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Supporting Our Veterans: U.S. Army Combat Vet Shares His Emotional Story of Service
By Neil A. Carousso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hx5tv5uyYE
Jeffrey McQueen is currently the director of veterans services at Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island. He served the United States in the U.S Army 82nd Airborne Division from 1982-1988, seeing combat at age 19.
“I found myself at the turning point, at a crossroads about making a decision between life and death and I chose life,” McQueen told this reporter on Thursday’s episode 10 of “The Neil A. Carousso Show Podcast” after describing his substance abuse and other personal issues after serving the United States in Grenada. “As a result of it, I’m in this position today where I allow my particular pain to become stepping stones to other individuals growth to wellness.”
Mr. McQueen continues to serve the country and his community through supporting his fellow veterans who suffer from PTSD, homelessness and other medical conditions and personal issues upon returning from service.
“If the community is engaging and getting involved and looking at what’s going on around them…if you see something, say something,” McQueen said referencing the New York City Police Department slogan, continuing, “If you see a veteran that is in dire need of support and not getting the support that they need regardless of discharge status veteran then you should be reaching out to find out what you could do to be able to aid them and know that there are those of us out here that are willing to engage and support and care for these veterans.”
Veterans Health Alliance encourages and needs community support in order to accomplish their goals of “promoting the health and well-being of Long Island veterans and their families through advocacy and a broad array of services,” all discussed on last week’s podcast with Mr. McQueen.
One way people can get involved is by attending a free conference on Tuesday, March 14th at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.
“As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have ‘officially’ wound down, the pace of deployments is much less,” reads a press release promoting the free conference, adding that because many service members have been home for upwards of 10 years, “the attention of government and the general public to veterans’ related issues has lessened somewhat.”
One can register for the “Veterans Mental Health Conference 2017” here as a way to learn more about giving back to those who served to keep us safe and protect our American values, freedom and our nation’s sovereignty.
There are 167,000 veterans living on Long Island, east of New York City, according to the latest U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data. There is an estimated 39, 471 homeless veterans on a given night in the U.S. with 41 percent of homeless vets between the ages of 31-50, according to the V.A. and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island will also attend “Legislative Day” along with the Mental Health Association of New York State (MHANYS) to advocate for a wide array of matters including increased funding for the Joseph Dwyer Peer to Peer Program that allows veterans to heal by talking with their cohorts who understand the challenges of serving in the military. Other issues that will be brought to New York political representatives include funding for suicide prevention services, erasing stigma of mental illness for veterans, funding for mental health workforce and housing. People who are interested in attending to advocate on behalf of U.S. veterans should email Brent Russell, the program coordinator of Veterans Health Alliance or call (516) 489-2322, extensions 1312 or 1213.
Last week, there were House committee hearings on the use of official time at the V.A. A Government Accountability Office report found the Veterans Affairs cannot track official time usage and there are no standardized processes in place to record and calculate official time and money spent by federal union representatives on union activity.
President Donald Trump has vowed to take care of our veterans by reducing the V.A. bureaucracy and allowing veterans to receive healthcare at any private or public hospital with full federal government reimbursement in order to reduce wait times.
Over 505,000 veterans have waited more than a month to see a doctor, according to a June report published by the Military Times. That number is up 23,000 from April. Of the 6.7 million medical appointments at the Veterans Affairs Department medical facilities in the country, 92 percent were scheduled within 30-days – a standard set by Congress in 2014.
This interview originally aired on “The Neil A. Carousso Show Podcast,” which is uploaded daily to iTunes and this site. “The Neil A. Carousso Show,” a live streaming video program, airs Sundays at 12 Noon ET/9 AM PT.
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Retired Immigration Agent Calls for Law and Order to Protect the Homeland
Retired INS Agent Michael Cutler testifies in March 2002 on Capitol Hill in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims about the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. (Getty Images) Retired Immigration Naturalization Service Agent Michael Cutler joined Neil A. Carousso on “The Neil A. Carousso Show,” Sunday, to discuss President Donald Trump’s blocked executive order that had suspended immigration and refugees from seven terror nations. Cutler also explains why so-called sanctuary cities are dangerous to the illegal aliens it’s said to protect and elaborates on the drug cartels that prosper off a borderless America.
Featured image from Twitter.
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American Anarchists: Army Veteran Believes People Should be Arrested for Burning the American Flag
By Neil A. Carousso
There is an uprising of violent riots, protesting conservatives and President Donald J. Trump’s policies. Oftentimes, anarchists set fire to the American flag and show utter disrespect for the United States of America.
