BartBlog

Today’s proverb from my Franklin Planner says, “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” Dwight D. Eisenhower said that.

America is spozed to be a Christian nation and yet its military has murdered hundreds of thousands of women and children randomly in almost half the countries of the world — and done it for fun but mostly for profit. American “wars” on Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Libya, the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Honduras, Panama, the Philippines, Cuba (the list goes on and on) have been criminally-shameful and illegal rapes and slaughters of much weaker countries, based solely on American cruelty and greed. What would Jesus do? Certainly not this!  http://www.worldcat.org/title/terlena-breaking-of-a-nation/oclc/76706500

And here at home, we Americans fight hard for our right to have guns so that we can protect ourselves against robbers and The Government, but only end up mostly killing our children by accident and committing hate crimes on purpose. How Christian is that?

Americans are spozed to love liberty yet we have Urban Shield and the NSA and the Patriot Act at home and the CIA and “Special Forces” assassination teams abroad, ones that support the worse kind of dictators such as the Saudi un-Muslim mafia, the Ukraine un-Christian neo-Nazis, the Israeli un-Jewish apartheid neo-colonalists and those brutal butchers in ISIS and al Qaeda.  http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/06/07/the-machiavellian-plot-to-provoke-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-into-a-blood-border-war/

America is spozed to be the Robin Hood of the free world and yet we constantly take from the Poor and give to the Rich. Counting the jobless, the homeless, those without healthcare, soldiers sacrificed to defend corporate profits, victims of yucky drinking water, victims of infrastructure failure, your aging parents, your friends and mine, etc., it looks like many more than a million Americans will die far before their time in this coming year because of the Koch brothers, the Deep State, Citizens United, the Wall Street casino where the House always wins, media “war” propaganda lies in order to sell WMDs, and the souls of the corrupt legislators that have been have been bought and paid for by these ill-gotten gains. To say nothing of shameful Jim-Crow-style election fraud by the GOP and also gross interference in our elections by, wait for it, Israel and Saudi Arabia — of which both Republicans and Democrats are blatant receivers of whole boxcars full of untraceable cash.

“Among a people generally corrupt, liberty does not exist,” my Planner goes on to tell me. Edmund Burke said that. And he was right too. https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Money-Street-American-Century/dp/1615778055

Are Americans only getting the corrupt and cruel leaders that they deserve? It certainly does look that way. And are Americans even good people any more — to have let all this evil corruption go on for so long? I don’t even want to think about the answer to that question. Let’s think about something more pleasant instead. Here’s a report on my first two days in NYC:

“Everything’s like a dream in New York City” — especially its book-publishing industry, its celebrity personalities, its amazing museums, its outstanding people-watching opportunities and its vibrant street life.

Day One: I leave for New York in six short hours and guess what? Just finished going through my usual heavy-duty pre-travel panic attacks — including the usual “I could just stay home and lose my airfare money and I would be okay with that” phase, followed closely by the “OMG, I’m so hungry and there is nothing to eat!” phase, and then followed by the “I’m gonna hide under the bed in denial” phase. And yet here I am aboard a BART train that goes to the San Francisco airport and I’m actually okay with that — and even excited.

Heading off to New York City? Who would not be excited about that? Museums and books. Museums and books. Museums and books. And hopefully not bedbugs.

And now I’m on the JetBlue red-eye flight with no problems. The service is great but the free inflight movies all seem to be at least five years old. Mrs. Doubtfire? Really? Moneyball? I played a game-watching extra in that one at least five years ago. The Sound of Music? Huh? Finally settled on 27 Dresses which was entertaining and cute.

Day Two: Well, apparently I must have slept on the plane because there are clearly two hours unaccounted for on that flight. But can’t remember falling asleep. But so what. I got to JFK airport, took the subway (the E train) to 8th Avenue and 14th Street, dragged my suitcase for seven blocks and voila. Here I am at The Jane hotel — in the world’s smallest hotel room. Even the one I had at the Tokyo airport was bigger. We shall see.

They don’t call these rooms “cabins” for nothing. Built in 1907, The Jane used to be a seaman’s hotel for when sailors were ashore. But, hey, the rate is really cheap, the staff is really nice and they don’t have bedbugs. That’s what counts. Plus I’m right near the shared bathroom. Good to know in the middle of the night. Plus the bathroom is really clean. And the cabins are wood-lined and cute.

Today was a day for walking my legs off. 30 blocks up to the Javits Center, and another 30 or 40 blocks wandering around what used to be Hell’s Kitchen and now appears to be Yuppies’ Kitchen instead. And the highlight of the day? Stopping by Soho Crime publishing house on lower Broadway and meeting one of its editors again. Seeing all those excellent books. Wow and double-wow! Plus Soho is located right around the corner from a Whole Foods market. Two birds with one stone. Mental stimulation and dinner.

“Got any recommendations for a good Chinese restaurant?” I asked the editor — the question that Henry Chang’s main character in his latest Soho murder-mystery, “Lucky,” hates to be asked. https://sohopress.com/authors/henry-chang/

“Sure,” answered the editor. “Anything on Doyer Street is great. Nam Wah, Tasty Hint, all of it’s good.” Maybe I’ll go there on Friday because tomorrow is going to be jammed — starting with getting up at 6:15 am in order to go see Stephen King and Owen King talk about their new book “Sleeping Beauties”. Apparently its a story about the consequences of having a world without women. Then I’m meeting a friend at 3:00 pm for rice pudding at B&H Dairy on Second Avenue, and then going to a talk by Killary Clinton at 6:00 pm. So much fun.

Bottom line: Walking around the streets of New York is a whole tourist treat all in itself and boy did I do that today!

To be continued….

While fact checking the marijuana renaissance we found a cannabis oriented magazine featuring a pot advocate described as a transgender woman and featured on the cover.

Transgender is not the same as transsexual and a friend who has had the medical procedures has proclaimed, “If you haven’t gone through it you shouldn’t speak about what you don’t know”.

If the cover subject hasn’t had the operation then that person is just a cross dresser and should celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday.

Missing information about transsexuals is rampant in the mainstream media. Media urban legend stories imply that the sex-change procedure is reversible.

