Yes, its great we got UK and France helping out.

I wish Germany would get over its post-WW2 non-interventionist policies and help out more in the fore-front. We are all friends now and we trust you Germany not to go conquering other countries for Lebensraum.

Watched the first 20 min of the briefing (the interesting stuff).

They kept on saying to the effect "significantly degraded" Syria's chemical capabilities with the strikes on the 3 locations and I just don't see it. General also said there were other sites that we did not hit.

There must have been a good reason not to have this more widespread (Russian reaction probably) and although this was a surgical strike and it will make Assad think twice about doing it again, I don't think it accomplished much other than messaging.

Should have been more widespread, surgical targeting IMO.

Speak for yourself on that one.

And this whole shindig, high on the list of Trump errors while in office. Probably not the least impressed by him I've been, but it's up there.

When there aren't any good guys in the fight, stay the hell out of it until there's only one left standing. Then, maybe, remove the last bad guy. We're a long way from that scenario & this was a dumb a.f. play.

I expect that the fact that Germany gets a ton of energy from Russia is a bigger issue in this case.

It looks like defense secretary James Mattis wants the record to show he urged Trump to be cautious with Syria air strikes
http://www.businessinsider.com/james...n-syria-2018-4

DOLA:

The US says it didn't give Russia any advance warning about targets hit in Syria strikes
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-ru...warning-2018-4

There were probably three outcomes in Syria, none of which does the United States any good.

1. Islamic Dictatorship
2. Russian Puppet
3. Failed State where refugees stream everywhere.

1 was taken care of, leaving a mix of 2 and 3.

The Russians have invested over half a century in Syria. Let them deal with this shithole.

While it is undoubtedly true that there is a substantial amount of energy going from Russia to Germany (and many other european countries), the wariness of large-scale and "offensive" action is also pretty clearly entrenched in the current political power structure.
That being said, it's not like the government is deflecting from the issue. Russian diplomats have been expelled after the Skripal incident and the german "secretary of state" supported the action taken by the US/GB/FRA pretty strongly in official statements today.

Also as an aside and because i feel that isn't general knowledge and/or gets lost in Trump's personalised rhetoric: Those 3 countries are 3 of 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council (along with China and Russia, all 5 having Veto Power)*, which can't move forward as a body in this case due to Russia's veto powers. Which is at least part of the reason why a) GB/FRA felt comfortable "policing" this situation along with the US and b) why other countries did not, seeing as there is no resolution/mandate at hand.

Germany is spending/funding pretty much the same as France and more than Britain in terms of global peace-keeping missions (the US pays by far the most) within the UN btw and has been involved in a multitude of missions all over the globe in recent times including Afghanistan and Iraq.

* The other 10 spots are filled in a sort of "territorial rotation" making sure a wide spread of regions and countries is represented, with countries gaining memberships for 2 years.

I'll now go and plot which poor country i would attack first, should i ever feel my patio becomes too small for me.

The one policy I liked of Trump's during the campaign was staying out of shit like this. It was refreshing to have a major candidate actually want to get away from playing world police.

That was before he realized it might distract from the issues he's having at home ... Trump looks out for one person only, himself ..

Fareed Zakaria's statement this morning regarding the strikes and his Syria policy was "Trump has become Obama", except with no real plan. He's stopped supplying rebels, said we're leaving. Not much policy there.

They are always the peace candidate until they get into office, most people on both sides of the aisle (outside of maybe a JiMGa) want the candidate of peace and prosperity. Hell even Bush back in 2000 was all about no longer being the world’s policemen. Then they get into office and same old shit. One could argue the reality of mankind is that there will always be a war or take the other extreme and say there are people/corporations more powerful than the president running our foreign policy. I tend to think it’s a mix of both but no matter which stand you take nothing ever changes does it?

That said Trump is the last fucking person we need in charge of even a minor conflict. I don’t know if anyone here watches the show Designated Survivor but the president is always torn on these decisions putting lives at risk and what information is correct. I can totally picture Obama or Bush or Clinton having those conversations and reservations. With Trump I just picture the attorney general from Billions putting his dick on the table and asking everyone who is in charge. This situation happening right now is why I was dumbfounded people voted for Trmup, do even his most hardline supporters think he is qualified to be commander in chief of the worlds largest military?

Looks like Barbara Bush is nearing the end of her road...

Spokesman: Barbara Bush in ‘failing health’ - POLITICO

Trump was simultaneously arguing that we should be more belligerent and fight less. It was always pretty obvious which one was more likely to happen.

