Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

We still have time to mess this up!

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

People are complicated. Love is not.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Some Breaking News: DC and Moscow Editions

Some Breaking News: DC and Moscow Editions

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There’s some ongoing events that we should probably take note of. The first is that the Vice President was recalled to the White House this morning requiring that he cancel his attendance at an opioid crisis event in New Hampshire. There are conflicting reports as to whether he was already in the air and Air Force 2 had to be turned around to return to Joint Base Andrews or whether he was still en route to Andrews and his convoy was turned around and he drove immediately back.

White House communications personnel are claiming there is no issue with the Vice President’s, a member of his family’s, or the President’s health, however, and unfortunately, because the White House communications team, as well as other White House staffers lie so often, no one is taking these statements at face value.

The other important breaking news comes from Russia. The Russians have lost fourteen sailors to what is being reported as a fire aboard their naval “research” submarine Losharik. The scare quotes around research is because while the officially disclosed mission of the Losharik is deep sea research, the reality is that its real mission is espionage.

There were reports yesterday that a Russian submarine was poking around a NATO anti-submarine naval exercise, so who knows if this is or is not related. Especially as the Russian government is not particularly forthcoming with the truth either.

https://twitter.com/RUMINT79/status/1146110394554970112

So that’s what has occurred this morning. Now we have to wait to try to figure out what actually has happened and why.

Open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

110Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    I’m actually hoping Trump is okay. I don’t think we want to see a President Pence. These assholes will immediately get into a war with Iran. Who knows what else they will do now that they know they can pretty much get away with anything. Even the impeachment shit will be tossed.

  2. 2.

    James E Powell

    There’s some ongoing events that we should probably take note of.

    Or, as they say at the GOS, BREAKING!!!

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    Donald Trump said he might “intercede” to “clean up” homelessness in San Francisco and Los Angeles, noting that world leaders “can’t be looking at that”.

    In a conversation with the Fox News host Tucker Carlson broadcast Monday evening, Trump called the situation “disgraceful” and implied that it was making police officers unwell.

    “I’m looking at it very seriously,” Trump said of homelessness, according to a Fox News summary of the Carlson interview. “They can’t be looking at scenes like you see in Los Angeles and San Francisco,” Trump said, referring to world leaders. “We’re looking at it very seriously. We may intercede,” he added.

    “You can’t have what’s happening – where police officers are getting sick just by walking the beat,” the president continued. “I mean, they’re getting actually very sick, where people are getting sick, where the people living there living in hell, too.”

    First he came for the Muslims, then the refugees, and then the poor….

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    Officials here trying to downplay any sense of crisis and insisting nothing wrong

    Sure is a pity that they pissed away all their credibility over the last two years. They could sure use some now.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @James E Powell: I didn’t want to alarm anyone because all of this may be just not much about anything. Other than the obvious loss of life on the Russian sub, which despite its mission, is tragic. And part of not wanting to alarm anyone is so that if I ever have to, Deity forbid, post the “HOLY SHIT!!!! EVERYBODY TO ARMS!!!!” post you won’t think I’m just overreacting.

  6. 6.

    TenguPhule

    I thus urge you to establish and publicize a process for accepting donations from charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, and NGOs to aid individuals in CBP custody,” Sen. Cruz wrote. “Even with the additional supplemental emergency funding [that Congress recently passed], I am confident that DHS and CBP can still use the generosity of the American people to help manage the humanitarian crisis on our border. Congress, Texans, and the American people thank you and your Department for your hard work in addressing this crisis.”

    Ted Cruz is a blight on humanity.

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    6,000 meters? That’s a lot of meters!

    Supposedly a spook sub from what little I’ve read.

  8. 8.

    Mike in NC

    Three years ago Trump was claiming the federal government would have to occupy Chicago because of gun violence. As usual, it was a bullshit sound bite fed to him by one of his neo-Nazi advisors.

    Also, too, isn’t he already on record as dismissing NH voters as a bunch of losers on opioids?

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Also, he doesn’t read. C&BP has informed Congress and told reporters making inquiries that they cannot and will not take donations of goods for the detainees.