Completely untrue according to the transsexual pioneer we asked.

Are kids being accurately informed on this topic or are they being duped?

Even this columnist confuses the two terms. A transgender is just a cross dresser who may or may not be taking hormones.

If they are misinformed shouldn’t people who want a chance to offer the truth to youngsters be given a way to express their particular point of view?

If a concerted effort is made to stifle criticism is it accurate to proclaim that freedom of speech still exists in the USA?

When harsh criticism is eliminated from the debate, isn’t a one-sided argument too prejudicial?

Since transgenders are getting so much coverage, shouldn’t an opposing opinion be sought out by the mainstream media that allegedly wants to present both sides of the issue?

If a M-F can’t bear children and if F-M people can’t father a child, won’t the medias’ fascination with sex-changes eventually mean that the proponents will die out?

If a man in his late 60’s has a sex-change operation will the patient expect to attract a virile young man for a lifelong relationship or is it just a blatant example of self-deception?

In a world full of fake news isn’t the abundance of sex-change journalism stories proof that sensationalism is out of control in most of the mainstream media?

For this year’s Father’s Day, on behalf of our friend, we call on all of America’s managing editors to make an effort to learn the ghastly truth about this trend before publishing any related fake news.

As much as we would like to see quality journalism about this trending topic, we won’t hold our breath nor will we ever believe the “it’s a reversible”change” propaganda.

Have a Happy Father’s Day to all who passed the paternity test.

What! You say that you’ve already been to New York City dozens of times and yet you’ve never eaten rice pudding at B&H Dairy on Second Avenue? Well. That is a fatal lapse in your education. Fix it immediately or else.

Back in 1965 when I was a poverty-stricken idealist living in an apartment on the Lower East Side that rented for $28 a month and when LSD was still legal, I used to save up my pennies and treat myself to a bowl of B&H’s fabulous rice pudding every few months. So when I went back to NYC for the Book Expo recently, I met up with an old friend at B&H and we talked.

“There is new construction going on in Manhattan everywhere you look these days,” she said. “Everyone wants to invest in real estate in New York City.”

“And in Berkeley too,” I replied. “There are currently 10,000 new high-rise apartment units going up in my home town as well.” http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2017-06-09/article/45790?headline=Speak-up-on-Tuesday-for-affordable-housing-in-Berkeley–Becky-O-Malley

“Actually, it’s happening all over the world,” said my friend. “Even in the Middle East, construction is going on like crazy.” Humph. That’s just so not fair. Look at me and look at you. Can any of us average Americans afford to run out and build high-rise condos worth billions of bucks? Hardly. It’s all we can do to keep from being homeless.

So where are all these billions — trillions — of construction dollars coming from? “War profits, drug money, oil barons and sheiks. Hedge funds. Shadow banks.” Shadow banks? Now there’s a scary thought. Aren’t our regular banks shadowy enough as it is?

PS: From my vantage point up on the High Line Park the other day, I counted 24 different new high-rises going up. And from the top floor of the Whitney Museum I counted five more.

Ah, the Whitney. Its Biannual Exhibit was amazing. And one whole section was devoted to works by artists who were deeply in debt. That’s scary too. No condo-high-rise ownership for them. Seems like you either gotta murder babies in the Middle East, pollute the world with oil emissions and/or sell drugs to school children in order to play at being Bob the Builder in New York. Being creative in America will only smash you headlong into debt.

PPS: Here’s a quote from Larry Fink that I stole off the artists’ wall at the Whitney: “The two greatest stores of wealth internationally today are contemporary art and apartments in Manhattan.” Fink is the head of Black Rock. Black Rock is the world’s largest shadow bank, is worth 5.1 trillion dollars and is almost personally responsible for the 2008 financial crisis with its mortgage-backed security scam. But, hey, at least Fink is supporting the arts.

PPPS:  The media is always talking about RussiaGate. But what about SaudiGate, IsraeliGate and GlobalCorporationGate — the guys who launder money by buying property in Washington DC, primarily on Capital Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue.

I recently saw HRC speak to a sold-out audience of over 1,000 at the BEA Book Expo at the Javits Center in NYC — and she looked downright jiggy. Jiggy? “What the freak does it mean to look jiggy?” you might ask.

There are several definitions of the word. “Well-dressed. Sexy. Nervous.” First, let’s eliminate “sexy”. Even I gotta admit that Clinton was looking good but she’s a US Senator for Chrissakes. “Sexy” is out. So that just leaves “well-dressed” and “nervous”. But she was actually sort of well-dressed — and thankfully not in a pants-suit. Jiggy outfit? Check. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcmQONgXJM

But was Clinton nervous? That depends. She actually came across as being casual, comfortable, well-spoken, in control and actually even nice — not bad for someone who was personally responsible for murdering approximately a million people in Libya and Syria — people who would be alive today if it wasn’t for her.

But was HRC nervous about being personally responsible for giving us Donald J. Trump? Not so that you’d notice. So was Hillary nervous about anything at all? Yeah. She as jiggy about Russia. “I find it outrageous that a foreign country could actually interfere with American elections!” And she actually said that with a straight face! She must have been hecka nervous to say something like that.

Here’s the truth. Israeli neocolonialists have been interfering with American elections for the past 25 years — and no one in America except me has ever given a flying freak about that. No one in Washington has ever been elected during this time without explicit permission from AIPAC, the neo-colonialists’ right arm. And Clinton is right in their pocket. No wonder she’s jiggy about Russia. Russia didn’t do it. Hillary did.

Or perhaps Clinton is jiggy about Saudi Arabia and all the big bucks she received from them. But HRC didn’t mention the House of Saud either. Only Russia. That seems hecka jiggy there too.

All and all, it was a sweet friendly intimate evening with Hillary Clinton — and she was definitely jiggy wit’ it. Me too.

In 2001, all we ever heard about in the media was how America was going to “free Afghanistan for democracy.” Sixteen years and several trillion dollars later, Afghanistan should be as free as a bird now, right?

So I went to Expedia.com and clicked on “flight + hotel” to Kabul. Nothing came up. Afghanistan is so very free these days that American tourists can’t even go there. Hell, even war correspondents can’t get in there either. Hmmm.

