War-Thirsty Politicians Betray the American People: Trump Bombs Iran

 

More War

The same old lies, the same old crap seems to repeat over and over like Groundhog Day with the same jerks. America is crumbling, no one can afford groceries, rent, and the rest, but this is what they focus on. Now there will more war, I guess the 4 trillion spent for Bush's Middle Eastern wars, and hundreds of thousands who died, wasn't enough for these monsters. Neither party cares about the American people only the oligarchy, globalists and making money for billionaires. That's it. Face the truth. Stop calling anyone who questions the two party system, a "conspiracy theorist"!

I was outraged to notice that during the "No Kings" protests there wasn't anyone protesting war with Iran and by then the issue was out on the table. I thought "Why isn't anyone protesting this war in Iran?" Many still carried Ukraine flags even at that one. I wrote on one board, that scripted protests always serve the needs of the rulers, there's a reason Christy Walton, a billionaire signed off in support. The ruling class allows a few controlled events to defuse a little bit of steam while controlling the messaging. I found the No Kings logo to be stupid. It was irrelevant. They ignored the elephants in the room which was advancing war in the Middle East and the collapse of the US economy. 

The left abandoned the anti-war movement long ago. I went through multiple videos looking for signs against war and saw nothing. Even signs protesting the genocide in Gaza were very rare. It's disgusting that Biden sent money to Israel as they bombed tens of thousands of children and innocent civilians and wiped out endless blocks of civilian apartment blocks. Netyanhu is a madman. He doesn't care about Israelis either or Jews as his war monger ways puts them in more danger. Just as America is controlled by psychopaths, Israel has that psycho increasing the danger in all their lives. 

Most of our politicians are in the back pocket of AIPAC. Both sides have issues, some do see that there is wrong on both sides. They see the evils of genocide, but also are not supporters of Sharia law and terrorism. Both have been fighting for decades so why is America dragged into it? What good is it going to do but drag America into a sinking quagmire and perhaps bring some of the war home on our soil? Our politicians don't care about Americans. America has its own problems to solve here at home, but always involves itself in endless wars. Iraq and Afghanistan weren't enough of a learning lesson? Now we are at risk of World War III.

 

Many Americans are clueless, and ignore the perils of war and what war really means. War became something many watched on TV and cheered on. Kind of like a soccer match for the soulless. Ollie Matthews is now wisely outraged with Trump, I hope Ollie sees through the false two party system. It's about time. He talks about blood thirsty Americans cheering on war.  There are good boomers who are antiwar and don't fall for this crap, but I find myself disturbed at the fact the gerontocracy has retained a stranglehold upon American politics. I think he is on to something that war has become a show on big screen TVs for well-heeled people of the boomer generation to cheer on. If you think about it, our country is under an intense stranglehold of 70-80 year old plus neo-cons and their supporters. Most of Congress is over 70. Something has gone very wrong! 

Do the doddering old codgers in charge of our country knowing that their lives are nearing their end due to age alone, want to take the rest of us with them? It sure seems that way. They sure as hell don't give a damn about young people. Us Gen Xers grew up under the threat of nuclear war, watching the Day After and being told we could face nuclear annihilation at any time. Are you noticing something? No one cares. No one has warned about the risks of nuclear war. Even as I argued the Ukraine issue with some people in real life, no one cared if Russia and America came head to head, nuclear arsenals or not. No one cared. 

That's obvious as the economic crushing is dialed down harder. They surely don't care about the preservation of life in the world. It's a repeat of the same old crap. War to them is flying light shows, excitement and bombs on TV, it's not day to day interaction of going without food, PTSD, seeing one's house blown up, trauma, and watching loved ones die.

Even with my frustration with No Kings, I thought why are most of the protesters white- and grey-haired leftist boomers? Some of the protests looked like the nursing home filled up the activity bus and sent them on their way with trans and Ukraine flags to protest Trump. The average age seemed to be 70. Why didn't I see ONE sign about the economy? Maybe none of them relate to the younger generations who can't afford their bills. 

