SAR #15255

The determined denial of unpleasant realities is the hallmark of the American character.

Emphasis: The press is all agog that Russia has sent some combat marines to join with 1000 Iranian marines assisting Mr. Assad in his current difficulties. I'd be more interested in knowing whose aircraft the advanced S-300 air defense missile systems that Putin sent along will be targeting, ISIS's air force or al-Qaeda's.

How Sweet It Is: Mayo Clinic researchers find “insufficient evidence” to say that high-fructose corn syrup is worse, or better, than honey or just plain white sugar. Best bet, don't over do any of 'em.

Wooden Horses: Saudi Arabia has offered to build 2000 mosques in Germany, each with a Wahhabi madrassa attached to indoctrinate the immigrants in that rigid and austere form of Islam that gave birth to al-Qadea and the Taliban.

Cute, Ineffective: “It is not acceptable that many young people have criminal records for smoking marijuana, while the CEOs of banks whose illegal behavior helped destroy our economy do not.”Bernie Sanders.

Long, Shortened: Scholars have concluded that hierarchy – by which they mean warlords, politicians, governments and similar protection rackets – arose in locations where “crops vulnerable to appropriation” were cultivated. Crops like barley and wheat, not potatoes, bananas and cassava, which begin rot soon after they are harvested and cannot be stored as a base of power. If there's nothing worth stealing, there's not much need to pay for protection – i.e. taxes. Another curse from the Golden Crescent.

Imagine: DIA Chief General Vincent Stewart, who apparently lost his copy of Obama's playbook as amended by James Clapper (who has been caught lying to Congress before), says that Iraq and Syria are unlikely to survive as independent states and are likely to splinter along ethnic and sectarian lines. In that these “nations” were cobbled together at the convenience of the major European powers, great surprise should not be expected.

Hey, Donald! Births by illegal immigrants in the US have fallen 20% since 2007.

Noted: Robert Reich has noticed that Americans obsess far more about the sex lives of strangers than about the banks and their overpaid CEOs who are robbing the country blind. He seemed to be making a point of some sort.

It Says Here: Cops who benefit personally from seizing cash, cars and other property from innocent people managed to bully the California Assembly into killing a measure that would have outlawed these seizures. They constitute a form of attainder, which is illegal under Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 of the US Constitution.

Orders Of Magnitude: Pakistan alleges that India has enough fissile material to build 2,000 nuclear warheads. Israel is not threatened, so the US Senate doesn't care either.

Planned Ignorance: Congressional Republicans are holding hearings to find out what Planned Parenthood has been up to. Naturally no representatives from Planned Parenthood will be invited to testify.

Happy Anniversary: One-time American puppet Hamid Karzai now says that al-Qaida is a 'myth' mainly perpetrated and propagated by theUS, and denies that the 9/11 attacks were plotted in Afghanistan.

Size Matters: The Obama administration is blocking the release of 116 pages of defense lawyers notes detailing the torture the CIA put Guantanamo Bay detainee Abu Zubaydah through. That's okay, the fact that it takes 116 pages of notes to describe disgusting enough.

We Miss Michelle: Former congresscritter Michele Bachmann says the US must make sure Iran understands our deep commitment to peace, even if we have to nuke them to make our point.