Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will quit his fractious right-wing Social Liberal Party (PSL) and start a new one by March 2020, PSL lawmakers Daniel Silveira and Bia Kicis said on Tuesday after meeting with the president.

The PSL, which Bolsonaro joined as a vehicle to win the elections in October, is split down the middle over control of the party, though it is not clear how many of its 53 representatives and three senators will follow the president.

A meeting will be held on Nov. 21 to begin setting up the new party, which will be called Movimento pelo Brasil, or Movement for Brazil, Kicis told Reuters by telephone.

The split came to a head last month with an exchange of insults between the president and PSL founder Luciano Bivar, who has not wanted to hand over the reins to Bolsonaro and his sons.

At stake is 390 million reais ($94 million) in public campaign funds for municipal elections, an unprecedented war chest for the PSL, which rode Bolsonaro’s coattails to grow from a single lawmaker in Congress to the second-largest bench.

While senators, governors and mayors can freely switch parties, lower house lawmakers are subject to rules that bar them from continued access to the campaign funding if they swap parties.

“Several representatives plan to follow the president. We are prepared to lose the campaign funds because we want to found a new party to follow him,” Kicis said.

Bolsonaro needs to gather 500,000 signatures to start a new party, and his supporters are confident he can achieve that through social media, a tool that greatly aided his successful run for president last year.

One of the PSL’s three senators, Senator Soraya Thronicke from the farm state of Mato Grosso, told Reuters she has not made up her mind yet.

If she stayed in the PSL, only one senator would follow Bolsonaro, his son Flavio Bolsonaro.

The breakup of the PSL is not expected to affect Brazil’s economic reform agenda, which has ample backing in Congress.

But starting a new party could politically weaken Bolsonaro, who switched allegiances among eight parties during his 28 years in Congress before joining the PSL last year.

($1 = 4.1637 reais)

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Michael Bloomberg filed paperwork Tuesday to appear on the ballot in Arkansas’ March 3 presidential primary, the latest indication that the billionaire former New York City mayor may seek the Democratic nomination .

Bloomberg sent staffers to Alabama last week to file for the primary there, but filed his paperwork in person in Arkansas two hours before the state’s deadline.

“We’re getting closer” to making a decision, Bloomberg told reporters after filing paperwork at Arkansas’ Capitol.

He’s moving toward a presidential bid as he warns that the current field of Democratic presidential candidates isn’t equipped to defeat President Donald Trump next year. If he runs, Bloomberg plans to skip campaigning in the traditional early voting states and focus more on Super Tuesday states, including Arkansas and Alabama.

Bloomberg has rebuffed criticism from his potential rivals that his candidacy would amount to buying the election, saying self-financing his campaign means he wouldn’t be beholden to anyone.

“I’m going to finance the campaign, if there is one, with my own money so I don’t owe anybody anything,” he said. “Other people ask for donations in return for which they’ve got to give favors. But it costs a lot of money, whether you’re doing it with your own money or somebody else’s money, to get a message out.”

Bloomberg also promised to support whoever wins the Democratic nomination.

“That is a very easy thing to say yes, given who the Republican candidate is going to be,” Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg filed to run in a state that had once been a Democratic stronghold in the South, but turned solidly red over the past decade. Republicans hold all of Arkansas’ seats in Washington, its statewide offices and both chambers of the Legislature. Lawmakers this year moved the state’s primary up from May to attract more attention from presidential hopefuls.

Bloomberg’s appearance in Little Rock raised hopes from state Democrats that Arkansas will play a greater role in the nominating contest, especially with a crowded field.

“I think they realize when we start counting delegates, if this thing is jumbled up going into Super Tuesday, every state’s in play,” state Democratic Party Chairman Michael John Gray said.

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Turkish authorities have detained hundreds of people for posting comments of social media that questioned the country’s military offensive in Syria, according to Amnesty International. The human rights group says dozens of innocent people, including many journalists, are facing absurd criminal charges over legitimate criticism of the operation, which began last month following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the area. As Henry Ridgwell reports, Amnesty International says the crackdown is part of a wider attack on freedom of expression in Turkey.
 