So you would think the President would have more important things to do after bombing Syria...alas we have Donald Trump:

Donald Trump is losing it on Twitter over James Comey - Vox

Love how this assclown has to toss in a "he is not smart" as if anyone thinks Comey is some perfect guy.

Cohen's unnamed third client...

Sean Hannity

OH GAWD!!!

like I'm in popcorn mode now...as long as we're not going to start a nuclear war I'm willing to test the limits of this democracy.

shocking! And shocking too that Sean never mentioned this when discussing Cohen news.

I also bet that some reporter will find out soon that Hannity just became a client when Cohen needed someone to be on his client list.

Well, based on his other two clients, he's the guy to call when you need to have your mistress paid off to keep quiet, so...

I'm just here for news on the taint team.

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Hannity is saying that he never received a bill or invoice from Cohen, but he still has attorney-client privilege because he asked for it.

That's not how it works, Sean.

Meanwhile Scott Pruitt gets busted again-this time for his soundproof booth he just had to have to do his job:

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbyi...undproof-booth

ping: Honolulu Blue

I claim attorney-client privilege to talk about some things I did.

"Taint Team" sounds like a porno involving female athletes who got busted for taking a banned substance and now have to turn enough tricks to fund their legal defense.

Nice. Sure hope some juicy things come out of this with Cohen-Hannity.

So Sean Hannity has been using his perch at Fox News to rail against the investigation into someone who he didn't disclose was his own lawyer.

Sounds about right.

Nobody breaks the law in Newburgh, so you're safe :)

DRAIN THE SWAMP!

Trump now walking back on Haley's announcement of more sanctions against Russia. The show isn't as fun to watch when you can see the strings on the Puppet.

I've been running with a crew on Liberty St.

Nope, no chaos, or anything out of the ordinary with this. Just your typical, everyday presidential experience that everyone has.

And you're still alive? :)

I wonder if Donald will congratulate them on winning the Pulitzer:

Pulitzer Prizes honor reporting on Trump-Russia, sexual misconduct scandals - POLITICO

Fun bit is, he claims he's never been a client of Cohen's, nor paid him a retainer.

If both of those things are true, there's no attorney/client privilege involved, and anything in Cohen's files regarding Hannity is unprotected. Wonder if he thought that through before he threw Cohen under the bus after Cohen had to reveal his name in open court?

:popcorn:

Pretty significant move I think. Now if they can replicate that for the Tech industry also.

Not sure if Trump gets major credit for this but I don't think this would have happened under Obama. I think this is somewhat of a reaction to Trump and also because Xi has solidified his power base.

VW to Tesla Set to Win From China Move to Remove Ownership Caps - Bloomberg

Well no, it didn't happen under Obama but it may have happened regardless. Linked from the above article, from June '16:

China May Lift Cap on Foreign Carmaker Stakes in Joint Ventures - Bloomberg

This is not exactly true. You can create an attorney-client relationship in a lot of ways, and a retainer is only one of them. As I read Hannity's statement, it's clear he's trying to carefully parse language and events to preserve the chance there's A/C privilege while downplaying the alleged conflict. Stating he "never represented me with regard to third parties" does not preclude an attorney-client relationship being established for general legal advice, whether there is a fee paid or not.

Also, count me in for the view that the continued foreign policy chaos is a much bigger deal than the Hannity saga, which is admittedly popcorn worthy. We've essentially functioned without a President or executive branch on the world stage for 18 months.

So basically less people in the US being hired by corporations because China has cheaper labor ... not certain how this is a win for America? ... for US corporations yes, but not expecting this to benefit American citizens any time soon.

(US car manufacturers could already import to China and weren't any where near their existing limits on imports because their cars aren't competitive in that marketplace ...)

Trump's base believes foreign policy is irrelevant. Wall off and focus 100% on America, everything and everyone else is irrelevant. Spending a minute of time or money on foreign affairs would be breaking a campaign promise. Party like it's 1499.

At this point I am waiting for the charges to be filed and watching the perp walk.

For a party that screams about the Deep State it sure looks like it is them with a convert of operatives who are undermining the Rule of Law and democracy.

I agree the benefits are to US Corporations and not necessarily the US auto labor force.

No doubt there will be some labor skills that will not be as needed in the future.

Maybe the FBI agents who do make the arrests will even remember what Trump said about slamming suspects heads into the roof of the car.

I've got the popcorn ready. The coming tweetstorm is going to be incredible.