Oh, another article said it could result in Russian deaths. Putin prob won't take that lying down.

So what exactly does the air/missile strike accomplish? Is there going to be follow-up actions?

Meh...depends on if he cared for those particular Russians.

They are probably some of his better trained folks ... so yeah, I think he would care.

If there are some Rooskie casualties, he'll find some way to do the same to us

Beats me, but better than saying there is a red line and having your bluff called.

I like Obama on domestic things but alot of his foreign policies left alot to be desired.

(BTW, anyone else stuck in an airport somewhere?)

Nonsensical act. Wrong place to flex, with no real justification for doing so.

For our sake I hope he gets away with it but it was a dumb move.

There's prob some positioning with Xi also.

Figures that the first thing Trump does Jon absolutely hates I'm a huge fan of :)

This was such a horrific act I think it deserves a response and I don't think Russia will go to war over this. Sick of talk and UN resolutions while children are dying, and while I doubt his heart is completely in the right place here (it's far more likely posturing with Xi and Putin) I'll take it.

:+1:

Yeah, these guys need to get fucked up for that. We shouldn't let evil go unchecked.

50 Tomahawk missiles blew up the last remaining scraps of the Constitution.

I'm in full guarded support, with acknowledgement of the reality that Syria is a hot mess. It stinks to have to be the world's policeman, but when a dictator is gassing his own people, I want *someone* to respond, and no one else is going to do so. But with the complicated mess that Syria is, I strongly believe Trump's in over his head when it comes to navigating all of the ramifications as things unfold. He's definitely not going to listen to Pelosi, Sanders, or any Dem, and probably not even the Graham/McCain contingent of his own party that has been heavily critical of him. So the best-case realistic scenario seems to be that he basically defers to Mattis in the military arena, Haley in the diplomatic, and Rubio & Co. in the political.

And I'd rather not think about the worst-case realstic scenarios here...

Within approximately 14 hours.

So you are saying Trump admin has alot of drama or thinking the Syria bombing is a distraction tactic?

You also forgot the Jared and Ivanka team as the overall solution architects to tie the military, diplomatic and political together.

An attack on 1 airbase is the least of how Obama should have responded, but I don't believe that even this will matter that much in the grand scheme of the abilities of the Syrian govt to wage war on it's people.

..in the meantime....attack cost the Defense Department $14,750,000.

Here's What Firing 59 Tomahawk Missiles at Syria's Airfield Cost

"The proposed cuts, outlined in a 64-page budget memo revealed by The Washington Post on Friday, would roll back programs aimed at reducing lead risks by $16.61 million and more than 70 employees, in line with a broader project by the Trump administration to devolve responsibility for environmental and health protection to state and local governments."

Trump’s EPA moves to dismantle programs that protect kids from lead paint - The Washington Post

Just to keep things in perspective. In one night it cost almost as much as it would have cost to employ 70 people and help prevent lead poisoning in children for an entire year.

I said "best-case." I don't consider neophytes like them to be part of a best-case solution. I want Trump meeting alone with his Mattis, Haley, and Senate foreign-policy people and that team to be the proverbial "last voice he heard."

To be fair, if we don't use them, then we just wasted $14 million.

I'm sure Bannon and Kushner (and Ivanka) are having fun with the cuck story.

Stephen Colbert Mocks Steve Bannon Over His Removal From National Security Council | The Huffington Post

The money will still be spent to replace them going forward. No worries there. That doesn't change anything.

Agreed with this. This response is probably the first thing Trump did as President that I agree with. However, I also fear that he doesn't know what do next.

TBH, I don't think its good for Hillary to talk more about this right now. There is an investigation going on and we should wait to see the outcome.

Talk about other issues but talking about a subject that may be somewhat related to your loss seems to be sour grapes right now. Instead, let your allies be your voice.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politi...tion-meddling/

Hillary can either do one of two things. She can shut the hell up and stay away in retirement or make personal attacks on Trump like he would do. Either of those are fine with me, anything else, especially cogent sounding policy editorials is wasted and unwanted.

I realize I am an unashamed Haley fanboy. This does not decrease my level of fanboyhood.

pic.twitter.com/Tbch23H79T

— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) April 7, 2017

Nice!

"If there are no consequences for a president who unilaterally orders military action under all those conditions, what use is a Constitution that vests the legislature with the war power?"

Trump's Syria Strike Was Unconstitutional and Unwise

Just another intrusionist, nation building, warm mongering meddler in foreign affairs.

"You are all hypocrites because you were (mad/happy) about (former President)'s actions and now are suddenly (mad/happy) about (current President)'s actions."

Are we pretending this action is in any way not been standard practice for Presidents for the last 50-60 years?

I don't agree with bombing Syria at all, but unless The Atlantic shook the Constitution at Clinton and Obama for doing the same damn thing, they can just bugger right off.

I think its more likely they wanted it private so they could ask the US wtf without Trump reacting badly ...

I haven't seen much in the media about the fact that contrary to their assertions chemical weapons attacks aren't anything new in this war - BOTH sides have used them during the six years the war has been going on, apparently over 150 times so far.

