VA Secretary Lawyers Put Fresh Spin On Europe Trip IG Investigation

54 Comments

1. I think you’re on to something that most are missing: “The real scandal here is that…some individuals are intentionally trying to torpedo his ship.”

2. when this first came out about the travel, I stated that someone in his office knew it was wrong, but also knew with a (little) white lie, they could get it approved.

   This is what Butt kissing looks like. The Secretary will be my friend now that I broke the law or regulations for him. why not, everyone else does this, no big deal.

   They were not expecting anyone to know the difference. well they were wrong and got caught. Though I figured this was the case and now Secretary Shulkin, is now covering up for his crew.

   I say he has to go. Our Justice system or lack off, just gave all government employees the green light to do as they please and nothing, i mean nothing will be done.

   A little travel here and there and just like drugs, Now I want more, what other schemes can I do now, oh yea My yearly Bonus and if I get caught !

   All I have to say is those people who hacked my computer did it again, Hack is a good word to use for people like this. You and I know this is a Federal Institution and hacking is a federal crime. Well for some anyway.

   I told you all about one of his crew, contacted me about the manager who falsely accused me of disruptive behavior and told me that the employee no longer works for the VA and when I told her the Manager was still working she cut off all communication.

   This person when by the name Stephanie, I believe she was ling about her name and is the very same person who did this for the secretary.

   My fellow veterans we are in a world of hurt and I told you things will get worse before getting better. Our Judicial system has just gave veterans their death sentence.

   we don’t care, simple as that.

3. The battle lines are drawn and the deep state is mobilizing their troops in a preemptive strike against the Trump Administration and coming reforms to how business is done in Washington. Several people who are currently looking at public corruption charges and about to be removed from their position are the Scam-Man, David Shulkin, and the Schemer, Thomas Bowman.

   How much of the VA’s 2018 budget to provide medical services to Veterans were burned up in this little staged photo Op orchestrated by none other than the administration at the VA. Let’s see, 200 VA employees paid to meet and hold signs for limited time for a photo op while being paid by the VA. Travel pay to and from their normal place of working for the AFGE at the VA.

   The time plotting and planning all while being paid by the VA to represent the Union. The cost of the signs and the all the time to notify the different press agencies about the planned photo op. We have to be looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million of the 2018 VA Health Care Budget going up in smoke for this photo op.

   Hoping to hear LipShit Curt Cashcows press release on this bogus VA Turd-athon

   1. The Deep State Attorney Justin Shur, the former deputy chief of the Justice Department’s public integrity section who ran interference while Clinton was Secretary of State, and who is the lead Attorney of Shulkin’s legal defense team, no doubt is the sponsor of the AFGE photo Op.

      The Timing of Shur’s leaking of the letter to the VAOIG and the timing of the AFGE photo Op is just too coincidental.

      Given there is no set time for the VAOIG’s report to be released and the VAOIG has been very slow to issue reports in the past and present. At times holding them back for years or letting them go unpublished and never released to the public.

      It seems clear that the VAOIG has referred this matter, and likely other additional matters to the DOJ for possible prosecution. That is the only reason why Shulkin would hire three attorneys who are high dollar attorneys who specialize in White Collar Criminal Defense and public corruption.

      Most certainly Shulkin will be paying his legal team more than he could legally make working his position at the VA for the next Five Years.

   2. Seymore, I assume you are commenting about an AFGE protest about understaffing at VA. I will comment in Bens post on this.

      As for battle lines being drawn, the Deep State has been in all out war against Trump since the FBI went to the FISA Court to get a Title 1 warrant to allow our Intel agencies to spy in Carter Page using any means available. I believe this Title 1 warrant was requested long after the spying started, and was requested simply to make things look legal.

      I have read there is $7 Trillion at stake that the Deep State will lose if Trump gets the swamp drained.

      That Title 1 warrant allowed spying on Page, and anyone even remotely connected to Page, including those he may have emailed or called, particularly in the Trump campaign which was the target all along.

      Quite a growing number of very high level Obama administration officials lied to the court to get that warrant.

      Why is this important to veterans? Its important because it is a major distraction for an administration to deal with the illegal actions of a prior administration while being accused of illegal activities themselves. It also allows the media to ignore many other problems this administration needs to fix.

4. Hey Elf,

   A little on Lame Brain.

   In a February 28th article on Lame Brain his daughter is claiming that his concerns about the Flu season in Washington is now why he has not returned to Washington. Also that at some point in time he may one day return to Washington.

   She offered this info because his office has not given an update on his health since Dec. 17, at which time he said he looked forward to returning to work on Capitol Hill in January, which didn’t happen.

   Seems very clear now that he is on his death bed and most likely receiving hospice care. All the while scamming the taxpayers of Arizona while keeping the job and not providing any kind of representation.