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The chief of Bosnia’s border police warned Tuesday that his guards cannot contain the migratory pressure along the country’s eastern border with Serbia and that the situation could easily escalate and put in danger the overall stability of the politically fragile nation.

Zoran Galic told The Associated Press in an interview that securing the nation’s entire 1,600-kilometer (995-mile) border along a popular migration route into Europe was like the “work of Sisyphus.” That was a reference to the Greek mythical hero who was condemned for eternity to push a rock up a mountain only to watch it roll all the way down every time he reaches the top.

“We are in a constant struggle to deter migrants, but they never quit,” he said.

Describing the scale of the problem, he said:  “We encounter women who are eight months pregnant, juvenile children, and we are doing our best to treat them morally, with respect for all international (human rights) conventions.”

Since the start of the year, more than 13,000 migrants have arrived in Bosnia, according to Bosnian government statistics. The impoverished country is unable to provide them with appropriate accommodation and many are left without access to hot meals, showers or proper medical care, to the growing consternation of local communities.

Galic said his border police forces is short 1,000 officers and the modern technology required to secure the borders. He said the country only has one officer per every 30 kilometers (19 miles) of border.

Bosnia is located along the so-called Balkan route that migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa take in hopes of reaching western Europe. The route became more popular nearly three years ago after other countries in the region sealed off their borders.

Most migrants arrive in Bosnia from Serbia after moving relatively unimpeded across the poorly guarded border between the two countries. From there they walk northwest to Bosnia’s border with the European Union-member Croatia.  

The Bosnian border with both Serbia and Croatia is mostly porous, with rivers, mountains and vast tracts of forest.

But Croatia has been taking increasingly efficient steps to prevent cross-border movement, so a growing number of desperate migrants remain stuck in Bosnia, one of the poorest and most volatile countries in Europe.

Migrants caught by Bosnian border police officers, after making the illegal crossing from Serbia, described to the AP being smuggled across the Drina River by human traffickers.

“I am paying crossing river 3,000 euro. Who take the money? It is smuggler, men smuggler,” said a migrant who identified himself only as Waqar, and said he was a 17-year-old Pakistani.

Over the past few months, the high influx of migrants has unleashed acrimony among Bosnia’s squabbling nationalist leaders who represent the often-competing interests of the country’s Bosniak, Croat and Serb ethnic communities.

Most notably, Bosnian Serb hard-line leader Milorad Dodik, who is a member of Bosnia’s multi-ethnic joint presidency, has blocked efforts to deploy the army to stem the influx of migrants from Serbia.

Dodik is also blocking the deployment of the EU’s border protection agency teams along Bosnia’s border with Croatia, using the crisis to promote his Serbian-first attitude, including by refusing to accommodate any migrants in the country’s highly autonomous Serb-run half.

Many Bosnians have sympathy for the asylum seekers, with memories of when many of them sought refuge elsewhere.

During the war in Bosnia of 1992-95 — the deadliest of the ethnic wars sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia — more than 100,000 people died, and more than half the population was forced to flee.

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Clashes broke out in the streets of the Bolivian capital Tuesday evening after an opposition leader in the Senate declared herself the country’s interim president following the resignation of Evo Morales.

Jeanine Anez assumed temporary control of the Senate late in the day, putting her next in line for the presidency. Lawmakers of Morales’ Movement for Socialism party were not present when she made the announcement.

Angry Morales’ supporters tried to reach the Congress building screaming, “She must quit!” Police and soldiers fired tear gas trying to disperse the crowd.

Morales, who sought to transform Bolivia as its first indigenous president, flew to exile in Mexico on Tuesday as thousands of his supporters clamored for his return in the streets of the Bolivian capital.  

Military fighter jets flew repeatedly over La Paz in a show of force that infuriated Morales loyalists who were blocked by security forces from marching to the main square.

“We’re not afraid!” shouted demonstrators, who believe the ouster of Morales following massive protests was a coup d’etat as well as an act of discrimination against Bolivia’s indigenous communities.

“Evo was like a father to me. We had a voice, we had rights,” said 35-year-old Maria Apasa. Like Morales, she is a member of the Aymara indigenous group.  