While clearly abhorrent, flag burning has been debated in the court system since 1907 with the Supreme Court of the United States ruling in 1989 that flag burning is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Mangum, in “Walking in an Army Veteran’s Shoes” by Carousso, holds a picture of him and his grandmother that was taken months before she died in 2012. On Wednesday’s episode of “The Neil A. Carousso Show Podcast,” when asked about the rioting taking place across the nation, U.S. Army Veteran Rance Mangum expressed his anger when people burn the American flag that is the symbol of our freedom and our nation’s sovereignty for which people like Rance fought to uphold and protect.
“It doesn’t do nothing. What does it represent for burning our flag? What does it do?,” remarked Mangum who dedicated his life to service between the military and service positions as an EMT and others. “When that flag flies high, our spirits and our morals are high, our values are high. It represents the United States.”
Mangum told this reporter that people who burn and step on the American flag should be arrested.
President Trump has brought the issue of flag burning to light on the campaign trail and during the transition period on Twitter and in interviews, making his position clear that people who burn the American flag should face “consequences.”
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
The Chief Executive enthused a wave of nationalist voters who feel pride in the country they call home. President Trump tapped into the demoralization of people who felt left-behind by globalist policies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV_yLsrquo8
“You hear a lot of talk about how we’re becoming a globalized world,” then, President-elect Trump started in during a “Thank You Tour” rally. “There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag and that flag is the American flag,” Trump exclaimed.
President Trump is known to be affectionate towards the American flag, symbolizing his love for the country. To give back to those who serve for our nation’s freedom and our personal safety, contact us and we will ensure your time or donation of any sort goes directly to a U.S. veteran. Listen to Episode 4 for more information. “The Neil A. Carousso Show Podcast” is available on iTunes. It is recorded Mondays-Fridays.
Featured Image Courtesy: Peter DaSilva/EPA.
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Sanctuary Cities are Illegal but Mayors are Fighting the President to Protect Illegal Immigrants
By Neil A. Carousso
This article has been updated.
Sanctuary cities provide no sanctuary for American citizens.
Personally, this American believes it is immoral that New York City and upwards of 300 jurisdictions, give or take, plus college campuses consider themselves a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, ignoring and putting law-abiding U.S. citizens’ lives in danger.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been vocal about his dissent and refusal to abide by President Trump’s policies. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) Mayor de Blasio, Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel, mayors in California and others could be prosecuted by the the U.S. Department of Justice for violating an existing law, enacted in 1996 under President Bill Clinton. The “Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act” includes section 8 U.S.C. 1373, which provided that “no state or local entity can in any way restrict its law-enforcement officials from communicating with federal immigration authorities regarding an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.” Furthermore, Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution establishes that federal laws are supreme over state laws and policy.
So-called sanctuary cities allow illegal aliens, including those who are convicted criminals, to be shielded from federal immigration law by the local government; mayors and city officials break the law by refusing to hand over illegal aliens to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE, whose border patrol agents endorsed Mr. Trump for President, generally seeks out criminal illegal aliens and President Donald J. Trump has vowed to detain and deport those criminal illegal immigrants. This is not unreasonable; it is the law and policy by countries worldwide. Why are we putting our citizens at unnecessary risk when we can protect our citizens from preventable crime?
Kate Steinle was killed by an illegal immigrant in July 2015. Perfect example, and not an isolated incident by far, of why sanctuary cities are illegal and immoral: Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old medical sales representative, was killed by illegal immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national and convicted felon (7 convicted felonies), on July 1, 2015 in San Francisco, CA (a sanctuary city). San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy protected this felon from being handed over to ICE, detained and deported to Mexico. Lopez-Sanchez was deported to Mexico five times only to return to the U.S. illegally six times. This is also a perfect example of the necessities of a border security, the wall on the southern border, border surveillance, and enforcing laws on the books. “Kate’s Law” has been reintroduced in Congress; it would mandate a five year sentence in a federal penitentiary upon conviction for illegal immigrants who reenter the United States after being deported.
The Trump Administration announced Wednesday that the White House will publish a weekly list of crimes purportedly committed by illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities.
There is case law that permits President Trump from withdrawing funding for those cities who claim to be a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. Chicago could be declining over $2 million in grants for the upcoming fiscal year, while New York City is passing up close to $15 million. The DOJ could request Chicago and NYC refund the federal government for previous years in which the cities operated as a sanctuary for illegals. What may be worse is that Mayor de Blasio has threatened to destroy records of illegal immigrants to spite the federal government.
