“For lack of a better term, you’ve got an organized crime syndicate,” a whistleblower who works in the Texas VA told The Daily Beast. “People up on top are suddenly afraid they may actually be prosecuted and they’re pressuring the little guys down below to cover it all up.”

What’s worse, the documents show the wrongdoing going unpunished for years, even after it was repeatedly reported to local and national VA authorities. That indicates a new troubling angle to the VA scandal: that the much touted investigations may be incapable of finding violations that are hiding in plain sight.

– From the excellent Daily Beast article published yesterday: Exclusive: Texas VA Run Like a ‘Crime Syndicate,’ Whistleblower Says

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so, you are probably well aware of the latest in a consistent stream of scandals that have rocked the Obama Administration since he took office over five years ago. Yes, I am referring to the Veterans Affairs (VA) scandal, and while you might think you have read enough on the topic, the following article is very important.

It tells the tale of a VA hospital in Texas that had institutionalized the practice of manipulating hospital wait lists many years ago. For example, all the way back in 2011, the VA’s inspector general investigated the Central Texas health-care system in response to complaints received. Despite finding that such manipulation was rampant, not a single VA official was disciplined. As you might expect, the practice continued and the hospital highlighted in this article actually received an award in the face of an OIG investigation!

As such, this story has much wider implications than the obvious one. It demonstrates why corruption, fraud and white-collar crime is metastasizing throughout the land. The rich and powerful have recognized the rule of law has been completely suspended when it comes to them. They realize that no matter what they do, the worst thing that will happen is a slap on the wrist. So they continue to eagerly commit crimes at every conceivable opportunity. Of course, it’s the crimes of the rich and powerful that affect the largest number of people, not the impoverished youth slinging a dime bag on some ghetto corner. But which one is getting locked up?

As I have said time and time again, this suspension of the rule of law for the so-called “elites” is the most cancerous thing pervading American society at the moment. Dealing with this will go a long way to solving a lot of other problems.

From The Daily Beast: