TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#251501: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:25:33 AM
Thumped: for switching the discussion from the topic to a person. Doesn't take many of this kind of thump to bring a suspension. Stay on the topic, not the people in the discussion.
"You can reply to this Message!"
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#251502: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:35:33 AM

China is launching another salvo of counter tariffs against the US.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/08/news/economy/china-tariffs-us-trade/index.html

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#251503: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:36:51 AM

This keeps getting caught on the bottom of the page.

Rep Chris Collins (R-NY) just got arrested by the SDNY FBI's office on charge of Insider Trading.

He was on of trump's first congressional endorcements, and was part of his transition team.

Edited by megaeliz on Aug 8th 2018 at 1:38:48 PM

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#251504: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:39:34 AM

I feel like insider Trading isn't even that big a deal unless you're involved in the stock market,without looking the term up I wouldn't even what 'insider trading means

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#251505: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:44:55 AM

Still a felony.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#251506: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:46:25 AM

[up] Here's another article about it.

Insider trading was a family affair for upstate New York congressman Chris Collins, federal prosecutors charged Wednesday.

The Republican lawmaker, one of President Trump’s earliest supporters, was charged along with his son Cameron Collins and the father of Cameron’s fiancée, Stephen Zarsky, in a scheme that allowed them to avoid more than $750,000 in stock losses, prosecutors say.

“Congressman Collins, who by virtue of his office helps to write the laws of this nation, acted as if the law didn’t apply to him,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.

The trio are accused of securities fraud related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotechnology company. The elder Collins sits on the firm’s board of directors and is one of its largest shareholders.

Manhattan federal prosecutors say the upstate New York congressman passed to his son confidential information that a new multiple sclerosis drug had failed a medical trial.

Armed with the insider tips, Cameron Collins dumped more than 1 million shares of the stock and passed along the insider information to Zarsky and others, the indictment says.

The public announcement of the failed drug trials caused the Innate stock price to plummet 92%. By dumping their shares early, the Collins clan managed to skirt stock losses totaling $768,000, the indictment says.

“Congressman Collins cheated our markets and our justice system in two ways,” Berman said. “First he tipped his son to confidential corporate information at the expense of regular investors and then he lied about it to law enforcement to cover it up.”

The defendants were all taken into custody Wednesday. They are expected to appear in Manhattan Federal Court in the afternoon to face charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and other counts.

In a separate action, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil action against the 68-year-old Chris Collins, his son and Zarsky. The conspiracy also involved Cameron Collins’ fiancée Lauren Zarsky and her mother Dorothy Zarsky, according to the SEC filing.

Collins’ attorneys released a statement defending the Republican lawmaker.

"We will answer the charges filed against Congressman Collins in court and will mount a vigorous defense to clear his good name,” said lawyers Jonathan Barr and Jonathan New. “It is notable that even the government does not allege that Congressman Collins traded a single share of Innate Therapeutics stock. We are confident he will be completely vindicated and exonerated.”

The best part about this, is this significantly increases the chances of the democratic challenger Nate McMurray.

Edited by megaeliz on Aug 8th 2018 at 1:49:12 PM

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#251507: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:51:00 AM

Insider trading is basically theft.

See, as an insider, you have access to confidential information about a company. If you know things are about to be really bad, you could theoretically sell all your stock before the bad news is publically announced. That way, you’d make a ton of money. Meanwhile, the investors who didn’t know about the upcoming bad news when they bought your shares end up losing all their money.

We want investors who run companies to lose money if they make a bad investment, not sell their stock to innocent people who don’t know the stock will be worthless tomorrow.

Edited by wisewillow on Aug 8th 2018 at 1:51:57 PM

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#251508: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:51:04 AM

[up][up][up][up] I mean... no? It's a pretty big deal because it's effectively embezzlement and provides incentive for people to screw over their own businesses, which pretty directly hurts employees. That you had to look it up is immaterial.

[down] Eh, honestly looking into it too much. He's just in it to help the wealthy. He has personal friends in the industry (I know specifics in coal, and I'm sure oil as well) and he's appealing to the donor class.

