#and as such my biggest gripe is with the healthcare system in this country

[hot-astrology]

Thank you for sharing your experience! It's very inspiring & interesting to hear your story. I love your energy! We need more people like you out here! 🩷

The Aqaurius Mind: Pluto in Aquarius, Age of Aqaurius, and 2024

The recent events surrounding Katt Williams have stirred my interest, though this event barely scratches the surface of the cosmic workings. The year 2024 portends a great unraveling, as deciphered through its numerology (8) : the influence of Pluto looms over this year, with its placement in Aquarius.

This year's fixed energies signal transformation (Aquarius and Scorpio) and raw power (Taurus and Leo), with Uranus and Jupiter in Taurus and Pluto in Aquarius. The impact of the fixed signs will be significant and profound.

Saturn's presence in Pisces heralds a great awakening. ;I am reminded of my own natal Saturn in the 12th house, which imbues this area of spirituality with discipline and authenticity.Saturn brings discipline and realness to this area of spirituality. And this is what we will see happening for those who are already tapped in. For those who are not this is another great chance similar to 2020 to awaken.

Turning to Vedic astrology, Saturn is positioned in Aquarius this year. In 2020, this was such a huge alignment the only difference is there won't be a great conjunction. But I could see similar potency already. With certain things being spoken about, and if you haven't heard. It's because the government (Saturn) is trying to hide (pisces) a lot of this information away from society. We are fully in the age of aquarius, and things will only continue to get exposed. And no matter how much certain authorities try to hide or stop it. It won't stop until the FULL truth is revealed. No matter how many people are killed, and etc. More and more will keep popping up until the mission is done.

Now switching to tarot, because this is how I connect a lot of my dots. Referring back to my Taurus & Aquarius post, I put the 21st card (The world card) in there. This card consists of a lion (leo), Eagle (scorpio), Human (Aqaurius), and A Bull (Taurus). We see all of these energies being pulled towards us. The world card is the very last card in the tarot deck, and represents completion. Now I would like to turn this over to venuz because he knows more about the cycles and years and stuff. But, Before i do, I want to also talk about the 10th card in tarot. This is the wheel of fortune. This card signifies karma, destiny, and fate. The cycle of life. This card also resembles the world card but not in a way where things are ending. It shows how life goes on &; on. This card also has The lion, The Bull, The Human, and The Eagle. The four corners of the world/ The angels of the four directions. We see how that number 4 is so significant. These are cycles and Fixed is the last stage. Beyonce was right, America really does have a problem...... The Seal has been broken. ☺ Now, to you venuz.

Cycles......Yes, cycles! Everything evolves in cycles and changes, it's only so long you can stay in the same scenario or comfort zone without chaos knocking at your door. Aquarius is all about change and revolutionizing its surroundings and its people. This energy is at its boiling point. Every 20 years there's a recurrent cycle of same-aged groups with specific behaviors that change. So, if you add 3 more cycles to that it will be a 4 cycle switch, which every generation would affect the other. When the 80-year mark comes around it is a crucial period. Everything is done in cycles, it doesn't matter what it is. Saturn in Pisces will materialize everything you think of, or focus on. This will also bring about what you have been hiding, and not speaking. Thoughts of your subconscious will be brought to the surface, and some will have to face those fears. For Example, Katt Williams has known all of these lies, secrets, backstabbing, cheating, phony, and false allegations, so it's being materialized. All his thoughts, dreams, and deep-rooted issues about other comedians came out to the forefront without any care. As he spoke and exposed their behaviors in front of millions (mass 11th house) and demanded a change (pluto). This calls on the energy of Pluto in Aquarius.

Pluto in Aquarius loves erratic behavior and unexpected scenarios. Pluto comes with a punch and is at full throttle here. Many people are outspoken now and about change and freedom. Aquarius is all revolutionary and Pluto is a generational planet so change is bound to come. This is just the beginning of this world being destroyed and reconstructed into a new and profound system that isn't in line with these new powerful souls. This makes an 80-year period. 10 more years from now will make 90 years which is energy 9 which will be the completion of a major cycle. 8 is just the transformation period and reconstructing period, everything and everyone who wasn't living in their own essence and misusing their fortune, fame and financial abundance in a non conducive manner will reverse roles and be exposed for their inequality.

