Tomorrow we honor those who gave all for this country. Memorial Day. Ceremonies will be held not just at National Cemeteries but in regular ones around the country. As is the case every year Arlington National Cemetery will be the focus of observance of this most solemn of days. Yet we have a President who is a draft dodger, who thinks those buried at Arlington and elsewhere were “suckers and losers.” Who stood there at the gravesite of the son of his then Chief of Staff and gestured saying “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Given Trump’s contempt for those who served when HE was too cowardly to do so it’s no wonder he’s trying to gut the Veteran’s Administration, and unlike journalists and politicians Veterans are calling him out in pointedly harsh terms.
In this article from Alternet it states Trumpty is being ripped over VA cuts, and being called “Captain Bone Spurs.” Trumpty won’t like that but hell, he should be flattered. They gave him a promotion from the title “CADET Bone Spurs” Senator and combat vet Tammy Duckworth hung on him years ago. Personally I think her name for Trump is more fitting but what matters, what will wound Trump’s ego is being made fun of over his BOGUS bone spurs.
I know it’s politically incorrect to use such terminology these days but sometimes certain ugly comments are needed to hammer a point home in terms certain people can’t ignore. And will leave a mark. Trump isn’t just a draft-dodging coward. He’s a PU$$Y! If any of the conservatives who read this (PZ has some who come here) don’t like it go f**k yourselves. And when you’re done do so again! NO ONE should be cutting VA funding and personnel. But especially not Donald effing Trump.
This comes from a Voices For Veterans panel discussion this past Tuesday. It’s the kind of thing there needs to be more of. And more news outlets need to be talking about this a LOT more than they’ve been doing so. Prompted by a question from moderator Michael McElroy (from North Carolina online publication Cardinal & Pine) panelists didn’t hold back:
The Trump administration is thinking about numbers and not people when it proposes such deep cuts to the VA, said Ann Marie Patterson-Powell, a VA nurse.
“They’re not looking at the human side of it. Patterson-Powell said. “We promised those who signed up and left their families, their homes — everything behind — to serve the country. We said, ‘If you do this for me, we’re going to take care of you when you come back.’”
People are much more than numbers on some accounting spreadsheet. Those who serve others sure as hell deserve more consideration than what conservatives who’d long dreamed of privatizing the VA have ever been willing to give them in return for their service:
Dr. Kyle Horton, founder of On Your Side Health, a nonprofit that addresses health care disparities and works to improve veterans’ care, said the nation has a sacred obligation to protect those who serve.
“Those who wrote a blank check in service to this country with their lives do not deserve to be penny-pinched by Washington bureaucrats,” Horton said.
Horton added: “They don’t deserve to be penny-pinched by Captain Bone Spurs in the White House [a reference to President Donald Trump, who obtained a medical excuse from serving in the Vietnam War due to bone spurs] right now and they don’t deserve to be penny pinched by DOGE [the so-called Department of Government Efficiency] and [Elon] Musk who don’t even know what they’re doing. Period.”
I call attention to this tonight because tomorrow thoughts of those who died in battle will be foremost in people’s minds. The thing is, not all dead from battlefield injuries die on the battlefield, or in the short period after as Evac facilities and even hospitals try to save them. And sometimes even those that make it back home suffer from physical and/or psychological trauma that will in time lead to their death. Or shorten their lives. THAT is where the VA Health Care system shines – it is uniquely suited to provide certain care most civilian providers simply aren’t up to speed on. Is it perfect? No. But it’s damned good and year after year surveys show nintety percent or better approval rating which is as good (or better) that ‘vaunted’ civilian health care systems.
So tomorrow if you visit a cemetery and veteran’s graves, don’t assume the lack of a notation about a killed in action means that veteran didn’t die from going to war. Some die from just training to go to war for heaven’s sake! But nine million Veteran’s depend on the VA for health care services. Including me. We deserve a President and administration NOT filled with draft-dodgers and Chicken Hawks.
Before signing off I’d like to suggest you take the time to read the linked article because it addresses another issue. Given the conference that prompted this was in North Carolina it delves into the recent race for a position on the state’s Supreme Court. It took six months for the sore-loser GOP candidate to finally give up and concede. AFTER a federal judge ordered the Board of Election to certify Democrat Allison Riggs’ win. However the whole ugly affair involved challenging a large number of military ballots cast overseas. That’s right. The GOP looked to retroactively change the rules to DISQUALIFY active duty and veteran’s mail in votes! (FYI, this block of voters is no longer firmly in the GOP’s pocket)
It matters because the GOP is studying how they almost pulled off a steal and will be looking to do so next year in the midterms. And beyond. All the while they will be furiously at work trying to take away health care that was promised for Veterans. So honor the fallen tomorrow. But keep in mind the service of those buried alongside those killed in battle affected and even shortened many of those lives too. I shudder at the human cost had there been no VA to help them.
***Zoomers, we are always in need of donations. It’s been an especially rough month and my own health has not been great these past few weeks, which just adds to the frustration. Anything you can spare will be immensely appreciated. And thank you to all who have donated generously already. Ursula***
Captain Bone Spurs 😆🤣
Thank you for your heartfelt words that needs to be heard. Thank you for your service!
Ask not what you can do for your country but what can your country do for you? This seems to be the Republican philosophy, currently exhibited by office holders without conscience or higher vision
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-president-drafted/
He THINKS that way. With every fiber of his being. Anyone who doesn’t recognize that is either totally out of touch with reality delusional, or a goddamned liar! He’s proven it over and over again in his rotten to the core, vile and despicable life. Service to anyone but him is for “suckers and losers.” I’ll say it again about Chicken Hawk-ii-Chief Trump – He always was and will be until the day he dies a coward and a pussy!