VETERANS EDUCATION SUCCESS RELEASES CASE STUDY OF DECEPTIVE WEBSITE: “MILITARY FRIENDLY SCHOOLS”
Case Study Helps Policymakers Understand the Deceptive Websites Targeting Veterans and Servicemembers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Veterans Education Success released a report, “Understanding Misleading Websites and ‘Lead Generators’: A Case Study: Victory Media’s ‘Military Friendly Schools.’” The report (available here) is designed to help policymakers understand the problem of deceptive websites that target veterans and servicemembers.
“It is widely known that veterans and servicemembers are targeted with aggressive and deceptive recruiting by predatory colleges that want the GI Bill. But there is less understanding of how predatory companies go about it,” explained Veterans Education Success President Carrie Wofford. “The problem of ‘lead generators’ is an obscure policy issue, but it has great impact on veterans. Victory Media’s so-called ‘Military Friendly Schools’ is an important case study because many veterans are tricked by it. Veterans don’t realize that this website is, in fact, a pay-to-play scheme that promotes schools that are definitely not military-friendly.”
The report includes screenshots and images from Victory Media’s website and materials that document how Victory Media captures veterans’ personal information and sells it to schools; sends marketing emails to veterans to push veterans to enroll at colleges characterized by the bad student outcomes and law enforcement concern about defrauded students; and engages in a pay-to-play system to promote schools that pay Victory Media for marketing, advertising, and access to the personal information of service members and veterans.
In short, Victory Media’s “Military Friendly Schools” offer below-average education at a high cost to veterans, their families, and the U.S. government. In turn, these subprime colleges have used the “Military Friendly” designation to pitch their schools.
The concerns about Victory Media’s Military Friendly Schools list can be summarized as follows:
(1) Victory Media's list of “military friendly schools” is a pay-to-play list that Victory Media pushes on military bases, even in TAP classes, and in VA hospitals and centers.
(2) According to a US Army INCOM HQ contractor analysis, the list of “military friendly schools” last year included 257 schools that aren't even approved for US Defense Department (DOD) Tuition Assistance. If these schools aren't good enough for DOD approval, how can they be called “military friendly”?
(3) Victory Media makes money by capturing and selling veterans’ and service members’ personal information. Specifically, its website induces service members and veterans to submit their personal information, which Victory Media then uses to urge schools to purchase Victory Media packages of e-mails and other methods pitching service members and veterans with aggressive, deceptive recruiting.
(4) Victory Media accepts money from schools to promote the schools. Schools can buy “packages” of email blasts and branding, including promotion on the Military Friendly Schools list and website, and banners and stars proclaiming how military friendly they are. Some of the worst quality schools under a law enforcement cloud for consumer fraud pay the most for the biggest stars and banners and the highest promotion on the website, and the most email blasts to veterans and service members. This leads veterans and service members to feel deceived because they think the “Military Friendly” ratings, rankings, stars, and banners are legitimate, especially since they’re handed out on military bases and in VA hospitals and centers.
The impact on veterans and servicemembers is terrible.
As one Navy veteran explained, “I was in the Navy for 20 years and every month a new copy of [Victory Media’s] GI Jobs printed magazine would show up in the work center! It always had good job seeker information in it for after service. So when I retired and went to check out colleges, the for-profit college Brown Mackie had a 3x5 foot vinyl banner hanging on the front of the building touting it as one of GI Jobs’ top 100 “military friendly colleges”! I saw it and it had a major impact on me before I even went inside to inquire. Little did I know it was a scam school. I never ever heard of a for-profit college? I thought all colleges being funded by the VA were vetted and screened before funding was approved by the GI Bill....I trusted GI Jobs and the VA. I would have never signed up if I knew the truth ahead of time. Now 3 years later this college is out of business! My credits don't transfer to Disney World. It was a hard lesson and I am shocked that I got taken a sucker.”
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OPERATION UNDERGROUND RAILROAD COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL OPERATION IN HAITI, SAVING 29 GIRLS
O.U.R. partnered with Haiti's Minor Protection Brigade in undercover sting, arresting 9 traffickers
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) announced that the group, partnering with Haiti's Minor Protection Brigade (BPM) and Haitian authorities, has successfully completed Operation Sainte Jou (Holy Day), an undercover rescue mission that resulted in the arrest of 9 traffickers and rescue of 29 girls suspected to be sex trafficking victims. O.U.R. went to Haiti at the invitation of BPM and acted under legal authority of the Haitian government. O.U.R. spent two months, alongside Haitian officials, developing this investigation, meeting with the traffickers, and setting up the operation to ensure the safety of the victims and jump team.
