Free Republic

Everyone on the left is trying to blame Donald Trump for COVID-19 and the deaths caused by it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to blame Trump for the outbreak in New York. Joe Biden wants voters to believe Trump is responsible for the deaths caused by a virus that started in and was covered up by China for weeks before alerting the World Health Organization. Joe Biden has claimed “it didn’t have to be this way” despite having failed to present a single alternative response to the virus. In fact, he often plagiarized Trump’s COVID-19 response by “proposing” actions that...

It’s been a rough six weeks.   In a short span of time, I fired my literary agent, shattered my wrist ice skating at 20 mph (laugh it up, fuzzball, to quote the great Han Solo; I even played hockey and skate very well), finally lost my CAA agent after our producer for our movie deal took a job last fall with Sylvester Stallone, and had my lung damage issue flare up to delay my wrist surgery.  My life was a really bad country song.  Fortunately, my dog still loved me, and the surgery, when I finally had it, was...

Whether you’re on the right, left, or squarely in the middle, we can all agree that veterans aren’t treated nearly as well as they should be in this country. In fact, they’re blatantly disrespected in many ways. But how is President Trump, who made lots of campaign promises to veterans, doing on this issue after roughly a year in office? Where Trump Found ThingsWhen Barack Obama entered office in 2009, he found the veterans of this country in the middle of a decades-long plight, which he promised to fix many times during his campaign for the presidency. “Caring for those...

A Bible was removed from the waiting room of a Chillicothe Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Athens, Ohio after a veteran complained. “Our government is secular, and must remain secular,” the unidentified veteran wrote. Mikey Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, fired off a letter to the medical center on behalf of the veteran – alleging that the presence of the Bible inside a government facility is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Weinstein, a fussy little man with a strong aversion to our Lord, said the Bible’s placement in the waiting room was “illicit and...

We’ve got to stop using veterans as political pawns Department of Veteran Affairs has for its mission statement: To fulfill President Lincoln´s promise: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America´s Veterans. Naturally, funds are needed to serve the purpose, but how come it is that the VA goes on an art shopping spree while our Veterans’ life span is dramatically reduced by inhuman living conditions and lack of medical care? While the department worries about overpayments to ex-soldiers and...

With the 2016 presidential race beginning to take shape, liberals are ratcheting up their attacks on Republicans over labor issues and union benefits. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been on the receiving end of renewed attacks by the left for his actions that critics say deprived public sector union members of their promised benefits. In New Jersey, there’s been open warfare between the teachers union and Gov. Chris Christie over pensions for retirees.The complaints have a familiar refrain: Democrats accuse Republicans of reneging on promises made to rank and file union members, eroding the benefits to which they’re entitled, and...

Imagine how much better off America's veterans would be if the federal government spent more time delivering actual care and less time compiling tyrannical lists. The death-inducing secret waiting lists for patients are just the tip of the iceberg. Did you know, for example, that the VA keeps a database on "disgruntled" and "disruptive" vets that results in arbitrarily restricted care? Disabled Air Force veteran and veterans advocate/attorney Benjamin Krause has been raising questions about the system for months and warning his peers. Under the VA policy on "patient record flags" (PRFs), federal bureaucrats can classify vets as "threats"...

Chalk it up to “administrative error.” Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System Director Sharon Helman was awarded an $8,500 bonus, even as her VA health care operation underwent investigation for falsifying patient information to hide the long wait times that reportedly have caused the deaths of 40 veterans. The bonus has now, after much publicity, been rescinded. Sadly, the veterans who died because of a fraudulently inefficient system cannot be brought back to life. The bonus money merely adds insult to a much more serious injury — one we now know extends far beyond Phoenix. The investigation has already spread...

After young and healthy Marine Matt Parker fought for his country in the Middle East, he mysteriously came down with tumors. Now, he finds himself without adequate help from the country he fought for. I’ve known Matt since he was a small child; our families grew up together in church, and in high school I taught his sister violin lessons. Matt is a straight shooter; a bright, honest guy raised with solid values by outstanding Christian parents. Matt enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1994 at age 19. He told KOMO News 4 in Seattle, “ I wanted to be...

A rapidly rising flashpoint in American society is the seemingly "free healthcare" being given to veterans coupled with no understanding by the general populace that we paid much more for our healthcare than they did. We paid in blood. One news organization reporting on President Bush's new budget said, "He asks high-income veterans who do not have service-connected illnesses or injuries to pay a $250 annual VA health care fee. Bush also wants to increase prescription drug co-payments for such veterans from $7 to $15 for a 30-day drug supply. More than 2 million veterans could be affected." What the...

<p>A founding member of a U.S. Muslim group that endorsed an Army chaplain now accused of espionage has himself been arrested on criminal charges.</p> <p>Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi, 51, who helped organize the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council and is a board member of the Washington, D.C.-based American Muslim Council, was taken into custody Sunday by agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI.</p>