  Tik-Tok and Youtube are filled with videos detailing our dying economy, but you won't see those issues presented by any anti-Trump protests. Ollie is angry and I relate. My social media is odd, I wrote a bit about Iran, but most didn't seem to care, I am walking on eggshells myself, and not talking about politics, because of so many ended friendships in real life, maybe that's it. My angst over recent happenings has nowhere to go. I am glad Ollie is speaking out about what has happened.




Many MAGA people are upset, remember Trump ran on us having no more wars. Just the usual politician lies. It's the same rerun of neo-con BS. Will people ever learn? Mr. Operation Warp-Speed didn't give a damn about any of us either. Biden neither as he sent billions overseas. He's joined the usual politicians who basically say, "Screw the American people!", while sending boatloads of money!" overseas.

 I don't know when Americans will wake up. The situation seems rather hopeless. Other countries at least pay a bit attention to the needs and survival of their own citizens, not this one. No one represents American interests anymore or the will of the people. They'd rather invest money in blowing up other places. Take time to look up videos of Iran, our brainwash media would have you think everyone is living in tents. I read Persepolis, Iran was screwed up via America toppling their government. Remember the Shah of Iran?

Years ago, on my bible prophecy and conspiracy blog, when I was a fundamentalist Christian, I wrote all the time, they were going to take the USA into war with Iran. I was against this. Hagee, Netyanhu and the rest were always promoting war with Iran. Iran was on the Plan for the New American Century list and also on the list of countries, that General Wesley Clark talked about on this video. Here is a snip from my old blog:

I walked out of my second IFB church mid-service because the pastor and his son praised war with Iran in 2015! My conservative Christian churches were always hard on me politically, though I had the exact inverse happen with the UU years later, I was against the endless wars during the Bush era too. By the way I never returned to an evangelical church, there's too much baggage there. Around here, they are Christian Zionist to the max. I watched the services of a few online. One they were blowing shofars and had Israeli flags flying. Most Christian Zionists are probably cheering for their Orange demigod. Netyanhu was going on about Iran having the bomb by the 1990s. 

The last thing this country needed was more war involvement. Our leaders don't care about the citizens here. I fear repercussions coming here directly now, where there could be terrorist attacks on our soil Some people predict there will be a false flag on American soil, kind of like 9-11, to make sure there will be full entrance into war with Iran. They need "boots" on the ground, and a reason to make it happen. Wars are never voted on by Congress anymore, the presidents just go to war and do military action wherever they want and that included Democrats too. Both parties became supporters of war, and ignored American needs at home. 

Lately it does feel like the worse always happens. As I have said before, until humanity figures out a way to deal with the psychopaths in charge problem, humanity is never going to progress and could even end up extinct. You must understand my angst when 15 years ago, we were all talking about the Gog and Magog war in Christian circles, which was supposed to be a show down between the "king of the north", [USA], Russia and Iran. We read Revelation 18 and wondered if it applied to America. War also follows the pattern of coming after pandemics. Bible prophecy can be used and exploited to bring on war, as Bush made hash of it on his "crusades". I never have been pre-trib but I saw some Christian friends saying they are waiting for the trumpet, and they believe the rapture could be soon. Something always made me uncomfortable about some of this stuff, as little mostly brown kids got blown up in other parts of the world, and pre-trib Christians would act like God would whisk them away out of any suffering. With the Bible, as transhumanism, globalism and madness expands, some of the warnings in there seems to be the only thing explaining how stupid everything is getting. 

 On medical freedom boards, some people of the "conspiracy" bent, said, after Covid is over, the global elite will bring on World War III to cover up their crimes, especially with the Covid vaxxes and their long term effects. Trump betrayed on that too. They signed on to more mRNA and Robert F. Kennedy, cares more about food dyes than stopping the democide. 

I don't have belief in the political system anymore. it's the same old over and over. There is a place to protest for what is right, I'll do that, but these are very dangerous times. I am disgusted. 