If these mayors continue to defy federal law, this case could end-up in the Supreme Court of the United States. President Trump is expected to nominate a Supreme Court Justice next week, to be confirmed by the Senate, to fill the vacancy left by originalist Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia when he passed last February at the age of 79.
On the economic end, in addition to making cities vulnerable to crime, taxpayers pay for illegal immigrants’ healthcare including doctor visits, shots, prescription drugs, lab tests and surgeries at local providers. The services usually are inexpensive or free to participants, who must prove they live in the county but are told their immigration status doesn’t matter, according to a recent Wall Street Journal survey. Taxpayers also pay for illegal immigrants’ education and subsidized housing. We have about 43 million Americans living in poverty and 13 million more Americans on food stamps since 2009 plus approximately 39,500 U.S. veterans are homeless on a given night. Healthcare costs are skyrocketing for Americans around the country with upwards of 110 percent increase in premiums in Arizona and deductibles so high that many mandated insured Americans never use their insurance.
President Trump signs an executive order. Mr. Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday that will implement “extreme vetting” for refugees and illegal immigrants to decrease the threat of terror and crime after temporarily banning immigration from nations that are a hotbed for terrorism. Nations who have and continue to send terrorists to the United States include Syria, Iran and Libya. The ban would be temporary for approximately 120 days, according to a leaked draft of the executive order, until President Trump’s extreme vetting policies are implemented to ensure that people entering the U.S. have no suspicion of terrorism with the assurance that they believe in our inclusive American values and democracy. Syria is the exception the temporary ban; Syria immigrants would face an “indefinite” ban with the Chief Executive promising to build a safe zone in the terror nation for refugees.
That executive order has not been signed, yet, and it is not a ban on religion. Just the opposite, this executive order bans immigration from countries who persecute people because of their religion, gender, political beliefs, among others. Some nations are majority Muslim, but not 100 percent Muslim nations.
In the long-term, refugee admissions would be reduced by 50 percent if this reported executive order becomes law.
UPDATE:
Miami-Dade Mayor drops sanctuary policy. Right decision. Strong! https://t.co/MtPvaDC4jM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2017
President Trump reacted on Twitter Thursday evening, praising the Miami-Dade Mayor’s decision.
Featured Image: Center for Immigration Studies
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The Reality of Chicago’s “Carnage”
By Neil A. Carousso
President Donald J. Trump is dead on about carnage in Chicago and other American inner cities. The third largest city in the United States saw a 57 percent increase in homicides in 2016 from the year prior.
Since 2001, Chicago has experienced 8,384 murders, according to the Chicago Police Department. The number of Americans killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is 2,392 and 4,514, respectively, since 2001, according to iCasualities.org.
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
President Trump tweeted from his personal Twitter account Tuesday night writing that he would “send in the Feds” if the City of Chicago doesn’t fix the “horrible ‘carnage,'” a reference to his inauguration address that got unusually negative press from journalists and opinion commentators, like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews who shockingly called the 45th President’s Inaugural Address “Hitlarian.”
“Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are just and reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public.
“But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
“This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” – President Donald J. Trump, Friday, January 20, 2017, Inaugural Address at The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.”
.@realDonaldTrump: "This American carnage stops right here and stops right now." #Inauguration #Trump45 #InaugurationDay pic.twitter.com/9sKxC3dEmK
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) January 20, 2017
Many would argue that the National Guard should have already been deployed to Chicago.
Chicago Crime:
There were 762 homicides in the Windy City in 2016 with an average of two murders per day, the most killings in the city for two decades and more than New York and Los Angeles combined. This is the largest spike in homicides in 60 years.
Chicago saw 3,5000 shooting incidents in 2016, 1,100 more shooting incidents than it did in 2015, according to the Chicago Police Department. Many on the political left point to gun control as a solution, but Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
Chicago police report that there has been a flood of illegal guns into the city. Police recovered 8,300 illegal guns in 2015, up 20 percent from the previous year.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel took aim at President Trump on Monday for the tone of his inaugural address and Trump’s call to reverse the “dangerous” anti-policing sentiments in the country.
“The most important thing you can do is create a relationship between the desk in the Oval Office and the issues at the kitchen table,” Mayor Emanuel said after a ribbon cutting ceremony in Uptown Chicago. “And I don’t think in the kitchen tables of America — and I definitely can tell you on Saturday at the parade — people were not talking about the crowd size on Friday. They were talking about jobs, education, health care, security.”
