East Aleppo, America's Dien Bien Phu

    Back in 1954, the American media falsely portrayed the fall of Dien Bien Phu as practically the end of the world for Democracy.  And Ugly Americans are still getting it wrong 62 years later regarding the Middle East in general and East Aleppo in particular.  http://www.mintpressnews.com/aleppo-how-us-saudi-backed-rebels-target-every-syrian/222594/

     Just sayin'.  Being lied to by our media is definitely nothing new.  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/french-fall-to-viet-minh-at-dien-bien-phu

Disneyland, the ultimate American melting pot

    There were thousands of happy people at Disneyland last weekend -- and not even one of them was thinking about who did or did not win the presidential election this year.

     Not only that, but no one there was even thinking, "Hey, gee, the guy sitting next to me on the pirate ride is Black," or "Why didn't they build a Wall between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland to keep out Donald Duck," or even "Throw all those freeloading grandparents off Social Security and send them back to the Haunted Mansion where they belong".

     Everyone at Disneyland was just trying to have fun. 

     No one I ran into at Disneyland was thinking about bombing the Middle East or whether or not Russia should be hit with nuclear weapons ASAP or even why para-military goon squads are tear-gassing Native Americans at Standing Rock simply for defending their own land.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRO7arI1KNo 

     Families at Disneyland were just having fun.  Hell, even I was having fun.  Perhaps America could learn something from us.

     Perhaps we should be asking the president of Syria if he wanted to have us build Splash Mountain in Aleppo instead of having America waste billions of dollars on weaponizing "moderate rebel" al Qaeda thugs with enough deadly ordinance to blow up Frontierland and then some.  https://off-guardian.org/2016/11/28/media-silent-as-lame-duck-congress-passes-resolution-for-syrian-no-fly-zone-provoking-war-with-russia/

     Perhaps we should give Wall Street its very own "Small World" instead of a trillion-dollar bailout at our expense.

     Perhaps we could even make America great again by sending everyone inside the DC Beltway off on a "Jungle Cruise".  Or firing our mainstream media into orbit on a "Star Tour".  Or telling the Deep State to go take a running jump off the "Matterhorn".

     Why?  

     Because when given an actual choice, individual average American working-class families like the ones I saw at Disneyland just want to have fun -- not be the world's latest Darth Vader. 

     There's a moral here somewhere:  The entire world, both large and small, loves America's cultural stuff -- from our ideals of democracy that we never carry through on to our hip-hop stars and movies and pop icons to our technical and medical research to our authors, artists and even down to Mickey Mouse.  But nobody in the world loves our armies, deadly weapons, rigged elections, "preemptive" invasions, dictator allies, injustice, corporate greed, media propaganda and economic skullduggery.  Nobody.  http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/25/after-the-us-elections-world-exit/

________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

 

Trump and Clinton:  Who let the dogs out!

      Has anybody but me noticed that Donald Trump, during the 2016 election cycle, has done almost every single thing that he possibly can to antagonize and piss off mainstream American voters?  First he came out in favor of Russia, China and Putin.  In America, that is a total political no-no!

     Trump then presented himself to voters as a racist, misogynist, homophobe and sex fiend.  What sane American would possibly vote for that freaky combination?  Apparently a lot of us did. 

       And even after Trump shamelessly waved his horns and tail at our so-called Christian community by disrespecting as many Biblical commandments as he possibly could and breaking the Golden Rule left and right, he still got far more electoral votes from them than Clinton did in the November 8 election (with a little help from gerrymandering, vote-counting fraud and Jim Crow -- but still).  http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/69953

     Despite the staggering odds against Trump based on his insanely bad-boy behavior, he still actually won the Electoral College vote over Clinton.  Why?  Apparently because we Americans had become that resentful of Clinton's war-hawk job-outsourcing neo-con Wall Street insider positions.  NAFTA, Libya, Goldman Sachs and all that.  "Better the devil you don't know than the devil you do," a lot of us said.

     But even after Trump accidentally got elected, then what did he do then?  He coulda just kept his mouth shut and hunkered down until inauguration day -- but no.

     Upon winning the election, Trump immediately continued his inexplicably-weird strategy of doing every single thing that he possibly could to still piss Americans off -- and even ratcheted up his campaign to be the most hated man in America several notches.  Considering John Bolton as SecState?  That Strangelove fanatic running our foreign policy?  Scary.  And Sam Bannon on the transition team?  That appointment alone would make AIPAC tear out its hair -- and we all know that AIPAC runs America with an iron hand.  What is Trump thinking?