Edited by Larkmarn on Aug 8th 2018 at 1:54:18 PM

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#251509: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:52:42 AM

@3of4 The so called text block consisted of two sentences…granted, the second one was long. But honestly, how hot is it at your side of the argument that you feel the need to lash out? So, in short:

Trump does a lot of stuff which seems to serve the interest of big oil lately. And I wonder if that is behind his dealing with the Iran too (other than his dislike towards Obama, naturally).

Edited by Swanpride on Aug 8th 2018 at 10:52:37 AM

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#251510: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:55:17 AM

Honestly, we should have more enforcement of White Collar Crimes. It's often harder to understand and explain then simple theft or something like that, but it still ends up hurting people.

Edited by megaeliz on Aug 8th 2018 at 2:00:36 PM

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#251511: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:57:00 AM

[up] Any other type of non-violent theft. It's absolutely not as bad as violent crime.

Edited by Larkmarn on Aug 8th 2018 at 1:56:43 PM

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#251512: Aug 8th 2018 at 10:59:41 AM

[up] Lax enforcement of White Collar Crime is part of what got us trump in the first place.

Edited by megaeliz on Aug 8th 2018 at 7:35:55 AM

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#251513: Aug 8th 2018 at 11:02:23 AM

@Swan I'm not lashing out. You want to be part of a discussion, thus your posts have to be readable to do so. It's that simple.

If you consider that lashing out...well..*shrug emoji*

"You can reply to this Message!"
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#251514: Aug 8th 2018 at 11:10:01 AM

Honestly, I think there’s a reasonable argument that white collar crime is worse.

Think about it. A mugging may terrify and injure one person. But corrupt corporate practices can result in thousands of people losing their homes and spiraling into bankruptcy. To my mind, that is a far more heinous and reprehensible crime then breaking someone’s arm and taking $20.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#251515: Aug 8th 2018 at 11:11:14 AM

White collar crime generally costs more money and causes more net harm than violent crime, yet we seem to treat it as a less visceral problem. All the muggings and murders and break-ins in the whole country during the year Bernie Madoff was arrested and prosecuted probably cost us less net dollar value of harm than his dealings, and even less total human suffering.

When you are in a position of financial or political power, you have the ability to do vastly more harm per capita than in the wildest dreams of Jack the Ripper.

In the waiting room of Hell, they probably have a special section for the white collar criminals. "I murdered five people in cold blood." "Yeah? I engineered the financial collapse of a major corporation, costing thousands of jobs and throwing people out on the street. Some of them died as a consequence of no longer having health insurance." ... "Dude, you evil!"

Edited by Fighteer on Aug 8th 2018 at 2:20:18 PM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#251516: Aug 8th 2018 at 11:15:46 AM

Here's a good opinion piece about it

America is swarming with Paul Manaforts

One possible lesson of the many conspicuous scandals related to President Trump and others in his orbit: The U.S. government has been massively underinvesting in enforcement and prosecution of white-collar crime.

Trumpkins argue that the pileup of charges against onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is a sign that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has gone rogue. After all, many of the allegations against Manafort — laundering $30 million in income, submitting false tax returns, lying to banks, failing to register as a foreign agent, obstructing justice — stem from his work in and for Ukraine before 2016.

Some of Manafort's alleged crimes, as Trump loves to point out, are more than a decade old!

But the right question isn't why Mueller is going after Manafort now. It is: Why didn't someone go after Manafort before? After all, there were just So. Many. Red. Flags.

Manafort is hardly the only person associated with Trump who has engaged in conspicuously suspicious financial and political activities.

There was the apparent treatment of the Trump Foundation as a personal checkbook, from which Trump used other people's charitable donations to settle his for-profit businesses' legal disputes and to purchase gigantic portraits of himself. The operation of Eric Trump's personal foundation also has raised similar questions of self-dealing, according to Forbes.

Or there's the fishy stock trades by Trump cronies, including Carl Icahn and even the current commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross. (Both Icahn and Ross have denied engaging in insider trading.) Or former national security adviser Michael Flynn's failure to register as a foreign agent working on behalf of Turkey.

There's a clear reason so many Trump-related figures likely felt free to engage in dodgy behavior in broad daylight: They didn't expect anyone to care. And absent the scrutiny that came with Trump's political success, such activities probably would have gone ignored.

Federal prosecutions of white-collar crime — a category that includes tax, corporate, health-care or securities fraud, among other crimes — are on track this year to reach their lowest level on record. That's according to data compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, whose data go back to 1986. Prosecutions of crimes related to public corruption are also on pace to set a record low.

