Obamacare still hasn't been repealed, but May was another outstanding month for the much-maligned US Department of Health and Human Services, including one case that knocked out a half-billion dollar swindle perpetrated by a government official. The Corporate Media is utterly silent on HHS Swamp-Draining. Let's look at some of the highlights from the HHS website from May:
Providence: Poplar Health Care agrees to pay $900,000 in restitution for filing false claims.
Birmingham: a pharmaceutical sales broker jailed in a $13 million insurance fraud scheme.
Los Angeles: a radiation therapy center fined $3 million in restitution for submitting bills for services never provided.
Portland: a social worker arrested and jailed for scamming $800,000 from an 'at-risk youth' facility.
New York City: Care Core National, an Obamacare provider, went out of business after a $54 million judgment for fraud. The company was bought by another provider, who agreed to pay the fine as part of the acquisition deal.
Baton Rouge: A former executive of All-Star Medical Supply sentenced to prison for health care fraud.
Springfield, Mo.: St. John's Regional Health Center and Clinic pay $34 million in fines for 'improper financial relationships with referring physicians'.
Houston: a psychiatrist was arrested and exposed as the head of a Medicare fraud ring that took in $158 million in false claims.
Tampa: Freedom Health, Inc. agreed to pay $32.5 million in restitution for a fraud scheme and the Chief Operating Officer was put in jail.
Boston: eClinicalWorks, one of Big Pharma's and Obamacare's software medical records providers agreed in Federal Court to pay out a whopping $155 million in fines for fraud. Some ECW executives are also under investigation for alleged kickbacks and bribery.
The Big One: We saved the best for last:
"May 12th, 2017: a former administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration pled guilty today in a Federal Court for his role in a scheme to obtain by fraud more than $550 million in federal disability payments from the SSA for thousands of claimants."
This is the system that the denizens of the Deep State want defended. These worthies, and all the others whom HHS has mopped up since February would still be going strong had Hilary Clinton been elected.
As we've probably heard by now, President Trump unilaterally withdrew the US today from the Paris Accord on Climate Change. The denizens of the Deep State---led by former President Obama and former Vice-President Gore---have gone ballistic over this decision and are spreading hysteria over the future of the planet. Tom Steyer, Wall Street billionaire and DNC shill even called the decision "a traitorous act of war against the American people." Steyer, of course, is projecting quite a bit here.
The Paris Accord really did very little other than line the pockets of several vested financial interests. China was spearheading the initiative, and stood to profit more than other country---with the European Union a close second. The Accord basically is a global Carbon Tax, prorated on national energy consumption. Obama agreed that the proceeds of these taxes would be used to promote so-called 'Green Energy' in developing countries.
Now it just so happens that China and the EU are most heavily-invested in green technologies throughout the developing world. In other words, what Obama agreed to was a backhanded US subsidy for these already-wealthy nations to protect their investments in these underdeveloped regions.
If these phony environmentalists really believed in the need for this kind of program, the US could have done it unilaterally anyway through agencies like USAID. But if the US did this as a matter of national policy, the taxpayer funds would be traceable. Under the Paris Accord, money goes out, and where it goes nobody knows. These kinds of landmark agreements are not only good political photo-ops; they're excellent money-laundering fronts as well.
The fact is that the United States doesn't need any global bureaucracy telling us what to do on environmental issues. Our country has a good history of being a leader in ecological policy all by itself. Granted, we've let things slide during the last three decades. But that doesn't mean we've given up that lead. Practically all of the environmental policies in the developed world were initiated in the United States. Americans don't recall that as recently as the 1970s, air pollution was so bad in some cities that people wore gas masks outside. Water pollution was so bad that Lake Erie actually caught fire. Public swimming pools started in some cities because swimming in the local ponds and rivers could cause dysentery, cholera, or typhoid fever if the water was ingested. Now people fish in Lake Erie again. In the 1970s it was a federal crime to kill a buffalo because they were so close to extinction. Today, one can get buffalo meat in some restaurants and buffalo hunting is allowed in some localities.
The world is not going to come to an end because of the Paris Accord's downfall. If anything, it will free up innovation in America again to make new and better technologies that are friendly to the environment. Recycling, wastewater treatment, biofuels, air filtration, anti-pollution devices: these are all technologies that originated in the US. It's really been since the environmentally friendly administrations of Clinton, Bush, and Obama that we've lost our leadership edge.
