Millions of Americans know poverty only too well and yet there are, presumably, states where poverty is more problematic than others. I am quite sure that many would beg to differ.
15 states where poverty is worse than you might think
Developed in 1963, the official poverty rate is based on pre-tax income thresholds related to the cost of a minimum food diet and the number of individuals who depend on that income.
Confidential documents reveal U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan
Senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing,” Douglas Lute, a three-star Army general who served as the White House’s Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told government interviewers in 2015. He added: “What are we trying to do here? We didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.”
What was the pretext for the war in Afghanistan?
The United States invasion of Afghanistan occurred after the September 11 attacks in late 2001, supported by close US allies. The conflict is also known as the US war in Afghanistan. Its public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, and to deny it a safe base of operations in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power.
Again, America cannot win a war! It does not matter how much military equipment is sent to a warzone, the fact should be clear to ALL by now, that America’s military ain’t shit! And if you don’t believe that, then keep reading.
“If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction . . . 2,400 lives lost,” Lute added, blaming the deaths of U.S. military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department. “Who will say this was in vain?”
Since 2001, more than 775,000 U.S. troops have deployed to Afghanistan, many repeatedly. Of those, 2,300 died there and 20,589 were wounded in action, according to Defense Department figures.
“If the American people knew of the magnitude of this dysfunction…2,400 lives lost.” And for what???!!!
The sad part is that Americans are so far removed from wars that we just don’t care. We don’t care that supposedly, healthy specimens of individuals were suited up and sent overseas to fight who or whom and how and why? No one had a clue. And it was most definitely in vain that over 2,400 lost their lives and my guess would be that the numbers are even higher since it is quite obvious that we cannot believe one lying word out of the mouths of our politicians aka warmongers and war hawks and those would include BARACK OBAMA, GEORGE W. BUSH, GEORGE H.W. BUSH and the current reigning lunatic-in-chief, DONALD TRUMP.
Thousands upon thousands of Americans who suited up and who were sent to war zones, made it back and are now wounded and are trying to receive the dubious services of the Veterans Administration and we all know that ANY services received from the Veterans Administration is a joke; just a not so very funny joke since it has been reported that those wounded soldiers who made it back from overseas deployment and who had damn near lost their minds and were suicidal were put on hold by the Veterans Administration when they called seeking help.
“VA Suicide Hotline! Hold Please!”
Some workers handle only one to five calls each day and leave before their shifts end even though phone lines have gotten busier, the emails say. As a result, 35% to 50% of the calls roll over to back-up centers where workers have less training to deal with the emotional problems of former service members.
In February, an Inspector General investigation revealed that some of the in-coming calls early last year had rolled over to back-up centers and gone to voicemail.
And surprise! Surprise! The original article was taken down and cannot be found online. Go figure! Can’t have the dirty secrets bandied about that America couldn’t give two flying turds about those whom we absentmindedly “Thank for their service.” What the hell does that do for someone who supposedly “put their life on the line” for this worthless ass shithole? Can it feed them? Can it house them? Can it give them the medical/psychological care they need? Can it pay their fucking bills?
But to know that it was ALL for nothing is what the troops who were sent over to Afghanistan are saying. There was no plan. There was no blueprint. There was no exit strategy. We were fed bald-faced lies by ALL presidents that had anything to do with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and so that also means that whatever we have been told about Libya, Syria, Yemen are also lies, lies, lies and damn lies! Trump even supposedly dropped the MOAB(Mother of all bombs) in Afghanistan and what the fuck did that do? Not a goddamn thing but kill two Afghan camel herders and take money from social programs that are sorely needed seeing as how we are experiencing poverty that’s worse than what was experienced during the first Great Depression because make no mistake, we are in a Worse Depression what with the emergence of Third World diseases in this so-called ‘First World’ nation whereas abject poverty and opulence sit side by side, where tent cities are right in the midst of new construction for luxury high rise condos in Los Angeles, but over in Las Vegas, the homeless are living in tunnels. Coming into Chicago, all you see are tents lined up; endless rows of tents. The same in Baltimore and in any and every city in Amerikkka.
George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — and their military commanders have been unable to deliver on their promises to prevail in Afghanistan. U.S. officials acknowledged that their warfighting strategies were fatally flawed and that Washington wasted enormous sums of money trying to remake Afghanistan into a modern nation.
What? Wanted “to remake Afghanistan into a modern nation?” So that they could what? Open a Starbucks? Open a Walmart? Open a Popeye’s Chicken shack? Open a Target? Are they fucking serious? This shithole is collapsing what with an infrastructure that is so damn old that bridges are collapsing, pipes that run water to homes are in pieces. Sinkholes are swallowing up blocks of cars. Entire cities look like war zones. Just go to damn near every state and you’ll find rows of abandoned, falling down buildings, downtown areas that have been abandoned; just row upon row of dilapidated buildings and those assholes wanted “to remake Afghanistan into a modern nation?” The Amerikkkan people are stupid as hell. There you sit with your dumb, fat ass glued to a chair while staring down at a phone that is your whole life while your paycheck is being deducted for shit because “attempting to remake Afghanistan into a modern nation” is not why we are paying taxes. That is not why we have payroll deductions. And yet, all we hear from so-called politicians is that we have no fucking money to help our own citizens who are sitting all up in tents trying to cure their typhus and hookworm. Seriously??!!! What.the.fuck.
