ANDREA CONSTAND vs BILL COSBY (USING POWER TO PREY ON WOMEN): #MeToo/ TRUTH PREVAILS

ANDREA CONSTAND vs BILL COSBY (USING POWER TO PREY ON WOMEN): #MeToo

TRUTH PREVAILS.

GOD IS EXPOSING MEN WHO USE THEIR POWER, RANK & MONEY TO ABUSE WOMEN.

GOD IS ALSO EXPOSING MARRIED MEN WHO BULLY & HUMILIATE THEIR WIVES TO COVER UP ADULTERY.

U.S. MILITARY VETS WHO ABUSE THEIR WIVES & SEXUALLY PREY ON WOMEN ARE NOT EXEMPT.

FEMALE DOCTORS WORKING FOR VA HOSPITALS OFTEN SHIELD VETS WHO ABUSE THEIR WIVES & PREY ON WOMEN........THIS NEEDS TO BE EXPOSED TOO.

TIME'S UP.


Post Sources: New York Times, Youtube


****** Andrea Constand Makes First Statement Since Bill Cosby’s Conviction: ‘Truth Prevails’


Andrea Constand, the woman whose sexual assault complaint against the television icon Bill Cosby led to his conviction, broke her long public silence with a short Twitter message Friday thanking the local community.

“A very profound and heartfelt thank you to the Commonwealth of PA, Montgomery County, for their service and sacrifices,” she wrote, seemingly addressing the district attorney’s office and the jury that on Thursday convicted Mr. Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting Ms. Constand.

“Congratulations,” she added. “Truth prevails.”

Following a high-profile trial like Mr. Cosby’s, the vindicated party traditionally makes the media rounds, appearing to discuss the case on the “Today” show or “Good Morning America.” Ms. Constand has not yet done so.

Outside the courtroom, where Ms. Constand testified that Mr. Cosby had drugged and molested her at his home in 2004, she has been reluctant to speak about the case. That may be due, in part, to the nondisclosure agreement she signed as part of her $3.38 million settlement she reached with Mr. Cosby in 2006.

Last year, a judge ruled that Mr. Cosby could pursue a lawsuit against Ms. Constand based on two Twitter posts she wrote in 2014.
(“I won’t go away, there is a lot more I will say,” she wrote in one.) But as the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse has gained influence, women who have agreed to settlements with powerful men — including Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly and Donald J. Trump — have broken their nondisclosure agreements, arguing that speaking out was more important.

Ms. Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, said by phone on Friday that she and her client were evaluating their options and the enforceability of the contract with Mr. Cosby.

“Obviously everyone in the world has sent me an email or text, but we’re just stepping back and seeing where we’re going to go,” Ms. Troiani said, referring to the extensive media requests for interviews with Ms. Constand. “I think we’re taking a breather, for one.”

At a news conference after the verdict on Thursday, Ms. Constand stood by, letting the Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin Steele, and Kristen Gibbons Feden, the special prosecutor on the case, speak about its importance.

Mr. Steele commended Ms. Constand for fighting through two trials. “She has been a major factor in a movement that has gone in the right direction, finally,” he said.

DAVID SHULKIN (OBAMA HOLDOVER) REPLACED BY TRUMP TO PRIVATIZE VET HEALTH CARE

DAVID SHULKIN (OBAMA HOLDOVER) REPLACED BY TRUMP TO PRIVATIZE VET HEALTH CARE:

VA HOSPITALS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN GIANT HOSPICE FACILITIES.

VA HOSPITALS EXPERIMENT ON VETS & ACTIVE DUTY TROOPS TO PROCURE FEDERAL DOLLARS.

VA HOSPITALS FOCUS ON SLOWLY KILLING VETS NOT HELPING THEM LIVE.

I AGREE VETS & ACTIVE DUTY TROOPS SHOULD RECEIVE MEDICAL TREATMENT FROM PRIVATE DOCTORS OR ON MILITARY BASES.

ALLOWING VETS TO RECEIVE PRIVATE MEDICAL CARE WILL SAVE MONEY AND HUMAN LIVES.

ALL VA HOSPITALS SHOULD GRADUALLY BE SHUT DOWN UNTIL VETS & TROOPS ARE REASSIGNED TO PRIVATE CARE.

REPLACING SHULKIN WAS A WISE MOVE BY TRUMP TO HELP MEN & WOMEN WHO DEFENDED OUR NATION.