Yet we have little reason to believe actual levels of such crimes have decreased. So why has enforcement plummeted? The Trump administration has openly prioritized prosecution of other crimes, particularly those related to immigration. But the downward trend in white-collar and official-corruption prosecutions predates the Trump presidency. Barack Obama's administration, you may recall, was often criticized for failing to hold corporations and executives accountable in the wake of the financial crisis.

Some argue that big corporations and the wealthy have become too politically influential. But undoubtedly part of the issue is resources.

After 9/11, for instance, terrorism investigations became more of a priority, crowding out available dollars and personnel for white-collar investigations. Congress' draconian budget cuts for the Internal Revenue Service, likewise, caused audit rates to plummet. According to TRAC data, criminal prosecutions referred by the IRS to the Justice Department are about half their level from just five years ago and are poised to dip to a new low this year.

Astonishingly, this decline in enforcement is now being cited as evidence of innocence. Manafort's lawyer, in his opening statement last week, shamelessly suggested that his client must not be guilty of tax fraud because he'd never been audited.

Edited by megaeliz on Aug 8th 2018 at 2:16:34 PM

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#251517: Aug 8th 2018 at 11:16:26 AM

[up][up][awesome] Exactly. If you did a study of all Madoff’s victims, the harm isn’t just the bankruptcies and foreclosures (although that’s already a devastating amount of damage to thousands of people that will haunt them for years, if not the rest of their lives). It’s the spiraling effects of that financial devastation. Related inability to access medical treatment; negative repercussions on the long-term opportunities of children of the victims, etc.

Edited by wisewillow on Aug 8th 2018 at 2:16:19 PM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#251518: Aug 8th 2018 at 11:58:43 AM

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/08/day-566/

Day 566: Kiss the ring.

1/ Putin lobbied Trump on nuclear arms control, banning weapons in space, and several other issues during their private two-hour meeting in Helsinki last month, according to a leaked Russian document. Putin shared the document of proposed topics for negotiation with Trump during their two-hour conversation, which Trump's top advisers were not privy to at the time. Among the priorities, Putin wanted to extend an Obama-era nuclear-reduction treaty to ensure the "non-placement of weapons in space," which would hamper Trump's ability of establishing a Space Force. (Politico)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/07/putin-trump-arms-control-russia-724718

Rand Paul delivered a letter from Trump to Putin during his trip to Moscow earlier this week. Paul said he was "honored" to share the letter, which "emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchange." Rand also said members of the Russian Federation agreed to visit Washington at his invitation despite the White House recently announcing that Trump would delay any meeting with Putin until the Russia investigation concludes. (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-rand-paul-says-he-delivered-letter-trump-putin-n898676

2/ Trump's legal team responded to Robert Mueller's request for interview with the president, signaling openness to some obstruction of justice questions. Rudy Giuliani would not describe the details of the counteroffer other than to call "it is a good faith attempt to reach an agreement." According to Giuliani, it's ultimately "his decision" – Trump's – as to whether or not to grant Mueller an interview. Giuliani added that "this should be over by September 1," because "we do not want to run into the November elections." (CNN / Politico / ABC News)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/07/mueller-trump-giuliani-obstruction-justice-766372

Why Trump really wants his Mueller interview. The president, who's pushing his lawyers to let him meet with the special counsel, has a long history of dealing with investigators directly. (Politico)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/08/trump-mueller-new-york-766212

3/ China announced 25% tariffs on $16 billion worth of U.S. goods, including large passenger cars and motorcycles, various fuels, and fiber optic cables. China is targeting 333 goods in total, including coal, grease, Vaseline, asphalt and plastic products, and recyclables. The latest round of Chinese tariffs are a direct response to the $16 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be hit with tariffs by the U.S. starting on Aug. 23. (CNBC)

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/08/china-announces-25percent-tariffs-on-16-billion-worth-of-us-goods-including.html

4/ Three Mar-a-Lago members with no official government roles act as an informal council, exerting influence at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials show that the "Mar-a-Lago Crowd" speaks with VA officials daily regarding policy and personnel decisions. VA officials have also travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. As one former administration official said: "Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring." (Pro Publica)

https://www.propublica.org/article/ike-perlmutter-bruce-moskowitz-marc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va

Notables.

