Joanna Rosamond

Disneyland VA´s Way

Secretary Robert McDonald´s comparison of the deadly wait for medical care at Veteran Affairs´ s facilities to lines at Disneyland understandably caused outrage and prompted calls for his resignation. Hopefully, the contemptible metaphor will bring public attention to acts which speak louder than words.

PSYWAR as We Know It

Psychological weapons are as ancient as war itself, and have been used in preparation for, in addition to, or instead of military aggression. Whenever the target population is not foreign but domestic: oligarchy happens.

The Code of Dishonor

If true warriors have an honorable creed, it´s fair to say that politicians live more and more by their own Code of Dishonor. As if it wasn't bad enough that "lie, cheat and steal" have constituted basic rules of self-serving careerists for ages, the dangerous phenomenon is growing steadily. The torturous years of "fundamental transformation" will be remembered for the multiple mutations of abuse of power, corruption and dereliction of duty.

VA: Unflagging Efforts to Un-flag Our Veterans

You can't separate a Veteran from the national flag. In the United States of America - quite literally so. Recently, in a truly Kafkaesque turn of events, Veteran Affairs decided to drag an honorable American Veteran to court for the crime of …hanging an American flag on the VA's walls.

The Silence of the Sheep

Crowd psychology is a branch of social psychology relating to behavior, and processes turning individuals into an entity called the crowd. Psychological warfare aiming to destroy the target audience´s morale, value and belief system is also keen on bombarding ´´the mob´´ with eradicative propaganda. Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin were fascinated by mass psychology, and attempted to impose Freudian ´´horde leadership´´.

Summit of Ego-logy

When pieces of the puzzle fall into one preposterous paradox, the madness of the puzzle-makers comes to light. In the midst of socio-economic decay, when living in your own country rightly feels like resistance against occupation, the main stream media double the efforts to convince the long suffering public not to touch politics, so that politics can keep a grip on them.

Narcissus’ Cabinet of Mirrors

A narcissist often blows a kiss to his own image, and won’t be able to resist the temptation of snapping a selfie while driving, but his favourite magnifying glass can be found only in the eyes of the admiring public. The applause animates the marionette that goes into “power” mode: gesticulating confidently, bullying the opposition and laughing at own piteous jokes.

L.A. VA’s Way: War on Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers –the maddening troublemakers hammering away at legislators who lost or sold their gavels, until we know the truth; and only the truth will set us free. It seems irrational, that VA Secretary Robert McDonald who pledged to transform the department and claimed that he “celebrates” whistleblowers would wage or even tolerate a war against them.

Your News is Served

What happens when someone owns the media? The journalists turned stenographers and all kinds of compliance professionals work for him; the crowd is force-fed with his messages. No matter if he imposes an ideology or simply his dislike of peanuts- his views are presented as the “opinion of the majority”. By the time he spreads his censorship, cans or puts in a can all the pro-peanuts dissidents, he simply becomes a dictator.

A Synonym for Selective Compassion

Obama’s administration and his EU allies are so focused on realizing their ideological aspirations that are overtly ready to bulldoze everything and everyone in sight: from protestors at home to noncompliant leaders in other countries. Manifestly refusing to take under consideration counter-arguments no matter how coherent and valid, they display the symptoms of “immigration fever” as if a deadline was looming. What would the time-limit be: the next elections in their countries?

Trump: Love Him or Hate Him, but Let Him Be

Donald Trump entered the presidential elections scene, just like any other candidate: with his right to free speech, right to equitable treatment and liberty of ideas.

Welcome to the Hotel California: Veterans versus VA-mpires

Welcome to 388-acre West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs (WLAVA) property.

VA: CEO and Homeless Customers

Announcing the resignation of Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, at the White House on May 30, 2014 Barack Obama stated: “I said we have to do better, and we will”.

Answers still Bloviatin’ in the Wind

Even by the standards of this treacherous epoch, some politicians are below depraved and delusional. Despite being caught red-handed a hundred times, evidently catastrophic for the country and toxic for humanity they still dare to present themselves as candidates in elections.

Who are your VIPs, Mr.VA Secretary?

Amid scandals rocking Veteran Affairs, and the need for emergency management, VA Secretary reserves precious time for leadership debates.

Obama’s Orchestra: Top Brass Silent or Silenced

The Brass section of the orchestra is often the loudest and the most communicable. In Barack Obama’s band, the top brass is either silent or silenced.

Illusion-of-Truth to Backfire Effect

When repetition is used as a persuasive strategy, we are being constantly exposed to the same message in order to believe it. The illusory truth effect, a direct result of implicit memory is to lead to unconscious decisions, to the acceptance of whatever is being served on the platter of veracity.

Evilution of Veterans’ Rights

It’s not a mystery that the general atmosphere of shameful treatment of our Veterans prevails. We are living in an epoch where national evolution become evilution, military service is rewarded with homelessness, combat injuries with an eternity in VA’s bureaucratic hell.

Dreams from Obama

Barack Obama’s approach to power is a deterrent example of current political trends. Officeholders elected to preserve, protect and defend laws and unique national identity, are not only derelict in their duties, but feel entitled to realize their personal dreams and to mold “their” country into a private kingdom. The sense of entitlement is reinforced by lack of obligation of results, culminating in rampant impunity.

VA: From Wax Museum to Muppet Show

During the reign of Henry Waxman, Los Angeles County was given a well deserved, although unenviable title of the veteran homeless capital of the nation. Hundreds of acres of land deeded to veterans in 1888 were to serve as their sanctuary, but instead, some definitely not angelic officials turned the place into a cradle of both the greatest paradox and the most smothered land grabbing scandal in VA’s history.