Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

The words do not have to be perfect.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

This really is a full service blog.

This fight is for everything.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Everybody saw this coming.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On The Road

On The Road

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

Good Morning All,

This weekday feature is for Balloon Juicers who are on the road, travelling, etc. and wish to share notes, links, pictures, stories, etc. from their escapades. As the US mainland begins the end of the Earth day as we measure it, many of us rise to read about our friends and their transient locales.

So, please, speak up and share some of your adventures, observations, and sights as you explore, no matter where you are. By concentrating travel updates here, it’s easier for all to keep up-to-date on the adventures of our fellow Commentariat. And it makes finding some travel tips or ideas from 6 months ago so much easier to find…

Have at ’em, and have a safe day of travels!

 

Should you have any pictures (tasteful, relevant, etc….) you can email them to [email protected] or just use this nifty link to start an email: Start an Email to send a Picture to Post on Balloon Juice

 

Today is an anniversary of so many horrors. Keep the victims and survivors, their loved ones and lost opportunities close to your soul today.

 

A bit late – blame the host! – some beautiful submissions from Schlemazel:

Where they were taken: Belle Isle, Michigan
When: Sunday 2-APR-17
Other notes or info about the pictures:
In Michigan for the World Womens Ice Hockey Championship.  USA women are proving they are worth every nickle the squeezed out of the misogynist tightwads at USAH! Beat Canada 3-2 in OT to win the World Championship.

Sunday was a rest day so we took a drive down to Belle Isle in Detroit. The park is lovely but it was too early for flowers, looks like they planted a field of daffodils but they were just budding.  We visited the aquarium which really is a Victorian setting, I wish I could have gotten a decent pictures of the inside but a combination of lighting and crowd made most not worth sharing.

I didn’t notice a lot of name plates so I can’t tell you individual flowers, sorry. But on a cold & rainy day these were a real day brightener

 

First up, the Belle Isle Orchids:

 

Belle Isle Orchids

 

Next, the Belle Isle Amaryllis:

 

Belle Isle Ameryllis

 

And finally:

the main room of the conservatory & the aquarium (which has a very Victorian feel to it):

 

Belle Isle

 

Thank you so much, and sorry for the delay in putting these up! Hopefully their glory is reflected even more around you as Spring is finally taking hold all over (or Fall and its charms, for those antipodals among you).

Oh, and folks, what do you think of the more gallery approach as opposed to all of the pictures in one post sequentially like I normally do? Do let me know as I can do the same type of gallery for the emailed-in pictures if you prefer.

 

Have a wonderful day, all.

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Me loves orchids. Who doesn’t?

    Alain, not to be the resident idiot but, what is a “gallery approach”?

  3. 3.

    raven

    Nice! We’re packing up today and leaving for the Emerald Coast in the morning! Overfishing has four of the best species on the no-catch list but I’ll adhere to “a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work”!

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    Beautiful pics. Love that this is the first feature of a new weekday, rather than whatever the latest idiocy.

    @raven: Enjoy! Look out, non-protected fishies.

  11. 11.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Elizabelle: that’s one of the goals – to bring some joy each day and to remind us of the world around us and that there’s more than Trump shit.

  12. 12.

    Alain the site fixer

    @raven: do send pics! As a fellow fisherman, I guarantee they will run timely! Tight lines my friend!

  20. 20.

    Elizabelle

    @Alain the site fixer: Thank you. I have started lurking more at this site because it’s become such a downer. One person’s “information” is another person’s prompt to despair. It’s bad enough out there; we don’t have to search out all the ugliness, and wallow.

    Sometimes I think the “liberal” blogs are actually the Fox News-type drug delivery. Not television, as for conservatives. Blogs will get me just as angry and be just as polarizing. Although we have the advantage of being able to search out all kinds of good information in the mainstream media, judiciciously chosen and vetted, vs. the conservatives who don’t trust anything.

  25. 25.

    Mary G

    I love the gallery, it cut down the loading time on my tablet by a lot. Beautiful pictures, Schlemazel.

  28. 28.

    Quinerly

    @Alain the site fixer:
    Poco is going for his spa morning at our local Grateful Dead themed groomer (Grateful Pets❤ ). We are on the road to NC early next week. Poco loves him some Southern Outer Banks! He’ll be ready for his close up. Thanks for this morning feature. Nice to wake up to it.