GOP Rep. Chris Collins was charged with insider trading by the Justice Department. Collins turned himself in to the FBI on Wednesday and was charged in a case related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company where Collins served on the board. Prosecutors say Collins provided his son with nonpublic information about drug trial results in order to help him "make timely trades in Innate stock and tip others." A grand jury indictment also charges Collins' son, Cameron, as well as Cameron's father-in-law-to-be. (NBC News / CNBC / CNN)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/08/politics/chris-collins-indicted-insider-trading/index.html

Trump praised his "fantastic!" and "great relationship" with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. A Justice Department spokeswoman described it a "productive working relationship." Trump has publicly considered firing Rosenstein, who is currently overseeing the Mueller investigation. (Wall Street Journal)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-fantastic-trump-warms-to-rosenstein-1533720601

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#251519: Aug 8th 2018 at 12:32:37 PM

The biggest news of the night, for me? the right to work law in MO went down in flames. And Democratic turnout was great.

Agreed! Hopefully it's the beginning of all the other terrible Right to Work laws being struck down across the nation, they're a cancerous legislation that has been nothing more than a tool to defang unions and harm the worker from day 01 and it's wonderful to know that at-least one state is free of them.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 8th 2018 at 3:34:19 PM

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#251520: Aug 8th 2018 at 12:34:54 PM

You want to be part of a discussion, thus your posts have to be readable to do so. It's that simple.

In all fairness, Swan's posts aren't that long or complicated at all. They might meander a little, but they're still fairly straightforward.

So... Trump's hotel staff are having undue influence? Is that breaking another law yet?

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#251521: Aug 8th 2018 at 12:49:50 PM

[up]

Not staff - members. As in the people that pay dues just to be members of the golf club - more specifically, Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, Palm Beach, FL doctor Bruce Moskowitz, and lawyer Marc Sherman. And if there Ain't No Rule, there damn well should be, especially as none of those men have ever served in the government or military.

     ProPublica's report 
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.”

VA spokesman Curt Cashour did not answer specific questions but said a “broad range of input from individuals both inside and outside VA has helped us immensely over the last year and a half.” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters also did not answer specific questions and said Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz “have no direct influence over the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a different story — of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The Mar-a-Lago Crowd spoke with VA officials daily, the documents show, reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former administration official said.

If the bureaucracy resists the trio’s wishes, Perlmutter has a powerful ally: The President of the United States. Trump and Perlmutter regularly talk on the phone and dine together when the president visits Mar-a-Lago. “On any veterans issue, the first person the president calls is Ike,” another former official said. Former administration officials say that VA leaders who were at odds with the Mar-A-Lago Crowd were pushed out or passed over. Included, those officials say, were the secretary (whose ethical lapses also played a role), deputy secretary, chief of staff, acting under secretary for health, deputy under secretary for health, chief information officer, and the director of electronic health records modernization.

At times, Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman have created headaches for VA officials because of their failure to follow government rules and processes. In other cases, they used their influence in ways that could benefit their private interests. They say they never sought or received any financial gain for their advice to the VA.

The arrangement is without parallel in modern presidential history. The Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 provides a mechanism for agencies to consult panels of outside advisers, but such committees are subject to cost controls, public disclosure and government oversight. Other presidents have relied on unofficial “kitchen cabinets,” but never before have outside advisers been so specifically assigned to one agency. During the transition, Trump handed out advisory roles to several rich associates, but they’ve all since faded away. The Mar-a-Lago Crowd, however, has deepened its involvement in the VA.

Perlmutter, 75, is painstakingly private — he reportedly wore a glasses-and-mustache disguise to the 2008 premiere of “Iron Man.” One of the few public photographs of him was snapped on Dec. 28, 2016, through a window at Mar-a-Lago. Trump glares warily at the camera. Behind him, Perlmutter smiles knowingly, wearing sunglasses at night.

When Trump asked him for help putting a government together, Perlmutter offered to be an outside adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. Having fought for his native Israel in the 1967 war before he moved to the U.S. and became a citizen, Perlmutter chose veterans as his focus.

