Memorial Day weekend

 Gary Varvel cartoon:

Remember our fallen warriors this weekend.

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It's Memorial Day weekend

Mark Alexander at Patriot Post has a beautiful tribute to our fallen heroes.  Here’s a paragraph:

Fellow Patriots, on Memorial Day, we honor those who have died in the service of our nation’s Armed Services — those who have abided by their solemn oaths “to support and defend” the American Liberty too many take for granted. Memorial Day provides a stark contrast between the best of our nation’s selfless Patriot sons and daughters versus the worst of our nation’s selfish culture and consumerism. Astoundingly, some businesses disgracefully promote a “Memorial Day Sale.” But Memorial Day is NOT for sale — 1,354,664 Patriots have already paid the full price.

Read the rest here.  Cartoon by Gary Varvel at Liberty Loft. 

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Trump rally in Delaware County this evening April 23 UPDATED

 

Donald J. Trump headlines a rally this evening (Apr-23) at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, his first trip to Ohio since last summer. Trump is slated to speak at 7 p.m., with around three hours of speakers before him beginning at 4 p.m.

This rally may be a game-changer - - and not for the better.  Trump has been under heavy fire from Ohio liberty and veteran’s groups for endorsing squish JD Vance in the Senate race to replace squish Rob Portman.  Cleveland Tea Party’s Ralph King posted this link from Daily Mail reporting on veterans urging Trump to RESCIND his endorsement of Vance.  So one of two scenarios this evening are likely:  1) attendance is way down  or 2) patriots at the rally start to boo when Trump introduces Vance.  Or perhaps Trump will announce he has indeed rescinded his endorsement. We can hope. 

Links to Right Side Broadcast Network (RSBN) livestreams will be posted here later today.

UPDATE:  The Right Scoop has the RSBN links here.

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Happy Independence Day

 

At Front Page, Don Feder offers 17 ways to celebrate America’s birthday.  Here’s his closing:

Never give up! – America wasn’t started or safeguarded over the course of 245 years by quitters. Think of Valley Forge, the string of defeats the Union Army suffered in 1861-62, Belleau Wood and Bastogne. To pledge allegiance to the flag means that you will fight to keep it waving, regardless of the odds.

We are in a war for America’s survival, every bit as desperate as the Revolution, the Civil War or the Cold War.  It includes the metaphorical equivalent of house-to-house fighting.

We are fighting for the preservation of free speech, religious liberty, private property, limited government and public safety. If the Founding Fathers could pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, the least we can do is to risk our reputations and jobs to stand up to the cancel culture and other types of leftist tyranny.

Happy Fourth of July.

Read all 17 ways to celebrate here.

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Memorial Day

Gary Varvel's cartoon at Townhall.com

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Attention Cleveland Veterans: USS Cod Submarine Memorial event this coming Saturday

 photo credit: Trip Advisor

Vets getting thanks at USS Cod Submarine Memorial 

August 5 [that’s this coming Saturday]

For the veterans in your community, here’s an announcement via Brian Albrecht at Cleveland.com:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A day of thanks will be offered August 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the USS Cod Submarine Memorial, 1089 East Ninth Street, featuring free tours for veterans and their families, music and service information.

Visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and use the submarine's newly installed picnic grove, and spend the day visiting the other nearby attractions of Cleveland's North Coast Harbor.

In addition, veterans can visit information displays set up by private and governmental organizations that provide services to veterans and their families.

The city of Cleveland is providing free parking to veterans attending the event. A brief welcome program and deck gun salute is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.

"A beautiful day in August beats a dreary November day in Cleveland for celebrating the service of our veterans," said Cod Director Paul Farace.

The Memorial's phone is (216) 566-8770.

Mark your calendar and pass it on!

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D-Day : 73 years ago today

Today is the 73^rd anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944. These photographs were taken with an old Brownie Box camera by the skipper of the first LCT to successfully deliver troops and equipment onto Utah Beach that morning. The grainy smoke-filled image was taken at H-Hour.