  33. 33.

    raven

    @Alain the site fixer: Always! I take the doggies down to the beach at sunrise and then go back down for the bulk of the day. I still have my $ from our ill-fated Thanksgiving trip so I hope to blue water fish too!

  36. 36.

    satby

    This must be our morning post? So good morning everyone.
    In deck for planting today: blue potatoes in potato bags and a bed of asparagus, tbd. And I found out there’s a pending sale on my old tree smooshed house, so I’m hoping the new owners will let me take cuttings from some of the shrubs to try to root. I had had successfully rooted some before I moved, but they got transplant shock when I put them in the ground ?

  40. 40.

    satby

    I wouldn’t mind autocorrect so much if it was actually correcting misspellings instead of substituting different words altogether.

  44. 44.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle@raven: @?BillinGlendaleCA: : He thinks all trips to the groomer mean road trip. This is our normal April trip a bit later. Usual schedule for years was a trip back for my mom’s birthday in April. She has passed away. I’m in the process of packing up the house I grew up in…a hiuse that my father built…54 years of memories. Very lucky to be able to take breaks from the depressing work and spend time in between at the beach place an hour away. We’ll hit the house first and work there…attic, my old room (it’s pretty much like I left it in 1979 when I went to college…a high school girl’s time capsule). Beach pictures in about 10 days when I need a break from too many memories.

  56. 56.

    satby

    @Quinerly: yes, good luck. I had to do that almost exactly a year ago to my own late mother’s home. It was poignant and sad and sometimes joyful…so many emotions. But in a real way it helped to put her “to rest” and say goodbye again to the person she was before her mind started failing. I hope it offers you the same comfort.

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    I dunno. He seemed to have such a high opinion of himself — as in “Fuck you all, I can do what I want, including offing those two mofos that I just got acquitted for” — that he didn’t strike me as the kind who would kill himself (especially after getting away with two murders).

    On the other hand, not a shrink, nor do I play one on TV, so what do I know?

    ETA: And stranger things have happened than a prison “suicide” which wasn’t. Not saying someone did him, just saying it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what happened.

  67. 67.

    satby

    @SFAW: Only 27…22 or 23 when the murders took place. Too much success too young destroyed his life.
    Edited: and other lives too, of course. Less sympathy than I sound like I have, just a tragedy all around.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @LurkerNoLonger: Suicide is not indicative of cowardice. When I decide this place is no longer where I want to be I will do the same.

    That said, my only regret concerning Hernandez’s suicide is that it did not happen sooner, like before he went on his murder rampages.

  71. 71.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    Too much success too young destroyed his life.

    I think it’s more likely that he was a evil/mean fuck before his football success, not the other way around.

  73. 73.

    satby

    @SFAW: probably, but don’t the young athletic stars learn they can often do no wrong as long as they bring the winning skills to the table? Until they finally do something that can’t be papered over anyway. Bet he had a lifetime of people enabling his bad behavior until it was out of control.

  74. 74.

    Fair Economist

    @satby:

    Only 27…22 or 23 when the murders took place. Too much success too young destroyed his life.

    He was a football player too. Bashing his brain into jelly almost every day could have contributed. They do find significant brain damage even in the 20’s sometimes.

  75. 75.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle@satby:: Thanks for your kind words. It’s a process. I have already made several trips back since it’s been over a year. A lot of stuff to go through, including close to 5 generations of family stuff. (I use the word “stuff” a lot when discussing this.) I’m lucky, I know, to be able to take breaks and have the coast. Since it’s a 1000 miles away, I have to hit it hard when there and have made serious dents in all of it on the September and December trips. No family. I’m an only born of two only children, with no children of my own. Still debating with myself if that’s a good thing or bad thing.? My father kept everything.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    @SFAW:

    I think it’s more likely that he was a evil/mean fuck before his football success, not the other way around.

    I happen to agree. He was rotten, and the athletic success helped hide it.