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    Enforcement of food and drug safety regulations nosedives under Trump

    The US regulator of food and drug safety has seen steep declines in several markers of enforcement under the Trump administration, according to a new analysis in the journal Science.

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sends “warning letters” for tainted food, improperly advertised dietary supplements or even violations of human subjects’ protections in clinical trials.

    The number of letters issued has fallen by 33% under Donald Trump, compared with the most recent equivalent period under the Obama administration. They fell from 1,532 under Obama to 1,033 under Trump, according to the analysis published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    “They’re a very serious and central part of how the FDA manages compliance and enforcement … it basically is an expectation that corrections will be made and made rapidly,” said the investigation’s author, Charles Piller.

    The number of warning letters also fell significantly between Trump’s first and second years.

    Advertisement

    In one example Piller noted, the FDA failed to issue a warning letter for clinical trials of experimental drugs, including the anaesthetic ketamine, after questions were raised about alleged lapses in informed consent and coercion of patients. The trials also failed to report that some patients developed breathing problems and moving disorders.

    The decline in warning letters spans most FDA divisions, Piller said. One significant exception is the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which has issued more warning letters than under Obama, many of them for opioid sales or generic drugs made in China and India.

    All the foundations of our Republic are crumbling.

  14. 14.

    Timurid

    Do we know which airport Pence was supposed to land at?
    I’ve heard it reported both as Pease (a military airfield where there was a security alert) and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (a civilian airfield where there were no problems).

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    @TenguPhule:

    You can’t have what’s happening – where police officers are getting sick just by walking the beat,” the president continued.

    WTF? I mean, I know that the Tribble parasite living on top of his head has been extending its tendrils into what’s left of his brain, but even with that, I still don’t know what that’s about. I’m not even sure what news story got passed through the Foxificstion filter to yield that.

    I mean, generically his ‘bad people are unclean’ thing is a consistent theme with him,, but that’s a weird particular.

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    @dmsilev:

    WTF? I mean, I know that the Tribble parasite living on top of his head has been extending its tendrils into what’s left of his brain, but even with that, I still don’t know what that’s about.

    Its believed he’s referring to this.

    a police officer in Los Angeles was diagnosed with typhoid fever, potentially in connection with work in an area downtown with a large homeless population.

  19. 19.

    hueyplong

    Kind of sad when you heave a sigh of relief that Norway has said something about an incident and therefore we have a statement we might be able to take at face value.

    The Norwegians can’t be everywhere (i.e., on the Mexican border).

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    Two M1A1 Abrams tanks and two Bradley Fighting Vehicles will be on display as part of Trump’s “Salute to America” event, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the exhibits have not been made public.

    The Abrams tanks weigh more than 60 tons apiece and were been shipped on railroad freight cars, from Fort Stewart, Georgia, the nearest army base that has them.

    I see the plan appears to be to run the same 4 vehicles around the block repeatedly to convince Trump his parade is the biggest. //

  21. 21.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Much as Trump stroking out would be the best birthday present evah for me today, the thought is tempered by knowing President Dense would be far worse for people like me.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: That would not necessarily surprise me. It would also not surprise me if he wanted to use the VP as a human foot stool.

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Cheryl Rofer: Well I was wrong, I was assuming Trump called Pence into watch an episode of Fox and Friends Trump had recorded.

  24. 24.

    patrick II

    Trump lost his shirt while talking to Kim Jong Un and is wondering if perhaps Mike Pence knows where it is.

  25. 25.

    dmsilev

    @TenguPhule: well, that worked for the Soviets during several May Day parades, so I assume Trump’s paymasters gave him the idea.

  28. 28.

    Barbara

    @Cheryl Rofer: Yeah, we are all kind of wondering how the Fourth is going to work, other than so many people will be scared off they won’t bother coming. It’s probably the most crowded DC gets on a single day.

  31. 31.

    hueyplong

    @Sister Golden Bear: At some point Trump will hit on the idea of going Full Pence in order to “motivate the base,” so it’s best not to waste even a small hope on his health and well being.

  32. 32.

    jimmiraybob

    @Adam L Silverman:

    … if I ever have to, Deity forbid, post the “HOLY SHIT!!!! EVERYBODY TO ARMS!!!!” post you won’t think I’m just overreacting.

