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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Searching in the sun for another overload

Searching in the sun for another overload

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This could be a BIG win for Dems, even if it’s a long shot.

The NRCC is pouring money into a last-minute TV ad buy in Kansas ahead of a Tuesday special election, seeking to pump up Republican enthusiasm and turnout in a district that President Donald Trump carried by 27 percentage points just a few months ago.

The late independent expenditure seeks to boost Republican state Treasurer Ron Estes, who is running to replace CIA Director Mike Pompeo in Kansas’ 4th District. The district has not been on the radar of most national groups and activists, which have focused on the upcoming special election in Georgia as a more competitive opportunity. But Kansas Republicans are fretting that Estes’ margin is closer than expected in his race against Democrat James Thompson, an attorney.

“Kansas should not be in play, but Kansas is in play,” said one Kansas Republican consultant.

Let’s throw James Thompson a few bucks.

Goal Thermometer

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  1. 1.

    PsiFighter37

    Kansans are too stupid to know what is any good for them. Brownback and the ultraconservative Republicans bent them over and gave it to them hard, and they proceeded to reelect them in 2014.

    Fuck them and their flyover state.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    NBC NEWS: U.S. has launched missile strikes on al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria

  9. 9.

    mai naem mobile

    I am sure the media will call this a Wag the Dog scenario right? right? Glenn Greenwald will criticize Lumpy right? right?

  10. 10.

    mouse tolliver

    Seems like only two days ago Trump was fighting to keep the people who got gassed out of the country. Now he’s launching air strikes on their behalf.

  15. 15.

    Redshift

    I had to turn off Chris Hayes; he had the odious Jennifer Rubin on for way too long basically making the argument “We must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do it.”

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    Attackerman:

    Spencer Ackerman‏ Verified account @attackerman

    In 2017 as in 2013: if you seek to oust Assad & you win, you own Syria. If you attack Assad & leave him in power, you look weak. +Russia now

    12:43 PM – 6 Apr 2017

    Yup.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    “I believe in a way she is more dangerous,” Susan Sarandon told The Young Turks on Thursday. “I don’t know if she is overcompensating or what her trip is. That scares me. I think we’ll be in Iran in two seconds.”

    The former “Thelma and Louise” star said voters are being “fed” a message that Mr. Trump is “so dangerous” – “I don’t know what his policy is. I do know what her policies are.”

  20. 20.

    Fair Economist

    @Mike J:

    It’s the fault of everyone who mentioned Russia. Trump has to prove his independence. Really. That’s GG’s argument.

    The scary thing is that I can’t tell whether you’re being snarky or not.

  21. 21.

    DemJayhawks

    @PsiFighter37: Have a hearty fuck you from Kansas. You damn well better hope you have the same success in getting rid of Repubs as we did in 2016.

  23. 23.

    Redshift

    I also continue to be pissed off at assholes constantly getting away with the BS of “Obama talked about a red line and then backed down.”

    No, he didn’t, assholes. He organized diplomatic pressure from allies and the Russians to peacefully disarm them off their chemical weapons that we could identify and they didn’t try it again until now.

    The mindset that if you didn’t go to war, you “did nothing” is just evil.

  24. 24.

    Mike J

    @Another Scott: Yup. I’m not against the idea of some airstrikes against the Assad regime. I’d like to know going in what the goal is and what resources are going to be used to accomplish that goal.

    If the goal was a tit for tat, you use gas, we take out an airbase, Proportional response. I don’t have a problem with that goal. The problem is that all day the Trumpsters have been making ouster noises. Also, I don’t think they got their diplomatic ducks in a row. Well, they probably got all the ducks the Trumpsters have, but that’s not good enough.

  27. 27.

    David Spikes

    OT because the relevant thread is dead.
    Kept reading today that Ivanka used to be a democrat.
    Am I being sexist if I think that it might be relevant to her character that when her father was a democrat she was a democrat, when he became a republican she became a republican, she was a good Christian girl until she married a Jew whereupon she became a Jew.
    If she in fact has ANY beliefs they must be incredibly shallow.
    But enlighten me, is this usual in the 21st century for a supposedly rich, successful woman to be totally ruled by the men in her life?

