Paying the bills: Not giving our government credit for all that it spends

    My go-phone just died.  "Maybe you forgot to charge it?" asked a friend.  No.  I just forgot to pay my freaking phone bill at the first of the month.

     If you don't pay your bills, you get cut off.  Everyone knows that.  It's the law.  Literally.  And this law not only just applies to ordinary people like you and me, it also applies to our government as well.  Duh.

     And the first of the month is once again starting to roll around for you and for me -- and also for the United States of America too.

     Who is going to foot the bill for all those thousands of ICE raids that we hear so much about on TV?

     Who is going to write out that big check for America's half-baked and squalid "war on terror" and all those other phony, invented (and totally pricey) other "wars" that Washington delights in?  http://thesaker.is/saker-book-review-pokemon-in-ukraine-tactical-war-game-introduction-manual/

     Who will keep the lights on in our expensive and elaborate prison system?

     Who is going to have to tighten their belts in order to pay for the Border Wall?  https://www.unz.com/article/the-border-fetish/

     Who will have to bite the bullet financially in order to pay for the Afghanistan fiasco?  Israel's sick apartheid regime?  All those cute (and very expensive) little acronyms for oppressive operations abroad such as the CIA, AFRICOM, NATO, FUK-US, SOUTHCOM, PACOM, US-AID and SOCOM?  And also for all those cute (and very expensive) little acronyms for oppressive operations here at home such as the NSA, SWAT, DEA, DHS, SEC, ATF and FDA?  https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB216/app1.pdf

     Who will be stuck with trying to pay all these bills when the first of the month finally rolls around for the USA as well as for us?  It will be you and me that will be stuck with trying to fend off the repo man after America goes bankrupt.  https://patch.com/california/lajolla/californias-largest-employer

     America is not spending its money wisely.  And who the hell do you think is going to get stiffed for the tab?

That's my pop, off to war

     During World War II, Americans all voluntarily tightened their belts in order to pay for what they thought was a good use of their money -- but in America today most of us are involuntarily tightening our belts.  But why?  So that the the rich can get richer of course.  Yet all we get out of it is to lose our homes, lose our futures and get even more stinking "wars" shoved down our throats. 

PS:  A border Wall and an ICE machine have only proved to be wasteful and stop-gap solutions to a very real problem.  It's time to do the math correctly for a change.  Immigrants come up here from Latin America because their lives down there have been made a living hell.  So.  If you don't want them to come here, stop screwing up their lives down there.  Boom.  End of problem.  They'd probably rather stay down there anyway, given a choice.

PPS:  While recently re-reading my (most excellent) book recounting my experiences as an embedded journalist during the "war" on Iraq, I was (sort of) surprised to see Mike Pence's name jump out on the page.  Back in 2007, he and John McCain held a press conference in the Green Zone that I had attended, wherein Pence happily offered us poor benighted reporters an inside glimpse on how to be a truly shady war hawk.  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2007/04/letters-from-iraq-me-light-brigade-john.html

      Who knew back in 2007 that this war-drum-pounding little piece of shite would someday become America's vice-president and even help us spend approximately ten billion dollars in just one night on the illegal and criminal bombing of Syria.  Guess Pence just couldn't get enough of Shock and Awe -- and was willing to tell the exact same lies to see it all happen again.

     Still and all, ten billion dollars woulda gone a hecka long way toward paying off my go-phone bill.

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Photos of Old Aleppo and recent restoration attempts there.

     So much of the architectural history of Aleppo was destroyed by ISIS, al Qaeda and all the other terrorists who invaded that beautiful city under the watchful eye of our very own CIA.  And now there is hope in Aleppo as many of those precious historical landmarks are being repaired and/or rebuilt -- and my friend in Aleppo sent me the photos to prove it too.   

Mullakhané: the Whirling Dervishes Sufi’s historical site (16th c. - 1920’s). Still partly damaged from inside, with slow-paced restoration.

The Bāb al-Faraj (Relief Gate’s) Clock Tower (1898-1900).  Almost fully restored. 