    No problems. You might also want to add a big red “HOLY SHIT!!!! EVERYBODY TO THE DEEPEST HOLE IN THE GROUND THAT YOU CAN FIND!!!! PREFERABLY BLAST- AND RADIATION-PROOFED” button to the BJ command and control desk.

    Although I once heard that a shallow hole with a door placed over the you/hole and covered with a foot or so of dirt would do the trick (thank you Reagan administration). I get how the shallow hole and pulling a door over you would work but I was never sure who would be the one placing the dirt on top of the door after that. Is there an app for that?

  33. 33.

    beef

    I’ll take Pence over Trump any day. Pence sucks in many ways, but he lacks Trump’s weird charismatic connection to the Republican base. Trump can credibly threaten Senators with primary opponents. Pence couldn’t even win reelection in Indiana.

  34. 34.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @patrick II: This is a nightmare version of the Which Is Worse game: Shirtless Trump vs. President Pence?

  35. 35.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Adam L Silverman: @jimmiraybob: Since I just finished reading “The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States” and I’m in San Francisco, with an office window facing northwest, this seems timely: should I be looking up or more toward the horizon for the incoming missiles?

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jennifer Jacobs @JenniferJJacobs
    Why did Pence scrap NH trip after staff already on AF2 at airport?
    “It’s not a national security issue,” and not for any sort of health concern, Pence’s chief of staff told reporters.
    “It’s not a personal or family issue,” Marc Short said.
    Will someone be fired soon?
    “No.”

    a big meeting in the Cabinet room to determine who has been eating the President’s… not strawberries… skittles? starbursts? scooter pies?

  37. 37.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @TenguPhule: Perfect would be a unit of Civil War reenactor with someone’s WWII era tank collection. Trump go on about our state of the art military.

  38. 38.

    The Dangerman

    Maybe today was the day Donald decided to tell Pence that he’s off the ticket in 2020 and Ivanka is replacing him (i.e. one step above human foot stool)

  39. 39.

    SRW1

    If the Russian submersible can go to 6,000 meters, it can’t be very big. Were the 14 dead its entire crew?

  41. 41.

    Feathers

    Confession. I am almost cheering for the tanks to crash through Memorial Bridge and into the Potomac. I am assuming that the tank crew will be able to get out safely, since there is a non zero chance of a tank going into the water in normal battle usage. Something horrible and obvious, with great visuals.

    Crisis upon crisis is only helping Thrump. If there were only one abused child at the border, it would be a scandal. When there are thousands, the troops rally round. That is the Democrats problem, our scandals are things that fall through the cracks, so we focus on fixing them, not defending our people at all cost.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Juliet Eilperin @ eilperin
    One detail you might have missed in our July 4th story: engineers are examining if the weight of stationing tanks will damage the Lincoln Memorial’s underground rooms. Those are the ones Zinke often liked to tour frequently w/ guests

  44. 44.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @rikyrah: Putin handled the sinking of the Kursk submarine in 2000 very badly and got a lot of people mad at him. He can’t afford that now, so he’s going to look like he’s on top of it. Might be influenced in a similar way by the Chernobyl video series.

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: And they may be trying to get their official story out ahead of things. Given the Losharik’s real mission, I’m curious as to the cause of the fire. Were they poking around in the designated NATO anti-submarine exercise area and got accidentally damaged? Got detected and the NATO fleet commander decided they needed to have their nose bloodied? Did we manage to get a cyber weapon into the Losharik’s systems and it went off with tragic effects? Was it just an accident, like a fire in the galley? We will likely never know the truth.

  46. 46.

    dmsilev

    @TaMara (HFG): Trump has shown a remarkable aversion towards actually firing people himself, instead farming out the job to various minions.

  49. 49.

    waspuppet

    “(Huff)(puff) What is it, Mr. President? I canceled the thing and got here as quick as I could.”

    “Mike, I’m replacing you with Ivanka.”

    “But — but that’s not –”

    “You’ve done a great job here, but it’s just time for a change.”

    “But the Constitution –”

    “Leave your keys with Jared here.”