But what about Iraq, the country that America spent approximately five trillion dollars freeing from that evil dictator what’s-his-name. Plus when I was a kid, I had always dreamed about being an archeologist when I grew up and going to see places like Babylon and Ur. Now was my chance!

So I went on Travelosity.com and clicked on “flight + hotel” to Baghdad. Sorry but American tourists aren’t free to travel to Iraq either.

Libya? Same old story. America spent a trillion or so dollars on liberating Libya from Qaddafi “for humanitarian reasons”. Well, things are so humane over there right now that not even CheapTickets.com can get you a “flight + hotel” to Tripoli. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9nvzs-PciE

Where else has America been liberating stuff? Ukraine? Let’s plug that one into Kayak.com and see what comes up. Nope, Nothing there either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APR5E4d3GKQ&feature=youtu.be

Yemen? America just sold the Saudis billions and billions of dollars worth of deadly weapons in order to “liberate” Yemen’s oil. But Priceline.com wouldn’t touch Yemen with a ten-foot pole. The Saudis have already dropped 90,000 bombs on Yemen so far. Yemenis are resisting the Saudis’ offer of “freedom” just as hard as George Washington resisted the British during the American Revolution. But then King George III hadn’t dropped 90,000 bombs on Betsy Ross’s head either. No nice hotel in Sanaa for me.

How about Palestine? America is paying 30 billion bucks a year to help Israeli neo-colonialists “free” Gaza. But if you type “Gaza” into Hipmunk.com, your whole computer might just blow up. No freedom in Gaza either. They are not even letting reporters into Gaza. “Closed military zone.” Being a war correspondent sucks eggs these days — let alone being a tourist.

Syria? Let’s click on Trivago.com. The only place we can safely go there is to Damascus and Aleppo, where Syria’s so-called “evil dictator” is still in charge. But no one can go to the parts of Syria freed up by the freedom-loving USA and their allies ISIS and al Qaeda.

And now the American Deep State and its puppets in Washington are talking about “liberating” Russia, China, North Korea and Venezuela. Pretty soon American tourists will consider themselves lucky if they can even safely travel to Tijuana.

PS: According to William Engdahl’s new book, The Gods of Money, World War I and World War II were welcomed and even encouraged by the US corporatocracy in order to weaken Europe. “American leading circles around the Rockefellers and Wall Street had resolved among themselves that all potential European rivals for power would have to grind themselves down in a mutual slaughter.” https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Money-F-William-Engdahl-ebook/dp/B005Y4F4EE?ie=UTF8&keywords=jp%20morgan&qid=1464762246&ref_=sr_1_56&sr=8-56

Now that same corporatocracy is currently plotting World War 3 in order to weaken Russia and China. “Hey, it worked before. Let’s try it again.” And you know what this means, don’t you? After Russia and China are finally as “free” as Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, Honduras, Somalia and Libya, there will be no more trips on the Orient Express railway for American tourists either.

PPS: I’m going to be an American tourist myself this week — going to New York City, staying at the legendary Jane Hotel, eating rice pudding at B&H Dairy on Second Avenue and attending the 2017 BEA Book Expo. https://www.bookexpoamerica.com/About-Us/

And guess who will be speaking at the Book Expo? Hillary Rodham Clinton! Yes, the darling of the Deep State herself will be telling us in her very own words about how “free” Libya became on her watch and just how much she would love to bomb Russia. http://www.globalresearch.ca/manchester-alleged-suicide-bomber-linked-to-libya-islamic-fighting-group-lifg-known-to-british-security-intelligence-lifg-was-supported-by-nato-against-gadaffi/5591732

So here’s the story: I went to Tahlequah in Oklahoma, drove up to the Cherokee Heritage Center, plunked down my thirty dollars and had my genealogy done. Bingo!

“You are 1/32 Cherokee on your father’s side and your great great grandfather was George Ballard, and he and his father James Ballard and his father’s father John Yates Ballard all walked the Trail of Tears.”

Tears also came to my eyes upon hearing this. All those old family legends are true. I really am part Cherokee! However, what exactly does all this new and specific information actually mean to me personally? How am I gonna integrate all this new information into the other parts of my actual life?

In Tahlequah, I talked with one Cherokee man who claimed that Cherokees are actually the Lost Tribe of Israel. Does this mean that I should move off to Tel Aviv in search of my roots? Perhaps open a nightclub there with a Cherokee theme?

I grew up in a typical American suburb and now live in Berkeley, an annex of Silicon Valley. How can I fit being a native American into that cultural heritage? And is being only 1/32 Cherokee enough to change the way that I live, how I think, who I actually am?

Where exactly do I fit into the American reality?

Most Americans go along with the idea that murdering babies in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia for fun and profit is a good thing, and that losing our freedom after 9-11 was the truly patriotic thing to do. I don’t buy that at all. It’s illegal, immoral and probably fattening too. And I can’t worship big banksters, Big Pharma or Big Brother either. http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/43672-focus-the-us-is-waging-a-massive-shadow-war-in-africa-exclusive-documents-reveal

So. How do I fit into today’s American patchwork quilt? Or do I? How do Blacks, Latinos and Asians manage to do it? I should ask them for some tips.

And now that I’m a Cherokee too, what place-marker does that now hold in my life? What does it mean to be an American? http://thesaker.is/the-history-of-the-neocon-takeover-of-the-usa-a-4-part-analysis/

PS: Back in the day, white people were allowed by law to commit all sorts of heinous crimes in Cherokee territory and not get punished. That’s why so many famous American outlaws had their hide-outs and robbers’ roosts located there — including Jesse James, Belle Starr, the Dalton Gang and Bonnie and Clyde just to name a few. It was unfair and unjust to the Cherokee people — a nightmare come true.

And the same thing is happening now to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli neo-colonialist settlers, rustlers and claim-jumpers are allowed by law to commit all sorts of heinous crimes in Palestine and not get punished. What? Don’t Israeli neo-colonialists know that the Palestinians are the real Lost Tribe of Israel?

