My winter reading list:  Overthrow, Sapiens & Land Without Evil

     Winter is the perfect time to turn up the heater, hide under the covers and read a good book.  Lady Gaga is right.  "Baby, it's cold outside."

     I am currently reading a whole bunch of murder mysteries in preparation for attending the annual "Left Coast Crime" readers' and writers' convention in Phoenix Arizona this month http://www.leftcoastcrime2016.com/.  I'm also reading "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari; "Land Without Evil" by Richard Gott; "Overthrow:  America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" by Stephen Kinzer and a series of articles about the "youth bulge," a phenomenon that happens when there are more young men in any particular society than there are jobs  http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/01/barnetts-five-flows-of-globalisation/.

     According to Harari, Homo sapiens began to take over the world by using three major tools:  Genocide, gossip and myth.  Genocide got rid of most of those pesky Neanderthals.  Gossip allowed sapiens to find out who was trustworthy and who was not.  And myths, such as ones about totems, hierarchies and enemies, held a lot of people together in a common cause who would otherwise just be thinking for themselves.

     This description of what happened 70,000 years ago sounds pretty much like what is still happening today, right?  Only today these things are called nationalism, propaganda and religion.  And apparently genocide is still in our DNA.

     "Land Without Evil" tells the incredibly well-researched story of the tragic genocide of hundreds of thousands of South American Indians by post-Colombian Spaniards.  It is a highly detailed book and I can only read it five pages a day without getting overwhelmed, but this is definitely stuff we should know and is well worth the effort to read about it.

     The series of articles written by Gearóid Ó Colmáin about the "youth bulge" phenomenon is interesting because I can now see that the current refugee crises in Europe and America are a recurrence of the same historical population-pressure events that caused the genocide of Neanderthals, American Indians, Jews, Tibetans and Palestinians.  Hitler called it "Lebenstraum".  Netanyahu called it "Greater Israel".  The Donner Party called it "Manifest Destiny".

     And does it look like today's refugees to Europe and America are also trying to escape yet another Homo sapiens genocide organized around gossip and myth as well?  Read Ó Colmáin's articles and find out.  And also read Stephen Kinzer's "Overthrow," about how American neo-colonialists have been putting pressure on various "youth bulge" kids throughout the world to leave home by simply destroying their countries' democracies, ruining their economies and then shooting them if they stay put.  https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/02/18/the-media-are-misleading-public-syria/8YB75otYirPzUCnlwaVtcK/story.html

    As for murder mysteries, I like them because justice is always served in the end -- and because justice (hopefully) is also another important Homo sapiens trait.   Just ask Janet Evanovich, Alexander McCall-Smith and Sherlock Holmes.

PS:  I'm currently madly at work at editing my own book so that I will have something really good to read by next winter.  Its latest working title is "Visions of a Lost and Future World".  Or you could just go ahead and read my already-published book this winter.  It's all the hot gossip you would ever want to know about the Middle East, including what it's like to almost get blown up in Baghdad's Green Zone, get kicked off the Temple Mount by both Israelis and Palestinians, explore pyramids, visit Kabul and go on Hajj in Saudi Arabia.   http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket-ebook/dp/B001BHK6JG

PPS:  And speaking of genocide, the American military machine is happily generating even more "youth bulges" in Syria -- even as we speak. 

     According to a friend of mine there, a US-backed "moderate rebel" (aka ISIS) suicide bomber just attacked the az-Zahra district in Homs city, at a time when the streets were full of students.  A second attack took place in Sayyeda Zaynab town, close to Damascus, close to a hospital.  The total loss of civilian lives in one day reached around 100 so far.  The total injured are in hundreds. 

      "The terrorists and whomever behind them are losing to the Syrian army, Russian air strikes and Hezbollah.  They are taking revenge by killing innocent civilians, women and kids. It's a dirty war."  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/02/us-backed-isis-continues-its-dirty-war.html

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US-backed ISIS continues its dirty war on civilians

     According to a friend of mine in Syria, a US-backed "moderate rebel" (aka ISIS) suicide bomber just attacked the az-Zahra district in Homs city, at a time when the streets were full of students.  A second attack took place in Sayyeda Zaynab town, close to Damascus, close to a hospital.  The total loss of civilian lives in one day reached around 100 so far. The total injured are in hundreds.