Perlmutter enlisted the assistance of his friends Sherman and Moskowitz. Moskowitz, 70, specializes in knowing the world’s top medical expert for any ailment and arranging appointments for clients. He has connections at the country’s top medical centers. Sherman, 63, has houses in West Palm Beach and suburban Baltimore and an office in Washington with the consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal. His legal work focuses on financial fraud, white collar investigations and damages disputes. His professional biography lists experience in eight industries, none of them related to health care or veterans.

Moskowitz and Sherman helped Perlmutter convene a council of health care executives on the day of the Trump-Perlmutter photograph, Dec. 28, 2016. Offering more private healthcare to vets was a signature promise of Trump’s campaign, but at that point he hadn’t decided who should lead an effort that would reverse the VA’s longstanding practices.

A new name surfaced in that meeting: David Shulkin, who’d led the VA’s health care division since 2015. Perlmutter then recommended Shulkin to Trump, according to a person familiar with his thinking. (Shulkin did not respond to requests for comment.)

Once nominated, Shulkin flew to Mar-a-Lago in early February 2017 to meet with Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz. In a follow-up email a few days later, Moskowitz elaborated on the terms of their relationship. “We do not need to meet in person monthly, but meet face to face only when necessary,” he wrote. “We will set up phone conference calls at a convenient time.”

Shulkin responded diplomatically. “I know how busy all of you are and having you be there in person, and so present, was truly a gift,” he wrote. “I found the time we spent, the focus that came out of our discussions, and the time we had with the President very meaningful.”

It wasn’t long before the Mar-a-Lago Crowd wore out their welcome with Shulkin. They advised him on how to do his job even though they sometimes seemed to lack a basic understanding of it. Just after their first meeting, Moskowitz emailed Shulkin again to say, “Congratulations i[t] was unanimous.” Shulkin corrected him: “Bruce- this was not the confirmation vote- it was a committee vote- we still need a floor vote.”

Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman acted like board members pounding a CEO to turn around a struggling company, a former administration official said. In email after email, officials sought approval from the trio: for an agenda Shulkin was about to present to Trump for a research effort on suicide prevention and for a plan to recruit experts from academic medical centers. “Everything needs to be run by them,” the first former official said, recalling the process. “They view themselves as making the decisions.”

The Mar-a-Lago Crowd bombarded VA officials with demands, many of them inapt or unhelpful. On phone calls with VA officials, Perlmutter would bark at them to move faster, having no patience for bureaucratic explanations about why something has to be done a certain way or take a certain amount of time, former officials said. He issued orders in a thick, Israeli-accented English that can be hard to understand.

In one instance, Perlmutter alerted Shulkin to what he called “another real-life example of the issues our great veterans are suffering with when trying to work with the VA.” The example came from Karen Donnelly, a real estate agent in Palm Beach who manages the tennis courts in the luxury community where Perlmutter lives. Donnelly’s son was having trouble accessing his military medical records. After a month of dead ends, Donnelly said she saw Perlmutter on the tennis court and, knowing his connection to Trump, asked him for help. Perlmutter told her to email him the story because he’s “trying to straighten things out” at the VA, she recalled. (Donnelly separately touched off a nasty legal dispute between Perlmutter and a neighbor, Canadian businessman Harold Peerenboom, who objected to her management of the tennis courts. In a lawsuit, Peerenboom accused Perlmutter of mounting a vicious hate mail campaign against him, which Perlmutter’s lawyer denied.)

Perlmutter forwarded Donnelly’s email to Shulkin, Moskowitz and Sherman. “I know we are making very good progress, but this is an excellent reminder that we are also still very far away from achieving our goals,” Perlmutter wrote.

Shulkin had to explain that they were looking in the wrong place: Since the problem was with military service records, it lay with the Defense Department, not the VA.

Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman defended their intervention, saying, “These were the types of stories of agency dysfunction and individual suffering that drove us to offer our volunteer experience in the first place — veterans who had been left behind by their government. These individual cases helped raise broader issues for government officials in a position to make changes, sometimes leading to assistance for one veteran, sometimes to broader reforms within the system.”

Right after meeting Shulkin, Moskowitz connected him with his friend Michael Zinner, director of the Miami Cancer Institute and a member of the American College of Surgeons’ board of regents. (Zinner declined to comment.) The conversation led to a plan for the American College of Surgeons to evaluate the surgery programs at several VA hospitals. The plan came very close to a formal announcement and contract, internal emails show, but stalled after Shulkin was fired, according to the organization’s director, David Hoyt.

