PrairiePundit

  Kyle Becke r @kylenabecker · 18h DID YOU KNOW: Biden tapped the Emergency Food and Shelter Program — a FEMA grant program to help homeless veterans — to the tune of a billion dollars to harbor illegal aliens in the United States? They literally gave funds for homeless vets to illegal aliens. Despicable. Of his many ridiculous policies, this is one of Biden's worst. He opened the borders to illegals and then fed and housed them using money intended for those who had major sacrifices for this country.  See also: DOGE NEWS- Department of Government Efficiency @realdogeusa · 14h The US government sent $2.7 TRILLION in Medicare & Medicaid money overseas to people who were NOT eligible to receive it. That’s 8% of our national debt. Medicare isn't going broke. The money is being stolen. And: HHS Spent over $22 Billion on Giveaways to Illegal Immigrants over Past Four Years And:  Lawyer tips Trump off on Democrats’ secret illegal immigrat...

 Just the News: Republican Sens. Steve Daines, Mont., and Bill Hagerty, Tenn., have signed on to an effort from Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville to prevent the use of the Department of Veteran Affairs healthcare resources for illegal immigrants. Tuberville in December introduced the " No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act " amid reports that the Biden administration was using VA resources to accommodate the unprecedented number of illegal entrants to the U.S., Fox News  reported . The Alabama lawmaker's office confirmed to  Just the News  on Tuesday that Daines and Hagerty had signed on as co-sponsors to the plan. GOP Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., and Marsha Blackburn, Tenn.,  did so  in mid-December. During an appearance on the  "John Solomon Reports"  podcast last week, Tuberville insisted that, amid the influx, the VA was only able to accommodate roughly half of the nation's veterans, in part due to the use of VA resources for illegals. "Now we ha...

 Washington Examiner: For years, homeless veterans camped outside the gates of the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Los Angeles and peered into the 388-acre campus that was meant to be their home following military service. The land was donated in 1887 for the sole purpose of housing veterans following the Civil War, located near what is now the celebrity enclave of Brentwood. Instead, UCLA built a stadium there , and Marriott Hotels and 20th Century Fox leased space along with others. It seemed like everyone had a home except the homeless veterans spread throughout Los Angeles. Then, the cost of building housing for large numbers of veterans became mired in legal challenges and red tape as the decades dragged on. Now, Tunnel to Towers has entered the picture and has provided a large undisclosed grant to get a project moving to build housing for 3,000 homeless veterans on the property. The first group will be able to move into their new apartments at the end of the year,...

 Washington Free Beacon: The Defense Department is the subject of a congressional probe after it took the unprecedented step of denying permits for a Memorial Day charity event that has been held annually in Washington, D.C., for more than 30 years. The Rolling to Remember motorcycle ride, formerly known as Rolling Thunder, brings scores of veterans and others to the area to commemorate war veterans, including prisoners of war and those missing in action. The event was jeopardized earlier this month after the Pentagon canceled permits allowing the group to gather in its parking lot, citing restrictions associated with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Pentagon initially approved the permit in March and then rescinded the decision in April without any explanation. Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) is now investigating the Biden administration’s decision and instructed the Pentagon to provide him with all emails, records, communications, and documents surrounding its approval and su...

 Chuck Devore: Are the ranks of the U.S. military riddled with white supremacists? CNN thinks so, and won’t let the facts get in the way of this compelling narrative. CNN makes its case in a story headlined, “Disproportionate number of current and former military personnel arrested in Capitol attack, CNN analysis shows.” This is both factually untrue and downright libelous. It dishonors the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces. More broadly, fears over extremists secretly serving in the military were made official policy when new Secretary of Defense and former U.S. Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin, III called for a military-wide “stand-down” to root out white supremacy and extremism. A month earlier, Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, publicly accused the 25,000 National Guard soldiers who were deployed from across the nation to protect the U.S. Capitol and the inauguration of President Joe Biden of being “…predominantly more conservative” than the general popul...

Washington Post: California massacre sparks gun debate — again — with a community torn over the path forward In a state that already has strict gun laws, some believe in more gun control, others want to arm the public. Some are resigned to the status quo in an age of gun violence. PTSD appears to cause extreme paranoia in some cases, and the shooter, in this case, could be one example of that.  It looks and feels different from battle fatigue and shell shock casualties of past wars.  Perhaps it is because of the nature of the warfare being used by the radical Islamists in the current war.  They tend to use non-traditional tactics and IED's that are usually a surprise. I think the military and veteran healthcare providers still have some work to do in the treatment of this malady. As a Vietnam vet who was XO of a rifle company of Marines in Northern I Corps, I don't recall seeing anything similar.  When I was wounded and hospitalized, I don't recall any of...

