Weird how Trump complains about the US getting “ripped off” by NATO and says our military can’t be “the world’s policeman” when confronted with the costs associated with Republican predecessors’ foreign misadventures, but when violence affects Saudi oil production, he’s all “locked and loaded” and “how high, Mr. Bonesaw?”
Must be the Orb. ?
Baud
I bet the culprit was Hillary.
Cheryl Rofer
I do a fair bit of photo analysis, and when I saw the administration’s claims, I was wondering how they could tell where the strikes originated. Here’s someone else who is probably acquainted with photo analysis.
Yarrow
I wonder if he’d bomb Israel because bonesaw wanted him to.
Yarrow
Owning the libs really pays:
chris
It won’t be the first time the USA has attacked the wrong country.
Crude oil and gasoline futures are up 11% right now. Buckle up.
PeakVT
It was an inside job by Bonesaw himself.
If you can’t prove my wild speculation is wrong then it must be true!
namekarB
Okay okay. Perhaps I don’t get it and excuse me if I am flat wrong. Wouldn’t a big decrease in Mideast Oil supplies be GREAT NEWS for US oil producers?
Yarrow
@namekarB: It’s great news for Putin. That’s what counts.
Amir Khalid
@Yarrow:
Trump would tell Bibi about such a Saudi demand, and then go with the hgher bidder as to whether to proceed with an attack.
Amir Khalid
@namekarB:
I dunno. Is Ewing Oil even still in business?
debbie
Pompeo sees himself as Dick Cheney. And because of that, it is inevitable there will be a U.S. attack.
Yarrow
@Amir Khalid: Apparently it is and it serves West Virginia.
Link.
PeakVT
@Yarrow: It’s possibly even good for Saudi, depending on what was hit. Assorted burning tanks are not key production hubs filled with long-lead custom-manufactured equipment.
Amir Khalid
@Yarrow:
Dang. There goes my clever 1980s pop-culture reference.
Butter emails!!!
@Yarrow:
It doesn’t seem like it’s the libs being owned here.
AxelFoley
@Yarrow:
Ewing Oil? Is that for real? ???
Spanky
I’ll bet John Bolton has a big sad today. Left out in the cold.
Omnes Omnibus
Huh?
ET: MBS. It took me a minute.
Bill Arnold
@Cheryl Rofer:
People are trying to tie this in by not supplying the details below. Headlights!!!
Unidentified drone flies over Kuwaiti presidential palace (Sep 15, 2019)
I’m assuming it’s true, because “hovering over the presidential palace, with headlights on” is amusing enough that eyewitnesses would contradict if false.
JPL
@namekarB: It seems that would be right, but oil is sold on the world market. For example oil drilled in Alaska could go to Japan. So a five to ten percent drop could affect us all. That’s over simplifying but it’s how it works
MisterForkbeard
@Yarrow: That’s basically the Republican party in a nutshell. Getting ripped off to make money for incompetent grifters just so they try to make liberals annoyed.
Bill Arnold
@namekarB:
Zerohedge, so truth value is not obvious, but there are links and memes:
Oil To Hit $100? Pompeo Blames Iran For “Unprecedented” Drone Attack That Crippled Largest Saudi Oil Processing Facility (Tyler Durden, 09/15/2019)
MobiusKlein
Did I miss the announcement of a mutual defense pact between the USA and Saudi Arabia?
I’m a bit surprised (not surprised) that it’s that quick to jump into that quagmire again.
JPL
@Bill Arnold: trump is locked and loaded so no worries.
Major Major Major Major
@Bill Arnold:
Zerohedge is where I learned to ignore people who love Fight Club! Fun fact.
Cheryl Rofer
@Bill Arnold: I take all reports with a grain of salt. Photos I pay attention to. Also there are a number of folks doing very sophisticated analysis. It’s not particularly sophisticated to say, well, Iran is over that-a-way, but the missiles could have zigged and zagged, and they could have come from any direction by the time they traversed tens or hundreds of kilometers.
So I’m waiting for the folks with the software tools, but I think we know what we need to know now.
– Someone hit Saudi Arabia
– Trump is enraged
– Looks like Bonesaw is in control
Cheryl Rofer
Trump tweeted
My Twitter colleagues are collecting tweets and quotes that say, from the man himself, that he is willing to meet with Iran. There are quite a few.
chris
Oh good, more winning.
