Paul Ryan Forgot He Wrote the Budgets?

Did Paul Ryan forget that he is the one who wrote the budgets that caused the Sequestration in the first place and they never did anything Obama wanted anyway? Does he forget on purpose or is he just that dumb?

Does he really think Republicans are that stupid and didn't know the GOP controlled the House and Senate?

Paul Ryan's Pants on Fire claim on Air Force pilots forced to scrounge for airplane parts in museums

By Tom Kertscher on Thursday, May 11th, 2017

So, this is a sweeping claim: Air Force pilots, crippled by inadequate funding, being forced to scavenge for parts in museums to keep their own planes flying.
Typically we don’t use many quotes in our fact checks. But in this case, they seem to tell the story about Ryan’s claim:
"That’s a grotesque distortion," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis for the Teal Group Corp., which does research on the aerospace and defense industry.
"It’s grossly misleading," said Benjamin Friedman, a Cato Institute defense and homeland security studies research fellow.
"While I admire Ryan, and agree that there are some problems in military readiness, this kind of hyperbole needs to be called out," said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.

click link for me once you stop shaking your head. 

Easy Stunts on Raising Suicide Awareness Predictable Outcome

Awareness of Predictable Heartbreaking Outcome
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 10, 2017

All across the country people have been publicly punishing themselves and talking about veterans committing suicide. Yep, that is what it boils down to. They are making themselves feel better by loading up backpacks and taking a hike, walking miles, doing pushups and asking for our money. They may feel as if they just accomplished something but the truth is, they'd run out of things to talk about if they were actually doing the work to change the outcome and save lives.

How can they save anyone by taking a walk? Veterans with PTSD have plenty of experience with people walking away from them.

How can they save anyone by doing pushups? Veterans are used to people pushing them out of their lives.

How can strapping on a heavy backpack do them any good when the weight of their service is crushing their souls?

The answer to saving lives is none of the above. But why do the work when that has to be done in private, side-by-side with them and freely given. A lot harder than doing a publicity stunt.

Suicides within the military was also a predicable outcome back in 2009. I predicted it back then after decades of research, working with veterans and paying attention as if all of this mattered. The rise in OEF and OIF veterans committing suicide was also predictable considering they had this training that was supposed to prevent them from becoming "mentally weak" which added insult to their injury. When they were told they could train their brains to be mentally tough, that is the message they believed and to them, it meant they were weak or didn't train right.

When the DOD pointed out that a lot of the suicides happened when the servicemembers had not even deployed, that should have sounded alarm bells all over the country. If that training wasn't even good enough to prevent non-deployed from taking their own lives, how did they expect it to do any good for those with multiple deployments?

When the number of suicides within the military went up, after they started this "effort" and spent billions over the last decade on it, why did they continue to use it? 

This was also supposed to include military families on training them to be "resilient" as well. Had any of this worked, we wouldn't have to be reading something like the following report.

Study explores military-family functioning before and after suicide deaths

Kristie Auman-Bauer

May 8, 2017

"Spouses of Marines who died by suicide reported significantly lower family cohesiveness and were five times more likely to report family conflict in the year prior to the death compared to spouses of Marines who died in combat. Spouses of those who died by suicide also reported having poorer psychological health in the year prior to the suicide. There were no differences in spouse attitudes toward the military either before or after Marine deaths, and attitudes remained relatively positive."

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the first time in modern history, the suicide rate of active-duty service members exceeds that of the civilian population. This finding is even more alarming considering that the suicide rate for U.S. civilians hit a 30-year high in 2014, rising a staggering 24 percent in the preceding 15 years.

Neither the factors that contribute to service-member suicides, nor the impact of suicides on military families are well understood. “It has been assumed for a long time that the increase in military suicides was due to the high operational tempo of the Global War on Terror,” stated Keith Aronson, associate director of the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State and senior research associate in the department of biobehavioral health. “However, there are conflicting findings in the research with some studies finding the highest suicide rates are actually among those service members who never deployed.” read more here

Twenty Years in Navy, Veteran Gets Note For Parking in Veteran's Spot?

Angry note left on Navy vet's car for using veteran-designated parking space

Navy veteran Rod Boyle received this note on his car after utilizing veteran-designated parking at a local grocery store. The expletive used in the note has been blurred out.
COURTEST ROD BOYLE

On Saturday night, Rod Boyle, 56, parked in a spot reserved for veterans at the Harris Teeter in Wake Forest, N.C. — something he almost never does.

He was just going into the store to pick up a few things quickly, he said.

He wasn’t expecting a note accusing him of misusing the parking spot, since he retired from the Navy after 20 years as a Petty Officer 1st Class.

click link for more of this...but I bet you figured out who the real moron is.

Marine is Semifinalist in Ms Veteran America

Woman Beyond the Uniform: DeLand nurse competes for Ms. Veteran America title
Daytona Beach News Journal
By Linda Weaver / Correspondent
May 9, 2017

“It’s about supporting our sisters in arms and the women in homeless situations. This competition hits close to home for me. It’s very important to me because of that.” Traci Walker

Traci Walker, 29, is a registered nurse at Florida Hospital DeLand. On her off hours she does her part to help homeless women veterans and their children.

Walker, who is a U.S. Marine veteran, is a semifinalist in the Ms. Veteran America 2017. The competition showcases “The Woman Beyond the Uniform” and highlights the strength, courage and sacrifice of the military women, while focusing on the fact that the women are also mothers, daughters, sisters and wives.

Proceeds from the event will be used to provide housing for homeless women veterans and their children through Final Salute, Inc.

Walker served for four years as a field radio operator in Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, including one year in Iraq.

She felt the frustration and challenge of returning home after spending time in the military.
read more here

Veterans Dying "Waiting" Should Be Required Reading

If you read about veterans dying for care that has flooded emails and social media, here is what the Inspector General found.

Report No. 15-00408-204
Healthcare Inspection
Alleged Patient Deaths and Management Deficiencies in Home Based Primary Care
Beckley VA Medical Center
Beckley, West Virginia
May 8, 2017

We substantiated that from 2007 through 2012, 25 of 40 patients died while awaiting admission to HBPC. However, we did not find that these patient deaths were associated with a delay in admission to HBPC as the patients continued to receive care from their health care providers prior to their deaths. We found that from 2008 through July 2012, HBPC staff kept an unapproved wait list in violation of Veterans Health Administration policy.

We did not substantiate HBPC patient scheduling, wait times, and backlogs were mismanaged. We found that, other than the wait list issue cited above, HBPC program managers substantially complied with VHA and facility policies. We substantiated that an HBPC provider changed a patient’s diagnosis by adding a diabetes diagnosis to the patient’s problem list. However, we could not determine that the change was made to obtain prosthetic shoes to the patient.

We did not substantiate HBPC providers inappropriately prescribed antibiotics.

We did not substantiate that providers overprescribed opioids or changed patients’ diagnoses in order to prescribe opioids.
read more here

Just like the suicide report, if these veterans really matter to you, then take the time to actually read the reports instead of just passing on headlines.