  79. 79.

    rikyrah

    No Dem has won Georgia’s 6th Congressional District for 37 years. Tonight, Dems got 49.41%. On June 20th, they’ll add .6% and WIN THIS SEAT. pic.twitter.com/bV3GcYALOl

    — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) April 19, 2017

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    DeVos Is Set to Reinvigorate the School-to-Prison Pipeline
    by Nancy LeTourneau April 19, 2017 7:00 AM

    Perhaps you remember the stories. But in case you’ve forgotten, Carimah Townes offers a reminder.

    An eighth grader was locked up for throwing skittles on a schoolbus. A 6-year-old girl was handcuffed for taking candy from a teacher’s desk. An officer slammed and dragged a high school girl, because she wouldn’t put her phone down. A Texas cop choked a 14-year-old boy over a shoving match in school. A middle school student was suspended and charged for allegedly stealing a carton of milk from a cafeteria — even though he didn’t do it.

    There was a time when we were hearing these stories on a regular basis. The problem wasn’t that students were being disciplined for bad behavior — it was that teachers and other school personnel were increasingly turning that job over to law enforcement rather than handling it themselves. The problem was particularly acute for students of color — especially black boys who are criminalized from a very early age. That is what led to the creation of the school-to-prison pipeline.

    Demonstrating how oblivious she is to what some have called the civil rights issue of our time, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said that she couldn’t think of any civil rights issues in education that would necessitate federal intervention. Then DeVos hired Candice Jackson to be the acting head of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — someone who once claimed that she had experienced discrimination because she is white.

    The pivotal role played by the person in that position was demonstrated by the change that occurred from the George W. Bush administration to the Obama years. The Office for Civil Rights quit the long-standing practice of requiring school districts to report data on achievement and disciplinary measures by race under Bush. Obama reinstated the requirement.

    ……………………..

    During her confirmation hearing, DeVos refused to commit to collecting data on civil rights matters and it is clear that AG Sessions will have no problem with police officers criminalizing the behavior of students in school. As we’ve seen in the past, this will disproportionately impact students of color, and will be another way that the Trump administration criminalizes black and brown bodies, starting at a very early age.

  81. 81.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @OzarkHillbilly: To clarify: in this instance it was cowardice. He decided to kill a bunch of people, but he couldn’t handle the consequences of his actions. I’m in favor of choosing when the time is right to check out.

  82. 82.

    BellyCat

    Visiting the beach just north of San Diego after a month in the desert.

    Sun and surf is remarkably restorative for the soul.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    Hillary Clinton’s Inconceivably Big Losses
    by Martin Longman April 18, 2017 4:01 PM

    During the afternoon of the presidential election, I exchanged emails with a friend in the White House to try to assess how things looked on their end. I heard back that they were cautiously optimistic about the presidential race but increasingly concerned about the prospects for winning the Senate. I told my friend that things looked good in Pennsylvania from everything I could observe. Turnout was very high in my suburban Philadelphia precinct, and reporting from friends in the city indicated excellent voter participation. There was no sign in the southeastern part of the state that Clinton was about to suffer a 10 percent or greater drop-off of Obama’s 2012 support in 23 counties, and a 10 percent or greater drop-off on Obama’s 2008 support in 45 counties.

    The Clintons got the news first that something was desperately wrong from an operative in Florida.

    Around 7:45 on election night, when Hillary Clinton and her aides still thought they were headed to the White House, troubling news emerged from Florida. Steve Schale, the best vote-counter the Democrats had in the state, told campaign officials they were going to lose the biggest battleground in the country. Yes, Clinton was doing well in some places, but Donald Trump’s numbers in Republican areas were inconceivably big.

    “You’re going to come up short,” Schale said, stunning aides in Brooklyn who were, until that moment, comfortably cradled in the security of their own faulty analytics.

    People talk a lot about “the faulty analytics,” but it’s important to realize that Clinton met reasonable targets in her areas of strength. Compared to Obama’s 2012 performance, she netted about 400 more votes out of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia combined, and in the Philly suburbs, she netted 5,796 more votes out of Delaware County, 26,097 more votes out of Chester County, and 34,376 more votes out of Montgomery County than Obama had in 2012. This compensated for her modest 1,243 net underperformance in the more working class Bucks County suburb.

  84. 84.