  28. 28.

    Fair Economist

    Getting involved in Syria would enmesh us in the hopeless mess of relationships in Syria. In particular, we’d be at war with Assad, who is allied with the Kurds, who are almost clients of ours. It’s a no-way-out situation.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Redshift: the reflexive militarism of our allegedly liberal media is never discussed, because, like “entitlement reform” and the un-utterablitily of raising the cap on the tax caps on Social Security, is to them like water to fish

    ETA: also the never-challenged assumption that the United States can and should resolve other countries’ violent instability with organized violence

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    Donated. Here’s hoping it helps.

    TheGuardian:

    Asociated Press has more details on the strike.

    It says the US has attacked a Syrian airbase using around 60 cruise missiles.

    US officials said the Tomahawk missiles were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea, targeting the Syrian government-controlled airbase.

    60 x $1.59M = $95.4M (assuming they were Tomahawks)…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Hey, what’s $100M for a futile exercise to try to make Donnie look good, eh?)

  31. 31.

    Fair Economist

    @David Spikes:

    she [Ivanka] was a good Christian girl until she married a Jew

    Based on her father’s knowledge of Scripture, I rather doubt that. She was probably either unchurched or agnostic.

  36. 36.

    David Spikes

    OT because the relevant thread is dead.
    Kept reading today that Ivanka used to be a democrat.
    Am I being sexist if I think that it might be relevant to her character that when her father was a democrat she was a democrat, when he became a republican she became a republican, she was a good Christian girl until she married a Jew whereupon she became a Jew.
    If she in fact has ANY beliefs they must be incredibly shallow.
    But enlighten me, is this usual in the 21st century for a supposedly rich, successful woman to be totally ruled by the men in her [email protected]Another Scott:

  37. 37.

    West of the Cascades

    @Another Scott: The need for replacement Tomahawk missiles at huge expense to the taxpayers and huge profit to the arms suppliers wouldn’t exist without shooting off a few rounds.

  39. 39.

    D58826

    @Mike J: Tonkin Gulf part way to many.

    This is a combination of Wag the Dog and Groundhog day. I fell for it in 1965. Never again.

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
    @ realDonaldTrump
    The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!

    August, 2013

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    @Redshift:

    I also continue to be pissed off at assholes constantly getting away with the BS of “Obama talked about a red line and then backed down.”

    No, he didn’t, assholes. He organized diplomatic pressure from allies and the Russians to peacefully disarm them off their chemical weapons that we could identify and they didn’t try it again until now.

    The mindset that if you didn’t go to war, you “did nothing” is just evil.

    He did talk about a red line. And he did back down. Sorry, not sorry if you don’t get that fact or don’t find it convenient.

  44. 44.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    It’s a little early to say, but sucking up to Assad might have been a blow to the Draft Tulsi Gabbard for President committee.

  45. 45.

    mai naem mobile

    @JPL: they did notify the Russians per NBC.
    @schrodingers_cat: duh,it’s to get his approval numbers up. He’s down to 33. Ohhhj,sorry, you asked what is the stated goal? Oh,that’s to fix Ivankas broken heart from seeing all those pictures of those poor kids.

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jeet Heer‏Verified account @ HeerJeet 23m23 minutes ago
    More
    Pentagon has learned they can get Trump to do as they please. A potentially dangerous lesson.

    except appoint the staff Mattis wants

  47. 47.

    japa21

    Part of this, IMO, was timed to show Xi that Trump is not someone you mess around with. I am sure was appropriately impressed, which means not at all.

  48. 48.

    D58826

    @Corner Stone: seems like it was a bit of both.He did set the red line. He did start a military build up but called it off at the last minute. He did use diplomacy to get the chemical weapons out of Syria. And Congress, when asked for an new AUMF, ran for the hills so fast the national forest service was called in to put out the brush fires

  51. 51.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    Heh, thanks for the cruise missile cost update. I saw some news snippet about 50-60 missiles launched, and I was thinking the same thing: “Jeez, I wonder how much that cost?”

    Bet it doesn’t take the Syrians $100 million to repave their airfield.