Going to Disneyland is fun. Dancing the night away is fun. Watching your daughter graduate from college is fun. Devoting 60% of America’s income and wealth to trying to start World War 3 with Russia is not. http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/19/how-russia-became-our-adversary-again/

Winning a spelling bee is fun. Going to the county fair is fun. Watching the CIA support al Qaeda in Syria in order to slaughter even more babies in the Middle East with the goal of provoking Russia into World War 3 is not. In fact, it’s a nightmare. https://consortiumnews.com/2017/05/18/trump-escalates-syrian-proxy-war/

Picnicking in the park is fun. Rollerskating is fun. Standing helplessly by while the so-called leaders of my very own country try to start World War 3 in order to make big bucks in the weapons trade is not.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/19/seth-rich-craig-murray-and-the-sinister-stewards-of-the-national-security-state/

Listening to music is fun. Having sweet dreams about running through flower gardens is fun. Allowing the traitorous Deep State to demonize Russia (one of the only sane countries left in the world today) in order to promulgate fascism in America is not. http://thesaker.is/the-history-of-the-neocon-takeover-of-the-usa-a-4-part-analysis/

Eating mac-cheese at a potluck supper with friends is fun. Opening packages on Christmas morning is fun. Playing touch-football is fun. Pissing off Russia and China to the point that China stops exporting goods to America (thus leaving our entire country with empty shelves at the mall) is not.

Celebrating the Fourth of July with rockets and ice cream is fun. Blowing out candles on a birthday cake is fun. Blowing up Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Iran in order to start World War 3 is not. In fact, it’s freaking evil and crazy and un-American and no fun at all.

But World War 3 is gonna be even less fun. Bunkers in your backyard instead of swing sets? No electricity and no running water instead of Nespresso machines and cable TV? Radioactivity at what is left of your local mall if Russia and China finally get pissed off enough to retaliate? I repeat. “No fun at all!”

In apartheid Israel right now, 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners are currently in the fourth week of a hunger strike, protesting against the brutal (American-blessed) neo-colonialist occupation of their homes in the West Bank. Many of the hunger strikers are now close to death. http://mondoweiss.net/2017/04/israelis-palestinian-prisoners/

“What do we care if they die,” say their Israeli occupiers. “They are sub-human anyway. They are more like animals than people. That would just mean 1,500 fewer Palestinian dogs to get in our way.” Lebenstraum is important in Israel. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170421-that-barbecue-outside-a-hunger-strike-prison-exposes-israeli-settlers-blind-hatred/

And life is cheap in Yemen too. The Saudis (with America’s blessing) are planning to starve 28 million Yemenis to death. “What do we care,” say the Saudis. “They have oil. We want oil. End of discussion.” http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40147-the-us-provided-cover-for-the-saudi-starvation-strategy-in-yemen

And, just like in Yemen and Palestine, life is cheap in America too. “Let’s send more troops off to Syria,” Americans say, also giving their blessing to this illegal “war” for oil. But Syria is just like Iraq and Afghanistan — more American troops will be slaughtered there in yet another deceitful neo-colonialist bid for more oil pipelines and more oil. “Hey, it’s not like we don’t pay those dogfaces and grunts for their service,” say the boys in Washington DC. How much for an American soldier’s life? Not much. And the price keeps getting lower and lower. http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/2016/05/21/shrinking-military-paycheck-2017/84546824/

First let’s start with the obvious. By cutting down on the availability of healthcare in order to buy more weapons and give more Lean-Green to banksters, thousands of American apple-pie-baking moms are automatically gonna get hauled before death panels right before our very eyes. Sorry about that, Mom, but your cancer is a preexisting condition.

And of course many more moms will die because the powers-that-be said goodbye to female healthcare — abortions, birth control, Planned Parenthood and all that. Who the freak needed that anyway? Besides your mom of course.

And this new thing that just happened at the Hanford nuclear waste site? Is it really as bad as Fukushima and Chernobyl? Or will only a few hundred moms die of breast cancer? Well, we already got too many moms anyway. Would you mind awfully if one of those dead moms was yours? http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/09/527605496/emergency-declared-at-nuclear-contaminated-site-in-washington-state

Plus there’s always Syria. The Deep State (and its BFFs in Israel, ISIS and Saudi Arabia) and its current pawn in the White House are up to their eyeballs there right now. Between the vast line-up of American “advisers” and material currently hanging out on the Syrian-Jordanian border and the blatant American interference in Raqqa and Idlib, there’s gonna be a whole lot more (coordinated) shaking going on in Syria any time soon.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/461619557192964/

But what will happen there next (besides a whole bunch more Syrian mothers being butchered by US weapons)? Will Russia step in to prevent the criminally-illegal overthrow of President Assad — who really is a good guy despite everything the Deep State and fake news tries to tell us? And what will Iran and China do next? Are we gonna be doomed to WW 3 now for sure? Plus each of the hundreds of American trucks and tanks amassed on the Syrian-Jordanian border represents the cost of a really nice Mothers Day gift for at least 100 American mothers. What a waste. https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/pictures-syrian-drones-spot-hundreds-us-jordanian-armored-vehicles-border/

But if WW 3 doesn’t bump off our mothers, then there are still other ways to off them. Because “war” is the ultimate source of deadly air pollution throughout the entire world, then WW 3, even if our moms survive it, still isn’t gonna be any good for our mothers either — or even for you and me for that matter.

Now let me see. How else can the Deep State kill off dear sweet Mom? Hmmm. Big Pharma has lots of ideas. Monsanto is already at work on the problem. And without EPA regulation, Mom is so much closer to being Toast. Then there’s the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the various cuts to Mom’s pensions and of course all that fracking. “Buck up, Mum,” you might say to your mother on Mothers Day. “Just think about how nice it is that we are getting rid of all that damned government regulation.” Oh, and too bad it will cost you your life.

My own mother died suddenly of a stroke many years ago but I still visit her grave as often as I can and have nice conversations with her tombstone. Now you can look forward to doing that too. “What? You’d rather have a live mother than a dead one?” The way that American voters are acting right now, you sure could have fooled me.

“But, wait,” you might say next. “That’s not the full 100 ways that you promised.” Bet you can think of at least 50 more ways all by yourself. Or else ask your mom.