Despite their anger, the demonstrators were peaceful. The march followed weeks of clashes and protests against Morales, who was accused by his many detractors of becoming increasingly authoritarian and rigging an election. His resignation Sunday led to a power vacuum in the Andean nation.

Morales was met at Mexico City’s airport by Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard after a flight from Bolivia on a Mexican government plane and repeated his allegations he had been forced to resign by a coup.

“The president of Mexico saved my life,” Morales said, thanking President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for granting him asylum. He vowed to “continue the struggle.”

Ebrard said Mexican diplomats had to scramble to arrange a flight path for the plane because some nations initially closed airspace to it. The plane stopped in Paraguay to refuel.

Urged to resign by the military, Morales had stepped down following widespread outrage fed by allegations of electoral fraud in the Oct. 20 presidential election that he claimed to have won.

Resignations by all other constitutionally designated successors left unclear who would take his place and how.

Anez had positioned herself to become interim president by taking temporary control of the Senate and moving into a spot to succeed to the presidency.

Morales’ resignation still needed to be approved by both houses of Congress. And lawmakers failed to get the quorum for an assembly session Tuesday. Anez also needed to be approved as president of the Senate, but she said that lawmakers loyal to Morales declined to be part of the session and that Bolivia could not be left in a power vacuum.

Morales’ departure was a dramatic fall for the one-time llama shepherd from the Bolivian highlands and former coca growers’ union leader who as president helped lift millions out poverty, increased social rights and presided over nearly 14 years of stability and high economic growth in South America’s poorest country.

In the end, though, his downfall was prompted by his insistence on holding onto power.

He ran for a fourth term after refusing to accept the results of a referendum that upheld term limits for the president — restrictions thrown out by a top court that critics contend was stacked in his favor.

Morales had also promised to remain austere when he became president in 2006. But shortly after, he bought a new airplane and built a 26-story presidential palace with a heliport.

Morales’ stepped aside shortly after accepting calls for a new election by an Organization of American States team. The team reported irregularities in the election whose official results showed Morales getting just enough votes to avoid a runoff that analysts said he could lose against a united opposition.

After Morales resigned, angry supporters set barricades ablaze to close some roads leading to the country’s main airport Monday, while his foes blocked most of the streets leading to the capital’s main square in front of Congress and the presidential palace.

Street tensions ebbed after Gen. Williams Kaliman, chief of the armed forces, announced a joint police-military operation in a television address. He said the hope was to “avoid bloodshed and mourning of the Bolivian family,” and he urged Bolivians to help restore peace.

Ronald Arias said he had left his home in El Alto and walked for three hours to his job in downtown La Paz because the cable car connecting the cities was suspended for security reasons and barricades blocked access to public transportation.

Arias, a native Aymara, said that thanks to Morales, his parents in the countryside gained access for the first time to running water and gas for cooking.

“I was so saddened by his resignation,” he said. “A lot of people in El Alto shed tears for the president.”

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The Israeli military says it has struck a Gaza City house, targeting a commander from the Islamic Jihad group in a resumption of pinpointed killing.

The Iranian-backed Palestinian group confirmed Tuesday that Bahaa Abu el-Atta, its north Gaza Strip commander, was killed.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says a man and a woman have been killed in the blast and two other people were wounded.

The airstrike damaged the half of the second and most of the third floors of a house in the Shejaeya neighborhood east of the city.

Israel media reported lately that Abu el-Atta was responsible for recent rocket attacks against southern Israel communities, instructed by Tehran.

However, Israel often says Hamas, the larger militant group controlling Gaza, is responsible for any fire emanating from the enclave.

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SpaceX launched 60 mini satellites Monday, the second batch of an orbiting network meant to provide global internet coverage.

The Falcon rocket blasted into the morning sky, marking the unprecedented fourth flight of a booster for SpaceX. The compact flat-panel satellites – just 575 pounds (260 kilograms) each – will join 60 launched in May.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk wants to put thousands of these Starlink satellites in orbit, to offer high-speed internet service everywhere. He plans to start service next year in the northern U.S. and Canada, with global coverage for populated areas after 24 launches.

Last month, Musk used an orbiting Starlink satellite to send a tweet: “Whoa, it worked!!”

