Unbelievably Small

Trump gets tremendous credit for doing what Obama and Kerry merely talked about, namely, doing not much. But symbolism counts and Trump has certainly given world leaders pause for reflection. From The American Interest:

Back in the real world, however, the strike was being read for what it is: a demonstration that this Administration is less reluctant to use force than the one that preceded it. And though Russia was the big power most directly challenged by the strike, Putin was perhaps not even the primary intended recipient of the message. The strikes occurred just as President Trump was having dinner with Xi Jinping of China, and, according to AFP, Trump delivered the news to Xi personally. The subtext was unmistakeable: Get serious about North Korea; our recent threats were not idle. Don Corleone himself couldn’t have set a better table.

China won't tolerate a Korea unified under Southern leadership aligned with the West. But they do have an heir to the throne handy if Trump starts to seem even more problematic than Kim Jonh Un.

Comments

[sbw]

anon, the first word of that medium article is “Disgraced”. I read no further.

As far as Syria goes, though, one has to convey that one is willing to fight a war in order to avoid having to fight one.

[Clarice Feldman]

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10178/responding-to-extremist-islam#.WOuKUFWgl-0.facebook

we must fight radical Islam with its 160 million adherents with ideological warfare,

[sbw]

I agree, Clarice. Unfortunately, we do not teach ANY principles in school nor oblige people to revalidate those principles for themselves.

Schools have left us unprepared to fight an ideological war.

[DrJ]

Your (almost!) daily Wretchard:

https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2017/04/10/when-nobody-knows/

[Clarice Feldman]

Happy Birthday, Stephanie--

Here's a little fun for the day--Robin Givhan unmasked:http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/04/shes_always_true_to_the_democrats_in_her_fashion.html

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

One of my minor dreams is for Hillary to become the Harold Stassen of the Dems (minus the integrity and civility of course).

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.dailywire.com/news/15267/trumps-most-fervent-supporters-are-dead-wrong-john-nolte#.WOtsoDKNvS8.twitter

Nolte comes out supporting the missile strike.

[Threadkiller]

http://freebeacon.com/issues/swing-state-election-worker-charged-illegally-changing-records-allow-felons-vote/

#IllegalVotes

[Clarice Feldman]

Nice idea , Iggy. Maybe we should start calling her Hillary rodham Stassen.

[Threadkiller]

Happy Birthday Stephane!

[JimNorCal]

"we should start calling her Hillary rodham Stassen"

How 'bout "portly Hillary Rodham Stassen"

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe we should start calling her Hillary rodham Stassen.

That might be the nicest thing I ever called her if I did that.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

DrJ,

I found that article by Wretchard particularly useless. It takes a lot of words to say "We don't know if anything will do any good, but Trump isn't acting like he knows what he's doing."

[Captain Hate]

From Pagar's 8:37

When he nominated Eric Holder to be Attorney General, we should have known. Rather than delve into Holder’s corrupt reputation, the GOP allowed this man through without a fight, allowing him to politicize the Justice Department in ways not thought possible

This encapsulates why I despise the Repuke enablers just as much as the donk vermin. Lie to me and face the consequences, punks.

[Threadkiller]

That was the line right there, CH.

The GOP and the GOPe did nothing. They empowered the press that empowered the illegal alien man-child.

They agreed to a Dem proposal to vote on the eligibility of the Republican candidate while scuttling any talk of the Dem.

http://www.thepostemail.com/2017/04/08/trump-russia-tie-credible-obama-birth-certificate-forgery-spurned/

Pathetic.

[Threadkiller]

DrJ, my 10:08 is a birther link. You may want to skip it.

#OliveBranch

[James D]

CH, I agree completely.

Granted, they couldn't have stopped Holder when he was nominated, but once they had the House, they could have gone after him seriously, instead of holding pointless and toothless hearings that only served to show how impotent they were choosing to be.

[James D]

Confirming Loretta Lynch was an absolute disgrace, though.

That debacle is a big reason that I'm not ready to join the McTurtle fan club just yet. Yes, he did a good job keeping Justice Scalia's seat open and getting Gorsuch confirmed, but it's only one positive entry in his ledger. He still has a lot of bad debts to work off before he's even at the break-even point in my book.

[henry]

Gorsuch already sworn in... earlier than 11:00 eastern scheduled time.

[Old Lurker]

Peter: "Georgetown this morning, UVA tomorrow And William and Mary Wednesday."

You know your way around Peter, so pick your poison:

W&M removed the cross from Wren Chapel for (was it?) Clinton?

G'Town cover religious statues for (was it?) Obama.

UVa as you know...fake rape...watered down Honor Code...SJW par excellance...massive cheating revealed. SAD.

[Old Lurker]

SBW "Schools have left us unprepared to fight an ideological war."

No problem, SBW. They can make it up in our churches, at the family dinner table, in the books we read, on the editorial pages of our papers, and in the movies, videos and TV shows we watch...

Why worry?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

henry,

They are doing a public one at 11:00 AM which they will cover on TV, says Fox's Shannon Bream on Twitter.

[henry]

that makes sense Miss M... as much sense as anything the media does these days.

[sbw]

Why worry?

Dwindling churches, broken families, poor readers and sad books, broken journalism, pathetic movies, worthless TVs.

I’m not worried. I do worry about your sense of irony, though. ;-)

[Old Lurker]

:-) sbw.

[Old Lurker]

I meant to make an exception for some little editorial page in Rome. NY...

[Old Lurker]

a) great story for which we need UK papers about a story in Chicago.

b) how stupid is UAL?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4396986/Passengers-film-moment-police-drag-man-United-plane.html

[exdemocrat]

MM - I think Wretchard's piece suggests DJT is executing a smart approach to an incredibly difficult challenge. As always with his columns, the comments are an integral part too.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Old Lurker,

Thanks for posting that. Early this morning I saw Ari Fleischer on Twitter say he wouldn't want to be UAL, but when I went to the UAL hashtag it was just full of complements so I figured it had been sanitized. I wondered what was going on.

[Buckeye]

Peter: "Georgetown this morning, UVA tomorrow And William and Mary Wednesday."

You know your way around Peter, so pick your poison:

W&M removed the cross from Wren Chapel for (was it?) Clinton?

G'Town cover religious statues for (was it?) Obama.

UVa as you know...fake rape...watered down Honor Code...SJW par excellance...massive cheating revealed. SAD.

In its defense, W&M has a very pretty campus and you are not likely to get distracted by the sports program:)

[Account Deleted]

Happy Birthday wishes, Stephanie!

-Kev

[Clarice Feldman]

It'll cost UAL, mark my words.
And for jimmyk, in particular, the madness of some Jewshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/04/09/the-president-as-pharaoh-trump-is-turning-up-in-passover-seders/?utm_term=.b2f6f43b9c6f

[Account Deleted]

Chocolate Mo takes another one for his team. The money shot:

"The confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court illustrated the importance of Republicans holding the Senate and winning the White House as part of the nationwide rejection of Obamaism."

"Yet as measured by the loss of life and global impact, nothing compares with Obama’s failure in Syria. His refusal to lift a finger opened the door to perhaps the largest humanitarian crises since World War II."

"The United Nations estimates that out of a prewar population of 22 million Syrians, 500,000 are dead, more than 6 million are displaced within the country and nearly 5 million more are refugees scattered around the world."

http://nypost.com/2017/04/09/trumps-airstrike-on-syria-delivers-another-blow-to-obamas-legacy/

[Account Deleted]

Chocolate Mo---- a bigger stain on humanity than Mangy Mo himself.

[Pagar, a bacon, Ham and pork chop supporter]

A message.

http://www.angrypatriotmovement.com/democrat-senator-arrested/

"Corruption is rampant in the Democrat party. We see it at the local level and we see it from their presidential candidates."

[Pagar, a bacon, Ham and pork chop supporter]

Happy Birthday wishes, Stephanie! May you enjoy many more.

[narciso]

Acts of category error, more like it.

So who had a handle on vietnam, halberstsm was almost perfectly wrong half of best and brightest was,a live note to the dismissed China hands who got mao utterly wrong, moyar seems to have to have figured it out. The same goes for Iran, see fall of heaven. Similar foolishness applies to the cw about Iraq
Demonstrated here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/10/confrontation-syria-escalates-ithe-
winners-will-isil/

We're we told by anyone that Iraq was more Salafi then expected, by the likes of Paul pillar who gets most everything wrong yet ends up at Georgetown and the national interest

[gentlejim]

off

Happy Birthday Steph

[gentlejim]

KK,
Are you trying to get sent to your room? "< /b >" minus the spaces inside the brackets and quotes is your friend. ;)

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trump-aide-president-not-changed-view-syria/

I am glad I didn't hear her snark. She went off the rails over this, and I am glad Gorka was sent to talk some sense into her.

She still hasn't gotten over not getting the press secretary position.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tomahawks-fired-the-next-task-is-to-think-about-a-new-middle-east-pmcg65lmv This piece by John Bolton outlines Trump's vision and fortitude.

McMaster surely has a handle on this; his analytical skills *reading* the Middle East are exemplary - Trump understands McMaster's unique abilities. This is why I think Trump's focus is on Iran.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/irans-long-exiled-prince-wants-145535555.html

[JimNorCal]

A friend emails a Sun Tzu quote: Kill a chicken to scare monkeys

And correlates chicke with Syria, monkeys with China and NKorea.

[Account Deleted]

's up, Chillinz? What a wonderful weekend it was.

Came home to yet another GREAT Pieces. Thank-you, Clarice. The most recent gift is adding to the carnage among liberal fascisti here in Berkeley who insist on "debating the issues."

My Facebook feed was littered with libfashes decrying how many babies the Tommy Hawks killed in Syria.

The "height of epitome" as an old buddy of mine likes to say of dem bag holders.

Central Valley where we was is full of Raiders fans. Despair is rampant.

I preached hope in the wake of the NFL's vote to approve the Raiders' move to Lost Wages.

Methinks the NFL could give a rat's rotten patoot about the Raiders. The vote was really a way to clear the path for a stadium to get built but not for the Raiders.... the NFL wants an ALL-NFL venue to be able to stage an NFL contest there every Sunday during the regular season.

Thursday Night football and playing in England won't be sustainable under the next collective bargaining agreement. So replacing those lost revenues will be mooie importante.

Plus, does Bad Haircut Boy really think the NFL is going to let Al Davis' kid have all that windfall revenue from being in Vegas? (All the "there's no fan base" hoopla is BS. Flying from OAK-VEGAS is cheaper than Coliseum parking and the beer tab.

But I digress.

Gorsuch is in. And we're gonna roll the remaining cord wood taking up space on the bench. My prediction (an easy one) is that POTUS will not only appoint a record number of judges across the country---- he will revamp the Circuit courts charters and reapportion them before the end of his second term. Take that, Shoomz.

It looks like Dr. Benny Carson is on his way to finding a way to offset the cost of infrastructure building with a half BILLION in savings of LOST TAXPAYER CASH.

The USG is hemmoraging taxpayer cash. POTUS need not do too much to shape the situation up to my liking anyways.

The DOW.... it's a wait and see kinda thing right now. The Bull has taken a breather and the Bear is making some rumblings. But there are a few things either is waiting on before the big BUY or SELL signal rings with any convincing fervor. Either way... there will be plenty of money to be made. A time for patients is at hand.

GOLD OR SILVER? Both. Gold bars for wealth storehousing. Gold ounces for liquidity and anonymous buying and selling at local dealers.

"Junk silver" coinage for crisis scenario liquidity and street trade. (Toilet paper, pain killers (over the counter), allergy meds and dry dog food will bring better barter ROI).

Silver is so desperately oversold that significant holdings will enrich two succeeding generations of those who have 5 digit investment in that metals group. Don't sleep about copper though.

What else?

I was glad to see more people raising the issue re Gulf War II era Saddam's ploy of shipping his sarin stockpiles (and other chit) to Syria. I raised that point here I think it was the day after The Eye Poker dropped it on his own people.

Imagine if we had an America First press corpse that stood for something other than the UniParty Unicorn and Rainbows shibboleths spouted by Chocolate Mo and his co-conspirators Rice and Jarrett. We wouldn't need to hang those three (and the rest of em) because he would have never hijacked the country.

Everything the corpse publishes is just flat wrong. Sad chapter in journalistic history. Who wants the Pulitzer for writing that 800 pound gorilla?

Loving Killfile. My mouse thinks it's a joystick.

All right. Back to work today in a big way. Will be scarce but will peek in to see what I can see...

This is Kev overlooking Alcatraz Island on Grizzly Peak----> OUT!

[Account Deleted]

gentaminJIM!

;) Pweez fo-gibbme! I do that chit awwda toym.

Best to you and yours this fine, Monday.

Kev the Bolder

[Appalled]

Kevlar:

You may not see this, but....

You need to be careful with the Killfile. You may think there are only 36 people commenting, when there are really 1,072.

JNC:

I think what Trump did in Syria is a better predictor of what Trump may do in North Korea, than what he may do next time in Syria.

[Captain Hate]

Thursday Night football and playing in England won't be sustainable under the next collective bargaining agreement.

Good riddance to both of those stains on the game; why not add the trash game in Mehico Shitty to the garbage removal plan?

[Account Deleted]

Appalled: Howzat work? Thanks.

(I run JOM on Brave w/o Killfile too...but read mostly Chrome)

[narciso]

Happy birthday stephanie

[Account Deleted]

CH- re Mehico Titty.... cuz we're annexing that entire dumpster fire of a country. Slow but sure. Won't see it in our lifetime but it is the long play.... these globalist bastardos are locked in...and the cartels will "go legit" like Lucky and the boys did with Vegas.

Completely unsubstantiated tea leaf reading on my part.

How you livin'?

Kev

PS: i am really bargaining my time right now...conference call at 10a but I'm ready for them [redacted] contractors.

[narciso]

The mail has a piece on the commander of the Khan sheikhoun strike, that I mentioned from the medium piece that didn't specify the chemical weapons component

[Appalled]

Kevlar:

Failed joke. There is a temptation to block folks after a single offense -- so, soon, you have the whole world blocked.

[-peter]

Got it OL @ 10:33; #2 son already innoculated. He makes fun of "I stand with Planned Parenthood " posters on our neighbors ' lawns.

[Frau Reistafel]

Bestest and biggest BD wishes to the one and only Stephanie. xxx

[Old Lurker]

I knew you would be on top of it, Peter.

As you know, all three of those schools are great as long as shields are in place.

My Dad (law) and I (MBA) both loved grad school at UVa. I was an infant when Dad was there and a generation later I took a property class from the same professor he had had.

My daughter YL1 got her PhD Neuroscience from G'Town.

My brother got kicked out of W&M as a freshman for peeing off the balcony of a dorm.

[JimNorCal]

Appalled: "I think what Trump did in Syria is a better predictor of what Trump may do in North Korea, than what he may do next time in Syria"

So, you would predict a very measured, minimalist action, if such an action occurred?

I guess the upside would be if it is enough to topple the regime. Downside would be to leave NK desperate and dangerous.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Got a Fox News alert on my phone that a Chicago judge wasshot and killed outside his home. Haven't found anything yet on Twitter.

[Clarice Feldman]

Yes, I saw an article on it today,MM--also a bystander was shot.

[Old Lurker]

Nice to see some US coverage on that UAL thing.

What idiots they are. The flight was not overbooked; four UAL employees showed up and wanted free seats to get to the destination and when they did not get enough volunteers, they randomly picked some already seated passengers to get off then sent in the cops to bloody the holdout.

Femall.

[henry]

Here is a tweet linking the Chicago Trib...

https://twitter.com/drudge_report/status/851445092124549120

[henry]

that link was for the Judge getting shot in Cook County.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

I'm living well, KK, with salads & no pop (or soda, soft drink or whatever provincial name is used for carbonated sugary drinks) except for one wagon fall on Saturday at a post memorial service chow down at the Lithuanian Social Club.

[Clarice Feldman]

Fisking Cernovich :https://theweichertreport.com/2017/04/10/debunking-myths-a-u-s-invasion-of-syria-steve-bannon-and-h-r-mcmaster-stovepiping-intelligence/

[James D]

The passover article Clarice linked made me physically ill.

I noted without surprise that several of the people mentioned are current or former federal employees. I also noted that the reporter didn't think to ask any of them if they had considered refusing to cash paychecks or pension checks signed by the evil Pharoah Trump.

[Appalled]

JimNorCal:

I think a military action against the Nork's is on the table. It may well be coordinated with the Chinese, who don't want a united Korea, but may fionally need to do something about the NORKs.

USA going it alone probably means a lot of dead Koreans (North and South). USA looking like they might go it alone, and coercing others with that threat -- might bring the solution that's eluded everybody else.

I don't see this administration allowing North Korea to continue making threats with nukes. It's not this President's style.

[Barbara]

This March 27 article may have been posted before, but if you haven't seen it, it's worth a read.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266197/civil-war-here-daniel-greenfield

Excerpt:

"In the hidden transition, its authority figures had hijacked the law and every political office they held to pursue their ideological agenda. The left had used its vast cultural power to manufacture a consensus that was slowly transitioning the country from American values to its values and agendas. The right had proven largely impotent in the face of a program which corrupted and subverted from within."

[Another Bob]

Miss Marple the Deplorable | April 10, 2017 at 10:47 AM

They probably did a private "official" swearing in so if Roberts screwed it up again they could fix it without embarrassment before going public.

[Another Bob]

Appalled | April 10, 2017 at 01:09 PM

There is no military option in NK that does not include trusting the NorK generals not to rain hell on Seoul. IMO only the Chinese would have that sort of juice.

[Another Bob]

Old Lurker | April 10, 2017 at 12:55 PM

I'd read that the UAL employees were required in order to get them to where they were needed to work a flight.

[Captain Hate]

Your (almost) daily Children of the Cornhole:

Trump’s Confused Presidency Will Endanger the World
His administration can't get on the same page about Syria because there is no coherent foreign policy. Anything is possible, and that's horrifying.

By Jeet Heer

Trump Is a Symptom, Not the Cause, of Our Constitutional Crisis
We need a radical solution to avert the disintegration of our political system.

By Ganesh Sitaraman

Opposing Everything Is the Wrong Way to Stop Trump
Progressives argue that blocking Republicans is the best way to make an electoral comeback. But Democrats need to be more clever than that.

By John B. Judis

Don’t Lose Sight of the Trump Presidency’s Real Problem
Yes, chief adviser Steve Bannon should be fired because he's a white nationalist. But he's not the source of Trump's incompetence.

By Brian Beutler

Maybe it's just me but it seems like the insanity level has been cranked to 12.

[lyle]

Where are those comments from, CH?

[Captain Hate]

I'd read that the UAL employees were required in order to get them to where they were needed to work a flight.

Maybe this doesn't apply here but I've been on flights where there are extra folding seats complete with seatbelts back where the stews sit.

[lyle]

http://time.com/4732660/john-mccain-donald-trump-syria/

John McCain Says the Syria Chemical Weapons Attack Was Partly Trump’s Fault

Who will rid us of this addlepated old fool?

[narciso]

Sitaram is red squaw' s economic adviser, so far red he's infra. Meanwhile we have events out of leipzig.

[Captain Hate]

New Republic, lyle.

[lyle]

Oh, and Rush was saying that McShithead was in on a cabal with Collins and the Ds to save the filibuster at the last minute last week.

[lyle]

Thanks, Capt.

[henry]

Chinese troops on NK border. Maybe Un will get the message.

[Captain Hate]

Thanks, narc; you can well imagine how well I respond to someone hectoring about *our* political system named Ganesh.

[Cecil Turner]

JimNorCal describes the Syrian strike well: measured, minimalist action. And I doubt we'll see anything similar in Korea, or that it'd work if we did.

To illustrate the scale . . . A Tomahawk has about a 1000# warhead. Just for comparison, an FA-18E in self-escort mode with bombs to parent stations (a fairly slick loadout) can carry 6 times that. So the strike was about the same as one launch of 10 Hornets (a little more in some ways, because they can target independently, a little less in others, because they have limited flexibility and penetration capability). By contrast, Operation Desert Fox was an order of magnitude more massive (~5x as many cruise missiles, and at least that again in bomb strikes) . . . and accomplished very little. The Syrian strike destroyed a few aircraft and support structures, but the airfield launched aircraft the next day. It did very little real damage and was militarily insignificant.

The strike was a clear message, sent quickly (i.e., use of chemical weapons will invite US response), and likely convinced the Syrians/Russians that future chem warfare was unwise. But it was almost entirely symbolic. It was hardly what Bolton called a "devastating assault." And I can't imagine the NoRKs--who are a much tougher nut to crack by any metric--being frightened or impressed.

[Old Lurker]

A-Bob "I'd read that the UAL employees were required in order to get them to where they were needed to work a flight."

I saw that Bob and so what?

So you pay for a seat and get seated and then the company which owns the plane decides that his employee's travel is more important than his customers and kick them off?

Part of the job of being a boss is getting your crews where you want them when you want them, and that is your job, not your customers. If they wanted to keep X seats unsold in case their crew needs them, fine. But this approach is for their own benefit, screw the customers.

Femall.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Sean Spicer press briefing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnSJovG0d4

On now.

[Captain Hate]

Tammy is blasting UAL now. I've volunteered to be bumped before because it wasn't urgent that I get back quickly *plus* they booked me on an alternative flight which got me back quicker anyway and a free future round trip ticket. It's a sweet deal if you have the leeway to use it.

[JohnH]

In the late 70's I was flying from Boston to Wilkes Barre. They marched us out on the tarmac to a 19 seater and when it was my turn to climb the ladder the attendant stuck out his arm and said "sorry, we're full". I asked how that can be since I had ticket and boarding pass in hand and needed to get there in the AM. He said don't worry, we'll get you there. After that plane took off, they rolled out a Cherokee Piper Cub and it was just the pilot and myself that made the trip. Very cool.

[Old Lurker]

The crap shoot the airlines play is, forgetting their own seat requirements, is to over sell the seats and if a few people don't show, they score. If everybody shows, then they offer more and more money until enough seat owners will decide to stay behind for the money offered. Eventually there is some price that creates equilibrium.

Milton Friedman (and I) are perfectly OK with that approach.

What happened here is they capped the amount they offered below the amount that would attract people to sell their seats, so rather than increase the price to match the market, they called in the cops to evict the extras.

That the extra demand was because of their own crew needs is neither here nor there, but makes it even more egregious, seems to me.

Great video. Makes a nice nice background for flying the friendly skies.

Femall

[Another Bob]

Old Lurker | April 10, 2017 at 01:45 PM

If you've read your contract of carriage, you paying for a seat guarantees you bupkis. Overbooking - for whatever reason - has been a forever feature of air travel, so it's a big meh to me. My only point was it wasn't so UAL employees could make their personal vacation trips. (If it was, multiple people need to be fired.)

Presuming UAL's stated motivation is truthful, the choice is inconvenience four people here versus inconveniencing 100 people there.

The mistake they made was boarding the aircraft when in this situation. Better to have that argument at the gate, rather than having to send three cops in to physically pull the guy out.

[Clarice Feldman]

UAL shoulda just upped the offer from $800 to get another person off the plane. Economics.

[Captain Hate]

Tammy: the DF admission by Zippy's toadies that they knew about Assad still having chemical weapons underlines that every accomplishment by the Tahitian exile was a fraud.

[Appalled]

Cecil:

I find the timing of that Syrian strike interesting and suggstive. Typical protocol (Bush, Clinton, maybe even Obama) would be to wait until the visiting foreign leader had gone home. Instead, the action was taken very rapidly -- enough so that the speed with which it was taken raised comment.

[Captain Hate]

https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/04/levin-we-need-to-amend-the-constitution-war-powers-act-for-modern-circumstances

[matt, deplore me if you must]

When we were in Jerusalem a few months ago we were in the Old City on Shabbat and could hear what we could only surmise were Chabad members dancing and singing joyously. It was really something.

Now the Loony Left are trying to sell a Chabad - Trump - Putin conspiracy theory. Almost ranks up there with the Protocols, don't you think? Vicious, evil people.

Trying to connect a joyous, otherworldly, celebratory sect of Judaism with the world of politics is patently absurd.

The crazies keep on pushing their conspiracy theories and loony ideas despite the existence of facts.

A friend of mine, a well regarded engineer whom I thought was well rounded has recently become a "demon oil" acolyte. he started extolling electric cars without thinking about where the electricity comes from.

The New York Times and WaPo have become viral infections.

[Clarice Feldman]

I suspect they had good intel that told them this was going to take place and when--

[matt, deplore me if you must]

Imagine being that desperate to get to Louisville when the derby has come and gone. Just sayin'....

[Rae]

The Syrian strike destroyed a few aircraft and support structures, but the airfield launched aircraft the next day. It did very little real damage and was militarily insignificant.

The tomahawk missile doesn't need to be in close range, doesn't need a pilot, is very precise.

It might not have the power to do extreme depth damage to the runway--but aircraft is a very fragile thing--and reports are that about 20% of Assad's air assets were put out of commission by this strike.

Also--the refueling capabilities at Shayrat airfield supposedly has been taken out according to Sean Spicer today.

Also their radar capability in the area--has been hit.

[Rae]

The strike was a clear message, sent quickly (i.e., use of chemical weapons will invite US response), and likely convinced the Syrians/Russians that future chem warfare was unwise. But it was almost entirely symbolic. It was hardly what Bolton called a "devastating assault." And I can't imagine the NoRKs--who are a much tougher nut to crack by any metric--being frightened or impressed.
Posted by: Cecil Turner | April 10, 2017 at 01:39 PM

****************

It clears up Trump's campaign messaging which needed to be done--ASAP

[Old Lurker]

Bob, of course I know the airline has the legal right to take anybody off any flight they want for any reason they want.

So what?

They used that police power - legal right to save themselves some money and did not care at all inconvenience they were imposing on their customers under the eyes of all the other customers.

That's real dumb. And who wants to fly on an airplane run by real dumb people?

That fine print on the back of the ticket limits how much they have to pay for a lost suitcase; would you be ok if they just took expensive looking baggage for their own personal use or resale and handed out checks for the small amount they are legally allowed to pay? They's be within their legal rights.

Clarice is right and it works every time they do it: there is a price that will empty out as many seats as the airline wants back.

[Old Lurker]

Bob "Presuming UAL's stated motivation is truthful, the choice is inconvenience four people here versus inconveniencing 100 people there."

Straw man. More money would have gotten them more seats and everybody on both planes would be happy, and the sellers would be having nice steaks and drinks.

Win win win.

[Cecil Turner]

Instead, the action was taken very rapidly -- enough so that the speed with which it was taken raised comment.

If we're trying to send a message to Putin and Assad (i.e., we're willing to intervene; and not to use chemical weapons), faster is better than slower, and it doesn't take much time to plan a few Tomahawk launches. The only good reason to delay would be to move the HGW Bush closer and get more TLAM shooters, and they apparently decided not to, so . . .

I doubt they intentionally timed the event to coincide with the Xi visit. The operational factors (especially wanting zero collateral damage and some impact) militated for a middle-of-the-night strike as soon as possible, and that's what they did. However, I suspect they decided the synchronicity was a feature and not a bug (I would've).

[Rae]

You also have to remember that the Chinese were with him during the strike.

There is no way they were not told about it.

And--according to lawfare blog the Chinese are doing something interesting--and different from their usual posture.

The observer at Lawfare blog says that the Chinese are not speaking directly or addressing the "legality" of the strike.

https://lawfareblog.com/chinas-surprising-refusal-criticize-legality-us-attack-syria

That might be --because they well remember one of the very few instances of the use of chemical weapons was used against them by the Japanese.

[jimmyk]

"The passover article Clarice linked made me physically ill."

JamesD, leave it to the WaPo to track down lefty Jews acting like idiots. I have no reason to think that represents any higher percent of Jews than the pink pussy hats represent women. If there were Jews depicting Trump as Moses would we hear about it in the MSM?

I pay no attention to them, the NYT, Politico, etc. other than as amusement.

[Account Deleted]

CH--- Glad to hear your update. Over the last 11 months in the few times I've had cooked grub a mentor's advice kicks in for the day after: "Get back on the Pygmy Pony and ride you [redacted]."

It's what we do next that counts (like in NOKO!).

Back to it. (I feel like contractors behave sometimes like they're comin out of a cherry-bombed anthill during these conference calls. One at a time boys!)

CHOW!