   1. The flu outbreak is a problem in all the Continental States, and picking up steam in Hawaii. So the excuse of not going to Washington due the flu, isn’t valid. Don’t wish the man death, but McCain should resign so that another two faced Politician can take his place, and to serve the people of AZ and the US. Stubborn, smug, and full of pride until his dying day. And, the MSM has done an excellent job of not mentioning the USS Forrestal. A dishonorable disservice to my fellow Navy military personnel, and their love ones. IMO.

      1. Have you gotten your flu shot yet ANutterVet?

         Personally when I watch the news and they say anything about the flu I then check out the commercials to know who bought and paid for putting out the bogus flu fake news.

         From a Doctor who has earned every Veterans respect.

         __________________________

         “Can it be? Study finds that college students who had been vaccinated against flu were more likely to excrete flu virus / Proceedings National Academy of Sciences”

         By Dr. Meryl Nass
         Sunday, February 4, 2018

         “Twenty-two of the University of Maryland subjects with influenza had received flu vaccinations during both the current season and the previous season. Surprisingly, this group had significantly greater shedding of viral RNA in fine aerosols, compared to subjects who had not been vaccinated in the current or prior season. This raised the question whether vaccination might actually increase the spread of influenza. Hopefully other research groups will pay attention to this finding and help confirm or disprove it.”

         Full Article At: https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2018/02/can-it-be-study-finds-that-college.html

         ___________________

         “Is this year’s flu a major killer or an annoyance?/ CDC”
         By Dr. Meryl Nass
         Sunday, February 4, 2018

         “Probably the best data on the severity of yearly influenza epidemics comes from deaths in children, because there is mandatory reporting of each death as related to influenza. Flu-related deaths in adults are reported as due to flu (very few), pneumonia (more) or underlying chronic medical illnesses that contributed to death during or after a bout of flu. So what CDC does is estimate adult deaths, instead of counting them.

         This is a bad flu season in terms of the number of people affected, since few of us had prior immunity to this year’s influenza A H3N2 strain. But at this point in time (and I think this flu epidemic is starting to die out) it looks like the number of pediatric deaths is about average.

         UPDATE: As of February 5, CDC reports there have been 53 pediatric deaths associated with influenza in the entire US this flu season. This is about average. The US has about 74 million children.”

         Full Article At: https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2018/02/is-this-years-flu-major-killer-or.html

         ____________________

         “You may have heard we are seeing more early, dangerous flu this year. Not true. Look at CDC’s own figures”

         By Dr. Meryl Nass
         Saturday, December 16, 2017

         Full Article At: https://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2017/12/you-may-have-heard-we-are-seeing-more.html

5. I have a private care physician who is a personal friend of Dr. Shulkin. I asked him about Shulkin when he was first appointed.

   My doctor said he is an honest, hard working and innovative leader. He also told me that he advised Dr. Shulkin he had to be nuts to accept the position at the VA.

   Shulkin has more money than, probably, everyone of us on here combined. If he was told he had to pay for something he would. His last position paid him in the 7 figures a year and he has taken a huge pay cut to serve.

   So, I go along with Ben on this one. He is probably being set up by some underling who doesn’t like Shulkin as he leans so heavily towards private care and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. If they can get whistle blowers fired, a Secretary should not be that difficult to get fired.

   1. Why do you automatically believe your own doctors diagnosis of Dr. Shulkin’s mental health was not wholly accurate?

      Tell me, why DO you think a man that wealthy craves even more power? .hmmm??? The question is not whether he was set up at ALL really. The question in D.C. is not “if” you become corrupted but rather “when” you do. Think of yourself just for a moment in a position to REALLY hurt the potential income of a labor union 300,000 strong which bids out contracts to a labor union it is affiliated with that is 12,000,000 members strong.

      How long would it be for you my friend before a combined 12,300,000 human beings collaborating with your political rivals before they figured out what it is precisely what drew you to the swamp and then offer it up on a silver platter in plain sight? In other words, how long before they discover the nature of the insanity that swept you to D.C.

      But maybe its just my tainted view of my fellow humans and D.C. is maybe just a few bad apples in an otherwise wholesome place…

      You say Dr. Shulkin is very rich and by that logic would not be prone to engage in petty, unwarranted, and illegal bilking of the American Treasury. That seems reasonable until I remember the name Leona Helmsley. Sometimes now I look at a very rich man or woman and wonder who is the poorer for it my friend.

      If he made his enormous wealth by healing sick people then how much wealth were the sick people left with? Just a thought. Do you think Shulkin writes off his own underwear as a travel expense too? Helmsley was brilliant!

      1. A shared virtual toke of my valerian vaporizer in your general direction, Sir!

      2. And maybe, just maybe, he is exactly what one of the best vascular surgeons in the country told me he is. Your measure of anger at the system is apparent and noted. BTW, I would appreciate not being referred to as your friend in the manner you put forth in your reply. Have a nice day.

