Deplorables’ History Quiz* - 

open book, no spell check.....

              - Only ten questions; we wouldn’t want anyone running out of fingers to count.

              - Multiple choice - pick the answer that fits the bestest...a, b, c, or d

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) Who was the famous Squadron Commander for the first aerial 

     bombing of General Cornwallis’ airports?

              a - Jimmy Do Little

              b - Charles Lindbergh

              c - Orville Wright

              d - There were no airplanes until the War of 1812.

Answer: _____          

2) The Constitution is:

              a - an old boat

              b - Fancy toilet paper

              c - The alignment of specific stars

              d - A type of resolve for losers

Answer: _____

3) The Supreme Court is:

              a - the entry court at David Duke’s house

              b - Center court at the US Open

              c - An audience with The Supremes

              d - A really big box of chocolates you give to your mistress.

Answer: _____

4) What is the Executive Branch?

              a - a spur of the Erie-Lackawanna railroad only for the 1%

              b - the biggest branch on your family tree

              c - A branch or really big switch used to swat important  people

              d - The only Branch of government

Answer: _____

5) Fred Trump was born in:

              a - The first Reich

              b - A shithole country

              c - Kenya

              d - No record available

Answer: _____

6) Who has the best words?

              a - Steve King

              b - Peter King

              c - Angus King

              d - King Creole

Answer: _____

7) What is the real definition of the word pedophile?                                          

              a - A tool used for pedicures

              b - A file to store your pedometer data

              c - A foot lover

              d - A politician looking for the “under-18” vote

Answer: _____

8) What is a racist?

              a - An Indy 500 race car driver

              b - The opposite of an eracist

              c - Someone from Racine, Wisconsin

              d - A 1%-er in denial

Answer: _____

9) A stable genius is:

              a. An ingenious stable hand who invents a new way to clean up horseshit.

              b. A young Einstein with a good pair of training wheels on his bike

              c.  A self-description of an insecure moron

              d.  A blowhard in a red tie who doesn't believe in science.

Answer: _____

10) Who is this Mitch McConnell?

              a.  Owner of a bar in Kentucky where rednecks drink for free on Monday night's. 

              b. Someone with the world's most perfect turkey neck.

              c.  Would never pass a bill that would help people if a Democrat read it, or initiated it.

              d. Would rather let Russia help Republicans win an election than protect our democracy.

Answer: _____

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Submit all y’all answers here.

1)___, 2)­­­___, 3)___, 4)___, 5)___, 6)___, 7)___, 8)___, 9)___, 10)___

* The winner will receive full tuition, room, and board for two semesters at Trump University.

- All prizes will be AWARDED.

Veteran Groups Intervene in Fired Phoenix VA Director Lawsuit

Stars and Stripes | Sep 27, 2016 | by Travis J. Tritten

This undated handout photo provided by The Veterans Affairs Department, shows Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System. (AP Photo/Veterans Affairs Department)

WASHINGTON — A dozen veteran and military groups have entered the legal fight with former Department of Veterans Affairs executive Sharon Helman in hopes they can salvage a law allowing the department to fire top managers more quickly.

A federal appeals court this month allowed the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and nine other groups to join the lawsuit between Helman and the VA. They argue the law used to fire her is constitutional and should be upheld.

The outcome will determine the future of the 2014 law that allows executives to be terminated in three weeks with no option for an appeal and was part of an effort by Congress to root out a "corrosive" management culture after the VA's national wait-time scandal. The VA announced it would abandoned the law in June — potentially handing Helman a win in court — because the Justice Department decided it violated the rights of the roughly 300 executives employed by the sprawling department.

"This ruling is an important win for us," the attorney for the veteran and military groups, Michael Morley, wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes. "Most basically, it shows that the court takes our arguments seriously and will not invalidate the [law] without considering them."

If the groups prevail, the VA could continue to expedite its firings of executives guilty of wrongdoing, which supporters including veterans groups hope will help fix the troubled department. Otherwise, Helman could win her lawsuit and the VA will return to the previous firing guidelines used for all federal executives.

Morley, when reached by phone Monday, said the court has allowed the groups' argument that the streamlined firings are constitutional to be added into the lawsuit. Now, Helman and the VA will likely file responses with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the coming weeks and there could be oral arguments heard in December or January, he said.