Another Scott
@namekarB: Donnie’s worried about high gas prices.
Cheers,
Scott.
clay
@Spanky: I know! He just had to hang in for one more week and he would’ve gotten his Iran War!
Baud
@chris:
It’s be interesting to see how Pakistan responds.
JPL
@Another Scott: So he could decide to nationalize our refineries and the republicans would be fine with it, right?
Bill Arnold
@Cheryl Rofer:
This part is very encouraging. They also seem to understand the urgency.
Are we sure that D.J. Trump is enraged?
“Verification” (per the rDT tweet) appears to be a main risk.
Baud
@JPL:
Mitt might furrow his brow. But Trump owns deplorables and deplorables own Republicans.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: That’s doubly disgusting. Eww^2
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
My comment or the event?
Baud
OT
Why do liberals keep these guys in business?
JPL
@Baud: My subscription to the NYTimes is four dollars a month until March of next year, and I’m thinking of canceling .
moonbat
@MisterForkbeard: Doesn’t annoy this liberal. I hope they spend all their money on stupid Sharpie pens and run out of gas on the way the the polls in November.
Mary G
RIP Ric Ocasek.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: The Houthi rebels have already claimed responsibility.
Full disclosure: I know Shibley Telhami and served as the senior civilian advisor (cultural advisor) to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team/1st Armored Division when LTG Hertling was the 1st Armored Division commanding general.
Cheryl Rofer
Good news
Baud
@Mary G:
You kept it going ’till the sun fell down
You kept it going
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Claiming responsibility is not the same as having done it, but I think the Houthis are the most plausible culprits.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: The event with the two Orange Ogres.
Adam L Silverman
@namekarB: No, that is not how the global petroleum markets work. While the US gets very little of its oil these days from Saudi, the removal of a significant amount of Saudi refining capacity for an extended period of time would spike the price of oil. US oil producers cannot make up the difference, because what the US is producing is the wrong kind of oil.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman:
Is there reason to doubt them?
trollhattan
@Mary G:
Aww. I liked The Cars. R.I.P. Rick O.
BruceFromOhio
That fucking orb has been nothing but trouble since go.
@Mary G: I like the night life, baby
Transition music on SNF on NBC. ATL up by 3 in the first.
jl
@Baud: You didn’t provide a link, and I would thank you, except for some reason I couldn’t resist going to NYT to read it. The piece was a long string of drivel, looked like it was typed up on short notice, maybe to fill some quota. I noticed it relied on a ‘savvy’ CW political analyst, included a link to an old NYT piece that was puzzling and unexplained, and I could see little rationale except to puff his own publication and pull a comparison of Harris to Obama out of hat. The piece also managed to shoehorn important substantive policy issues into horse race campaign coverage, and ended with a an unsupported claim that seems to contradict a collection of anecdotes directly above.
I found it intriguing and wish to subscribe to his newsletter.
Why did I go read that garbage? I usually try to ration the free NYT pieces for Krugman.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I think they are as well.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Ahhh. I liked Ric Ocasek too. Seemed like a genuine dude. Great band.
jonas
@namekarB: Oil is a global commodity. When prices spike, that’s definitely good for oil producers no matter where they are. US oil companies are certainly not unhappy about this turn of events when it comes to their bottom line. Of course, there’s a limit — if attacks on Saudi production *really* send prices skyrocketing over the long term, then the discussion turns to conservation and alternative energy sources and they don’t want that, either. All things in moderation, as the saying goes.
Keith P.
@Mary G: Wow, that really sucks. I’m starting to see more and more of the musicians I’ve listened to die. A station in my area plays The Cars all the time (I love “Drive”, even though Ocasek doesn’t sing it…. I had to double-check)
Baud
@jl:
That’s why I don’t look to the NYT.
Cameron
I take it that everybody here knows that the massacre of civilians in Yemen started before Trump was elected? Y’all do know that? Right?