The Great Mosque: One of the biggest disasters in the Old City of Aleppo.   It is damaged so badly, with its historical unique square floor-plan minaret (950 years old, 45 meters high) that had been blown up by the terrorists to blame the government.  The site was an Agora in the Hellenistic and Roman era.  Terrorists had almost leveled it and turned it back as an agora.  Its historical minbar (a short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque) dated back from Saladin’s and the Crusades’ era or even after that period, had been looted, with its ancient library of manuscripts taken to Turkey (mostly, but perhaps to other countries after Turkey).  The mosque includes a shrine of Zechariah (father of John the Baptist).  Russian Republic of Chechnya is donating for its restoration now, but it still needs a LOT of time.  This is how it used to look before the war:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Aleppo

Another restoration example of an old building (little mosque?) from Saladin’s era.

Traditional Soap Caravanserai (Khan as-Sāboon): under restoration.

Switzerland Consulate inside the Vezir Caravanserai (Khan al-Wazeer) from the 17th century.  I didn’t know that the Swiss Consulate was located over there.  It’s closed now though.

Another old building that was used as the Belgique Consulate at one era.

A concert took place a week ago in the ancient Citadel of Aleppo.  Many Arab celebrities attended it.  They played part of the opera Carmen among other local songs and music.  (Courtesy of Believe in Aleppo)

The Red Gate (Bāb al-Ahmar) restaurant right now, although it wasn’t famous at all decades ago.  I’ve heard that it cost more than half a million US dollars to buy it, but after restoration, it costs a minimum of more than 2 million dollars.  Originally it was a Turkish Bath, centuries old.

Beroea Restaurant (3-Stars).  All of these cafés and restaurants are in front of (or around) the Citadel.  New Syrian immigrants to Canada opened a very luxurious Beroea Restaurant in Laval, near by Montreal, QC.  Beroea is the Hellenistic and Roman name for Aleppo.

Arica (Sofa/Couch/Divan) Café

Some restoration for shops close by the Triumph Gate (Bāb an-Nasser) (North of Old city). 

Comments from my friend:   Some new archeological excavations around the Triumph Gate have lead to several results so far.  It used to be known as the Jews’ Gate until one ruler changed its name centuries ago.  The Jewish quarter was close-by for centuries if not more.  The gate itself was hidden behind shops for decades, all of them had been removed now (thanks to the war and demolition!!)  They found some ancient structures around it that could be belonged to Sabians/Zabians (NOT Sabaeans of Yemen), or Mandaeans, and whether there was a link between the Old Testament’s name for what they believed is Aleppo as Zobah or Aram-Zobah, and the Zabians?  No one knows yet for sure. Excavations are still on going.

     The Triumph Gate also has a shrine for Saint-George, whose celebration day was yesterday (on 23rd of April).  Its name in Arabic is al-Khodr/al-Khedr.  According to history, Jews, Christians and Muslims used to celebrate at that day and at that site, and it was sacred for all of them.  There is another shrine for Saint George in the Citadel.  Here are layers and layers of history and beliefs in one spot.

      All the positive photos above are merely islands among a sea of destroyed and damaged buildings here.  The way is so long to restore the old city, but little steps have been started in that long path.  The Aga Khan Foundation is helping a little, training for basic skills in restoration and studying the current situation before starting on big-scale operations. 

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Gaza: Where the remembrance of 6 million Jews goes to die

     I'm only human.  I watch the videos currently coming out of Gaza and I am horrified and shocked.  I see footage of Israeli neo-colonialist bullies and thugs, armed to the teeth, dressed in riot gear, backed up by missiles and tanks, holding the absolute latest long-range sniper weaponry in their hands and firing gleefully on unarmed Palestinians whose only crimes are to be born into an Israeli concentration camp -- and to refuse to just shut up and die quietly of malnutrition and disease.

     These Israeli snipers appear to be deliberately aiming at Palestinians' elbows and knees.  They know that there are very few doctors, hospitals and blood banks left in Gaza.  They know that they have just crippled over 4000 Gazans for life.  They plan it that way.  Creating instant piles of Palestinian corpses just isn't as much fun.

     And yet these same brutal Israeli neo-con villains then have the audacity to tell us that they are committing these vile atrocities in the name of the six million Jews who were murdered by Nazi thugs. 