The lawsuit also includes the National Association for Uniformed Services, Reserve Officers Association, Non-Commissioned Officers Association, Marine Corps League, Army Reserve Association, Marine Corps Reserve Association, U.S. Army Warrant Officers Association, Special Forces Association and Jewish War Veterans of the United States.

Helman is suing the VA over her firing in 2014 when she was director of its Phoenix hospital system. A whistleblowing doctor triggered a national scandal with claims that veterans in Phoenix had died while waiting for care. Federal audits found secret wait lists were kept there and at VA health care facilities across the country to hide long delays.

Helman was ultimately fired for accepting thousands of dollars in gifts that included a paid trip to a Disney theme park and concert tickets. An appeals judge found in December 2014 that the VA did not have grounds to fire Helman for the wait-time issues.

But the law used to fire her quickly has been at the center of the case.

In the wake of the 2014 scandal, Congress passed the new rule streamlining the firing of executives implicated in wrongdoing. It allowed an administrative judge to make a final decision on a termination appeal within 21 days and included no option for a further appeal.

Like other federal executives, VA managers had been able to appeal their termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board in a process that could typically take months.

Concerns over the legality of the quick firings bubbled up even before the law was passed and the VA later told Congress it had misgivings.

The firing rule suffered a major blow in May when the Justice Department said denying any appeal after an administrative judge's decision violates executives' due process rights and is unconstitutional.

The VA followed in June with the announcement that it would no longer firing executives using the expedited rules.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/27/veteran-groups-intervene-in-fired-phoenix-va-director-lawsuit.html

Senators Seek Inquiry into Concerns about Veteran's Suicide

Associated Press | Sep 21, 2016

DENVER — Two U.S. senators said Tuesday they asked for an investigation into a whistleblower's report that an Army veteran killed himself while awaiting treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at a U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs clinic in Colorado Springs.

Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said they also asked the department's inspector general to investigate whether the whistleblower faced retaliation after reporting his concerns.

The inspector general's office is the Veteran Affairs department's internal watchdog.

The department will work with the inspector general and the senators to determine what happened, agency spokesman Paul Sherbo said.

The senators did not identify the soldier who killed himself but said he was 26 and had served as an Army Ranger.

Gardner said he wanted to avoid a repeat of a 2014 scandal over long wait times that veterans endured to get health care, and allegations that some VA officials falsified records to cover up the problem.

The scandal led to the ouster of Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Gardner said the whistleblower also reported that the Colorado Springs clinic might have tampered with its wait list records after the veteran's death.

Seven months ago, the Veteran Affairs inspector general said workers at the Colorado Springs clinic incorrectly reported that some veterans got appointments sooner than they actually did.

Investigators did not say whether the records were deliberately falsified.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/21/senators-seek-inquiry-concerns-veteran-suicide.html

Union Bosses, VA Bosses Rigging System for Failure

Military.com | Sep 05, 2016 | by Rep. Jeff Miller

U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Chumuckla, Florida, is the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

A visitor leaves the Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Rancho Cordova, Calif., on April 2, 2015. Rich Pedroncelli/AP

In an expletive-laden rant delivered earlier this year, a belligerent American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox threatened Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald with physical violence.

Cox was "prepared to whoop Bob McDonald's a--," he said. "He's going to start treating us as the labor partner … or we will whoop his a--, I promise you," Cox continued.

McDonald's response? Absolutely nothing.

The exchange perfectly encapsulates the corrosive influence government union bosses are having on efforts to reform a broken VA. It's a never-ending cycle in which pliant politicians and federal agency leaders bow to the bosses' demands to preserve the dysfunctional status quo of our federal personnel system, which almost guarantees employment for government bureaucrats no matter how egregious their behavior.

The problem with union bosses like Cox is that they are more interested in protecting misbehaving VA employees than the veterans the department was created to serve.

The problem with VA leaders like McDonald is that, in their perpetual quest to placate big labor's powers that be, the taxpayers and veterans they are charged with serving are paying the price.

It's no wonder McDonald was silent after Cox's violent threats. Cox's bellicose behavior is precisely the type of employee conduct VA leaders and union bosses routinely defend.