Trump's decision was the right one. Let's reinvest these funds into American environmental technologies and let the rest of the world follow, as before.
Paul Elam, of the Red Pill blog A Voice for Men has weighed in on the Portland PDX attack. Unlike the others in the cult, he doesn't defend the killer, but opines thus on Twitter:
"Two more good men killed by Chivalry. Let this be a lesson to your sons. Challenging a madman for being verbally abusive is not heroics, it is stupidity. Glorifying this kind of death is insane...People want men who are willing to die for them. That's why they think mindless Chivalry, stupidity, is heroics. How sad."
Elam has criticized this kind of behavior before. His basic argument is the same one adopted by Radical Feminists: that what we call 'chivalry' is an artificial social construct, although the Red Pills and Feminists assign different causes for why it came into being. Either way, the idea is flawed. What Western Culture traditionally defines as chivalric or heroic behavior is simply codified social norms of masculine instinct. We see this instinct played out even in the most primitive peoples. Our earliest literature of the Homeric Poems was centered on the idea of men protecting our common heritage. Thus in The Iliad, the Greek nation rightly saw the rape of one man's wife as an affront to the entire nation. In The Odyssey, the same principle applied on the family level. Through his literary skills, Homer elevated instinctual---yet logical---behavior into civilized conduct.
After centuries of religious, philosophical, and legal speculation the ideals of ancestors still hold valid force. The heroes on the PDX did not act from instinct, but from a common heritage based on varying degrees upon reflection and acted accordingly. They saw what was a threat to two young women---part of our greater community---and put themselves at risk to defend against the antisocial element. What they did was no more stupid than some of the military heroes' actions referenced in an earlier post.
The thing that makes these three men heroic is that they believed in an ideal strongly enough to risk life for it. For Civilization is based on Ideals. Our ancient forefathers who saw through a glass darkly unillumined by Revelation or Reason, nonetheless knew in their hearts---as St. Paul writes---no greater love than one who lays down his life for another. This is a far deeper concept than the gloomy Materialism which ascribes the men's actions to sexual desire or faulty education.
When Elam argues that "People want men who are willing to die for them," he betrays both the vulgar cynicism and crass Materialism that characterizes the Red Pill movement. He supposes that men who sacrifice for others are chumps and that Society cynically hopes to protect itself by sacrificing men. There's also a strange implication here that men who do sacrifice their lives somehow desired that outcome. In reality, very few heroes especially want to die, they usually are involved in kill-or-be-killed situations; or at least in situations where another party is in danger from a stronger opponent.
Elam is basically just regurgitating the old "better a live coward than a dead hero" nonsense. People like this fail to realize that ultimately we all die. People still remember heroes---even ancient ones---cowards and the smart boys, not so much.
If anyone is still feeling sorry that Clinton lost the election, this story should disillusion them. An inventory audit of the US Department of Veterans' Affair uncovered information that massive quantities of prescription narcotics have been stolen during the entire Obama Administration.
The audit revealed that in 2016 alone, there were nearly 3,000 reported cases of stolen drugs at VA dispensaries, compared to less than 300 during President Bush's final year, 2008. A shamefaced VA spokesman told the Corporate Media today that 108 VA personnel have been referred to the Inspector General for criminal investigations. In February, the Trump Administration ordered mandatory drug testing for VA employees, but the negative results are leading investigators to suspect that the drugs were probably sold on the Black Market.
The majority of missing drugs were Opioids. According to one source, the number of Opioid prescriptions in the VA increased about 600% during Obama's tenure. The VA did not disclose what quantity of drugs were actually missing.
In 2015, the Obama Administration banned federal agencies from requiring that prospective employees disclose prior felony convictions. Prior to the ban, he'd ordered agencies not to discriminate against ex-felons. The VA became notorious for hiring ex-convicts. In 2016, for example, VA employee and ex-convict Jorge Camacho was gunned down by drug-dealers on a city street, a case which led Senator Jeff Flake to propose legislation to purge the VA of convicted criminals.
