sexual harassment, an internal agency review concluded.
At one point, a senior manager fired a mid-level manager because both men wanted to sexually harass the same employee. When a complaint was filed, a political appointee sat on it, apparently partly for racial reasons.
The 125-page report paints a shocking portrait of the 400-person diversity office, in which employees spent much of their time filing complaints against each other instead of serving veterans. Employees engaged in “self-aggrandizing,” petty turf wars, and planned wasteful events, including one junket in which nine people travelled to dispense “diversity” training that was supposed to have been done by one person.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Harvey Johnson, the leader of the Office of Resolution Management, Diversity &amp; Inclusion (ORMDI), retired when confronted with evidence of his department&#8217;s behavior, as well as allegations that he had swept misconduct &#8220;under the rug.&#8221;
Archie Davis, the ORMDI Chief of Staff, has been moved to a different office pending discipline after the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP) concluded that he &#8220;engaged in misconduct of a sexual nature with a subordinate employee, including while he was in her direct chain of command,&#8221; &#8220;sexted&#8217; with a different subordinate employee,&#8221; covered up allegations against colleague, and a slew of other infractions.
The findings come as the VA has made some of the most bizarre and inflammatory “diversity” moves in the Biden administration — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/veterans-affairs-rescinds-memo-banning-v-j-day-kiss-photo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including an attempted ban on the iconic photo</a> that celebrated victory over Japan in World War II, and a new policy that could tamper with medical assessments to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-wants-more-black-veterans-declared-mentally-disabled-in-the-name-of-equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deny benefits to white suicidal veterans</a> in the name of racial equity.
ORMDI is tasked with harassment prevention, equal employment opportunity, and diversity and inclusion for the VA, yet “the very office tasked with enforcing” such things itself engaged in wanton harassment and bizarre racism, according to the OAWP report, which was dated January 26 and obtained by The Daily Wire.
A female employee provided OAWP with messages showing that after meeting chief of staff Davis for the first time in early 2023, he began sending her flirtatious texts and copying her on emails in which he bullied subordinates, seemingly to boast of his power and to show what could be in store for her if she did not cooperate.
Western Region Supervisor Gary Richardson was also sexually harassing the same employee. She said that he would hound her on Microsoft Teams with personal chatter as they worked, and that he told her when she was not available, he would stare at her photo &#8220;to get my fix.&#8221; When she travelled to D.C. for work, he told her he had a &#8220;pass&#8221; from his wife and pressured her to go out with him.
And on March 2, Davis recommended that Richardson be fired for it, writing that &#8220;the predatory electronic messages should be sufficient to present Gary with the option of resignation of retirement in lieu of removal.&#8221;
<blockquote>
<h1>&#8220;Good morning Sexy!&#8230; Ain&#8217;t just attracted to your curves and those physical attributes that cause men to holler at ya. Your bold, audacious disposition and your alpha female demeanor are equally a turn-on for me.&#8221;</h1>
</blockquote>
This was seemingly not because he, as Davis wrote, &#8220;breach[ed] that sacred line,&#8221; but because he was competition. Nine days later, Davis himself texted the employee: &#8220;Good morning Sexy! &#8230; Ain&#8217;t just attracted to your curves and those physical attributes that cause men to holler at ya. Your bold, audacious disposition and your alpha female demeanor are equally a turn-on for me.&#8221;
Davis subjected her to messages such as one that said, &#8220;I wanna make you lose your mind. When I&#8217;m thumping your clit with my tongue and you grab my head, I&#8217;ll keep it right there til you shiver and quiver and beg me to pound you,&#8221; according to screenshots obtained by The Daily Wire.
On another occasion, he sent her porn and texted her at 4:43am, &#8220;I hope you like it early in the morning. Often I imagine how good it will be to roll over on top of you and start the day by filling you up.&#8221;
The victim said that Davis &#8220;would always try to persuade me with money,&#8221; such as free trips to D.C., and told her &#8220;once you get on his bad side, you will feel his wrath.&#8221;
By July, when the woman was still not receptive, Davis got snippy, saying, &#8220;We&#8217;ve been talking for a year and I have been clear on my interest&#8230; My intent was to have it all with you.&#8221; Soon after, she became the subject of his chest-thumping bureaucratic missives, with him writing to her, &#8220;any further attempts to extend your official travel at this conference beyond August 10, 2023 will be viewed as further insubordination and will be dealt with as such.&#8221;
Six complaints resulted in little reform, with the victim eventually reaching out directly to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who did not respond. &#8220;With Harvey and Archie being in a position of power&#8230; I felt like it wasn&#8217;t going to go nowhere,&#8221; she said.
Davis’ misconduct “was so wide-ranging, pervasive, and widely known” that ORMDI Deputy Assistant Secretary Johnson “either knew or should have” known about it, yet he continued to give Davis “outstanding” performance reviews, OAWP said.
When Johnson received a complaint about &#8220;erratic behavior&#8221; by Davis impacting &#8220;the safety of staff,&#8221; he did not take any documented action. It recommended that Johnson have his previous bonuses clawed back so he could not simply evade accountability by retiring with a pension.
The diversity office’s day-to-day actions seemed to have virtually no bearing on the wellness of veterans. The report said that ODMI is responsible for the &#8220;Diversity and Inclusion Program&#8221; which travels across the country to conduct &#8220;technical assistance reviews (TARs),&#8221; which VA policy says &#8220;may be composed of one or two members.&#8221; ORMDI would add employees to these junkets for trivial purposes such as taking notes or the be &#8220;extras.&#8221;
One employee said it was &#8220;fraud, waste, and abuse. You know, we had &#8212; I kid you not &#8212; maybe eight, nine people on this TAR that was [sic] sittin&#8217; around.&#8221;
Another employee alleged that even though ORMDI had 400 employees, it hired outside contractors to do actual work.
The VA diversity office was so chaotic that investigators from another agency, the US Postal Service, were called in to address their many complaints against each other. While some complaints showed severe misconduct, others evidenced bizarre, adolescent dysfunction or were petty, high-school style gossip.
Employees often gossiped about whether the purpose of their many junkets was for particular employees to have sex with each other, and filed complaints based on sniping and rumors.
Some sexual activity in the DEI office was consensual. One employee was happy that chief of staff Davis called her his &#8220;big brown sugar,&#8221; told him she wanted to &#8220;suck him dry,&#8221; and asked him about anal sex.
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) said that VA officials explained a delay in convening an investigation in part because they thought someone could only be investigated by a person of the same race.
Secretary McDonough acknowledged receiving an email from a whistleblower about the scandal, but said he could not recall his response clearly. The employees remained on the job even after House VA Committee Chair Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) wrote to him about it because he did not read the chairman&#8217;s letter, despite congressional correspondence being part of his daily briefing.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t read the letters tab every day. And I&#8217;ve just ignored it,&#8221; McDonough said. &#8220;That is one of the things that really bothers me about it, and I saw no other way to address it than to just come clean.&#8221;
Gina Grosso, the Assistant Secretary for HRA/OSP, failed to take prompt action, explaining to OAWP that “there were so many complaints at once, and it took time to figure out who was the grieved, and it&#8217;s several things on my plate — on the plate. I don&#8217;t think I have any other great explanation, honestly.”
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Grosso, a political appointee of Joe Biden, announced her resignation the day after Congress raised the issue.
“The sheer volume of complaints arising in ORMDI should have put [Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness] leaders on notice of the dysfunctional situation in ORMDI, but HRA/OSP leadership failed to take sufficient actions,” it said, referring to the human resources department that houses the DEI office.
In a February 14 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pEafd-tYAU&amp;t=3s">congressional hearing</a>, Secretary McDonough said although a whistleblower contacted him about the issue, he didn’t remember it, and it didn’t get his attention when Bost wrote to him about it, because “I’ve just ignored” letters from Congress.
“The person who failed here is me,” McDonough told the committee. “This behavior suggests a real culture issue in ORMDI.”
The report concluded that &#8220;given the systemic deficiencies and failures documented in this report, VA must take immediate action to restore VA employees&#8217; trust in ORMDI.&#8221;
The VA did not return a request for information from The Daily Wire.