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t think so. The problem is going to be who is the President going to listen to. At this point, over 24 hours on, I can guarantee that the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) has provided appropriate imagery to the CIA, which has prepared an assessment using it, as well as information sourced from other US intel agencies and our Five Eyes partners, and the President has, at least, gotten the top line conclusions. The problem is that regardless of what the US Intel tells him, will he take whatever the Saudis and the Israeli feed him? They both want the US to fight Iran for them. They will feed the President “intel” that makes it look like Iran was responsible regardless of who actually did it. Basically they have their conclusion – this was Iran’s doing – and they’ll work back from their. It may be as elaborate as claiming the Iranians flew these out of Iran, over Iraq, and into Saudi or it may be as simple as “yes, the Houthis did it, but they’re Iranian proxies, and therefore the IRGC or the Quds Force was helping them”.
Baud
@Baud:
Look = link
jl
@Cheryl Rofer: A regional expert I heard on a local news interview this morning said it was most likely a Houthi attack. Against that I heard a GOPer Congresscritter raving about Iran and we have to ‘do something’. So, for now, I trust the reginoal expert, though I forgot the name. We’ll see what develops.
Among the political bighsots, think Adam Schiff had the most reasonable take, until we get more info from reliable sources.
Schiff: Houthi strike on Saudi facilities required ‘Iranian assistance’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPuCJtuJ9H8
My only comment is that, I think, there have been a number of Houthi missile attacks over last several years that people have said could not be done without Iranian assistance. So, I guess the Iranians gave them the technology and showed them how to use it two years ago? Pompeo and GOP war mongering seem like just push back on Trump latest whim to talk with the Iranians.
BruceFromOhio
It’s so easy to blow up your problems
It’s so easy to play up your breakdown
It’s so easy to fly through the window
It’s so easy to fool with the sound
It’s all mixed up.
jl
@Baud: I didn’t blame you. Probably I should have. Baud 2020! campaign needs an egregious gaffe to get some free media. I apologize.
Edit: I changed ‘Baud2020?’ typo to ‘Baud2020!’ But probably shouldn’t have. Freudian typo?
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s the bottom line, all right!
Immanentize
@trollhattan:
I liked The Cars. I also liked Paulina Poriskova.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Unfortunately.
Immanentize
@jl:
You mean being black is not enough?
TS (the original)
@Adam L Silverman: Republicans always have the answer before the analysis & regardless of the cause they know who is the bad guy. Another 20 year war seems like a great idea. It will no doubt pan out to a 100 year war because why should the English and the French claim to have the longest war in history. Anything they can do, trump can do better.
lamh36
“”You just keep that baby of yours in your heart, and you keep fighting, and you require people to see you and speak her name, you hear me?”
????”
You can tell a lot about a person by the way they hug.
Couple of the Dem candidate looks like they’d be good huggers!
Chump…on the other hand ??
Immanentize
@Cameron:
Not tracking. Yes I know. Meaning? By whom? Before or after Saudi intervention? Further, WTF?
Duane
@MisterForkbeard: The plastic straws probably come wrapped in more plastic inside two cardboard boxes. Personal responsibility for you not us. Owning the libs is a sickness.
Scuffletuffle
I am a lib, but I don’t give a single fuck that Republican bozos are buying straws and sharpies. Am I doing it wrong?
lamh36
Kamala Harris has been quietly racking up early state endorsements from local and state pols. Something is happening on the ground and under the radar that the polls aren’t reflecting
Adam L Silverman
@Cameron: What’s a Yemen?
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: This appears to be an attempt at “It’s Obama’s fault. He didn’t do anything to stop what the Saudis were doing when they stupidly decided to attack the Houthis because they incorrectly believed that at the time they were allied with the Iranians because the Houthis are Fiver Shi’a and the Iranians are Twelver Shi’a”.
Immanentize
@jl:
Drones. Drone attacks. They are cheap and easy to deploy with great accuracy. It could have been Saudi women who want to drive. They do not require great skill or know how. They are the future of asymmetrical attacks.
jl
@Immanentize: Hey, I don’t judge. I immediately thought it was just to puff his own publication. Then I thought his line of thought was that he wanted to argue Harris had potential to win, and Obama was behind at this time in cycle in 20018, and Harris was behind now, so obviously there is an argument in there someplace. And then I thought, OK, they are both not white.
But at this point, the two of us have probably put more thought into it than Leonhardt did, so pointless to spend any more time.
Who wastes their time reading this dreck? (Besides Baud 2020! and his die hard supporters).