    Chuck Todd: “Historic day at the White House …”

    Tell me this couldn’t be happening.

  52. 52.

    West of the Rockies

    I was going to say Pence is the Nilla Wafer of humans, but I enjoy one of those neo-cookies once every five years.

    He is stale Wasa bread. No, he is a stepped-on slice of Wonder Bread.

  53. 53.

    Wapiti

    @waspuppet: Amusing, but it couldn’t happen. A new VP needs to be approved by majority votes in both the House and Senate. (If Pence were to stroke out this afternoon, I’d be fine with Pelosi and her people refusing to seat any Republican.)

  54. 54.

    The Moar You Know

    unfortunately, because the White House communications team, as well as other White House staffers lie so often, no one is taking these statements at face value.

    I take none of their statements at face value. I expect some of this from any administration, but this is the first one in my lifetime where my default position is “they are lying” in response to literally anything they put out.

    There are no explanations for Pence getting hauled back to the WH that are going to result in me breathing a sigh of relief and saying “oh, that’s all right then.” Something bad happened.

  55. 55.

    jl

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Trump wanted ‘brand new’ Sherman tanks. They couldn’t round up a few that still run under their own power? Are they small enough to not wreck up the place if you run ’em around and park them at random historic sites?

    Trump is obsessed with this nonsense, news stories say he gets several briefings a day. Trump is fixated on having tanks at his political rally that he wants to insert into the public Fourth of July celebration:

    ” [Trump] also pushed to bring military tanks to the site of his planned speech at the Lincoln Memorial, prompting National Park Service officials to warn that such a deployment could damage the site, these individuals said.

    Engineers were examining the site this week to determine if the weight of stationing armored vehicles there would affect the Lincoln Memorial’s underground rooms, according to one individual briefed on the efforts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/trump-asks-for-military-tanks-on-the-mall-as-part-of-grandiose-july-fourth-event/2019/07/01/e9d274ee-9adc-11e9-8d0a-5edd7e2025b1_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6404e1b08320

    Maybe they could just put up some big cutout tank pix for the Lincoln Memorial political rally, that look like tanks from where Trump gives his rally speech?

    Trump obsessed with a French style Bastille day. Including a military display there makes historic sense, though there have been periodic debates there about what is the best way to commemorate that day, given the horrors of the French Revolution. But transplanting that to the US is just dangerous fascism, or a sad and ridiculous display of personal vanity. I guess future events will tell us which it is. Though news of the chaotic instant planning suggest the latter.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:
    My guess would be some kind of genuine accident. My impression is that the Russian military in general is in piss poor shape, and maintenance has been a serious problem on a lot of their equipment. Bad maintenance on something carrying out really difficult missions like diving to 6000m leads to ugly accidents.

  57. 57.

    Jay

    A US defense official said that the current plan is to have a very small number of armored vehicles participate as part of a “static display” at the event on the National Mall. The vehicles will not be moving thereby reducing the chance of damaging local infrastructure. The number of vehicles will be very small with the current plan to have two M1 Abrams tanks, two Bradley fighting vehicles and an armored M88 Recovery Vehicle, along with an “appropriate” number of accompanying personnel.

  63. 63.

    TenguPhule

    @Feathers:

    I am assuming that the tank crew will be able to get out safely

    They would not. Its a 60 ton coffin in water.

  65. 65.

    gxb

    Officials here trying to downplay any sense of crisis and insisting nothing wrong with @POTUS.

    Is there a way to project that old “Orly” owl meme onto the moon? Still wouldn’t be big enough but it’s a start.

  66. 66.

    dr. bloor

    @jl: With a little luck, the weight of the tanks will create an enormous sink hole, sucking Trump straight down to the appropriate circle of Hell.

    They should just inflate a bunch of decoy tank balloons with helium and march them down Pennsylvania Ave. Dipshit won’t know the difference anyways.

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Roger Moore: Would make perfect sense to me. I mean they deployed their only aircraft carrier for a couple of months, then had to put it into dry dock for five years, then the dry dock broke and collapsed, damaging the ship further. So now it may never be refitted and put back into service.

  69. 69.

