Veterans

Friday

Ben Domenech

Dan Patrick’s war on weed gummies could endanger Texas Republicans

In a press conference that veered into awkward sketch comedy in Austin, Texas, yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick railed at reporters over a table full of THC snack products sold in the state as he demanded the media alter their reporting on Senate Bill 3, which he’s called “the most important bill this session” – an effort to effectively ban the sale of any THC products in the state.  “This is everything you can buy at a smoke shop and a vape shop that will either cause potentially paranoia, schizophrenia (or) tremendous health issues,” Patrick said. “Why have I called you here today? Because I don’t think the media has taken this issue seriously. I don’t think the story has been told.

thc gummies dan patrick

Friday

Jenna Stocker

Tim Walz’s military crime is all in the cover-up

There’s an unmistakable aura if you’ve ever been to any of the 172 VA medical centers run by the Veterans Health Administration. It’s a quiet somberness — near reverence — that demands attention and respect. Many veterans are elderly, and they glide through the hallways in wheelchairs pushed by volunteers. They often wear jackets with American flags and service branch patches that look oversized on their age-shrunken frames. But from under their hats, almost always in caps of the conflict and associated service ribbon, their eyes reflect a knowledge of human nature that goes along with the horrors of war. They aren’t asked to explain their service; you can see it in their faces. At the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis, this is a common scene.

Monday

William Newton

CreatiVets and the art of war

On Independence Day, Americans recall not only the ideals that led to the founding of the United States, but the sacrifices of those who have made our unique experiment into an ongoing reality. Recognizing the challenges that affect many who have been in the military, CreatiVets, founded in 2013, provides help to disabled veterans through engagement with the arts. Program participants learn how to address and share their experiences through studio arts, music, songwriting and creative writing. The organization’s goal is to help these veterans “transform their stories of trauma and struggle into an art form that can inspire and motivate continued healing.

CreatiVets

Sunday

Calla Jones Corner

My father’s trunk reminds me of one of my earliest Memorial Days

Perhaps we all have our first memories of celebrating Memorial Day. Mine comes from 1945 when my father returned from the Pacific Theater of World War Two. I was only two. My father didn’t have to go to war as he had a family and was “safe” from the draft. Nevertheless, he volunteered after being recruited by the newly founded OWI, or Office of War Information. The OWI wanted men and women, like my father, whose graphic, photography, writing and communication skills at J. Walter Thompson, the worldwide advertising agency, had been noted and would help defeat the Japanese. He felt it was his patriotic duty and was buoyed, no doubt, by having close friends with families who had volunteered.

Friday

Michael R. Auslin

Eighty years later, World War Two is fading from historical memory

With worries about inflation, the war in Ukraine, and tension over Taiwan, it's easy for Americans to forget that we are now deep into the four-year period marking the eightieth anniversary of World War Two. Last December marked eighty years since the day of infamy at Pearl Harbor, while this June passed the date of the critical victory at Midway. In a little less than two years, it will be eight decades since the greatest invasion in history, on D-Day. Soon after will follow commemorations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and both VE and VJ Days. Each year, living memory of that global struggle continues to fade, with the passage of both time and the Greatest Generation.

world war two

Monday

Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

The fight for the burn pits veterans isn’t over yet

On July 28, 1932, the United States military attacked its own veterans. The desperate former soldiers, who had survived the horrors of World War One, had dug in for months in Washington, DC to get the bonuses that had been promised to them by Uncle Sam. Yet instead of paying the money they were entitled to, the Hoover administration dispatched General Douglas McArthur, who led against them four troops of cavalry, four companies of infantry, a machine gun squadron, and six tanks. Ninety years after the infamous attack on the Bonus Marchers, dozens of veterans camped out on the steps of the Capitol building for several days. These veterans were not routed, thankfully.

Thursday

Cockburn

Is Jon Stewart trying to be the head of the Democratic Party?

Jon Stewart has been a pretty busy guy lately. Not only is he hosting a new show-cum-podcast, The Problem with Jon Stewart, but he’s also been spending a good chunk of time in Cockburn’s hometown, Washington DC. Stewart has been making the waves while campaigning for HR. 3967, otherwise known as the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, as he bashed Ted Cruz for initially not supporting it. His on-the-ground activism in DC garnered media attention this week after he held a press conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Jon Tester. Stewart made a passionate plea that would make Matthew McConaughey proud. The TV host also found himself embroiled in a spat with conservative firebrands Jack Posobiec and Raheem Kassam.

jon stewart

Saturday

Revd Steve Morris

In the cart of the city

This article is in The Spectator’s January 2020 US edition. Subscribe here.New York City It’s the Sunday before Memorial Day outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the street is filling up with families. Navy servicemen and women stop for a friendly word and a photo. But a tragedy is happening here and there’s nothing anyone seems able to do about it. Elizabeth Rossi, a retired disabled Marine veteran in her early forties, runs a hot-dog stall outside the museum. She served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. ‘On my first day we were bombed; you never forget that,’ she says. Her father, Dan, also a disabled vet, runs the van next door. But they feel that they have been rejected by the city of New York and the world around them.

food cart

Monday

Edward D. Chang

The McMaster disaster

Former national security adviser Lieutenant-General H.R. McMaster says that the American public is misinformed by a false ‘defeatist narrative’ that has undermined the United States’ long war in Afghanistan.McMaster made this curious remark at an event held by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he is chairman of the Center on Military and Political Power. Even more peculiar was McMaster’s suggestion that only certain kinds of people are in any position to render a verdict on America’s military interventions: ‘A young student stood up and said, “All I’ve known my whole life is war.” Now, he’s never been to war, but he’s been subjected, I think, to this narrative of war-weariness.

h.r mcmaster

Sunday

Cockburn

All hail Dan Crenshaw on SNL: sharing jokes beats confected outrage!

Give Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw another medal! The Texan, an eye-patch wearing veteran who nearly lost his sight in Afghanistan, managed to stay dignified during last weekend's major outrage over Saturday Night Live, when Pete Davidson said looked like ‘a hitman from a porno movie.’ Crenshaw did not over-react. But he say, of ribbing people about their appearance, that: ‘it has to be original, it has to be witty, and it has to be actually funny, alright, and this wasn't funny.’ Last night, SNL gave Crenshaw his chance to take revenge on Davidson and, boy, did he take it well. ‘Here is Pete Davidson. He looks like, if the meth from Breaking Bad was a person!’ Excellent. That’s a better quality of gag that you often get on SNL.

dan crenshaw pete davidson saturday night live