    Mustang Bobby

    Reporting in from gate A-38 at DFW on my way to Tulsa and then on to Independence, Kansas, for the 36th annual William Inge Theatre Festival. My flight from Miami left at 5:45 a.m. and was completely full. My seatmate was on her way to Hong Kong, so she wins the exotic trip sweepstakes. Yeah, Inge is fun but c’mon…. Hong Kong?

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    Is Hillary’s loss really applicable to any other election? I mean, these people voted for a phucking liar. And now that he’s going to screw them over, and pretty much destroy this country, is it too much that they will learn a lesson?
    Dunno.

  86. 86.

    rikyrah

    Trump celebrates after his unpopularity puts red seats in play
    04/19/17 08:40 AM—UPDATED 04/19/17 09:23 AM
    By Steve Benen
    Georgia’s 6th congressional district has long been a GOP stronghold, represented in recent decades by a pair of high-profile, far-right Republicans Tom Price and Newt Gingrich. When Price gave up the seat to join Donald Trump’s cabinet, the question wasn’t whether he’d be replaced by a Republican, but rather, which one.

    And yet, in the first round of balloting, a first-time Democratic candidate very nearly took the seat – and still might.

    ………………….

    Obviously, Ossoff and his allies hoped to cross the 50% threshold yesterday and avoid a runoff, but the fact that he earned 48% of the vote is an impressive feat for a Democrat in a Republican district in a Republican state. What’s more, with another round of balloting on the way, Ossoff still has a chance to flip the seat from red to blue.

    A GOP state senator in Georgia recently said the 6th district’s lines “were not drawn” to elect a Democrat, and yet, there was Ossoff, forcing Republicans to spend millions of dollars they didn’t expect to invest in order to barely keep him below 50%. Yesterday was emblematic of a fact that should make much of the right quite nervous: if Democrats can seriously compete in Georgia’s 6th, it opens up all kinds of opportunities nationwide.

    All of which makes it kind of ridiculous to see Trump pat himself on the back.

  89. 89.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah:
    @#78. TRMS covered this extensively last night. So do we think there will be Congressional hearings…an investigation? Was everyone just lying or misinformed?

  90. 90.

    bemused

    Rachel Maddow segment last night “Stupid or Nefarious”: I think the two go hand in hand along with arrogance. Observing the Trump/WH mob isn’t much different than watching dumb bumbling criminals on Cops type tv shows. Erik Prince and maladroit WH are mindboggling arrogant and will never suffer any repercussions. Erik Prince certainly hasn’t learned anything from his past. Long prison terms is probably the only way to slow any of them down.

  91. 91.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    On the topic of the post, I enjoy the thought of womens’ hockey fights and high sticking each other in the face.

    On Ossoff, I hope the DNC doesn’t dump money onto that briar patch – the math doesn’t work, and there isn’t enough pain yet for idiot Southern suburban white women to buck their moronic paper shuffling, SUV captaining conservative husbands in order to vote for a hated liberal.

  92. 92.

    hovercraft

    @rikyrah:
    I hate these people so much.
    DeVos and Sessions are best positioned to be the most destructive in the lives of people of color.
    But Homeland Security Sec. is vying for a spot on the team.
    Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly wants critics to ‘shut up’ and let agents do their jobs. Nope.

    Congressional critics of the Department of Homeland Security should “shut up’’ and assume the agency is acting appropriately and following the law, the agency’s chief said in a combative public speech Tuesday.

    “If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws,’’ Secretary John F. Kelly said. “Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines.’’

    Several times in the speech, he took on critics of the agency, following months of complaints from Congress, civil rights groups and protesters that DHS is targeting Muslim travelers for unfair scrutiny.

    Asshole!!
    And of course the media is making things worse.

    MSNBC bizarrely airs live immigrant ’roundup’ with ICE to capture unsuspecting man when he steps out of home

    MSNBC on Tuesday broadcast live from a “stakeout” with ICE agents as they waited outside the home of an unsuspecting undocumented immigrant.

    MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson spoke to NBC’s Gadi Schwartz who was embedded with ICE agents conducting a “roundup” of undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.