Employees gathered at company bases on both coasts cheered when the first-stage booster landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic.

“These boosters are designed to be used 10 times. Let’s turn it around for a fifth, guys,” company’s launch commentator said.

This also marked the first time SpaceX used a previously flown nose cone. The California-based company reuses rocket parts to cut costs.

Stacked flat inside the top of the rocket, the newest satellites were going to maneuver even higher following liftoff, using krypton-powered thrusters. SpaceX said there was a potential problem with one of the 60 that could prevent it from moving beyond its initial 174 mile-high (280 kilometer-high) orbit. In that case, the faulty satellite will be commanded to re-enter and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere.

Each satellite has an autonomous system for dodging space junk. In September, however, the European Space Agency had to move one of its satellites out of the way of a Starlink satellite. SpaceX later said it corrected the problem.

SpaceX is among several companies interested in providing broadband internet coverage worldwide, especially in areas where it costs too much or is unreliable. Others include OneWeb and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.

According to Musk, Starlink revenue can help SpaceX develop rockets and spacecraft for traveling to Mars, his overriding ambition.

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While many Americans celebrated Veterans Day Monday watching parades and basking in the autumn sun, residents across the Midwest spent much of the day clearing out snow. Two-thirds of the eastern states also were hit by unseasonably cold weather. Another arctic blast is expected to bring record-breaking low temperatures this week.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has this story.

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When a wildfire threatened Margie Hanselman’s home in the northern California hills two years ago, the fire department dispatcher told her all the crews were already busy battling another blaze.

“That’s when I knew we were really on our own,” she said. “I knew I had to do something differently for the next big emergency.”

So Hanselman, her neighbors and fire officials got together and turned to mobile phone apps, social media and communications technology to better share news, emergency updates and preparation advice on threats in their fire-prone community in Sonoma County wine country.

This month’s wind-driven Kincade fire, which burned nearly 80,000 acres (32,400 hectares) and destroyed more than 370 structures, stopped just short of Hanselman’s driveway.

This time, no one died, unlike two years ago, when the nearby Pocket fire and other windy wildfires north of the San Francisco Bay area killed 43 people.

Joining forces to address the growing threat of living in a dry, rural forest area has made the community less stressed and anxious, said Priscilla Abercrombie, a nurse practitioner with a home on the region’s Fitch Mountain.

Hanselman and Abercrombie helped put together a local COPE team – Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergencies – which links residents and authorities to share advice on everything from how to pack evacuation bags to how to find family during a fire.

“I feel more empowered. I feel more in control,” said Abercrombie. “I feel better about myself, and I feel better about my community.”

Typically, the COPE network might collect and share information such as where doctors live, where a resident might be house-bound or where swimming pools are located that could be used in fighting a fire, organizers said.

It was modeled after an original COPE team started a few miles south in Santa Rosa after the deadly 2017 Tubbs fire that killed more than 20 people, they said.

‘A huge difference’

Healdsburg Fire Marshal Linda Collister said she has integrated the local COPE network with GroupMe, a mobile messaging app, to help share information that in the recent Kincade fire helped people evacuate early and smoothly.

This time, no one died in the Kincade blaze.

“We made a huge difference in this fire, compared to the last one, simply because we were ready for it,” the fire marshall said.

As the Kincade fire raged, Collister said she used the communications system to show evacuated residents that their homes were still standing.

“I could take a picture of their neighborhood and say it’s still there,” she said.

COPE is one of a range of local networks set up to help residents grapple with the stress of living amid the growing threat of wildfires.

The Integrative Healers Action Network, created in Sonoma County during the 2017 fires, for instance, draws on the skills of chiropractors, massage therapists and osteopaths to provide crisis care to those in need.

Another small group started by a survivor of a 2008 wildfire is building tiny homes – some 200 square feet – provided free for survivors of the Kincade and Paradise blazes.

Strengthened community links made an enormous difference this year compared to the fire two years ago, said Hanselman, who sells antiques in picturesque Healdsburg.

“Two years ago, none of us had any idea what to do,” she said. “Today I feel much more secure and confident.”

That’s something she and other residents are going to need more and more in coming years, she predicted.

