Category Archives: Military
Proud Boys: Trump’s Misogynistic, Anti-American Gang Bangers
Sad men who beat up girls while exploiting white privilege, proud of what?
Tim King Global News Centre
Angry, mostly white protesters flooded the area around the Oregon state capital Saturday for an anti-immigration protest. Many are from a gang called “Proud Boys”. Before it was over, one person opposing the group’s Trump inspired hate tactics; a man standing alone in opposition to the rally, was physically contacted by a Proud Boys member. The anti-fascist ejected the proud boy from his space, then others brought me to the ground, and stomped my hands as I tried to recover the lone opposition activist’s camera. Oregon State Police and Salem officers separated everyone in the scuffle and restored calm.
The Deadly Side of Irvine That Nobody Wants to Address
The El Toro Marine Corps base has left more than it’s saga behind.
Tim King Global News Centre
(SALEM, Ore.) - Irvine, California, is a pricey piece of California paradise on the surface, but underneath, a city of deadly cancer clusters, with a sea of toxic carcinogens flowing beneath its streets.
Marine Corps f-4 jet
This is south Orange County, a place where people have plenty of money and success, but whether they know it or not, the people of Irvine are also part of a dirty, well kept secret.
Comment on allied strike on Syria
The allied attack on Syria dramatically illustrates Trump’s schizophrenic approach to the Syrian conflict.
Ralph E. Stone Global News Centre
(SAN FRANCISCO) On April 12, 2018, the U.S., Britain, and France launched a strike against Syrian research, storage, and military targets to punish Syrian president Bashar al-Assad for his suspected use of his air power to drop chemical weapons in an attack in the Damascus suburb of Guouta, where between 40 and 70 people were reported to have been killed by banned chlorine and sarin gases. The key word here is “suspected.” Assad and Russia have vigorously denied the allegations.
Hezbollah Has One Thing in Common With ISIS
It is important to note how the decisions of Israel’s policy makers to go to war in Lebanon in 1982, literally created what is now, decades of resentment among Shiite people toward the Zionist state.
Tim King
Hezbollah’s origin is directly related to the defense of Palestinian people who were forced out of their own country during the creation of Israel in 1947/48. The group came into existence to protect the Palestinian refugees of Lebanon after the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed to pull out of the area in the early 1980’s. With Palestinian civilian refugees facing immense threat and pressure from both Israel’s military and the Lebanese Christian militias, Hezbollah was born under the fires of oppression and occupation. The group came to existence in a vacuum created by the exit of the PLO, and they are a highly accomplished military, political and humanitarian party in Lebanon with full participation in government policy.
Disabled Veterans Benefits Saved for Now
The Trump Administration targeted disabled veterans in 2017. Regardless of the ‘lip service’ from the White House, it’s clear that disabled Veterans’ benefits are a target of opportunity.
Robert O’Dowd
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Last year the Trump Administration’s budget proposal attempted to reduce federal spending on the backs of disabled veterans who were unemployable.
The money cut from the benefit would’ve gone to an updated version of the VA Choice program that VA Secretary David Shulkin intended to have passed through Congress by the end of fiscal year 2017 on Sept. 30. The program allows veterans to seek health care outside the department.
In May 2017, the Administration’s budget proposal contained a proposal that would have eliminated eligibility for VA’s Individual Unemployability (IU) program for thousands of disabled veterans.
As usual, it’s about money. The budget proposed to remove veterans from the program who are eligible for Social Security payments and reached the minimum age to receive Social Security. Approximately 225,000 veterans aged 60 or older could’ve been affected by the proposal. Of those veterans, 7,000 are 80 years old or older.
If enacted, it would have terminated existing IU ratings for veterans when they reach the age of 62-the minimum retirement age for Social Security benefits-as well as cut off IU benefits for any veteran already in receipt of Social Security retirement benefits.
In the face of staunch opposition from DAV and other VSOs, the Administration subsequently backed away from this measure; however, the threat remains that this proposal or something like it could resurface in the future.
IU is a part of VA’s disability compensation program that allows the VA to pay certain Veterans disability compensation at the 100% rate, even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at the total level. The eligibility requirements are (1) You must be a Veteran; (2) You must have at least one service connected disability rated at least at 60%, OR (3) Two or more service connected disabilities at least one disability ratable at 40 percent or more with a combined rating of 70 percent or more (4) You must be unable to maintain substantially gainful employment as a result of service-connected disabilities (marginal employment, such as odd jobs, is not considered substantial gainful).
There is more than enough fat from the VA’s budget to cut than to go after the benefits paid to disabled veterans. Veterans signed an IOU to the government to give their lives, if necessary, to protect the freedoms that all Americans enjoy. Those who were disabled from military service deserve not only a “Thanks for your service,” but the VA benefits they earned with their sweat and blood.
