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From the Other Side of the Edge…..
Three Card Monte…..
By Joe Facinoli
Ever been to New York City, and strolled through the subways, or walked
the streets surrounding Central Park?
Interesting places, to say the least, with so many different and wildly
varying sights, sounds, and activities going on,….day and night.
One of the “standard” sights which one might find, or fall victim to,
if too naïve or un-streetwise, is a deceptively innocent game of
chance, which can prove alarmingly dangerous, financially tragic, and
even deadly, if the participant allows themselves to be drawn too far
into it.
Known by several names, depending on whose “selling it”, or enticing
you to play, the most common moniker for this sleight of hand, street
swindle is: “Three Card Monte”.
Using three playing cards, one of them usually an Ace or a Queen, with
a lot of tricky hand movements and a lot of talking, it’s been around
for years, in many U.S. cities, and even in Paris and London, but still
manages to find new “targets” and foils every day,
With its fascinating way of selling the truth, and its simple,
compelling lure, the “mark” (that’s you, if you’re not careful) is led
to believe that huge financial gain, is just a quickly and impulsively
placed bet away.
What could be the harm, right? A little quick action, with
what appears to be a great and real possibility of walking off with
some good and quick reward?
Unfortunately, for most however, it’s a too quickly placed bet, with
way too much impulse involved, and not nearly enough thought
attached.
But how did this gutter dwelling street game, with its con-artist
nature, and its “Pay no attention to the little man behind the
curtain…” mentality, find its way into international policy, diplomacy,
and politics?
What persuaded the President, and all of his key people, including
Secretary of State John (the Monotone) Carey, and House Minority Leader
Nancy (the Face) Pelosi, that now was the time to pull out this low
level, street corner scam, in order to convince the American public
about some highly volatile, misguided plan, disguised as doing some
benign humanitarian goodness?
That it is a just such a grand idea, for the good and moral USA to use
all of our military muscle, might, and knowhow (and bluster), to lay
waste to some camel tents in Syria, so as to teach their bad ol’ bully
dictator, once and for all, not to use Weapons of Mass Destruction
(uh,…remember those?), on his own people, or anyone, for that matter,
ever again.
The answers are: It didn’t, …nothing, …and it
isn’t.
What they did do, was decide that this little gamut was the perfect
opportunity, at the perfect time, to put all their other well-earned
troubles, illegalities, and scandals (real, or “phony”) behind
them. Or at least get them off the front burner.
And to use this convenient current events vehicle to “distract” their
ever gullible, low-information constituents, along with anyone else not
paying close and full attention, while they took all the money
(read: power, liberties, and freedom), off the table and away
from us, in one quick, card palming play.
An easy “Distraction”, in their well-trained hands, with all their
available tools, from their well-practiced and clandestine bag of
tricks.
There is no imminent crises here.
Nothing that hasn’t been going on in Syria for years. And
why is this suddenly so different from all the other horrific and
systematic slaughters that have been carried out in Africa, for
decades?? Some of those, using nothing more than
machetes.
Where was our “humanitarian concern” there, …and then?
And tell me why, would even an ego-maniacal madman like Assad, gas his
own people, knowing exactly what the world and U.S. response would be?
Especially when that ill-fated group included no resistance fighters
nor “revolutionary” combatants, and were in an area of no strategic
importance, with no tactical gains to be had, from these
attacks.
The answer is: He wouldn’t.
However, maybe, just possibly, it could have been the “resistance”
itself, wiping out some of ITS own people, knowing exactly what the
world and U.S. response would be??
That being, of course, that we would knee-jerk, and go after their
sworn enemy, Assad, jumping them light years ahead in their campaign
against him, without even having to lift a finger.
Call me crazy, but crazier things have been done.
Especially when the groups we would be backing, de facto, while we are
blasting away with our “free throws” at Assad, are known far and wide
to be something just a little less than choir boys and Boy
Scouts.
Do the names Al Qaeda, and The Muslim Brotherhood, engender any warm
and fuzzy feelings, while thinking of whom we might like to be
“sleeping with”, politically speaking, in a week or
two?
Not buying any new guest towels, nor fancy pajamas, in anticipation of
that bunch dropping by the house for a slumber party.
But I digress.
Just trapped myself, unconsciously, with the same “Hey, look over
there!” trick shot that the President is using on us.
I actually started to debate this issue on its
merits. When of course, that’s precisely what he
wants us to do, knowing full well he will lose that fight.
It’s brilliant.
We start discussing this “no-brainer”, that 43 out of 43 previous
Presidents would not even touch, and that nobody in their right minds
would back, and we forget all about the other little “missteps” and
“pseudo scandals”, and tragedies that he and his underlings are
responsible for.
He’s even using the fact that we know that he’s probably lying to us
again, about his intentions, if not the actual facts involved, to his
present advantage.
Using his now fully accepted “modus operandi” of bending and shaping
the truth to his own benefit, knowing that we will call him on it, and
in so doing, waste weeks of time that we could have devoted on the REAL
problems and issues, which he and his acolytes have
created.
And when we are finally done with this one, tossing it out like the
spoiled garbage it truly is, it will be too late to dredge up the
others again, by then.
Diabolical.
In our “Three Card Monte” street game, the con-men lure their suckers
in by falsely, and creatively, convincing them that they will achieve
quick and positive results, with little effort. Just watch
the cards, you only need to follow the one, out of just three, to be a
winner.
So simple. How hard could that be, to have some quick
success, and big time??
All they need to do is trust the guys running the game, and forget
about what their instincts are telling them, and their “own lying eyes”
are showing them.
Hopefully, most will not abandon their good instincts, their gut
feelings, and the reality that their watchful eyes will bring them.
And that they will see this foolish, insulting ploy for what it
is.
But for those who might not be able to see through this, however, let
me list a few good, and simply stated reasons, along with some
honorable names to recall (as well as a few who are not so honorable),
which might help you reconsider your position:
Benghazi. The IRS, targeting. The NSA,
listening. The FBI, and James Rosen. The
FBI, and the A.P. Fast and Furious.
Bailouts and Stimuli. Unemployment.
Tripling the Deficit. No Budgets passed in
years. 98 new “Czars” (give or take, I stopped
counting). Tax evasions by Cabinet
Members. Edward Snowden. Inept and
Embarrassing Foreign Policy and Relations. All the
other ones, ….on, and on, and on.
Chris Stevens. Tyrone Woods. Glen
Doherty. Sean Smith. (The good, brave, and
honorable ones.)
Eric Holder. Hillary Clinton. John
Carey. Jay Carney. Nancy
Pelosi. Susan Rice. Janet
Napolitano. Lois Lerner (taking the 5th).
Barack Hussein Obama. (The not so good, not so brave, and
not so honorable ones, in no particular order.)
The “herd instinct” is sometimes hard to resist.
Fight it.
Understand fully what you hear, and think through intuitively what you
see.
Make up your own mind, and be proud to do so, even if you have to stand
alone, against that “madding” crowd.
The alternatives are not pretty.
Joe Facinoli
(Joe can be reached at: joefacinoli@gmail.com )
Intelligent Response Encouraged !!
© Copyright 2013, Joe Facinoli
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