The granddaughter of <a href="https://apnews.com/008575741d9345eea438430705d293ed/Woman-in-iconic-V-J-Day-Times-Square-kiss-photo-dies-at-92">the nurse featured</a> in an iconic photo of her being kissed by a random sailor after the announcement of the end of World War II said her grandmother was “proud of the image” and “never felt violated.”
On V-J Day in 1945, dental nurse Greta Zimmer, who was Jewish and had fled Austria to escape Hitler and the Nazis in 1939, was walking through Times Square in New York City when a U.S. Navy sailor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/obituaries/george-mendonsa-dead.html">most likely</a> George Mendonsa, grabbed her, bent her backwards and kissed her. Famed photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped the photo, which was published a week later in Life magazine and immediately became immortal. Zimmer later married Mischa Friedman and had a son and daughter.
But RimaAnn Nelson, the VA assistant secretary for health for operations, sent a memo in February to the Veterans Integrated Services Network Directors saying the photo should be removed and replaced at all VA facilities because it “depicted a non-consensual act,” and “is inconsistent with the VA’s no tolerance policy toward sexual harassment and assault.” The memo stated that the photo needed to be removed to maintain the department’s “respectful, safe and trauma-informed” workplace.
<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>
After backlash ensued, VA Secretary Denis McDonough later tweeted, “Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities.”
<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>
Caroline Branin, Friedman’s granddaughter, told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13161023/Granddaughter-nurse-kissed-Time-Square-iconic-V-J-Day-photo-proud.html">The Daily Mail</a>, “As my grandmother told it to me, she was at work and she went downstairs at lunchtime to see what was happening. George grabbed her and kissed her. It was a split second thing and the photographer just happened to be there. She never felt violated or anything like that &#8230; She was always very proud of the image and she thought it was two young people celebrating in the street &#8230; My grandma signed images of the photo up until she died. She was proud to be an American citizen. She was a refugee from Austria and so the end of the war marked more to her than for everyday people.”
“She never felt it was something inappropriate,” she continued. “It&#8217;s interesting they tried to reframe historical events in today&#8217;s values. I have a picture in my house that my grandma signed and even George Mendonsa signed it. My grandma stayed in contact with George and she did parades on V-J Day with him. She never said it was anything she felt was uncomfortable.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709832055898000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1WORlashB-9raOU6s8zghd">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“At college I had a women and gender studies teacher who showed that image and said: ‘This is a sexual assault,’” Branin recalled. “I put my hand up and said that&#8217;s actually my grandma, she didn&#8217;t view it that way. The teacher disagreed with me. I can understand the argument but for my grandmother it represented the end of the war and they&#8217;re celebrating.”
Friedman only learned about the photograph in the 1960s and immediately recognized herself. She and Mendonsa communicated in later years and became friends; she died in 2016 at the age of 92.

iconic photograph

‘She Never Felt Violated’: Granddaughter Of Nurse Kissed In Iconic WWII Photo Responds To VA’s Woke Memo

'She Never Felt Violated': Granddaughter Of Nurse Kissed In Iconic WWII Photo Responds To VA Memo Calling It 'Non-Consensual'

Kissing

U.S.

Veterans Affairs (VA)

Wokeness

World War II

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.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#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

Biden Administration

Department of Veterans Affairs

Veterans

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;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1706370777182000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1rZs278QeRErxuxwtCwcq8">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
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

