WOW just got back from the veterans' march, which overshot the event permit's estimated crowd size by 2 orders of magnitude.
With very good reason, the anger is extremely intense. Every time a speaker mentioned Republicans, there were many shouts of "COWARDS" and "TRAITORS" and "WHERE ARE THE REPUBLICANS??" among deafening boos.
There were also chants of "FUCK CHUCK SCHUMER," and this was a crowd with lots of federal workers in it.
Tomorrow, March 14, 2025, veterans across the country will mobilize against Trump’s attacks on democracy, the VA, and the rule of law.
This mass mobilization, dubbed the Veterans March, is a direct response to a cascade of constitutional and moral crises under the Trump-Musk administration. From the gutting of veterans' healthcare and federal jobs to the open embrace of authoritarian erosions of our Constitutional order and the rule of law, MAGA Republicans have declared war on America's veterans.
There are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of veterans from around the country descending on Washington, D.C., and gathering in state capitals nationwide. They are not marching as partisans, nor as members of any single political movement. They are marching as defenders of the oath they swore—to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. --Kristopher Goldsmith
https://onoffense.substack.com/p/veterans-march-constitution
#USPolitics #Veterans #14thAmendment #Demonstrations #Resistence
US judge orders #Trump admin to reinstate thousands of fired workers
A California federal judge on Thurs ordered 6 US #FederalAgencies to reinstate thousands of recently-hired employees who were fired as part of Trump's purge of the federal workforce.
The ruling made by US Dist Judge William Alsup in San Francisco during a hearing applies to the Departments of #Defense, #Veterans Affairs,#Agriculture, #Energy, #Interior & the #Treasury.
#law #DOGE #Musk
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-extend-block-trump-administration-ordering-mass-firings-2025-03-13/
@georgetakei
Apparently, #CaptainBoneSpurs thinks the #POW/#MIA flag flying over the WH came from his Administration's hiring policy re: #veterans.
Veteran Chains Himself Outside White House to Protest Trump and Musk
The 80-yr-old veteran said #DonaldTrump and #ElonMusk are “killing veterans.”
https://newrepublic.com/post/192559/veteran-chains-white-house-protest-trump-musk
"locked himself to a metal post... a pipe around his hands reading “King #Trump and Pres #Musk are killing #veterans”...
he & his fellow veterans “are marshaling on [March] 14th at noon & marching all over the country to say one simple thing: Veterans will not stand for this any longer.”"
The Office That Investigates Disparities in Veterans’ Care Is Being “Liquidated”
—
The closure effectively hobbles the VA’s efforts to investigate and eliminate long-standing racial inequities that the department itself has acknowledged. “The consequences will be dire, wide-reaching and deadly,” an advocate for Black veterans said.
#Veterans make up 30% of federal workers but only 6.1% of the US population, so they’ll be especially hard hit by federal jobs cuts.
And that’s just the start of the impact: https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-veterans-are-especially-hard-hit-by-federal-cuts-251188
#VA #DOGE
Every day,
17 American veterans take their own lives...
Via the #LincolnProject
Both parties have epic fails when it comes to caring about #veterans.
I'm a boomer who has voted almost exclusively #Democrat over the years & I have to call out #JohnMcCain as a stellar example of one #Republican who always tried to do the right thing for vets. There are others from both parties.
We, me 100% included, all need to be careful of broadbrush statements.
It's easy to get into us vs. them & miss people who really made a difference.
Gutting the staff at #veterans' hospitals is only the beginning https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-veterans-are-especially-hard-hit-by-federal-cuts-251188 #DOGE #News
#Veterans have been speaking out against the cuts already made at the #VA that so far had included a few thousand employees & hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of the VA’s workforce is comprised of veterans.
The plans underway at the VA showed how the #Trump admin’s #DOGE initiative, led by #billionaire #ElonMusk, is not holding back on an all-out effort to slash #FederalAgencies, even for those that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support.
That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the #VA expanded during the #Biden admin, & to cover #veterans impacted by #BurnPits under the #PACT Act.
The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in Aug to “resize & tailor the workforce to the mission & revised structure.” It also calls for agency ofcls to work w/ #Trump’s& #ElonMusk’s #DOGE to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic & disciplined approach” to the admin’s goals.
#Trump plans to cut >80k #VA employees
The Dept of #Veterans Affairs is planning a reorganization that includes cutting >80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides #health care & other services for millions of veterans, acc/to an internal memo obtained by AP.
The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level ofcls at the agency that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400k.
#Musk #DOGE #military
https://apnews.com/article/veterans-affairs-cuts-doge-musk-trump-f587a6bc3db6a460e9c357592e165712
'A real shame': Former Marine says #DOGE cuts tell veterans they’re 'dead weight or a burden' on US
https://www.alternet.org/trump-doge-layoffs-irs/
“Federal #government is a natural fit for a lot of #veterans,” he said. “One of the first things you do when you become a civil servant is you raise your right hand & take the oath to support & defend the #Constitution... And I think it's an extension of our military service to continue serving in the federal govt & looking out for the public interest.”
Republican #House Speaker #MikeJohnson urged fellow Republican lawmakers on Tues to avoid #public #TownHall meetings with #voters after some events turned into angry confrontations over #Trump's moves to fire #FederalWorkers & defund government programs.
#cowards #PublicDisservice #Republicans #GOP #RepresentationMatters #USpol #Musk #DOGE #FederalAgencies #SocialSecurity #Medicaid #Veterans #children #seniors #disability #PublicHealth #weather #DisasterPreparedness
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-speaker-urges-lawmakers-avoid-town-hall-meetings-2025-03-04/
About 30% of #CivilService employees in the federal government are #veterans, & many have lost jobs in #Trump’s drive to cut federal spending. Trump & #ElonMusk, who is leading the *cutbacks*, have fired about 20,000 workers on probationary status — & about 6,000 were veterans.
#TrumpPurge #TrumpCoup #Musk #DOGE #kleptocracy #plutocracy #MafiaState #authoritarianism #autocracy #idiocracy #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #USpol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/us/politics/veteran-firings-trump-musk-democrats.html?smid=url-share
DOGE's cuts are harming veterans
That's not efficient. It's cruel, it's wrong, & it's unAmerican.
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/doges-cuts-are-harming-veterans
" #ElonMusk... bought access to the president... so he could launch his #DOGE program... that is firing hard working, essential, middle-class employees, including #veterans.
Firing veterans who perform essential duties isn’t #government efficiency, it’s cruel...
The real Trump/Musk objective appears to be #cruelty more than efficiency."
