Amid Paris Attacks, 5 More Released from Gitmo

Barack left the country too, headed for Turkey.

The nefarious outside legal council group CCR, which was assigned by former Attorney General Eric Holder is the group of lawyers of record for many of the detainees.

Pentagon Transfers 5 Guantanamo Detainees to the UAE as Battle Over Closure Heats Up

Days ahead of signing a legislative freeze on Guantanamo into law, the president defiantly moves five

Files: al Rahzihi    al Qadasi 

al Asani     al Busays     al Nahdi

Hours after President Barack Obama took off for the G20 conference in Turkey, another plane was wheels up, carrying five detainees from the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates.

The move of Ali Ahmad Muhammad al-Razihi, Khalid Abd-al-Jabbar Muhammad Uthman al-Qadasi, Adil Said al-Hajj Ubayd al-Busays, Sulayman Awad Bin Uqayl al-Nahdi, and Fahmi Salem Said al-Asani brings the total population to 107, with 48 more cleared to go.

The transfer comes just days ahead of Obama signing the annual defense authorization bill, in which lawmakers extended and added restrictions intended to freeze such moves into 2017, potentially dooming Obama’s campaign pledge and 2009 order to close Guantanamo.

The administration insists it will continue to use the transfers to chip away at the population. Sunday’s transfer also follows a string of single moves in recent weeks, a sign that a bureaucratic logjam at the Pentagon has loosened under presidential pressure.

But officials have acknowledged they won’t be able to achieve their goal of emptying the prison — or at least getting the population so low the cost of keeping them in Cuba becomes indefensibly high — unless they are able to move larger groups of detainees, such as they did Sunday, rather than one-by-one.

 

 

The move also takes on a defiant tone amid preemptive political outcry over the Obama administration’s ever-imminent plan to close Guantanamo, which officials say will include a series of options for alternative sites in the U.S., and its refusal to rule out executive action to ultimately shutter the facility in Cuba.

FBI: Hillary and Gross Negligence

We cant officially know at the point who on Hillary’s team has met with the FBI and made statements or answered questions, Conversations with the FBI are not under oath, but still making false statements or responses is a felony. It must also be noted that even Barack Obama said he was NOT aware of a private server but did know and in fact the White House did communicate with Hillary and her team via private, non-governmental email addresses.

It is noteworthy that this snippet of news of the FBI widening their investigation is even in the public domain. The FBI is reviewing all emails to determine themselves which should be classified and those that are not deemed so. If Hillary never revealed to Obama himself that she was using a private server and providing him notice is itself a standard to prosecute her.

Documents and information includes: any material in written form, books, sketches, photographs, blueprints, maps, notes documents, plans or comments.

FBI expands probe of Clinton emails, launches independent classification review

FNC: The FBI has expanded its probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails, with agents exploring whether multiple statements violate a federal false statements statute, according to intelligence sources familiar with the ongoing case.

Fox News is told agents are looking at U.S. Code 18, Section 1001, which pertains to “materially false” statements given either in writing, orally or through a third party. Violations also include pressuring a third party to conspire in a cover-up. Each felony violation is subject to five years in prison.

This phase represents an expansion of the FBI probe, which is also exploring potential violations of an Espionage Act provision relating to “gross negligence” in the handling of national defense information.

“The agents involved are under a lot of pressure and are busting a–,” an intelligence source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, told Fox News.

The section of the criminal code being explored is known as “statements or entries generally,” and can be applied when an individual makes misleading or false statements causing federal agents to expend additional resources and time. In this case, legal experts as well as a former FBI agent said, Section 1001 could apply if Clinton, her aides or attorney were not forthcoming with FBI agents about her emails, classification and whether only non-government records were destroyed. It is not publicly known who may have been interviewed.

Fox News judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said the same section got Martha Stewart in trouble with the FBI. To be a violation, the statements do not need to be given under oath.

“This is a broad, brush statute that punishes individuals who are not direct and fulsome in their answers,” former FBI intelligence officer Timothy Gill told Fox News. Gill is not connected to the email investigation, but spent 16 years as part of the bureau’s national security branch, and worked the post 9/11 anthrax case where considerable time was spent resolving discrepancies in Bruce Ivins’ statements and his unusual work activities at Fort Detrick, Md.