Fox News: The Florida Democrat who criticized President Donald Trump this week for being "insensitive" toward the widow of a U.S. soldier slain in Africa might be facing similar criticism herself. It turns out that U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson has frequently voted against measures intended to help veterans and their families, according to VoteSmart.org, a vote-tracking site whose founding board members included former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. The measures that Wilson opposed included a bill that could have ensured that families of four soldiers slain in Afghanistan in 2013 received death and burial benefits. In fact, Wilson’s voting record on veterans issues may call into question the sincerity of her recent defense of U.S. service members and their families. Despite Wilson's claim to be “committed to honoring our service members, not only with words but with deeds,” she has voted against most bills ensuring continued funding for veteran benefits, ...

Washington Times: Obama’s Justice Department refused to hire military veterans for jobs: probe This looks like a pretty clear case of discrimination by the Obama DOJ which is supposed to enforce the law and not thwart it to give advantages to those without veteran status.

Washington Examiner: Veterans Affairs has 346 workers who do only union work These people should either be fired are put to work directly helping veterans.  If they were fired the money could better be used helping veterans down on their luck.

Bloomberg: Rick Perry, the former Texas governor whose own presidential ambitions were dashed last year, is working with a new super-political action committee that plans to enlist prominent veterans to support Ted Cruz's campaign for the White House. The group also plans to highlight veterans' issues during the course of the campaign, said Kathy Walt, a former Perry chief of staff who is working with the group. Among those who will be joining Perry, Walt said, are the decorated former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell; Dakota Meyer, a Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient; and Taya Kyle, the widow of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. They and Perry "are all going to be swinging for the fences in support of Cruz," Walt said. The new group, known as Keep the Promise to Veterans, formally registered with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. The family of Dallas billionaire Darwin Deason has held talks about funding the new group, according to two people with kno...

This is reminiscent of the Swiftboat veterans' ads against John Kerry in 2004.  It is too bad the ads were not launched before the South Carolina primary.

Daily Beast: Donald Trump wanted a small veterans charity to be his political prop. They said no. Liberty House is a scrappy veterans group in New Hampshire, with a small, $300,000 annual budget—one of the 22 organizations chosen to benefit from Trump’s multimillion-dollar fundraiser for vets. On Friday, Liberty House executive director Keith Howard received a call from a Trump campaign staffer, who conveyed that Trump would like to publicly present them with a six-figure check at a Londonderry rally on Monday, right before the Granite State primary. It’s an enormous amount of money for a small charity. But Howard said he wouldn’t do it—risking the entire, substantial donation on a point of principle. Howard, a 57-year-old Army vet, objected to the use of veterans for political purposes. He doesn’t believe that his charity—which clothes the homeless, feeds the needy, and provides housing to 10 formerly homeless vets—should be presented with money by a political candidate at a pol...

NY Times: Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum Slammed for Appearing at Donald Trump Event From the looks of the polls, they had little to lose, but Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum might have lost the respect of some conservatives by attending a Trump rally. I suspect it hurt them not just with conservatives but with veterans too.  It was basically just a Trump infomercial where he induced a few of his rich buddies to donate to Trump's foundation  for funds that are supposed to go to veterans groups.  But in the past Trump has donated more money to the Clinton's than he has veterans which raises the suggestion that he is just doing it as a political stunt. BTW, I am a veteran.

Daily Beast: Donald Trump Donated More to Clintons Than Veterans The GOP frontrunner talks about his love for vets—but his foundation gave far more to the Clintons over the years than any group that helps military veterans. He may be trying to correct this transgression with his latest venture.

This surprises me not at all.  This agency remains poorly run and they just put veteran claims in a file cabinet and forget some of them.

John Jay Carafano: Texas A&M has a storied military past. Its Corps of Cadets was founded in 1876 . Thousands of its graduates have served in the armed forces; eight have received the Medal of Honor. Men and women still flock to join the "Corps" -- and that includes veterans . So many, in fact, that the university established "Delta Company," a unit of students composed solely of combat veterans. Many hope to get a degree and a commission and an opportunity to serve their country again. Still wanting to serve, however, does not come cheap. "We all volunteered to be in the Corps of Cadets," acknowledge one young veteran in Delta Company, "but with that came more financial hardship other than just the uniform costs." Even with financial assistance from the GI Bill, making ends meet can be a challenge. Having already paid a price to serve their nation once, quite a few of these veteran student/cadets are struggling to cover the costs so they c...