THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
An oversight report by an independent taxpayer watchdog into the Veterans Affairs administration reveals more troubling information connected to the VA scandal, Fox News reports. According to the report's findings, the VA spent $20 million on artwork and sculptures and added nearly 40,000 new jobs, though just one in 11 were medical positions, all while more than a thousand veterans died awaiting medical care.
In 2014, the Veterans Administration became the subject of significant controversy after reports exposed that the Phoenix facility had been altering its scheduling books and that at least 40 veterans had died while awaiting care. Reports later revealed similar issues with lengthy waiting times in at least 10 states. Investigation into the Veterans Affairs wait-time scandal has revealed a number of startling revelations, including evidence of fraud and regulatory violations related to scheduling issues at over 50 VA medical facilities.
Multiple investigations ultimately found that more than 1,000 veterans have died while waiting to be seen by a doctor, and employees who dared to blow the whistle on conditions at the facilities have received retaliation while many of those responsible have virtually avoided punishment.
And just when it seems that the VA scandal has been fully explored and exposed, more disturbing revelations appear.
An oversight report by taxpayer watchdog group Open the Books and COX Media Washington, D.C., entitled “The VA Scandal Two Years Later,” reveals that while veterans had been waiting for care and facilities were altering its scheduling books to cover up the lengthy waiting lists, the VA was instead utilizing millions of dollars in financial resources to improve the artistic ambiance of its facilities, among other things.
The seven-page report is based on data obtained through Freedom of Information requests and examines the spending that took place at the VA during the same time period in which the VA has been accused of doctoring patient waiting times and allowing veterans to perish while they awaited care. The report reveals that an exorbitant amount of money was spent on artwork and sculptures, including at facilities wherein the patients were blind.
In an editorial for Forbes, Adam Andrzejewski, founder and CEO of Open the Books, draws attention to the report's findings:
In the now-infamous VA scandal of 2012-2015, the nation was appalled to learn that 1,000 veterans died while waiting to see a doctor. Tragically, many calls to the suicide assistance hotline were answered by voicemail. The health claim appeals process was known as "the hamster wheel" and the appointment books were cooked in seven of every ten clinics.
Yet, in the midst of these horrific failings the VA managed to spend $20 million on high-end art over the last ten years — with $16 million spent during the Obama years.
Items purchased by the VA included two sculptures costing $670,000, which were placed at the new Palo Alto Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center (shown).
“Blind veterans can’t see fancy sculptures, and all veterans would be happier if they could just see a doctor,” Andrzejewski opines.
The report primarily underscores that whatever the reason for the lengthy waiting times at VA facilities, it appears that it is not because of a lack of money.
The VA has in the past defended many purchases of art as being part of "healing gardens" to help soothe wounded soldiers to make them feel comfortable and heal.
The oversight report notes that during the same period of time on which the scandal is focused, nearly $100 billion in salaries and bonuses were paid out to just over 350,000 VA employees. Furthermore, the report found that between 2012 and 2015, the VA added 39,454 new positions to its payroll, of which just one in 11 were “medical officers,” also known as doctors.
Meanwhile, despite the attention that the scandal has received, 500,000 veterans remain on waiting lists for appointments.
Sadly, though the report was published in May of this year, it is only now getting some limited media attention.
GOP nominee Donald Trump immediately reacted to Hillary Clinton’s keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, sending out a series of scathing tweets, hitting her on her economic and foreign policies.
While Clinton referred to Trump several times during her speech, Trump slammed “Hillary’s refusal to mention radical Islam”said she is “owned by Wall Street” and declared that her vision of the future “is a borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs, no safety”.
Hillary will never reform Wall Street. She is owned by Wall Street!
Trump slammed Hillary for being soft on the threat of terrorism, noting that Americans’ “way of life is under threat by Radical Islam and Hillary Clinton cannot even bring herself to say the words.”
Hillary's refusal to mention Radical Islam, as she pushes a 550% increase in refugees, is more proof that she is unfit to lead the country.
Clinton referred to Trump during her speech, asking her supporters to “Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis… A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
Trump’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller also chimed in on Hillary’s speech, describing it as “an insulting collection of clichés and recycled rhetoric.”
“She spent the evening talking down to the American people she’s looked down on her whole life,” Miller said.
“Hillary Clinton says America is stronger together. But in Hillary Clinton’s America, millions of people are left out in the cold.” Miller added, also denouncing Hillary’s “globalist agenda” and saying her keynote address was “a speech delivered from a fantasy universe, not the reality we live in today”.