Like gorgeous Moon Devi said they're trying to hide what they're up to but Saturn in Pisces is revealing everything they have been hiding. So everyone wakes up to all those lies, takes off the rose-colored glasses, no more fantasy land, and is in a delusional state of mind. Pluto in Aquarius will allow everyone to have a voice and speak up, change what's not right, and stand for something even if you never did your whole life. If you were born in this era or if you were born to still be alive in this era get ready for the showdown. If watched in Living Color, this movie promises to be a captivating experience, delivering the answers to long-standing questions and revealing hidden truths. It has the potential to evoke personal fears, making them tangible and forcing introspection. It's a crucial time for everyone, not just celebrities or elites, to focus on self-healing, purification of the soul, and actualizing personal aspirations. Astrologically, the influence of Aquarius, which rules the 11th house of hopes and aspirations, and Pluto provides the necessary impetus to transform negative situations into positive ones, for oneself and the greater good.

However you envision your world to be, you will get the results in this transit. Imagine yourself as a kid at the art table, and you have a box of crayons, an blank piece of paper. The teacher tells you to draw your new world. How would you create it? Would it consist of peace, prosperity, and love? Then she says," Stand up in front of the class, and explain what your world looks like." You say it out loud in front of the class with conviction and power. Then you close your eyes and watch it manifest right before you, VOILA!!! 

From two aqaurius/uranus dominant spirits, ~ Prinz Venuz & Moon Devi

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭

𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔: 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐳 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐳 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Democratic Debate 2020 Night 2

Bit disorganized because I’m writing this live.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on healthcare is to remove the incentives of Big Pharma. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on free college for illegal immigrants was that we shouldn’t give them access free college, but we should reform the immigration system to prevent future issues at the border like the one going on now. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard called out Kamala Harris for her bullshit racism claim against Joe Biden in the previous debate. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on the death penalty is that the state should not have the authority to end a person’s life. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on the Green New Deal is it is unrealistic but she has a laid out plan to fight back against climate change. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard called out exactly why Donald Trump won, because the people felt left behind by both the Democrats and Republicans, and that it’s the people who are important.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership was that it would hurt our country by allowing China to write the rules. She wants to enact fair trade deals, and remove the tariffs against China that Trump employed. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on pulling troops out of Afghanistan is that yes they need to be pulled out now. She has family there right now, making it a personal issue for her. Yes.

Tulsi Gabbard’s stance on foreign policy is that we need to end foreign regime-change wars. YES.

If nothing else, the single greatest reason to vote for Tulsi Gabbard after seeing this debate is that Tulsi Gabbard, did not mention Trump once other than to outline how he beat the rest of the Democrats and Republicans in the previous election. She does not care about what Trump did or didn’t do.

Every other candidate did nothing but take every chance they got to turn any question around to bash Trump, but the people do not care about Trump. They care about what you will do as president. She cares about actually helping the country, and the people who live in it. And Tulsi showed that.

Overall, Tulsi Gabbard has my vote.

Below is just my thoughts on the other candidates.

Kamala’s response to everyone challenging her is:

It’s also disgustingly obvious how much preferential treatment they give her. She’s able to speak way more often than any of the other candidates, Biden just barely behind her. She really just feels like Hillary 2.0.

And Biden does not appear to have a single unique thought. His entire plan is literally just “Obama again.” Unironically, I think if he was given the candidacy he’d have Obama be his VP. And while I hate Booker, credit where credit is due, he calls Biden out on his bullshit for being the one to bring up Obama more than any other candidate. Biden is literally just Obama 2, however seriously lacking Obama’s charisma. As iffy as a president as he may have been, it is impossibly to deny he had seriously good charisma.

As far as “charisma” goes, other than Tulsi, of course, I think Julian “Fidel” Castro probably has the most out of the rest of them which isn’t saying much at all. And while I know I disagree with him on actual political shit, I can’t help that my biggest gripe with him is his name. Can you imagine President Castro? Is that a joke? No idea if he’s married but seriously, dude should’ve taken his wife’s name. Almost anything would’ve been better.

On the topic of Booker, he continuously called out how “us fighting each other just helps Trump win”...before continuing to fight with everyone else, despite how both him and Andrew Yang essentially called out how they all agree on most of these issues. It’s just the how they disagree on, for the most part.