And editor probably put in ‘Democratic field still flawed’ even though it makes no sense given the content of the piece, because, heck, should never pass an opportunity to diss Democrats. Our liberal corporate media!
Edit: BTW, for a long time Harris was my second choice behind Warren, but not sure now. Anyway, my comment was not meant to diss Harris. I hope she overcomes here ‘slump’ or whatever it is.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: do nimrods really sit around monitoring BJ just to make such ill arguments?
The Saudis are the worst interventionist military ever. And we support and back them up? Day of reckoning is gonna come one way or another.
Mary G
@Cameron: It started in 2015 and is one of biggest blots on Obama’s report card. I protested it then and protest it now. It is genocide.
Immanentize
@Mary G:
Genocide by whom and against whom?
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: Apparently at least one of them does.
Adam L Silverman
I’ll just leave this here:
Adam L Silverman
What is it with this guy and free oil?
Professor Bigfoot
@Amir Khalid: Trump is Milo MInderbinder?
(Come to think of it…)
Mary G
Sen. Chris Murphy just started a Twitter thread on KSA and Yemen. He’s been on this since at least 2016:
Steve in the ATL
1. Who has the analysis of what effect this attack will have on premium gasoline prices at Atlanta-area Costco and Quik Trip gas stations?
2. Loved the Cars pre-MTV. Once MTV came out, their edgy alternative sound became more mainstream pop drivel (see also: Top, ZZ and Clapton, Eric).
3. Ric Ocasek was married to Paulina Porizkova. Nice work, Ric!
4. If you want to get deep in your Ocasek tribute, check out his earlier band Driftwood. Not so good, is it?
Bill Arnold
@Mary G:
Why did the Obama administration support the Saudis in this?
Was it really related to making the Saudis happier after the JCPOA with Iran? If so, what leverage did the Saudi’s have/use?
Yemen: The Graveyard of the Obama Doctrine – The human costs of facilitating Saudi Arabia’s proxy war (Samuel Oakford, Peter Salisbury, Sep 23, 2016)
Zinsky
Trumpo evidently thinks he was elected President of Israel and owes the unelected Wahabbist Saudis something after they were complicit in the 9-11 attacks. The asshole is also beholden to other Middle East tyrants and the round headed weenie Putin. Pathetic. Trump is a gutless coward, pathological liar, conman and sexual deviant. He really is the lowest scumbag to ever sit in the Oval Office. He needs to be impeached and imprisoned for the rest of his worthless life.
Elizabelle
@lamh36: I’m glad to see that. Kamala and Elizabeth are my girls. Both marvelous and qualified.
Not surprising the conventional wisdom cannot get a clue there.
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: Had to do with the Awlawkis being from and in Yemen and Anwar al Awlawki’s connection to al Qaeda.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@namekarB: O
Russian Federation main export is oil.
Jay
The Ansruallah Movement took credit for the attacks and said they managed the precise attacks with the help of “friends” in the Kingdom.
Reports have come out, but barely hit the news that:
– the Yemeni Sunni tribes who were hired by the Sawdi’s to defend in Narjian Province are quitting, as they are routinely slaughtered by the Ansruallah Movements fighters, go unsupported bt the Sawdi Military, and are often unpaid,
– the Southern Sucession fighters are in a 3 way war, against al Quida and the UAE for the Port of Aden and are no longer tighting against the Ansruallah Movement.
– the Sawdi/UAE “brilliant strategy” of hiring Sudanese and Columbian merce to do the fighting for them, isn’t working out on the ground.
– having the USAF do the target assesment for airstrikes is working about as well as the Great Scud Hunt. Markets, hospitals, schools, residential areas are regularly blown up with hundreds of civillians killed, while the Ansruallah Movement goes unmollested.
– the Ansruallah Movement even got a pinpoint strike with one of the kitbuilt Scud “Specials” on a graduating parade of new graduates of a Military Academy in awden.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: So the Saudis bought the condos from Trump in other words?
Patricia Kayden
@Mary G: Just getting over Eddie Money’s too recent passing.
Mary G
@Immanentize: Saudis vs. poorest Yemenis. They bomb schools, buses full of civilians, blockaded the ports so 8 million people are on the verge of starvation, destroy water infrastructure so diseases like cholera are epidemic.
