Tag Archives: defense policy

Malfeasance

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It’s rampant at the Veterans Administration. And “leadership” there and in the White House plainly don’t care, as their decision to be inactive demonstrates. Here are some examples, from The Wall Street Journal.

  • After the biggest scandal in VA history, in which 110 VA medical facilities across the country maintained secret lists to hide long waits for care, only three low-level VA employees have been fired for wait-time manipulation.
  • In September the VA’s Office of Inspector General revealed that two VA senior executives inappropriately used their authority to game the agency’s hiring system, allowing them to benefit from more than $400,000 in taxpayer-funded relocation expenses. [The VA reassigned them at their existing salary rather than terminating them for cause.]
  • In December the public learned of two internal VA investigations that found whistleblowers at the Phoenix VA Hospital were retaliated against by two senior managers…. More than a year after…the VA has refused to hold them accountable.

Robert McDonald, VA Secretary, promised to fix this sort of thing when he was handed the job 16 months ago. These failures are demonstrations of his decision not to rock the boat. That his decisions have been allowed to stand unchallenged are clear demonstrations of President Barrack Obama’s lack of concern for the welfare of our veterans.

veteranos administratio delende est

Why Aren’t They

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…fired for cause?

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Friday two high-ranking officials were finally demoted in response to a federal probe that found they manipulated the agency’s personnel system for their own gain, but a key lawmaker is asking why they weren’t prosecuted.

The two high-ranking officials are Diana Rubens, director of VBA’s Philadelphia regional office, and Kimberly Graves, director of VBA’s St Paul regional office. The behavior of these two women (I won’t call them “ladies;” their behavior has established what they are, and they’ve already named their price) warrants termination for cause.

Congressman Jeff Miller’s (R, FL) question—he’s the “key lawmaker”—is an entirely valid one, too. Their behavior seems criminal enough to warrant that type of investigation, too.

And my own question: what has taken the VA so long to do even this trivial hand-slap? Even the original October move (allegedly having to be redone due to “administrative error”) was far too slow in coming. What’s the VA’s excuse [sic] here?

Veteranos administratio delende est

Delays

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Iran is already violating the nuclear weapons agreement it has concluded with President Barack Obama (D). Obama is already pushing back against and outright delaying sanctions against those violations. The excuse?

Senior US officials have told lawmakers the sanctions were delayed because of “evolving diplomatic work” between the White House and the Iranian government.

This is especially the time when pressure needs to be maintained and stepped up. But Obama is, and has been all along, loathe to risk offending the Mullahs.

What, Me Sanction?

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The White House has delayed its plan to impose new financial sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program, according to US officials, amid growing tensions with Iran over the nuclear deal struck earlier this year.

It gets worse.

US officials offered no definitive timeline for when the sanctions would be imposed after the decision was made Wednesday to delay them.

Never mind that Iran has been violating the nuclear weapons agreement since a very few days after Vienna. Never mind, either, that Iran still hasn’t actually signed the agreement. This administration is putting us and our friends and allies in a very dangerous position over the next year. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want more of the same, too.

The Contained Daesh

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While President Barack Obama thinks—and says out loud—that he’s “squeezing [Daesh’s] heart and making it harder for them to pump out its propaganda,” the Pentagon is describing an expanding Daesh.

Now it’s Afghanistan. Daesh has become

“more operationally active” there by carving out territory and openly fighting the Taliban.

In particular, Daesh in Afghanistan’s Khorasan Province

has progressed from its initial exploratory phase to a point where they are openly fighting the Taliban for the establishment of a safe haven, and are becoming more operationally active[.]

Even were “containment” succeeding, this is an illustration of why it’s badly insufficient merely to “contain” or to “defeat” this Evil. It must be destroyed, utterly.

It’s a long, dangerous year we have ahead of us.