      3. Ego is what drives the hate at VA my friend.

      4. Your head is far up their asses, my friend. 😀

      5. You know something, this is why I don’t come here that often. You and a few others think this is a private messaging service and anyone else is just an outsider. Or if someone else has a differnet opinion then yours, they have to be wrong. Let me tell you a few things, I did my claims and my appeals myself, I know how bad the fucking system is. Oh, yea and I am 100% P & T. I advocate for vets with claims, instead of bitching about the system, I have made complaints to the IG which have resulted in positive change. I have been enrolled for over 50 years with the VA. So smart ass, you can GFY. I just won’t listen to your crybaby shit anymore or respond with an opinion and a couple of facts. So take your head out of your own ass – friend.

   2. @Dan F – You’re going to buy in on this bullshit. Shulkin knows what’s going on in the VA, he admitted in the past, that the VA serviced Vets in the Claims Side in a manner being “adversarial.” Plus, any leader of such a large organization knows exactly what he’s getting into before signing on to its leadership, and if he was truly a progressive leader to make the VA run more efficiently, and for the sole benefit of Veterans, he’d put out a Press Release to say so.

      Shulkin is setting his own self up. He puts out PR pieces for this and that, kisses POTUS’s ass at the SOTU Address, and to my knowledge, has NEVER written a release directly for Veterans, to Veterans, being a man of change for Veterans, and not telling his employees with a message to straighten their asses out, and to properly take care of Veterans.

      Dan F, don’t get suckered in by all this BS, this is what their known for. Read the articles, and sometimes Ben can be too nice, and give the VA the benefit of the doubt. This was the same mistake that happened to me, but no fucking more.

      No offense Ben. But the VA is a very dangerous Agency, full of dangerous people (including Retired Veterans, which many times are worse), and your own articles indicate with surety, that the VA has been running amuck for decades, and on purpose. IMHO.

      Fawk Shyster Shithead “Shitty” Shulkin (no you can fuck the kumquat), Fawk the VA, Fawk the DoD, Fawk OIG, Fawk all the other Federal Investigative Agency’s (don’t know why they need so many in the first place, hasn’t made a significant difference in the VA for the health and safety of Veterans), Fawk the DEA (and their portholes for not coming down on VA Physicians for writing “Off Label” scripts to almost every Veteran that walks into the door of the VA), Fawk the FDA, and any other person or identity that thinks the VA is OK, Fawk em all. Dirty Rotten Commie and Corrupt Bass-Turds.

      Logically Rant the Fawk Out.

      Too much cabbage gas going on; ~~~~~~ GURGLE ~~~~~

6. Shulkin’s scammery is just another example of Shulkin leading by Example. Where he sets the bar for acceptable levels of corruption within the VA.

   __________________________________________

   Memphis VA launching probe into ‘serious allegations’ against hospital official
   Jake Lowary
   USA TODAY NETWORK
   Tennessee
   Feb. 13, 2018

   “The top official at the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center told the USA TODAY Network – Tennessee Monday he would “immediately” launch an investigation into “serious allegations” that a recently promoted official falsified time cards of hospital employees.

   The hospital director, David Dunning, said he would “take appropriate action if necessary” in response to the allegations, disclosed to the hospital’s police chief last fall in an anonymous letter.

   In late October, Pedrick Thompson Sr. authored an anonymous letter to the hospital’s Police Chief Terrell Owens and later sent emails to hospital administrators and other VA officials, he said.

   The letter, obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee, alleges Cheryl Brewer had approved paid time off for employees who had already exhausted annual leave, which would typically be unpaid.”

   Brewer was promoted in mid-January to assistant chief of the human resources office, the No. 2 position in that department. Brewer has a lengthy career in the VA, which includes stops in both Nashville and Memphis.

   The USA TODAY Network sought comment from Brewer through the VA, and Dunning responded on her behalf.

   Thompson said he forwarded the letter to Dunning and other high-ranking VA and union officials, and received a response that acknowledged the disclosure, but had not heard back since. He said he did not notify the VA’s Inspector General to protect his identity, fearing retaliation.

   Thompson said he sent the letter after overhearing a discussion in the HR office that sounded suspicious. He said the employee was away from work caring for an ill spouse, and Brewer “changed language to affect (employee) benefits.”

   The case is the most recent uncovered where Brewer’s decisions have been questioned.

   On May 3, 2017, while in a previous position, Brewer issued a memo that rescinded previously approved leave time donated to Brittney Lowe, who had been paid over a 60-day period while she was jailed for multiple DUI convictions.”

   Lowe returned to work May 15, 2017 after serving 60 days in jail.

   The VA disputed in mid-May that Lowe was paid. In July, the VA issued an agency-wide memo that said anyone incarcerated based on a conviction could not be paid, and should be considered absent without leave.

