Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.

Republicans wish us "Happy Veterans Day," but they don't give a damn about veterans

He should be a test subject for a Claymore antipersonnel mine.

I know there’s evil in the world, and there always has been. But you don’t need to believe in Satan or demons to explain it. Human beings are perfectly capable of evil all by themselves.

• Tess Gerritsen, The Mephisto Club

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting

• Charles Bukowski

Once upon a time, I didn’t believe in pure evil. I didn’t believe that people could be pure anything, only that people were various parts good and evil, and the best you could do was to find people who were more gracious than wicked.

Then, as I studied history more closely and, in the wake of the 2016 Presidential election, I realized that pure evil indeed walks among us. He’s a blowhard who thinks he’s God’s gift to America. Sadly, millions of low-information Americans concur with that assessment.

Not only that, he has virtually the entire GOP under his spell, to the point that they will lie, cheat, and/or steal for him if that’s what he requires of them. Seldom has this hypocrisy been more shamelessly on display than it was over the Veterans Day Weekend.

we heard a lot of yadda from the Usual Republican Suspects about how much they loooooove our nation’s veterans.

there they were, tweeting out the same old boilerplate platitudes about honor and duty and sacrifice.

it’s all bullshit. conservatives hate our veterans.

as always, watch what they do, not what they say.

Yeah, the pandering emanating from the Right side of the political divide was, shall we say, shameless…as it always is on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Republicans pretend to love our veterans even as they vote against them at every conceivable opportunity.

Words. So many empty words. You’d almost think that Rep. Scalise (R-LA) means them. After all, when taken at face value, those are some pretty high-falutin’ words, no?

Well, no.

Steve, with all due respect, go fuck yourself.

let’s have a look at your stellar record:

you voted against the VA Employee Fairness Act, the Veteran Service Recognition Act, the PACT Act (twice), the Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act, and the Ensuring Veterans Smooth Transition Act.

for a guy who claims to honor those who made sacrifices, you have a fucked up way of showing it.

Yeah, for a guy who claims to thank and honor “all those who answered the call to serve our country and defend our freedoms,” he certainly has an odd way of showing his gratitude, doesn’t he?

How about a steaming cup of STFU, Congressman?? Your world-class hypocrisy’s showing again.

And no Veteran’s Day would be complete without this vacant, self-serving bullshit from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who took time off from rehab for groping addicts to post this:

The soup of the day is…HYPROCRISY!!

So, let’s see…despite voting to cut funding for the 49,000 veterans in her district by supporting a bill that would’ve gutted their healthcare, there was this bit of easily overlooked bullshit:

And then there’s the man who would be Speaker, but even he was a bridge too far for Republicans:

‘Course, if Gym Jordan values those who answered the call to serve our country so much, how can he justify this:

Why do Republicans like Gym Jordan want veterans to continue suffering from exposure to toxic burn pits? I mean, besides the fact that they’re transparently toxic assholes who care for nothing but their political futures.

And if you think this is bad, wait until you see Republicans celebrating- CELEBRATING- having just blocked a bill that would have expanded healthcare coverage for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during their service.

I was an officer who served in the Army Reserve and didn’t see active duty. I would’ve gone if ordered, and I would’ve expected my country to have my back. That’s not an unreasonable expectation. If you sign up to defend your country and return from being deployed with some sort of ick, it’s incumbent upon the country to care for you. That’s not rocket science; it shouldn’t have to be spelled out. We take the risk; the country takes care of us if we come home damaged.

Republicans, though, are pretty happy to toss wounded and damaged soldiers out with the garbage and leave them to fend for themselves. I can think of a few GOP assholes I’d love to throw into a burn pit.

awesome job supporting our veterans, you evil soulless hypocrites.

listen up, shitheads: you send a person into a war zone and tell them to fight for their country, and when they come back injured and permanently disabled, you fucking well take care of them — forever.

it’s basic human decency.

Indeed. But it’s that basic human decency that too many in the GOP lack.

Like Rep. Scalise, for instance:

Or Gym Jordan:

A real POS, isn’t he?

Then there’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). But don’t let me get started on America’s Dumbest Senator ©, ‘kay? Y’all will have a helluva time pulling me out of that black hole.

If brains were dynamite, the junior Senator from the Yellowhammer State couldn’t blow his nose

I think we all know what Sen. Tuberville’s problem is- a pronounced deficiency of brain cells.

But guess who I saved for last? Yep, the grossest, most disgusting excuse for a humanoid the GOP could conjure. This carbuncle on the ass of humanity is intensely hypocritical when it comes to our men and women in uniform. He’s such a phenomenal hypocrite that the good folks in the Biden campaign felt moved to provide us this handy reminder of his hideous, oleaginous, and vile nature.

And, as if we need help remembering what an unbalanced dickhead 45 is, he provided us with this handy reminder from his joke of a social media site:

Yes, America…this is the half-man, half-butterfat noxious surprise who would be President…again.

Remember, this is the same man who, while President, blew off a trip to a war memorial because it was raining and he was afraid the brittle rat’s nest on his head would dissolve into steel wool.

But his absolute nadir was this embarrassing episode:

For Republicans in Congress, our men and women in uniform are disposable commodities, to be considered (when they’re thought of at all) only when they can be used to serve a political end. Otherwise, they’re pushed to the side, marginalized, and expected to fend for themselves.

Sure, on Memorial and Veterans Days, Republicans trot out the requisite patriotism and the flowery words the days require. Beyond that, though, they don’t give a damn about those who serve and those who may return stateside having left parts of themselves on foreign battlefields.

Our men and women in uniform aren’t playthings. They’re not baubles to be used to show off your patriotic bona fides. These are flesh-and-blood human beings who sign up to defend our country, and they understand the risks they assume in doing so. Most come back, but some return in flag-draped boxes. Others return damaged to various degrees, forever changed and condemned to live a life they’d never anticipated or planned for.

This country should be behind them, 110%. They should have not only our gratitude but the best medical and mental health care science can bring to bear. Those who leave parts of themselves on foreign battlefields should be taken care of for life, depending on the degree of their disability. If they defend us, we should be supporting them to whatever degree may be required of us.

Yet Republicans treat veterans as if they’re a nuisance, an eyesore they wish would disappear so they can get back to providing constituent services to their billionaire benefactors.

“Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.”

Republicans should be forced to see them. Every. Single. Day. They should be forced to see them as a reminder of the cost of war…a cost they will never have to pay themselves.

Republicans should be forced to see them as a reminder that they have a responsibility to care for those who return damaged from fighting in defense of our country.

War damages people. We should care about our veterans more than two days a year.

(All of my posts are now public. Any reader financial support will be considered pledges- support that’s greatly appreciated but not required to get to all of my work. I’ll trust my readers to determine if my work is worthy of their financial support and at what level. To those who do offer their support, thank you. It means more than you know.)