PS: But what exactly is the Deep State anyway, and why exactly are its minions so very anxious to throw Mama from the train (or under the bus)? The only way we can actually pin it down — other than to watch the last five episodes of ABC’s “Scandal” — is to see its Gawd-awful results and then try to work our way backwards from there.

Endless “war,” the off-shoring of our jobs, the disappearance of our middle class, homelessness, the neo-Jim Crow voting laws, air and water pollution on a grand scale, the Great American Land Giveaway, political witch-hunts and buy-offs, a shackled press, mass incarceration, the creation of a one-percent uber-alles ruling class. Now what red-blooded patriotic American in his or her right mind would ever want to create some horrid anti-American nightmare like that? There’s just gotta be some kind of evil Boris-and-Natasha-type Bad Guys behind this. And there is.

I’m still fascinated with the people of Oklahoma. The majority of them are good people, salt of the earth, friendly and hard-working. So how come so many Oklahoma residents seem to have such a grudge against Blacks, immigrants, women, liberals and gays? In her new book, Strangers in Their Own Land, sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild just answered my question neatly.

According to Hochschild, Tea Party members strongly believe that they have been robbed. And how did they jump to this conclusion? Easy. The way that they see the world around them is that, for years and years now, they have been patiently standing in some allegorical line, patiently waiting to reach the American Dream by dent of hard work. They have been working their fingers to the bone for most of their lives to obtain the American Dream — but even now, after all these years of labor, it is still just over a hill and out of sight. And so they work even harder and wait even longer. http://thenewpress.com/books/strangers-their-own-land

But then, just as this allegorical line is actually starting to move, the places directly in front of them are suddenly flooded by a whole bunch of undeserving, lazy and rude people who are using affirmative action, welfare, women’s rights, etc. to jump the line. And so, instead of moving forward toward their Dream goal, Tea Party members now find themselves stalling in place — or even starting to slip backwards. “Hey, that’s not fair!” they cry in frustration. “We worked hard to get here and you have done nothing.” And just who, exactly, is helping these new loafers to jump the line? The Government, that’s who. No wonder Tea Party members are pissed off at government, if seen from this point of view.

But now let’s just take a few steps backward, get a larger perspective and look at the entire globe instead — using this new “Standing in line for the Dream” point of view and applying these same Tea party thought-patterns to the entire human race.

Cherokees in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for instance, have been standing in line for the “American Dream” since 1492! Or at least since the Trail of Tears brought them here to Oklahoma. Back then, it was the white settlers who had jumped the line. Violently. No wonder the Cherokee were (and still are) pissed off.

Or take Mexico and Africa and Peru and India and China — filled with people happily pursuing the Mexican, African, Inca, Indian and Chinese Dream. Or whatever. And then suddenly white colonialists arrived, cut into their lines too and stole all of their dreams. And so, as a result, native inhabitants of these countries also formed Tea Parties of their own. The Boxer Rebellion, for instance. Montezuma’s Revenge. The Zulu uprising. Remember the Alamo?

And, today, we now have the American, Saudi, UN and Israeli neo-colonialists doing the same freaking thing that the old colonialists used to do. Now they too are jumping ahead in the line. No wonder the Libyans, Afghans, Palestinians, Yemenis, Iraqis, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Congolese, Haitians, Somalis, Hondurans, Chileans, etc. are pissed off, and are also forming their own “Tea Parties” right and left. Can you seriously blame them? Hardly. They are doing exactly what America’s Tea Party members are doing right now and, to quote Ginger Rogers, they are “doing it backwards and in high heels”. http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1493999002

Let’s take a closer look at Palestine. Palestinians were all happily living the Palestinian Dream. And then suddenly Israeli neo-colonialists not only rudely cut into their line but also stole the entire Dream itself and now it has become the Israeli Dream. Palestinian water is now Israeli water. Gaza oil is now Israeli oil. Israelis live their Dream at the expense of the Palestinians. No wonder there is a Palestinian Tea Party. https://mikopeled.com/2017/04/27/the-holy-grail-by-miko-peled/

And take Syria. Syrians were happily living their Syrian Dream too — historic cities, great education and healthcare systems, a president who they supported. And then suddenly American, Israeli, Saudi and Turkish neo-colonialists cut in line bigtime and tried to steal the Syrian Dream, using ISIS and al Qaeda aka “moderate rebels” as their cats-paws and shamelessly arming these monsters with the goal of slaughtering as many Syrians as possible and stealing their soil and their oil. No wonder Syrians formed their own Tea Party! http://www.globalresearch.ca/now-only-rational-thinking-can-save-the-world/5584987

Now that I’ve read Hochschild’s book, I can look at our American Tea Party members from a whole new perspective and can even sympathize with their problems. And, hopefully, now American Tea Party members can also look at the American military-industrial complex with new eyes as well — and start identifying with Palestine and Syria instead of with the American Deep State neo-colonialists who are the real line-cutters here. If Wall Street and War Street didn’t steal over 90% of America’s wealth for themselves, there would still be plenty of money for the government (or the free market or whatever) to give everyone a slice of the American Dream. http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/28/middle-eastern-surgeon-speaks-about-ecology-of-war/

PS: And does anyone but me find it ironic that Blue States rightly consider Red States to be the ones rudely cutting in line? Red States receive the most welfare, demand that the government spend astronomical amounts of money on murdering beautiful babies in the Middle East, claim to be the most moral while at the same time acting the least Christ-like, want less government but saddle the Blue States with the most corporate-biased government regulations since the Age of Robber Barons, want to spend the Blue States’ hard-earned money on junk like a Wall, and generally are “poor me” takers who constantly jump the Blue State line to the American Dream.

Perhaps its time for the Blue States to form their own Tea Party, secede and create their own line to the Blue State Dream.

PPS: From what I can tell, the “American Dream” today seems to consist mainly of owning bigger houses and bigger cars. Really? The “American Dream” is to become the biggest consumer? To live out in some boring suburb? And it’s also definitely not the American Dream any more to become the most moral person or the most happy person — but rather to become the best at doing anything for money.

That’s not my American Dream. My American Dream involves Democracy and Justice and Freedom. But who the freak is truly free when enslaved to making car payments and murdering babies in the Middle East?