The USA has been going to war since my early 20s without pause, Ollie mentions since he was 18, I was in my early 20s, when they got the war crap rolling in the Middle East.  I protested war for years. Maybe some of it was futile but I don't regret it. Ask me how I feel about protesting Trump years ago, I was out there, in the days when there was only a few people, and back then our signs weren't scripted. I had signs like "No to war with Syria". I even had one sign talking about "Narcissists in charge", Sheesh how true was that one!

 There have been hundreds of thousands of deaths, endless innocent civilians, they probably will ramp up hatred for Muslim people again just like in the 2000s. Consider all the suffering and death that has happened and now there will be more.  The fact our country is allied with a country that has killed tens of thousands of kids right in full view of the world, is disgusting. There have been endless war crimes. This isn't to say the other side like Hamas hasn't done evil things too but what does America really stand for anymore? More war? Blowing the world up? Destruction? Police man of the world even as their own population falls into poverty and can't afford the basics from medical care to rent? All that crap about exporting "democracy" overseas during Bush's wars, that's not going to sell anymore especially as our freedom and rights have been massively chipped away at. If I hear one more leftist say "This is what democracy looks like" at one of those controlled protests, I'll be ready to puke. 

Americans better wake the hell up. The world has watched this place bomb endless countries for decades. Do you think we have built up good will? The world sees America as a "bully". NATO seems on the verge of breaking up. China and Russia probably held back on this latest fiasco, watching America and Trump dig its own hole. BRICS probably is having meetings now, on how to deal with things. I don't expect the dollar to hold reserve currency status for long.

Trump seems to have been given the "job" by the global elite to "dismantle" America. If you look at all his decisions via that lens, thats the only thing that makes sense.  They do not want to build this place up, they are extracting the wealth, and busy "conquering" the rest of the planet for their own agenda. The needs of Americans are always put last. I don't have much hope in this world anymore, that's for sure, but the evils of war need stood against. There's going to be more innocent people dying. I stand with the innocent people who suffer in all wars. 

Life Trapped in the Screens: Locked out of Twitter/X

                                             an example of one of my reposted tweets...

I'm locked out of twitter. I'm trying to fix it now. I was planning to leave more social media. I may have screwed up posting a heavy conspiracy website using a negative symbol, the conspiracy website was AGAINST what that symbol represents, and I am against it too, but I may have gotten kicked out for good anyway. It was dumb. I didn't agree with everything from that website anyway, but it seemed to show some truth about how both main parties are "owned".

I was stressed out about dying in WWIII, and should have been more mindful about what I was posting.  Maybe too many posts about Palantir, Thiel, and being very anti-Iran war like the above, got me kicked off too. They want to sell MAGA on war and the left isn't fighting it either with the No Kings ignoring our impending nuclear demise. More on that later. Shadow-banning could have been already happening on my account.

I wrote twitter/X and told them it is only fair to know what I got kicked out for and was willing to take down the offending posts, but they claimed I lost access to my account when I never lost the password. When I got banned for being against the Covid vaccine, they at least told me what I was being banned for.   My future social credit score is going to be really bad.

Most of the internet is very owned and controlled, and sometimes I wonder if the dead internet theory is true. I think most people online are astrobots, turfs and fake accounts. This is definitely true of Reddit and Twitter/X. There was a lot of time, I felt like I was writing to created personalities.

Twitter/X gets complicated. Conspiracy websites use all sorts of symbols for exposure so maybe I am wrong about why I got kicked out. X does lean very right wing and pro-Maga there though there's some people like me who hate both main parties and have some of the same viewpoints. It's sad that the left became so in love with censorship during Covid, that us independents, were more on 'right wing' leaning websites, because the leftist websites just banned any questioning outright. 

 There's a lot of outraged MAGA people, who are not happy over Iran/Israel matters but there's also a lot trying to sell war. I don't want to go to Bluesky, they will censor me within the first day for not being politically correct. I have an account on Gab, but it was way too MAGA, no independents or people rejecting both parties so I barely posted there. Gttr.com I had an account too but again, MAGA to the max, and nothing alternative was posted there. 

Musk does own the place obviously. I considered leaving before so maybe getting kicked off won't be a bad thing but would like access to my account to get some media, and old links and posts. I did get a second account by accident, and may post a little on there, and talk to friends if they can find it. Hopefully I can get the original account back. You know it's sad, there seems to be so few independent websites and message boards now and everything has been monopolized to an extent. 