The Trump campaign also sent out 15 different email shots during Clinton’s hour long speech, all containing the opening line “Hillary’s With Us”, before hitting her on a range of topics.
Examples included “Hillary’s With Us … If You’re A Clinton Foundation Donor (Goldman Sachs Edition)” to “Hillary’s With Us … If You Break The Rules (Secret Server Edition).”
The emails all contained links to news reports and videos documenting Clinton’s involvement in scandals and controversy.
Meanwhile, leftist apologists for Clinton have accused Trump of ‘treason’ for saying that Russia should share Clinton’s 30,000 deleted emails.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said Wednesday, adding “I think you’ll be rewarded mightily by our press.”
The Trump campaign noted that it was laughable to suggest Trump should be charged for treason for pointing out that Clinton’s homemade server left classified material open to being hacked, while Hillary also illegally deleted the material after the FBI began investigating.
Gülen: 'Explode yourselves like a bomb against the U.S.'
Published on Dec 22, 2014
A shocking audio record from 23 November 1979 of Fethullah Gülen has been found. Gülen was the subject of a recent arrest warrant for founding and managing a terror organization and is expected to be requested for extraction from the U.S.
In the audio record, Gülen makes a call for terror about Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and urges Muslims to use violence against the U.S. and non-muslims in a speech given in Bornova Mosque, Izmir.
TERROR HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT~
TARGET: AMERICAN CHILDREN
By Debra Rae July 30, 2016 NewsWithViews.com
Target: Innocent Children
Events surrounding the July 2016 coup in Turkey befuddle onlookers.[1] In its wake, thousands of political enemies to Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erodgen were arrested or purged, and public sector employees were prevented from exiting the country. Erodgen opportunistically declared a state of emergency, thereby facilitating heavy-handed authoritarian rule.[2]
Straightaway Erodgen fingered Fethullah Gülen[3] as the coup’s mastermind. At the time, Gülen’s followers held important positions within judicial, military, and political spheres.[4] Called the “Parallel State” by President Erodgen, the Gülen (Hiznet) Movement[5] has spurred controversy for years. Some even credit Gülen with “running Turkey” from the Poconos.
An Internet web cam preacher, this self-proclaimed “living prophet” is said by many to be a moderate-progressive advocate for tolerance and interfaith dialogue, yet Erodgen alleges Gülen orchestrated the coup from self-imposed exile within the guarded, gated compound of a small Pennsylvania town in the Poconos Mountains.
Fetullah Gülen: Recluse Humanitarian and Scapegoat, or Radical Revolutionary? Ostensibly to fight “poverty, disunity, and ignorance” under leadership of their esteemed imam, several hundreds of followers live with Gülen at the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center in the Poconos. While advocates laud Gülen as a charismatic cleric, scholar, and humanitarian, others label the imam and his five million devotees a “sect” or “cult.”
United by faith, Gülen and Erdogan were one-time allies—this, during the rise of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). After assuming power (2002), Erdogan protected Gülen's opaque businesses, but no longer. Today the two luminaries purportedly disdain one another. Since 2013, when Erdogan closed Gülen’s tutoring centers, the Turkish government has scapegoated the movement for almost every tragedy, failure, and/or conflict in Turkey.
In the mean time, Foreign Policy magazine distinguished Gülen as the world’s Top Public Intellectual (2008); thereafter, he received the New York-based EastWest Institute’s Peace Award (2011). In 2013, Gülen made it onto theTIME 100 List of the most influential people in the world. He was awarded the Gandhi-KingIkeda Award for peace (2015), has held court with the Pope, is praised by Bill Clinton, heartily endorsed by the CIA, and unquestioned by state and local school boards.[6] What’s not to like?
Here’s the rub. Countless observers, including the FBI, allege that Gülen’s “peace movement” needs to be taken seriously as a “radical threat.” Among America’s top experts on Turkey and the Middle East former CIA agent Graham Fuller takes exception. With Fuller’s endorsement, Fethullah Gülen gained access to our country, purportedly for needed healthcare. When asked by Erodgen to return Gülen to Turkey, Fuller responded, “no,” and President Obama agreed. Despite controversy associated with his namesake movement, Gülen had been awarded extended visa status.
Revolution Hidden in Plain Sight
The FBI determined Fethullah Gülen to be a “radical Islamist.” The network is outlawed in Russia and Uzbekistan, and it’s under investigation in the Netherlands. Yet friends of Gülen in Obama’s White House, the CIA, and Clinton’s State Department prevented the FBI from indicting and deporting Gu¨len.