     Every time I tour yet another Jewish holocaust museum or see yet another movie about the Jewish holocaust or watch yet another documentary about the Jewish holocaust on TV, I shudder over the sheer hypocrisy of Israeli neo-cons -- and I'm willing to bet that if there is an afterlife somewhere, the troubled souls of six million Jews there are shuddering too.

     Shame on you, Israel.

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Greed without borders: Watching the Deep State eat its young

    Ever since before TV was even invented, there's been a really huge reality show being broadcast here in America.  It's called "The Deep State Show".  And yet despite its consistent rating as the longest-running reality show ever and even despite its presence in every single aspect of our lives, the average American has hardly even heard of it and never even gets to watch it either.  Nobody here ever asks their friends the next day, "Hey, did you see the latest episode of 'The Deep State Show' last night?"   In fact, nobody in America has hardly even heard of the Deep State Show before -- until now.

     Why now?

     Because, although the Deep State has been successfully eating its young in other parts of the world for the past century or so, it appears there are almost no more young in the rest of the world left to eat and so now it has started to eat ours too.

     "You need to define your terms, Jane," you might say.  Why?  Defining one's terms is boring.  But okay.  I'll give it a shot.  It's the freaking military-industrial complex.  It's Wall Street and War Street.  It's those dudes in three-piece suits who plot ways to steal the resources out of all the other countries on earth -- and now that the rest of the world has been pretty much sucked dry, they have come after America's resources too.  

     It's the guys who live in penthouses and drive Ferraris yet get their knickers all in a twist when the rest of us Americans even dare to drive a used Hyundai or buy a fixer-upper out in the sticks.  It's those greedy welfare capitalists who won't let the rest of us have a safety net too.  That's who it is.  Capisce?  https://www.politicalorphans.com/the-article-removed-from-forbes-why-white-evangelicalism-is-so-cruel/

     Let's move on.

     In our desperation these days, we more savvy Americans are actually starting to question the Deep State.  And so the Deep State Show throws us a scapegoat, a bone.  All fingers now point to Donald Trump instead of to the actual men behind the curtain.  Duh.

      All this talk about building a border Wall and about uppity Black people is just to get us to hate each other instead of hating the worst reality show ev-ah.  And yet what is at stake here is our own reality as well as the Deep State's.  It is our young that are now getting eaten.

     Well, now that I've got all that off my chest, what happens next?  I wanna go down to Guadalajara.  "How's that going to help?" you might ask next.  Because thousands of people from Central America and Mexico, the ones who have already had their young eaten by The Deep State Show decades ago, are now trying to come to America and show us, "This is what it looks like to have your hopes and treasures destroyed.  This is what you too will look like in another couple of years, after the Deep State has had its way with you too."  https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/caravan-mexico-honduras-trump-immigration?utm_term=.duRR7kLxVP#.plAkDlpnW8

     So.  Hundreds of people have been marching through Mexico in the last month.  They have gotten as far as Guadalajara and are now on their way to Tijuana, carrying banners that read stuff like," We want our lives back!"  And I want to join them.  Why?  Because I don't want my young to be eaten by no greedy old dudes on a reality show either.  And neither should you.

PS:  If anyone actually knows anything about how I can actually get to Guadalajara and join the march, please let me know.  And please don't tell me to ask Donald Trump -- or ask the Deep State Show either. 

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books.  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM

From a friend in Aleppo: Syrians are laughing at us!

     Just got an e-mail from a friend of mine in Aleppo regarding the recent "Friday the 13th" missile strike there -- brought to the Syrian people courtesy of FUK-US (France, the United Kingdom and the U.S.)  My friend watched the event on Syrian TV and apparently it was like watching a low-budget horror movie -- not all that scary.  70% of the missiles were shot down by Syrian equipment left over from the 1960s.  So much for Fire and Fury.

    "Yes, it was was a very long day here," wrote my friend, "and I watched Trump's ‘made-for TV movie’ from beginning to end.  I woke up around 3:50 am and switched on the television in time to see the terrorist Trump, live, giving his signal for the attack."  And my friend then stayed awake until 11:30 pm the next evening, not wanting to miss any part of the show.