 I was going to lower my internet involvement, I left reddit months ago, except for reading on purpose. I plan to lower other social media. Being deaf, most of my conversations with friends, both in the flesh people and online friends, is online. That makes things complicated as I don't want to lose those connections. I plan to still blog here.  Since I am in bed so much, I am online too much.  I do a lot of art and watch movies too, but the internet can wrap itself around you. It became more of the "real world" to me. That worries me. Just leaving my apartment seems to cost money so I am kind of devoid of a real life lately outside of seeing my few regional friends and a few art ventures like an abstract art scholarship class and going to the Senior Center art co-ops. My lack of money to "do things" in the real world has made life too internet dependent. Even medical stuff often has to be done online and with email correspondence. 

I was having this conversation with husband yesterday, that our life is far too much on screens, and that we need to change this because it is not healthy. We are losing connection to the real world. Covid really got that ball rolling, my life never recovered. I talk about leaving here all the time. It's like being stuck in a glue trap. You are scared of choosing WORSE but dream of a place where you can afford to live, to wake up happy and not scared with people around who still talk to each other. Remember that small town I used to go escape to when I could for my art club? There are some things here I like and places I'm used to and there's resources I fear losing here, but this isolated of a life, in the long term worries me. A lot of places in America are messed up. I looked at one town, their water is contaminated with lead, one place the power goes out all the time, and is becoming druggie central. No place is perfect of course. 

Where can we go where we can be people too and belong and have community? I have told my husband we need to go where other poor people are, where we "fit in". and around others like us, but he sees this as some sort of defeat and maybe fears a rerun of the hell we faced in Chicago. I would pick more rural climes but there's always the medical needs problem. I explored this issue enough before like in my article about housing.  He told me the other day, "I don't want to end up living in some dump!" We almost ended up here this long just based on our apartment which we like. I told him, well there was good stuff with the arts here.  Some of my decisions would have been different. It's hard. The subsidized housing has not worked out. We are still on the list but other programs besides HUD which we don't qualify for are far more complicated. Even that place raised the market rent by 200 dollars in one fell swoop. 

 I want to live not worried about bills even if it means extreme austerity. I want to feel "safe" and just want peace. No one is thinking about how the internet is chipping away at community and how it has changed things. Focusing on screens is chipping away at all the communities. People forget the day to day interactions that maintained community and place. If one lives in the internet matrix, the real world slips away. What is it going to do to our towns? I picture those memes that show some guy hooked into a VR set living in a dump. Virtual reality has replaced reality. I am guilty. How do I fix this?

Maybe that day is already here, as our towns and communities are crumbling and everyone is hooked into the matrix. 

I have analyzed myself, why am I online so much? Seeking attention and validation I didn't get from the family? Maybe that ties into my own internet addiction.  The internet can be enticing, in giving you the illusion of having a voice. Maybe personal blogs are the only place that is happening anymore as news is controlled and websites like X, Bluesky and Facebook are so curated. I lost a lot of real world people from moves and who are deceased so maybe this sadness tied in. There was no family ever to talk to. Even when I was around, they cared more about the virtual world--mostly via TV and entertainment and materialism. My invisibility was intense. I read these books written by monks, where they talked about humility and they lived opposite lives of "wanting to be seen". Some of those spiritual things were interesting to ponder.

I may have issues that got me hooked onto the internet. I plan to continue this blog, but there's times where I felt like the fivehundredpoundpeep "avatar" identity superseded or "conflicted" with my real identity. This is hard to explain, but I told my husband one day, "fivehundredpoundpeep" became like a new personality, The real Peep is far more quiet and introverted maybe even boring compared to fivehundredpoundpeep,  the internet persona. The spiky haired woman with her big boxing gloves appears as more meek in the real world. Some people probably would be surprised by what they get.  I am far less verbally astute in real life, text is far easier. I appear "slow" because of the deafness, and autism. There's this one woman who befriended the "real me" on social media. She told me she was impressed with my intellect, and wanted to get to know me. Sadly while I was more connected to my real social media name, my real persona [I was open and told her I was autistic] in this case seemed to disappoint her in some way. The friendship did not work out, she is the friend who unfriended me over politics. 