This Turkey-indicted, exiled imam is credited with establishing a lucrative network of charter schools—by definition, deregulated, unaccountable, privately managed public schools that are partially funded by American taxpayers. Incredibly, Texans eschew Common Core, but nonetheless welcome fifty-two of Gülen’s madrasas. Ohio welcomes seventeen.
Critics contend that H-1B visas were designed for companies to employ highly skilled, temporary foreign workers in biotechnology, chemistry, engineering, and other specialized fields. In reality, no one applies for more H-1B visas than Fethullah Gülen, who’s bringing in large (and growing) numbers of Turkish teachers, K-12. The object, many contend, is to “force feed” American children “radical Islamic” educational programs and incentives.
Despite alleged immigration fraud—not to mention FBI raids, possible scandal involving a national Internet program, bribes, and kickbacks—some 155 Gülen charter schools in twenty-five states (and counting) cost American taxpayers about $150 million each year; plus, no deportations, nor arrests, have ensued. Sadly, this anomaly is in tenor with Brennan’s CIA, which openly supports public school Islamic indoctrination, as fundamentally developed by the George Soros-supported Center for American Progress and by Fethullah Gülen himself.[7]
Follow the Money Beyond Education
Gülen aims to reach all power centers. In Turkey, Gülen’s reach extended to his own newspapers, television stations, and banks. Worldwide, Gülen runs thousands of secular educational institutions, hospitals, dialogue centers, and relief programs. Impressively, one thousand Gülen schools in 180 countries educate over sixty thousand students (with thirty thousand on waiting lists). In Turkey, Gülen called his network of private schools/ tutoring and dormitories “houses of light.” The movement is known for violence abroad, yet Gülen Charter Schools in the United States are effectively disguised by similarly nondescript names—e.g., Concept, Horizon Science Academy, Paragon, Sonoran, LISA Academy, and Magnolia.
Gülen believes it’s sinful not to seek ways to acquire wealth.[8] Problem is, the source of his immense wealth is unclear. Partially supported by moneyed foundations (i.e., Gates, Dell, Walmart), Gülen Charter Schools naturally invite corruption and crony capitalism. American taxpayers likewise support salaries of Turkish teachers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Disturbingly, their inflated incomes are skimmed twenty to forty percent. Kickbacks—i.e., mandated “tithes”—serve non-educational agendas abroad. Ostensibly, revolutionary interests have benefitted handsomely from the Gülen windfall.
Hijacking the Charter School Movement
Some contend that the charter school network is key to cherry picking underprivileged, and therefore easily molded, children for the express purpose of radicalization. So why would an exiled revolutionary imam be allowed to educate American school children at taxpayers’ expense? Why do overly compensated teachers from Turkey work without teaching licenses in public charter schools? And why, in some cases, are Turks imported into the States to teach (of all things) English?
One reason is that Newsweek voted two Harmony Schools among America’s Top Ten. American educators today tend to eliminate classroom competition in the name of egalitarianism. Deserving or not, all students get awards. In contrast, Gu¨len’s schools foster healthy competition for boys and girls alike. This policy appeals to ambitious parents who, to their credit, value healthy competition and measurable academic achievement.
Add to that Gülen’s emphasis on STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). Impressive Gülen initiated Science Fairs stair-step the profile of the Hiznet movement; however, it’s claimed, students merely showcase projects that adults craft.
Thirdly, practice of hands-on, guided discovery methodology inspires students, whose summer studies take them to the exotic shores of Turkey to experience Turkish nationalism and identity. Presently, a Congressional Investigation is underway on the ethics of public servants courted by the movement who enjoy similarly choice trips.
Empowered through Intimidation
Against recommendations of legal counsel, a specially convened internal committee, and district residents, the Islamic Cultural Association in Michigan benefitted from a quietly negotiated, no-bid, below-market sale of valuable Farmington Public Schools property. Why? Intimidation prompted the sale (Ann Arbor, MI, 10 August 2012).
When even a hint of malfeasance, as demonstrated above, shadows the education of American school children, a closer look is warranted.[10] Risk-taking documentary filmmaker, award-winning producer/ director, and attorney Mark S. Hall apparently agrees. His recently released, feature-length documentary film, Killing Ed (2016), takes an in-depth, first-hand look at the Gülen Movement.[11] Too much is at stake to yawn in the face of anomalies associated with Fethullah Gülen and his furtive enterprises. Our kids deserve better.
Under Barack Obama, National Debt Increases $100 Million Every Hour of Every Day