Kirsten Gillibrand in a (paraphrased) nutshell: “As a white woman of privilege I’m going to teach other white women about white privilege.” Yeeeeeah, enough said.

De Blasio had a weird hateboner towards Biden, which okay no worse than Kamala’s I guess, but it really seemed like all he did was deflect off himself and into an accusation against Biden. Then he made cringey “I consider that a win” comments when Biden responded. Oooookay buddy. He spoke out of turn quite a bit, really just sounded petulant. And let us not forget that HILARIOUS closing statement when he called Trump “the real Socialist”. I fucking died.

Inslee and Bennet were quite, like really quiet. They seemed to lack any sort of passion or energy for this race. Like, I don’t need another Trump-tier hype man, but come on dude, you’re trying to win people over, not put them to sleep.

And what the fuck was the good 20+ minutes of just nonstop talking about the police officer who shot Eric Gardner years ago? Shit, yeah that was tragic but it was years ago, and even if it was yesterday how is that relevant to the 2020 Democratic debate???

Also, while I expected it, there was far too much talking about impeaching Trump, going after Trump after he’s out of office, etc. only showing that these people have lost the people. Nobody cares about what Trump did or didn’t do. Most especially once he’s out of office, who the fuck will care anymore?

I also loved that totally not leading question “After the president’s racist tweets about Baltimore...” Pointing out what the citizens of Baltimore already know isn’t racist. PBS did a whole documentary attesting to it.

And “Many voters are saying that it’s more important to them that a candidate be strong enough to beat Donald Trump than it is that they agree with the candidate on major policies, and they believe Biden is the best bet to beating him.”

Citation fucking needed? That is an outrageously leading question. I don’t know a soul alive who thinks Biden is going to win anything. As someone said in the debate, he is spineless. As much as I absolutely despise Kamala, even I know she would beat Biden hands down. Even if her attacks are baseless, the fact is she attacks, and attacks, and attacks, and Biden takes it. Sure, he’s respectable, but it makes him look weak.

But, I will give him that nice comeback to Gillibrand when she tried calling him out for “not doing enough for women”. “You were right there with me the whole time, I don’t know what changed except that now you’re running for president.” Or in other words:

And “Women on average earn $.80 to every man’s $1.00.″ good fucking goooood, I know it’s CNN but christ, at least try to hide your bias and consistently disproven lies. They aren’t earning less than men, they are making less than men. Subtle but still significantly huge difference.

Overall, Kamala and Biden had WAY too much time to talk. I wonder why.

[charlesjening]

Deloitte Gets Big 4 Bragging Rights In 2020 Vault Consulting 50

For the fifth consecutive year, Deloitte Consulting has been ranked the fourth-best consulting firm in the United States (although the governor of Rhode Island might beg to differ), according to the latest Vault Consulting 50.

So once again, Green Dotters of the consulting variety have bragging rights over P. Dubsteppers, Uncle Ernie’s nieces and nephews, and Klynveldians.

Based on the results of a survey sent to consultants, Vault uses the following weighted formula to put together its annual ranking:

30% prestige

15% firm culture

15% satisfaction

10% compensation

10% work/life balance

10% level of challenge

5% overall business outlook

5% promotion policies

The Big 4’s rankings on the 2020 Vault Consulting 50 are pretty respectable, with each one taking up residence in the top 15, and three placing in the top 10:

McKinsey & Co.

The Boston Consulting Group

Bain & Company

Deloitte Consulting LLP

Oliver Wyman

Booz Allen Hamilton

EY-Parthenon

PwC Advisory Services

A.T. Kearney

GE Healthcare Partners

Accenture

Putnam Associates

ClearView Healthcare Partners

KPMG LLP (Advisory)

The Bridgespan Group

In addition, Strategy&, PwC’s global strategy consulting business with the unfinished name, sits at No. 16 on Vault’s list.

The Big 4’s rankings didn’t change much at all in 2020 compared to the 2019 Vault Consulting 50. The only change was KPMG dropping two spots from No. 12 in 2019 to No. 14 in 2020.

It’s always fun to look at the firms’ one-star or two-star employee reviews on Vault because, let’s face it, they are more entertaining than the good reviews. As the great Dark Helmet said in Spaceballs:

            Here are a few 2019 reviews from some unsatisfied KPMGers. The first said the best thing about the firm is “you don’t have to pay back your signing bonus if you make it a year.”

