Florida Congressmen want to crack down on stolen valor sales
From Sunshine State News, comes an article about Florida Congressmen Ted Yoho, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla. who want the Justice Department to crack down on Chinese manufacturers of US military insignias;
“We ask the attorney general to conduct an investigation and request that Alibaba [a Chinese company selling replicas of American military medals] stop providing the marketplace for the sale of these sacred medals,” Yoho added. “Anyone producing replicas of these hard-earned medals and decorations is showing disrespect to the true value and meaning of these honors. We ask the Justice Department, respectfully, to do all it can to shut this practice down.”
“This activity is utterly disrespectful and an insult to the brave men and women of the armed forces and their families whose sacrifices these awards represent,” said Murphy. “I look forward to working with Rep. Yoho and the Department of Justice to address this issue.”
I can appreciate their passion on this subject, but it will probably work as well as the “War on Drugs”. How has it worked making the import of drugs illegal? The solution is to force prosecutors to take phonies to court and make stolen valor a crime, not the manufacture of their phony finery. You can write laws all day long, but people who are engaged in illegal behavior don’t care much if they’re not being punished for it.
Category: Stolen Valor Act
I’m wondering if this has more to do with China\US relations then stolen valor.
They would have to shut down places here like USAMM and the like if they started down this path.
Ok, let me clear this in my head. You are asking the Chinese to stop making copies of our hard earned medals, the very same people that supply us with pirated movies among other cheap stuff. I really want to see that happen, but I am not holding my breath.We have a government that has no idea of military valor. Good Luck..
You are dead on Jonn. The issue is not stopping the manufacture of real or phoney awards and decorations, here or in China. The issue is the lying, phoney posers and embellishing ass holes buying them. The “War On Drugs” is a perfect analogy. It has thus far gone so well we have a greater drug problem in the U.S. every year and growing. Despite billions, with a “B”, dollars thrown at it. To include the corruption of officials on all sides of all borders involved. The same thing will happen with this. If China is prohibited from importing military awards to the U.S. it still will not stop, even from China. There will just be shipping containers marked, “Blu-Ray DVD Recorders”, filled with the same phoney cheap ass medals. Even if it was successful and China agreed to comply, the pawn shops and surplus stores are filled with real medals sold off by veterans or other phoneys needing a few bucks. So you are correct. The answer is to forget about trying to stem the tide of imports and actually prosecuting the liars. But prosecutors for several reasons, chief prosecutors who don’t care, heavy work loads of more serious crimes (drugs for example), or pain just ” I don’t give a shit cause I wasn’t a veteran” attitudes. When the percentage of veterans is so low in our country society at large has no concept of either stolen valor or what it means to a veteran. Since they care more about who Kim Karashian is screwing or trying to get their asses as big as hers, their attitude is the usual, “so what, get over it!”. The most popular theme, comeback and mindset of our day. Sexual harassment in the military…my gosh let’s hold all calls and get those Power Points and mandatory classes started. The public is ALL OVER that lead by the liberal media. On the other hand this same liberal media, which hates the military and holds them in contempt, will lend their unending and unwavering support and aid to Senators, Congressmen, the Secretary of State,… Read more »
Dear Congressmen from Florida,
How about going after the frauds that have been called out for Stolen Valor, such as Psal/Palmer Wickre, Phildo the anal dildo, and Part-time resident Danny-Boi Bernastypants?
Aren’t there more important things for Congress to focus on, say providing for the common defense, not spending more than they take in, securing our boarders, Etc?
More proof that they would rather appear to be doing something rather than actually doing something.
This is what comes of making a 3rd world totalitarian government a most favored nation trading partner…the corporate masters of our government wanted cheap labor for the jobs they no longer wanted to deal with here in the states. They wanted to move textiles and steel processing to a shithole where they could get away with shitting on the environment and shitting on the American worker all the while telling that worker how important it was to buy cheap shit made overseas…
So we enter into a traitorous economic agreement with a dishonest shithole nation and we are now suddenly surprised that a nation filled with dishonesty has no qualms about making phony replica medals? How about the fucking lead in the paint on the toys they sell our kids? Or the piss poor craftsmanship that made millions of dehumidifiers house fire starter kits?
Free trade with a corrupt Chinese government results in job loss and lots of fake shit pouring over the border…who knew?
Typed on a Chinese made keyboard hooked to a Chinese made computer using a Chinese made processor, mailed via a Chinese made modem and Chinese made server etc etc. After which, pulling the letter up on a Chinese-made phone and shared via social media backed by Chinese made servers etc…
Not a personal slam, VoV, but it is a fact of life now.
No offense taken, once the deal is done there’s no avoiding the outcome unfortunately…
Some of those factories are truly amazing. I have been to one campus that had almost a half a million workers… by the way, they received food, uniforms, medical, and dorms. Their pay may only be $175/month but a pack of cigs is maybe $.30 and a quart of beer maybe $.50. I ran a comparison and after expenses, had my daughter working as a low-level supervisor at Walmart not been living at home, her disposable income had less buying power. Most of those Chinese kids work a few years in factories, save as much as they can, then go back home with a nest egg and start their own business.
I do some work for a few international companies and was there researching some partners for production. I agree they’ve done a good job, but at our expense.
There can never be truly free trade between a first world economy and a third world economy, not for a good long time. Perhaps the end game will tilt back our way but a trade deficit, usually a huge one, is always the result when this kind of trade agreement takes place.
The Immutable Law of Unintended Consequences.
By the time this administration is done, US medals and decorations will be contracted to the Chinese anyway.
Shades of the first batch of Shinseki’s morale building black berets…
You mean like the RPI (promotional items) I used to give away as a Recruiter? Got it, the Chinese can pump out millions of tie tacks, key chains, and mugs for cheap. Even so, I hated getting boxes of “US Army” giveaways with Made in China stickers on them. I tried peeling off the stickers or removing items from marked bags before giving them to public.
I’m about twenty miles from where the Army Strong shirts and apparel are made, though. Nothing like putting our prisoners to work at Jesup Federal Correctional Facility. If we want inexpensive products for our military, UNICOR beats PRC.