Daniel Larison has been writing about this and trying to get us out of it since it started, but the US stays in because they conflate the rebels with Iran, which they weren’t at first,
It’s because the Yemeni elected a Shia president, and MBS can’t abide that on the Arabian peninsula. Also, he wanted to play with his jets and other toys. People there post pictures of ruined buildings and hold up fragments of shrapnel with names of American companies on them. Will lead to more terrorists for generations.
Adam will tell you there’s lot more to it, which there is. Al-Qaeda holds a chunk of the country, there are inter-tribal beefs, and the UAE has been accused of sending American mercenaries in to assassinate leaders.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Really. Trying to interject facts into this discussion is like trying to understand Trump’s long-term strategies.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: The Saudis own an entire floor of Trump World Tower, which is across the street from the UN. It includes both the ambassador’s residence and the Saudi mission to the UN. They’ve owned it for well over a decade.
Adam L Silverman
@Immanentize: It’s a dirty job.
Tehanu
Isn’t that Prince Bonesaw?
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Seriously? That’s sick; not fully parsing how that justifies a war.
Is this related to DJT’s apparent interest in nine kinship exterminations re members of AQ-related families. (Rule of DJT projection, eh? :-)
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Adam L Silverman: I know MBS (Mohammad Bin Salman) realizes that Trump is a complete, and compromised by him, idiot, but I hope he’s getting a bit of heartburn learning that Trump is an ally of no-one but Trump.
Personally, I’m also pretty confident that the Houthi did it too. They have been getting more successful over the last few years with irregular attacks in Saudi Arabia, and it everything went right for an attack that Aramaco was not expecting.
Mary G
More Murphy tweets:
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: We wound up over preoccupied with Yemen, and not as a humanitarian problem resulting from the civil war and then the Saudi invasion, that because of the failing nature of the Yemeni state that al Qaeda, specifically its Yemeni affiliate and their affiliation with the Awlawkis. There was legitimate concern that Yemen could be used as a training location and a bed down in transit point for extremists going into and out of sub-Saharan Africa. That metastasized into an over preoccupation, which led to several poor policy decisions pertaining to the Arabian peninsula and Yemen.
Adam L Silverman
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: I do not know.
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: What DJT preoccupation with familial terminations? I’ve never seen any reference to anything like that before.
B.B.A.
We should not respond at all. Less oil capacity = higher oil prices = less oil consumption, which is a good thing. I commend the Houthis, or whoever carried out this attack. More like this, please.
/I can’t even tell when I’m being sarcastic anymore
catclub
@MobiusKlein:
interesting that you mention that, because on the radio this morning they were discussing the possibility of the first EVAR US Israeli defense pact.
I always point this out, and that we do actually have a defense pact with Turkey, that is conveniently forgotten on almost all occasions.
They also said that Israel might not want it because they would have to consult with the US (ha!) before their usual surprise airstrikes.
Jay
People often forget that most of the Sawdi Oil and Infrastructure is on the ground where the Shia Minority live. If people get sick and die, the Sawdi’s prefer they are Shia. There have been reports of a low grade insurgency/protest movement amongst the Shia that is regularly crushed. Non-regime reporters are barred from Shia Communities by the Regime.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Adam L Silverman: No worries, It’s just my personal opinion. I’ve been a long term follower or Juan Coles blog for several years, to my utter surprise I seem to talk intelligently about middle-eastern affairs at a casual level without making a complete ass of myself.
Jay
@catclub:
There have always been rumours of a secret “Defense Agreement” between the US and the Sawdi Royals dating back to the Roosevelt Administration.
Mike in NC
Read today that members of Congress — especially Republicans — are upset that people are buying electric cars and therefore not paying sales tax on gasoline. They’ll look for a way to stick it to those dirty hippies buying Teslas.
Mary G
Brachiator
I thought that dumping Bolton was supposed to reduce the chances of reflexive war mongering.
catclub
@Jay: The first thing that popped into my head reading that was the line from Dr Strangelove “Why would you keep it secret?” “The premier likes surprises.”
Jay
catclub
@Jay: Horseflesh flavored! and colors!
Adam L Silverman
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: Juan’s good people. I did some guest posts for him a while back.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Brachiator: Cruise missiles might be in the air right now if Bolton was around. It’s a good time to count your blessings.