     "The terrorists and whomever behind them are losing to the Syrian army, Russian air strikes and Hezbollah.  They are taking revenge by killing innocent civilians, women and kids. It's a dirty war."

Madam Jane predicts: Death in the year 2028

     "You can't eat guns," Madam Jane is always fond of saying.  She is a friend of mine who is a psychic and always comes up with some really gloomy predictions.

     "In the year 2028, after all the supermarkets have closed," she told me today over tea leaves, "there will be nothing left to do but go hunting,"  But what will there be left to hunt?  The deer and buffalo are pretty much gone already -- so then what will we do?  Shoot cats and dogs?  "Humans," replied Madam Jane.  Yikes!

     I went to a party the other day and we ate hamburgers, tacos, cake and guacamole.  "Those days of food abundance will be gone by 2028, trust me," said Madam Jane.  And, sadly, I do.  She predicted that the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, Syria, Ukraine, Somalia and Yemen would all be failures.  Hell, she even predicted that the invasion of Korea, Palestine and Vietnam would be disasters too.  And they all were (unless of course you were a weapons manufacturer).  "You just can't eat guns."

     Then someone at the party started chatting on and on about how America needed to support the moderate rebels in Syria.  So I gave him my usual ISIS-trashing speech yet again.  "There are no moderate rebels in Syria now and there never have been any moderate rebels in Syria since Day One.  They are all ISIS, paid for by the Saudis, coddled by the Israelis, encouraged by NATO, armed by the Americans and trained by the Turks."  And like all the rest of America, the guy at the party didn't believe me either.  Sucks to be me.  It must be even harder to be Madam Jane.

     "So by the year 2028, most Americans will be armed and dangerous too, just like ISIS is now," continued Madam Jane.  "American in 2028 will be like Libya today, a failed state.  And in the end, all of us who are left will be munching on people-jerky for breakfast.  If we last that long that is."  http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176098/tomgram%3A_ira_chernus%2C_the_peace_movement%27s_war_story/

     Madam Jane, please cheer up!  Smile more.  Smiles release more endorphins into our brains.  That's why we love to spend time with happy people and babies.  They make us smile automatically.  But even when you are alone by yourself, you can still smile.  But spending time with happy people really does make you smile more.

     "Or you can shoot them or eat them," replied Madam Jane.

PS:  Madam Jane might be wrong about the year 2028 after all.  From what I just read on the Moon of Alabama blog, we may all be dead much sooner than 2028.  Hell, we could even be dead tomorrow if those idiots who run America's War Street don't wise up.

    According to MofA, who is never wrong (how does he do that!), "Turkey [on February 14, 2016] used 155mm artillery to fire from Turkey against Syrian Democratic Forces' positions on Minnagh airbase and around Azaz [Syria].  There will be Turkish special forces observers in Syria to direct the fire.  The NATO member Turkey is shelling the YPG, which is backed by Russia and the U.S., and the SDF which is backed by the U.S. for attacking the FSA and Islamists who are backed by the U.S., Turkey and Saudi Arabia."  Good grief.

     But wait.  It gets worse.  "The Russian and Syrian air force will likely respond to the Turkish attack with an intensified bombing of positions held by Turkish proxy forces in Syria.  Those forces just received new artillery ammunition and new TOW anti-tank missiles."

     And then there's this:  "Twenty Saudi F-15 jets arrived today in Incirlik airbase in Turkey to, allegedly, join the U.S. coalition force against the Islamic State.  The Saudis also promised to send ground forces if those would fight under some allied command."

     And this:  "At least 1,600 British troops with heavy weapons and equipment are currently arriving in Jordan.  The Brits claim that this is just for some normal training maneuver but we can expect the British government to be paid off enough by the Gulf Arabs to take part in the fight.  The British units would likely lead a Saudi/UAE/ (maybe also Egyptian?) combined force from east Jordan up through the Syrian desert towards Raqqa and Deir Ezzor."

     And even this:  "An additional brigade from the U.S. 101st Airborne is deploying to Iraq without much public announcement.  Its task is an invasion of Syria from the south-east along the Euphrates to first capture Deir Ezzor and to then move on to Raqqa."  Bet you didn't hear about that on the 10 o'clock news.

