Free Republic

Following the recent passage of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill by our Congress and the subsequent signing of it into law by our president, details of this massive spending frenzy were provided by Rep. Dan Bishop’s (R-NC) office. Thankfully, Congressman Bishop and his staff were able to provide citizens of our country with details on the 4,155-page, out-of-control spending bill, highlighting such things as $3 million for “bee-friendly highways,” $50 million to research North Atlantic Right Whales, $410 million to “remain available to Reimburse (“Reimburse”?) Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt Tunisia and Oman for enhanced border security (What?!).” Simultaneously, we all...

Country music star Lee Greenwood was especially proud to be an American over the holiday weekend, after working with a nonprofit to provide a specialized home for an Afghanistan war veteran who lost his legs overseas. Greenwood teamed up with Helping a Hero to provide wounded warrior Matt Deatherage with a home equipped for him to live independently, and the two men appeared on "Fox & Friends" on Monday to talk about the new house and the organization that made it happen. ..." The Army veteran was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2010, and stepped on a land mine in...

In an update to a CBS News investigation of the country's largest veterans charity, Wounded Warrior Project, the board has fired the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operating Officer. The CBS News investigation raised questions about how the charity spends the millions of dollars it receives in donations each year. Wounded Warrior Project's CEO, Steven Nardizzi, and COO, Al Giordano, were fired after criticisms from more than 40 employees about how it spends its more than $800 million raised in donations in the past four years. The allegations include lavish spending by the charity at staff retreats, and other...

January 31, 2016 FoxNews.com The Wounded Warrior Project, the charity for wounded veterans, has been placed on Charity Navigator’s watch list over accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to CBS News. According to the charity’s tax forms, obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings increased from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery. Charity Navigator is a watchdog organization that evaluates charities in the U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned...

The Wounded Warrior Project is coming under fire after being accused of wasting donations meant for soldiers and their families. Videos highlight the plight of wounded veterans and ask Americans to donate generously. And generously they have. In 2014, Wounded Warrior Project received about $300 million in donations, but the organization is under criticism after former employees allege the charity spends lavishly on staff parties and travel. They allege the Wounded Warrior Project spent $26 million dollars on conferences and meetings in 2014 alone. "It's incredibly disturbing," Rep. Seth Moulton said. "I mean, we're talking about people who put their...

Trump's standard line when he is about to storm out of a media event because he doesn't like how it covers him is that he is going to go host an event to raise money for veterans. Thus it was no surprise when he announced that he would be skipping the FoxNews event to hold a separate event to raise money for.... well, "veterans," generally. Of course, Trump did not name a specific charity so that his feet might be held to the fire on this, just "veterans," generally. Well, there are two small problems. The main veterans group that...

The Wounded Warrior Project, a charity organization dedicated to helping injured former military members, only spends about 60 percent of its donation funds helping veterans. An investigation by CBS News discovered that the Wounded Warrior Project has a dismal record when compared to other similar charities, though the group managed to pull in $300 million just in 2014. The organization apparently raised more than $1 billion since 2003. “Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn’t see is how they spend their money,” Army Staff Sgt. Erick Millette told CBS News. Millette worked with...

The charity for wounded veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project, is facing accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to a CBS News report.

Everyone wants to support American vets and when you hear about the great work Wounded Warriors Project does for our own American vets, well, … you just can’t fight the urge to dig deep and give to support the cause. But who/what are you really supporting? Not so much the vets…. DC Clothesline: In the first version of this article, I used the 2012-2013 Wounded Warrior Project 990 Tax Forms. This updated version is using the 2013-2014 Wounded Warrior Project 990 Tax Forms. (Thank you, David Isakson, for all of your assistance) I had made some errors in my original...

What happens when a non-profit that was started to help veterans becomes the neighborhood bully? For a charity supposedly devoted to helping veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project spends an enormous amount of time suing or threatening to sue small non-profits—spending resources on litigation that could otherwise be spent on the vets they profess to serve. At issue is the Wounded Warrior Project’s brand: the charity has become particularly litigious over the use of the phrase ‘wounded warrior’ or logos that involve silhouetted soldiers. At least seven such charities have discussed their legal problems with The Daily Beast. The Wounded Warrior...