President Biden’s Secretary for Veteran Affairs, Denis McDonough, alerted all VA-owned facilities that he authorized them to fly the Pride flag for up to 30 days in June.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Last June, I raised the Pride Flag at VA Central Office in Washington, D.C. This year, I authorized all VA-owned facilities to fly it for up to 30 days in June <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pride2022?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pride2022</a> 
Learn how VA is creating a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ Veterans at <a href="https://t.co/8ilcN7q03y">https://t.co/8ilcN7q03y</a> <a href="https://t.co/EtLGcQnvXZ">pic.twitter.com/EtLGcQnvXZ</a>
&mdash; Secretary Denis McDonough (@SecVetAffairs) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecVetAffairs/status/1532105651513606144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
McDonough served in the Obama administration as chief of staff at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2010, as Principal Deputy National Security Advisor between 2010 to 2013, then as Obama White House Chief of Staff between 2013 to 2017. He became the second non-veteran ever to lead the Department of Veteran Affairs in 2020.
This week, the Biloxi, Mississippi National Cemetery chose to replace one of its four American flags with the pride flag.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Pride flag raised at our national cemetery <a href="https://t.co/mqUAZ68mlg">pic.twitter.com/mqUAZ68mlg</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1664623630024597505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
McDonough is a Catholic. In 2016, he insisted that Barack Obama was the “<a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/wh-chief-staff-obama-catholic-president-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most Catholic</a>” of American presidents.
<a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/wh-chief-staff-obama-catholic-president-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Speaking </a>with Obama’s former senior adviser David Axelrod on his podcast The Axe Files, McDonough stated:
<blockquote>
Look, I say to him, Axe, and I think I’ve said this to him in your presence, and I’ve said this publicly before, I think this is our most Catholic of presidents. And I mean that by capital “C” Catholic in what I see and what he does every day. It’s not to say that he does everything entirely consistent with Catholic teaching. That’s not the idea, but I think, in fact, his view of the person and his view of our role and the view of us as adding to the common good, I think is an undeniably Catholic set of premises, and that’s why I say that to him a lot.
</blockquote>
Obamacare attempted to <a href="https://politicalvelcraft.org/2015/04/18/us-supreme-court-decides-with-the-catholic-church-and-against-obamacare-mandates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">force religious organizations</a> to provide insurance that covered birth control to their employees. Not only is abortion <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249172/pope-francis-abortion-statements#:~:text=%E2%80%9CEvery%20child%20who%2C%20rather%20than,rejection%2C%22%20Pope%20Francis%20said.">anathema</a> to Catholic teaching, but contraceptives violate Catholic teaching.
Obama <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqpr0PEGz2g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked</a> The Sermon on the Mount in a speech in 2006, then in 2009 there was the <a href="http://www.personal.psu.edu/glm7/m421.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">egregious incident</a> in which Obama spoke at Georgetown University, an institution founded and run by the Jesuits — the Society of Jesus — and insisted that religious images would have to be covered when he spoke, including a cross, the school seal and the lettering &#8220;INS,&#8221; a Greek abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ and part of the Jesuit seal.
Obama also attempted to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/us/obama-trying-to-add-context-to-speech-faces-backlash-over-crusades.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">equate the Crusades</a> to ISIS terrorism.

Memorial Day services

Secretary Of Veteran Affairs Authorizes All VA-Owned Facilities To Fly Pride Flag For Up To 30 Days

LGBTQ

Politics

Pride Flag

<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.
<a class="c-link" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-7429">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
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