What the Chicago Mayor doesn’t understand is that millions of Americans in the rust belt and inner cities voted for Trump’s policies to create jobs, provide better education and opportunity, lower the costs of healthcare, and secure the nation from criminal illegal aliens and radical Islamic terrorism.
Instead, this Mayor makes Chicago a sanctuary city, not enforcing laws on the books by refusing to hand over illegal immigrants, who commit crime, to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution establishes that federal laws are supreme over state laws and policy. President Trump has threatened to stop federal funding of cities who do not enforce immigration laws. Case law shows a precedent for a percentage that the Chief Executive may withhold for cities who do not cooperate with federal law. Mayor Emmanuel is running a lawless city and he is not alone.
Sanctuary Cities
There are about 300 jurisdictions that “have been identified by ICE as having a policy that is non-cooperative and obstructs immigration enforcement,” as of August 2016, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Jurisdictions include the States of California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado plus New York City, Dallas, Philadelphia and others.
Courtesy: Center for Immigration Studies The Obama Administration implemented the new Priority Enforcement Program in July 2015 restricting ICE use of detainers. As a result, fewer criminal aliens have been deported. “A detainer is the primary tool used by ICE to gain custody of criminal aliens for deportation.” Under the Obama Administration, the “catch-and-release” policy has led to preventable U.S. citizen deaths.
“Kate’s Law” has been reintroduced in Congress by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Kate’s Law is named after Kate Steinle, a 32-year-old medical sales representative, who was killed by illegal immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican national and convicted felon (7 convicted felonies), on July 1, 2015 in San Francisco, CA. Lopez-Sanchez was deported to Mexico five times only to return to the U.S. illegally six times. If passed, Kate’s Law would mandate a five year sentence in a federal penitentiary upon conviction for illegal immigrants who reenter the United States after being deported.
Steps to End the Chicago “Carnage”
President Trump’s goal is to lower crime in several ways. One is to increase support for law enforcement to do their jobs with the full support of the federal government with the goal of increasing community relations. Recently, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Loretta Lynch found that the Chicago Police Department found “unconstitutional use of excessive force.”
Former Chicago Superintendent Gary McCarthy believed the investigation’s outcome was “predetermined.”
Former Chicago P.D. Superintendent Gary McCarthy on “60 Minutes.” “The noncompliance of the law is becoming legitimized. And the police are on their heels. We’re reaching a state of lawlessness.” – Former Chicago P.D. Superintendent Gary McCarthy, January 1, 2017, “60 Minutes,” CBS News
Video recording of police and releasing portions of video that does not reveal full encounters plus anti-police rhetoric promoted by Black Lives Matter and indirectly endorsed by President Barack Obama has led to apprehension and discouragement of officers from performing their jobs without hyped scrutiny.
There is also an increase of gang activity and violent behavior by career criminals. Former Superintendent McCarthy told “60 Minutes” that the Police Department knows who the gang leaders are and can apprehend them if given the ability by the federal government.
Poor education and socioeconomic factors contribute to the gang activity. A generational drug problem contributes to the violence.
Chicago and its surrounding area ranked number one in the nation for emergency room visits related to heroin use, according to a recent Roosevelt University study. The majority of heroin-related emergency room visits occurred on Chicago’s west side, home to one out of every four opioid-related hospital admissions in the state of Illinois. There were 2,113 heroin deaths in Illionois from 2013 to 2015; 1,425 of those deaths happened in Chicago. And, overdose deaths go widely under-reported. A majority of the drug epidemic can be traced to Central American and Mexican drug cartels that could be curtailed with the implementation of a border wall, increased ICE officers, surveillance and enforcing federal laws on the books.
Since 2009, 1 in 6 men ages 18-34 are either incarcerated or out of the labor force.
President Trump has vowed to implement school choice policies that will allow parents to choose what schools they want their children to attend in an effort to clean-up the streets and provide opportunity through education. Mr. Trump is also a believer in pro-business policies such as a lower corporate tax rate that will allow U.S. companies to hire more Americans in the inner-city communities for manufacturing and other jobs.
There have been 13 major job announcements by U.S. companies since Mr. Trump’s election, including saving and creating American jobs in inner-cities like Detroit with the auto industry under pressure from the Oval Office to invest in the United States. So far, over 1.2 million jobs have been created and saved and over $62.7 billion has been invested in the country by U.S.-based companies since Trump’s election as 45th President of the United States of America.
Featured Image: Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images