Sources: ABC News, NBC News, Fox News, TIME, Youtube


**** Trump replaces embattled Veterans Affairs secretary with White House physician


President Donald Trump ousted Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin Wednesday, announcing his intent to nominate the White House physician, Admiral Ronny Jackson, in Shulkin's place and ending weeks of speculation about when the embattled cabinet official would leave the administration.

Trump tweeted a confirmation of the news, which was first reported by Reuters.

Jackson has been a White House physician to both presidents Trump and Barack Obama. Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Robert Wilkie will serve as interim secretary until Jackson is confirmed by the Senate, Trump said in a follow-up tweet.

Shulkin's departure comes amid a spate of other high level departures from Trump’s administration — including his secretary of state, his national security adviser, top economic adviser, and communications director.

Shulkin, who served as undersecretary in charge of the veterans’ health system during the Obama administration, clashed with Trump political appointees who surrounded him at the VA. Some of the tension arose from a central policy dispute: The Trump appointees, both within the VA and at the White House, want to see the VA transition to subsidizing private health care for veterans, while Shulkin resisted those efforts.

But the fight had become increasingly personal, particularly in the wake of an inspector general’s report in February that found taxpayers had picked up the tab for Shulkin’s wife accompanying him on a European business trip.

That provided ammunition to Shulkin’s foes, and, because he didn’t trust the Trump-appointed communications staff around him, he retained his own public-relations counsel.

Shulkin’s camp came to believe that Trump political appointees were trying to get him fired, according to reports. He sought White House permission to dismiss them, telling the New York Times earlier this month that he had secured that authority from Trump and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Jackson, for his part, stepped into the media spotlight earlier this year when he briefed the press on the results of Trump’s yearly physical examination. At the time, he deemed Trump "very sharp" mentally and in “excellent” overall health — but did recommend a better diet and more exercise for the commander-in-chief.

In recent weeks, Trump has said that he is "close” to assembling the Cabinet he desires — fueling the Washington rumor mill and increasing speculation about who might be next on the president's chopping block.

Shulkin is just one of several scandal-plagued Cabinet members in Trump's administration.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson are battling their own scandals, regarding high-priced travel and dining room furniture choices, respectively

YOUNTVILLE VETERANS HOME SHOOTING IS ABOUT PTSD & GUN CONTROL

YOUNTVILLE VETERANS HOME SHOOTING IS ABOUT PTSD & GUN CONTROL:

MILLIONS OF COMBAT VETS FROM VIETNAM, DESERT STORM, IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN ARE NOT TREATED FOR PTSD.

ALBERT WONG SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN TERMINATED FROM PTSD/ TRAUMA PROGRAM.

PTSD TURNS MILITARY HEROS INTO MONSTERS WITH NO FEELINGS.

NO COMBAT VET SHOULD HAVE GUNS UNLESS PROPERLY EVALUATED FOR PTSD.

ALL VA HOSPITALS FOOLISHLY ALLOW COMBAT VETS TO CHOOSE IF THEY NEED TREATMENT.

VA HOSPITALS OFTEN IGNORE WARNINGS FROM WIVES & CHILDREN ABOUT VETS SUFFERING FROM PTSD.

VA HOSPITALS DENY VETS PTSD/ TRAUMA TREATMENT TO SPEND FEDERAL MONEY ELSEWHERE LIKE SALARY BONUSES.

PTSD TREATMENT SHOULD BE MANDATORY FOR ALL COMBAT VETS FROM VIETNAM, DESERT STORM, IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN REGARDLESS OF THEIR AGE OR SEPARATION TIME FROM SERVICE.


Sources: ABC News, CNN, Youtube


**** Victims, gunman identified in Yountville Veterans home shooting tragedy


A day-long standoff in Yountville has ended in tragedy.

Officials with the Pathway Home program at the veterans facility identified the three female victims that were killed after an armed gunman entered a staff meeting, taking hostages.

Yountville officials confirm that the three female hostages that died in the standoff are Executive Director Christine Loeber, a therapist Dr. Jen Golick, and Dr. Jennifer Gonzales, a psychologist with the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

The gunman has been identified as 36-year-old Albert Wong of Sacramento who was a former member of the Pathway Home Program at the veterans facility.

The Pathway Home released a statement saying: "These brave women were accomplished professionals who dedicated their careers to serving our nation's veterans and working closely with those in the greatest need of attention after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of us at The Pathway Home are devastated by today's events. We stand with the families, friends, and colleagues who share in this terrible loss."

——————————————————-


***** Three women, suspect dead after hostage standoff in Yountville, California


After an apparent hourslong standoff between police and a gunman, three women were found dead Friday night at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, authorities said.