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

On Monday, the Senate approved Denis McDonough as President Joe Biden&#8217;s Veterans Affairs secretary with an 87-7 vote.
McDonough, 51, has never served in the U.S. Armed Forces, nor does he have healthcare experience. His expertise includes global affairs and navigating through the federal governmental bureaucracy. He was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/12/10/mcdonough-veterans-groups/">reportedly</a> chosen because he had worked closely with Biden in the Obama administration and knew how to get things done in D.C.
The Washington Post quoted the Biden transition team as saying, “McDonough knows how to pull every lever of government to effectively serve our veterans and their families.”
All of the Democrats supported McDonough&#8217;s confirmation. The no votes came from Republican Senators Tom Cotton (AK), Ted Cruz (TX), Joni Ernst (IA), Bill Hagerty (TN), Josh Hawley (MO), Roger Marshall (KN), and Rick Scott (FL).
McDonough takes over the second-largest federal agency with nearly 380,000 employees and a budget of $263 billion. McDonough previously <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/12/22/my-pledge-to-our-nations-veterans/">said</a>, “the dedicated men and women who work tirelessly to serve the department have been impeded by mismanagement, staff shortfalls, leadership gaps, and IT systems failures.” The VA provides benefits and support to veterans after their service and operates a healthcare network serving the 9 million enrolled.
<a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/01/27/VA-nominee-McDonough-Guiding-veterans-through-pandemic-will-be-top-priority/7291611792526/">According</a> to McDonough, President Biden directed him “to focus on getting our veterans through this pandemic.” More than 8,700 veterans who were diagnosed with COVID-19 have died, the department said.
Previously, McDonough was a senior adviser on foreign policy affairs for President Obama’s transition team and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council. He later became Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor and was in the White House Situation Room on May 2, 2011, watching the Navy Seal raid that killed Osama bin Laden in real-time. In the famous photo, McDonough is seated next to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Here&#39;s Joe Biden in the Situation Room in 2011. 
He advised Obama against the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
He&#39;s not someone you want in the Situation Room again. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DemConvention?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DemConvention</a> <a href="https://t.co/WBtjtZa8hU">pic.twitter.com/WBtjtZa8hU</a>
&mdash; Abigail Marone (@abigailmarone) <a href="https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1295914504660889600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In 2013, Obama appointed McDonough as his Chief of Staff.
The Associated Press <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/10/denis-mcdonough-biden-picks-former-obama-chief-staff-va/3878370001/">reports</a>:
<blockquote>McDonough was credited with helping Obama try to bridge divides on Capitol Hill, including around one of his most substantial second-term legislative achievements: the Veterans Choice Act. The legislation, for which President Donald Trump tries to take credit, gave former service members more options to seek care and the VA secretary more authority to fire underperforming staffers.
The bill came about following exposes during the Obama administration into mismanagement at some VA hospitals and mounting complaints by advocacy groups. As chief of staff, McDonough was also deeply involved in an overhaul of VA leadership after the scandals, which led to the ouster of the department’s secretary.</blockquote>
During his confirmation hearing last month, McDonough <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/01/27/VA-nominee-McDonough-Guiding-veterans-through-pandemic-will-be-top-priority/7291611792526/">said</a> he was “ready for this mission.”
“As a former White House chief of staff, I bring a deep and extensive knowledge of government,” he added. “I understand how to untangle and solve large, complex challenges – both across and within large agencies.”
He becomes the second VA secretary who has not served in the military. David Shulkin, who former President Donald Trump appointed, was the first. Trump went on to fire him via Twitter.
After McDonough was nominated in December, he <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/12/22/my-pledge-to-our-nations-veterans/">said</a> Biden “made it clear what he wants me to do,” quoting Biden as saying: “Fight like hell for our veterans.”