   “It is not appropriate to approve leave of any kind for the period of absence required to serve a jail or prison sentence,” the directive said.

   Despite her case being used in a White House briefing as a reason why the VA needed more leeway to fire problem employees, Lowe remains employed.”

   Full Article At: https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2018/02/13/memphis-va-launching-serious-allegations/332059002/

7. So…the IG, when forced to look at facts because media is forcing them to look, they can actually investigate a little.

   …and then publicly spin whatever they want hoping there are many that have never bothered to read IG reports and see that agency officials in every report are given a chance to respond, and those responses are included at the end.

   Shulkins attorneys must believe the IG won’t believe their bullshit response, so they have to attack the report in the media.

   They thought his wife’s airfare could be paid by Uncle Sugar? Well, not according to the VAs own policies on invitational travel. I recall reading that policy and commenting about it when Ben first wrote about it. When you read the policy, it is clear that it is intended for those experts being invited to present something at a conference…not because an agency Secretary asks the little missus to go along.

   If Shulkin or his pathetic attorneys want to blame staff, then Shulkin should easily be able to provide something in writing as proof. An email to some ethics official asking for an opinion? An email or other documentation from staff showing they told him her trip could be paid for from taxpayers?

   I don’t believe Shulkin was set up. I believe he was caught being arrogant. It doesn’t matter if staff told him wrong. When he signs a travel voucher, the fine print doesn’t include anything about what his staff may have told him. It says the person signing is vouching for the accuracy of what is being claimed.

   The exact same as a veteran requesting travel pay.

   What I really want to know though is this. Will all VA travel fraud posters papering the walls of every VA clinic have to be reprinted with a few sentences describing Shulkin committing travel fraud?

   I think I might print some pictures of Shulkin with a caption.

   I don’t always get caught committing travel fraud.

   But when I do, I make sure to include my wife and blame my staff.

   1. Good point 91,
      The IG creates the fake public bashing to perpetuate the fraud!

   2. No worries! RAND recommends the VA’s legion of interior decorators completely wallpaper the Shulkin’s homes with VA Travel Pay Warning Posters and since the VA just happens to have enough to pave I-90 across America, the money saved will reimburse the interior decorator’s travel expenses to the Shulkin residences.

      Note: Unfortunately, the VA sent the still under construction Aurora, Colorado VAMC interior decorator team and now the Shulkin’s are proud owners of color-changing walls with travel pay fraud warnings inbetween the color changes like commercials. Spared no expense. All for the head VA Suck…and the Vets, of course. 😀

8. Shulkin’s entitled behavior may seem especially egregious to veterans, but it is merely another small example and daily reminder of how corrupted our system of government has become. Self interest, power, and elitism fueled by a never ending and increasing stream of money flowing into a political system that has abandon every and any sense of moral behavior. I truly fear that Washington will have to burn down before we the people can fix it.

9. This is a little off topic but has anyone else got a copy of their C file and it had some blank pages on it with a sticky note on it you can’t read, And it shows nothing of what they used as proof except they looked at the the Vista A, Or is this normal BULLSHIT

10. OFF-TOPIC but incredibly relevant: “Military added 4,000 veterans to gun ban list after Texas church shooting”

    These Veterans added to gun ban list are supposedly only “Dishonorable Discharged Vets”, but my question is since this database was supplied by military, what about those Vets amongst that or any list that achieve getting their Discharge Upgraded for whatever reason? Is that Vet then automatically removed from gun purchase ban list or will there be even more hoops for given Vet to jump through and will the VA now utilize this data to do a search warrant and confiscate any weapons with the help of the DBC?

    Pretty sure former VP Dick Cheney continues to purchase and use firearms even after shooting his best friend in the face, right?! But we Vets are somehow more scary than Dick Cheney? 😀
    “https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/military-added-4000-veterans-to-gun-ban-list-after-texas-church-shooting/ar-BBJ4Dcy?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=ientp”

11. “[…In the eight-page rebuttal, Shulkin’s lawyers maintain the report “improperly applies the relevant regulations, at times mischaracterizing them.”

    “And it imposes subjective and arbitrary criteria for evaluating the propriety of the Secretary’s actions,” they wrote…]”-

    Oh, just like the VA arbitrarily applies the criteria for various medical conditions and service connection?
    Suck my left tennis ball you assholes. Dr. Shulkin better polish up that golden parachute as it’s looking more and more like tarnished shit to me.

    1. “… at times mischaracterizing them.” At precisely which times, and then what about the others that weren’t?

12. Now that OIG has weighed in on Shulkin, does that mean he gets a behavioural flag?

    1. Notice we have not actually seen the report yet. We are only hearing the response of Shulkin’s private legal team about what is being called the first draft of the report.

       It is kind of like when Comey was writing his letter exonerating Clinton before the investigation. All the stake holders get a copy and get to modify it. We are just hearing the modifications that Shulkin’s legal team want.