Downers

everything besides the signing bonus

Advice to Candidates

Choose any other firm if you are interested in doing consulting.

This person had quite a list of grievances:

Downers

* Despite a constant barrage of diversity initiatives, I’ve seen people treat others at KPMG really, really, poorly

* Directors promoted because of sales not leadership

* Working loan staff engagements and not developing consulting skills

* Training provided is KPMG-oriented training — not industry or skill oriented; having to share a hotel room for KPMG training

* Getting home on 11 PM on Friday just to fly again Sunday night

* Just about everything promised me in my interview was a lie. Including salary when you consider how many costs you have to eat yourself and pay income tax to multiple cities and states. You lose money working at KPMG Advisory

* You’re supposed to build a network but you cannot take advantage of office activities because you’re on the road all the time. You’ll get pictures of the company ski trip in your email, invites to concerts/sporting events in the company suite, invites to training, invites for volunteer days, college recruiting, happy hours, parties, etc. FORGET ABOUT ANY OF THAT. You’re on the road 100% of the time!

* Goals which are not attainable and therefore you’ll get screwed on your bonus

Advice to Candidates

I think Tax and Audit x(other than busy season) are fine as they have an office culture and therefore different than Advisory. Advisory feels like it’s “bolted on” to KPMG. As such, there’s no clear vision, leadership, etc. I have zero idea on where my service line is going… they just chase work and it’s very reactionary rather than having a strategy.

But for some reason, the KPMG name has cachet and I’ll ride this out for a few more months until my resume doesn’t look like I’m a job hopper.

If you’re fresh out of college by all means, travel, see the country/world… and try to have fun when you can (60-80 hour weeks and working in the hotel after working at the client site makes that a challenge). Build your network and your resume.

If you are experienced/mid-career, married, have a kid, or have a dog, and want any kind of control over your life avoid KPMG advisory at all costs. You have been warned.

The amount of servitude KPMG expects from you is more than I even experienced in the military. At least my country is grateful for my service. KPMG will just eat you up and spit you out because the shelf-life of the average consultant is 18 months and there are (uninformed) people waiting in line to replace you.

Another Klynveldian titled their review “Chaotic circus.”

What are the cons to working at Deloitte Consulting? The usual stuff, according to this reviewer:

Downers

No work-life balance. Unreasonable requirements for on-site work even though there’s no seats for anyone, parking comes out of your own pocket, and the office locations are in hot spots where traffic converges and parking costs are very high. Beyond billable targets, there are “firm contribution” metrics and a culture of unhealthy competition for promotions that drive people to working around the clock to stay a step ahead of the next dog. Senior Managers and above duck and cover delegating all accountability onto Manager and below. Partners, principals and directors milk their relationships to capture projects, and then express frustration when the delivery team needs their time to support the launch – why can’t we just navigate the terms of the proposal and read their minds? Can’t we all see how busy they all are? (golf, lunch, spa). Exorbitant bill rates price Deloitte out of most compelling business and government challenges. Discounted bill rates result in grossly understaffed execution teams – 5 people doing the work that was proposed for 15. I don’t know how Deloitte ascended to #4 on this list… but I’m sure it cost them a pretty penny to skirt the Glass Door data. Even in Federal, they had an unreasonable policy against hiring anyone without a Bachelor’s degree – even those who were former honorable military with combat service, even when those people had Associates degree. They made these people join the firm on a separate Associate track where the raises and promotions were different and the terms of the employment related only to the one specific project for which they were hired. Project ends, you’re out of Deloitte.

Advice to Candidates

Great place to work as a Senior Manager, Director, Principal, or Partner. This fat group at the top of the pyramid enjoys wonderful, rewarding work autonomy on the backs of all the rest, who are ground down to pulp under the weight of their compensation structure.

And you’ll never believe this, but women are paid less than men at Deloitte!

Downers

For 4 years at the firm (2011-2014) I made the highest possible performance ratings (I worked my butt off). Then I found out that despite my performance, I was being paid 25% less than men doing the same work. Men whom I was compared to for performance evaluations. Deloitte has a seriously biased compensation system and all the “pay for performance” talk is just that… all talk. The evaluation process and criteria for salary decisions is deliberately opaque. Women need to step forward and challenge the status quo.