     "So I kept following the news and by the second night there were around six or seven variations and narratives of what had happened.  Gossip and rumors were  everywhere here." I can just imagine.

     "The final and most corrected version so far, however, coming from several media sources and on the ground here, is that most of the NATO missiles had been downed by the Syrian defense system, and that damage was limited to one (1) building (a research center) being destroyed and three soldiers injured.  The other targeted buildings had already been targeted from last year or even previously blown up by terrorists and were already destroyed partly or completely, or were abandoned, so targeting them wasn’t a heroic job by the FUK-US alliance."

      Rumor in Syria also has it that "Everyone from our side (Syria, Iran and Russia) already knew the targets in advance (conspiracy 😎), or that they were all ready for it and well-prepared to face it.  Downing 70%-80% of the missiles was an amazing job!  People were celebrating in the streets around midday in the cities (Damas-Aleppo-Tartous-Latakya...etc)."

     Since America's 2011 illegal and criminal invasion-by-proxy, Syrians have been forced to develop a sense of humor in order to cope with the horror of having hundreds of thousands of Syrians blown to bits by FUK-US and its proxy mercenary/terrorist boots on the ground.  "We were all forwarding jokes both before and after the strike regarding Trump and the strike.  I mean no one was really afraid.  That is a big difference between now and the first years of the crisis where everyone was [pooping] in their pants, and when such a threat took place by Obama in August of 2013.  We finally are having a good survival experience now after seven years of this filthy war."

     And then there's the economic downside of the US criminal invasion of Syria.  "The dollar price of goods was getting lower a week or two ago as Syria made great gains in evicting the terrorist invaders, but then prices started bouncing up and down after the Trump threats and delaying of the strike.  Some merchants took advantage of that to take more money from the people’s pockets when goods’ prices got slightly more expensive.  But everything will go down now that monsieur Trump accomplished his mission!"

      And here's some more news we can use.  "The Saudis paid for the strike, and so the FUK-US obviously felt that they had to deliver the service.  This means that those mighty armies of those three great nations have become just grubby mercenaries today, ready to attack anyone if you have the cash!  Everything is for sale!  Even dignity and honor."

     Trust me, my friend in Aleppo is truly pissed off. 

     "We are also just learning now that among the missile targets were some already-abandoned buildings that had already been targeted previously last year.  It means that they targeted rubble over and over again!  This means that FUK-US is out of targets so they are targeting the same targets over and over again.  If so, the Saudis paid a whole lot of money to have those missiles dumped on rubble and abandoned buildings. Good investment!"  Or not.

     "Trump, the one-man show, wanted to make a huge propaganda move with those missiles and to play the role of a great leader who accomplished his mission!  But he’s only a joker in the eyes of many.  For the sake of the western media, the three attackers stated that they did what they had to do for ethical reasons.  Of course they did so!!!  No kidding!! 👏🏻 Bravo!!  I’m having tears in my eyes right now..... 😂 laughing tears, I mean!  That joker is making me laugh."

      And then my friend in Aleppo pretty much nails how the rest of the world sees America now.  "Those criminals know nothing about ethics and morals and they don’t care about millions of dead people, including children and women all over the world (even as they always show themselves as the #1 in humanitarianism).  All that they are interested in is their pocket money 💰, oil, ⛽️ gas, greed, the protection of Israel and the lust of power.  They are ready to do whatever it needs to reach their goals."

    Then my friend regaled me with some of the more interesting gossip floating around Aleppo right now, including the following:  "Some are saying that 'there is a conspiracy between all players together.  It’s all a set-up!  Everyone is dealing with the other under the table.'  I have no comment on that one."

     Next rumor:  "That 'the Syrian Defense didn't down any rocket or missile, that was fake news, and the damage is so big that hundreds lost their lives!'  No comment on that one either."

     And regarding chemical weapons, "Gossips are saying that there was 'a deal to collect all chemical weapons somewhere in the desert, to be targeted all together by the 103 missiles!'  However, if there actually were any chemical weapons in Syria and they had been hit, their damage would have been spread to the whole region.  Plus it’s obvious that Syria doesn’t have that type of weapon anymore, and that the White Helmets' screenplay featuring crisis actors was pathetic, fake and staged -- so I’m not buying that silly analysis."