Ken
For some reason I’m imagining a US strike on Iran, after which the Iranians say, “No, we didn’t carry out that strike on the refinery, if we had it would have looked more like this,” followed by oil at $200 a barrel.
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
A joke in grimdark taste. Stuff like this:
Trump confirms US has killed Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza
Between 10[8] and 30 civilians,[9] including the eight-year-old American daughter of the deceased Al Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, were also killed in the raid along with up to 14 enemy combatants.
‘Take Out Their Families’: Trump, Terrorists and Overly Broad Rules of Engagement (Gabor Rona Monday, April 23, 2018)
Jay
@catclub:
The US would keep it secret because it doesn’t reflect well on the US “role” as “honest broker”, ( I kill myself sometimes) in the ME,
The House of Sawed would keep it secret because it doesn’t reflect well on their claims of being the only “real” Islam.
Adam L Silverman
@Bill Arnold: I think that’s less a preoccupation and more of a “That Obama guy announced he killed bin Laden, well I killed bin Laden too! And an Awlawki and some other people. MAGA!”
HumboldtBlue
Rocking along with those above.
Cars came along as I hit middle school.
Jay
mad citizen
@Mike in NC: As well they should–EVs drive on the roads the same as gasoline-powered cars. I’m guessing the fees will eventually be fairly even across states, but for now, there seems to be quite a bit of variation: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/some-states-are-charging-extra-drivers-who-buy-electric-vehicles-n1054101
Ken
@Mike in NC:
It’s a legitimate concern, since road infrastructure is largely funded by gasoline taxes. However now that the Republicans are involved, there’s no possibility of a sane and sensible solution. We’ll probably end up with a ban on electric cars, if not a requirement that all vehicles use a coal-fired steam engine.
HumboldtBlue
@Mike in NC:
It’s a more nuanced issue than sticking it to the libs. The use of electric vehicles on roads does lead to a lower amount of sales tax revenue and that’s money used to maintain roadways and public infrastructure.
It’s an easy out for the dipshit right-wingers but it’s an important subject both in California and nationally.
It was a key point of discussion when California passed its sales tax measure in 2016, SB1 and it will continue to be an important topic for California in the coming years because we have an awful lot of regulations and taxes on fossil fuels particularly gas and diesel that will dwindle with less use.
That’s the paradox, less use of fossil fuels is the greater good but revamping how we tax and fund transportation infrastructure will be a new puzzle to solve.
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Kill Their Families is a thing on the American right. I’ve only heard it a few times, from drunk wingnuts, but don’t go to such gatherings often.
Kent
Why is Trump panicked about this?
Because if gas prices double then it will literally be the last straw for the corn and soybean belt that is already suffering under Trump’s trade wars. They might be able to ride out the current corn and soybean prices with Trump’s subsidies. But if the cost of their tractor, combine, and truck fuel doubles then it’s literally game over.
Same thing for the massive fleets of independent truckers who keep the just-in-time economy going and who (I suspect) vote heavily for Trump.
And generally speaking, the more rural the area, the larger the gas guzzling trucks and SUVs in use and the larger the portion of monthly household costs goes to fueling up all their machines. A massive spike in gas prices is going to hit Trump-land about 100x harder than Blue America.
catclub
@Kent: It is always amusing how oil prices are generally misunderstood, on purpose.
For instance, under normal circumstances, gas prices going up means more demand and a good economy. But higher gas prices are generally considered bad for the administration. Likewise, oil prices going down means the economy is bad, but Presidents generally seem happy to claim they presided over dropping gas prices.
debbie
@Kent:
Wasn’t Trump the guy who recently offered to serve as mediator in Yemen? //
Millard Filmore
@Bill Arnold:
What’s the body count for the Right To Life party?
Jay
@Millard Filmore:
Couple of tens of millions.
jonas
@Kent:
Except Trump’s tax package totally screwed them over by eliminating a lot of the personal expense deductions that kept their tax bills relatively low. They’re hopping mad all over the country. On the other hand, he sure showed those Iranians whose boss….oh, wait.
Duane
@Jay: How is it that PM Modi is going to draw such a large crowd? Most people in this country couldn’t name India’s PM for love or money.