“It is a cover-all. The problem for a defendant is when their statements cause the bureau to expend more time, energy, resources to de-conflict their statements with the evidence,” he said.

Separately, two U.S. government officials told Fox News that the FBI is doing its own classification review of the Clinton emails, effectively cutting out what has become a grinding process at the State Department. Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy has argued to both Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Congress that the “Top Secret” emails on Clinton’s server could have been pulled from unclassified sources including news reports.

“You want to go right to the source,” Gill said. “Go to the originating, not the collateral, authority. Investigative protocol would demand that.”

On Friday, Clapper spokesman Brian Hale confirmed that no change has been made to the two “Top Secrets” emails after a Politico report said the intelligence community was retreating from the finding.

“ODNI has made no such determination and the review is ongoing,” Hale said. Andrea G. Williams, spokeswoman for the intelligence community inspector general, said she had the same information. Kennedy is seeking an appeal, but no one can explain what statute or executive order would give Clapper that authority.

A U.S. government official who was not authorized to speak on the record said the FBI is identifying suspect emails, and then going directly to the agencies who originated them and therefore own the intelligence — and who, under the regulations, have final say on the classification.

As Fox News previously reported, at least four classified Clinton emails had their markings changed to a category that shields the content from Congress and the public, in what State Department whistleblowers believed to be an effort to hide the true extent of classified information on the former secretary of state’s server.

One State Department lawyer involved in the alleged re-categorization was Kate Duval. Duval once worked in the same law firm as Clinton’s current and long-time lawyer David Kendall and at the IRS during the Lois Lerner email controversy. Duval left government service for private practice in mid-September.

 

VA Scheduler Whistleblower/Confessions

FNC report and video here. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald has made a point of giving out his personal contact information, to show how accessible he is as he works to overhaul the embattled agency.

But the bid backfired Thursday, after he urged one famous veteran dealing with poor treatment to contact him. When “Fox & Friends” tried his number, they reached his voicemail — and got a message to call back later as his voicemail was “full.”

– Bay Area veterans say they’re still facing excessive wait times for benefits and health care. The VA Inspector General found 307,000 veterans may have died waiting for access to the VA health care system.

Veterans who do get enrolled say significant delays for medical service persist.

“They gave me an appointment six months down the road, and then called to say they had to cancel,” said Winter Haven veteran Keith Brown. “It can be a year before you get the actual appointment.”

That conflicts with information provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which showing wait times have improved following the VA scandal of 2014.

Nick McSwain says there may be a reason for that. He said when he worked as a VA scheduler through the beginning of 2015, he was told to disregard patients’ desired dates for appointment, then note the actual scheduled date as the ‘desired’ date — thereby showing no delay based on what veterans requested.

“It says ‘What is the desired date’ (in the system) and instead of using that date, we use the appointment we actually give them so it shows no gap,” said McSwain.

He also claims veterans who complained had to wait even longer for future appointments.

“Vets who should have been seen top priority were passed over because of the way providers feel about this guy. They’d say ‘I hate this guy’ or ‘he’s annoying,” said McSwain, w

ho also noted that consults for specialty health care piled up when he worked in a scheduling center. “There have been times when stacks of consults disappeared.”

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis said his district offices have opened 314 VA-related cases since January 2, 2015, pertaining to both benefits and health care.

FOX 13 asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to a range of questions and issues raised by Thompson, Brown, and other veterans. The department answered our questions and provided data to show the VA is making progress and notable improvements since the national VA scandal broke in 2014.

The VA provided the following snapshot of data through November 1, 2015:

  1. Between June 1, 2014, and November 1, 2015, the electronic wait list (EWL) went from 56,271 appointments to 46,146, a 17.99 percent reduction.
  2. VHA created 2.5 million authorizations for Veterans to receive care in the private sector from October 29, 2014 through October 28, 2015. This represents a 3 percent increase in authorizations when compared to the same period in 2013/2014.