       No doubt it will be made more acceptable for release by the time the VAOIG release the report.

       Surely Shulkin will end up getting a medal for his bravery at sitting through the matches at Wimbledon and all the suffering he endured on this European Vacation that was forced on him by his counter parts at the VA.

       No doubt he will be in the running for an Obama Class Nobel Peace Prize for his enduring accomplishments by his dedication to maintaining the high levels of kleptomania expected of a VA Sec.

       Not to mention the honor and integrity he did not display when accepting payment for his speeches from the drug companies who wanted him there.

       A related article on the payments for speeches.

       Pharma exec who bribed VA docs: ‘Greed is an ugly, ugly emotion’

       “Investigators suspect doctors still taking bribes even as salesman faces disgrace, criminal conviction”
       by Levi Pulkkinen
       SeattlePI
       February 9, 2018

       “Clawson and others concocted seemingly legitimate reasons to pay thousands of dollars to VA doctors who promoted Dermagraft to their colleagues. Doctors were paid as much as $3,000 to attend “speaking engagements” at dinners paid for by Advanced BioHealing and attended by other VA staff.

       Jennings explained that federal law prohibits pharmaceutical companies from paying doctors directly to promote products. Patients expect and deserve an unbiased opinion from their health care provider. The speaking fees were an end run around those restrictions.

       “That, your honor, is the very core of corruption,” Jennings told Lasnik.

       The speaking engagements were held off VA property outside of work hours, but Advanced BioHealing “lured VA physicians and clinicians to attend by supplying all invited guests with free meals at expensive restaurants.”

       Advanced BioHealing paid VA doctors $1,500 a day to allow sales reps to accompany them as they treated veterans at VA facilities, according to charging papers. Doctors were paid $3,000 to provide “sales training” to Advanced BioHealing staff, the prosecutors continued, and $2,000 to serve on an “advisory board.””

       Full Article At: https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/Pharma-VA-Bribery-Seattle-12581267.php

       1. Seymore,
          Looks like Shulkin’s attorneys are playing “CYA” BEFORE the IG report shows him to be a thief!

       2. Shulkins attorneys MAY WANT the IG to include changes…

          Unfortunately for Shitbird, the Office of Special Counsel seems to be keeping close watch on how thoroughly the VA IG investigate things now.

       3. It has been the Office of Special Counsel, who reports to Trump, and the Media that have forced the changes at a number of VA Facilities lately. Most after the VAOIG had already applied a generous coating of VA White Wash and repeated applications of VA turd Polish.

          Examples are the Changes at VAMC Roseburg, VAMC Manchester, VAMC Memphis, VAMC Bedford …

          Another fine example of VAOIG applying generous coatings of VA White Wash and Turd Polish was published today.

          Report No. 17-03860-100
          Healthcare Inspection Medical Foster Home Program Concerns Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center Columbus, Ohio
          February 13, 2018

          At: https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-17-03860-100.pdf

          Basically what they did after a business was repeatedly reported by multiple physicians for abusing Disabled Veterans and also breaking the law on use of power of attorney to control Veterans money.

          To protect the business it was re-organized with the assistance of the VAOIG’s office to make the Business no longer responsible for following the laws that protect severely Disabled Veterans.

          So that they could write a clean coat of White Wash and apply the turd polish.

       4. Very interesting report. They could not substantiate the claims from what I am reading, but they revoked their status anyway.

          Of course, the IG says they could not substantiate because the veterans were not at imminent risk. I guess this means the IG did not see them sliding down a chute into a tree shredder at the time the IG decided to investigate, so all is good.

          The IG highlights that some declined transfer somewhere else, without any indication of the impact of such a transfer, or whether any family members would look on a transfer as more of a hardship to themselves. Would any family member speak up if it meant they suddenly had to scramble and figure out what to do with old Uncle Joe?

          I also find it interesting that they recommended the VA create policy requiring the VA to report to appropriate state authorities if these kinds of facilities were found to have abused elderly veterans. The VA will write a policy for that, but will not provide a policy for elderly (or any age) veterans abused by VA staff in a VA facility.

       5. Given how crooked and inept the VAOIG is while applying VA White Wash and Turd Polish. Coupled with the fact that the Scam-Man, Shulkin, is breaking out his legal team.

          It would seem that the Scam-Man’s days are numbered at the VA. Also to prevent Thomas G. Bowman from stepping into his shoes while they search for a new director Trump is firing Bowman first.

       6. I would like nothing more than to see Isaksons little thugs thrown out of the VA. Like a politician launched off a Stairmaster.

    2. That behavioral flag is available in prints in various upper SES’er adult underwear sizes, with an interior guaranteed to chaff as a form of punishment. Also available in a pacifier or ‘binky’ format.

