April 14 Open Thread Early Edition: Consider the Dog Wagged

Filed in National by on April 14, 2018

Donald Trump attacked several sites in Syria with missiles Friday night. Trump warned of a sustained attack; Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says it’s one-and-done unless chemical weapons are used again. Syria claims to have shot down 13 missiles, but plenty more apparently got through.

Various journalists are starting to remember that however much they like him now, James Comey has been kind of a dick for a long time. In the style of Greek tragedy, his integrity is his great strength, and his own regard for it is his great weakness.

A quiet, religious young man in Wisconsin blew himself to kingdom come in his apartment last month. When first responders got there, they found coious bomb-making material, and it was so volatile that they immediately evacuated the rest of the building’s residents and burnt the place to the ground with all their possession inside. They also found white supremacist literature. Such a nice young man — home-schooled, too.

Legal weed has opened the door to more than another cutthroat industry — it also has led to more research on marijuana. For instance, this study of Colorado users ranks its rate of use by profession. I don’t want to tell tales out of school, but there’s a pretty good chance that the guy frying up those Rocky Mountain oysters has a buzz on.

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  1. Jason330 says:

    France an GB go along with a Trump wag the dog operation?

    I mean, yes this is Trump so the motives are completely fucked. But…

  2. I was surprised that Rosenstein wasn’t quietly shown the door right after Trump’s announcement. BTW, something other than the obvious is wrong with him. Sleep apnea? Something. Those gasps for breath are real.

  3. RSE says:

    Trump was suckered into this action by the corporate shills of western media, and war hawk politicians like Chris Coons and Lindsey Graham. It’s thoroughly disappointing to see that Trump fell for it. Trump ran against this type of action. He will lose more support than he thinks, and those who goaded him into this with one side of their mouth will surely use it against him with the other.

  4. Stat says:

    Russia made him do it

  5. Alby says:

    @RSE: What evidence do you have for your contention that Trump is a rational actor?

    The evidence is far stronger that he does whatever the voices on Fox News tell him to do. Fox and Friends told him to bomb Syria the day before he did it. Mainstream media my ass.

  6. Stat says:

    Yep, the Wisconsin man is a represtative of all white, male, Christian, home schooled people. They should all be immediately placed on no fly lists. Thanks for pointing this out.

  7. Alby says:

    Aww, does your butt hurt?

  8. Alby says:

    They always show up when they’re scared. Poor wittle white snowflakes!

  9. Stat says:

    Nah…old, fat, white, kucks, don’t scare me. Maybe if people took them serious but that isn’t happening.

  10. Alby says:

    Can’t even spell “cucks” right. He sure does love the poorly educated. Poor little snowflake, go back to your klaven.

  11. Stat says:

    Ouch..that’s gonna leave a mark.

  12. Alby says:

    You came here all the way from Tennessee just to show what a dope you are? Sad.

    If Trump gets in deep enough, I suppose we’ll see Rusty Dils again, if he’s out on parole.

  13. RSE says:

    We obviously have learned nothing from the Obama administration’s failed Arab Spring, CIA debacle. This is just another attempt at the same damn thing…Trump should know better.

    If this is another, “we came, we saw, he died”, I’m done.

  14. Alby says:

    There’s a big difference between putting troops on the ground and launching missiles. Americans get upset when troops die. They don’t much care who the missiles hit.

    One of the things folks like you just don’t understand is that in order to dictate to the rest of the West on a day-to-day basis, we occasionally have to do stuff that our allies consider important even if we don’t. I don’t like it, either, but to pretend that you can just throw a tantrum and end violence that you personally disapprove of — especially considering that the right’s overarching attitude about everything is that might makes right — is magical thinking. But that’s standard on the right.

  15. Alby says:

    I saw it yesterday. Magical thinking.

    FWIW, though, this is the same program that brought about Benghazi. The arms to the rebels were flowing through Libya, and the “consulate” was a CIA site.

    I love how conservatives, after backing America’s imperialism for decades, suddenly don’t like it because a Democrat was in charge for eight years. As if a Republican wouldn’t have done exactly what the CIA told him to do.

  16. Paul says:

    Defense Dept. spokesman said this morning that zero missiles were shot down.

  17. RSE says:

    Russia claims, “shot down 71 of 103 missiles” .

  18. Paul says:

    The raw story link does not load

  19. Alby says:

    Russia claims lots of things and always has. They are — I can’t believe I have to type this — not trustworthy. Unless you think the Brits poisoned people so they could blame it on the Russians. That’s something else Russia says.

  20. Alby says:

    I don’t know why it’s not working for you, Paul. It does when I try it.

  21. Paul says:

    Comcast malfunction. Fie Comcast.

  22. RSE says:

    It’s not like we didn’t see this coming from a mile away. There always was going to be something. I just didn’t think the Dems/left/media would have been so complicit…I’m sure they will claim they weren’t.

    I thought the John Larroquette bit from “Stripes” was funny, It’s how I envision Trump giving the order….”Now, fire the weapon”

    RSE says:
    March 14, 2018 at 9:06 am
    So, Trump fucked a hooker over a decade ago, and paid her to go away.

    “Wag the dog” time, right? Isn’t that the generally accepted method?

    https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d2cc5012-f314-483e-9313-e66bbb339377

  23. Alby says:

    See what coming? So far they’ve fired a few missiles. As I said, until we send troops nobody cares.

    Complicit how? Dems have no power whatsoever, and the media has done little beyond report what various governments say because, quite sensibly, no reporter wants to get killed covering yet another murderous dictatorship that won’t obey rules of war. And “the left” is very much NOT the same things as Democrats and the media (when you say “the media,” I sense you mean “TV.”)

    And as usual, your overriding concern is the scoreboard — who will be held responsible?

    These decisions — choosing targets, etc. — are made by the professional military. The party of the president at any given point is immaterial to them.

    If you really want to do something constructive, write to Fox & Friends and tell them to stop the bombing. If they say it, he’ll do it.

  24. Alby says:

    The article is behind a paywall.

    If you’re this interested in Israel, I would think you’d be protesting full-time outside Coons’ office. He’s the biggest AIPAC quisling in Congress.

  25. Mike Dinsmore says:

    Okay, I don’t want to sound naive, and perhaps some chemistry major out there can help me with this, but here’s my question:

    If we bomb factories where chemical weapons are stored and/or manufactured, wouldn’t that cause the release of said chemicals in to the surrounding area?

    Thanks, in advance, for your help.

  26. puck says:

    An explosion/fire is a highly inefficient way to disperse chemical weapons; they would basically be confined to a small area, probably the block (depending on the chemical). Better to create one small disaster zone in an explosion, then to allow the owners to disperse the chemicals at will over many sites. All the more reason not to live next to a chemical weapons depot. Besides, the chemicals had likely been removed from the factories. The idea is to make it harder for them to make more.

  27. Mike Dinsmore says:

    Thanks!