    ETA: NBC reporting that “aircraft and infrastructure” were destroyed as well.

  52. 52.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Shocker!

    Wilmer is completely silent on the gas attack – not taking any position, one way or another. Also completely silent on Trump’s bombing.

    #Pacifism

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    @D58826:

    but called it off at the last minute. He did use diplomacy to get the chemical weapons out of Syria. And Congress, when asked for an new AUMF, ran for the hills so fast the national forest service was called in to put out the brush fires

    Our “ally” the British Parliament voted a resounding “No” to military intervention. Obama got the message that he was way out in front with his rhetoric and decided to use the Congress as a braking poodle. He knew they would fold like cheap lawn furniture.
    And we asked Russia to guarantee the WMD certification status of Syria. Lots of dead people would take argument, if they could, that we “got chemical weapons out” of Syria.
    It matters what the POTUS says. If we’re going to put that buffoon Trump on blast for saying stupid shit we should be honest that things other POTUS’ say also matters.

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    Reuters:

    Clinton, in an interview at the Women in the World Summit in New York, also called Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election a theft more damaging than Watergate.

    Asked whether she now believes that failing to take a tougher stand against Syria was her worst foreign policy mistake as secretary of state under President Barack Obama, Clinton said she favored more aggressive action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    “I think we should have been more willing to confront Assad,” Clinton said in the interview, conducted by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.

    “I really believe we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them.”

    Clinton noted that she had advocated for a no-fly zone in Syria after leaving government, something that Obama opposed.

    Her remarks came two days after a poison gas attack in Syria that killed at least 70 people, many of them children. The U.S. government believes the chemical agent sarin was used in the attack. The United States and other Western countries blamed Assad’s armed forces for the worst chemical attack in Syria in more than four years.

    Hmmm…

    Seriously, what matters isn’t that Donnie decided to throw some missiles at a single air base. What matters is what Trump does tomorrow and afterwards. Hillary was able to construct and articulate a sensible policy. Donnie has shown no ability to do that, and State seemingly has no people remaining who can do it either.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    D58826

    I think if I was staying in a trump hotel anywhere in the world I’d check out fast. There are to many jihadist groups, let alone lone wolves, floating around that there won’t be blow back on this. While it is nice that we told the Russians, what about Iran and Hezbollah. Both will be checking in before long. The days are long past when we can launch a one off air strike to ‘show whose boss’ and not get hit back, somewhere in the world. And if not us then somewhere in Europe.

  60. 60.

    JPL

    @mai naem mobile: Well that answers that. I think that you are right about his interest in raising his approval numbers. I am afraid that the repubs in the upcoming elections might also get a boost.

  62. 62.

    D58826

    @Corner Stone: Oh I agree that the ‘red line’ comment was a BIG mistake. At least Obama tried to run his foreign policy using his head. Der Fuhrer is on a testosterone/Viagra fueled ego trip.

  65. 65.

    Another Scott

    @Sab: I haven’t followed him closely, but he seems to generally have a good head on his shoulders. I first noticed him at his blog (which he shut down in 2011), and Danger Room at Wired.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: as I recall from the hottest time of the Iraq War, Ackerman is an aggressive reporter and extremely skeptical of military adventurism

  67. 67.

    Fair Economist

    and if they notified russia, syria knew about it ahead of time.

    This makes me wonder if the whole thing was basically a charade. Assad committed the atrocity, with the understanding that Trump would make a lot of noise and an that was pre-announced behind the scenes, allowing Assad to take everything important out. Then Trump can pretend he’s independent of Russia and has done something useful, literally for the first time. Too much tinfoil?

  68. 68.

    Gravenstone

    @schrodingers_cat: Apparently the field selected was the one that the chemical weapons strike originated from (allegedly). Also hearing that there may be weapons handling facilities nearby that might have been targeted as well. Twitler is supposed to release a taped statement later this evening.

  69. 69.

    Mary G

    @Sab: Spencer Ackerman is national security editor for Guardian US. Ackerman was part of the Guardian team that won the 2014 Pulitzer prize for public service ..

    While he coordinated with Snowden and Wikileaks, he’s more a journalist than a whacko, at least in my amateur eyes.