     Trump's assumed position against freedom of choice for women has also alienated a good percentage of the female population, both before and after the election.  And he's also gone directly against all that expensive false TV propaganda constantly lying to us about the Middle East, propaganda that has been carefully spoon-fed to us for years at great cost.  Hell.  He's even done everything he can to offend the biggest players in America today, Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

     Trump apparently even supports Syria's President Assad, another big CNN-Fox News-PBS propaganda no-no (support for Assad, as far as I'm concerned, is actually a good thing -- but then that's just my own foolish weakness for justice and truth.  But I digress).  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2016/10/even-more-secrets-and-lies-about-aleppo.html)

     Trump apparently also supports that dreadful and dangerous pipeline trying to run through Standing Rock's sacred sites at the cost of even more Native American pain and suffering -- as if Wounded Knee and the Trail of Tears weren't enough.  https://www.rt.com/usa/367650-tribal-elder-cardiac-arrest-dapl/

     Trump seems to be dead-set against climate change, Social Security and healthcare too, and even uses his new bully pulpit to advertise his daughter's jewelry line.  How tacky is that?  And talks about cracking down on the internet.  And doesn't even want to reside in the White House.  How much worse can it get! 

      The result of all this weirdly-erratic post-election behavior by our presumptive next Prez?  Millions of Americans have now started marching and signing petitions and screaming and yelling -- demanding to actually have Clinton back!  Compared with Trump, now Clinton (aka Dick Cheney in a pantsuit) is actually starting to look good.

     Could there be a pattern here?  A method to Trump's madness?  To see just how far he has to go before his pal Hillary finally ends up back in the White House where she and her husband belong?  Why else would a man like Trump, who used to be basically a centrist Democrat, who we all knew to be fair and unbiased on "The Apprentice," suddenly turn into an alt-Right crazy guy?  Why would he do such a thing?  What is his motivation?  What is in it for him?  He coulda been a contender!  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-15-minutes-of-fame-auditioning-to-be.html

    And then of course my next question would be, "Who let these dogs out?"  Who would benefit most if America also got a new "Color Revolution" shoved down its throat like the ones in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan?
________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

I am sick right now -- literally

    The day before our national elections, I got a tooth pulled.  It was a lower right molar which had been festering for a long time and clearly needed to come out -- and this is a great analogy for America's current political situation as well.  Everyone wants those festering war-mongering neo-con capitalist bastards in Washington gone too.  http://news.antiwar.com/2016/11/13/saudis-deliberately-targeting-civilian-infrastructure-in-yemen-war/

     But the big difference in this analogy is that my dentist knew which tooth was rotten and which tooth to pull, and then she went about extracting it effortlessly and (almost) painlessly.  But on election day in America, we got a whole bunch of teeth pulled -- and they weren't even the ones that hurt.   http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=17705

    But then things got even worse -- for both America and for me.  Being vulnerable after the extraction, I then got sick with the flu.  Lots of tossing and turning and coughing and eating oranges and drinking herb tea.  Nothing seemed to help.  And that also seems to be the state that America is in right now too -- nothing helps.  Certainly the election didn't.  I'm thinking that America is sort of the same as me right now, sick along with me.  Literally.

      So.  What is going to cure us?  Certainly not Clinton or Trump.  The only thing that is going to cure America right now is the same thing that is going to cure me -- healthy food, lots of bed-rest, courage and being taken care of by kind friends.  And, of course, time to heal.  http://www.globalresearch.ca/why-are-public-officials-protecting-the-pesticides-industry-digging-down-into-the-cesspool-of-corruption/5557651

     But unfortunately, time in America is rapidly running out. 

     We Americans also urgently need to start to eat right, get plenty of rest, put up a brave front and, most important, start being kind.  Kind to ourselves, kind to our friends, kind to our constituents, kind to our children, kind to other nations and kind to our planet.  And Americans need to start this regimen right now if we are ever going to heal.

PS:  Where to start?  Start by being kind to the person next to you -- and the person after that.  Be kind to the homeless.  Be kind to children.  Be kind to people who do not look like you.  Be kind to that annoying person down the street.  Be kind to yourself.  Individual Americans are kind.  Never forget about that.

     "But what about bullies and ISIS and oligarchs and thieves and crazy people and mean girls and rapists and weapons manufacturers and banksters," you might ask.  Don't become one of them.  Be kind.  No matter what the cost.  Stand for something.
________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

 

Post-election blues: An outsider once more...