A spokeswoman at the James Haley Veterans Hospital and clinics also sent us an email including the following statement and response to our questions.

“James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and Clinics is a continuous improvement organization. We are always looking to improve processes and quality of care for our patients and their caregivers. As a matter of fact, we will be participating in the national VA Access Stand Down this Saturday. The Department of Veterans Affairs is committed to providing timely access to Veterans as determined by their clinical needs.  On Saturday, November 14, VA medical centers across the country will participate in a first ever National Access Stand Down.  A team of clinical leaders, administrators and volunteers will be on site at every VA medical center to reach out to all Veterans identified as having the most important and acute needs to make sure they can be seen either in VA or in the community – including here at JAHVH…”

The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital answered our questions as follows:

What are the current average wait times for primary care, specialty care and mental health care?

Our wait-times are published every two weeks, the same as other VA facilities and current and historical wait time and access data can be reviewed at: http://www.va.gov/health/access-audit.asp

Currently James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and Clinics average wait times are 1.33 days for Primary Care, 6.33 days for Specialty Care (just as in the public sector, length can vary significantly by Specialty Clinics) and 3.66 days for Mental Health.

JAHVH has more than 90,000 unique patients and we schedule between 4,000-5,000 appointments daily in all areas of our medical facilities and at our outpatient clinics and receive more than 46,000 consults per month in FY 15.

Every new consult is reviewed by a clinical provider as part of the triage process to determine the clinical urgency of the request. Patients are seen as soon as possible based on clinical review – the more acute the need – the faster the patient is scheduled for an appointment on average.
Do lengthy hold times by phone to schedule a doctor or specialist persist? 

Our average wait time to answer the phone is 49 seconds in FY 15 (the national goal is less than 30 seconds) and our abandonment rate is 3.9% (the national goal is less than 5%), but depending on the location within the medical center a person is calling, hold times and speed to answer the phones can vary. We recognize this can be one of the biggest areas of dissatisfaction with patients and the medical center has established a workgroup that is working to improve telephone access to all areas. Additionally, patients are encouraged to use secure messaging if possible to consult with their health care providers.

Are there safeguards to prevent veterans seeking medical appointments from being left on hold indefinitely?  If so, can they be worked around?

The phone system has different features throughout the medical center based on the volume of calls and staffing level of clinic areas.  One tool we use in high volume areas is the Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) lines. These lines will automatically roll over to the next available operator after a certain length of time. Also some clinics are piloting the use a call back feature for patients who choose not to wait on hold.  Secure messaging is always another option that patients can use to communicate with their providers, and if a patient has difficulty reaching a provider, we encourage patients to reach out to the Service Liaisons or Patient Advocates Office.

Do veterans in the Tampa Bay area continue to encounter lengthy delays to see a doctor or specialist once appointments are booked?

Again, wait times vary based on the type of care, but our average wait times range from 1.33 to 6.33 days. If a patient is unable to be seen at our facilities within 30 days of the clinically indicated/preferred date, that patient is offered care through the Choice program and is then eligible to receive care in the community. Wait times in the community can also be lengthy based on the availability of certain specialty care required and can be a longer wait than VA care in some cases.

We are continuously and proactively reviewing our high demand specialty areas to help further increase capacity and efficiencies. For example, we do “Super Saturday Clinics” in both Ortho and GI to reduce some of the current patient wait times and are actively working to fill vacant provider positions. JAHVH hiring emphasis has been on Patient Aligned Care Teams (Primary Care) and high demand Specialty Care Services to increase access, including Orthopedics, GI, Ophthalmology and Radiology and we’ve filled over 100 new FTE positions under VACAA funding including providers, nurses and support positions.

During FY 14, JAHVH activated more than 300,000 square feet of new space, which opened up space for specialty care to expand. JAHVH increased specialty care spaces from 34 to 84 exam rooms for a net increase of about 150%, including an additional:

  • 18 in Ortho
  • 14 in GI
  • 17 in Neurology to open in first quarter of FY16

Additionally, extended hours and weekend appointments are offered at Tampa, New Port Richey Outpatient Clinic, and Lakeland Community Based Outpatient Clinic.