The suspect was also found dead, Chris Childs, assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Division, told reporters.

The three victims were earlier described as employees of The Pathway Home, a counseling service for veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is on the property.

The suspect had been a client at facility until he left two weeks ago, according to State Senator Bill Dodd.
It's unclear if the women were chosen at random or had a connection with the gunman.

Hostage negotiators had spent hours trying to contact the gunman at the facility north of San Francisco but were not able to do so, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Robert Nacke.

After the victims were found, investigators were left to determine when during the standoff the deaths occurred.
California Gov. Jerry Brown said the shooting "tragically took the lives of three people dedicated to serving our veterans."

"Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones and the entire community of Yountville," Brown said in a statement.

The governor has ordered flags in the state's capitol to fly at half staff in tribute to the victims and their families.

Larry Kamer told CNN that his wife, Pathway employee Devereaux Smith, said the gunman barged into a going-away party for Pathway employees leaving the job.

"They were having cake and toasting, apparently he just walked in with this rifle," Kamer said. He said his wife and some other employees managed to escape, though he didn't say how.

The man was holding the three people hostage in a room inside the building, Napa County Sheriff John Robertson said during the afternoon.

"We've tried numerous times and been trying since 10:30 this morning to contact him by his own cell phone and also the phones in the dorm area," the sheriff said.
He said authorities knew the gunman's identity but did not release it. Robertson didn't give a motive for the gunman's actions.

Early in the standoff, the man and officers fired shots at each other.

"There was an exchange of gunfire, fired by the suspect and our deputy," Robertson said. "There were many bullets fired."

Law enforcement officers responded to a "shots fired" report around 10:20 a.m. local time from the facility that houses about 1,000 veterans, Robertson said.

Robertson said about 70 students who were inside a theater on the grounds of the veterans home, were safely evacuated.

"They were always safe," the sheriff said. "They were put into a locked down position for their own safety." The ages of the students or why they were at the veterans home was not clear Friday afternoon.
The California Department of Veterans (CalVet), which operates the home, said it enacted its emergency protocol. Police surrounded the facility and told people to avoid the area.

Marlon Harrison was one of the family members who gathered outside the gates to the home.
"I'm waiting for a phone call from my daughter," Harrison said. "It's considered a lockdown building, you can't go in unless authorized."

The FBI deployed a SWAT team to Yountville, spokesperson Katherine Zackel said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said via Twitter it was also responding.
Founded in 1884, the facility houses about 1,000 aging vets and is the largest veterans home in the United States, according to the CalVet.

Men and women who served in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom live there, CalVet said.

The veterans home is an important part of the Napa Valley Community, with the 1,200-seat Lincoln Theater, a golf course and a large library, CalVet said.

Residents were temporarily evacuated from the veterans home in October when fires raged through Napa County.
Yountville is a town of about 3,000 residents in the north San Francisco Bay area.

VETERANS vs FORCED PSYCH EVALUATIONS (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SUICIDE PREVENTION)

@Veterans

VETERANS vs FORCED PSYCH EVALUATIONS (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SUICIDE PREVENTION):

WHAT ARE PRES OBAMA & CONGRESS DOING TO CURB DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STATISTICS AMONG US MILITARY VETS?

Sources: Daily Beast, Do Something, Military Times,  Youtube

~ Highlights:

Each day more than 22 US Military Vets commit acts of Suicide.

There is also a growing epidemic of Domestic Violence in the homes of US Military Vets.

If Vets lose a close family member (Son or Daughter) to SUICIDE, why aren't they required by the VA Dept of Veterans Affairs to attend Mental Health Counseling within 72 hours of the occurrence?

Why aren't Vets and Retired US Military Soldiers required to forgo annual Psychiatric Evaluations (Mental Health Check-ups) to continue receiving their Pension Checks and other VA Benefits?

Why is it that State VA Hospitals don't work together to prevent US Military Vets from avoiding required Mental Health Check-ups when those Vets re-locate to a new state?

WAR Is Hell!

The effects of WAR on the Human Mind is often long term Mental Hell and Pain.

Our Vets need Prayer but many of our Vets also need Mental Health Counseling.

Why does it appear as if America's leaders have forsaken our dedicated, Honorable, hardworking US Military troops?

God Forbid.