In February of this year, three employees at the Little Rock VA Facility were arrested for stealing Oxycodone and Opioids for sale on the street during a sting operation. The current investigation was triggered after five Miami-area hospitals discovered in April that so much Fentanyl had been stolen that veterans were unable to fill prescriptions.
And in the midst of all of this, Media perverts like fake-comedian Kathy Griffin are getting applause from other Liberal degenerates making sick photos of guillotining President Trump. That's the big story in the American news today: not the fact that Trump is trying to stop drug-traffickers within the Federal Government from preying on veterans. We suppose it can be deduced from that, what kind of people the Corporate Media prefers in positions of authority.
Today is Memorial Day in the US, which looks back to an era when war was still considered a last resort of policy. Ordinary men were called upon to defend their country and often rose to incredible acts of heroism. Our effete era is inclined to look upon such deeds with a cynical sneer, though recent events in Portland show that the flame may not be totally extinguished.
During the US Civil War, the Government established the Congressional Medal of Honor as the highest military award in the country. Literally thousands of American men have earned this honor, often posthumously, and include some of the most incredible deeds. There are stories of a WW2 medic who saved 75 wounded men under Japanese fire. A WW1 sailor trying to untangle deadly depth-charges from his ship's lines used his body to block an oncoming torpedo and saved his crew. During the Sioux Indian War, a soldier retrieved a mule loaded with ammunition back from behind enemy lines under 20 minutes of sustained fire and saved his regiment from the same fate as General Custer. And so on.
This is not to say there were no decorated heroes in previous wars. The Military Medal of Merit was awarded to heroes of the Revolutionary War and subsequent conflicts. The first recipient of America's highest honor was leading a reconnaissance patrol of 12 men to investigate reports of a British outpost in the area. On his own initiative, he attacked and destroyed the camp. Learning from the prisoners of a second camp, he attacked it too and returned to his unit with 54 prisoners.
There were a small group of veterans who actually won the Congressional Medal of Honor twice.
Lt. Frank Baldwin was decorated for a daring and successful counterattack during the Civil War. In 1874, on his own initiative and heavily outnumbered, he led a raid on an Indian camp to rescue two girls who were being held hostage.
Maj. Smedley Butler won the award in 1914 and 1915, first for rescuing Americans trapped in Veracruz, Mexico and then for a hand-to-hand battle against Haitian guerrillas that ended in the capture of a fort.
Sailor John Cooper won two in 1864 and 1865. During a naval battle, he singlehandedly captured a Confederate monitor. The following year, he was decorated for entering a burning explosives' shack under heavy fire to rescue a wounded sailor.
Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly won his first medal in 1900 for heroism during the 55-day embassy siege in Beijing, China. His second came in 1915, when ambushed and heavily outnumbered by Haitian guerrillas, he fought his way to a redoubt and held off the attack for three days.
Sgt. Henry Hogan was awarded the Medal in 1876 for holding off a superior number of Sioux Indians, allowing his men to escape. In 1877, he risked his life again to save a wounded officer, carrying him back to safety under heavy fire.
Sailor John McCloy won his first Medal on the 1900 Chinese Expedition which freed the embassy hostages. In 1914, though severely wounded, McCloy drew enemy fire in Veracruz, allowing the rescued American citizens to escape from another point.
The criterion for receiving a CMH is conduct "above and beyond the call of duty." This is the high standard men set for themselves. A good man does his duty, and a hero goes beyond that. In a society where virtually every portrayal of masculinity is negative; it's good to reflect upon what men are capable of doing.
Occasionally, there are stories that restore one's faith in humanity. Many negative things have happened in Portland, Oregon recently. The knife attack on the PDX made global headlines and, at last report, the FBI has gotten involved. Certainly, there will be some updates forthcoming.
The BBC reported today that the citizens of Portland have come together this Memorial Day weekend to honor the three men who defended two girls against violent Red Pill thug Jeremy Christian. Two of the men died and a third remains in the hospital. Christian pulled a knife on the three and cut their throats before briefly escaping and leading the police on a pursuit.
The citizens of Portland have already raised $600,000 at various community events for the families of the three victims.