    3. LOL! DENNIS?????

13. God forbid a veteran receives .10 cents more on his/her travel pay, which is approved by travel, they then are raked over the coals!
    IF “Shyster Shithead Shulkin” was duped, then he’s more stupid than what the average CEO is!
    I got a sneaky suspicion, like the other commenters today, this “Shulkin’s travelgate” is going to cost taxpayers lots of money to adjudicate!

    1. That is what those failed non functioning IT apps the VA is spending billions on is for. To insure that no Veteran games the system and receives .10 cents more than he, or she, is entitled to by mistake.

       The VA would not want the sky to fall on us due to one of those precious dimes.

    2. So essentially his wife got a Choice referral which of course would be travel compensated. Those Choice referrals can work magic! Whole clinics can disappear then reappear with just a wink and a nod from Washington DC! This is the magic of choice….

       It makes sense that the Little Mermaid is somehow involved! Eureka, I have connected the dots to where all the Choice money is going!

       Under The Sea…..Under The Sea….

       1. The Shulkins also were guided by a murder of choice crows travel services, as a crow flies, or a murder of them in this case. Those choice crows are making legal claims of psychological torture because dodging all those Wimbledon tennis balls mid-air is an AFGE compensable line-item.

       2. namnibor,
          Since the subject has been brought up about whether vets, who’ve received less than Honorable Discharges, should have weapons:
          Check this out from two sources;
          Google the following;
          *”Was Mitch McConnell Kicked Out Of The Army?”*

          The first website y’all will come across is from the “Democratic National Christian Choice”, written: May 6, 2013 @ 9:49 am!
          Within the article, is the second article by the “dailykos.com”!
          I wonder if that (alleged) “Sodomite” is allowed to have a weapon?

       3. Mitch McConnell’s face is an on-earth gravity-defying experiment with an entirely unstable wormhole between his chin and his shoulders.

14. Trump’s infrastructure plan includes new rules for VA property sales
    By: Leo Shane III
    Navy Times   
    16 hours ago

    “The department currently manages about 6,300 facilities, and officials have said more than 57 percent of those locations are more than 50 years old. VA Secretary David Shulkin has begun work to close down a few hundred of those obsolete locations but has said additional legislation will be needed to dispose of the others.”

    “The president’s infrastructure plan notes that while many of the facilities owned by VA are aging and losing usefulness, “the underlying property values continue to increase.” That money could be rerouted to new construction or leases, if lawmakers were to adopt the changes.”

    “Administration officials argue current rules prohibiting the department from holding onto profits from property sales (instead, the money goes into a broader fund for government agencies) “hinders the VA’s ability to make needed capital improvements” across the states.”

    “Keeping that money in VA, or allowing the department to trade existing properties for cost breaks in new construction projects, would better serve veterans, officials said.

    Trump also wants to authorize pilot program for VA officials to trade existing properties for “a lease of space in a resulting private facility built on the former VA land.” The idea would be for VA to downsize their footprint in some areas, keeping a smaller set of revamped offices open alongside new private-sector tenants at a lower cost.

    The infrastructure plan also calls for lawmakers to increase the threshold for lease authorizations from Congress. Lawmakers currently must sign off on any lease plan that costs more than $1 million annually. Trump wants that raise to $3.1 million, to reduce red tape in those moves.

    The infrastructure plan has come under attack from critics for putting too heavy a burden on state and local governments for the ambitious goals. White House officials have said they expect the $200 billion in federal spending will return $1.5 trillion of actual value to the country, but opponents have called those estimates off-base without heavy costs elsewhere.”

    Full Article At:https://www.navytimes.com/veterans/2018/02/12/trumps-infrastructure-plan-includes-new-rules-for-va-property-sales/

    ______________________

    Total Fricken Nightmare Scenario!!!

    We will see Thousands of New VA Max-Head-Room Tele Med Strip Malls popping up everywhere in the U.S. overnight. All controlled by trusts owned by every Senator and Congressman in the U.S.

15. It is funny how the Secretary is going overseas to address veteran issues and his own veterans are being simultaneously screwed.
    Who signed up to listen to that bullshit coming from the Secretary?

    1. But they are so much better at listening over seas and no will call him on his Bullshit. Besides he wanted to check out some of the cafes in Demark and check out some of new strains of weed they have come out with.

       He was just doing a little research of what to with hold from Veterans.

16. Well of course if this IS a set up that would make the defense one of entrapment. It sure seems that is the spin being put on it by his attorneys lolz.

    …..be wary of claiming entrapment as a defense because it is a defense that first claims guilt!

    The PROBLEM with claiming “set up” or entrapment in a legal argument is of course that in order to claim you were set up or entrapped then you MUST admit that you committed the crime for which you were set up. The defense then has to show that any other person in that same position and circumstance thusly set up would have done the same. In court this opens up a SHITLOAD of opportunities for the prosecuter lolz.