How are consults (enabling veterans to seek specialty care) organized and accounted for to prevent them from getting lost?

Consults are managed and organized in compliance with the National Consult Management Business Rules. All notes are kept in individual patient records.

JAHVH also has a Consult Management Committee (CMC) and designated consult managers within each service who are responsible for ensuring the consults do not get lost. The CMC is a standing medical center-level committee designated to receive, monitor, analyze and address all aspects of consult management to meet the facility’s mission and commitment to timeliness of care, provide support to enhance communication of Veterans’ needs, and outcome of treatment.  As part of these activities, the CMC functions to coordinate the assessment, implementation, and management of consults and related VISTA structures with all other appropriate entities and reports these activities as appropriate. The CMC identifies opportunities for improvement, and recommends corrective action plans.

Have schedulers within the VA health care system ever been told by VA management to disregard regulations in any way?

Schedulers are trained to follow all scheduling guidelines. Refresher training is provided to schedulers when scheduling errors are identified through observation, periodic and scheduled audits, etc. There was refresher scheduling training completed for all staff who have scheduling options conducted between July – September 2015. Any staff that did not complete this training had their scheduling access removed.

Specifically, have schedulers been told to disregard ‘desired’ appointment dates, to avoid gaps between ‘desired’ dates and scheduled dates?  

Employees are fully and regularly trained and should never disregard regulations when making an appointment for patients. JAHVH is audited by both internal and external organizations to review and ensure data and appointment policies and procedures are followed correctly.  JAHVH executive leadership does not advocate or condone any data manipulation or scheduling irregularities. Should an instance of irregularity be identified, it would be reviewed and corrective action would be taken as necessary.

Have veterans who complain about poor service or delays been adversely affected (with longer waits) as a result of their complaints?

We encourage anyone with a specific concern to contact the hospital’s team of Patient Advocacy Specialists that work as liaisons for the Director’s Office and are on staff specifically to assist Veterans with any issues or concerns they may have. Additionally, we have Service Liaisons, who field incoming calls from Veterans and either answer their questions or route the individuals to the appropriate office to handle their concerns. JAHVH follows national scheduling guidelines and reviews all appointment and consult requests to ensure they are scheduled timely according to the patients’ clinical needs and condition.

For veterans who complain they are unable to utilize their choice cards as they would like, how does VA respond?

JAHVH follows the CHOICE Program rules based on the VACAA law that state a Veteran is eligible for non-VA care in the community if he/she lives more than 40 miles from a VA Facility (to include CBOCs even if they don’t offer the specialty) or if based on long wait times (patients that have an appointment scheduled greater than 30 days from when the clinically indicated/preferred date). Veterans may file an “excessive burden” appeal. Additionally, on July 31, 2015, the President signed Public Law 114-41, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. Title IV, the VA Budget and Choice Improvement Act, makes several changes to the Veterans Choice Program. We are currently awaiting implementation guidance of these changes. More information about the choice program can be found: http://www.va.gov/opa/choiceact/

 

Homegrown Jihad, in Our Backyard, Ohio

From the FBI/Justice Department:

The 33 page Criminal Complaint is found here.

Ohio Man Arrested for Soliciting the Murder of Members of the U.S. Military

An Akron, Ohio, man was arrested today on federal charges that he solicited the murder of members of the U.S. military.

Terrence J. McNeil, 25, appeared in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Ohio after being charged with one count of solicitation of a crime of violence.

The charge was announced by Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach of the Northern District of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony of the FBI’s Cleveland Division.

“According to the allegations in the complaint, Terrence McNeil solicited the murder of members of our military by disseminating ISIL’s violent rhetoric, circulating detailed U.S. military personnel information, and explicitly calling for the killing of American service members in their homes and communities,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin.  “ISIL and its followers continue to use social media in an attempt to incite violence around the world, including in the United States.  The National Security Division’s highest priority is counterterrorism and we will use all of our tools to disrupt threats and acts of violence against our military members and their families.”

“As this nation honors our veterans, we must make clear that we will not tolerate threats of violence against our service members,” said U.S. Attorney Dettelbach.  “This defendant is charged with urging harm to our men and women in uniform and will now answer for those threats.”