Advice to Candidates

If you are female, do not let recruiters ask you about prior salary or even salary expectations! Say that you want to be paid what the job is worth, if you meet the qualifications to be hired.

PwCers also had gripes about working in advisory. This person titled their review “Bloodsucking, awful place.”

Uppers

N/A

Downers

No work-life balance

Advice to Candidates

Look elsewhere if you have friends, family, hobbies or a significant other

And this person’s review had the title “PwC is a political snake den that will slowly crush your dreams. Seek exit asap.”

Downers

the leadership, the pay, the poor knowledge management

Advice to Candidates

Try to go to Deloitte or MBB or a boutique firm. Don’t end up here.

Believe it or not, there aren’t many bad employee reviews about working at EY-Parthenon, other than “long hours” and “continued promotion of bad managers.” Shoot us an email, EY-Parthenon folks, on what your biggest gripes are.

The post Deloitte Gets Big 4 Bragging Rights In 2020 Vault Consulting 50 appeared first on Going Concern.

republished from Going Concern

[melindarowens]

Snyder Rages “It’s Time To Flush The Toilet”

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Is it fair to compare Congress to a toilet? If there is one institution that embodies the corruption that permeates Washington D.C., it is the United States Congress.

Dominated by extremely selfish career politicians that are primarily interested in raising enough money to win the next election, Congress has become a cesspool of filth, fraud and malfeasance. The American people are absolutely sick of this, and that is why approval ratings for Congress are consistently much lower than for any other political institution. In fact, at this moment Congress has an average approval rating of just 18.3 percent according to Real Clear Politics. Donald Trump captured the imagination of tens of millions of American voters when he pledged to “drain the swamp” during the last election, but I say that it is time to “flush the toilet” because the only way that we will ever be able to turn the federal government in a positive direction is by clearing out as many of these Congress critters as possible.

Getting Donald Trump into the White House was the biggest political miracle in American history, but now his agenda is almost completely stalled and it is Congress that is to blame.

For example, Trump repeatedly pledged that he was going to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the southern border to combat illegal immigration, but at this point funding for that wall is being completely blocked.

What is the problem?

Congress.

Trump also pledged that Obamacare would be repealed very rapidly once he became president, but that obviously has not happened.

What is the problem?

Congress.

In fact, it is looking quite doubtful that a bill to repeal Obamacare will ever get through the U.S. Senate…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is tempering expectations that the Senate will pass an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, promising his colleagues a vote but not success.

 McConnell in his public comments and private conversations about the ObamaCare repeal and replace bill is painting a more sober picture than Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who in March guaranteed passage through the House.

 McConnell is stopping well short of any grand pronouncement.

Trump also promised all of us that our taxes would be going way down, but even though the Republicans control both houses of Congress this also seems to be going nowhere fast. The following comes from the Wall Street Journal…

The GOP’s dreams have collided with interest-group lobbying and the tax system’s reality. Politicians all profess to hate the tax code, but they don’t agree on exactly what they hate. Voters gripe about complexity but are wary of losing cherished breaks that are woven into the economy.

 “Eventually you run out of ways to pay for your promises,” said Alan Cole, an economist at the Tax Foundation, which favors a simpler code with lower rates. “There aren’t any free obvious sources of money where you can just do the thing and nobody gets mad.”

I could bring up a whole bunch of other issues such as the national debt, trade with China, unconstitutional government surveillance, etc. but I think that you get the point.

Trump’s presidency is going to be mostly wasted if we do not get him some help. And I am not just talking about clearing out more Democrats. Right now the Republicans control the Senate and the House, but the problem is that most of them are “establishment Republicans”. Career politicians from both parties have sold their souls to the special interests and big donors that fund their campaigns, and this is why such a dramatic political revolution is necessary.

Sadly, most Americans don’t realize just how deep the corruption goes in Washington these days. To illustrate this, I would like to share just a few quotes from “The Confessions of Congressman X”. It claims to have been written by an anonymous Democratic member of the House of Representatives, and the following quotes very much ring true to those of us that understand how things in D.C. really work in our day and age…

-“Most of my colleagues are dishonest career politicians who revel in the power and special-interest money that’s lavished upon them.”

 -“My main job is to keep my job, to get reelected. It takes precedence over everything.”

 -“Voters are incredibly ignorant and know little about our form of government and how it works.”