    Here's another rumor: "Some are saying that they targeted Aleppo and Damascus military airports.  But I heard nothing that day in Aleppo (yes, it’s far away, but on calm nights you can hear gun clashes from miles away, let alone Tomahawk missiles hitting a military airport).  And the Damascus airport is still working and didn’t stop, both the military and civilian ones."

     My friend continues to have other questions too.  "People in Aleppo are also asking themselves, 'How come all these multi-million-dollar FUK-US rockets and missiles injured only three soldiers -- while in the past, before Aleppo was liberated by Syrian troops, just one random shelling by terrorists using only a hand-made cooking-gas container used to kill and injure dozens of people?'  Good question.  Those were random shells targeting people in markets and crowded areas.  However, while the FUK-US strike was well planned, the Syrian defensing was well-prepared to face it and all their missile targets were not occupied by civilians.  I admit, a lot of arguments could go on this point back and forth.  But time will reveal the truth."

       And my friend also sent me some of the latest jokes making the rounds in Aleppo.  "People in Homs are gathering in the city center, begging Trump to re-strike Syria because they had been asleep that night and missed the first show!"

     And of course a lot of Syrians are riffing off the timing of FUK-US's missile strike.  "It was Friday the 13th when Trump launched the strike.  Does that mean he's a witch?"

     A popular meme going around on Syrian FaceBook (if there is such a thing) shows a Syrian soldier holding up one of his fingers with just a very slight pin-prick of blood on it.  The caption reads, "Of the damage of the tripartite aggression on Damascus, the wounding of a Syrian soldier with Tomahawk missiles!"

     Then there's this one:  "Trump promised to send new missiles to Syria -- causing one reporter in Homs to ask, 'If they weren’t brand new as promised, in their original packaging and with the plastic seals still intact, can we then reject them and send them back to Trump by UPS or FedEx?" 😂

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books.  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM

EXTRA! Trump sends Syrian Christians to Heaven! 

    In a bold move to curry favor with Jesus, President Donald Trump and his neo-con acolytes in the Deep State and military-industrial complex, like President Obama before them, have just made every effort to please Him by attempting to send hundreds -- if not thousands -- of His devoted Christian followers in Syria up to meet their Maker in Heaven.   http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/04/syria-manipulated-videos-fail-to-launch-world-war-iii.html

      God is actually quite pleased to have all these Syrian Christian martyrs to keep him company in Heaven.  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/a-staggering-new-death-toll-for-syrias-war-470000/

       God, however, is definitely NOT pleased with Trump, Bolton, Pence and the American military-industrial complex.  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2014/04/engineering-chaos-mother-agnes-miriam.html

     "Hell, I thought they were all Muslims," Trump replied in his own defense.  God was definitely not pleased with that answer either. 

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books.  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM

Sniper in Vegas, snipers in Gaza

     A truly terrible thing happened recently in Las Vegas when some locked-and-loaded, armed and dangerous psychotic homicidal sniper mercilessly fired 540 rounds of live ammunition a minute into a crowd of helpless and defenseless people in Vegas.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/02/us/vegas-guns.html

     Within minutes after this heartless massacre by a crazed gunman happened, American media went crazy and provided us with 24-hour coverage of this horror -- coverage that lasted for weeks.  Sheldon Adelson, billionaire owner of the Bellagio casino, publicly deplored that something as horrendous as this could even happen and immediately started planning ways to help the survivors.  Our entire nation was shocked and in mourning.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/casino-mogul-adelson-met-with-trump-hours-after-las-vegas-shooting/

     Now let's compare this horrendous sniper attack in Vegas with the recent horrendous sniper attack by uber-locked-and-loaded, armed and dangerous Israeli neo-cons who mercilessly fired 540 live rounds of ammunition a second into a crowd of helpless and defenseless people in Gaza.

     "What sniper attack in Gaza?" you might ask.  "Never heard of it."  And yet even though 18 people were slaughtered and almost a thousand more were wounded by psychotic homicidal snipers firing into a helpless and defenseless crowd in Gaza, American mainstream media said almost nothing about it.  http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-good-friday-bloodbath-gazas-selma.html

     And Sheldon Adelson not only made no public protest against this heinous and merciless act in Gaza, he totally applauded it -- and probably even helped finance it as well.