I detest war and especially the use of chemical weapons but this is far from a black and white situation and I fail to see what the strikes will do to improve the situation?

(and I'm kinda terrified that we have a president who apparently is as likely to request on a military strike because of a news report as much as he is to do a tweet ...)

Remember when Van Jones said "he became President" a month or so ago and how that went??? Well, here ya go!!!



:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

--
Leon Kodak: Yes sir. But it can be, sir. What you did tonight was very presidential.

President Andrew Shepherd: Leon, somewhere in Libya right now, a janitor's working the night shift at Libyan Intelligence headquarters. He's going about doing his job... because he has no idea that in about an hour he's going to die in a massive explosion. He's just going about his job, because he has no idea that about an hour ago I gave an order to have him killed. You've just seen me do the least presidential thing I do.
--

What happens if you were happy about former President's actions and are suddenly happy because current President is doing what former President did or wanted to do? :)

The biggest win for Trump may be this headline:
"Kremlin Says Syria Missile Strike Harms U.S.-Russia Relations"

What better way to prove you are not under the influence and beholden to Russia

Liked this comment to a 538 post on the bombing:


I don't know if that's what this was, but I sure wouldn't doubt it. We'll see if this is just a one-off or if there is any policy behind it.

Last night, Trump was going to set off a proxy war with the Russians. Then the WH announced that they warned the Russians in advance. Now, that's evidence that Trump is Putin's puppet.

Well, there was a worry that Trump wouldn't have the foresight to realize that hey, the Russians might not like it if we bombed Syrian assets while Russians were there. I don't think that was a completely invalid concern.

It's a bit of a Catch-22, but with the warning you wonder how much this really does. If the end result is just a bunch of potholes in one of what are many facilities while you puff out your chest and say "RARRRR, I DID SOMETHING!" then what's the point? Well, we showed Assad! We convinced him to go back to not using nerve gas (like he had done since 2013), but hey, by all means continue on otherwise.

Watching what the Russians do here might be interesting. If they shake their fist and condemn this but then go back to business as usual, could be that they (and Assad) are cool with it. Let Trump have his moment, then carry on.

dola: and if nothing else, look who is on-board now? The only two Rs who have been doing meaningful grousing about Trump - McCain and Graham.*


* Little Marco really doesn't count

Courtesy of the brilliant Lego Grad Student--

Committee: Your dissertation is a sham.

Me: [Bomb airbase with 59 missiles]

Committee: Well, this changes things...

=========

Don't be this committee. #phdistracted

Don't we have an agreement of some sort with the Russians to let them know about military activity?

Yes and immediately after the action, when we did warn them, Russia allegedly shut down the agreement and comm lines

If you want a conspiracy theory, Trump tweeted his condolences a full 6 weeks early...

Are all these attacks US coordinated to justify policy regarding the Middle East? #prayforsweden

Stockholm lorry rams crowds, killing 'at least three people' - BBC News

The answer is obviously not, but a strange coincidence nonetheless

Rumors that Bannon and/or Reince may be out.

One can only hope it's at least Bannon. Reince isn't evil incarnate.

Word is war planes have been taking off from the Syria location we bombed... so... success!? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

With the number of people that forget about meetings with Russian diplomats/officials they must have some Men in Black technology we don't know about.

Welp, there go those Raytheon stock gains :/

Having a feeling that this strike will go down the way that a lot of remote strikes have gone down in the past, ineffective and considered underwhelming. It'll go down as something that people chuckle about as some kind of face saving by the administration.

And now the rumor is both Priebus and Bannon are going.. If true, it's kinda funny that the two major wings of the White House on election day are being released before we're 100 days in. Combined with the moves on Syria I wonder if some of the folks who backed him are realizing that Trump doesn't stand for them, he stands for Trump "winning".

I would be more than happy with that...

Is there a more worthless Democrat than Tulsi Gabbard?

Zell Miller?

But, yeah, Gabbard is a fucking nut job.

Trump is thinking outside the box for NK.

Trump's Options for North Korea Include Placing Nukes in South Korea - NBC News

DavidTrano disagrees

Nukes in SK is a terrible idea. It won't make SK any safer, as we already can wipe out NK, but it will make China go ballistic.

Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Interesting WaPo article. I've seen all of the "Wag The Dog" and "distraction" and "collusion with Russia to make it look like they're not in cahoots" type theories, but this makes the most sense to me: the man likes his intel simple and with lots of pictures, and these pictures were gruesome. It really seems that with Trump, Occam's razor usually applies.

‘Horrible’ pictures of suffering moved Trump to action on Syria - The Washington Post

No input necessary from Stein supporters.

Eh, I voted for HRC very very reluctantly.

So basically, we need Eric Carle to write "The Very Bomby Dictator?" Or buy the National Security Series from Usborne?

I'm a fan of hers.

Perfect response from Syria, seemingly back to work a day after.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/middle...ump/index.html

Looks as if Trump is starting to enjoy his new shiny toys. The world feels a little more dangerous right now, not sure what the grand plan is but something needs to be done about NK sooner or later.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN17A0V5

I guess the other 100k murders made no difference, it was the last few by chemical attacks. Humanitarian response is missile attacks, not taking in harmless refugees. It just gets dumber by the minute.

