The Shadow Rulers of the VA

[turbinetree]

Isaac Arnsdorf 1 hr ago

Last February, shortly after Peter O’Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O’Rourke replied. “I will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action.”

O’Rourke treated the email as an order, but Moskowitz is not his boss. In fact, he is not even a government official. Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service “concierge” medical care.

More to the point, he is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump’s. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.

Yet from a thousand miles away, they have leaned on VA officials and steered policies affecting millions of Americans. They have remained hidden except to a few VA insiders, who have come to call them “the Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”
Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman declined to be interviewed and fielded questions through a crisis-communications consultant. In a statement, they downplayed their influence, insisting that nobody is obligated to act on their counsel. “At all times, we offered our help and advice on a voluntary basis, seeking nothing at all in return,” they said. “While we were always willing to share our thoughts, we did not make or implement any type of policy, possess any authority over agency decisions, or direct government officials to take any actions… To the extent anyone thought our role was anything other than that, we don’t believe it was the result of anything we said or did.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-shadow-rulers-of-the-va/ar-BBLDicl?ocid=spartandhp

Hey Wilkie , who do fucking work for, the American taxpayers, that funds the VA, or are you a fucking lackey, shining fascist corporate elites ....................remember one thing..................



November 2018 cannot get here fast enough.......................we are voting.............

[Squinch]

1. This story is sinking amid all the other crap going on, but we can't let it. Thanks for the OP.

[turbinetree]

3. Your welcome....................I, you and others will not let this go...............

the media has moved on , this is outrageous......................ProPublica for one has not moved on.........................




November 2018 cannot get here fast enough...............vote

[Squinch]

4. I feel like we're hanging on by our fingernails, and trump's talk about a red wave raised the hairs

on my neck. Like I'm sure it perked the ears of the Russians.

I am truly frightened for all our futures.

[turbinetree]

11. Every time he speaks I have the same feeling

I can still remember going into my computer two years ago onto this site platform and seeing the word "Trump Is God, and then the crash................and then I thought, I have never experienced the world wide web being and coming under attack, and my free speech was under attack..................and was over taken by some one that and my thoughts and who I am........................................and everyone on this platform................and ever since I have been leary..................

We will win, truth is on our side...................

November 2018 cannot get here fast enough..................vote

[peekaloo]

2. There was a recent story on Wilkie and how he was planning to

reassign/sideline Trump loyalists currently running the VA. Toady O'Rourke was at the top of the list. We'll see how long he lasts if his plans are to freeze out Trump's go-to guys. Crazy. Perlmutter sounds like a real piece of work.

Imagine if this story could get the same attention that a current attention whore is receiving.

[turbinetree]

6. Yepper, spot on.........................this should be in the media every other day

this reminds me of a book I am presently reading, Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? By Robert Kutter, and it explains how these "guys' take down everything and privatize the democratic programs, and it is amazing....................




November 2018 cannot get here fast enough...................vote

[Uncle Joe]

5. Scumbags doing their best to screw the nation's veterans over.

Thanks for the thread turbinetree

[turbinetree]

7. Your welcome.................we have to keep this in the news, instead of the daily distractions

that is how they privatize everything..................



November 2018 cannot get here fast enough.....................vote

[Uncle Joe]

8. On a related note from a thread by riversedge

(snip)


(CNN)The Trump administration plans to eliminate routine audits of lenders for violations of the Military Lending Act, according to internal agency documents, The New York Times reported on Friday.


Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, plans to terminate the supervisory examinations of lenders, arguing proactive oversight is not laid out in the legislation, according to the report.



The proposal to weaken oversight under the Military Lending Act, which was created to protect military service members and their families from financial fraud, predatory loans and credit card gouging, came as a surprise to advocates of military families, the report stated. Those advocates have pressed the government to put a stop to unethical lenders.

(snip)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210991802

[turbinetree]

9. This is what they are trying to do to the VA...................and other institutions

if taken as a whole....................


CAN DEMOCRACY SURVIVE GLOBAL CAPITALISM?

By Robert Kuttner


Thanx for the thread from riveredge piece.............

[Uncle Joe]

10. It was my pleasure.

Peace to you turbinetree.

[turbinetree]

12. Wado------------Thank you

[oasis]

13. Kick for exposure.

[Achilleaze]

14. republicans put a five-time Draft Dodger at the top of their shit heap, and in command

of our Armed Forces, and in charge of the VA. I think republican comrade Dirty Donny has a deep grudge against people who actually served, because they make his SHIRKING obvious just by their mere existence.

The BIGLY PARADE in November is a way for him to humiliate honorable military personnel by forcing them to salute a freaking five-time republican draft dodger. Very sick. Very sad.

[oasis]

15. Kick