 -“It’s far easier than you think to manipulate a nation of naive, self-absorbed sheep who crave instant gratification.”

 -“Fundraising is so time consuming I seldom read any bills I vote on. Like many of my colleagues, I don’t know how the legislation will be implemented, or what it’ll cost.”

 -“We spend money we don’t have and blithely mortgage the future with a wink and a nod. Screw the next generation. It’s about getting credit now, lookin’ good for the upcoming election.”

And it isn’t just political corruption that is the problem. When you start peeling back the onion, you find some of the most disturbing things imaginable in political circles. For example, just consider what police just uncovered in New York City…

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is hiring! There’s a vacancy in his administration for a computer programmer analyst, in the Department of Design and Construction. That’s because Jacob Schwartz, 29, a DNC staffer and former analyst, has been arrested and charged with being in possession of “kiddie porn” involving children as young as 6 months old.

 Schwartz is also the president of the Manhattan Young Democrats and the downstate region vice president of the New York State Young Democrats. In other words, he was a “made” Democrat, part of the inner circle of budding influential NYC politicians, who was even friends with Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robbie Mook.

 Schwartz was caught with 3,000 child pornography images and 89 videos on his laptop after he downloaded them from the Internet. He surrendered his laptop to police, signed a release granting them permission to do a search of his hard drive, and was subsequently arrested. He has since posted $ 7,500 bail.

Of course stories such as this are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more out there, but we aren’t really supposed to talk about those things.

So what can be done?

Well, we can sit back and keep on complaining as our country deteriorates right in front of our eyes, or we can do something about it.

On Memorial Day back in 1982, President Ronald Reagan delivered a stirring address at Arlington National Cemetery. The following is an excerpt from that address…

I have no illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.

 Yet, we must try to honor them—not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.

 Our first obligation to them and ourselves is plain enough: The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves.

There is no war for us to fight, but let there be no doubt that we are in the midst of a great battle for the soul of our nation.

If this generation of Americans does not stand up and defend liberty and freedom, the forces that seek to destroy our country will win by default.

For years, many of us have been trying to persuade our leaders to do the right things, but by now it has become exceedingly clear that they simply are not listening.

So if we want the direction of our country to change, we have got to vote them out and replace them with others that will listen to the will of the people.

I am under no illusion that this will be easy. The special interests and the big donors have a tremendous amount of money, and the mainstream media is very closely allied with the establishment.

But the election of Donald Trump showed us that anything is possible, and I choose to believe that it is possible for us to take our government back.

We just have to be willing to try.

source http://capitalisthq.com/snyder-rages-its-time-to-flush-the-toilet/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/05/snyder-rages-its-time-to-flush-toilet.html

[everettwilkinson]

Snyder Rages “It’s Time To Flush The Toilet”

Authored by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Is it fair to compare Congress to a toilet? If there is one institution that embodies the corruption that permeates Washington D.C., it is the United States Congress.

Dominated by extremely selfish career politicians that are primarily interested in raising enough money to win the next election, Congress has become a cesspool of filth, fraud and malfeasance. The American people are absolutely sick of this, and that is why approval ratings for Congress are consistently much lower than for any other political institution. In fact, at this moment Congress has an average approval rating of just 18.3 percent according to Real Clear Politics. Donald Trump captured the imagination of tens of millions of American voters when he pledged to “drain the swamp” during the last election, but I say that it is time to “flush the toilet” because the only way that we will ever be able to turn the federal government in a positive direction is by clearing out as many of these Congress critters as possible.

Getting Donald Trump into the White House was the biggest political miracle in American history, but now his agenda is almost completely stalled and it is Congress that is to blame.

For example, Trump repeatedly pledged that he was going to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the southern border to combat illegal immigration, but at this point funding for that wall is being completely blocked.

What is the problem?

Congress.

Trump also pledged that Obamacare would be repealed very rapidly once he became president, but that obviously has not happened.

What is the problem?

Congress.

In fact, it is looking quite doubtful that a bill to repeal Obamacare will ever get through the U.S. Senate…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is tempering expectations that the Senate will pass an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, promising his colleagues a vote but not success.

  McConnell in his public comments and private conversations about the ObamaCare repeal and replace bill is painting a more sober picture than Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who in March guaranteed passage through the House.

  McConnell is stopping well short of any grand pronouncement.