Tulsa is an amazing place. Nice people, fabulous museums — and it also has a great country-music station. Who knew that I would fall in love with Tulsa. Totally enjoyed the Gilcrease Museum, built by the wealth of Oklahoma oil. It has all kinds of American Indian stuff and Remington stuff. Plus it’s set in those impossibly green Oklahoma hills.

Then there’s the Philbrook Museum. Think “Phillips 66″ oil. Back in the day, wealthy oilmen wanted to leave their legacy in Art and Beauty — not in the broken and bloody bodies of beautiful babies in the Middle East. Apparently, Mrs. Phillips’ main goal in life was to surround herself with Beauty everywhere she looked. And boy did she succeed. I want that to be my main goal too! Only within a much more limited budget.

Touring the museums of Tulsa has developed within me a hunger, an absolute craving, for beauty and art and culture. Go Tulsa!

And then there’s the country music. I put 400 miles on my car while driving around Tulsa and then driving from Tulsa to Stillwater (just had to go there for obvious reasons) and to Tahlequah, Catoosa and Muskogee. I hate to drive. All that driving would have been torture if it hadn’t been for KVOO, the local country music station. http://www.kvoo.com/listen-live All I can say is live-stream it, tape it, put it in your car stereo and then drive. Trust me on this one. Country music is perfect for hitting the road. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z30z8ZnM73U

And another thing I learned from Tulsa and listening to country music: People here work hard, play hard and are the salt of the earth — and are also as independent as hell. Lauren Alaina’s song, Road Less Traveled, could be the national anthem for resistance to authority and conformity. The American Left’s “Resist” movement could do well to adopt it as their theme song. “If you trust your rebel heart, ride it into battle. Don’t be afraid, take the road less traveled…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-NAEvc-b6E

Country singers tell stories about living on bar stools and hanging out with loose women, sure, but they also tell stories about the blue-collar men and women who work hard for a living and pour their hearts into their lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCxbgqyC2Wg

And they also vote for the Tea Party and Donald Trump — who then sells them out to Wall Street and War Street without batting an eye. That’s just inhuman and cruel. And, what is even worse, America’s military-industrial complex has gone out of its way to make sure that working-class white people and people of color and immigrants and women never bond together over their vast ocean of similarities but instead fight each other to the death over their insignificant differences. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/04/24/911-destroyed-america/

The only problem with Tulsa, as far as I can see, is that it is a city where you can’t survive without a car. And it is a consumer city too. Consumerism rules here in Tulsa. If we have another Great Depression, all these malls and big-box stores here will become ghost towns — just like when silver dried up in the Old West.

But I digress. Let’s get back to talking about how the Tea Party failed its rank & file. According to sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, rank-and-file Tea Party members basically want a less corrupt government and less regulation. But it is their “Great Paradox” that they vote for the most corrupt politicians and also for even more regulation — but only for Blacks, women and immigrants. http://thenewpress.com/books/strangers-their-own-land

The Tea Party rank-and-file also value a strong sense of community. Country music gives them that. Wall Street and War Street doesn’t. Major FAIL by Wall/War Street.

The average Tea Party member also wants respect. They want liberals to stop thinking that they are just stupid hillbillies. They are not. And yet it is the neo-con politicians they vote for who treat them like rubes, suckers and pawns when the rubber actually hits the road. Go figure.

___________________

Stop Wall Street and War Street from destroying our world. And while you’re at it, please buy my books! http://straitwellbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/our-top-best-seller-right-now-is-bring.html

In the past year, the Saudis have dropped 90,000 bombs on Yemen, a country the size of a postage stamp. Let’s just think about that for a minute. Yuck. Don’t the Saudis have anything better to do with their money? I could think of a million things better than that. http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/19/us-moves-toward-major-intervention-in-yemen/

“Hey, Saudis! For the price of just one of those bombs, you coulda sent me to Paris for a week, put me up at the Ritz.” Poor Yemenis. They didn’t even get a freaking T-shirt out of the trip.

And have you heard about ISIS’ latest unspeakable crime? They recently tricked out a car-bomb to look like a food truck, used it to offer snacks to children in Syria, set the bomb off, slaughtered 116 children, packed the kids’ mutilated bodies into the back of a truck and drove it off to their hideout in Turkey. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/zeinab-she-was-forced-to-watch-the-massacre-of-116-children-vanessa-beeley-on-terrorists-massacre-of-foua-kafraya-civilians/

Who the freak dreams up doing stuff like this?

And the Israeli neo-colonialists have just bombed Syria too. Seriously? And a church just got blown up in Egypt. And this is only a partial list. Gaza, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran — so many places to bomb, so little time. https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/20/why-not-a-probe-of-israel-gate/

Living in the Middle East these days really sucks eggs.

You know how little kids love to trail around after their big brothers and want to be like them? And who do the Saudis and ISIS and the Israelis wanna be like when they grow up? America! In the past several decades, America has bombed the shite out of practically everything in the Greater Middle East. “I wanna be like that too!” scream the Saudis, ISIS, the Turks and the Israelis. http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/04/how-did-al-qaeda-know-in-advance-about-the-syrian-air-strike/

And then America has the nerve to complain about how their little brothers in terror are always following them around.

But why is America happily giving all these “free home demonstrations” in terror to their little brothers — who have in turn copy-catted America by creating even more terror in the Middle East, Europe and New York City? It’s always about oil. By now, we all know (or should know) that the mother of all these psycho-weirdo siblings is an insatiable lust for oil.

Ah, if only America had spent all those trillions of dollars on solar power (and you and me) instead of on terror.

PS: Back in the 1960s when President Johnson was happily slaughtering more children-per-hour than even Hitler had managed to murder in Poland, me and my friends would take to the streets and chant, “How many kids have you killed today?” But now it appears that the very same American military complex that messed with Johnson’s head has now convinced President Trump that it would be an even better idea to get a head-start on LBJ’s world record by slaughtering as many “beautiful babies” in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Indonesia as Trump possibly can in his first 100 days — and probably in North Korea too. http://www.globalresearch.ca/now-only-rational-thinking-can-save-the-world/5584987

Guinness, we may have the makings of a whole new baby-slaughtering world record forming up here.