“What did we get for this $1 trillion effort? Was it worth $1 trillion?” Jeffrey Eggers, a retired Navy SEAL and White House staffer for Bush and Obama, told government interviewers. He added, “After the killing of Osama bin Laden, I said that Osama was probably laughing in his watery grave considering how much we have spent on Afghanistan.”
Yeah! What did we get for over $1 trillion? And we cannot even believe the bullshit that the U.S. government put out about Osama bin Laden since I read that the man had long since died from kidney failure long before Seal Team 6 arrived on the scene. If Osama bin Laden was deep sixed, then I’ve got a bridge for sale in London.
Keep believing the bullshit! Keep buying the lies and you will continue to look around for somewhere to put up a tent and then find yourself locked up thanks to vagrancy laws being put on the books in every city in this fucking shithole because they got nothing but wars and wars and they don’t even have a clue why the fuck there is a war and what to do in a war or how to exit a war of choice. If veterans cannot even get housed and are dying on the streets, what the hell do you think is going to happen to the rest of us? But go right ahead with your head glued to that phone. I hope your tent comes with a USB port and some electricity. Otherwise, the jail has electricity, but you won’t get to keep your phone while you’re cooling your heels in there after having been swept up in a homeless tent city raid.
Meanwhile, your government has some more lies to tell you about why we are at war in Afghanistan and why U.S. troops are still over in Iraq. By all means, keep believing the shit they spout because you love being lied to.
And so I will leave you with a little poem I wrote for the wannabe soldiers.
War Is Always Such A Blessing!
War is always such a blessing
It never is distressing or depressing.
I know all too well that this is true.
War has been good for me and you.
You proudly give your lives up for the rich.
For us, life never is a bitch.
In a blaze of glory, you go out.
And really, that’s what it’s all about.
The drone operators are so brave
as they send little children to their grave.
Since the world has become our battleground,
the drums of war make a lovely, throbbing sound.
Teach your sons and your daughters about their duty.
And one day, when they are dead, we’ll make a movie.
It will honor their brave and noble deeds.
The wounded, we shall see to all their needs.
Through war, we bring peace unto this earth.
And though you break out in dubious peals of mirth,
the last laugh will always be on you,
for none of what is written is ever true.
When we put a lethal weapon in your hand,
and send you to die in a foreign land,
your life means nothing, you should know,
but you never give pause, you just go.
War is not only just a blessing,
to warmongers, it is also quite refreshing,
that you are so willingly prostituted,
and it’s all because you are just too stupid,
to understand that if it were not for you,
no drone could ever strike on cue!
Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2015 Shelby I. Courtland
I don’t know why I wrote that poem because you useless, brain dead Amerikkkans will NEVER take what I wrote to heart! More’s the pity and I pity the world!
Shelby, I don’t think I have to tell you that I take your beautiful poem to heart. I hope others not only take the poem to heart, I hope they take this entire piece to heart. Bravo!
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You know that means much to me coming from you Kreb! You know that. I know of your sacrifice and I would not belittle it for a minute. What I wrote, I wrote in hopes to keep healthy, young people from becoming the warmongers’ tool; a willing body to be used to expand capitalism. And as you can see, that is what generals and others are stating when they say that their mission was “to remake Afghanistan into a modern nation.” Just like I stated, they want the entire world to endlessly engage in capitalism. Every country on this planet must contain that which will make whites even richer; yet another Starbucks, yet another Hilton Hotel, yet another Walmart, yet another Apple store and so it is to continue at the expense of lives and our tax dollars while billions on this planet live hand to mouth; the uber rich don’t give a shit! So many people are homeless, hungry and lacking medical care while trillions of dollars of our tax money is just fucking wasted! It just sickens me the way many of us have to live and it does not have to be this way!
Let me stop now before I get red in the goddamn face, blow another gasket and foam at the fucking mouth!
Kreb, I thank you for your comment. But I am never far from suffering an attack of apoplexy.
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True
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Thank you jamborobyn. It is too true and that is what is SO sad! We should be fucking shit up over here like those in Hong Kong are doing but Amerikkkans are too apathetic and complacent and dumb as hell. We ain’t got shit to work with over here and more’s the pity on that as well.
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Shelby, did you every try to read Wealth of Nations? I say try because I get to pg 18 and my head explodes, I soldier on for one or two more pages, then I am reminded precisely what is going on here and get all hot and angry and it inspires my writing and strengthens my resolve. The book was written at the time they were contemplating abolition of slavery in certain places. As far as I can tell, this capitalist-democracy marketed as freedom bullshit was designed to enslave more of the humans not less of them, to extend it to all corners of the globe, toil forever with what you need just out of reach, can control the entire species this way. Fuck Adam Smith. Fuck prepackaged freedom that has people killing each other for no reason, etc etc.
