Common Defense Profile picture
Jun 14, 2018 11 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Fun Fact: one of the disbursements Trump made in an Iowa was to a supposed “Veteran Service dog” charity, which has only ever given a dog to Sarah Palin, and which is run by a GOP political operative with a felony conviction for charity fraud.

ag.ny.gov/press-release/…
Following #VetsVsHate holding a protest outside of Trump Tower in May 2016, calling out @realDonaldTrump for using Veterans as props for racism and bigotry while lying about having donated to Veteran charities, Trump was forced to donate the missing money. /2
Trump held a press conference in Trump Tower where (along with commenting on Harambe the gorilla, calling a journalist a “sleeze,” and attacking the Veterans protesting outside) he announced where he’d donated the missing money.

$100k went to the “Puppy Jake Foundation.” 3/
The Puppy Jake Foundation supposedly trains and provides service dogs to veterans.

One problem: they aren’t accredited to train service dogs.

That means they can’t provide service dogs. Just... regular dogs. 4/
prosthetics.va.gov/ServiceAndGuid…
But dogs are still good right?

Well as it turns out, there’s no evidence the Puppy Jake Foundation has actually provided any veterans with any dogs, service or otherwise. 5/
The one person the Puppy Jake Foundation *has* definitely given a dog to is... wait for it... Sarah Palin.

Specifically Sarah Palin’s son Trig. 6/
servicedogfp.blogspot.com/2015/01/sarah-…
So what Trump sees as “donating money to veteran charities” is actually buying Sarah Palin’s son a dog in order to hold a political stunt in Iowa. 7/
There’s more. The Puppy Jake Foundation is run by a woman named Becky Beach.

Becky Beach is not a veteran advocate, & she has no experience with service dogs.

Rather, she’s a longtime Iowa GOP political operative for the Bushes, & has a felony conviction for charity fraud. /8
(Just as a reminder, the excuse Trump gave for why he hadn’t donated the missing money until Veterans held a protest at Trump Tower was that he supposedly needed to rigorously vet the charities.) /9
Becky Beach also led another charity, the Pacific Battleship Center which governs the museum battleship the USS Iowa.

Remember the USS Iowa? Here it is.
Becky Beach and her partner in the Pacific Battleship Center faced major scrutiny for self-dealing.

It was revealed that they used their positions on the board of the charity to make the charity spend more then $800,000 hiring a PR firm that they owned, a huge ethical violation.

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More from @commondefense

Sep 1, 2018
Under Trump and his new hand-picked VA Secretary, instead of fixing the @DeptVetAffairs, they’re bleeding it dry.

The number of unfilled jobs has gone up by 12,000 since last report.

They sabotage the VA, so service suffers. Then they say “Service sucks! Privatize!”
A few greedy billionaires in Mar-a-Lago are trying to destroy the VA so they can profit off us.

But what’s happening with veterans isn’t isolated. It’s happpening in public education, where @BetsyDeVos undermines our public schools, then uses the sabotage as a pretext for cuts.
It’s happening in the military, where corporate interests, empowered by a revolving door of senior officials, siphon more and more “Defense” money into expensive boondoggles so they can make more profits.

The troops get less for training, basic gear. They need sleep not gizmos.
Read 5 tweets
May 13, 2018
Let’s talk about the Iran Deal, and why it’s viewed so differently than the negotiations with North Korea. 1/
Let’s start with some facts: the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA, was the gold standard for arms control. There were basically no experts who thought the USA should break the deal, and not a single other country in the world who joined us in doing so. 2/
The Iran Deal accomplished most of what we’d want from a deal. Here’s some basics:

-Iran had to give up 100% (you read that right) of the fissile material it had that was usable for making nuclear weapons. So even if Iran broke the deal, they’d be starting from scratch. 3/
Read 15 tweets
May 3, 2018
New from @ProPublica, some of the most violent and extreme white supremacist hate groups include active duty military troops, and actively recruit veterans. /1
propublica.org/article/atomwa…
Reminder, when @MilitaryTimes did a scientific poll of troops, 1-in-4 said they know a white nationalist serving alongside them in uniform, and 1-in-20 openly responded to the poll with white supremacist statements. 2/
The situation has only gotten worse under Trump, as hate and white nationalist sentiment has come out in the open in many units. We hear constantly from people of color and women who are choosing to leave the military because they are afraid, and commanders do nothing. /3
Read 11 tweets
Dec 17, 2017
THREAD: It’s clear that Trump doesn’t actually care about having an effective military, or keeping us safe, his priority is white nationalist purges. #VetsVsHate
Yesterday, the White House shared a video of President Trump once again using the military community as props to advance his bigoted and un-American agenda.
In the video, Trump accused immigrants of being a national security threat, and called for extreme and unprecedented reductions in legal immigration, intentionally tearing apart families.
Read 13 tweets
Nov 9, 2017
As Veterans Day approaches, we're proud to join with frontline LGBT membership and legal organizations to #HonorTransTroops
Over the next hour, we'll be hosting a nonpartisan twitter chat to answer questions about the #TransBan and the work of our organizations.
Please join us in sharing your stories, asking questions, and showing your support by using the hashtag #HonorTransTroops
Read 14 tweets
Oct 23, 2017
BREAKING: @MilitaryTimes has just released a scientific poll of U.S. military troops. The things it found are game-changing. 1/
A majority of troops say White Nationalism is a national security threat. They say it's more dangerous than Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan. 2/
Troops report that White Nationalism is a serious threat, say it's no comparison with "protest movements"/"civil disobedience". cc: @NRA 3/
Read 18 tweets

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