At a conference in Washington DC recently, military analyst John Mearsheimer spoke about the future of Israel and Palestine. He told us that Israel’s future funding by America is secure because AIPAC, Israel’s all-powerful lobby, focuses “on the elites in America, not the rank and file. The elites here are still afraid of the Israel lobby and so the lobby is still as powerful as ever…because it focuses its attention on keeping our country’s elites in line.”

But Mearsheimer also said that there are dark times ahead for both Israel and its lobby, due to Israel’s neo-colonialist leaders who are strongly pushing a rightist policy of apartheid. “Israel is not likely to ever become a liberal democracy,” said Mearsheimer, “and it could take 20 or 30 years to resolve this conflict [between Israelis and Palestinians]. The decades ahead will be miserable and will also harm America’s politics.”

So much for Israel’s future. But what about the future of America? What lies ahead for us in the next decades? What happens next here — aside of course from Trump’s constant rude slouching toward World War 3? http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40222-new-revelations-belie-trump-claims-on-syria-chemical-attack#14924552943921&action=collapse_widget&id=0&data=

Generation Z, the post-2001 generation, will come of age — that’s what happens next. Generation Z is apparently different from the Millennials in several ways. They are even more tech-savvy than Millennials for one thing (none of them are techo-dunces like me). Apparently they are also better focused, more avid consumers and more worried about finding a job. But what worries me most about this next generation is their name. “Generation Z,” end of the alphabet. Are they really gonna be our last generation — as their name implies? That could actually be the case. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-beall/8-key-differences-between_b_12814200.html

“But why would you be thinking that?” you might ask. Why? Because America just dropped the “Mother of All Bombs” on Afghanistan and just turned Syria into Ground Zero as well — which means a whole bunch more air pollution has just been created, that’s why. Climate-change deniers aren’t just huge corporations hoping to pollute our air and water for fun and profit. The biggest polluter in the world is the American military. So climate-change denial really benefits weapons manufacturers and “war” profiteers the most. And it benefits Generation Z the least.

Through its mega-scale worldwide pollution operations, proponents of endless “war” stand a very good chance of ending Generation Z as well. Yikes!

But there is still hope yet in this tired old world — and it comes from a rather unexpected source: Babies! Have you noticed how many parents have been winning the Baby Lottery bigtime lately? Giving birth to little Jesus-type babies, little Buddhas? Here is our hope. Not in a stronger military, not in dropping bombs all over the world, not in Israel’s sleazy apartheid system or the invasion of Syria or Iraq or Libya or Ukraine by the power-crazed madmen inside Washington’s Beltway — but in our babies.

Let’s not let Generation Z be our last generation. Forget about all this endless cheering for “war”. Let’s cheer for our babies instead. http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/18/mother-of-all-hypocrisies-trump-cares-for-some-syrian-babies-not-others/

PS: Why does Trump keep bombing the shite out of the world? One reason might be that he’s bored. When one has as much money as The Donald is rolling around in daily, there just aren’t many challenges left. So making things go “Boom!” might liven up his day. Mr. President, isn’t golf enough? Apparently not. http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a54564/the-violent-clashes-in-berkeley-werent-pro-trump-versus-anti-trump/

PPS: As for all this talk about eliminating birth control, does America’s Alt-Right really want to go there? I always thought they were just racist fascist-wannabes but maybe they aren’t racist after all if they are all excited and pleased about producing more minority babies. Maybe I judged them wrong. But hell, the more minority babies the better. Jesus was once a minority baby. So was Buddha. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/04/15/a-government-of-morons/

Have you ever been to our nation’s capital? Unlike the sorry mess we call Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court, the actual city of Washington DC itself is actually really awesomely impressive. Who knew.

Unlike our sell-out federal legislative, executive and judicial branches, the District of Columbia itself has not sold out to Wall Street and War Street for the usual 30 pieces of silver. Yet.

Much to my surprise and delight, I discovered that the whole entire city is just one big wonderful open-air museum. The Federal Triangle, the National Mall, Embassy Row? Far more impressive than the Louvre or even King Tut’s tomb.

First I went on the White House tour. “Will I get to see Ivanka?” I asked. Probably not. “Will I be able to give the Prez a very stern talking-to after that shameful disaster he just created in Syria?” Nah, he’s in Florida playing golf. But the White House itself was fabulous — looked even better than it did on the set of Scandal. But I didn’t get to see Kerry Washington either. Rats. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/04/trump-murders-babies-in-syria-wow.html

Next I went over to the new African-American museum. I laughed with Moms Mabley, I cried with Malcolm X. Put this one on your bucket list for sure. And because most of the museum’s visitors were Black themselves, it gave us white guys a true feeling of what it is like to be in a minority — only without having slave owners and cops always trying to beat us up or segregationists constantly trying to steal our vote.

Next came the United States Holocaust museum. There was a holocaust in the United States? Indeed there was — somewhere between 13 million and 44 million Native Americans have been victims of genocide. So far. And someday I plan to open a Muslim Holocaust museum too. Already America has been directly or indirectly responsible for the brutal murder of seven million Muslims — from Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Yugoslavia, etc. all the way across the world to Indonesia and East Timur. Wherever there is oil, Muslims have been slaughtered. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40147-the-us-provided-cover-for-the-saudi-starvation-strategy-in-yemen

Finally, I took the Metro up to the Phillips Collection and saw original French painters like Monet, Pissarro and Toulouse-Lautrec. Priceless.

I wish that I had more time to see all the other DC museums such as the Smithsonian, the natural history museum and the Library of Congress, but I didn’t. But there is always a next time, right? Or is there?

If you are an American, I highly recommend that you immediately get your booty on over to Washington DC — before the K Street boys buy up the whole place and sell it to weapons contractors for target practice, to Monsanto so it can pour Roundup on the cherry blossoms, to developers who will tear down the monuments and replace them with condos, or to Big Pharma so it can drug all us tourists with Oxycontin and Abilify so that we won’t even notice all the changes.

PS: Speaking of American presidents, how come Obama and Trump haven’t noticed something very in-you-face obvious about President Assad of Syria?