Left: Deputy Assistant Secretary Harvey Johnson, the VA’s top DEI official. Right: His chief of staff, Archie Davis (Department of Veterans Affairs). Center: A statue of the iconic V-J kiss photo that was banned by the VA for being non-inclusive (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

DEI Office In Biden’s VA Is ‘Hostile, Toxic’ With Rampant Sexual Misconduct, Internal Probe Finds

Biden Administration

Department of Veterans Affairs

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Sexual Harassment

Sexual Misconduct

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it is not banning the use of the famous World War II photo showing a sailor kissing a woman in white after an internal memo directed otherwise.
The famous &#8220;V-J Day&#8221; photo shows a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a total stranger in Times Square in the immediate aftermath of the news that Japan had surrendered.
The memo last month from RimaAnn Nelson, the Veterans Health Administration’s top operations official directed VA medical facilities to &#8220;promptly&#8221; remove the photo and replace it with something more appropriate
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
EXCLUSIVE: 
The Department Of Veterans Affairs just BANNED the V-J Day kiss photo from all department facilities.
&quot;To promote a culture of inclusivity and awareness… your cooperation is vital.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/MZfNHbpV76">pic.twitter.com/MZfNHbpV76</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1765005503040499813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities &#8211; and we will keep it in VA facilities. <a href="https://t.co/dYSikLxHAJ">pic.twitter.com/dYSikLxHAJ</a>
&mdash; Secretary Denis McDonough (@SecVetAffairs) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecVetAffairs/status/1765030481299460188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“The photograph, which depicts a non-consensual act, is inconsistent with the VA’s no-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and assault,” the memo <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2024/03/05/va-reverses-plan-to-ban-iconic-wwii-kiss-photo-from-medical-sites/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>.
“To foster a more trauma-informed environment that promotes the psychological safety of our employees and the veterans we serve, photographs depicting the ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ should be removed from all Veterans Health Administration facilities,” the memo directed.
On Tuesday, the memo went viral on social media, sparking nearly instant backlash.
&#8220;UNAMERICAN. The Biden administration is now banning one of the most iconic photos in WW2 history, the famous Times Square kiss between a nurse and a sailor. Their rewriting of American history and American culture will not stand,&#8221; Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanZinke/status/1765035883768549392" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X.
Later on Tuesday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough took to social media to reassure critics that the photo would not be banned.
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&#8220;Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities &#8211; and we will keep it in VA facilities,&#8221; McDonough said.
&#8220;VA is NOT banning this photo from VA facilities,&#8221; Veterans Affairs said in a statement provided to The Daily Wire.
The VA added that a memo was sent out that should not have been, and it has now been rescinded.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed the VA&#8217;s statement on Tuesday as well, saying the memo was &#8220;not sanctioned.&#8221;
“The VA is not going to be banning this photo,” Karine Jean-Pierre <a href="https://apnews.com/article/times-square-kiss-photo-veterans-affairs-memo-b24d5dba6930be867e9ac1be6dff16e5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “I can definitely say that the memo was not sanctioned, and so it’s not something that we were even aware of.”
The famous photo, which also shows people spilling out of bars, restaurants, and movie theaters to celebrate the end of the war, was snapped by journalist Alfred Eisenstaedt in New York City on August 14, 1945. A Navy photojournalist also caught the moment from a different angle.
The man and woman in the photo are thought to be <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sailor-nurse-from-iconic-vj-day-photo-reunited/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">George Mendonsa and Greta Friedman</a>, both of whom passed away within the last decade.

The Kiss Statue at Bayshore Park.