    “We are basically on a stakeout,” Schwartz explained. “We are waiting for a target to come out of his home. And enforcement removal agents are going to swoop in and they are going to arrest him. We have seen two of those happen so far today.”……

  96. 96.

    rikyrah

    The wrong messenger for a ‘Buy American, Hire American’ message
    04/19/17 09:22 AM
    By Steve Benen

    ………………….

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at reducing the number of lower wage foreign hires in the U.S. workforce and bringing job opportunity back to American employees – a key campaign promise.

    The signing of this order, Trump told the Kenosha, Wisconsin crowd, will “defend our workers, protect our jobs, and finally put America first.”

    That’s pleasant sounding rhetoric, and it’s possible the president actually believes he’s just done something of great significance, but his executive order really just asks various agencies to look for fraud in guest-worker programs, while beginning “an interdepartmental review” of the H-1B visa program.” At some point in the future, various agencies will report back to the White House with some suggested changes.

    Groundbreaking, this isn’t.

    What stood out as important, though, was just how poor a messenger Trump is for this specific message.

    The Washington Post highlighted the “remarkably hypocritical position” the president is taking, in light of the fact that Trump has “sold foreign-made products under his name for years”; Ivanka Trump’s business continues to do the same; Trump “buys foreign products for his hotels and properties”; and he’s “consistently sought to hire foreign workers” for many Trump enterprises.

    The president and his allies will likely say this is not hypocrisy, because his executive order is focused on H-1B visas, not workers hired through H-2A and H-2B visas, who tend to be the foreigners Trump hires for his various ventures. That’s true, but it’s not a great argument because it adds fine print to the White House’s message. It’s as if Trump is effectively saying, “American businesses should hire American workers, except in those cases where I find it easier to do the opposite.”

    This came up during the campaign, too, when Trump declared, “My administration will follow two very simple rules: buy American and hire American.” Asked about his own hiring of foreign workers employed in the United States, Trump said, “It’s very, very hard to get people.”

    In other words, the principle is, “Hire American, unless it’s difficult, in which case, don’t worry about it.”

  97. 97.

    rikyrah

    @hovercraft:

    Congressional critics of the Department of Homeland Security should “shut up’’ and assume the agency is acting appropriately and following the law, the agency’s chief said in a combative public speech Tuesday.

    “If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws,’’ Secretary John F. Kelly said. “Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines.’’

    Several times in the speech, he took on critics of the agency, following months of complaints from Congress, civil rights groups and protesters that DHS is targeting Muslim travelers for unfair scrutiny.

    Remember, this whiny ass bytch threatened to leave meetings from concerned communities, and explained why they couldn’t keep the stats on who was detained, which was bullshyt.

  100. 100.

    bemused

    @rikyrah:

    Years/decades ago thieves in office at least tried to cover their tracks. Now they are basically out and proud cocky, inept criminals.

  102. 102.

    rikyrah

    NEW POLL: Texas Dem Joaquin Castro has more support than Cruz in potential Senate matchup https://t.co/cSPu6UE8w8 pic.twitter.com/taoXsp8mD8

    — The Hill (@thehill) April 19, 2017

    ……………………

    Remember, Rafael won a primary election in July.

  105. 105.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @hovercraft:

    Congressional critics of the Department of Homeland Security should “shut up’’ and assume the agency is acting appropriately and following the law, the agency’s chief said in a combative public speech Tuesday.

    “If lawmakers do not like the laws they’ve passed and we are charged to enforce, then they should have the courage and skill to change the laws,’’ Secretary John F. Kelly said. “Otherwise they should shut up and support the men and women on the front lines.’’

    Several times in the speech, he took on critics of the agency, following months of complaints from Congress, civil rights groups and protesters that DHS is targeting Muslim travelers for unfair scrutiny.

    Anybody want to do an over/under on how long it will be until:

    1. His goons mistakenly raid some southwest home where every member of the household claims an unbroken line of American citizenship and residence dating back to the Mexican war.

    2. On a raid described in number 1, kill someone.

    3. His goons mistakenly deport natural born American citizens who are adults because they don’t have birth certificates with them.

    4. His airport goons deny entry to American citizens of Arab or Iranian ancestry.

  106. 106.

    Miss Bianca

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t actually recall Adam saying much about Kelly; I remember his remarks being about Mattis, mostly. But I don’t see how anyone comes out of this malAdministration looking good.