     I'll never patronize the Bellagio again.

     There is, however, one major difference between these two horrendous sniper attacks.  On the one hand, I can always go off to Vegas at a moment's notice -- whereas, on the other hand, Gaza is the world's largest concentration camp.  No one goes in.  No one goes out.  Except in a body bag.  Plus, of course, they don't have any casinos in Gaza.  Hell, thanks to Israeli neo-cons like Adelson and Bibi Netanyahu, trapped citizens of Gaza don't even have electricity.  They barely even have food. 

     Why is it that a vile sniper in Vegas who randomly fired on helpless and defenseless people is considered to be psychotic -- while vile snipers who randomly fired on helpless and defenseless people in Gaza have now become national heroes in Israel and DC, and are supported by American taxpayers' money to the tune of ten million dollars a day?  What am I missing?

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books.  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM

Why we need more money when we get old...

    For one glorious summer back when I was young and (sort of) strong, I hitchhiked my way across Europe with only a pair of cowboy boots, a backpack, some Navy-surplus bell-bottom jeans, a red tank top and five tabs of LSD to keep me happy.  Money meant nothing to me back then.

     But now it does.

     I just got back from speaking at a book convention in Reno, Nevada.  The flight home was only 40 minutes long but even that was exhausting.  The whole freaking trip was exhausting.

     If only my bank account had been phat enough to allow me to stay at a quiet motel, eat healthy food and hire a porter to lug around my suitcase containing 47 pounds of free books, I would have been in much better shape when I got home.

     Ah, home -- where I know how to scrounge and can more easily find cheap ways to eat organic food and grass-fed meat because they are far healthier, give me an edge on the aging game and help me to live longer.

     Home -- where my adult children aren't particularly fond of me right now, apparently because I am currently old, broke and a liability.  Kicked to the curb on the flimsiest of pretexts.  Can't afford to dress to impress.  Don't have a high-paying job because I'm no longer young and (sort of) strong.  Because they owed me money.

     Home -- where I can only afford a roof over my head because I've lived in the same apartment for the last 40 years and my rent is still low.  And having a roof over one's head becomes more and more crucial the older one gets.

     Home -- where thank goodness I have MediCare because if I didn't, I'd be dead.  And where I receive Social Security.  For now.  Seems to me like everybody wants to take away our Social Security and MediCare so that we baby boomers will die faster and stop clogging up the nursing homes.  Everyone from Donald Trump to Fox News wants us out of the way.  Might as well put a gun to our heads and get it over with -- like they do in Parkland and the Middle East.

     Home --  where I can play grocery bingo at the senior center and hunt for bargains at the Berkeley Bowl and get all my fashion designs at Goodwill.

     Money clearly does matter more to me now than it did way back when.  Money keeps body and soul together these days.  Money keeps me alive.  Without it, I'd be dead a lot sooner than I would be if I was still young and (sort of) strong.

     It's just not like the old days at all, back when I wasn't so fragile and could just live like Jack Kerouac -- on the road.

PS:  But even so, even at this age, I still have grandiose career ambitions and dreams.  Sooner or later, someone in Hollywood is going to do a re-make of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" -- and when they do, please please please cast me in the Bette Davis role!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qFYjkFCxiE

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books.  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM

Judas in the White House: Bush, Obama & Trump

     I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the economy is definitely booming.  But outside of the Bay Area?  Not so much.

     I'm currently in Reno at a book convention, trying to flog my latest detective novel -- and I am also detecting something else here as well.  From what I can tell after just a few days' stakeout, many residents in the "Biggest Little City in the World" are clearly hurting for money and jobs -- just like so many other folks in America today.  https://www.amazon.com/Road-Trip-Damascus-Jane-Stillwater/dp/1548204730

     But how can this be?  How can the richest country in the world have fallen so low? 

     The answer is simple.  "Judas in the White House" -- or three of them, to be exact.

     When all the votes were counted (or not) after the 2000 presidential election, American voters had given a clear mandate that we wanted to go in a people-friendly direction and away from all this nonsense about "war".  People voted for Gore.  People voted for Nader.  We shoulda gotten ecology and a fat peace dividend back in 2000.  Instead we got George W. Bush shoved down our throats.  And 9-11.  And all its shabby results.  Judas in the White House.