Twice a year Panama City Beach welcomes our wounded heroes into the community for the Warrior Beach Retreat, but an event aimed at honoring our nation's veterans took a different turn at their hotel. A group of college students didn't show these veterans the respect they deserve. "They actually spit on me and my service dog as well, and that's just so disrespectful and it hurts. I come and I feel honored and I feel safe and that I belong, but now I feel like I'm defending myself," said wounded veteran Nicholas Connole. Veterans say they were shocked at the...

Michael Slee is not one to shy away from danger. A veteran documentarian of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was sitting in the back of a humvee when it tripped an IED. Slee has a passion to help other vets who didn’t survive the military unscathed, while honoring all those who serve the nation. One of the military events Slee produced was the International Sniper Competition held at Ft. Benning, Ga., where the best in the world from all allied military services come to see who’s the best of the best. There, he met the winner of...

Where’s Matty? On July 20, 2013, Spc. Brent Grommet returned from Afghanistan with his military working dog, a Czech German shepherd named Matty. The two had gone through basic training together, deployed together and were injured together when a roadside IED detonated. Grommet slept on top of Matty’s crate as they flew back to the United States. Upon landing at an Air Force base in New Jersey, the two were separated — standard operating procedure. Grommet wasn’t worried, though: According to Army regulations, if he wanted Matty, he had the sole right to adopt his military working dog. This right...

Oak Creek Army Ranger Justin Slaby to graduate from FBI training in October Friday, August 29, 2014 10:34 a.m. CDT OAK CREEK, WI (WTAQ) - A wounded Army Ranger from Oak Creek will graduate from the FBI's training academy in October. Justin Slaby won a federal lawsuit last year, after he claimed he was wrongly dismissed from the FBI academy because he lost his left hand while serving in Iraq. This week, the Justice Department's inspector general found that former Milwaukee FBI office director Teresa Carlson urged agent Mark Crider to commit perjury, by testifying that Slaby wasn't qualified to...

We don't need to know anything else about this kid to know they're a good one...

Football uniform creativity has been taken to the next level, as Northwestern will shed its familiar purple to go red, white and blue for its Nov. 16 game against Michigan. The uniforms, designed by Under Armour, will raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to empower servicemen wounded in battle.

Anthony McDaniel of Pascagoula took home two gold and two silver medals in the 2013 Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo., this week. McDaniel won first place in both the 100- and 200-meter wheelchair races. --- snip A 2006 Gautier High School graduate, McDaniel had his legs and left hand amputated while serving in Helmand province, Afghanistan. On Aug. 31, 2010, McDaniel stepped on an improvised explosive device "that was instant amputation," he said. McDaniel, who has three children, lives in San Diego. The sergeant was medically retired on the second anniversary of his injury. Mr. McDaniel is #2

Semi Vanity

LYNCHBURG, Va. (ABP) -- Liberty University will investigate reports that its seminary president has misled the public in his testimony about converting from militant Islam to Christianity, officials of the school in Lynchburg, Va., announced May 10. Liberty Provost Ron Godwin is reportedly forming a committee to conduct a formal inquiry into questions surrounding Ergun Caner, president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, that have circulated on blogs and more recently in media outlets including Christianity Today and Associated Baptist Press. "Liberty does not initiate personnel evaluations based upon accusations from Internet blogs," said Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr., breaking weeks of...

If there is such a thing as a controversial, lightning rod Baptist minister, then one is headed to North Texas. Ergun Caner is the former head of Jerry Falwell's Liberty Baptist Seminary in Lynchburg, Virginia, and his claims of having terrorist ties have clouded his credibility — and perhaps his future. Claims of being so hated that he once had to dodge oranges being hurled from the audience is not what you might expect to hear from the Dean of Theology at Liberty Baptist Seminary. But it's part of the Ergun Caner mystique and legend... of having been raised a...