 In real life, I lived on the edge a little bit, worried people would find out my hidden "fivehundredpoundpeep" identity and get pissed off at my controversial viewpoints, I don't express in real life. I think I got tired, the climate is so extreme now, that I ran into someone I knew who is very liberal, when I went to a community sale. He asked me if I am still an antivaxxer, I said "Yes, and I am glad I made those decisions for myself..." He was in shock when I told him, "I never got Covid". I had the disturbing thought later, he no longer saw me as a person, only a label, I was put in a box with the lid firmly shut never to get out. I didn't announce those views to the majority either. I however emailed this particular person about my worries. How much is the internet or the matrix so to speak, narrowing perceptions of other people. Am I just the "crazy antivaxxer" to this guy now? It made me wonder. I was disturbed he supported all this stuff but figured he has an identity well beyond those decisions. Maybe I see the world differently, I'm not sure. 

Remember I don't even tell real world people, I am a hardcore conspiracy theorist, that explores really strange stuff about the nature of our world, from prison planet theories to wanting to order an Ethiopian bible because it contains books that got taken out of regular Bibles.  Some friends do find out my conspiracy interests but this is something I only tell the "inner circle". There's only so much 'weirdness" I can show and I show it more openly in my fivehundredpoundpeep persona. Remember us autistics have to "cloak" and appear normal to others, so that adds a layer to this. 

I wonder if anyone has ever written on this difference between online personalities or real life personalities. I don't make money off this blog, but it's like I formed a "brand" of myself and had to mold it, if this makes sense. I wonder if it has affected my personality in weird ways. Are people merely labels now? It's ignored the complexity of people and has dialed everyone down to where they fit in the hierarchy instead of being their own individuals. 

 One thing worrying me about the internet taking over the world is the real world seems so impersonal now. I had this PA/doctor for 6 years or so, I make an appointment and am sent someone else. No one tells me. No one says goodbye. I thought she liked me, I liked her, she helped keep me alive. Why wasn't I worthy of even being told? What can I say? I did tell the office manager, "Someone should have told me.". Outside of my friends, people don't seem to talk much. Everywhere I go is so quiet beyond my own deafness. The technocratic world is not a very friendly one. No one talks to you. There is an invisibility in it. 

The internet is not the same as having a real life with people you can share real conversations with. Some of us do make real friends online, so that happens and is a positive, but socializing online though you meet some real friends, is not the same as community in real life. Most of my contact with my REAL world friends is online, so how is that affecting people? I see some friends once a month or so, but talk more on the internet. I have wondered sometimes what would the online friends who I never met in person think of me in real life? Maybe you have too. Maybe I ruined my life being online so much but where was there to be? Most poor people lose the internet, he works on it, it's getting expensive. 140 dollars a month seems excessive. The days it cost 50 dollars a month weren't that long ago. 

The smart phones did change conversations. I went to groups where people spent more time on their phone than talking to anyone. Why are you here if the phone is the center of your attention but then I'm not much better having to read everyone says. What do they post? Most don't seem to throw themselves into the internet foray like I did but just scroll over and over for dopamine hits. I worry because I'm hooked to my phone to talk to anyone, so can't put it away, it is always there. I need the transcribing function. The screen worlds are determining our reality.

The screen worlds allow a "little" controlled dissent, but there's a reason they can openly deny what is really happening to people like I wrote in the gaslighted about the economy article. Most are establishment centers, this is what you are "supposed to think". People aren't looking around at their in- person environment, to judge and determine reality, getting it from online! That's why people can be openly lied too with the truth staring them in the face, because the screen is more believed than reality. 