"This counts as one of our most successful operations to date. More than two dozen girls are now liberated, and with our continued support, do not have to return to a life where they are victims of the most depraved and evil in society. We hope to continue partnering with Haitian authorities to share and learn new investigation techniques and technology to ensure that pedophiles who prey upon the young have no place visiting Haiti. We are impressed with the Haitian government's desire to do the right thing. O.U.R. remains committed to doing all it can to empower law enforcement in the U.S. and around the world to fight horrendous crimes of child exploitation and trafficking, ”said Founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad Tim Ballard.
O.U.R. has built a rehabilitation groundwork with the government and local partners to ensure victims can return to their parents where possible or into vetted safe houses where not. The local aftercare experts met with the girls directly after the operation and were able to meet with many of their parents to provide them with anti-human trafficking awareness and sensitivity training. O.U.R.'s work continues around the world. Since it was founded in 2013, Operation Underground Railroad has rescued 643 victims and arrested 273 traffickers.
About Operation Underground Railroad: O.U.R. is a non-profit organization that rescues children from slavery. O.U.R. rescue teams are comprised of highly skilled ex-Navy SEALs, Special Forces, CIA and other operatives. O.U.R.'s work has gained international media coverage on CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, Fox News Sunday, PBS Religion and Ethics, The Washington Post, The New York Post and The Blaze among others.
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Jonathan Carey "Champion for the Disabled" Born September 12,1993 Killed by caregivers on February 15,2007
Gov. Cuomo continues to ignore the safety and lives of people with disabilities as his agencies keep crimes and deaths from local authorities and auditors
The cover-ups are massive in scope and the Medicaid fraud scheme involving billions of federal tax dollars is being protected and shielded by Cuomo’s fraudulent and corrupt Justice Center. ”
— Michael Carey
DELMAR, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, March 7, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The cover-ups are massive in scope and the Medicaid fraud scheme involving billions of federal tax dollars is being protected and shielded by Cuomo’s fraudulent and corrupt Justice Center. The New York State legislature must take swift action to shut down this whitewash cover-up entity where justice goes to die. Today’s AP news story http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/apnewsbreak-audit-ny-investigators-disabled-stonewall-45948071 regarding the obstruction even of the State audit further exposes the State and federal crimes that I have brought to the attention of authorities which include Obstruction of Justice, Criminal Conspiracy, Public Corruption, Medicaid Fraud, failure to report, falsification of official records and reports etc.
All attempts of mine to get the Cuomo administration to stop these wide-scale criminal activities that protect and shield sexual predators, pedophiles and those that physically harm or kill innocent children and adults with disabilities in known unsafe care facilities and group homes are ignored. It is literally as if people with disabilities are not considered human beings and therefore discriminated against and denied safe care, denied emergency 911 first responder medical and police services and denied their equal right to equal protection of laws.
The governor has claimed in his political grandstanding that he is disabled http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/01/29/cuomo-travel-ban-hotline/ , when he is not disabled and he is doing absolutely nothing significant to ensure that 1,000,000 New Yorkers with disabilities are finally treated equally. The governor has not taken any dramatic steps to stop or prevent the rampant physical and sexual abuse or the staggering numbers of deaths occurring within his agencies. Well over 7,000 calls a month are reported to Cuomo’s abuse hotline for the disabled instead of 911 call centers and almost everything is disappearing internally. Almost all reported sexual assaults and rapes of the disabled are kept from local police, kept from being criminally investigated and kept from County elected District Attorney’s so that they cannot be prosecuted. This scheme is to protect New York State and its working and financial private provider agency partners from lawsuits. Instead of actually using the massive amounts of State and federal money to provide safe care that is free from abuse and neglect, the Cuomo administration has chosen to cover up most of the damages and loss of lives. Here are the staggering numbers of deaths; 11-12 people with disabilities or those struggling with mental illness are dying every day on average in New York State’s extremely dangerous and deadly system. These numbers are astronomical in scope and many of these precious individuals are dying prematurely due to criminal negligence. How they are being covered-up regularly by Cuomo’s wrongfully named Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs agency is by purposefully not notifying the police and County Medical Examiners or Coroners. I am attaching the actual link where Jay Kiyonaga who helped put this scheme together is directing provider agencies to investigate deaths within their own facilities https://www.justicecenter.ny.gov/sites/default/files/documents/JusticeCenterDeathReportingClarification12-17-15.pdf. The law requires Medical Examiners and Coroners to be swiftly notified so they can respond, investigate, take statements from witnesses, do an initial written report and take possession of the body so they can do an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Cuomo’s Justice Center according to numerous official documents obtained through FOIL reveal that most deaths are purposefully never reported to County Medical Examiners and Coroners, so that they can be easily covered-up. Cuomo’s craftily named and spun abuse hotline really is primarily a well organized criminal enterprise to hide the extreme damages from local authorities, the families as well as the Office of Medicaid Inspector General. The individual wrongful death cases settlements could be in the multiple millions, but the loss of federal Medicaid money could be in the hundreds of millions, if not billions. This is why the Cuomo administration has obstructed the Comptrollers audit which I requested in January of 2015.