    So what you do in this case is go out and ask a bunch of people, “If you were an internationally known high ranking US official holding the keys to billions of taxpayer dollars and that was invited to Europe on government business: would you “believe” it was ethical for The People to foot the bill for your wife to go along for the ride and see the Little Mermaid exhibit and get choice box seats at Wimbledom for free?”

    Then you add up the tally of the Americans who say that’s just fine by them, and ones that say it isn’t.

    Then you take it to a jury and they add it up too…. and most of them have never been to Wimbledom…

    1. Damn, you beat me to it! “Entrapment” my ass, Shulkin knew exactly what he was doing!
       He’s one guilty son of a bitch!

17. Just wondering how much of the VA Budget to provide medical care to Veterans that Shulkin will repurpose to cover his personal legal expenses? $5 or maybe $6 million?

    Of course with his legal team pulling a Comey on Trump and the IG who is investigating him. By his legal team leaking the information with a clearly biased interpretation of the report prior to the release of the report by the IG’s office. That kind of legal defense team almost certainly will cost in the Tens of Millions of dollars.

    No doubt all of which will be paid for by dollars budgeted an appropriated to provide Health Care to Veterans. We know he will not be using the money from VA building funds, employee bonuses accounts, the VA office of propaganda budget or the VA IT budget he is building up to loot in that deal with Cerner.

    Shulkin has only made things worse at the VA for Veterans with unqualified personal now replacing primary care physicians. Less enforcement laws policies and procedures designed to promote accountability. More money spent on hiding the truth about how bad the VA is. He is also responsible for more attempts to take needed earned Benefits away from Veterans.

    Any major changes at the VA that help Veterans have been forced on Shulkin. Such as the office of whistleblower protection created by a Trump executive order.

    I know what to do with Shulkin. Freeze all his assets ship him to Guantanamo and put him on a “wait list” for justice. Oh, and give a couple of round-to-it wooden coins to carry around Guantanamo.

    1. Another never ending Gift from Shulkin

       ________________________

       2 more Legionnaires’ cases confirmed at Illinois Veterans Home
       Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review
       6 hrs ago

       “QUINCY, Ill. • Two more cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been confirmed at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Monday night.

       Both residents are at the facility and are doing well, the agency said. An investigation is underway to identify where the residents may have acquired the bacteria.

       After learning of the cases, engineering staff immediately removed faucets from the residents’ rooms and collected water samples and mixing valves to analyze for the presence of Legionella bacteria, according to the Public Health statement. Staff also increased water temperatures and flushed fixtures to provide an enhanced level of protection for residents.

       Thirteen residents of the Veterans Home have died of Legionnaires’ disease since 2015. The first outbreak in 2015 killed 12 and left dozens more ill. There have been subsequent outbreaks in each of the following two years: Five people were sickened in 2016. In 2017, six fell ill and it contributed to one death.

       Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, is caused by bacteria that grows in warm water. It’s suspected those who became ill in Quincy have inhaled the bacteria through various water sources, like showers and sinks. The 132-year-old facility in some places has galvanized pipes that are more than a century old, which is likely where the Legionella bacteria lurks.”

       Full Article At: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/more-legionnaires-cases-confirmed-at-illinois-veterans-home/article_978aeb7d-1c3e-502d-a840-84732f3f8f37.html

       _____________________

       This has been going on the whole time that Shulkin has been in charge at the VA and they still keep recertifying the home to house Veterans.

       Let me guess Shulkin has it on his secret wait list to complete some day in the distant future under the maybe column.

       Sulkin should be charged as an accomplice to murder.

    2. Also just want to point out that Shulkin is also planning on spending another $1.2 Billion of the 2018 VA budget appropriated by Congress specifically to provide Heath Care to Veterans to cover his Crooked Sole Source Bid Free Contract with Cerner.

       ___________________

       VA wants new budget line for commercial health record
       By Adam Mazmanian|
       Feb 12, 2018

       “The Trump administration plans to establish a $1.2 billion budget account for modernizing the electronic health record management system at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

       The budget line goes beyond simply paying to adopt the Cerner EHR system to sharing infrastructure and common software with the Department of Defense, as was announced by VA Secretary David Shulkin in June 2017.

       The Cerner deal is expected to be wrapped up by the end of February, according to VA CTO John Short. On a budget call with reporters, Short said that a report on interoperability between the Cerner system and existing commercial products made at Shulkin’s request was completed and has been shared with Congress and the Office of Management and Budget.

       John Windom, the program manager for the new health record acquisition, is headed out to Cerner’s Kansas City headquarters to “finalize those changes over the next couple of days,” Short said. After that, leadership will have its input, and Congressional appropriators will approve a requested fund transfer of fiscal year 2018 money to begin work on the project.”

       Full Article At: https://fcw.com/articles/2018/02/12/budget-va-mazmanian.aspx

       ___________________

       The transfer of the $1.2 Billion from Veterans Health Care to Cerner is mentioned in the following statement from the article.