Besides advocating for friends’ interests, some of the Mar-a-Lago Crowd’s interventions served their own purposes. Starting in February 2017, Perlmutter convened a series of conference calls with executives at Johnson & Johnson, leading to the development of a public awareness campaign about veteran suicide. They planned to promote the campaign by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange around the time of Veterans Day.

The event also turned into a promotional opportunity for Perlmutter’s company. Executives from Marvel and its parent company, Disney, joined Johnson & Johnson as sponsors of the Veterans Day event at the stock exchange. Shulkin rang the closing bell standing near a preening and flexing Captain America, with Spider-Man waving from the trading pit, and Marvel swag distributed to some of the attendees. “Generally the VA secretary or defense secretary don’t shill for companies,” the leader of a veterans advocacy group said.

The VA was aware of the ethical questions this event raised because of Shulkin’s relationship with Perlmutter. An aide to Shulkin sought ethics advice from the agency’s lawyers about the appearance. In an email, the aide noted, “the Secretary is friends with the President of Marvel Comics, Mr. Ike Perlmutter, but he will not be in attendance.” The VA redacted the lawyer’s answer, and the agency’s spokesman would not say whether the ethics official approved Shulkin’s participation in the event.

Perlmutter did not answer specific questions about this episode. His joint statement with Moskowitz and Sherman said, “None of us has gained any financial benefit from this volunteer effort, nor was that ever a consideration for us.”

Perlmutter also facilitated a series of conference calls with senior executives from Apple. VA officials were excited about working with the company, but it wasn’t immediately obvious what they had to collaborate on.

As it turned out, Moskowitz wanted Apple and the VA to develop an app for veterans to find nearby medical services. Who did he bring in to advise them on the project? His son, Aaron, who had built a similar app. The proposal made Apple and VA officials uncomfortable, according to two people familiar with the matter, but Moskowitz’s clout kept it alive for months. The VA finally killed the project because Moskowitz was the only one who supported it.

Moskowitz, in the joint statement, defended his son’s involvement, calling him a “technical expert” who participated in a single phone call alongside others. “Any development efforts, had they occurred, would not have involved Aaron or any of us. There was no product of Dr. Moskowitz’s or Aaron’s that was promoted or recommended in any way during the call,” the trio said. “Again, none of us, including Aaron, stood to receive any financial benefit from the matters discussed during the conversation — and any claims to the contrary are factually incorrect.”

Moskowitz had more success pushing a different pet cause. He has spent years trying to start a national registry for medical devices, allowing patients to be notified of product recalls. Moskowitz set up the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation to encourage medical institutions to keep track of devices for their patients to address what he views as a dangerous hole in oversight across the medical profession. At one point, the foundation built a registry to collect data from doctors and patients. Moskowitz chaired the board, and Perlmutter’s wife was also a member. Moskowitz’s son earned $60,000 a year as the executive director, according to tax disclosures.

Moskowitz pushed the VA to pick up where he left off. He joined officials on weekly 7:30 a.m. conference calls in which officals discussed organizing a summit of experts on device registries and making a public commitment to creating one at the VA. In an email to Shulkin, the VA official in charge of the project referred to it as the “Bruce Moskowitz efforts.”

When the summit arrived, on June 4, Moskowitz and his son did not attend. It’s not clear what role they will have in setting up the VA’s registry going forward — their foundation has shut down, according to its website, and Moskowitz’s son said he’s no longer involved. But in his opening remarks at the summit, Peter O’Rourke, then the acting secretary, offered a special thanks to “Dr. Bruce Moskowitz and Aaron Moskowitz of the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation” as “driving forces” behind it.

Over the course of 2017, there was growing tension within the Trump administration about how much the VA should rely on private medical care. During the campaign, Trump championed letting veterans see any doctor they choose, inside or outside the VA system. But Shulkin warned that such an approach was likely to result in poorer care at a higher cost. His preferred solution was integrating government-run VA care with a network of private providers.

In September 2017, the Mar-a-Lago Crowd weighed in on the side of expanding the use of the private sector. “We think that some of the VA hospitals are delivering some specialty healthcare when they shouldn’t and when referrals to private facilities or other VA centers would be a better option,” Perlmutter wrote in an email to Shulkin and other officials. “Our solution is to make use of academic medical centers and medical trade groups, both of whom have offered to send review teams to the VA hospitals to help this effort.”