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to fight like hell to give our veterans and their families the healthcare, respect and dignity that they deserve,&#8221; McDonough said. &#8220;That means helping our veterans build civilian lives of meaning and opportunity; making our VA even more welcoming to all veterans, including our women veterans, veterans of color, and LGBTQ+ veterans.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The President-elect’s marching orders to me were clear: “Fight like hell for our veterans.”
I will honor that order. We’re going to fight like hell to give our veterans and their families the healthcare, respect and dignity that they deserve. <a href="https://t.co/RI04OmENuu">pic.twitter.com/RI04OmENuu</a>
&mdash; Denis McDonough (@DenisMcDonough) <a href="https://twitter.com/DenisMcDonough/status/1338539027448950786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Still, some leaders of veterans groups reportedly expressed disappointment when Biden chose McDonough, emphasizing his non-veteran status.
“Is this just a crony pick, or an afterthought? He has zero affiliation with veterans,” one anonymous veterans advocate <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/12/10/mcdonough-veterans-groups/">told</a> The Washington Post. “No one’s saying you have to be a hard core vet to lead VA, but we have someone here who is not a vet who doesn’t understand the culture of the only Cabinet-level agency with a built-in constituency that’s actually engaged and vocal.”
McDonough is a professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, which aims to prepare “new generations of students for skilled, effective and ethical global professional leadership.” He was a featured speaker at the 2017 Notre Dame Forum, “Going Global: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Globalization.” <a href="https://news.nd.edu/news/notre-dame-faculty-member-denis-mcdonough-nominated-as-secretary-of-veteran-affairs/">According</a> to the school, McDonough joined the staff in August 2017 and will remain on the Notre Dame faculty on academic leave.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Congratulations to Keough School Professor <a href="https://twitter.com/DenisMcDonough?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DenisMcDonough</a> on his confirmation this evening as US Secretary of Veterans Affairs. <a href="https://t.co/l3zfaZQYwg">https://t.co/l3zfaZQYwg</a>
&mdash; Keough School of Global Affairs (@KeoughGlobalND) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeoughGlobalND/status/1358929539662041091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/watchdogs-concerned-biden-appointees-opaque-consulting-work/story?id=75563844">reported</a>, McDonough also recently worked for an advisory firm called Macro Advisory Partners, which according to a spokesperson with the company, “interprets global developments for its clients and analyses their impact on business strategies.”
More details from ABC News:
<blockquote>The company, with a roster that includes at least ten Obama-era officials, does not disclose its clients. Its website makes oblique references to work it does for &#8220;an industry-leading multinational consumer goods company&#8221; with a footprint in China, and &#8220;a global financial services company&#8221; doing business in Middle Eastern markets. …
In his disclosure form, McDonough reported providing strategic advice to GlaxoSmithKline, PWC, MasterCard, Deutsche Telekom and Apple, but did not specify whether those were Macro Advisory Partners clients. A Biden transition official later clarified to ABC News that those companies were his clients at Macro Advisory Partners. McDonough reported earning at least $248,000 in salary from the firm over the last two years.</blockquote>
ABC reported McDonough “has agreed to step down from his position at the firm and recuse himself from any matters related to his former Macro Advisory Partners clients.” CIA Director nominee William Burns and incoming National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also recently worked for the company, which is based in London and New York.
McDonough&#8217;s wife, Kari, is co-founder and president of Vets&#8217; Community Connections, a nonprofit that, <a href="https://www.vetscommunityconnections.org/missionteam.html">according</a> to its website, &#8220;assists veterans, military and their families in successfully integrating into their community by expanding their local networks and involving all parts of the community.&#8221;

