Things we can agree on
Sep 25, 2017, 6:06 AM | Updated: 10:46 am
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters upon his return to the White House in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
We’ve all heard a lot about the Trump speech in Alabama, but suppose we focus on the parts we can all agree on.
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I think we can agree that the president has expanded freedom of speech. Maybe not for NFL players, but at least for presidents.
“Get that son of a [expletive deleted] off the field right now!”
Networks actually carried that unbleeped. When I try to say son of (BLEEP) they catch me every time!
The other thing the president said that we can all agree on is that we should provide health care to veterans when they need it.
“They’re waiting online for seven days … and in some cases, they die.”
That’s why he’s ordered the VA to post wait times online.
“We published online wait times at every VA facility.”
He says he extended the Veterans Choice Act so vets can choose a private hospital when the wait times are too long.
“And now, they go to a doctor in the area, we pay the bill, and it’s the least expensive thing we could do and we save everybody’s life and everybody is happy.”
But that Veterans Choice program has actually been in place since 2014 and the wait times are still terrible. I used the online service to check the wait times in Alabama where he made his speech. Never mind nine days or 16 days; the wait times for new patients in Bessemer, Alabama is 22-days; Birmingham, Virginia, 25 days; Montgomery, 34 days.
I would gently suggest that getting serious about fixing that would do a lot more to demonstrate America’s patriotism than forcing football players to stand.
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