Oh good Lord.


They should have threatened to blow up the legislative filibuster if the GOP blew up the judicial filibuster. Instead, they'll let the GOP steal a court seat and then reset the rules so they can do it all over again.

Idiots.

Aside from the theft part (since they really only used tools readily available to them) I wouldn't argue with a whole lot that you just said.

It's a major reason that I'm still not entirely without hope that the good guys WILL eventually win ... we're willing to do whatever it takes, the opposition seems to lack that.

Has there ever been an administration this bad at talking about the Holocaust?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/11/politi...mical-weapons/

Holocaust centers?

It's like the YMCA... {please fill in your own horrible joke so that I don't get banned/arrested for the various ones going through my head}

Almost like the administration is stacked with people who have spent a lifetime blaming the Jews for the world's problems.

Hopefully they have a gym with lots of basketball rings.

I feel sorry for Spicer. Its good that he's getting ragged on some (karma) but I think he should get a break for mis-speaking.

I think he may fundamentally not understand what transpired during the holocaust based on his mega-fumbling chance at explaining it.

The reason I say that is the bit about "holocaust centers" and saying Hitler was "not using the gas on his own people." I mean... plenty of German citizens died in concentration camps.

He's objectively pretty bad at his job.

There are an entire generation of 14 year olds that understand that the Hitler analogy is a terrible idea. I don't think it's completely beyond the pail to think that the press secretary of the President of the United States should have the basic competency to recognize that as well.

And after all that, it was a terrible Hitler analogy that was 100% incorrect and insulting. So yeah.

I sort of feel bad for Spicer. I get the sense that he could be a really competent middle manager in the right sort of job (like managing a retail establishment), but he's just not cut out for the position that he's in.

The one guy qualified for the job's current status is unfortunately unknown.

United and Pepsi right now. pic.twitter.com/0L1kR0Wzu0

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) April 11, 2017

Spicey done d00d it again: He said that he didn't want to be a distraction from (Trump's) "Efforts to de-stabilize the region")

Friendly advice Sean: At this point, you're not going to get away from the late night comics and others lampooning you tonight. Go home, get a good night's rest, and try again tomorrow, and write down what you're going to say.

Tommy Christopher on Twitter: "Wow: While apologizing for Hitler gaffe, Spicer literally says he doesn't want to distract from Trump's attempts "to destabilize the region" https://t.co/jlCwC93Wn4"

In fairness, the degree of difficulty for that position under the current administration is off the charts.

At this point, all Americans should just make a point of giving Sean Spicer a big 'ol hug any time we see him.

Either that or he should get Kellyanne Conway up on the podium as his co-anchor and they could just double down on what they're doing. Americans have never lost by someone doubling down on a bad deal.

He probably would have Peter Principled up to around that level, but he happened to know a guy who knew a guy and managed to "fall up" into the most stress filled PR job of all time.

If that doesn't work, add two more people. If four press secretaries doesn't work, then maybe presidential administration isn't your game.

Pepsi: That was the biggest PR blunder of the week, year maybe.

United: Hold my beer.

Sean Spicer: LEEEEEEEEEERROOOOOOOY JEEEENNNNNNKINS!

— Lance Bradley (@Lance_Bradley) April 11, 2017

Honestly that particular phrase doesn't bother me that much. But of course the internet/twitter exploded or something over it.

Have to say that even when the D does not win this special election in Kansas-r, the GOP might be dropping a few bricks about the swing in five months (In November, it went 60-30 R, right now it is 50-49D.

Now, special elections are rare creatures, but seriously, a 31 point swing? Even if it's a 10-15 point win for the Republican, this bodes ill for R's in 2018. (of course, I just might be wishing on a star..)

If it was taken in isolation, I would agree. In the context of what Spicer said earlier, I can understand the offense.

So in a day, the administration saw the following:

They forgot about the Holocaust
Almost lost a solidly red district
Saw their favorite pundit "take a break"
Had the Sec. of State ask why we should care about Ukraine
Had it revealed that a campaign advisor was under federal investigation for working with Russian spies.

That's a pretty solid day for any administration. I guess the cherry would be if they forgot about scheduling a photo op for Easter with a bunch of kids on the White House lawn.

which pundit is "taking a break?"

As his advertisers exit, Bill O’Reilly announces that he’s taking a ‘vacation’ - The Washington Post

http://www.avclub.com/article/21st-c...ly-want-253583

I'm surprised they didn't cue up another missile attack on some Middle Eastern country.

yes yes I'm sure he's had it scheduled for months now.

To be fair, Montenegro was good news

My guess is he'll survive this. There are plenty of other sponsors out there willing to take the risk.

Don't the shows around him get a ratings bump too? Also if ratings remain high couldn't they also use his show to plug other Fox projects?

It's followed by what's sure to be more winning today.

Trump changes course again, says health-care repeal must happen before tax overhaul - The Washington Post

I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of always winning.