In fact, what almost nobody in America seems to grasp is that President Assad has lasted SIX WHOLE YEARS as president of Syria — while fighting the biggest bullies, baby-killers, despots and torturers on the planet (America, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, etc.). HOW has he lasted this long (and, no, it’s not just because of Russia who only just recently entered the fight)? Because he has the people of Syria behind him, watching his back. Duh. http://ahtribune.com/us/trump-at-war/1599-end-of-the-empire.html

http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/04/washington-dcs-museums-totally-awesome.html

Wow. That sleazy headline sounds like something that the National Enquirer would make up — except that it’s actually true.

According to a reliable Syrian news source, President Trump’s recent deadly attack on Homs, Syria, resulted in the murder of nine civilians, four of them children. http://sana.sy/en/?p=103759

Way to go, Prez! Or not.

Now President Trump is right up there with Reagan, Obama, both Bushes and both Clintons — war criminals all. And Trump achieved all this butchery in just his first 100 days — by the 75th day to be exact. That’s gotta be a record. http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2017/04/i-am-in-shock-right-now-and-apparently.html

But wait. It gets worse. “Murdering babies isn’t bad enough already?” you might ask. Yes and no.

No, there’s nothing worse than murdering babies — but, yes, Trump has now broken international law. Shattered it, to be exact. Nuremberg-style. According to law professor Amal Saad, in just one Shock-and-Awe moment, President Trump has upgraded the Syrian conflict from a “civil war” to an illegal invasion:

(1) The body of law regulating article 2 conflicts is much wider than article 3 conflicts, affording the Syrian government legal protections it didn’t previously enjoy.

(2) The forces of the Syrian Arab Army will now be treated not only as “lawful combatants” but are also given the “combatant’s privilege”, “prisoner of war” and “protected persons” status and rights, meaning they can’t be tried if they are captured for taking part in hostilities, unlike rebels who are “unlawful combatants” — even the US-backed ones — as per Article 3 internal conflicts.

(3) As a “High Contracting Party” to the Conventions, the US is now liable for war crimes too.

(4) Any Syrian response to the US attack, or one carried out by Syria and its allies, (Article 51 of the UN Charter permits “collective self-defense”) is now legal.

(5) Most importantly, the Syrian state is politically legitimized as the legal representative of the Syrian people and its sovereignty recognized. https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php…

And, even, worse than all that, Trump has also “fixed the facts around the policy”. President Assad never even used chemical weapons. The whole WMD thing in Syria, like in Vietnam, East Timur, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Libya, Yemen, Palestine and Iraq, was just another shameless propaganda stunt, apparently designed to keep America’s weapons contractors happy. http://ahtribune.com/us/trump-at-war/1597-war-on-syria.html

If President Trump ever decides to look for a new employment opportunity after leaving the White House, I’m sure the National Enquirer would instantly hire him.

PS: In the year 2000, GWB got the Supreme Court to steal the presidential election for him. But our Donald has done Dubya even one better than that –Trump and Friends have just stolen the Supreme Court itself. What would the National Enquirer say about that! http://bradblog.com/?p=12096

There are laws in Israel, Europe and America right now that make “antisemitism” a crime. Here’s how it works. Israelis, Europeans and Americans can now pretty much say any sleazy lowlife thing that they want against Palestinians — even call them two-legged animals and baby-killers. But if anyone, even a journalist or a congressperson, objects to this unchecked and bigoted bad-mouthing of said Palestinians, then too bad for them.

That person is immediately labeled “antisemitic” and is in Big Trouble.

This one-sided and jankety semantic ploy is a cheap shot and worse than Catch 22. It’s tainted. It’s manipulative propaganda. It’s a hammer that smashes free speech. It’s brilliantly effective. And the “Christian” Right in America loves it.

I just attended a conference in Washington DC entitled “The Israel Lobby and American Policy,” which focused on the role of AIPAC in American decision-making. It was an interesting conference with dynamic speakers — plus I got a blue tote bag and a free lunch.

“But what is AIPAC?” you might ask. It is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and, surprisingly, it has more influence in Washington DC than even the weapons lobby or Big Pharma. AIPAC pretty much owns us.

“We get at least one AIPAC lobbyist in our office every single day,” one congressman told me. “Their campaign contributions can make or break us. And if we vote against AIPAC’s interests, then we don’t get re-elected. Period. Plus we are then labeled antisemitic.”

Israeli professor Ilan Pappe was the keynote speaker at the conference that I attended and he pointed out that blatant bigotry here in America is now being justified by the Israeli neo-colonialists’ rabidly bigoted approach to Muslim (and Christian) Palestinians. And as a result, many members of the so-called Christian Right in America now feel free to be as hateful and bigoted as they want to be. “If Israel’s Chosen People can do it,” they rationalize to themselves, “then let’s go for it too.”

If anyone makes a sign that says “Muslims are baby killers” then that’s okay because AIPAC says so. But if anyone makes a sign that says “Israelis are baby killers,” then that’s “antisemitism” and off you go to jail. But, come on. Who kills the most babies in the Middle East? Besides the Americans and Saudis that is? We all know the answer to that one. We’re just not allowed to say it. Thank you, AIPAC. http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/03/28/syria-approaching-the-finishing-line-geopolitical-jockeying-for-position-intensifies/

PS: And if you really want to shut someone up, just call them pro-Russian. And there’s a reason for that too. According to Pravda, “For many in the west, Russia has always been a pariah, the danger from the East, enshrined today in political diatribes and sheer, barefaced lies in the media as a powerful ‘them’ is created to justify the ‘us’: NATO.”

America and Europe have to justify spending 1.2 trillion dollars a year on NATO somehow — so various and sundry enemies are created. First it was Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria — and now it’s Russia. https://consortiumnews.com/2016/12/12/us-intel-vets-dispute-russia-hacking-claims/

“It’s kind of like a house full of tablets, laptops and the latest wizzy gadgets with the fastest broadband internet connection — and inhabited by a 96-year-old spinster who hates the Net and whose electricity is supplied by a mule walking round in a circle out in the yard.” With NATO being that spinster. http://www.pravdareport.com/russia/politics/03-04-2017/137317-russia_defender_truth-0/