Veterans Affairs Rescinds Memo Banning V-J Day Kiss Photo

Biden

Veterans

Veterans Affairs (VA)

World War II

A new “equity” initiative in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) aims to declare more black people to be mentally disabled.
Black veterans currently receive disability payments for mental health conditions at nearly twice the rate of whites. But the Biden administration&#8217;s <a href="https://department.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/final_Equity-Assessment-and-Action-Steps-for-Mental-Health-Compensation-Benefits-.pdf">Equity Assessment and Action Steps for Mental Health Compensation Benefits</a>, released Wednesday, said that to attain &#8220;equity,&#8221; that number needs to be even higher.
“A higher percentage of Black Veterans currently receive disability compensation benefits than white Veterans for mental health conditions (21.7% vs. 12.7%),&#8221; the assessment said. &#8220;On average, Black Veterans also apply for disability compensation at higher rates and receive slightly higher disability ratings from VA than white Veterans. However, Black Veterans have lower grant rates than white Veterans for mental health conditions (70.3% vs. 76.0%). &#8230; In response to these new findings, VA will [be] taking immediate and aggressive action to eliminate this gap and ensure that Black Veterans get the benefits they deserve.&#8221;
The justification uses a tortured logic in which, although there is a large discrepancy in blacks&#8217; favor when it comes to actually being granted government disability checks, the Biden administration sliced the numbers until they found a secondary metric in which blacks were slightly behind: The percentage who apply for disability but are deemed ineligible.
The &#8220;grant rate&#8221; means the portion of people who sought a disability rating who had it granted by the VA, as opposed to the VA saying that the evidence did not support a finding of disability. The Biden administration contends that the &#8220;grant rate&#8221; needs to be equal by race — even though that would make the percentage of each race actually receiving checks even more unequal.
The move appears to put pressure on evaluators to either look the other way at fraud and rubber-stamp unjustified disability ratings for blacks, or deny benefits to potentially suicidal whites. It also puts the Biden administration in conflict with science, with the result of ostensibly objective medical evaluations being swayed for political reasons.
Ironically, the six-point discrepancy in grant rate, used to justify more equity policies, was likely caused by an existing VA &#8220;equity&#8221; policy that encouraged blacks to apply for disability. “In recent years, VA has worked to engage Black Veteran [sic] to encourage them to file for the benefits they’ve earned,” the VA said. People who have to be persuaded that they are disabled are likely to have borderline cases more prone to be rejected, causing the &#8220;grant rate&#8221; to go down for their group.
The VA said it plans to continue that effort, even though it mathematically contradicts its own purported goal. “Throughout 2024, VA will work to continue this trend by working with directly with Black Veterans and organizations to spread the word about this study and encourage Veterans to apply,” it said.
The VA declined to answer questions from or share data with The Daily Wire.
But it acknowledged in its paper that even when it comes to grant rates, blacks are actually ahead of whites in one category, and behind in the other. “There has not been a grant rate gap by race since 2011 for Veterans who filed within one year of discharge,” the paper admitted, but “the gap remains for Veterans who filed more than a year after discharge.”
About half of veterans seek disability within a year of leaving service, while half wait longer. The VA said there was a racial &#8220;gap&#8221; in the second category, with whites about 2% ahead of blacks, but that there was no racial &#8220;gap&#8221; in the first category, when blacks were about 2% ahead of whites.
Rather than try to ameliorate the disparity in which blacks are more likely than whites to get disability if they apply within a year of leaving the service, it will lean into it by “doing direct outreach to encourage Black Veterans to file for disability compensation benefits within the first year of discharge,” VA said.
The argument that VA assessors reject certain blacks&#8217; applications out of racism, while readily granting other blacks&#8217; applications, is a more convoluted one than the simple explanation that assessors make decisions based on whether the evidence supports it.
Black people are overrepresented among VA employees by double their portion of the population. They make up a quarter of the VA’s workforce, giving the VA the fourth-highest rate of black employees out of 19 Cabinet agencies, a Daily Wire review of Office of Personnel Management data showed. Nonetheless, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) released a <a href="https://department.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/final_VBA-Benefits-Equity-Assurance-Plan.pdf">Benefits Equity Assurance Plan</a> in conjunction with the study that said it will seek to hire more blacks by recruiting employees at HBCUs.
The VBA also said it will &#8220;mandate unconscious bias and implicit bias training for all VBA employees.&#8221; Implicit bias training has been derided by scholars as <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/3/7/14637626/implicit-association-test-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">junk science</a>.
The Equity Assurance Plan said it stems from &#8220;President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, and EO 14091, which charged the Federal Government with advancing equity.&#8221; It said it “has created a new Office of Equity Assurance led by a career senior executive to assess any disparities,” and will use artificial intelligence to try to make sure all numbers are equal by race.
“VBA will continue to champion  uniform training and curricula related to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (I*DEA) to ensure consistent messaging and instruction to its workforce in the respective benefit programs and services,” it said.
The military is undergoing a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-pronouns-less-recruits-u-s-military-facing-unprecedented-recruiting-crisis-under-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recruitment crisis</a> driven largely by a decline in white people who want to enlist.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

Biden Admin Wants More Black Veterans Declared Mentally Disabled In The Name Of ‘Equity’

Equity

Military

Nineteen Democratic attorneys general said that the Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-veterans-affairs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Veterans Affairs</a> should cover costly genital surgeries for transgender-identifying veterans in part because that’s what former Republican President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/abraham-lincoln" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Abraham Lincoln</a> would have wanted.
The Democrat officials, representing 18 states and Washington, D.C., filed an <a href="https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/a8/fa886aea-c116-11ee-be63-6b3afb2d1710/65bbb9a52d7bb.pdf.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amicus brief</a> on Wednesday in support of the Transgender American Veterans Association, which is suing the VA to cover the costs of vaginoplasty and phalloplasty surgeries.
&#8220;The mission of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is to fulfill President Abraham Lincoln&#8217;s simple promise: &#8216;to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors,'&#8221; the attorneys general wrote in the amicus brief, which was first <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_8b53a78e-c116-11ee-8c69-432b52fda8e7.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on by The Center Square. &#8220;Taken together, the regulation and implementing directive render President Lincoln&#8217;s promise an empty one for many transgender veterans. Although the VA recognizes the existence of transgender veterans, the VA falls short of serving and caring for all veterans when it prevents transgender veterans from accessing medically necessary and potentially life-saving treatment.&#8221;
The officials said that the surgeries, which often have serious long term side-effects, were both “life-saving” and “medically necessary.” The surgeries covered would also be those that remove the breasts of women who identify as men.
&#8220;Transgender veterans with gender dysphoria are left without life-saving healthcare, and are vulnerable to physical suffering, depression, and suicidal ideation,&#8221; they wrote. &#8220;Further, the VA&#8217;s approach stands in tension with the experience of the amici States – which have found giving transgender people access to comprehensive healthcare, including medically necessary surgery – provides significant benefits at negligible costs.&#8221;
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The VA currently uses taxpayer funds to pay for veterans to get cross-sex hormones, hair removal, and so-called “voice training,” <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/transgender-veterans-lawsuit-va-gender-affirming-surgery-rcna135566" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to NBC News. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough previously said that the department would start paying for genital and breast surgeries at some point, but the department hasn&#8217;t started yet.
The attorneys generals of Washington, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont all signed on to the brief.
Last year, House Republicans attempted to pass a measure that would prohibit taxpayer money from going toward paying for transgender procedures.