    JPL

    No matter what is going on at the White House, it’s probably a good idea to fill up the auto.

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Raven: Excellent idea! The the tanks could run around, like in a real parade.

    Or, they could put them on floats, with pretty models in swimsuits sitting in the turrets, smiling and waving. Trump would really like that, I bet!

    @dr. bloor: Even better. A Macy’s military parade with tank balloons! The Snoopy balloon could be there in his WWI ace costume.

  71. 71.

    SRW1

    @Raven:

    Potjemkin tanks would work for the Thu event too. As long as they keep the crowds a few thousand feet away. And they could make it ‘Shermans’.

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    @The Moar You Know:

    There are no explanations for Pence getting hauled back to the WH that are going to result in me breathing a sigh of relief and saying “oh, that’s all right then.” Something bad happened.

    The only possible up side is that the bad thing that happened might be something bad for them politically, not bad for the country.

  73. 73.

    Barbara

    @TaMara (HFG):

    “Pence…you’re fired.”

    We can be sure that’s not it because he would never call him back for a face to face if it were.

  74. 74.

    waspuppet

    @Cheryl Rofer: Sounds plausible. Given what a shitshow this thing is looking like, I’ve reversed my opinion: I want enormous signs saying EVERYTHING YOU ARE EXPERIENCING RIGHT NOW IS BECAUSE OF DONALD TRUMP every 50 feet.

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    Watching the US-England Frauenweltmeisterschaft semifinal. American commentators just don’t get football.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    Tonight ICE deported 40 more Cambodian Americans who came here as refugee children.

    This is the 5th consecutive ICE raid on this community.

    Once every 4 months, more families are torn apart.

    My heart is with all the people who said goodbye to their families tonight. pic.twitter.com/BSaPZvN3AV

    — Kevin Lo (@kevinchlo) July 2, 2019

  78. 78.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @JPL: Ugh, I just remembered that my car is sitting in my driveway 5 miles away with only 1/8 tank of gas. Damned existential crises, always happening at the most inconvenient times.

    @Adam L Silverman: Ha! Navy brat here. I went to schools located on or near bases. We never bothered with the nuclear drills – everyone knew they were just theater.

  79. 79.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman: I was reading about the Kursk disaster on Wiki (I can’t believe that was almost 20 years ago) and that really makes me suspect an accident. It’s boggling how many things apparently went wrong because of defective equipment or inadequate training in that disaster. I doubt things have much improved.

  80. 80.

    Aleta

    @TenguPhule: They could surround the VIP area and make the guests the campaign donors the marks pick up trash and stack the chairs before they leave.

  82. 82.

    scuffletuffle

    Pease AFB was closed down due to “possible shots fired.” If he was to fly in to that base, that might be the reason for the “diversion.”

  83. 83.

    Steeplejack

    @Timurid:

    I think it was Pease. I saw a tweet saying that flight restrictions there had been lifted after Pence returned to Washington, so I presume that was his destination.

  84. 84.

    sukabi

    @dmsilev: my mom* was saying something about LA and the homeless yesterday.. Local news was saying that TB, the plague and several other diseases were making a comeback in the homeless populations. I suspect drumpf is referring to that.

    * She doesn’t hear well and confuses / conflates stories, so it’s no telling what was actually reported.

  85. 85.

    kindness

    I say this with snark but with this president it could very well be true. Trump really called Pence back so he could have Mick Mulvaney tell Pence he was being let go so Ivanka could take the position. Oh, and can you train Ivanka for a few months too?

  86. 86.

    scav

    @Roger Moore: mmmm. Piss poor shape, shoddy maintenence, capable of plumbing great depths (both moral and physical), under Russian control. Yeah, accident could actually work for both current situations.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @sukabi:
    There have been real problems with the homeless encampments in downtown LA. There was a typhus outbreak in LA that was at least blamed on poor sanitary conditions, though there were also rats in places that weren’t full of homeless people, like LA city hall. The worry about plague is most likely a conflation, though. There has been some discussion about plague coming back to the LA area, but that was blamed on climate change, not on homelessness.

  88. 88.