In other words, they proposed inviting private health care executives to tell the VA which services they should outsource to private providers like themselves. It was precisely the kind of fox-in-the-henhouse scenario that the VA’s defenders had warned against for years. Shulkin delicately tried to hold off Perlmutter’s proposal, saying the VA was already developing an in-house method of comparing its services to the private sector.

Shulkin also clashed with the Mar-a-Lago Crowd over how to improve the VA’s electronic record-keeping software (the one episode involving the trio that has previously surfaced, in a report by Politico). The contract, with a company called Cerner, would cost more than $10 billion and take a decade to implement. But Moskowitz had used a different Cerner product and didn’t like it. He complained that the software didn’t offer voice recognition, even though newer versions of Cerner’s product do. For months, the Mar-a-Lago Crowd pressured Shulkin to put the contract through additional vetting.

On Feb. 27, 2018, Shulkin flew to Mar-a-Lago — not to see Trump, who was back in Washington, but to meet with Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman. The trip was supposed to close the deal on the Cerner contract, according to two people familiar with the meeting. By then, Shulkin’s stature had been badly diminished by an ethics scandal, and he expected he didn’t have much longer in the job, but he wanted to finish the Cerner deal first.

Shulkin brought O’Rourke, an ex-Trump campaign aide who stepped in as chief of staff after the ethics scandal led to the departure of Shulkin’s top aide. O’Rourke took the opportunity to ally himself with the Mar-a-Lago Crowd. “It was an honor to meet you all yesterday,” he wrote in a follow-up email. “I want to ensure that you have my VA and personal contact information.” He then provided his personal cell phone number and email address. (Using personal email to conduct government business can flout federal records laws, as President Trump and his allies relentlessly noted in their attacks on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.) “Thank you for your support of the President, the VA, and me,” O’Rourke wrote. (O’Rourke didn’t answer requests for comment.)

Perlmutter welcomed the overture. “I feel confident that you will be a terrific asset moving forward to get things accomplished,” he replied.

The Mar-a-Lago Crowd grew frustrated with Shulkin, feeling like he wasn’t listening to them, and Perlmutter came to regret recommending Shulkin to Trump in the first place, according to people familiar with his thinking. That aligned them with political appointees in the VA and the White House who started to view Shulkin as out of step with the president’s agenda.

One of these officials, senior adviser Camilo Sandoval, presented himself as Perlmutter’s eyes and ears within the agency, two former officials said. For instance, in an email obtained by Pro Publica, Sandoval kept tabs on the Apple project and reported back to Moskowitz and Sherman. “I will update the tracker, and please do let me know if this helps answers [sic] questions around Apple’s efforts or if additional clarification is required,” he wrote. Sandoval, who didn’t answer requests for comment, knew Perlmutter because he worked on the campaign with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is also close with Perlmutter.

In December, White House adviser Jake Leinenkugel sent Sandoval a memo outlining a plan to upend the department’s leadership. Leinenkugel would not say who asked him to write the memo. But it was clearly not intended for Sandoval alone, since it refers to him in the third person. Three people familiar with the situation said the memo was sent to Sandoval as a channel to Perlmutter. The spokeswoman for Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz said they didn’t know about the memo.

The memo recommended easing Shulkin out and relying on Perlmutter for help replacing him. “Put [Shulkin] on notice to exit after major legislation and key POTUS VA initiatives in place,” the memo said. “Utilize outside team (Ike).” Although several factors contributed to Shulkin’s downfall, including the ethics scandal and differences with the White House over legislation on buying private health care, three former officials said it was his friction with the Mar-a-Lago Crowd over the Cerner contract that ultimately did him in.

Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman dispute that contention. “Any decisions of the agency or the president,” they noted in their statement, “as well as the timing of any agency decisions, were independent of our contacts with the VA.”