I am attaching the links to the award winning New York Times “Abused & Used” investigative reporting series that I was able to convince the Times to do which exposes these horrors that never have been fixed, they continue now worse than ever http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/nyregion/abused-and-used-series-page.html?_r=0. Why Governor Cuomo chose to go the direct opposite direction that he should have is for him to answer. Instead of taking dramatic steps to stop the wide-scale discrimination and rampant abuse and neglect the governor chose to cover-up these horrors. Some other important links to horrific sexual abuse stories and the tragic death of my son Jonathan hopefully will awake many people to these atrocities and criminal cover-ups occurring so that they can be stopped. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/new-york-pay-3m-family-boy-molested-group-home-article-1.2977392 . This story is about a New York State employed caregiver molesting a disabled child whenever he wanted; he called where he worked “a predators dream.” The next piece from the NY Times “Abused & Used” series which was a runner up for a Pulitzer Prize details how a sexual predator was caught in the act and that he was still protected and shielded by New York State http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13homes.html . Here is the extremely disturbing quote from this investigative report; “At a home upstate in Hudson Falls, two days before Christmas in 2006, an employee discovered her supervisor, Ricky W. Sousie, in the bedroom of a severely disabled, 54-year-old woman. Mr. Sousie, a stocky man with wispy hair, was standing between the woman’s legs. His pants were around his ankles, his hand was on her knee and her diaper was pulled down. The police were called, and semen was found on the victim. But the state did not seek to discipline Mr. Sousie. Instead, it transferred him to work at another home.”
My precious son Jonathan died in State care. Jonathan had autism, he was developmentally disabled and non-verbal and only 13 when he was killed by his New York State employed caregivers http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/boys-death-highlights-crisis-in-homes-for-disabled.html and https://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/100000000849083/a-failure-to-protect.html
These horrors must be stopped. No longer can the disabled be treated as a lesser valuable group of people and denied their basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and be denied 911 emergency services and assistance. Preventing our most vulnerable from receiving immediate emergency police assistance is denying this special group of people their equal right to equal protection of laws which also denies them justice. This is dead wrong and it is discrimination in civil rights. Stand with us for “equal rights” and “civil rights” for people with disabilities in New York State and throughout our great country by signing our petition at www.jonathancareyfoundation.org. No longer can 911 be bypassed. 911 call systems must be immediately called by all mandated reporters regarding all physical and sexual abuse, gross negligence of care, significant and suspicious injuries and when a person with a disability is in medical distress or has stopped breathing. http://jonathancareyfoundation.org/donate/
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New book recounts remarkable migrations of Polynesians
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii – Jeffrey L. Gross first lived in the Hawaiian Islands during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, when he became interested in Polynesian history and traditional culture that led to the research for his book titled “Waipi’o Valley: A Polynesian Journey from Eden to Eden VOLUME 1” (published by Xlibris). His realization of the ancient origins of the Polynesians and their historic ocean voyages which is perhaps the most amazing migration in human history became his inspiration for writing this book.
This book recounts the remarkable migrations of the Polynesians across a third of the circumference of the earth. Their amazing journey began from Kalana i Hau’ola, the biblical “Garden of Eden” located along the shore of the Persian Gulf, extended to the Indus River Valley of ancient Vedic India, to Egypt where some ancestors of the Polynesians were on the Israelite Exodus, through Island Southeast Asia and across the Pacific Ocean. They voyaged thousands of miles in double-hull canoes constructed from hollowed-out logs, built with Stone Age tools and navigated by the stars of the night sky. The Polynesians resided on numerous tropical islands before reaching Waipi’o Valley, the last Polynesian “Garden of Eden.”
There are no other books about Polynesia like it,” Gross says. “Polynesian cultural and religious beliefs retain elements from mankind’s vanishing cultural past. Polynesians have complex societies from their extensive interaction and cultural diffusion from ancient civilizations they encountered on their migrations from Sumer, Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley of ancient India, Egypt and Island Southeast Asia.”
Through the publication of this book, Gross hopes readers will appreciate the connection between ancient cultures and beliefs and those of the modern world.
“Waipi’o Valley”
By Jeffrey L. Gross
Hardcover | 8.5 x 11in | 236 pages | ISBN 9781524545949
Softcover | 8.5 x 11in | 236 pages | ISBN 9781524539061
E-Book | 236 pages | ISBN 9781524539054
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Jeffrey L. Gross is an architect living in the State of Hawaii. Born in Washington, D.C., he graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and first lived in the Hawaiian Islands during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
Xlibris Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider created in 1997 by authors, for authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibris.com or call 1-888-795-4274 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisPub on Twitter for the latest news.