Washington, D.C. Cityscapes And City Views

Democrat AGs Say Lincoln Would Have Wanted VA To Pay For Veterans’ Transgender Surgeries

Democrat AGs Say Lincoln Would Have Wanted VA To Pay For Veterans' Transgender Surgeries

Abraham Lincoln

Democrats

Social Issues

transgender surgery

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/house-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Republicans</a> blasted the Biden administration Thursday over &#8220;partisan misinformation&#8221; about how their debt ceiling bill impacts veterans.
In a <a href="https://kiggans.house.gov/posts/kiggans-leads-over-50-colleagues-in-condemning-partisan-misinformation-campaign-about-veterans-benefits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Secretary of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-veterans-affairs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Veterans Affairs</a> Denis McDonough, 56 House Republicans, led by Congresswoman and Navy Veteran Jen Kiggans (R-VA) blasted McDonough for a press release claiming that returning spending to 2022 levels — effectively a 22% cut from current levels — would do harm to America&#8217;s veterans. The White House has continually claimed in recent weeks that the spending caps would target veterans.
&#8220;As you are aware, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a press release falsely stating that the proposal which became the Limit, Save, Grow Act would threaten medical care for 30 million veterans, worsen wait times for hundreds of thousands of veterans and survivors applying for benefits, and fail to honor the memory of all veterans,&#8221; the members wrote. &#8220;Mr. Secretary, the Department’s assertions are dishonest and shameless. The facts are that nowhere in the Limit, Save, Grow Act is it indicated that the VA budget would be cut. The intent of the legislation is to set a topline number for the entire federal budget.&#8221;
The members also pointed out that House Republican leadership has already promised to fully fund the VA. &#8220;The leaders of the Congressional bodies that oversee and fund the VA have all firmly stated that veterans’ earned care and benefits are not on the table,&#8221; they wrote. &#8220;The VA purposely chose to ignore these facts in favor of baseless political talking points.&#8221;
&#8220;Many members of Congress are deeply troubled and personally offended that the Biden Administration continues to use these dishonest talking points to create panic and fear in our veteran populations,&#8221; the members wrote. &#8220;Our veterans made great sacrifices so that we may have the privilege to live freely in this great Nation. They did not make those sacrifices to be a talking point for a political party’s gain. They did not sacrifice themselves so they could be used as a pawn to create fear and anxiety among their fellow veterans. Political games have absolutely no place in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.&#8221;
The &#8220;Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023&#8221; was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-led-house-passes-mccarthys-plan-to-raise-debt-limit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> along party lines last week. Among other proposals, the bill would return federal spending to 2022 levels. Those rollbacks would effectively cut spending by 22% from current levels, but the bill does not specify where those cuts will come from. The bill also caps new spending increases at 1% for a decade, recoups unspent COVID funds, and rolls back several key Biden priorities.
Despite no evidence that the spending cuts will impact veterans at all, the Biden administration has latched onto the idea that the cuts will harm them specifically. Days before the bill was passed, the VA released an <a href="https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5874" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> claiming that a 22% cut would hurt veterans by cutting jobs and funding for the VA. The cuts would in turn lead to losses of care, longer wait times, deprive veterans of access to services, and &#8220;fail to honor the memory of all veterans,&#8221; the release stated.
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The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2023/04/20/congressional-republicans-legislation-22-cuts-that-would-harm-american-families-seniors-and-veterans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office of Management and Budget</a> released a separate analysis claiming that cuts would mean 30 million fewer outpatient healthcare visits for veterans, and 81,000 jobs lost. President Joe Biden also posted a <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1653391398291267586?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a> on Tuesday digging at Republicans over the cuts.

VA Secretary McDonough Testifies At Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Hearing

‘Partisan Misinformation’: House Republicans Slam VA Secretary, Biden Admin For Claiming Debt Ceiling Bill Would Hurt Veterans

House Republicans Slam VA Secretary's 'Partisan Misinformation' That Debt Ceiling Bill Would Hurt Veterans