I got the feeling on X, I was talking to a brick wall at times. People posting hoping there's an audience somewhere. There's somewhat of one on here, I hope. Why can't we talk anymore in the real world. I did make it personal policy to avoid religion, politics and finances, except with the closest of friends. The feelings of repression are immense.  Those topics were ignored before in polite company but something changed where one little slip up or mild statement could get someone really mad at you. It's scary to me, I have no other poor people IRL to talk about how rough things are? How did that happen? Maybe everyone hides it from each other but I know in more working class communities more honesty was allowed, there wasn't so much saving of face. Politics just messes up relationships unless it's a close enough friendship to survive disagreement or one is like-minded. They got everyone at each other's throats. I miss calm collected settings, getting lots of nostalgic memories. Why is everything so isolated and shut down?

 Once I burst out crying to husband, remember when people could talk to each other in our old town? What am I even doing here? One way power can centralize, is they cut off the connection and social interaction between individuals, that's definitely has happened in America. Everything seems so depressing here. Is it me? I'm not sure. I miss energy, spark, disagreements even when you know a relationship would survive it. Is that strange to think. It's like we are all supposed to be labels, members of a club others all define, but there's very little in the real world. Even the stores are boring now, carrying less and less products. Only life you can have the one you can afford. If they do social credit nonsense to us once they got the Palantir network going, expect people to get even more quiet and disconnected. Computers aren't very warm things, all the new things they build seem to be boxy and with no flair, utilitarian to the max. Some of us may not ditch the internet, we need it for some things and still want to blog, but we need to go get more of the real world back. 

Mr. Peep Responds to "The Gaslighter's Economy"

"We're the 99%, our lives are not for you to spend

We're the 99%, and we resent this exploitation.

There's more to life than war and greed

Imagine what the world could be, without financial slavery,

and 99% agree!"

Every now and then, a kernel of wisdom comes along, one that makes you think, “Aha, you've really nailed it here!” That's my immediate reaction to a recent post by Peep, via the Five Hundred Pound Peep blog (“The Gaslighter's Economy”), while looking up resources for posts of my own – an executive summary here, an in-depth analysis over there, that sort of thing, the usual stuff that you're seeking to help whatever case you're making.

Initially, I'd thought about folding Peep's post into one of my own, on a related subject. After reading it more closely, I'm going to focus on it, front and center, there's a lot to unpack here, so I'm not going to try and address all of it – you can read the whole thing for yourself, right here:

https://fivehundredpoundpeeps.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-gaslighters-economy.html

But Peep's post is notable for several reasons, starting with the simple question that's raised, about three-quarters of the way down: “There is so much gaslighting. Why can't Americans and America be honest about how widespread the poverty and suffering are getting out there? If you don't admit a problem it never will be fixed.”

Bingo! If you a glimpse into why the Democrats botched the Trump-slaying assignment in 2024, there it is. I can remember banging my head against the wall in frustration – figuratively speaking, of course – at how long Team Biden dragged out any acknowledgment of the suffering that so many millions of Americans were going through (and continue to go through). “Hey, look at these graphs,” the President and his advisers said, over and over. “Isn't it just great? Unemployment's never been lower!"

To which I'd cite the joke making the rounds – “Yes, Mr. President. I'm glad that you've created so many new jobs. I have three of them. And I still can't afford the food on my table.” Ba-boomp! But seriously, folks, I just flew in from my third job at the gas station, and boy, are my arms – and feet – tired. You know the drill, you know the rest.

Still, if the donkey party wants to get back into contention, it'll have to jettison the C-suite narrative – the one that's traditionally focused on C-suite narratives of how the rich are doing. As long as the stock market's roaring, everyone still has those three crappy jobs, and spending an appropriate level of cash – not because they want to, mind you – then all's well and good in the world, even when common sense should tell us otherwise.

After all, there's nothing like the voice of experience, right? As Peep states, life feels cold and unforgivng when you're struggling with basic needs that so many others take for granted:

 “Surviving as a poor person meant a ton of gaslighting, everyone was out to rip these people off and tell them no and shut the door in their face. I noticed transportation for many of them was a constant problem. It was for me too in past times. I hated big cities because everything was spread out and hard to get to.”