Take the case of a VA Caribbean Healthcare System employee who AFGE helped to keep her job after she participated in an armed robbery. Unwilling to admit the crucial role AFGE union bosses played in helping the criminal keep her job, VA has offered a series of outrageous excuses in order to explain her continued employment. "There was never any indication that the employee posed a risk to Veterans or VA property," VA Under Secretary for Health David Shulkin said, adding that the employee couldn't be terminated for her armed robbery participation because it occurred in her free time. Really?

The fact that AFGE routinely defends the indefensible among VA employees is not surprising. After all, the organization's first loyalty is to government workers above everyone else. What's disappointing, however, is VA leaders' refusal to challenge AFGE and its tactics. VA's silence is more proof that the bosses -- both VA and union -- are all part of the same system, which specializes in protecting its own.

Consider how VA safeguarded two senior bureaucrats when the department's inspector general caught them orchestrating a scheme to rake in thousands in taxpayer-funded relocation benefits.

According to the IG, VA regional office directors Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves inappropriately used their authority, enabling them to benefit from a total of more than $400,000 in taxpayer-funded relocation payments. Rubens, alone, received more than $274,000 in benefits to make the roughly three-hour move from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia. That's almost $100,000 per hour of driving.

When alerted to Rubens' and Graves' conduct, VA's inspector general made criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, while VA leaders went out of their way to allow them to keep their jobs, as well as the benefits they collected as part of the scheme. VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson even expressed confidence in the pair's leadership abilities and said keeping them on the payroll as regional office directors was "the morally right thing to do."

For VA and union bosses, however, it's about more than just protecting their own. They are also actively fighting to protect VA's broken status quo.

Case in point is the Veterans First Act, a Senate bill that was ostensibly designed to address the department's number one problem: its widespread and pervasive lack of accountability for misbehaving employees.

AFGE union bosses got their hands on an early draft of the legislation and demanded that senators water down the bill in four key areas. After senators made all of the changes the union bosses had dictated, AFGE endorsed the bill.

Once the union bosses gave the revised Veterans First Act their stamp of approval, McDonald began rallying support for the legislation.

McDonald's sudden support for the Veterans First Act marked a remarkable change of heart for him on the subject of VA accountability. Previously, McDonald's VA had opposed almost every bill that would have attempted to meaningfully help VA solve its accountability problems. Perhaps McDonald only supports accountability reforms that union bosses have had the chance to render toothless.

And so it goes at VA, where union and VA bosses fight to maintain a system in which corrupt and incompetent employees have more rights than the veterans they are charged with serving.

Meanwhile veterans and taxpayers are paying the price.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/05/opinion-union-bosses-va-bosses-rigging-system-for-failure.html

Congressional Hearing at the VA Medical Center, Northport, NY

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Congressional Hearing at the VA Medical Center, Northport, NY

House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

VAMC Northport, 79 Middleville Rd., Northport, NY  11768

Auditorium, Bldg. 5

9:00 AM

Committee Members & Non-Committee Representatives present:

1) Jeff Miller, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans Affairs

2) Mark Takano, Ranking Member, House Committee on Veterans Affairs

3) Kathleen Rice, House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

4) Lee Zeldin, House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

5) Steve Israel, House Committee on Veterans Affairs

6) Two Staff Counselors

7) Two Staff Investigators

Witnesses:

1) Dr. Mayer Bellehsen,  Northwell Health Corp. (formerly LIJ/North Shore Health System

2) Dr. Joan McInerney, Director, VISN 2 (regional office), Dept. of Veterans Affairs

3) Mr. Phil Moschitta, Director VA Medical Center, Northport, NY

4) Dr. Charlene Thomesen, Chief of Psychiatry, VA Medical Center, Northport, NY

Hearing focus: quality of care concerns, the facility’s state of disrepair, leasing and                                                 contract issues, and oversight lapses by management and VHA

Mr. Miller’s opening statement (summary bullets):

• Air quality in the main Hospital building
• failure of the A/C units in Radiology
• Crumbling infrastructure
• Veteran and non-Veteran unreported suicides connected to the Hospital
• The lack of control and the abundance of narcotics on the Hospital campus
• Lack of leadership in top management
• Ghost Panels

Notes on Hearing:

• Dr. McInerney - claimed the VA northport has “walk-in” Mental health for 25 years
• Dr. McInerney - claimed the Facility needed $290 million for capital improvements
• Dr. McInerney started quoting false numbers on amount and quality of medical care at this Facility
• Dr. Bellehsen, quoted 150k Veterans in Nassau & Suffolk Counties (Long Island, NY)
• Dr. Bellehsen, praised Dr. Thomesen and Phil Moschitta for their collaborative efforts in creating a dual treatment Facility for Veterans and Families at a satellite Clinic in Bay Shore, NY
• The three VA witnesses could not, or would not, answer direct questioning in reference to the working protocols in the Hospital’s Emergency Room (this line of questioning was as a result of one recent, on-campus suicide / they dodged questions about the video surveillance cameras in place at the E.R. triage area / there was an argument over disclosure of Patient information due to HIPPA Law; Mr. Moschitta had no idea that HIPPA was actually a Law he thought it was just a policy) / claim of 57 E.R. visits a day / more back and forth about video cameras / Mr. Moschitta was less than forthcoming on all questions about the E.R. and the Triage protocol, finally claimed he didn’t know much about it
• Dr. McInerney claimed 24 hour Psychiatric Care available at the Hospital / this should have been Dr. Thomesen’s turn to answer, but she remained silent
• Ms. Rice started a diatribe on how fantastic the Northport VAMC has been and quoted numbers on “satisfaction” percentages that are totally unbelievable (90%) / she has been drinking the Kool Aide
•  / Mr. Moschitta picked up on Ms. Rice’s comments and launched into his own diatribe on the glory of the VAMC Northport / Ms. Rice continued to deflect from the agenda
• Dr. Bellehsen claimed more than adequate “advertising” by Northwell and the VA for the dual Clinic in Bay Shore, NY
• Mr. Israel brought up the FBI and Suffolk Police investigation into the most recent on-campus suicide / he got stonewalled by the witnesses who stated that the Hospital serves 31.5k Patients annually, and is in the top 10% Nationally in satisfaction ratings
• Mr. Miller brought up the “Ghost Panels” and the alleged revenue the Hospital garners from this practice / discussion on who ordered this practice and who is involved in effecting the practice / witnesses stonewalled and evaded and stumbled, and finally blamed lower echelon employees for any maleficence
• Dr. McInerney mentioned the formal name for the “Ghost Panels” - Group Practice Panel Program
• Dr. Bellehsen claimed dual Clinic billing services only since beginning of 2016
• Mr. Moschitta claimed that repairing building roofs cost $600k ea. / work being done by Hospital employees / only real cost is for materials / plans to try to enlist U.S. Reservists to do work for free (job training exercise) / the roof repairs he eludes to are being done on the old single family dwellings on the campus
• Mr. Israel tried discussing the HVAC problems, again / he got no cogent answer from Mr. Moschitta who deferred further questioning to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Bob McDonald / Mr. Moschitta failed to mention that he was going to hold out for $8 million to refurbish the Operating Suites before fixing the air quality problems / he referred to “statement of work” documents / then he claimed only a $50k cost for portable A/C units which were previously tallied at $2.8 million in Mr. Miller’s opening remarks (????)
• Dr. McInerney claimed mostly Patients were to blame for delays in putting off surgeries due to the O.R. closures / she claimed everyone else was duly accommodated elsewhere
• Note: way too much time devoted to Northwell’s involvement / most of this was not pertinent to the agenda / House Health Subcommittee was mentioned in reference to billing out to outside insurance, mainly Tricare
• Veterans in audience were asked for a show of hands pro and con regarding the quality of health care at this Hospital / typically, there was more pro than con
• Mr. Zeldin mentioned the maintenance requests by the Hospital management were so weak they were almost last in the National priority ranking for which Facilities actually get funds for fixing/replacing infrastructure
• Mr. Miller & Mr. Takano closed the Hearing

This is just a summary from my notes and published documents available prior to the hearing. A full question and testimony document should be available soon on the House Committee’s website; go to - https://veterans.house.gov/subcommittees/oversight-and-investigations-114th-congress

Of particular note, Mrs. Peter Kaisen (Joan) was in attendance; she is the widow of the most recent Veteran to commit suicide on the Hospital campus - 76 year old Navy Veteran Peter Kaisen - whose death spurred this investigation and ensuing Hearing.

On my way out of the Hearing room, one of the Committee Investigators whispered to me, “He’s in big trouble.” referring to Mr. Moschitta.