Congress

Debt Ceiling

Politics

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-veterans-affairs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Veterans Affairs</a> (VA) is undercounting the number of former military service members who are dying to suicide and self-harm, a new study by a veterans group finds.
America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP) worked with the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/university-of-alabama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Alabama</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/duke-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Duke University</a> to gather the death data on veterans across eight states: Alabama, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and Oregon. After reviewing the data, AWP’s findings suggest that veterans were dying to suicide and self-harm “1.37 times [more] than reported by the VA from 2014-2018.”
“It’s devastating,” America’s Warrior Partnership President Jim Lorraine, a 22-year veteran of the Air Force, told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/veterans-died-suicide-va-previously-reported-new-study-shows-rcna48092" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a>. “I’m not only a veteran myself. My son serves, my son-in-law serves. My wife is a vet. I know a lot of veterans who have died from suicide.”
Much of the disparity is likely due to data collection errors by officials recording the deaths of former service members. “States undercounted [former service member (FSM)] status 18% of the time and counted non-FSMs as FSMs 7% of the time” leading to a “combined error rate of 25%,” the <a href="https://e55c5558-502f-457d-8a07-a49806f5ff14.usrfiles.com/ugd/e55c55_3e4c6bae16a945bbb8dbfa36739af2df.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> says.
AWP used demographic data to identify some groups of veterans who are most at risk of suicide and death by self-harm.
“FSMs from the Coast Guard were most likely to die from suicide/SIM, followed by Marine Corps, Army, Navy, and Air Force,” the study says. “Receiving a demotion during military service increased the FSM’s odds of dying by suicide/SIM by 56%.”
The length of service may also matter. “The longer someone has served in the military, the lower their probability of taking their own life is 2% for every year served,” the study says “Those who served in the military for less than three years were at greatest risk for suicide/SIM.”
The VA defended its reporting on veteran suicides in a statement to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/veterans-committing-suicide-rate-2-times-higher-va-data-shows-study" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>.
“Our methodology for creating this report is well-established and consistent, based on verified data from the CDC and DoD, and meets the quality and standards of a peer-reviewed publication,” the VA said in a statement. “In the interest of full transparency, we release yearly reports detailing how we come to the conclusions in the Annual Suicide Prevention Report.  The bottom line is this: One Veteran suicide is one too many, and VA will continue to accurately measure Veteran suicide so we can end Veteran suicide.”
Lorraine blamed the discrepancy in data collection at the county level, not on the VA, according to <a href="https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2022-09-17/veteran-suicide-rate-study-7363791.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stars and Stripes</a>.
“The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free hotline for individuals in crisis or distress or for those looking to help someone else. It is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.”

Arlington Cemetery

Study Finds Veteran Suicide 1.37-Times Greater Than VA Reports

Department of Defense

Suicide

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> will begin offering &#8220;abortion counseling&#8221; and, in some cases, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/abortion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abortions</a> to veterans through Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals — regardless of state law — in a move aimed at the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the VA said Friday.
The rule says some state laws are &#8220;laws not founded in science or based on evidence,&#8221; and asserts that &#8220;State and local laws and regulations that would prevent VA health care professionals from providing needed abortion-related care, as permitted by this rule, are preempted.&#8221; In a statement, it <a href="https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5820" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, &#8220;VA is taking steps to guarantee Veterans and other VA beneficiaries abortion-related care anywhere in the country.&#8221;
Since 1999, the VA has been banned from providing abortion or abortion counseling. The interim rule will become effective immediately, even though it has not completed the public-comment process, it said.
&#8220;As abortion bans come into force across the country, veterans in many States are no longer assured access to abortion services in their communities, even when those services are needed,&#8221; the rule says. &#8220;Unless VA removes its existing prohibitions on abortion-related care and makes clear that needed abortion-related care is authorized, these veterans will face serious threats to their life and health.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.womenshealth.va.gov/WOMENSHEALTH/docs/AR57-IF-Reg-to-FR-Reproductive-Health-Services.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rule</a> spends much of its 40 pages making a complicated legal argument that the Department does not need Congress&#8217;s authority to begin offering abortions. It also says the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal dollars from funding abortions, only applies to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
The rule says that abortion counseling will be provided in all cases, and that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/full-on-battle-mode-conservative-leaders-put-walmart-on-notice-for-promising-to-pay-for-abortions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abortions</a> will be provided only in certain circumstances, like where the &#8220;health&#8221; of the mother is jeopardized or the pregnancy is the result of rape.
However, the &#8220;rape and incest&#8221; terms will be broadly defined and enforced. &#8220;We are not requiring a veteran to present particular evidence such as a police report to qualify for this care,&#8221; it said.
The same goes for what constitutes impacting a woman&#8217;s health. &#8220;Individuals at risk of pregnancy complications who do not have access to contraception or abortion may experience conditions resulting from pregnancies that can leave them at risk for loss of future fertility,&#8221; the rule says. It also cites other conditions like preeclampsia and cardiac disease. &#8220;Assessment of the conditions, injuries, illness, or diseases that will qualify for this care will be made by appropriate health care professionals on a case-by-case basis,&#8221; it says.
Part of its justification for why it has the authority to make the change is that providing an exception for when the health of a mother could be impacted is &#8220;similar&#8221; to providing an exception for when her life is in danger, which is the standard for Department of Defense (DOD) care to active-duty military. It says VA health care must be &#8220;similar&#8221; to the DOD, which is not the same is &#8220;identical.&#8221;
The Department will also use federal funds to pay for veterans to get abortions elsewhere. &#8220;VA will pay for abortions from providers in the community, where available, in cases where the life or health of the Veteran is endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term, or in the case of pregnancy resulting from an act of rape or incest,&#8221; the Department <a href="https://www.womenshealth.va.gov/WOMENSHEALTH/topics/reproductive-health.asp">said</a>.
“We came to this decision after listening to VA health care providers and Veterans across the country, who sounded the alarm that abortion restrictions are creating a medical emergency for those we serve. Offering this care will save Veterans’ health and lives, and there is nothing more important than that,” Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VA’s Under Secretary for Health, said in a statement.
According to the rule, &#8220;Abortion counseling has three purposes: (1) to aid a pregnant individual in making a decision about an unwanted pregnancy, (2) to help the pregnant individual implement the decision, and (3) to assist the pregnant individual in controlling their future fertility.&#8221;

Department Of Veterans Affairs To Begin Offering Abortions To Vets, Even In States Where It Is Banned