In the FY 2019 Budget, President Trump proposes a total of $198.6 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This request, an increase of $12.1 billion over 2018.
In the face of mounting pressure from veterans and Congressman, the VA Secretary David Shulkin backed-off the proposal to terminate the IU program for older Veterans.
The only way to ensure that IU benefits are protected is to codify them into law. On November 9, 2017, Representative Maxine Waters (CA), introduced H.R. 4369, the Protecting Benefits for Disabled Veterans Act of 2017. The bill would codify regulations on IU into federal law.
H.R. 4369 would provide additional protections for IU and prohibit the VA from considering the age of the veteran or their eligibility to any retirement benefit, including Social Security, in making such determinations.
Fifty-seven Congressman signed a letter to VA Secretary objecting to the Trump proposal. Yet, when if came to co-sponsoring H.R. 4369, most of them were AWOL.
As of this date, there are nine Democratic co-sponsors to H.R. 4369: Rep. Evans, Dwight [D-PA-2], Rep. Beatty, Joyce [D-OH-3], Rep. Maloney, Sean Patrick [D-NY-18], Rep. Payne, Donald M., Jr. [D-NJ-10], Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large], Rep. Ryan, Tim [D-OH-13], Rep. Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [D-GU-At Large], Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [D-OR-4], and Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-19].
There are 192 Democrats in the House of Representatives. There is no excuse for many more Democrats to be co-sponsors of H.R. 4369. If your Democratic representative is not on the list of co-sponsors, this is the time to urge him/her to do so.
There are no Republicans co-sponsored for H.R. 4369. There is no comparable bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested in 2018.
There are about 22 million Veterans in the country. Veterans need to let their voices be heard. If your Representative is not a co-sponsor of H.R. 4369, this is the time to let him/her know how you feel about throwing your brothers under the bus.
The termination of IU would have eliminated 225,000 senior disabled veterans from the IU benefit.
The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is vehemently opposed to limiting disability compensation benefits, including IU, due to a veteran’s age. Many disabled veterans may not have income replacement available-especially those who have been on IU for an extended period in advance of reaching retirement age. Cutting off IU eligibility for veterans who turn 62 would compel many disabled veterans to take Social Security benefits early which significantly reduces the value of the benefit. The disabled veterans affected could thus be “doubly” penalized because they cannot work and save for retirement as do many peers of their age. Eliminating their eligibility for IU would be grossly unfair.
The DAV is calling on all members and supporters to contact their Representatives and urge them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 4369 to protect veterans and their families now and in the future, from these harmful proposals.
Click the link below to log in and send your message to your Congressional representative to support H.R. 4369:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/Imefs73H8IxbUhG9qnbtwA
Bob O’Dowd is a former U.S. Marine with thirty years of experience on the east coast as an auditor, accountant, and financial manager with the Federal government, half of that time with the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia. Originally from Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19, served in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings in 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. He went on to graduate from Temple University. Robert O’Dowd and Tim King co-authored BETRAYAL: Toxic Exposure of U.S. Marines, Murder and Government Cover-Up. This book stands with the best works of New Journalism. It tells the story of the thousands of Veterans and their families, once stationed at these hazardous military installations, who have continued to be ignored by the U.S. government by denial of the effects of exposure to environmental hazards, including the highest incidence of occurrence of male breast cancer in any other demographic in the U.S. Legislation to provide health care and compensation for Camp Lejeune Veterans and their dependents was introduced during the 111th Congress.
“Messenger of God” —Ace Knight (האגרון)
Global News Centre
האגרון: Correspondence or collector of words. Derives from the ancient given name of “Aharon”, born by the brother of Moses, the first High Priest of the Israelites.
The damage done by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with Mahinda Rajapaksa, former President of Sri Lanka (UN file photo)
There is evidence that the UN staff in Colombo repeatedly contacted Ban Ki-moon and asked him to come to Sri Lanka to prevent what was certainly going to be a bloodbath. Ban said that he would come only of he could do something about it.
Dr. Brian Senewiratne for Global News Centre
(BRISBANE) In the 70 year history of the United Nations, there has not been a Secretary General worse than Ban Ki-moon. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services said that the UN Secretariat under Ban Ki-moon was “drifting into irrelevance” He has damaged the standing of the UN so much that Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations believes that Antonio Guterres, who succeeded Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2017, “could give the UN the kick up the backside it needs”. Under him, the UN has become a joke, not to be taken seriously, and very different to what the UN was expected to do when it was formed.
Trump issues draconian Executive Order banning persons from seven Muslim countries
On 9/11, the nineteen terrorists who attacked America that day, fifteen were from Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, and one was from Lebanon. This means that only two of the seven countries on Trump’s list produced terrorists who have actually perpetrated attacks on U.S. soil.