******  11 Facts About the Mental Health of Our Troops

1. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (aka PTSD, an anxiety disorder that follows experiencing a traumatic event) are the most common mental health problems faced by returning troops.
2. The most common symptoms of PTSD include: difficulty concentrating, lack of interest/apathy, feelings of detachment, loss of appetite, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, and sleep disturbances (lack of sleep, oversleeping.
3. Post-traumatic stress disorder is diagnosed after several weeks of continued symptoms.
4. In about 11 to 20% of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom) have been diagnosed with PTSD. Create a support board so your friends can show leave messages of encouragement for troops suffering from PTSD and other illnesses. Sign up for Support Board.
5. 30% of soldiers develop mental problems within 3 to 4 months of being home.

6. 55% of women and 38% of men report being victim to sexual harassment while serving in the military
7. Because there are more men than women in the military, more than half of all veterans experiencing military sexual trauma (MST) are men.
8. An estimated 20% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans turn to heavy drinking or drugs once they return to the US.
9. Between 10 and 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Possible consequences of this internal injury include anger, suicidal thoughts, and changes in personality.
10. In 2010, an average of 22 veterans committed suicide every day. The group with the highest number of suicides was men ages 50 to 59.
11. Some groups of people, including African-Americans and Hispanics, may be more likely than whites to develop PTSD.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE vs THE 2016 ELECTION (WOMEN VOTERS)

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE vs THE 2016 ELECTION (WOMEN VOTERS):

VA HOSPITALS DON'T SCREEN VETS FOR MENTAL HEALTH OR SIGNS OF BEATING THEIR WIVES. (AGGRESSION)

THE MEDIA HAS FORGOTTEN RAY RICE PUNCHING OUT HIS THEN FIANCEE' JANAY PALMER.

IT'S TIME TO CLOSE VA HOSPITALS &  PRIVATIZE VET HEALTH CARE.

Helping Women in Abusive Marriages and Relationships become self-sufficient should be a key 2016 platform issue.

Women married to U.S. SOLDIERS and ATHLETES are frequent victims of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

There are thousands of Male U.S. Military Vets living in American society with severe MENTAL HEALTH issues.

Due to Survival skills they learned while on Active Duty, its not uncommon for Military VETS (Men) to appear Sane in public while Abusing their Wives and Children behind closed doors.

VA Hospitals do NOT screen these Military Heroes, instead they just prescribe them PILLS for the purpose of SELF-MEDICATING their Mental Health issues.

Considering the number of mega VA Hospitals Scandals under Pres OBAMA'S administration, I say it is time shut down all VA Hospitals and PRIVATIZE Health Care for Veterans.

It is also time for all VETS to receive MANDATORY Mental Health screening each time they request pills for illness, each time they are DIVORCED and each time an immediate member of their family dies via SUICIDE.

~ Husbands Who Bring The War Home

With thousands of troops now preparing to return, a new crisis may open on the domestic front. Military wife Stacy Bannerman on the husbands she’s seen transformed into domestic abusers.

"If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours, call the police," she whispered, then hung up. My phone read 2:12 am; it was the third call in as many minutes.

I tried calling back—no answer. I went back to sleep, angry at Kristi for calling in the middle of the night and scaring me with a single sentence.

The next morning I fired off an email: "I cannot, for the love of God, imagine what you were thinking when you called last night.

Please tell me." Kristi and I had become battle buddies at home while our husbands were serving in Iraq in 2004-05.

We had cried each time a military family member called with word of a soldier's death or suicide; we grieved at funerals and gravesites, marches and memorials.

We wept with and for each another when she or I learned that our husband had been mobilized for another deployment, and again when they finally came home.

Her husband had served three combat tours since 2002.

The last one was the shortest yet, a mere 10 months, and Kristi wrote in an email that "he actually came back pretty normal this time!" That was nearly four months ago. When my phone rang in the afternoon early last fall, I saw that it was her, and picked up.

"Mark tried to strangle me last night," she blurted out. "I called you from the bathroom. I locked myself in with the pets. I didn't want him to hurt my puppy. I'm sorry I called. I was just so scared, and I didn't have anyone else to call. I couldn't call the cops."

I had gotten other midnight calls from other military wives, cowering in closets and under dining room tables, dialing for a lifeline to someone outside of their domestic war zone.

But this was my friend: strong and smart, she had worked at a women's shelter nearly a decade ago. She knew all the warning signs.

And Kristi's husband adored her.

He had no history of domestic violence, no pattern of abuse. He had made no attempts to isolate her from friends, family, or finances. Mark's most recent post-deployment mental health assessment hadn't indicated any issues.