Abortion

Dobbs

Joe Biden

Military and veteran suicide has become an epidemic in our country. In 2017, a year when only 21 soldiers were killed in combat, <a href="https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/summaryData/deaths/byYearManner">318 active-duty</a> soldiers and <a href="https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/2019/2019_National_Veteran_Suicide_Prevention_Annual_Report_508.pdf">6,139 veterans</a> died by suicide.
The military has tried to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Military-and-Veteran-Suicide-Prevention-Strategy.pdf">address this issue</a> by providing a variety of counseling and support resources to soldiers and veterans. Unfortunately, those resources are not taken advantage of as fully as they should be, as soldiers often <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC443475/">avoid seeking help</a> for reasons of pride or fear.
Soldiers fear they could lose their security clearances, become non-deployable, look bad to their command or weak to their peers, and ultimately have their reputations affected. Despite those in command positions encouraging soldiers to seek support, many still avoid doing so. And with no required mental health checks, those who need it most may not receive the support they need.
With all the emotions, anxiety, lack of sleep, anger, grief and trauma soldiers experience after returning from war zones, why are there no required counseling and mental health checks to make sure they are mentally and emotionally well?
In police departments across the United States, when one or more officers are involved in a shooting, the <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/ric/Publications/cops-p370-pub.pdf">mental wellness of every officer</a> present is typically addressed. Officers who are involved in or witness a shooting are put on <a href="https://cops.usdoj.gov/ric/Publications/cops-p370-pub.pdf">administrative leave</a> pending counseling. But young men coming home from war zones who experience things such as being shot at, losing friends, having their vehicles blown up, or having to help pick up their injured friend’s body parts, have little time away from duty and no required counseling.
Many people wonder why veteran suicide has become such a big issue. I do not think we should be surprised at all.
We send these men and women into battle and give them all the tools they need to win a war but we give them no tools to survive after they return home. Winning wars is the easy part. The real challenge begins when we allow our men and women to bring the mental and emotional wounds they have sustained from those wars home with them, but give them no tools or time to heal.
Soldiers who need help but fear their careers may be at stake if they seek counseling instead choose to handle the issue on their own. They shove the pain and anger down deep and, when that doesn’t work, they try to numb it. They joke about PTSD and they drink. They joke about being shot and blown up and they drink. They joke about the guy they put a bullet in who nearly got them first and they drink. And they drink.
Then, one day they retire. In the blink of an eye they have gone from living, breathing, and eating military to being a civilian. They are no longer surrounded by those who understand the jokes that keep their pain at bay. Their brothers who check in on them to make sure they are doing okay slowly drift away. They are instead surrounded by people who criticize the wars these veterans fought in and lost friends in because they don’t understand them and did not give up any part of their lives or hearts to fight in. These veterans are surrounded by people but still feel completely alone. And while the world grows slowly quieter and lonelier, their demons grow louder as distance and life separates them from the brotherhood they once knew.
The tape of the moments of on-the-ground fighting to keep their brothers alive is forever running in their mind. They relive the battles in which they lost friends, all of those moments that left them with guilt for surviving, the times they spoke with the families of those killed and wished they had done something different. Wondering again if maybe they could have changed the outcome somehow.
The heartache and suffering builds, causing them to feel separated and detached from every other person in their lives. They don’t have the tools to stop these thoughts and painful memories, so they take whatever actions they see fit to end the pain. And when they die, we pretend they never existed. The military doesn’t honor all of those who die of the emotional and mental wounds inflicted by battle – only those who die from physical wounds.
Those emotional and mental wounds often lead to suicide. We pretend suicide shows dishonor and a problem with the individual, not the system. When a soldier dies of suicide, you will never see his or her name etched into any memorial on base. You won’t see them honored on the National Mall. Their memory is wiped away. Those who die in war have plaques made in their honor, but those who serve alongside them courageously and later die from their survivor’s guilt have their names wiped from the hallowed halls they walked with their brothers in arms.
What are we teaching the soldiers by doing this? It’s clear: shame on you for being human, shame on you for caring, and shame on you for ending your pain while we turned a blind eye to it.
As a country we <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/272473/us-military-spending-from-2000-to-2012/#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20the%20United%20States,when%20adjusted%20to%202019%20dollars).">spend</a> around $700 billion a year on our military. So why is it that we haven’t done more for these men and women coming home from battle? Why don’t we have a better plan? This year we sent billions of dollars to Ukraine. We spend millions a year planning and preparing to deploy every soldier. But we have no effective program to assist those on the front line to recover from the horrors of war before they re-enter society.
We as a nation need to do better. Our men and women on the frontline fighting for our freedom deserve it. It’s time we fight for them.
Michelle Black is a mother of two boys, a Gold Star wife, and author of Sacrifice: The Green Berets, a Fateful Ambush, and a Gold Star Widow’s Fight for the Truth. As the first woman in her family to graduate high school, she attended California Polytechnic State University where she graduated with a degree in environmental sciences and horticulture. She lives in Washington state.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Black – Veteran Suicides A Hidden Epidemic

‘Emotional And Mental Wounds’: Taking Better Care Of Our Returning Soldiers

PTSD

Readers Pass

The secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) told CNN on Sunday that the department is looking at ways to provide abortions in states that have banned it.
During an interview, host Jake Tapper asked about a letter from Senate Democrats and cited an analysis by the <a href="https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/economic-justice/reports/state-abortion-bans-harm-woc.html">National Partnership for Women &amp; Families,</a> showing that 389,600 women veterans live in states where abortion is banned. &#8220;Will the VA take this measure and allow abortion services at VA hospitals even in states where abortion is banned?&#8221; Tapper asked.
&#8220;There are 300,000 women veterans of childbearing age who rely on us for their reproductive health care, for all their health care,&#8221; VA Secretary Denis McDonough responded. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to make sure that they have access to the full slate of that care, because that&#8217;s what we owe them.&#8221;
&#8220;In those states?&#8221; Tapper asked.
&#8220;We&#8217;re looking expressly at these questions about how we guarantee the life and the health of our women veterans, those 300,000 who rely on us for their care,&#8221; McDonough responded. &#8220;I don&#8217;t have any announcements to make on that this morning, Jake. But we&#8217;re looking very closely at that to ensure that there&#8217;s no diminution and no reduction of services to them and no risk to their &#8212; to their lives as a result of these decisions.&#8221;
Tapper also asked if McDonough would prefer to have abortions take place in VA clinics within those states.
&#8220;My preference is that those 300,000 women veterans &#8212; and that&#8217;s the fastest growing cohort of veterans that we have in our care, women veterans &#8212; my preference is that they not face risks to their lives as a result of this decision from the court,&#8221; McDonough said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to make sure that we&#8217;re in a position to take care of that.&#8221;
McDonough&#8217;s comments came in response to a <a href="https://www.hirono.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/07.28.2022_MKH_Letter%20to%20VA%20re_%20Abortion_Final.pdf">letter from 24 Democratic senators</a>, led by Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, demanding that the VA amend or create regulations allowing VA to provide abortion and related services to veterans, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. &#8220;We contend that the VA has the statutory authority and discretion to provide abortions and abortion-related services and resources,&#8221; the senators wrote. &#8220;Importantly, the VA has used its authority under the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 to provide reproductive care such as pregnancy care and infertility services.&#8221;
&#8220;The VA must do everything in its power to provide critical reproductive care to veterans and their dependents across the country,&#8221; the senators added.
The secretary&#8217;s comments add to a series of attempts by Democrats and the Biden administration to end-run states that have banned abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women&#8217;s Health Organization, which sent abortion laws back to the states.
Just a few days after the Dobbs decision, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said his department was looking at using <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-wants-to-pick-up-travel-tab-for-women-seeking-abortions-in-wake-of-scotus-roe-ruling">taxpayer funds</a> to provide transportation across state lines for women seeking abortions. Far-left members of Congress, like Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-wants-abortion-clinics-on-federal-lands-which-include-national-parks">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a> and Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elizabeth-warren-wants-planned-parenthood-to-put-up-tents-inside-national-parks">Elizabeth Warren,</a> have called for abortion clinics to be set up on federal lands.