Trump also promised all of us that our taxes would be going way down, but even though the Republicans control both houses of Congress this also seems to be going nowhere fast. The following comes from the Wall Street Journal…

The GOP’s dreams have collided with interest-group lobbying and the tax system’s reality. Politicians all profess to hate the tax code, but they don’t agree on exactly what they hate. Voters gripe about complexity but are wary of losing cherished breaks that are woven into the economy.

  “Eventually you run out of ways to pay for your promises,” said Alan Cole, an economist at the Tax Foundation, which favors a simpler code with lower rates. “There aren’t any free obvious sources of money where you can just do the thing and nobody gets mad.”

I could bring up a whole bunch of other issues such as the national debt, trade with China, unconstitutional government surveillance, etc. but I think that you get the point.

Trump’s presidency is going to be mostly wasted if we do not get him some help. And I am not just talking about clearing out more Democrats. Right now the Republicans control the Senate and the House, but the problem is that most of them are “establishment Republicans”. Career politicians from both parties have sold their souls to the special interests and big donors that fund their campaigns, and this is why such a dramatic political revolution is necessary.

Sadly, most Americans don’t realize just how deep the corruption goes in Washington these days. To illustrate this, I would like to share just a few quotes from “The Confessions of Congressman X”. It claims to have been written by an anonymous Democratic member of the House of Representatives, and the following quotes very much ring true to those of us that understand how things in D.C. really work in our day and age…

-“Most of my colleagues are dishonest career politicians who revel in the power and special-interest money that’s lavished upon them.”

  -“My main job is to keep my job, to get reelected. It takes precedence over everything.”

  -“Voters are incredibly ignorant and know little about our form of government and how it works.”

  -“It’s far easier than you think to manipulate a nation of naive, self-absorbed sheep who crave instant gratification.”

  -“Fundraising is so time consuming I seldom read any bills I vote on. Like many of my colleagues, I don’t know how the legislation will be implemented, or what it’ll cost.”

  -“We spend money we don’t have and blithely mortgage the future with a wink and a nod. Screw the next generation. It’s about getting credit now, lookin’ good for the upcoming election.”

And it isn’t just political corruption that is the problem. When you start peeling back the onion, you find some of the most disturbing things imaginable in political circles. For example, just consider what police just uncovered in New York City…

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is hiring! There’s a vacancy in his administration for a computer programmer analyst, in the Department of Design and Construction. That’s because Jacob Schwartz, 29, a DNC staffer and former analyst, has been arrested and charged with being in possession of “kiddie porn” involving children as young as 6 months old.

  Schwartz is also the president of the Manhattan Young Democrats and the downstate region vice president of the New York State Young Democrats. In other words, he was a “made” Democrat, part of the inner circle of budding influential NYC politicians, who was even friends with Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robbie Mook.

  Schwartz was caught with 3,000 child pornography images and 89 videos on his laptop after he downloaded them from the Internet. He surrendered his laptop to police, signed a release granting them permission to do a search of his hard drive, and was subsequently arrested. He has since posted $ 7,500 bail.

Of course stories such as this are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more out there, but we aren’t really supposed to talk about those things.

So what can be done?

Well, we can sit back and keep on complaining as our country deteriorates right in front of our eyes, or we can do something about it.

On Memorial Day back in 1982, President Ronald Reagan delivered a stirring address at Arlington National Cemetery. The following is an excerpt from that address…

I have no illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.

  Yet, we must try to honor them—not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.

  Our first obligation to them and ourselves is plain enough: The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves.

There is no war for us to fight, but let there be no doubt that we are in the midst of a great battle for the soul of our nation.

If this generation of Americans does not stand up and defend liberty and freedom, the forces that seek to destroy our country will win by default.

For years, many of us have been trying to persuade our leaders to do the right things, but by now it has become exceedingly clear that they simply are not listening.

So if we want the direction of our country to change, we have got to vote them out and replace them with others that will listen to the will of the people.

I am under no illusion that this will be easy. The special interests and the big donors have a tremendous amount of money, and the mainstream media is very closely allied with the establishment.

But the election of Donald Trump showed us that anything is possible, and I choose to believe that it is possible for us to take our government back.

We just have to be willing to try.

from CapitalistHQ.com http://capitalisthq.com/snyder-rages-its-time-to-flush-the-toilet/