Ricky Best, 54 years old, was married with three sons and a 12 year-old daughter. Best served in the US Army from 1987-2012, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Best was a military equipment technician, and after his retirement, worked for the City of Portland in the Bureau of Development Services (the agency responsible for issuing building permits and enforcing codes). In 2014, he ran unsuccessfully for Clackamas County Commissioner. Best was killed at the scene of the attack.
Talesin Meche, 23 years old, was a recent graduate of Reed College with a degree in Economics. He worked as intern at the Cadmus Group, a consulting firm. Meche was very popular and the subject of several memorials. He was a large, muscular fellow with a heavy beard, and friends stated to the press that Meche's heroism was not at all out of character for him. He was taken to the hospital after the attack, but died en route.
Micah Fletcher, 21 years old, is the lone survivor of the attack, though the extent of his injuries are unknown. In spite of his age, Fletcher is already a published and award-winning poet. Fletcher attends Portland State University and works part-time at local pizza parlor. Fletcher is a small, sensitive-looking man, but his acquaintances say that he was known to be fearless in the defense of others.
Three very different men, but real men nonetheless. Unlike the endless exhortations to be manly Alpha leaders (like Jeremiah Christian); no one had to tell Best, Meche, or Fletcher how to be men: they simply were. Good men doing good things, that is what we advocate. Sometimes doing the right thing ends like this, but men we understand that doing nothing is worse.
Some of the Red Pills have suggested that these three were virtue-signaling busybodies who didn't realize the consequences of their actions. Anybody who's spent much time in Portland and seen the types of violent psychos wandering the city streets knows this to be a lie. Confronting one of these nuts could and often does carry the potential of violent results.
And Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer, whom we referenced yesterday, denounced the three heroes as "Dead White Knights for Islam." He claims that Christian was the real hero who only acted in self-defense and was guilty of nothing more than "disturbing the peace."
It's refreshing though to see this in Portland. It's proof that civilization isn't dead, even there.
The Corporate Media didn't bother reporting this story, but on Friday, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces issued a landmark ruling, freeing a wrongly-imprisoned US serviceman and chastising Obama Administration officials. Airman Rodney Boyce, sentenced in 2014 to four years' imprisonment on a false sexual battery charge, saw the conviction overturned in the military's highest court.
In 2013, Boyce was accused of rape and assault of his ex-wife, who had filed no charges against him. The case came to the attention of investigators via third parties who pressured the woman into filing a complaint. As most of us are aware, the Obama Administration was aggressively stamping out any remaining vestiges of male heterosexual behavior in the Military, and cases of this kind were encouraged.
The important thing about this ruling is that the Court recognized the political extortion behind Boyce's conviction in its decision. According to the Court, Boyce's case "had been compromised by apparent unlawful command influence." This is a very rare grounds for dismissal in the Military Courts, and may signal a significant shift in how these cases are handled.
The Court stated that USAF Lt. General Craig Franklin, Boyce's commander, had been told by Obama's Air Force Secretary Deborah James and USAF Chief-of-Staff General Mark Welsh to "retire or be fired" because of his perceived leniency in pursuing sexual assault allegations.
"If the Secretary had come to believe that Lt. General Franklin was 'obstinately' refusing to refer 'another' meritorious case to a General Court-Martial, she could have removed him immediately from his command, which likely would have created adverse public attention and post-military career opportunities." the Court said, "James and Welsh failed to take the necessary prophylactic steps to ensure that Franklin's handling of subsequent sexual assault cases did not lead to the appearance of a conflict of interest. After losing confidence in him, James and Welsh failed to direct Franklin not to take any further action in regards to Court-Martial matters pending before him; or to refer them to another authority, as they should have done."
The Military Tribunal was saying---in the most diplomatic language possible---that it appeared that General Franklin was being extorted into getting sexual assault cases railroaded through the system. Franklin actually did resign shortly after referring Boyce's case for prosecution; his conscience apparently suffering under the strain. The thug Welsh resigned in 2016 after a 40-year career of such injustices.
Boyce's exoneration opens legal channels now for other servicemen wrongfully convicted on politically-motivated grounds. Better still, it will lead hopefully to an internal investigation of Pentagon political corruption which has both wrongly convicted the innocent and covered up for the guilty. This type of extortion was apparently not uncommon during the Obama Administration. Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has been probing similar allegations in the Justice Department.
Not a bad start to the Memorial Day weekend, eh?