Biden’s VA Secretary: ‘Looking Very Closely’ At Options To Provide Abortions For Vets In Pro-Life States

Biden's VA Secretary: 'Looking Very Closely' At Options To Provide Abortions For Vets In Pro-Life States

Democratic Party

Health Care

A number of employees with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were told Monday they must get the COVID-19 vaccine or be fired.
The VA announced a vaccine mandate for all Title 38 health care personnel, which includes “physicians, dentists, podiatrists, optometrists, registered nurses, physician assistants, expanded-function dental auxiliaries and chiropractors,” according to the Department. Employees ordered to get the vaccine will have eight weeks to become fully vaccinated or face termination.
“We’re mandating vaccines for Title 38 employees because it’s the best way to keep Veterans safe, especially as the Delta variant spreads across the country,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough <a href="https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5696">said</a> in a press release. “Whenever a Veteran or VA employee sets foot in a VA facility, they deserve to know that we have done everything in our power to protect them from COVID-19. With this mandate, we can once again make — and keep — that fundamental promise.”
The VA is the first federal agency to mandate employees get vaccinated or be fired. The new requirement will affect roughly 115,000 VA employees who work in “Veterans Health Administration facilities, visit VHA facilities or provide direct care to those VA serves,” the announcement said.
The press release also noted the Delta variant of COVID-19, which has taken the lives of three unvaccinated VA employees. An additional unvaccinated employee also died due to COVID-19. In addition to the deaths, the VA said, there has been “an outbreak among unvaccinated employees and trainees at a VA Law Enforcement Training Center, the third such outbreak during the pandemic.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that President Joe Biden supports the VA mandate and suggested others might enact their own mandates as well.
“These actions, in our view, are meant to keep patients and employees safe, and in fact I expect our own federal health care providers may look at similar requirements, as they do with other vaccines,” Psaki said.
Also on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) office <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-mandates-vaccine-or-testing-for-state-employees-health-care-workers">announced</a> that all state employees and health care workers in the state must show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly COVID-19 tests beginning in August. The new mandate affects millions of public- and private-sector health care workers and about 246,000 state employees. Newsom compared people who have so far refused to get the vaccine to drunk drivers.
“We’re at a point in this epidemic, this pandemic where individuals’ choice not to get vaccinated is now impacting the rest of us in a profound and devastating and deadly way,” Newsom said. “You don’t have the choice to go out and drink and drive and put everyone else’s lives at risk. That’s the equivalent of this moment with the deadliness and efficiency of the Delta virus.”
New York City’s vaccine requirement was also recently expanded to include the city’s 340,000 employees &#8212; including teachers and police officers &#8212; as well as health care workers.
The vaccines for COVID-19 have been given <a href="https://www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/covid-19-vaccines">emergency use authorization</a> by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

VACCINE

Veterans Affairs Department Mandates Employees Get Vaccinated Or Be Fired

COVID-19 Vaccine

On Thursday, Congressman Brian Mast (R-FL), a double-amputee war vet, spoke with Fox News about being kicked out of a West Palm Beach, Florida, VA facility where he had established the first office in a VA facility for a sitting member of Congress.
In 2017, Mast <a href="https://video.foxnews.com/v/5704941410001/#sp=show-clips">opened the first ever Congressional office inside a VA facility</a>, an action imitated by other congressmen. He had recently confronted VA officials about a shooting and suicide at the West Palm Beach VA.
Fox and Friends Co-Host Brian Kilmeade asked, “What’s your reaction to them kicking you out of your office because of that action?”
Mast answered:
<blockquote>Look, I’m hot on this issue. There are 435 representatives sitting in the Capitol, every one of which is saying on a weekly basis they want to affect 22 suicides a day; they want to make the VA a better place for people to get their health care needs; they want to make it a better place. Every one of them should be begging to be in those doors and the VA should be begging them to be in there so we make sure every veteran that walks in there is treated with compassion, they’re treated by competent people, and that the people that are treating them, if they don’t show up there ready to treat them with dignity and respect, that they don’t show up at all. And our job is oversight and if they don’t let us in there to do that then there’s a real problem.</blockquote>
Co-Host Ainsley Earhardt asked, “Do they just want you not asking any questions?” Mast responded:
<blockquote>It’s not just oversight but it’s also service. We’ve opened up over 500 pieces of casework inside of that VA; that’s 500 individual meetings with veterans that maybe couldn’t meet with us in other offices; the work that is being done there; seeing the things that are going right and going wrong on a day-to-day basis; that’s what needs to happen and we need to flip that place upside down in order to change the whole climate of what’s going on there. And if the people in charge aren’t willing to do that then they’re not doing the right thing.</blockquote>
Co-Host Steve Doocy pointed out that after President Trump was elected, the West Palm Beach VA refused to put a picture on the wall of Trump.
Mast replied, “That’s exactly right. They had the picture of the president, the Secretary of the VA on the wall and they wouldn’t change that over after his swearing-in for some time, so we took the picture in there, got it from the administration and said we’re not leaving until you hang this up. But that’s the VA, often limping from crisis to crisis to crisis, and this is what we want to change. Just let us help. Let us be there. Let us put our eyes on all of those veterans; let them know that we love them, that we care about them and that we’re going to be there for them so that we can help change that climate.”
He stated, “They told us that we gotta be out by December and we’re hoping that we can change that. This was under Secretary Stone that made this announcement; we’re hoping that Secretary Wilkie will go out there and make a change …”
He added, “My space is about the size of a desk, and I’m saying that literally. I can sit in there with maybe one other veteran and one other person with them can sit in there; it’s a closet. We’re not taking up substantial place, just a place to meet with them, care for them, work with their needs, help them however we can.”
Video below:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zD2Sc3wNvpw" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>