This statement is one of many that strikes a chord with me. Like Peep, I've turned back on big cities for the slower, more sedate life of “the provinces,” as I jokingly call them – because the life that seemed so glittering for the likes of Oprah, for instance, or the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Billy Corgan – or, “Silly Organ,” as my friends and I called him – would always remain painfully out of reach for me.

“How did you know?” you may ask. Well, my daily grind told what I needed to know, because there were no good jobs – or even decent, or barely tolerable ones, for that matter – they were all way out in the suburbs, where the so-called “best and brightest” lived, where major streets ran interminably for miles in any direction – and few bus lines, if any, ran out there.

That's how the upper crust liked it. As long as the riff-raff – as they saw it – couldn't get to them, life made sense. Then and now, they owned battleship-sized cars to tool around in, that – even in the '90s – cost as much as the down payment on a house. Life was fine for them.

As for me, I wasn't so lucky. I owned a couple of banged-up beaters that filled in my transport gaps for a time – six or so months here, a couple months there – till they inevitably gave up the ghost, forcing me to use the bus.

Nothing triggered more teeth-grinding hatred for me than the time I'd spend – 45 minutes back and forth, every day – after I'd sacrificed another eight-hour day, helping my employers get fatter and richer, while I remained poor as a church mouse, since the endless commute ensured a 10-hour day for me, every day.

At night, I'd crank out freelance magazine articles, which helped somewhat – because I simply couldn't count solely on my pitiful office schlub job to fill all the economic blanks – though, of course, that money disappeared, too. It just took a bit longer.

I had to be content with my schedule, carefully calibrated at 7.5 hours a day – to avoid straining my bosses' ever-bulging budget – and the occasional 50- or 75-cent raise they occasionally thew my way. The jobs didn't pay enough back then, and sure as hell don't pay anywhere nearly enough now – or, as Peep points out, “There is almost an absurdist thing in play now. Where they tell people to pay bills they know will be impossible to them.”

Not only does this include the major bills that get so much attention, like rent, utilities and so on, but all the various scams and side deals characterize so much of big city life – like application fees, another bit of detail in Peep's post that strikes a chord with me. I shelled them out, too, from time to time, and they proved another reminder of my nether existence, like all those never-ending bus rides, to the suburban enclave where I would never live.

These days, the racket seems slicker and shinier than ever, though the outcome is basically the same, as Peep points out: “I noticed since the '90s, now they charge 80-100. Who has that kind of money? One lady described paying out hundreds of dollars, while she got turned down for apartments. The system is designed to make you lose.”

Indeed. Even now, looking back on it all, I find it hard to shake off the surreal stench of my whole experience – going to a job that barely paid the bills, so I could spend what little I made, on food and items that I could barely afford, and the extortionate monthly rent that hoovered up whatever else I had left.

After three years of this grind, I finally came to my senses, re-connected with some of my old media contacts in a fly-over state, and was able to escape back there, though that job would eventually sour, too, of course. A system overseen by control freak psychopaths running dysfunctional entities is hardly fated to produce great results, is it?

Take it from me, any greatness that happens in such environments is purely accidental, which is why it's not difficult for me to relate to this observation from Peep:

“I was able to keep the rent paid on time because of disability. Jobs aren't so stable now, they disappear in a heartbeat and then people lose their homes. I believe the job system in America needs to be changed. Jobs shouldn't be so easy to lose. We need complete changes to the job system. Jobs no longer pay the bills.”

There you have it. No elaborate studies needed, like the $20 million the Democratic Party frantically shelled out during the 2024 campaign, trying to figure out why they weren't connecting with youth – it's the stuff of a Monty Python skit, if John Cleese and friends were still making the rounds, that is. No elaborate statements, no secret handshakes, no unwritten codes left to decipher, as Peep has pretty well nailed it.

Until we get around to the basic point – that, if man is a social animal, which means enforcing some sort of social contract, to work out the best ways of dealing with one another, and therefore, making all of us our brother's keeper – things aren't likely to get much better, in the short term, anyway. How do I know? Because I still bear the scars of all those endless bus rides to prove it, with nothing to show for it. It still makes me shudder, to think about it. – Mr. Peep