But it wasn’t just Shulkin — all the officials that the Leinenkugel memo singled out for removal are now gone, replaced with allies of Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz. The memo suggested that Sandoval take charge of the Office of Information and Technology, overseeing the implementation of the Cerner contract; he got the job in April. The memo proposed removing Deputy Secretary Tom Bowman; he left in June, and the post hasn’t been filled. The memo floated Richard Stone for under secretary for health; he got the job on an acting basis in July. Leinenkugel himself took charge of a commission on mental health (the same topic Moskowitz had emailed O’Rourke about). O’Rourke, having hit it off with the Mar-a-Lago Crowd, became acting secretary in May.

Trump initially nominated White House doctor Ronny Jackson to replace Shulkin, with Pentagon official Robert Wilkie filling in on a temporary basis. On Wilkie’s first day at the VA, Sherman was waiting for him in his office, according to a calendar record.

Within a few weeks, Wilkie made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. He tacked it onto a trip to his native North Carolina, and O’Rourke caught up with him in Palm Beach. They visited a VA hospital and rehab facility, then headed to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman, according to agency records.

The Mar-a-Lago Crowd gave Wilkie and O’Rourke rave reviews. “I am sure that I speak for the group, that both you and Peter astounded all of us on how quickly and accurately you assessed the key problems and more importantly the solutions that will be needed to finally move the VA in the right direction,” Moskowitz told Wilkie in a follow-up email.

Perlmutter was similarly thrilled with the new regime. “For the first time in 1½ years we feel everyone is on the same page. Everybody ‘gets it,’” he said in an email. “Again, please know we are available and want to help any possible way 24/7.”

Wilkie replied that the honor was his. “Thank you again for taking time to see me,” he wrote.

Soon after, Jackson’s nomination imploded over allegations of misconduct as White House physician. (Jackson denied the allegations, and they’re still being investigated.) At that point, Perlmutter’s endorsement cleared the way for Trump to nominate Wilkie.

Wilkie, who was sworn in on July 30, now faces a choice between asserting his own authority over the VA or taking cues from the Mar-a-Lago Crowd. Wilkie reportedly wants to sideline O’Rourke and Sandoval and restock the agency leadership with his own people. But people familiar with the situation said the Mar-a-Lago Crowd’s allies are pushing back on Wilkie’s efforts to rein them in. As his predecessor learned the hard way, anyone who crosses the Mar-a-Lago Crowd does so at his own risk.

And if you thought Swan could get to be Wall of Text, just take a gander at that thing!

Edited by ironballs16 on Aug 8th 2018 at 12:58:27 PM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#251523: Aug 8th 2018 at 1:34:27 PM

[up]

Vote Early, Vote Often for the digital age...

Joking aside, it's more likely a case of Hanlon's Razor, where the initial information was wrong.

But on Tuesday at 10 a.m., the number of registered voters on the secretary of state’s website was changed for Mud Creek to 3,704 registered voters, reflecting a more likely turnout of about 18 percent.

But since it's up in the air, that's why the lawsuit was filed.

Edited by ironballs16 on Aug 8th 2018 at 1:40:24 AM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#251524: Aug 8th 2018 at 1:39:41 PM

That headline omits a very, very important piece of context.

Mc Clatchy's data comes from a federal lawsuit filed against the state. In addition to the problem in Habersham County's Mud Creek precinct, where it appeared that 276 registered voters managed to cast 670 ballots, the piece describes numerous other issues with both voter registration and electronic voting machines. (In fact it was later corrected to show 3,704 registered voters in the precinct.)

Multiple sworn statements from voters describe how they turned up at their polling stations only to be turned away or directed to other precincts. Even more statements allege incorrect ballots, frozen voting machines, and other issues.

Edit: I was [nja]’d. I highly recommend clicking the link and reading the entire article; Georgia really has some horrific electoral practices regardless of your partisan leanings.

Edited by wisewillow on Aug 8th 2018 at 4:44:08 AM

Mario1995 The Dishonorable from Atlanta Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
The Dishonorable
#251525: Aug 8th 2018 at 1:52:09 PM

[up][up][up]That's Brian Kemp's voting infrastructure for you. I can't believe my state's Republicans chose him.

On the topic of voting security: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) just said he's found evidence the Russian government has penetrated some voting systems leading up to November.

If I were the Parkland movement and the progressive movement, I'd be terrified by the prospect that the Kremlin will never allow them to take control of the state ever again.

Edited by Mario1995 on Aug 8th 2018 at 4:51:49 AM

"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam Gallagher

Total posts: 417,856
Top