Denis McDonough

Senate Confirms Nonveteran To Head Biden’s Veterans Affairs Dept

Pete Buttigieg

Reviewing Joe Biden’s Terrible Cabinet: Drones, Doxing, And Potholes

Antony Blinken

Cabinet

Department of Homeland Security

Joe Biden

Secretary of State

White House

Between July 2017 and June 2018, seven veterans at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center died from severe hypoglycemia or extremely low blood sugar. It wasn’t until June 2018 that a medical doctor reported concerns, noting that several of the patients who had died were not diabetic.
A nursing assistant, Reta Mays, was removed from the facility’s Ward 3A after the concerns were raised, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/politics/former-nursing-assistant-va-hospital-west-virginia-pleads-guilty/index.html">reported</a>. On Tuesday, Mays pleaded guilty to eight felonies in federal court, including seven counts of second-degree murder and “one count of assault with intent to commit murder.”
The <a href="http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2020/images/07/14/us_v_mays.pdf">plea</a>, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and obtained by CNN, stated that Mays began working at the Clarksburg, West Virginia, hospital in June 2015 and “was responsible for measuring patients’ vital signs, documenting patients’ intake and output, testing patients’ blood glucose levels with a glucometer, and sitting one on one with patients who required close observation.” Mays, however, was “not qualified [nor] authorized to administer medication, including insulin.”
The patients who died under Mays’ care were not close to death and were not in the intensive care unit, CNN reported. An internal investigation was launched, leading to a referral for a criminal investigation.
&#8220;Immediately upon discovering these serious allegations, Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center leadership brought them to the attention of the VA&#8217;s inspector general while putting safeguards in place to ensure the safety of each and every one of our patients,&#8221; a spokesperson for the medical center said at the time.
In a statement released Tuesday, the VA Office of the Inspector General called the murders “tragic and heartbreaking,” according to CNN.
&#8220;This case is particularly shocking because these deaths were at the hands of a nursing assistant who was entrusted with providing compassionate and supportive care to veterans. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims,&#8221; the IG statement said. “Within a matter of days of learning of the suspicious deaths at the facility, VA OIG agents identified the defendant as a person of interest. Working with medical facility leaders, the defendant was immediately removed from patient care. Without critical investigative actions being taken so expeditiously, additional lives could have been lost.&#8221;
The plea states that Mays “willfully, deliberately, maliciously, and with malice aforethought,” killed the seven veterans. A total of 11 deaths at the facility were investigated, with Mays admitting to committing seven of them.
The suspicious deaths weren’t reported until August 2019, when the death of Felix Kirk McDermott, 82, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/27/va-deaths-authorities-investigating-string-10-patient-deaths/2132186001/">came to light</a>. McDermott’s body was exhumed in October 2018 and a medical examiner determined he died due to an injection of insulin even though he was not diabetic. Felix’s death is one of those Mays pleaded guilty to committing.

VA Nurse

Former VA Hospital Nursing Assistant Pleads Guilty To Murdering Seven Veterans With Insulin Injections

Crime

Murder

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday after the Democratic presidential candidate tried to pander to America’s veterans by treating them like victims.
&#8220;On a deeper level, I have always disliked it when politicians start pandering to veterans and telling us how bad we have it, and that if we just vote for them then they will fix all of our problems. That is just not true,&#8221; Crenshaw said during an appearance on Fox News. &#8220;It also gets to a really false choice, which is why we went to war in the first place.&#8221;
&#8220;I went there because our country needed it,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We went there because it was in the best interest of our country — I wasn&#8217;t thinking down the road of being taken care of.&#8221;
<div class="embed video fluid-video">Watch the latest video at <a href="https://www.foxnews.com">foxnews.com</a></div>
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of veterans since he was elected to Congress in 2018. He served five deployments overseas, and while on his third combat tour, he was hit by an IED blast during a mission in Afghanistan that destroyed his right eye and badly injured his left eye. After multiple surgeries, Crenshaw regained sight in his left eye and went on to deploy two more times — first to the Middle East and then to South Korea.
&#8220;Now, of course that doesn&#8217;t mean that we should not take care of our veterans. But this is also another, I think, falsehood that Bernie is spreading,&#8221; Crenshaw said, before noting that improving veterans&#8217; health care through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has always been a bipartisan issue.
&#8220;We spend far more on the VA than we have in the past,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Every single year as a delegation, as a Congress, we look for ways to improve veteran care and he knows that.&#8221;
&#8220;But what he&#8217;s doing is he&#8217;s trying to rile people up,&#8221; Crenshaw added. &#8220;He is trying to make people angry. He is trying to tell veterans that they are victims and that only he can take care of them and I just think that’s such a dishonest way to do politics and I think he should be called out for it.&#8221;
The Texas congressman&#8217;s remarks were in reference to a tweet Sanders posted over the weekend that stated: &#8220;[I]f you can&#8217;t afford to take care of your veterans, then don&#8217;t go to war.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Watching Bernie pander to different groups to get their vote has always disgusted me, but now it’s personal.
I didn’t go to war so that you would take care of me, Bernie. I went because I wanted to serve and our country needed it. <a href="https://t.co/ADhxrvtIA9">https://t.co/ADhxrvtIA9</a>
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1173963177412956160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;Watching Bernie pander to different groups to get their vote has always disgusted me, but now it’s personal,&#8221; Crenshaw responded at the time. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t go to war so that you would take care of me, Bernie. I went because I wanted to serve and our country needed it.&#8221;
The retired lieutenant commander was thrown into the spotlight a week prior to election day in 2018 after Saturday Night Live mocked him for the injuries he sustained while fighting for America. The incident springboarded Crenshaw into the national political arena and he has largely been considered a rising star in the Republican Party ever since.