      Thought it couldn't get any worse?  Ha!  "Iran is ready to send as many men from its Revolutionary Guard and Quds brigades to Syria as are needed to sustain the governments fight.  These folks salivate over the prospect of having some regular Saudi forces for breakfast.  There are also active attempts to draw all NATO nations into the phony 'fight against ISIS'".

     And then Moon of Alabama leaves us with this cheery thought:  "Meanwhile the Islamic State, confused by this US-created cluster-fu*ck in Iraq and Syria, decides to relocate its headquarters from Iraq and Syria to Libya, the other failed state that...the U.S., France and the UK recently created."  http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/02/the-race-to-raqqa-is-intensifying.html#more 

     Madam Jane could very easily be off about 12 or 13 years regarding her prediction.  It could be any day now instead.  Plus this current disaster of bad judgment on the part of America, Turkey, the Saudis, NATO and Israel sounds very similar to the disaster of bad judgment on the part of Britain, France and Germany that resulted in World War I.  February 14, 2016 may be a day to go down in infamy too.

     "You can't eat guns." 

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Notary Public Blatant Self-Advertisement (since Fox News and CNN clearly aren't paying me to report the truth -- but then nobody pays anybody to report the truth these days!)

       I am a Notary Public in Berkeley and will notarize your stuff for $10 plus travel expenses if you can't make it to south Berkeley on your own.

      Will travel anywhere on the planet if you pay the expenses.  Antarctica is a favorite of mine if you happen to need anything notarized in Port Lockroy or need a Jurat from a penguin.  Or in Yemen or Libya or Tibet or even Bolivia.  Just e-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com with the word "Notary" in the subject line or message me on FaceBook.  Thanks.

PS:  I am listed on Yelp as "Stillwater Notary Public Services".  https://www.yelp.com/biz/stillwater-notary-public-services-berkeley.  Feel free to rate me with five stars -- I'm that good!

More news from my friend in Aleppo, Syria

     As America is being currently inundated by an overwhelming wash of lies and propaganda regarding "moderate rebels" in Syria, my friend in Aleppo writes to me about how much better things are there now that Assad is finally gaining control.

     There were (and are) no "moderate rebels" in Syria, not before, not now, not ever.  There is only ISIS, paid for and weaponized by America, Turkey, Israel and the House of Saud.  Everything else you hear is hard-line propaganda.  Goebbels would be so proud of America and Israel right now!

     "It's a new wave of propaganda that the world has to face now," writes my friend. "But everything over here is way better than before.  The Syrian Army and its allies are doing so well in Aleppo.  I'm afraid, though, that the zombies of this world will take advantage of these lies and propaganda to 'justify' their future crimes, wars, and invasions.  They did so several times in the past years.

     "Each time the Syrian army succeeds in defending the country, they (the trouble makers) create new conflicts and propaganda, a full package of lies, to twist realities on the ground and to end it to their own sake and advantages.  All the sacrifices of the Syrians would go in vain then.  Let's hope that the zombies won't get away with it this time.

     "The American-backed zombies have brought a lot of 'Freedom' and 'Democracy' here -- so that any zombie can do anything anytime anywhere in Syria right now!   Anyone can kill, rape, loot and kidnap others in this 'free country,' thanks to NATO, Israel and GCC states, who are a bunch of 'good doers' who want to 'help' us!" 

      Who needs that kind of "help" and "humanitarian aid"?  Certainly not the Syrians.  http://www.globalresearch.ca/united-states-war-crimes-a-historical-review/5505920

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.

Playing grocery bingo at the senior citizen center

     Good grief!  The average age of a prime-time Fox News viewer is 68 years old!  http://www.politicususa.com/2015/12/28/fox-news-literally-dying-age-younger-viewers-refuse-watch-fox.html  Don't senior citizens have anything better to do with their lives than to sit around watching all those hateful lies being broadcast at them day in and day out?   Maybe they don't -- but I do!  http://www.globalresearch.ca/isis-air-force-us-airstrike-takes-out-battalion-of-iraqi-troops-who-were-battling-isis/5496826  

    Every Monday and Tuesday, our local Trader Joe's store sponsors grocery bingo at my nearby senior citizens center.  So much fun!  And I usually get to haul home enough groceries to supplement my Social Security benefits for the week.  Plus my 11-month-old granddaughter Sofia always manages to win a banana, much to her delight.  Not only that but, besides Sofia, I am usually the youngest person in the room -- a total change from the usual demographic I hang out with.  Refreshing.