  70. 70.

    Kropadope

    @Corner Stone:

    He did talk about a red line. And he did back down. Sorry, not sorry if you don’t get that fact or don’t find it convenient.

    Umm, redshift was right about the course of events and repeating the original assertion is not a rebuttal.

  71. 71.

    Another Scott

    @Corner Stone: The Obama Doctrine:

    Obama was also unsettled by a surprise visit early in the week from James Clapper, his director of national intelligence, who interrupted the President’s Daily Brief, the threat report Obama receives each morning from Clapper’s analysts, to make clear that the intelligence on Syria’s use of sarin gas, while robust, was not a “slam dunk.” He chose the term carefully. Clapper, the chief of an intelligence community traumatized by its failures in the run-up to the Iraq War, was not going to overpromise, in the manner of the onetime CIA director George Tenet, who famously guaranteed George W. Bush a “slam dunk” in Iraq.

    [image]

    While the Pentagon and the White House’s national-security apparatuses were still moving toward war (John Kerry told me he was expecting a strike the day after his speech), the president had come to believe that he was walking into a trap—one laid both by allies and by adversaries, and by conventional expectations of what an American president is supposed to do.

    Many of his advisers did not grasp the depth of the president’s misgivings; his Cabinet and his allies were certainly unaware of them. But his doubts were growing. Late on Friday afternoon, Obama determined that he was simply not prepared to authorize a strike. He asked McDonough, his chief of staff, to take a walk with him on the South Lawn of the White House. Obama did not choose McDonough randomly: He is the Obama aide most averse to U.S. military intervention, and someone who, in the words of one of his colleagues, “thinks in terms of traps.” Obama, ordinarily a preternaturally confident man, was looking for validation, and trying to devise ways to explain his change of heart, both to his own aides and to the public. He and McDonough stayed outside for an hour. Obama told him he was worried that Assad would place civilians as “human shields” around obvious targets. He also pointed out an underlying flaw in the proposed strike: U.S. missiles would not be fired at chemical-weapons depots, for fear of sending plumes of poison into the air. A strike would target military units that had delivered these weapons, but not the weapons themselves.

    Obama also shared with McDonough a long-standing resentment: He was tired of watching Washington unthinkingly drift toward war in Muslim countries. Four years earlier, the president believed, the Pentagon had “jammed” him on a troop surge for Afghanistan. Now, on Syria, he was beginning to feel jammed again.

    Donnie doesn’t seem smart enough to avoid traps like that… :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  72. 72.

    Gravenstone

    @DemJayhawks: As long as your moron in the Governor’s mansion stays in power, your gains in the legislature aren’t getting you very fucking far. Aim higher (and keep Kobach from counting the fucking votes).

  73. 73.

    Steeplejack

    @Another Scott:

    Seriously, what matters isn’t that Donnie decided to throw some missiles at a single air base. What matters is what Trump does tomorrow and afterwards.

    Yeah, this.

  76. 76.

    Corner Stone

    @Kropadope: Do me a favor and find a fucking fire to die in, assface.
    If you can’t read the god damn post where I explain the sequence of events that factually lead up to not enforcing the “red line” comment that is not my problem.

  79. 79.

    sukabi

    @Mike J: he turned his statement (that he read VERY POORLY) into a kind of prayer for those lost…trying to keep his evangelicals happy.

  80. 80.

    Corner Stone

    @Mike in DC:

    Operation Orange Fury underway.

    I have never understood this whole furries subculture. But I guess if it’s your thing and it’s consensual…booking dot YEAH ?

  82. 82.

    ArchTeryx

    Wow, the jackals are snarly tonight. Not that there isn’t abundant reason for it, but this is what we all knew what we were getting when Trump managed to squeak across the finish line first. Foreign policy by dick-waving. It’s the Republican way.

  83. 83.

    Lizzy L

    Ah fuckitall. I don’t think the US needs to be responsible for more dead people in the Middle East. I am heartsick.

    And, as an aside, I wish HRC had not made a statement about bombing Syrian airfields; DT took that as a challenge, and of course, he responded. To be crystal clear: she was SecState, she has the right to say whatever she likes, and I am sure he would have done it had she said nothing. But I think bombs are not what we need right now. Unfortunately, we have them.