     And then along came Obama.  We voters gave him a clear mandate too -- we wanted it our way, jobs and peace.  Instead we got even more merciless slaughter in Iraq and Afghanistan shoved down our throats.  Plus the horrors of additional "wars" and proxy wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Palestine and Ukraine too.  Pathetic.  http://www.syriasolidaritymovement.org/2018/03/27/ssm-statement-on-the-liberation-of-eastern-ghouta/

     At the Reno convention this week, a handwriting analyst, Sheila Lowe, gave a very interesting talk.  She said, "Obama's handwriting shows that he was a great leader -- but was under intense pressure to do things against his will".  But, all the same, he still did them anyway.  Humph.  Judas in the White House.  http://www.claudiaroseseries.com/SheilaLoweBooks/books/

     And then there's Trump.  "Make America great again," he told his naive voters.  And then he sold America out for 30 pieces of Wall Street and War Street.  America now has more gun-toting Special Ops units in more countries worldwide than it has ambassadors.  That's just cray-cray.  Not to mention Trump's new BFFs, the slaughtering Saudis and infamous Israelis.  Judas in the White House. https://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-good-friday-bloodbath-gazas-selma.html

     It makes sense that Reno is hurting.  It makes sense that America is hurting too.  We've been sold out.

PS:  Bush, Obama and Trump aren't the only presidents who sold Americans out in order to keep the military-industrial complex happily lining their pockets with silver to the severe detriment for the rest of us.  This has been an ongoing trend that only presidents Kennedy and Carter have even tried to buck.

President Wilson:  Got us involved in grim European military-industrial battles that were none of our business.

President Roosevelt:  World War II was allegedly fought to preserve democracy against fascism [Fascism defined as governments and corporations working together to screw the rest of us] but actually it was fought because Hitler and Tojo got too greedy and started horning in on America's and Britain's military-industrial complex swag.

President Truman:  Proof is only just now surfacing that Korea was originally attacked by America because the Korean government was apparently becoming too nice to its own people and too representational -- a very bad example to set.   So Truman authorized dropping 1.5 million bombs on Korea, tearing the country apart and installing a cruel dictator in the south instead. https://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-trip-to-north-korea-pictures-worth.html

President Eisenhower:  Allowed covert operations against Iran, Congo and various Central American countries because their leaders were becoming a bit too democratic and actually setting up unions, hospitals and schools.  Clapped his hands in glee that a brutal dictator was our ally in Taiwan.

President Johnson:  Had a good thing going with the Great Society but lied us into the "war" on Vietnam instead because Uncle Ho was becoming too democratic.  Johnson also conspicuously looked the other way when Israeli neo-cons murdered 34 American sailors aboard the USS Liberty.

President Nixon:  Lied to us in order to continue the "war" on Vietnam just because he could -- and to help the US military-industrial complex continue to gut our treasury too.

Reagan:  Mr. Judas himself.  All it took was 30 pieces of silver to get him to murder thousands of Mayans, crucify Central America -- and destroy the American economy as well.  Trickle down?  More like Trickle Up.

President Bush the First:  Invented that phony Gulf "War" in order to steal Iraq's oil for himself and his cronies.  Hey, his plan worked.  Nothing in it for the rest of us except Gulf War Syndrome however.

President Clinton:  Chit-chatted a lot about our "peace dividend" but then went out of his way to destroy Yugoslavia and turn it into a hellhole.  Why?  Because Tito had been treating his people too kindly.  Stuff like that just had to be stopped!  And boy was it.

     So.  Here's my one obvious question.  "Have we Americans ever learned anything after all these decades of being betrayed again and again by our presidents in favor of warmongers and corporate carpetbaggers?"  Apparently not. 

     My only hope is that Americans will now start to build on the current heroic Parkland protests and finally realize that the foul act of murdering any child anywhere is bad, bad and wrong -- no matter how much profit for warmongers is involved.

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Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world.   And while you're at it, please buy my books.  https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Stillwater/e/B00IW6O1RM