     Thank you Thank you Thank you, Trader Joe's.

     And here's another fun thing you can do if you've been "chronologically gifted" -- you can also break into Hollywood.  There are a thousand young women applying for every single ingenue part, but there are hardly any crones out there auditioning for the grandma role (except for me of course).  I just played a steerage passenger on a documentary about the Titanic.  So much fun!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T7CM4di_0c

      And there are hecka lot of other things that senior citizens can do that are so much more fun than watching lies on Fox News.  For instance, I'm trying to put together a trip to go visit the Jenin Freedom Theatre in the Occupied West Bank.  How cool would that be!  http://mondoweiss.net/2015/04/cultural-resistance-palestine

     Stuck in a wheelchair?  No problem.  You can still make it down to the senior citizen center to play grocery bingo.  They'll pick you up.

PS:  For many decades now, the elderly in America have been shamelessly taken advantage of by scam artists, courts, legal guardians, adult children, nursing homes, the use of pharmaceutical handcuffs and who knows all else.  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2013/08/elder-cleansing-why-is-gop-killing-off.html

     However, as the Baby Boom generation reaches the age of AARP, all these con artists are having trouble getting away with all the dirty tricks they used to pull off on the elderly with such ease because there are so many more of us who protest being lied to and cheated.  This is a good thing.  http://marygsykes.com/2015/12/30/the-chicago-police-investigations/

     And here's another con to watch out for.  If you are a senior who is taking three or more Big Pharma medications, they could cause symptoms similar to Altzheimers.  And if this happens, they will try to cure this by putting you on even more medication (that costs even more money).  Sucks to be you.  http://www.thehealthierlife.co.uk/natural-health-articles/alzheimers/alzheimers-disease-dementia-statin-drugs-over-diagnosis-drug-interactions/

PPS:  One of the biggest fears of the Black grandmothers in my neighborhood is that their Black grandsons, no matter how well-mannered and gifted they are, may leave for school alive one morning and then come back home in a box.  http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stokelycarmichaelblackpower.html

PPPS:  And speaking of lies, the American public is currently being overwhelmed by a whole pack of lies about "Syrian moderate rebels" who are actually ISIS thugs.  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/02/more-news-from-my-friend-in-aleppo.html

     There never were any "Syrian moderate rebels" -- and there certainly aren't any now!  It's just the same old WMD crap that we got fed about Iraq -- only bigger and more sophisticated and even more untrue.  ISIS is being soundly defeated and the American military machine that sponsors them is pissed!  https://gowans.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/what-us-congress-researchers-reveal-about-washingtons-designs-on-syria/

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.

 

Obama born in Kenya, Cruz in Canada? I'm confused!

     Good grief, talk about your hypocrites.  For the past eight years, America has been forced to listen to Birthers, the GOP, Fox News and various Tea Party crazies go on and on about how Barack Obama shouldn't be our President because he was born in Kenya, right?  Eight years that we can never get back again.

     Enter Ted Cruz.  "I was born in Canada but I have an American mother," he tells us, "and therefore I am qualified to be President."  But wait.  Obama had an American mum too.

     Obama was born in Hawaii.  Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada.  So why does the Tea Party have its knickers all in a twist over Obama's having possibly been born in Kenya -- but doesn't give a flying freak that Cruz was actually born offshore?  Hypocrisy, right?

     But Obama and Cruz have something even more important in common as well, besides just their places of birth.  For the past eight years Obama has been perfectly okay with Americans like you and me going into deep and endless debt so that the Pentagon could afford to manufacture dead babies in the Middle East.  And Cruz is okay with that policy too.  http://ahtribune.com/opinion/443-the-geneva-charade.html

     So why should the Tea Party and GOP even care where Obama was born as long as he keeps them and the Pentagon happy by continuing to create dead babies in the Middle East?  Because isn't that the main reason why the Tea Party and the GOP like Ted Cruz?

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.