  84. 84.

    Corner Stone

    @lgerard: I thought he was going to tear up a couple times.
    Not that there’s anything wrong with a POTUS doing that. But I was wondering…

  85. 85.

    ArchTeryx

    @Corner Stone: From someone who’s lived in it since 1989, think of it like an especially weird co-ed fraternity/sorority. All the drama and a lot of the brotherhood, plus a somewhat smaller assholes-to-decent-people ratio then in Mundania.

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    he’s snarking, of course, but you do wonder if trump has any sense, any at all, that the Russians, and the Chinese, have ways of undermining him, and thus us that aren’t public dick-swinging boom-booms

    Matthew Yglesias‏Verified account @ mattyglesias 12s12 seconds ago
    I guess we’ll find out soon if Russia can retaliate with a pee tape.

    ETA: Glad I turned it off

    Sam Sacks‏ @ SamSacks 20m20 minutes ago
    Guest after guest is gushing. From MSNBC to CNN, Trump is receiving his best night of press so far. And all he had to do was start a war.

  87. 87.

    debbie

    The local Fox station reported the bombing and Trump’s remarks, then moved on to fake Girl Scout cookies on Amazon. An odd transition.

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    Where is Van Jones when we so desperately need him to tell us how Trump became the world’s President tonight. Period!.

  90. 90.

    Steve in the ATL

    I am about to vomit from reading lots of effusive praise for the Orange shitgibbon on fb. There are tens of millions of people in this country who do deserve to be alive.

  91. 91.

    Corner Stone

    @ArchTeryx: Bronies, now…that’s something that is easily relatable to the common man such as myself. I think Operation Orange Brony could be something that unites the entire country.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    a grown-ass man in talking about “the Almighty” when discussing an act of war

    Matt K. Lewis‏Verified account
    @ mattklewis
    This seemed like a very different Donald Trump. More serious–and clearly moved emotionally. Frequently invoked the Almighty.

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    @GrandJury: He didn’t want to dance, but I am curious. Let’s hold hands and go down the road you think debunks all the previous MarkyMark Slips posts.
    Please begin.

  97. 97.

    Tazj

    @Fair Economist: Chris Hayes RT
    Paul Mcleary @paulmcleary 38min

    Defense official: There were Russians stationed at the base the US struck in Syria tonight but US informed them beforehand

    I’m not saying it was a charade, I don’t know. They did inform them beforehand, which they should have done.

  99. 99.

    Chet Murthy

    @Corner Stone: @Redshift: Actually, I agree with Corner Stone that he did back down. And I thought so at the time. But Redshift is also correct, that he organized diplomatic pressure to force Assad to give up his CW (as it turns out, not all of it, sigh). And IT WAS THE RIGHT DECISION. Resolute pigheadedness in the face of countervailing evidence isn’t a virtue — and in a president it’s criminal stupidity. I’m OK with “Obama backed down” b/c that was the right thing to do, and drawing that red line was stupid. He learned from that, ffs.

  101. 101.

    Kropadope

    @Corner Stone: Your more comprehensive argument wasn’t in my feed at the time I posted. You weren’t doing yourself any favors with your original post simply reasserting the original premise. Nevertheless, you did make a salient point in that:

    we asked Russia to guarantee the WMD certification status of Syria. Lots of dead people would take argument, if they could, that we “got chemical weapons out” of Syria.

    I will say that it’s important we give some measure of trust to our diplomatic partners such as, in this case, Russia. We should also verify. Did we have adequate verification in place? I don’t know, but the professionals dealing with the question seemed pretty well satisfied they were gone. What I do know is that chemical weapons were used before the inspections and purported removal of those weapons, stopped after that initiative for years, then reemerged after Doofus became president. Couldn’t it have just as easily been the case that the chemical weapons were, in fact, removed then newly reacquired under Trump’s inattention?

    Our “ally” the British Parliament voted a resounding “No” to military intervention. Obama got the message that he was way out in front with his rhetoric and decided to use the Congress as a braking poodle. He knew they would fold like cheap lawn furniture.