“(With) climate change, it only gets worse,” she said. “I joke it’s not fall anymore. It’s fire season. Every fall, the anxiety level definitely goes up.”

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is considering making a late run for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to two people with knowledge of his deliberations, underscoring some Democrats’ deep uncertainty about the party’s current crop of contenders.

Patrick, a close friend and ally of former President Barack Obama, ruled out a presidential bid earlier this year but has since been talking with Democratic operatives and donors about launching a campaign. He has not made a final decision on whether to run, but he is expected to do so quickly, given fast-approaching deadlines to get on the ballot in key states.

Patrick is the second Democrat to weigh jumping into the race at this late juncture, less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also reconsidering a run, citing concerns about the current Democratic front-runners’ ability to defeat President Donald Trump. Bloomberg is expected to make a final decision on his 2020 prospects within days.

The people with knowledge of Patrick’s deliberations spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Democrats plunged into the 2020 race with sky high enthusiasm about the prospects of defeating Trump and with a historic number of candidates vying for the nomination. But as the field has started to dwindle, some in the party have raised concerns about the durability of former Vice President Joe Biden and the ability of liberal Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to win in a general election.

Although Patrick ruled out a run late last year, he reopened conversations with close friends and aides over the summer but did not take active steps to form a campaign. In recent days, those conversations have intensified, with Patrick gauging interest in a run with donors and Democratic operatives.

He would face big hurdles to launching a campaign at this late stage. Unlike Bloomberg, a wealthy billionaire who would self-fund, Patrick would have to quickly raise money to build out a campaign operation and boost his familiarity with voters. Some of his former political advisers are already working for other 2020 candidates, including his former chief of staff Doug Rubin, who is working for Tom Steyer.

Patrick, who made history as Massachusetts’ first black governor, could gain traction in neighboring New Hampshire, which holds the first primary contest. However, he’d face stiff competition there from two other neighboring state candidates: Warren of Massachusetts and Sanders of Vermont.

New Hampshire’s primary filing deadline is Friday.

Bloomberg plans to skip the early states, where candidates have camped out for months courting voters and building operations. Instead, he’s said he would focus on the crush of states that vote on March 3 — dubbed Super Tuesday — and beyond, where more delegates are at stake.

When Patrick decided last year not to run, he cited what he called the “cruelty” of the election process.

“After a lot of conversation, reflection and prayer, I’ve decided that a 2020 campaign for president is not for me,” Patrick had posted on his Facebook page. Patrick said he and his wife worried that the “cruelty of our elections process would ultimately splash back on people whom Diane and I love, but who hadn’t signed up for the journey.”

Patrick has tried to position himself as more moderate than his party’s left flank and could compete for votes with Biden, who is running as a centrist.

Early in his career, Patrick served as assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and later worked as an executive at Texaco and Coca-Cola. Since leaving the governor’s office, Patrick has worked as a managing director for Bain Capital — a company co-founded by Mitt Romney and widely criticized by Democrats during Romney’s 2012 Republican presidential campaign.

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A blanket of smog has once again enshrouded India’s capital after a weekend of clearer air and  better weather. 

The morning air quality index Monday at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi was 497.

AQI between 301 and 500 is considered “hazardous” for all population groups.  It is not measured past 500.

Air quality is considered good when the AQI is below 50 and satisfactory when it is under 100.

The Press Trust of India is reporting the capital’s AQI will be “severe” by Tuesday. 

New Delhi, ranked the world’s most polluted city by Greenpeace and AirVisual, routinely gets more polluted at this time of the year. The air quality gets noticeably worse as winter approaches and farmers clear their fields by burning scrub. 

“We should stop stubble burning,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjriwal.  “People are suffering immensely.” 

Drivers in the city of 20 million residents and 8.8 million registered motor vehicles have been asked to follow the odd-even road rationing plan until November 15. Under the plan, cars will only only drive on odd and even dates that correspond with the last digit of the license plate number. 

Environmental experts say to clean up its air,New Delhi needs permanent action to reduce the massive fleet of vehicles clogging its roads by scaling up public transportation. 