Whatever
I know nothing of any of the parties true capabilities. I do have a good deal of experience with commercial grade GPS receivers. Since neither the Houthis or the Iranians will have access to the rotating decryption keys for military GPS receivers, they can’t do much better. The holes are perfectly aligned dead center on the tanks, without the typical random drift inherent in GPS positioning solutions of high speed moving vehicles. Rock-solid positioning for ten ballistic missiles (amazing terminal guidance) or ten jet/prop powered drones seemingly unaffected by small control deviations needed to counteract variations in wind and turbulence typical near large structures. It would be easier to make nice neat holes using commercial grade multi-copters carrying explosive charges and local differential GPS corrections, but those would have to be launched from within a few km.
Kent
@catclub: It’s because oil is simultaneously a source of income for one sector of the economy but a cost for the rest of us. Hence the schizophrenia over this topic.
It was most amusingly acute when I lived for a decade in Alaska which is utterly dependent on oil income for the economy and for the famous permanent fund dividend. But also a major cost for Alaskans with their massive trucks, snow machines, boats, and oil-heated homes. You could cut the cognitive dissonance with a knife.
SFAW
Unrelated, but:
According to Molly Jong-Fast’s twitter thingy, Stephen Moore apparently said that the Moron-in-Chief has a 180 IQ.
I’m assuming he garnered that info from the same place that “Doctor” Harold Bornstein got the info that the FatShit-in-Chief would be the most-excellently-healthiest Preznit EVAH!
Either that, or the number is in dog-years
James E Powell
It seems that nearly every article or mention of Ric Ocasek reminds us that he was married to Paulina Porizkova. This has been so for many years.
SFAW
@debbie:
It wouldn’t surprise me. Of course, his “mediation” would consist of “Give me all your money. [Gets money] OK, now fuck off.”
Mike G
“waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of the attack”
It’s not like they could have any vested interest in lying. And who could be more trustworthy than a dictatorship of that tortures and dismembers journalists in their embassy overseas?
Although seriously, that’s probably a point in their favor with Trump.
Chetan Murthy
@Jay: Any Indian-American who shows up to this thing, except to protest, is a piece of shit. [narrator: there are a lot of Indian-American pieces of shit in these here United States.]
ETA: OK, I was a little angry on reading this. There are -some- Indian-American pieces of shit. More than I wish, sigh. But most are decent, and voted to save our Republic. Most. Not all.
Jay
@Duane:
As Shrodingers Cat has pointed out, the Indian Nazi Party has a lot of “pull” in the Indian Diaspora, for “reasons”.
So Indian Nazi’s in India tap into this for money to sway elections “back home” and to try to created an AIPAC clone abroad.
So Dolt 45 has decided to try to “tap that” by clinging to coat tails.
Nazis attract Nazis. Worse than bedbugs.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: Eddie Money was born on March 21, 1949. Ric Ocasek was born on March 23, 1949. Any ’80s rocker born on March 25, 1949 might want to be concerned.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: I would argue that ex-Modern Lover David Robinson was key to the band’s initial coolness
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: that is an excellent point, as always, Double-O
Jay
@SFAW:
Kashmir, not Yemen.
Pretended Kahn reached out.
patrick II
@jl:
Iran may give assistance to the Houthi in their war with the Saudis — but then we give Saudi Arabia assistance with their war on the Houthi.
jl
@patrick II: True. My comment was more a criticism of the rush to drum up a military response to Iran among top GOPers, including Pompeo. I think Trump’s sudden notion to talk with Iran set off alarm bells in some quarters, which are also most likely some of Trumps foreign paymasters.
dww44
@Baud: I receive Leonhardt’s newsletter every day and he just epitomizes the FTFNYT brand of liberalism by almost always conditioning his support of Democrats with caveats. He’s a Third Way sort of Democrat . The only true liberals writing there are Blow, Goldberg, and Krugman.
Chetan Murthy
@dww44: Bouie also, neh?
dww44
@Omnes Omnibus: I do believe that Ocasek was born in 1944, given that the reported age at death is 75.
dww44
@Chetan Murthy: I don’t actually subscribe to the NYT, only the free newsletters. I didn’t think about Bouie. Honestly didn’t realize he wrote there. Does he have a regular gig, or is he an occasional contributor.