    This is nonsense. Congress was beating the war drums pretty damn loudly up until it was time to take a vote. Besides which, isn’t that Congress’s, what do you call it, “job” to declare war?

    Lastly, put down the rageohol before you stroke out.

  102. 102.

    Barbara

    What’s the endgame? Even if the press are gushing tonight (shameless tools) haven’t we all been here before?

  105. 105.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Gravenstone: In The American President, they’re talking about attacking some installation in Libya and what the consequences will be. One of the staffers tells President Shepherd that what he was doing was “very Presidential”, and Shepherd corrects him on the spot. Ordering the death of some faceless janitor in a Libyan building didn’t strike him as very “Presidential”.

    But the staffer was not wrong…as far as the vermin of the Village are concerned, there’s nothing more Presidential than ordering death from above.

  107. 107.

    Corner Stone

    @Kropadope:

    This is nonsense. Congress was beating the war drums pretty damn loudly up until it was time to take a vote. Besides which, isn’t that Congress’s, what do you call it, “job” to declare war?

    Shut up, you fucking fool.
    Read this again, “He knew they would fold like cheap furniture.” Obama is in no universe close to as fucking stupid as you. “Time to take a vote” yeah, exactly. Just shut your stupid fucking piehole.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    Trump’s statement made me sick. It was like a Miss Teen USA contestant’s idea of what a “big moment” speech should be. “Beautiful babies.” “Bless the whole world.” Ugh.

  109. 109.

    efgoldman

    @Barbara:

    What’s the endgame?

    There is none. There were no good choices for Obama, and there are fewer for Henna Horror.
    I thought the academies and war colleges taught the first rule of war: don’t start one without a defined objective.

  110. 110.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sukabi: they released a shot of him watching Melania give a speech, the back of his head looking at the TV. He was wearing glasses. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wear glasses but for that time.

  112. 112.

    Kropadope

    @Corner Stone:

    Read this again, “He knew they would fold like cheap furniture.” Obama is in no universe close to as fucking stupid as you. “Time to take a vote” yeah, exactly. Just shut your stupid fucking piehole.

    Read this again, reasserting the original premise rebuts nothing. Regardless of whether Obama knew that or not, it’s still Congress’s responsibility.

    And why do you come across as yet another a-hole who gets his jollies off bombing furriners?

  114. 114.

    Calouste

    @David Canadian Anchor Baby Koch: Wilmer is waiting for instructions from Moscow, and he’s not much of a priority for them at the moment. And we’ve known since the NYDN interview during the primaries that he can’t think beyond slogans.

  115. 115.

    Seth Owen

    @efgoldman: Actually, Von Clausewitz counselled that the first thing was to figure out the nature of the war and not to try to turn it into something it was not. From that it might be possible to determine an acceptable outcome and a rational way to achieve it. Sadly, with the exception of LTG McMaster, none of the decision makers involved have read On War. In fact, I doubt most of them have ever even heard of Von Clausewitz.

  116. 116.

    efgoldman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    you mean “stop the evil” isn’t a defined objective?

    Not until you define who or which evil.
    Just for starters, among the 75893743 or so rebel groups fighting Assad, maybe the most prominent is ISIS/ISIL.
    Who we are doing our damndest to take out one country to the West.
    So, we’re on their side in Syria, sort of, but destroying them on the other side of an arbitrary border defined by colonial France and Britain in some tribal lands.
    There are, or might have been, “moderate” rebel groups, but they are undefined, and have been either destroyed or radicalized.
    The only people we can trust are the Kurds. but they’re not really fighting in Syria, and our putative (but slipping) ally, Turkey, has been trying to do to the Kurds what they did to the Armenians.
    But sure, bomb some random airfield, after warning the Russians, and therefore the Assad Syrians, that it was coming.
    Oh well, could be worse. At least he sent cruise missiles instead of piloted aircraft, so we won’t lose any people.
    For now.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Seth Owen: I’m sure Mattis has read it, and equally sure Jared has never heard of it. Also seems like Bannon is the type to read it and not get it, like Otto from Fish Called Wanda

  118. 118.