There hadn't been a single red flag before Mark wrapped his hands around Kristi's throat and squeezed, which is what makes veterans' household violence unique.

Abuse by combat veterans tends to have its own distinctive pattern that is unlike the recurring power-and-control cycle of abuse described in most domestic violence literature.

The journal Disabled American Veterans stated that veteran interpersonal violence often involves "only one or two extremely violent and frightening abusive episodes that quickly precipitate treatment seeking."

"Mark tried to strangle me last night," my friend blurted out.

The majority of studies of treatment-seeking veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or combat-related mental health issues report that at least 50 percent of those veterans commit wife-battering and family violence.

Male veterans with PTSD are two to three times more likely than veterans without PTSD to engage in intimate partner violence, according to the VA, which also found that the majority of veterans with combat stress commit at least one act of spousal abuse in their first year post-deployment.

"How are you now?" I asked Kristi. "Where is he?"

"I'm okay, but my throat hurts a little. He's gone. I made him leave this morning. I told him I didn't want to hear from him until he had talked to a counselor or gotten into some kind of treatment.

I said that I didn't feel safe with him, and I couldn't…I wasn't…" she sobbed, hiccupping out words, "I wasn't sure if I ever would again… Goddamn it. Goddamn this war."

Kristi and I talked a lot over the next days and weeks—mostly she talked, and I listened. She was seeing a civilian counselor, but spent most of her time at home, shell-shocked and alone.

She said her counselor just kept telling her to leave her husband, giving her lectures on the typical cycle of domestic abuse, so she tried to find someone who understood the military and veterans.

She called the military chaplain on post, but he never called back. She called the VA, and asked if they had support programs for wives of combat veterans.

They didn't. She called Military One Source, a free counseling assistance program provided by the Department of Defense.

But the lady there just started to cry, and told her that she got "these calls all the time. I can't help you. Unless you authorize a report, I can't authorize assistance."

Kristi reached out to another military spouse that lived off post and was married to an Iraq war veteran.

She told her what happened, and her friend said that she and her husband had gotten into so many fights, hitting and screaming and throwing things at each other, that she ended up going to the domestic violence shelter.

Staff at the shelter told her that they didn't have programs for wives of veterans, and that her husband made too much money for her to stay there, anyway.

Meanwhile, Mark was staying with friends, or sleeping in his office. 

After several days of silence, they began talking, but she hasn't seen him since that night, and at times, she's wondered if she even wants to. "I miss him, I do," she said. "We've already been apart way too much, but I am so angry, and hurt."

Today, Kristi says that Mark's trying to get help, but it's not easy.

He called a domestic violence hotline, and the person he talked to discouraged him from going to the men's group because he doesn't fit the abuser profile. "It's not like he can make a lot of calls about this when he works for 10 hours every day,"

Kristi says. "His insurance won't pay for him go to a private therapist at night. They said he can only see someone at the base medical center, and he's not doing that. He can't really sneak off for three hours in the middle of the day and drive down to the VA, either."

Most family victims of veteran violence don't file reports with the police or their husband's command.

The military is stepping up domestic violence programs and education at military instillations, but the pressure on spouses within the active duty and retired military culture and much of the civilian population to remain silent is especially intense during a time a war.

Speaking out about veteran violence at home seems to be perceived as more of a betrayal than the violence itself.

Even so, since 2003, there has been a 75 percent increase in reports of domestic violence in and around Ft. Hood, where the number of soldiers diagnosed with PTSD rose from 310 in 2004 to 2,445 in 2009.

Equally telling is the 2010 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, the second annual poll conducted by Blue Star Families (BSF) of military families with a loved one currently in the service.

This year's survey included a ream of questions about returning-veteran violence. I don't think there was a single question on that topic last year.

When I last spoke to Kristi, she said that she had quit praying that she and Mark "would get their old lives back. That's gone." Now, she just prays that the last deployment was, in fact, the last, and that someday, the war will end for them, too.

About 63,000 soldiers will return from combat tours between July and December. 

According to military statistics, nearly half of active-duty National Guard members, 38 percent of Army soldiers, and 31 percent of Marines report mental health problems upon return from Middle East deployments.

If just 20 percent of them have post-combat stress, then it can reasonably be projected that roughly half of those veterans will commit at least one act of severe domestic abuse or interpersonal violence in the coming year.

That's approximately 6,300 veterans' wives and kids who are at risk.

President Obama declared that major combat operations in Iraq are over.

They may just be starting for thousands of America's military family members.

Sources: CNN, Daily Beast NY Times, TMZ, Youtube