Ralph E Stone GlobalNewsCentre.com
(SAN FRANCISCO) During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump issued a statement saying, if elected, he would issue “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our representatives can figure out what’s going on.” Now, Trump has followed through on his campaign promise by issuing an executive order suspending visa entry of persons from seven countries that have predominately Muslim populations. The banned countries are Syria, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Sudan and Yemen.
Carole Lombard’s fiery deadly plane crash happened 75 years ago
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard died during a war bonds tour in 1942.
Tim King Global News Centre
(SALEM) January 16th marks the 75th anniversary of the night Hollywood actress Carole Lombard lost her life in a mysterious, tragic plane crash southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. A Transcontinental Western Airlines (TWA) Douglas DC-3 slammed into a mountain about 35 miles from Vegas, taking with it, Lombard, her mother, press agent and passengers including 15 US servicemen. Nobody ever figured out what happened.
Two-State Solution Delusion
Netanyahu’s One Finger Answer To The Two-State Solution
Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001% of the world’s population and already has one of the world’s higher per capita incomes.
Ralph E Stone GlobalNewsCentre.com
(SAN FRANCISCO) A fantasy persists of a Israeli-Palestine peace agreement leading to an independent Palestine state in the land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Mideast War. It must be clear by now to anyone paying attention that Israel has no intention of engaging in meaningful peace negotiations that would result in an independent Palestinian state. Rather, Israel is slowly squeezing the Palestinians where the ultimate goal is to take over the entire country by erecting a wall or fence, which cuts deep into Palestinian territory, joining large Jewish settlement blocks to Israel, further confining the Palestinians to isolated enclaves.
Veterans lament ousting of Red Warriors at Standing Rock
Standing Rock was a hard-earned victory and while the support of veterans was brief, it was effective and proves to the US government that people will no longer stand for the abuse of our Native population.
Tim King Global News Centre
(CANNON BALL, ND) The only word to describe the government of North Dakota and the police and soldiers associated with harming Native people who stand in objection to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), is disgusting. Foul has a place as well. These cretins, including John Stewart “Jack” Dalrymple, are the remaining vestiges of a while world of treaty violating terror that is bound to be strongly reinforced with the presidency of Donald Trump.
But they are going to learn that the people of this nation are done with it. The veterans I met while attending the “Veterans Stand for Standing Rock” movement are the best people I have ever met in my life, on a level only with the Native tribal populations fighting to save the earth for all of us. The average American, loaded with credit card debt and mortgage obligations are of little help, they are in the trap like a hamster on a wheel running hard to keep up and keep what they have.
But throughout the United States and beyond, are countless people who are willing to resist and fight back and we scared the hell out of Dalrymple and company when thousands and thousands of us descended on Standing Rock, showing our deep and sincere support and respect for people who have been fighting for months and months in the face of Nazi-like abuse to make DAPL die, and it is dead.
The latest development, unsurprisingly, is a tribal request for the Red Warrior Society to leave Standing Rock.
They ARE Standing Rock.
No group has held the line more or taken more abuse than the Red Warriors, and its eviction has a lot to do with the rumor mill. The rumor was that Red Warriors were arming themselves, this was absolutely untrue and a detailed search of their camp yielded nothing close to a weapon. Still, they were asked to leave. Many Standing Rock participants were angered that Red Warriors asked them to get up early and participate in direct actions. Many say they were roused before they had a chance to eat breakfast. Red Warriors were demanding of time but their intentions were always true.
Native people have long dealt with division dissent.
From the earliest days when Native people were coerced into working with the US Cavalry which was in the direct process of conducting a Genocide of indigenous population, to today’s more mellow Native leaders who still believe treaties and laws will help Native people, the more edgy groups like Red Warrior Society are scary. But what is more scary than black blood being pumped beneath the Missouri River? The catastrophic damage the pipeline represents is untenable, and just outright stupid. What good is anything if our water is polluted beyond repair?
Another tragic consideration is the naivety and abject ignorance of Americans who have not a clue how badly their water supplies have already been contaminated. The book I co-authored with Robert O’Dowd, “Betrayal”, details how the Marine Corps has horribly contaminated all of its military reservations, most of which were constructed during WWII. In only a few decades, underground water supplies were ruined.
Fracking is another major issue that plagues our country today.
Red Warriors and caring veterans are all parts to the puzzle of resolution and I hope that any means necessary are used to end the vast mistreatment of our planet.
Mni Wiconi - “Water is Life”
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Tim King: Salem Insider Editor and Writer
(Facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)
With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com’s Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he’s covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980′s.
Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a ‘Good Neighbor Award’ for his reporting, by The Red Cross.
Tim’s years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu.
Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label ‘terrorist’ is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel’s destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.