NotMax
@SFAW
That’s the number as expressed in degrees Kelvin.
;)
Omnes Omnibus
@dww44: Wikipedia shows both dates. The woo factor is much higher if it is 1949.
billcinsd
@Steve in the ATL: Ocasek was in a band called Milkwood, not Driftwood, that basically wanted to by Crosby Stills and Nash. They were OK for 1973
Chetan Murthy
@dww44: IIRC he’s a regular columnist. Heh, I’m not a subscriber, either. I’d give ’em money if my money canceled out some other subscriber’s money (and both went to, say, Planned Parenthood).
James E Powell
@dww44:
He said he graduated from high school in ’63 so the ’44 birthdate is probably the one. Although The Cars broke out of Boston, both Ocasek and Orr started out in Cleveland. We considered the band to be homeboys.
Jay
@patrick II:
Yemen’s under a multinational sea and air blockaide that doesn’t allow food, medicine or fuel in.
Yet, according to the Sawdi’s and their apoligists allowe Iran to smuggle in hundreds of 122’ long Scud Launchers.
The reality is, Yemen had the largest rocket forces in the Middle East and more guns and weapons per Captia in the world, prior to the war.
American ammosexuals might have 158 gunzs.
Yemeni’s had 198 Kornet missiles.
98% of the Yemeni Armed Forces, 74% of the Internal Security Forces, came out for the Ansruallah Movement.
The “Houthis” have vid’s on line of soviet era t-34/85’s taking out Emrati Leapards, LeClercs and Sawdi M-1’s.
Amir Khalid
@Omnes Omnibus:
All of a sudden I fear for Bruce Springsteen, whose 70th birthday is next week.
Doug R
@namekarB:
I would inquire as to alibis for Conservative Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.
Jay
@Doug R:
Scheer was speaking to a Nazi rally today,
Kenney, the current con Priemier was busy criminalizing Trans National envoronmentalism.
Jay
@Doug R:
Kenney’s speech was something about Monarch Butterflies being illegal immigrants from Mexico,…….
Procopius
@Cheryl Rofer:
Yes, but as soon as he said that, Pompeo said they would not talk until Iran started behaving like “a normal country,” i.e. utterly surrender to American demands. That sounds like a precondition to me. On the othere hand, Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei has said they will not talk to the U.S. until sanctions are lifted. Meanwhile, it seems secret talks are going on, but we don’t know who, exactly, is involved. Trump’s reaction is ordinary American rage reaction. Just have to wait and see if he starts a war or not. If he does, Saudi and UAE oil fields are toast, as are all seaports in the region, and Riyadh. Since the UAE had already started talks with Iran Abu Dhabi might not be hit.
Redshift
@dww44:
He’s only been there for a couple of months, I think, or maybe a little more.
Redshift
@Millard Filmore:
It’s only “right to life” for innocent lives. That’s how they justify also during the death penalty, but conveniently, anyone they think deserves to die is by definition not innocent.
Procopius
@Adam L Silverman: That’s interesting. I remember that on 17 December, 2009, a submarine-launched BGM-109DTomahawk cruise missile, carrying BLU-97A/B cluster munitions, devastated the village of al Ma’jalah in Yemen. Now, in those days, Al Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula was a small fringe group. The al Ma’jalah attack helped them recruit. After that there were two or three attacks every month. They were counter-productive, and Al Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula became a serious force. According to sources like Moon of Alabama, the Saudis often use them in their war.
Robert Sneddon
@Whatever: The European Galileo positioning system is good to 1 metre accuracy unencrypted over most of the planet and the encrypted signal (accurate to about 3cm in perfect conditions) can be purchased off-the-shelf.
Patricia Kayden
@Yarrow: Yes, we already know that no matter what he does and how much he lies, Trump’s Deplorable supporters have his back. Thankfully that won’t be enough to re-elect him although it shows that he can continue to grift while he’s going down.
J R in WV
@Cameron:
I don’t think anyone ever suggested he was any part of the beginning of that attempt at genocide.
Bonesaw and the House of Saud appears to be the cause of that conflict. But he does appear to be willing to support the main source of death, the House of Saud, in the conflict.
Mart
Woody Allen liked the Orb too. (1973 – before we knew he was a creep.)