    Corner Stone

    @GrandJury:

    I won’t be responding again. A semi-annual GFYS post is your alloted quota if that.

    Oh. Wow. This is awesome. You tried to say all the detailed information that was shared here by a documented expert went into conspiracy theory zone. He brushed you off because it’s you. I asked you to unleash what you got so we could all see. And this was the best you got?

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Seth Owen: I should hope that Bannon, as a former naval officer, has at least heard of von Clausewitz. But aside from McMaster, yup, a bunch of doofi. Donald definitely hasn’t the slightest clue.

  121. 121.

    Timurid

    @Seth Owen: Trump has most certainly heard of Santa Clausewitz, the jolly old elf who brings bullets and bayonets for little boys every Christmas…

  124. 124.

    Redshift

    @Corner Stone:

    He did talk about a red line. And he did back down. Sorry, not sorry if you don’t get that fact or don’t find it convenient.

    How the fuck is not attacking after your opponent does what you demand “backing down”?

    Here is the full quote: “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

    Yeah, no other possible meaning than “immediate military action.” But it’s nice that you and John McCain agree.

  126. 126.

    liberal

    @Calouste:

    Wilmer is waiting for instructions from Moscow, and he’s not much of a priority for them at the moment.

    Well, thank the Lord that HRC, who apparently gets her marching orders from PNAC, is on station!

  127. 127.

    liberal

    @Redshift: Nope. It’s pretty clear from the history that Obama backed himself into a corner, but got bailed out by circumstances beyond his control.

    That said, I’d take Obama over Trump—or HRC, for that matter—on FP matters in a heartbeat.

  128. 128.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mary G:

    There are some messages that require all-caps. Yours was so much one of those, it didn’t even register.

  130. 130.

    Corner Stone

    @Redshift: There is a timeline. It exists. It is public record.
    I am sorry for some people that don’t like that. It happened and is documented.

  131. 131.

    liberal

    @Mike J:

    If the goal was a tit for tat, you use gas, we take out an airbase, Proportional response. I don’t have a problem with that goal.

    Jesus, you liberal hawks are so fucking stupid. And bloodthirsty.

    Are you next going to assert we should bomb ourselves, given that we’re helping SA destroy Yemen?

  132. 132.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @liberal: Shouldn’t an anti-war, anti-interventionist, self described revolutionary like Wilmer speak out against this illegal, unilateral act of war?

    I mean, there’s no profile in courage for cowardice.

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @liberal:

    That said, I’d take Obama over Trump—or HRC, for that matter—on FP matters in a heartbeat.

    And you got your wish — Hillary is not president. I’m sure that gives you a nice warm feeling right about now.

  135. 135.

    Gretchen

    @PsiFighter37: Fuck you. How about you shut the fuck up when you have no idea what you’re talking about? It’s fine for you to write off people in a red state while you stay safely in a blue. The people here are fighting to change things, and are making progress, and you can help out, by making calls and sending money, or you can just shut the hell up and stay in your blue state nirvana. This is a winnable race. Help or get out of the way.

  137. 137.

    qwerty42

    @DemJayhawks: Sent some $$ to KS, MT and GA races. If we win just one, it is one we did not (and under most conditions *would* not) have.

  138. 138.

    low-tech cyclist

    Yeah, I know this thread has been dead for hours, but:

    Doug, I just want to say how much I love your thread titles. Sometimes I recognize the song instantly, sometimes it’s familiar but I can’t place it right away, sometimes I don’t know it at all. But I appreciate them all.

    This seems like a particularly good thread to say this in, because (perhaps because of my Kansan heritage; I know those open spaces) this has always been one of my favorite songs. Glen Campbell produced a great deal of drek, too, but “Wichita Lineman” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” is more than enough to justify his existence.

    Oh yeah, I dropped a couple of bills on Thompson over at ActBlue yesterday. Why the Dems aren’t coming through with at least $50K each for this race and the MT-AL race is beyond me; what else are they going to do with their money right now? (Ossoff, OTOH, doesn’t need any more help; he’s raised $8.3M, and if he can’t win with that bankroll, then he can’t win, period.)

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