 Cleveland Tea Party salutes our veterans, past and present.

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Excellent reminder of why we stand for the National Anthem

photo credit: sportsleader.org

Well, this was refreshing to read. From Legal Insurrection:

Kneeling during the national anthem has taken the sports by storm since San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick began it during preseason to protest police treatment of black people. Other NFL players have done it along with high school football players.

But Virginia Tech basketball coach Buzz Williams will not have that behavior in his house. Instead, he chose to show his players why we stand for the national anthem. We do it to honor the men and women who sacrificed so much so we can enjoy our freedom at home.

There’s a 4½ minute video of coach Williams on the website. Various versions have been up on YouTube for over a year, but the recent disrespect exhibited by the SF quarterback makes it timely. The video on the LI website shows over 34 million views! It's inspiring.

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"Mad as Hell" Shinseki Tells Second Biggest Lie of the Year over VA Health Care

Click to Sign the CVA Petition to Fire Shinseki

Though Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki claims to be "mad as hell" over the recent deaths of 40 veterans awaiting care in AZ and other "secret waiting lists," and has accepted the resignation of Dr. Robert Petzel, the under secretary for health in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Shinseki himself still REFUSES to step down and has no plans of resigning.

The below is from Pete Hegseth, CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, in response to the testimony given by Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee yesterday....

From Fox News --  

Thursday morning Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki came before the Senate Veterans Affairs committee and proclaimed—with a straight face—that the VA health care system is “a good system.”

While Politifact has already deemed President Obama’s infamous “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” the lie of the year—Shinseki’s statement ranks a close, and unfortunate, second.

The totality of the Secretary’s remarks before the committee Thursday were not only deceptive, they were detached, defensive, and unbefitting a leader who should be fighting mad about the scandals engulfing the VA.

The totality of the Secretary’s remarks before the committee Thursday were not only deceptive, they were detached, defensive, and unbefitting a leader who, by now, should be fighting mad about the scandals engulfing VA, firing those responsible, and fundamentally challenging every assumption he has about the manner in which care is provided to our veterans.

Instead, Shinseki played the role of aloof bureaucrat, reading dispassionately from his prepared remarks in a monotone voice, as if this was a run-of-the-mill budget hearing. Shinseki’s comments were spot on in that respect—a perfect personification of VA’s indifferent and unaccountable bureaucracy.

As my organization Concerned Veterans for America has been saying for years—and Fox News has been reporting aggressively—the VA is an infected bureaucracy, incapable of delivering timely care to veterans; instead, the VA has been cooking the books to preserve the jobs and bonuses of senior officials.

The Phoenix VA scandal has been the most publicized example—with as many as 40 veterans allegedly dying while waiting on a secret list.

But Phoenix is just the tip of the iceberg, with another half-dozen whistleblowers from across the country stepping up in the past few weeks to reveal similar secret lists.

Plain and simple—the VA is failing in its core mission to veterans: providing timely and quality healthcare. Across the country, veterans are waiting months for basic appointment, let alone specialized care.

By VA’s own account, only 41 percent of veterans are seen for a medical appointment within 14 days; a number that is certainly dramatically lower in light of how VA has cooked the books on appointments.

Wait times of weeks and months are unacceptable anywhere, let alone for our veterans.

As for the quality of care, while it is great at many facilities, it has been uneven at others—just ask the families of veterans in Pittsburgh and Atlanta about deaths that could have been prevented due to medical malpractice.

All of this is unacceptable.

As a result of these revelations and his performance before Congress Thursday, there will be more calls for Shinseki to resign, and rightfully so. But that action alone would not solve this problem. Just as the problem is more than just the scandal in Phoenix, the problems at VA are much larger than Shinseki.

Shinseki should be fired immediately—as my group, the American Legion, and many Senators have called for—but that is only the beginning.

Fundamental reform is needed, from top to bottom, to shake up a calcified and unaccountable bureaucracy. These reforms start with accountability at the very top, and throughout VA.