“While we aggressively defend First Amendment rights, the individual arrested went far beyond free speech by reposting names and addresses of 100 U.S. service members, all with the intent to have them killed,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony.  “We will remain vigilant in our efforts to stop those who wish to support these despicable acts.”

According to an affidavit filed in the case:

McNeil professed his support on social media on numerous occasions for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

On or about Sept. 24, 2015, using a Tumblr account, McNeil reblogged a file with the banner “Islamic State Hacking Division,” followed by “Target: United States Military” and “Leak: Addresses of 100 U.S. Military Personnel.”

The file type is a .gif file, which allows multiple still images to be looped in one file, with a timed delay between each image.  The text of the first file reads “O Brothers in America, know that the jihad against the crusaders is not limited to the lands of the Khilafah, it is a world-wide jihad and their war is not just a war against the Islamic State, it is a war against Islam…Know that it is wajib (translated to “necessary”) for you to kill these kuffar! and now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for? Kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe…”

The file then loops several dozen photographs, purportedly of U.S. military personnel, along with their respective name, address and military branch.

The final image looped is a picture of a handgun and a knife with text that reads “…and kill them wherever you find them…”

A charge is not evidence of guilt.  It is the government’s burden to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, and a defendant is presumed innocent until that time.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Cleveland.  This case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Ohio and the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

 

Mizzou: White House, “Its on Us”

Fabricate a problem and then ride in on a white steed to solve the problem and those invited to the White House and willing accomplices or rather useful idiots to have their own individual moments in the sun.

There are countless moving parts including ‘The Hunting Ground’.

UMN student govt: 9/11 remembrance would violate our safe space

From the White House press office: FACT SHEET: Launch of the “It’s On Us” Public Awareness Campaign to Help Prevent Campus Sexual Assault

Proof this is the White House when it comes to Mizzou and other campuses? It also involves the NCAA, meaning football hence the reason the football team went on strike an did not practice.

From the White House website: President Obama Launches the “It’s On Us” Campaign to End Sexual Assault on Campus

It’s on us — all of us — to stop sexual assault. Here are a few tips on what you can do to be part of the solution:

  1. Talk to your friends honestly and openly about sexual assault.
  2. Don’t just be a bystander — if you see something, intervene in any way you can.
  3. Trust your gut. If something looks like it might be a bad situation, it probably is.
  4. Be direct. Ask someone who looks like they may need help if they’re ok.
  5. Get someone to help you if you see something — enlist a friend, RA, bartender, or host to help step in.
  6. Keep an eye on someone who has had too much to drink.
  7. If you see someone who is too intoxicated to consent, enlist their friends to help them leave safely.
  8. Recognize the potential danger of someone who talks about planning to target another person at a party.
  9. Be aware if someone is deliberately trying to intoxicate, isolate, or corner someone else.
  10. Get in the way by creating a distraction, drawing attention to the situation, or separating them.
  11. Understand that if someone does not or cannot consent to sex, it’s rape.
  12. Never blame the victim.

If you are a victim or survivor, or helping someone in that situation, go to notalone.gov to get the resources and information you need. You can also call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. 

The NCAA, Big Ten conferences, MTV, VH1, and a few others you might recognize have already made a personal commitment to help stop sexual assault. See why — then join them in taking the pledge at ItsOnUs.orgThe full document is here.

There is more from the White House, ‘Get off the Sidelines’.

Summary:
Our responsibility is to get off of the sidelines. Don’t just be a bystander: Intervene when you see someone who might be at risk of sexual assault. That’s what this It’s On Us message — narrated by actor Jon Hamm — is all about.

It’s estimated that one in five women is sexually assaulted while she’s in college. It most often occurs in her freshman or sophomore year, by someone she knows.

And it’s on every one of us to stop that trend.

Our responsibility is to get off of the sidelines. Don’t just be a bystander: Intervene when you see someone who might be at risk.

That’s what the new It’s On Us message — narrated by actor Jon Hamm — is all about. Watch the video, then take the pledge to help prevent campus sexual assault. The full document is here.