    Back in the 1950s, I was my high school's only beatnik.  Growing up in a conservative town that worshiped Joe McCarthy, a town where even my own mother was president of the DAR, I would silently walk the halls of my high school all dressed in black -- alone, disliked and misunderstood.  Obviously I escaped first to New York's Lower East Side and then on to Berkeley as soon as humanly possible.

     And now here I am, still in Berkeley, and yet still walking the halls alone.  Now people here dislike and misunderstand me too.  "You're stupid, Jane -- and a fool.  How dare you ever even think that Trump might be better than Clinton?"  Hey, my bad.  I just figured that Trump's promise to stop spending a trillion or so bucks every year on pointless "wars" in the Middle East might be a better option for all. http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2016/11/us-british-clean-house-to-delete-syria-terror-links/

      To quote journalist Robert Parry, "Donald Trump must decide – and decide quickly – whether he wants to be a great U.S. President or a robo-signature machine affixing his name to whatever legislation comes from congressional Republicans and a nodding figurehead acquiescing to more neoconservative [failed] foreign policy adventures."  https://consortiumnews.com/2016/11/15/trumps-slim-chance-for-greatness/

     But now I'm sadly finding out that perhaps Trump is gonna become a neo-con robot after all and waste even more trillions on vicious "wars" in the Middle East.  I might have been wrong to believe him.  But the price that I am now paying for speaking out on my hopes for finally achieving peace in the Middle East reminds me so much of the price I once paid back in the 1950s for daring to speak out against Joe McCarthy and not just following the herd.  It's that exact same feeling all over again.  People still hate me. 
http://www.voltairenet.org/article176505.html

PS:  Everyone here in California now seems determined to protest against Donald Trump.  But that seems just counterproductive and useless.  If everyone here truly hates Trump as much as they say, then the brave thing to do would be to secede from the Union -- not just sign a few petitions, break a few windows and call me names.

     Instead of just blindly mourning the election loss of Hillary Clinton, a career politician who is totally intertwined with America's malevolent Deep State, why not just leave the Deep State altogether?  http://news.antiwar.com/2016/11/13/saudis-deliberately-targeting-civilian-infrastructure-in-yemen-war/

PPS:  Speaking of California, here's a link to Rob Hustle's new rap video, "Good Cop," wherein I play a dying cancer patient being arrested for using medical marijuana to ease her pain.  But after this last election, that won't be happening in California any more.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiaiWwNgSeo
________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

Trump to the Clintons: "You're fired!"

     "You're fired!" declares The Donald.  But then the Clintons scream back, "We're gonna fire your sorry ass first!"  And George Soros starts babbling on and on about his famous "Color Revolutions" and how America can become the next Ukraine under his watch.  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-11/clintons-and-soros-launch-americas-purple-revolution

     Donald Trump's domestic policy may suck eggs -- but his foreign policy is spot-on.  "Let's destroy ISIS!" he says.  Now that's an idea whose time has finally come.  What good is Hillary's allegedly-fabulous domestic policy if the Clintons are still off trying to start World War 3 with Russia with all those trillions of dollars that should have been used to fix our bridges and improve our schools.  http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/11/can_trumps_presidency_overturn_hillarys_bloody_legacy_in_syria.html

     Rumor even has it that Trump will use his executive powers to re-open the 9-11 investigation.  Maybe the Saudis did it after all?  Let's find out.  http://investmentwatchblog.com/trump-im-reopening-911-investigation/

    But forget about the Clintons and Trump -- and even Obama.  With all their billions, they'll somehow survive.  They'll do fine.  Let's concentrate on me instead.  What do I myself, me, Jane Stillwater, want for me, myself and I?  I just want to be happy.  But who can be happy when there is a battle of elitist dinosaurs going on in Washington, babies are being blown up in Palestine, Syria and Yemen and there are thousands (if not millions) of homeless Americans -- and Americans in debt and Americans without jobs?  http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/11/09/progressives-prefer-nuclear-war-to-white-trash-americans-paul-craig-roberts/

     "Do unto others as we would have others do unto us," should be America's national motto.  Forget about E pluribus unum.  Who the freak cares if out of Many came One -- if that one is a power-mad off-the-rails country that kills women and children for breakfast and devours its poor huddled masses for lunch.  https://consortiumnews.com/2016/11/06/nyt-admits-key-al-qaeda-role-in-aleppo/

    "Life is a competition and the winners are the ones who do the most good deeds."  We should follow this concept too -- because being the Queen of Chaos or being a bailed-out bankster or using paramilitary goons to smash water protectors or regulating who can vote and who can have babies?  These are definitely not the ways to be happy.