    Chetan Murthy

    @West of the Rockies:

    I was going to say Pence is the Nilla Wafer of humans

    It was reported that a Spaniard Instagram “star” filmed himself tricking a homeless man into eating an Oreo cookie where the cream filling had been replaced with toothpaste (for $20 or some such). The man proceeded to vomit the cookie back out (of course).

    The only silver lining [apparently] is that he was eventually tried and sentenced to a jail term.

  89. 89.

    jimmiraybob

    Setting aside the snark, I think that Trump would not let go of Pence until after the 2020 vote was counted and he was heading back to the WH – it would fracture his Evangelical base. Once they were of no more use to him He’d probably cut Pence loose in an instant and install the princess in waiting by EO, especially now that she’s won over all of the world leaders with her smile and bedazzlement. Damn, there’s that snark again. It just won’t stop.

  91. 91.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @jl: 40 tons for a Sherman verses 60 tons for an Abrams. John Cole probably could explain it better but I also gather the materials the tracks are made of make a difference.

    I understand Paraguay just retired their last three Shermans .that were only used in parades. Maybe Trump is thinking of those..

  94. 94.

    Yutsano

    @Roger Moore: @Cheryl Rofer: Dad was on boats for the vast majority of his military career. Somehow it came up what his biggest fear on a sub was.

    “Fires.”

    We looked at him a bit funny.

    “You only have a limited supply of oxygen. There’s only so many places you can go to escape it. Odds are what’s causing the fire is extremely difficult to put out. And you can’t just abort the mission to emergency surface to take care of the matter. Fires are the most deadly thing that could happen”

    We never felt very comfortable after that…

  95. 95.

    I'll be Frank

    meh, Marsha probably called and reminded Droopy that the opioid crisis was good for them.

  96. 96.

    jonas

    Office of @VP say NH event cancelled “not for emergency” but unknown reason for “diversion” back to DC

    Trump had to be talked down from ordering new battleship to be placed in the Reflecting Pool on the Mall for his big Triumph of the Will-style campaign rally 4th of July event.

  97. 97.

    David Fud

    @Adam L Silverman: Let them wonder about our capabilities for once. I hope we bloodied them, but I guess the likes of the BJ commentariat will never know. Of course, I am feeling particularly aggressive towards Russia – maybe I should calm down so as not to start doomsday.

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jimmiraybob: I suspect Gorsuch and Kavanaugh have solidified trump’s support among bible thumpers. I think trump would drop Pence in a heartbeat if Nikki Haley would take the job, but I don’t think she wants to tie herself that close to him

  100. 100.

    Spanky

    Well, if they’re going to insist on parking the tanks next to the Lincoln Memorial for trump’s climactic speech, let them collapse into the underground rooms at the climax, preferably taking trump with them.

  103. 103.

    karen marie

    So has the mystery been cleared up yet? Did the fuckwit-in-chief’s diet Coke button break?

  106. 106.

    Mike G

    Can we get Trump to ride atop a tank wearing a helmet with his name labelled on it?
    Because Republicans insisted when Dukakis did this it rendered him shamefully unfit to hold the office of President for all time.

  107. 107.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Cheryl Rofer: Mikey Dense? Former SMOTHOR (Stupidest Member Of The House Of Representatives)? Organizing?

    He’d fuck up a 2-car funeral if you spotted him the hearse.

  108. 108.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @dmsilev: They did this with the Mya-4 Bison bombers. Per Wikipedia:

    In July 1955 American observers saw 28 Bisons in two groups during a Soviet air show. The United States government believed that the bomber was in mass production, and the Central Intelligence Agency estimated that 800 would be available by 1960. The display was a hoax; the first group of ten repeated the flyby with eight more. The classified estimates led, however, to American politicians warning of a “bomber gap”.

    I guess none of our hotshot IC got a good enough look at the registration numbers to notice. Chachma!

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Or, gee, maybe the Russkies were wily enough to not have registration numbers on them. Risking the opprobrium of the FAA!

  110. 110.

    Sunken Chest

    DebkaFile out of Israel was reporting a firefight between a US sub and a ruskie sub. Both got hit. The US sub went down and the Ruskie sub limped home with fire onboard. To avoid an all out nuke war, the story would be spun as an accident.

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