Dan Crenshaw

WATCH: Dan Crenshaw Slams Bernie For Treating Veterans As Victims: ‘That’s Such A Dishonest Way To Do Politics’

Bernie Sanders

Health Care

Saturday Night Live

On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence garnered big applause in Indianapolis when he openly defended a veterans hospital publicly displaying a Holy Bible to commemorate imprisoned veterans.
According to the <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/28/mike-pence-indianapolis-vp-boasts-new-american-strength/2085555001/">Indianapolis Star</a>, the vice president addressed the American Legion&#8217;s 101st national convention on Wednesday night where he spoke about a range of issues important to the Trump administration, from foreign policy to the bettering of healthcare for veterans. His most triumphant moment, however, came when he declared that the VA would not be a &#8220;religion-free&#8221; zone.
&#8220;Perhaps the biggest applause came when Pence said the VA would not be a &#8216;religion-free&#8217; zone, referencing a lawsuit in New Hampshire <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/07/bible-display-veterans-affairs-new-hampshire-facility-spurs-lawsuit/1119974001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-track-label="inline|intext|n/a">that seeks to remove a historic Bible in a VA hospital</a>,&#8221; reports the outlet.
The lawsuit erupted in May of this year when the non-profit group Military Religious Freedom Foundation enlisted a veteran to file a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs over a historic Bible on display at a VA facility in New Hampshire. Mikey Weinstein, founder of the group, told the Indy Star that the VA was essentially raising one faith above all the rest by displaying the Bible at all.
&#8220;That is stamping it with the approval of raising one faith over all the others,&#8221; he said. &#8220;From our perspective, it&#8217;s a repugnant example of fundamentalist Christian triumphalism, exceptionalism, superiority, and domination, and it cannot stand.&#8221;
The lawsuit also claimed that the plaintiff was a devout Christain who simply respected the religious beliefs of other service members. &#8220;As a Christian, he respects and loves all his military brothers and sisters and does not want to be exclusionary by placement of the Christian Bible,&#8221; it said.
VA spokeswoman Kristin Pressly told USA Today that the Bible was removed temporarily but was subsequently placed back on display after considerable outcry from veterans. The Bible was part of a memorial to commemorate missing and imprisoned service members.
&#8220;Manchester VAMC officials temporarily removed the Bible from the display out of an abundance of caution,&#8221; Pressly said. &#8220;Following that removal, Manchester VAMC received an outpouring of complaints from Veterans and other stakeholders – many of whom dropped off Bibles at the facility — in protest of this action.&#8221;
Pressly added that the Bible will stay and &#8220;remain indefinitely as part of the missing man display, a secular tribute to America&#8217;s POW/MIA community.&#8221;
National VA spokesman Curt Cashour denounced the lawsuit at the time as &#8220;nothing more than an attempt to force VA into censoring a show of respect for America&#8217;s POW/MIA community.&#8221;
Vice President Mike Pence has previously spoken out about the importance of publicly displaying faith. Earlier in the month, while speaking before the Alliance Defending Freedom, Pence urged people to spend more time on their knees in prayer than on the internet.
&#8220;Spend more time on your knees than on the internet … Forgiveness is a great gift,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As a Christian believer we&#8217;re charged to pray for our loved ones but also pray for our enemies. You have lots of opportunities in politics to do that.&#8221;

Mike Pence

Mike Pence Defends Bible On Display At Veterans Hospital

Religion

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

Gun Control

Menu