       “Short said. After that, leadership will have its input, and Congressional appropriators will approve a requested fund transfer of fiscal year 2018 money to begin work on the project.”

       An additional Prior Article on how they plan to steal the money from Veterans Health Care budget is:

       Source: VA needs money fast for health record program
       By Adam Mazmanian
       Nov 15, 2017

       At: https://fcw.com/articles/2017/11/15/shulkin-cerner-approps-hearing.aspx

       From a prior post I made on the subject and the article:

       “Remember that sole source Cerner deal that was arranged last November to take over the IT functions at the VA. Also the big urgent need for money to cement the deal that was going to happen overnight.

       Guess what VA Turds were running that scam along with the help of one very crooked Representative from Florida named Debbie Wasserman Shultz. You know the evil witch that rigged the primary against Sanders for Hillary Clinton. Also the same one that kept the Pakistani Spy network up and running that spied on Democratic members of Congress. Let us also not forget her famous moment of threating the head of the Capital Police demanding he give up a laptop that is evidence against the spy network.

       She was teaming up with Thomas Bowman on pushing this Cerner deal. Remember how at the start of November the VA needed $374 million to cement the deal with Cerner before the 1st of December. Both Shulkin and Bowman were pushing to steal $324 million from the VA’s patient care fund plus $50 million from the headquarters budget to start the planned project, which involves a multibillion sole-source deal with Cerner, that was scheduled to be signed before the end November.

       All while the VA had vacancies for the assistant secretary for information technology and position of undersecretary for health. The primary people who should be making those kinds of decisions. Not the Secretary or the Deputy Secretary.

       Overall, they had hoped to reprogram $782 million of fiscal year 2018 funding for the Cerner deal. But they had to start smaller because of restrictions on transfer of funds into VA’s Office of Information and Technology Office account, and restrictions imposed on transferring the funds out of Veterans Medical Care to IT.

       To quote the Evil Witch Wasserman Schultz on the subject from an article published last November. “”VA’s foot-dragging on Vista has become our emergency,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.”

       Another quote showing who is in charge of the fraud states “Windom, who led the program executive office during part of the DOD modernization effort, will report directly to VA Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman.”

       _______________________

       By doing this dirty deal this way the congress doesn’t get a chance to hear about the deal and appropriate funds as is required by law. Instead the Appropriations committee allows Shulkin to take the funding provided for Veteran Health Care and re-appropriate it to Cerner for his crooked deal.

       1. I would say a law is needed requiring agency heads to justify in writing why they are transferring anything over $100k to some account other than as appropriated by congress…but we all know congress approves of this kind of misappropriation.

          Sorta like having to pass a law requiring congressmen to pay for their own damn sex harassment settlements. Congress has no problems stealing from taxpayers, until they are forced to act and stop themselves.

    3. Shulkin’s attorneys have a duty not to defend Shulkin no matter what Shulkin does but only a duty to defend the position of Secretary of the VA. These attorneys are misleading veterans that they are defending Shulkin, they are only defending themselves for their MALPRACTICE in advising Shulkin that he, Shulkin could rip off the VA (ostensible struggling financially), for any perks he could shuffle around and GET FOR NOTHING. Why was the criminal complaint dismissed? Shulkin has co operated in defending corrupt executives and moved them around instead of firing them on the spot for outrageous acts which have harmed veterans. These acts were not “mistakes” but intentional acts made knowingly and willingly to satisfy the mens rea, (intent), of these crimes, Shulkin must go, he has no spine to represent the veterans, Get him out and hold him responsible for these shyster acts to defraud the VA. Shulkin has acted no differently than many other lesser VA “executives” who had decided to rip off the VA. REVIVE THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT. Get a “Chesty Puller”/Mad Mattis into the Sec of the VA job, not another sleaze bag bureaucrat. Do it NOW.

    4. You know Seymore, its strange Shulkin not only is fighting this, but is spending what is likely a good deal more money on attorneys than if he would have just quietly said he made a mistake and paid whatever he owed immediately. It likely would have gone away.

       He likely can afford it. I don’t know what his wife does, but either of them could have quickly paid whatever was owed.

       Why fight it? Well, its obvious he stands to gain much more in staying at VA than he does by leaving. Something he should have thought of when first questioned rather than denying he was wrong.

       1. He also has a gleaming god syndrome as a Dr. and VA Suck…two formidable combinations that could’ve created a monster.

18. Well of course, since the IG is irrelevant, they will spin the matter as usual and the media cycle will be very quick.
    In California, there was a criminal complaint files but terminated quick as it began.
    “https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/23484484/USA_vs_Shulkin”
    Look what happened in the Patty Hearst story, groups like the SLA will rise again and it is funny, because they were made up of predominantly women.
    The VA is pushing the envelope.
    History has shown to repeat itself.

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