Rep. Brian Mast

WATCH: Congressman, A Double-Amputee Vet, Speaks About VA Kicking Him Out Of His Office In Florida VA

Gun-grabbing crisis vultures just can&#8217;t let the latest mass shootings go to waste. &#8220;Red flag&#8221; laws are now all the rage in the Beltway as the magic pill to prevent homicidal maniacs from wreaking havoc on the nation. Even President Donald Trump has endorsed the idea of preemptively confiscating people&#8217;s firearms if they are deemed a &#8220;threat.&#8221;
But if you want to know how this American version of China&#8217;s social credit system would work in practice, let me remind you of how Veterans Affairs recklessly red-flags &#8220;disruptive&#8221; citizens without due process, transparency or accountability in the name of &#8220;safety.&#8221; Government bureaucrats routinely deprive our nation&#8217;s heroes of medical treatment based on arbitrary definitions of who and what constitutes a mental health menace.
I first reported on the VA&#8217;s secretive database on &#8220;disgruntled&#8221; and &#8220;disruptive&#8221; vets five years ago. Under the VA policy on &#8220;patient record flags,&#8221; federal bureaucrats can classify vets as &#8220;threats&#8221; based on assessments of their &#8220;difficult,&#8221; &#8220;annoying&#8221; and &#8220;noncompliant&#8221; behavior. The VA manual says the flags &#8220;are used to alert Veterans Health Administration medical staff and employees of patients whose behavior and characteristics may pose a threat either to their safety, the safety of other patients, or compromise the delivery of quality health care.&#8221;
What a crock. It&#8217;s precisely because so many vets receive inferior care from the feds that they have been forced to raise their voices. Have we all forgotten the 40 veterans who perished at the Phoenix, Arizona VA, which relegated patients to a bureaucratic black hole through secret waiting lists? Among examples of patients&#8217; behavior referred to the red-flaggers in the VA&#8217;s &#8220;Disruptive Behavior Committees&#8221; (Orwell couldn&#8217;t have cooked up a better name): venting &#8220;frustration about VA services and/or wait times, threatening lawsuits or to have people fired, and frequent unwarranted visits to the emergency department or telephone calls to facility staff.&#8221;
Disabled Air Force veteran and veterans advocate/attorney Benjamin Krause has exposed the Soviet-style targeting of veterans flagged for exercising their First Amendment rights or threatening to sue the VA over neglectful care or for simply being too &#8220;expensive.&#8221; He calls it &#8220;straight out of a totalitarian regime.&#8221; In 2013, the VA inspector general concluded that the bureaucracy &#8220;does not have a comprehensive definition of what constitutes disruptive behavior.&#8221; In January 2018, a VA Office of Inspector General report found that large numbers of flagged veterans were being left in the dark about being placed on dangerous patient lists — with no recourse to remove phony flags or appeal in any meaningful way.
Despite rules requiring the &#8220;Disruptive Behavior Committee&#8221; to notify flagged patients of their status and informing them of their right to amend their reports, the OIG found no evidence in 49% of electronic health records that the panels had provided such notice and disclosure.
In 25% of medical records reviewed, the OIG &#8220;found no evidence that patients were informed they had the right to request to amend or appeal&#8221; special orders restricting care of flagged patients.
There are undoubtedly patients in the system who may pose real threats. But the &#8220;problem with the process is that it is secret,&#8221; Krause explains at DisabledVeterans.org. &#8220;The review process is done in secret and the veteran will not know who sat on the committee or what the evidence presented was prior to the decision. Only after the decision is made are veterans informed of the outcome and given a chance to appeal the vague allegations. That seems like a due process violation if I have ever seen one.&#8221;
Army vet David Scott Strain of Virginia told me recently that he was a flagged veteran. &#8220;My grave sin?&#8221; says Strain. &#8220;I tried to report the abuse of a deaf, infirm, WWII veteran. He was approximately 95 years of age. A male nurse stood behind his waiting room chair and shouted down at the top of his head, &#8216;Hello! Hello! Hello! If you can hear me, you can come in now!'&#8221;
Strain describes how the elderly vet &#8220;could not hear this, and the nurse went through 3 iterations, while giggling and looking at the wait-room personnel as if we were a comedy club audience. It was one of the sickest displays I&#8217;ve ever seen.&#8221;
For blowing the whistle on VA elder abuse, Strain says, he was banned from all satellite clinics and only granted access to one main facility. VA flaggers can &#8220;manufacture tone, the content of what you&#8217;re saying, and will even ascribe actions to you that you did not perform,&#8221; Strain warns. &#8220;The potential &#8216;red flag&#8217; laws concern me deeply,&#8221; Strain told me. &#8220;Why any citizen would think it wise to let the government screw such handles to our backs, to threaten and wag us any which way, is beyond my understanding. However, I fully understand why politicians want it.&#8221;
Complain too much. Criticize the powers that be. Ask too many questions. Boom! You&#8217;re a threat.
If such tyranny is allowed among those who volunteered to protect and serve our country in the name of safety, imagine how it will be implemented among the law-abiding, gun-owning general populace.
Michelle Malkin&#8217;s email address is MichelleMalkinInvestigates@protonmail.com. To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

American Flag

MALKIN: Warning: How The VA ‘Red-Flags’ Patriots

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