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Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg says if elected he’d like to name a woman to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs for the first time as 2020 hopefuls take aim at President Donald Trump’s record on stemming military suicide and helping female vets.

On Veterans Day, several candidates rolled out proposals to meet the needs of America’s 20 million former service members.

Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said female veterans and service members have been neglected, including on concerns about sexual harassment and women’s health. Women are the military’s fastest-growing subgroup.

“I think leadership plays a huge role so absolutely I’d seek to name a woman to lead VA,” Buttigieg, a former Navy intelligence officer, said in an interview with The Associated Press. His comments went a step beyond his 21-page wide-ranging plan released on Monday.
 
“The president has let veterans down,” Buttigieg said.

Of the Cabinet and Cabinet-level roles, four have never been held by a woman: Veterans Affairs, Defense, Treasury and White House chief of staff. Buttigieg says he’d take a close look at appointing a female defense secretary as well.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign said he would seek to build on current gains for vets that were started under the Obama-Biden administration, such as stemming homelessness and improving mental health care.

“Joe has a long record of support for veterans and our military families,” press secretary Jamal Brown said. “Bringing down the high rate of suicide among our military and veterans will be a top priority for a Biden administration.”

In a dig at Trump, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders released a video on Monday highlighting his role in working with the late Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated war hero, to pass legislation that included the Veterans Choice program in 2014.
 
Trump routinely takes credit for being the first to enact the Choice program, ignoring the fact that it was signed into law by President Barack Obama. What Trump got done was an expansion of the program achieved by McCain and Sanders.

That expanded program, one of Trump’s signature accomplishments, seeks to steer more veterans over the next decade to private-sector doctors outside the VA.
 
Sanders, a former chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee who voted against Trump’s plan, says the expanded program goes too far in its investments in the private sector, rather than core VA health care , which many veterans view as better suited to treat battlefield injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Sanders joins Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in urging increases in doctor pay to attract top VA candidates and fill 49,000 VA positions that have sat vacant as the Trump administration promoted private health care options.

Sanders said he would fill those vacancies in his first year as president and provide at least $62 billion in new funding to repair and modernize VA facilities to provide cutting-edge care.

“We will not dismantle or privatize the VA. We will expand and improve the VA,” Sanders said Monday.

Buttigieg told the AP that he would look at rolling back some of the Trump administration’s rules expanding Choice.
 
All the Democratic candidates who have articulated veterans’ plans call for added funding and training for suicide prevention. Buttigieg specifically proposes a new 24/7 VA “concierge” service aimed at guiding at-risk vets into mental health care.
 
Currently, about 20 veterans die by suicide each day, a rate basically unchanged during the Trump administration. Trump earlier this year directed a Cabinet-level task force to develop a broader roadmap for veterans’ suicide prevention, due out next spring.

Buttigieg, like Warren, would seek to improve responses to sexual assault in the military by shifting prosecution from military commanders to independent prosecutors. He also wants to put particular focus on stemming homelessness among women vets, many of whom may have experienced sexual trauma .  
 
He pointed to his seven-month deployment in Afghanistan in 2014 and watching the impact a female general had “culturally” on the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

“When a leadership body is more gender diverse, it makes better decisions. So I would absolutely be looking at that,” Buttigieg told the AP. He’s previously pledged to appoint women to at least 50% of his Cabinet positions.

While veterans overall have strongly backed Trump throughout his presidency, views vary widely by party, gender and age, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of 2018 midterm voters. In particular, younger veterans and women generally were more skeptical of Trump, who received multiple draft deferments to avoid going to Vietnam.
 
A study released by the VA earlier this year found 1 in 4 women veterans using VA health care reported inappropriate comments by male veterans on VA grounds, raising concerns they may delay or miss their treatments. The VA also has rebuffed efforts by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and other groups to change the VA motto, which some vets believe is outdated and excludes women. That motto refers to the VA’s mission to fulfill a promise of President Abraham Lincoln “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”  
 
Buttigieg said he would direct his VA secretary to change that motto to “fairly represent the diversity of service members and veterans.”

Currently, about 10% of the nation’s veterans are female. In the U.S. military forces, about 17% of those enlisted are women, up from about 2% in 1973.

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