  107. 107.

    hovercraft

    @rikyrah: @rikyrah:
    The world is certainly giving him the side eye.

    Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous – Asian Countries Look Warily At Trump

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous.

    Many South Koreans are using those words to describe the president of their most important ally, rather than the leader of their archrival to the North. They worry that President Donald Trump’s tough, unorthodox talk about North Korea’s nuclear program is boosting already-high animosity between the rival Koreas.

    No matter whether Trump succeeds at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs, his actions, comments and tweets are changing how the region views the long-running conflict. Senior North Korean officials see their relations with Washington as even more volatile than before. China is appealing for calm, and possibly re-examining its role. Japan is weighing a retaliatory strike capability against the North.

    CHINA
    ………….The rhetoric seems to be blurring the lines between North Korea and economic ties with China, issues that previous U.S. administrations had kept separate………..

    SOUTH KOREA

    South Koreans may be uneasy about North Korea’s expanding arsenal of weapons, but many doubt that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, wants to start a war that would likely end in the destruction of his government and the ruling elite. Donald Trump is another story, judging by widespread concern posted on Twitter.

    Some see him as a hot-tempered, unpredictable leader who might attack North Korea before it masters the technology to build a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. North Korea is moving steadily toward that goal, and some experts believe it could achieve it during Trump’s presidency……………

    “Trump seems capable of doing anything, and he might choose to strike the North before it’s technologically able to strike back,” said Ray Kim, a 39-year-old Seoul resident. “Even if a war breaks out, it’s not like that war will take place on U.S. soil. Trump has much less to lose.”

    NORTH KOREA

    Trump is clearly on the mind of the North Korean leadership.

    A senior Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press last week that Pyongyang has been watching Trump’s actions — including his recent order for the strike on a Syrian air base and his many tweets about North Korea — and determined that his administration is “more vicious and more aggressive” than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama.

    In response, Pyongyang is promising it will continue to build up its “nuclear deterrent” and respond in kind to any hostile moves, perceived or real…..

    JAPAN

    Japan is drawing up emergency responses in case of a North Korea missile strike. A number of municipalities are testing community alarm systems and planning evacuation drills as concerns run high around U.S. military bases. Both Japan and South Korea are home to tens of thousands of U.S. troops.
    The rising tension has opened the door to debate about once-taboo subjects in Japan, where the disastrous World War II experience and a postwar constitution that renounced the right to use military force have created a strong pacifist streak.

    Japan’s ruling party recently urged the government to introduce advanced missile-defense equipment such as a land-based Aegis or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which is being introduced in South Korea.

    Ruling party defense experts have even proposed that Japan lift a self-imposed restraint on conducting a retaliatory strike if attacked, rather than relying solely on the U.S. military.

    The steady turning up of the heat on all sides has increased the possibility of a miscalculation that could result in an incident that escalates too quickly to be contained, or even outright conflict.

  108. 108.

    lurker dean

    @rikyrah: you’re welcome, it’s something that needs to be widely read. and thank you for all the articles you share here. and good morning :o)

  110. 110.

    hovercraft

    @Miss Bianca:
    I remember reading a few years ago when Detroit was going through it’s bankruptcy that the Snyder appointed City Manager was trying to sell off Belle Island to some billionaire who wanted to create a an independent enclave for the very richest people, where they’d get to choose who could live there, and have the “help” come over during the day to serve them, and return to where they belonged after their shifts were done.

  111. 111.

    hovercraft

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I feel like this entire administration is made up of people who want to live out all of their fantasies, it’s like an amalgamation of 24, Rambo, Death Wish and the Alamo. If you put anyone of these assholes on the ground to do this shit themselves the’d shit themselves. They are cowards sitting in front of the screen playing a game, but this isn’t a game these are real peoples lives they are ruining.

  113. 113.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @hovercraft:

    these are real peoples lives they are ruining.

    That is a feature, not a bug.

    Jesus will make it all better in the afterlife for the victims, though. The perps will bleat their “thots’nprayers” for forgiveness, the aggrieved will be provided succor in the sweet hereafter, and moral, personal, individual culpability for the hideous racial oppression desired by white conservatives will be escaped yet again.

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