VA must also be made more transparent, and the benefits veterans have earned should be more portable—meaning if you can’t get timely or convenient care at a local VA, you can go elsewhere.

It also must be made clear that the problems at VA are not funding problems. Some individuals testified Thursday that more money might solve the problem. This is bogus.

Sure, there are certain aspects of VA that could use additional funding, but reallocation of existing funds would be more than sufficient.

In Phoenix alone, 59% of salaries are spent on administration and operations, notmedical care.

The VA bureaucracy is very adept at gobbling up additional funding; so before we spend more money on VA, we need to reform it. Let’s stop throwing more money at a bureaucracy incapable of using it wisely or efficiently.

Finally, some members at Thursday’s hearing pointed, with hopeful expectation, toward the White House’s decision to appoint a top Obama political operative to oversee a VA “review.”

Count me as underwhelmed and skeptical about it.
The White House has zero incentive to find wrongdoing at VA, and I have very little faith that anything substantive will be found from this investigation.

Only a bipartisan and independent investigation will do the job, and Congress should press for one; but not at the expense of immediate and real reform.

If one thing was clear today, it’s that Congress should get to work providing much-needed oversight for VA.

The House and Senate would be wise to start with the VA Management Accountability Act of 2014, a bill that would allow senior managers at VA to actually be fired.

It’s common sense, non-partisan, and long-overdue reform. The bill is not a silver bullet, but is a great start.

It will likely see a vote soon in the House; but the question is whether the Senate, with all the Republican and Democratic bluster we witnessed on Thursday, will step up to the plate and pass an actual piece of reform legislation.

For Congress, and the White House, it’s put up or shut up time.

Pete Hegseth is a Fox News contributor. He is the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and the former executive director of Vets for Freedom. He is an infantry officer in the Army National Guard and has served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay. Learn more at:www.concernedveteransforamerica.org.

American Veterans Deserve Better Health Care

From Tea Party Patriots --

When it comes to health care for veterans who have fought around the world defending our freedoms, it is our duty to provide the best treatment and the best resources in a timely manner. Anything less than that is nothing short of failure. President Obama’s Department of Veterans Affairs is failing our veterans with dozens dying before receiving necessary medical care.

In Arizona, the Phoenix Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System is under fire for covering up evidence that links the deaths of veterans to prolonged waits for necessary medical care. Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, says his staff has proof the Phoenix VA system secretly keeps two sets of records in order to hide information about prolonged waits that veterans must endure for treatment.

“It appears as though there could be as many as 40 veterans whose deaths could be related to delays in care,” said Miller during a hearing on Wednesday. Rep. Miller’s revelations follow VA whistleblower reports that raised red flags about VA’s record-keeping practices, as well as veterans’ deaths and mismanagement.

One doctor who retired from the Phoenix VA Medical Center last year sent a letter to the Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney, among others, claiming the Phoenix system is afflicted with “gross mismanagement of VA resources and criminal misconduct” that resulted in “systemic patient safety issues and possible wrongful deaths.”

“Possible wrongful deaths.” Welcome to Obama’s VA.

There are several lessons to be drawn from the VA problems in Phoenix; the least of which being that the federal government isn’t optimized for administering health care. Bureaucracies don’t run like private markets do. In one, misconduct, fraud, and corruption are inherently discouraged by criminal prosecution, fines and prison. In the other, mismanagement, secrecy, and the concealment of failure is rarely deterred or detected. It’s not difficult to figure out which is which.

The current problems at VA demand reform and involve more than just medical care. Nearly 600,000 veterans await a decision on their disability claims. Worse yet, VA data suggests that the backlog of claims more than 125 days old has fallen because of suspect denials. In Obama’s VA, the number of appeals following a denial of benefits has soared to more than 274,000, leaving those veterans waiting more than 400 more days to have their disability claims reviewed.

VA health care is available only to a fraction of veterans and is not an entitlement; it is an earned benefit provided to those who were wounded or otherwise disabled during their time in uniform. They deserve better than what Obama is delivering.