Grievous Angel

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Here is some advice to those Vets who are receiving any money or benefits at all from the VA:

STFU about it. Please. Be smart. STFU.

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This also makes me question: why the tags? It's definitely an advertisement for how many are on it.

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100% agree. Of all the hills to die on for the OT, yall pick this one. You have no idea what it takes and the toll on your body, just to make it out of boot camp in the 80's. I have jumped out of helicopters, was pushed off a high platform, was mentally tortured and busted both of my knees and my ankles, all while serving. So, should i just ignore those things? I lost most of my hearing from being in an artillery unit for years. Should i just ignore that?

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Absolutely not. Sounds like you had legitimate injuries and are justly receiving compensation. I don't think anyone would argue against that.

But this is why we can't have reasonable conversations about it. If you question it, people trot out Lt. Dan and ask you why you don't support HIM getting disability. Of course we do. Everyone does.

Doesn't explain why it's ballooned so drastically lately (in participants and dollars), in relative peacetime. Is it really that much of a stretch that there's abuse of the system?

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I'm just curious if you served in combat. You seem to be quite critical of those who did.

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And this is why this is difficult to discuss.

Not everyone who served served in combat. The largest increases in DV history have occurred in relative peacetime.

Even in peacetime, servicement get hurt all the time. They should be compensated.

That doesn't mean there isn't RAMPANT abuse of the system and many, many people who shouldn't be on it are. That's just welfare and abuse.

I see "Disabled veteran" tags everywhere in Alabama. Once I noticed it I couldn't unsee it. From beaters to 100k Escalades/HD trucks

Are we really damaging all these folks in peacetime now?

Really nice seeing them in front of the gym. Or watching a guy get out to go play tennis.

The corruption is RAMPANT. I know a guy who will get 40k per year (I may be slightly wrong on the amount) for LIFE. He works at the same company I do. Doing the same job I do. Has some so called condition that has no observable symptoms.

That 40k just so happens to be around my federal tax liability every year.


LINK /

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Between 1954 and 2000, the share of veterans receiving disability compensation was very stable, fluctuating between 8 percent and 10 percent. Today, nearly 30 percent of the country’s 18.5 million veterans receive it.

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Additionally, the average annual payment to veterans receiving disability has increased substantially, from about $12,000 in 2000 to $21,000 today. This growth has been driven by a shift to much higher disability ratings since payments are higher for those who are found to be more disabled.

From 2000 to 2022, the number of disability compensation recipients with a rating of 70 percent or more increased by 7-fold (from 0.34 million to 2.66 million) while the number with a rating of just 10 or 20 percent hardly changed (from 1.23 million to 1.30 million). This rating system used by the VA encourages disability compensation recipients to apply for increases in their ratings and may discourage some from improving their health.

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With total annual disability compensation expenditures increasing from $28 billion to $112 billion, VA spending on the program is now 83 percent as large as for Social Security Disability Insurance, the largest federal disability program that insures 10 times as many adults. Moreover, since veterans who receive disability compensation benefits have increased eligibility for the VA’s health care services, the program’s rise in enrollment has simultaneously contributed to substantial increases in health care spending by the VA (the other main category of the VA’s budget). 

In comparison, annual VA spending on education benefits such as the GI Bill is just $10 billion, and annual spending on veteran readiness and employment, a program designed to help veterans with service-connected disabilities obtain stable and suitable employment, is only $1.5 billion. 

The primary driver of the growth in disability compensation enrollment has been a series of regulatory and policy changes over the past two decades (including most recently the 2022 PACT Act) that have made it steadily easier for veterans to apply for and qualify for disability benefits for a broader set of medical conditions. As a result of these changes, nearly 40 percent of veterans who served in 1990 or later receive disability compensation benefits.

While one might attribute these high rates of disability compensation receipt to improved battlefield medicine and the long-term effects of combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, recent research suggests otherwise.

Veterans who enlisted since 2010 have some of the highest rates of disability compensation enrollment even though they were significantly less likely to deploy and faced a substantially lower risk of injury while deployed — only 1 percent of Army service members who enlisted between 2010 and 2015 were wounded in combat.

Considering how much easier it has become to qualify for disability benefits, it is perhaps unsurprising that 5,000 pilots who passed their Federal Aviation Administration physicals are now under investigation for receiving veterans’ disability benefits for conditions that should disqualify them from the cockpit.

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The LV purse that everyone carries is ugly. Basic bitch equipment. Real rich people don't wear things so garish and branded.

In her prime, Alba.

SC but they are wearing different levels of makeup/prep in those pics.

SC is so tiny her head looks weird on her body.

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Croyle

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Croyle was Bama's son. He came to Bama when Bama was down, and I believe he turned down FSU who was on top of the world.

I think he was a 5 star recruit and was an elite passer. He played on teams that were crippled by sanctions. And he couldn't stay healthy. But he was an ELITE prospect in a long string of good-ole-boy prospects.

The Florida game was one glimpse of his potential.

War Horse from Spielberg popped to mind.

Thoroughly mediocre.

Could add West Side Story.

Been a while since he released a banger.

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Ray Liotta was originally signed to Dennis Quaid's role, but he died soon after signing up. Liotta would have been great as well !

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He would have been better. He's creepier. When he's not even trying to be.

Just watched this for the first time. Definitely a conversation piece.

I have to say I enjoyed it. The part where she can't leave her house to go on a date with her homely friend was heart breaking, while at the same time you know she didn't give him the time of day when she was younger/hotter.

I was laughing at the end. It was a Carrie scene. There was also The Fly, The Shining, Citizen Kane, and others...