It’s a war. We all know it’s a war and while Trump prepares to ask for another $200 billion to fight it and an astonishing $1.5 Trillion defense budget he is also saying he doesn’t want to pay for daycare, Medicare, or Medicaid. We are sending our sons and daughters to war under the leadership of the worst Secretary of Defense in history and creating veterans that will be made homeless by the actual Department of Veterans Affairs that’s supposed to help them. Once again we are fighting for our service members and veterans against the most anti-veteran Administration in history. This week Fred sits down with Naveed Shah, political director for Common Defense, to discuss all of this insanity and why we must fight back. Naveed is a veteran of the U.S. Army and Operation Iraqi Freedom, from Virginia. After serving on active duty for four years, including a 12-month tour in Iraq, Naveed returned to his hometown for undergraduate studies and began volunteering with veterans’ groups. This led to a legislative and advocacy fellowship with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in 2012, followed by political campaigns. In 2016, the First Lady invited Naveed to attend Pres. Obama’s final State of the Union address, in recognition of his years of work on veterans Issues. In 2018, Naveed worked with the Virginia Democratic Party’s Mission First initiative to get veterans and military families involved in the political process. For the past 14 years, Naveed has been involved with veterans and military families across the nation in a movement to build progressive political power with Common Defense for several years. Common Defense is a grassroots, veteran-led political organization founded in 2016. It empowers veterans to stand against racism, violence, and economic inequality, while supporting candidates who share their values of democracy and justice. It acts as a political home for veterans to organize, focusing on advocacy and civic engagement. Naveed holds a B.S. from the University of Virginia where he studied Political Science.
Follow his work at Common Defense at https://commondefense.us
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