CLARIFICATION:  I'd rather not have Trump in the White House either but...it still annoys me that there are huge numbers of Lefties out there who would never ever have voted for Kissinger or GWB in a million years, yet absolutely salivated to vote for a candidate with the exact same foreign policy -- and then take to the streets when their Kissinger-wannabe wasn't elected.  How many of us took to the streets because Dr. Stein lost the race?
________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

After the presidential election, impeachment next?

     Suppose Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 presidential election?  What will happen after that?  She'll probably get impeached.  Lord knows there are grounds for it!  http://www.globalresearch.ca/hillary-and-bill-clinton-pay-to-play-racketeering-the-bonnie-and-clyde-of-american-politics/5554804 

     According to Google, "The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors."  These are definitely grounds to impeach PrezClint2.  http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/clinton-fans-stop-angst-ing/

      But what if Donald Trump wins instead?  Same scenario could happen.  Don't you have to be of high moral character or something like that to be Prez?  Also, Trump has actually dared to come out against starting World War 3 and also against NAFTA, the TTP and sending America's jobs offshore.  Wall Street and War Street will try to get Trump impeached for those two "crimes" alone!

     And suppose that members of the House of Representatives actually do muster up the courage to impeach the next sitting president?  Then what would happen next?  Vice-President Pence or Vice-President what's-his-name would hopefully get impeached too -- guilt by association, accomplices after the fact.  They shoulda known better.  But then what would happen?  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/julian-assange-clinton-foundation-isis-same-money-saudi-arabia-qatar-funding-a7397211.html

      The Speaker of the House would be next on the list.  But who the freak would ever want Paul Ryan in the White House?  No one, that's who.  So next it would go down to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate -- and couldn't we somehow arrange that to be Bernie Sanders?  Bernie could end up in the White House after all!  Or not.  Who wants a Clinton supporter in the White House?  https://healingjustice.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/how-us-aggression-in-ukraine-risks-nuclear-war/ 

     Then the Secretary of State would be the next person eligible on the list.  Téa  Leone in the White House?  I could live with that.  Madam Secretary - CBS.com
________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

What ever happened to the Bush-Obama "pivot" to Afghanistan? 

    So far, Afghanistan is America's longest war -- or is it?  I can think of a lot longer ones.  Hell, the burning embers of Reagan's war on Central America are still alive and well in Honduras.  Things are still at a boil in Somalia right now -- even after 20-odd years, are Blackhawks still going down over there?  Yeah.  And what about America's neo-colonial proxy war on Palestine?  That's been dragging on for decades already -- and probably won't end until the total war-crime-scale genocide of Palestine is complete.  Not to mention America's war on the Sioux Nation right here in North Dakota -- at least a few centuries old, am I right or what! 

     But I digress.  Back on topic. 

     Exactly what the freak is going on in Afghanistan these days?  We hardly ever hear about that "war" any more.  But after performing a quick and random information-grab, here's what I've figured out:  American soldiers are still killing Afghans.  The Taliban is still shooting back.  It's still all about Forward Operating Bases verses caves in Tora Bora and Meals-Ready-to-Eat versus goats over there.   And drones versus wedding parties.  And testosterone versus motherhood and burkas.  And oil pipeline proxy wars between American engineers and engineers from China.

     What a circus.  What a mess.  What a money pit.  This is gonna be Obama's legacy?  Yep.

      According to journalist James Petras, "Obama reneged on his campaign promises to end the war(s) in the Middle East by increasing the US troop presence and expanding his drone-assassination warfare against Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Syria.   US troops re-invaded Afghanistan, fought and retreated in defeat.  The Taliban advanced."  http://dissidentvoice.org/2016/04/president-obama-the-race-for-the-imperial-legacy/

     Good grief.  If Clinton is elected, can we expect Hillary to continue her current support of the Bush-Obama multi-trillion-dollar "pivot" to chaos and to count on getting four more years of this mess?  Looks like it.  But can Afghans (and also Americans) survive four more years of this painful and costly Bush-Obama pivot to Afghanistan?  I'm thinking not.

________________________________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books!  http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html