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Jamborobyn, I have heard of Wealth of Nations, but I’ve yet to read it. I would have to order it because we don’t have but one bookstore here and believe me, living in Hicksville has its downside.
What you describe is exactly what is happening, “this capitalist-democracy marketed as freedom bullshit was designed to enslave more of the humans not less of them, to extend it to all corners of the globe….” Hence why these worthless shits passing for politicians were sending peoples sons and daughters to a region to die in an attempt to bring capitalism to Afghanistan. They can’t have any corner of the globe not making money for the rich white shits that put this foul mess in motion.
To do to Afghanistan exactly what your comment states. Young people had to die so that these shits could bring Applebees, Target, Walmart, Apple stores, Burger King, Wendy’s, Macy’s, and some more shit to Afghanistan. Those people don’t need that shit. They don’t need to become obese, pill-popping, hypnotized, brain dead stupid, clueless, apathetic and complacent cretins like what we are dealing with over here. They want that shit for the entire world. That’s why Amerikkkans can’t go the fuck off because too many are just as I have described. They couldn’t get off their fat ass for nothing. Hell, that’s why they’ve got ‘personal assistants in their homes to do everything for them, including ordering pizza and anything else to smack on and get even bigger off of. We’ve got a morbid obesity, diabetes and heart disease crisis going on over here and our political shits and corporations want to take that shit over to Afghanistan. Well, I hope those people over there continue to push back against these depraved bastards that want to do that to them. And from what I hear, they’re trying like hell to push back against it.
And I also want to thank you for your comment on my poem. That means much to me coming from you since your poetry is just out of this world. Robyn, thanks again! Good to hear from you, as always!
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I am sure Wealth of Nations is out of copyright, so there would be a link online. like this one — > https://www.ibiblio.org/ml/libri/s/SmithA_WealthNations_p.pdf
This last attempt to read it forced me to look up the timeline on the abolition of slavery. There were still slaves in Scotland at the time of publishing, the law in his country did not get passed until after the release of the book. I think it is the only reason that slavery was abolished. They had come up with a better way and everyday wypo are so sold on the bullshit they are all helping.
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Hey sis… I forgot to mention how much I love the poem! it’s a fine art you have there, taking us on a dark journey into truth, then pull us back home with an incisive and poetic flourish at the end. Kudos
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Thanks Shelby for sharing your beautifully written poem.
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Thank you for that wonderful comment on my poem. I just hope I did what the hell is going down, some, dare I say, “justice?”
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Hell to the yeah fam. Revolutionary Blessings
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For starters, that poem was powerful in it’s message as well as the scathing satire.
Going to the main part of your article, I definitely agree how poorly the troops are treated in America or how the pretext for war made absolutely no sense. Learning more about the military in the past and present, I can only shake my head. America is the same country where ADOS soldiers got lynched in uniform back home, didn’t get benefits from the GI bill or other programs after WWII, and still are discriminated against to this day (obviously). The facts about poverty and the other sources were good to know. Like you, I was frustrated why they would only count the “pre-tax” rates. Thank you.
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Ospreyshire, thank you for your comment.
The government does not give a shit for the troops and why that is not widely understood, I don’t know because there are countless signs everywhere pointing to this. It is not hidden. I, myself, have taken pictures of homeless vets and posted it on this blog, in the early days of this blog, and six years later, there are still so many homeless vets, the numbers should be astounding, but in this shithole, it is just business as usual. And these shits over here think that “thanking them for their service” is doing something. When has that put food on ANYBODY’S table? NEVER! We are never about action. Words are all we ever use and words don’t do fuck about anything.
Wait times at VA clinics and hospitals have been likened to lines at Disney World and that is a sad ass shame. We don’t give a damn for those who we fucking “thank for their service” to this fucked up shithole filled with lying politicians who don’t know shit about how to fight the elective wars they start and our people need to stop signing on the dotted line to be led around by shits who are dumber than a pile of steaming shit! Nothing over here makes any damn sense, nothing! And of course, I am off on a tangent AGAIN. I’m never far from going the fuck off because this shit is just senseless when what is needed is crystal fucking clear but will never be done because we are just too apathetic and complacent to demand and enact change.
Ospreyshire, again, I thank you for your comment and for the compliment on my poem.
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Of course, Shelby!
I surely agree and it’s maddening when other people in this country don’t realize this. Things certainly never change when it comes to homeless vets or even those who have life-altering injuries (physical and/or mental).
Good comparison and that doesn’t surprise me at all. There needs to be action like medical care, job training, and houses instead of fields of yellow ribbons. You weren’t going off on a tangent since what you said was still relevant to the issue at hand. Trust me, I get your anger on the military situation. You’re a talented poet and I’m also appreciative about you caring about real life atrocities.
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Shelby after I read your beautiful piece of art,I am still wondering why USA isn’t classify as Third World Country?
They aren’t the big powerful country in the world,how they always like to preach false news about themselves,cause they are always in Middle East and Afghanistan because they want something from these countries!
But if they really believe that years of wars in these countries, they will get something, they are just a group of morons, because their efforts are in vain!
Everybody know that USA is the great beg in the world!
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