By the stage shown in the pics, I’m thinking that they DO believe in the nonsense.
Not American’s (at least not yet) but people are dying because of Trump.
He said he would go after civilians. He said that. Maybe just coincidence. But a little off the record nudge-nudge wink-wink loosening of rules? And Obama’s drone program was already more loosey goosey than I was remotely comfortable with. I dunno – I want to believe our armed services men and women have more character than that blustery amoral sack of wind they report to.
Also:
“Almost 1,000 civilian non-combatant deaths have already been alleged from coalition actions across Iraq and Syria in March — a record claim,” Airwars said in a statement. “These reported casualty levels are comparable with some of the worst periods of Russian activity in Syria.”
Trump, working hard to create ISIS 2.0
What? With his keen foreign and military policy acumen? Surely you jest?
Surely killing civilians en masse is just following in the footsteps of WMD Bush and Dronechief Obama? I’d expect Trump to lose less sleep over it, than the other two, though.
I really feel for those poor kids. They just don’t stand a chance.
I hate being in a position to defend Trump’s policies, but I doubt much has changed in the philosophy behind close air support for Iraqi/Kurd troops since Obama left office.
The casualties that we’re seeing now are probably simply a reflection of the type of combat that’s happening in and around a major urban area. In the last year or so most (but not all) of the fighting was in small towns and out in the open where the enemy could be bombed with minimal civilian “splash damage”. Now they’re fighting in a comparatively dense citiscape with plenty of civilians huddling in hidden cellars, apartments, warehouses, etc. The possibility of hitting such a site by accident (or worse, misidentifying one as a concentration of enemy soldiers) is a lot greater.
Might an Obama administration been more cautious or ordered a greater depth of scrutiny? Maybe. But I doubt that the Air Force officers over there are high-fiving each other right now.
L.O.L.
words/subtitles in movies take on a whole new meaning if you’re crazy I guess.
‘Map’ =semen and ‘sauce’ = orgy have been known code words since the Truman administration. These people are incredibly square.
It hasn’t currently. Everything I’ve seen about the Mosul casualties says it’s not a result of any change in doctrine. But there are indications that Trump and his people are trying to get more wiggle room for increased aggression and higher tolerance for collateral damage. They do seem to be pushing for a change in doctrine.
-Tom
So I’ve seen a lot of folks wonder when the House Republicans really break from the the White House. That has to happen before things really get turned up, heat-wise on Trump so far as things like investigations that might lead to impeachment go.
First tiny step was the AHCA debacle.
Much larger secondary step might be coming.
Tom Price won the seat in the Georgia 6th Congressional district 62-38 back in November. That’s the seat that once belonged to current Georgia senator Johnny Isakson. It also was the seat held by Newt Gingrich back in the day. The 6th is a district kind of in the Atlanta exurbs just north of the city. Fairly high median income, mostly white.
The Democratic candidate in the Georgia 6th in the last few election cycles has been able to raise about $10,000 or so on average. That’s not much.
Anyway, Tom Price is Donald Trump’s new Secretary of Health and Human Services, so they’re having a special election to fill his seat. Georgia does that run-off system, so the first election is April 18. Then the final two square off in June.
Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker and former congressional staffer is the leading Democrat there. He has raised $3 million for his campaign. He is not only leading the Democrats, but in recent polls he’s running neck and neck with all the potential Republican challengers.
And so even if Ossoff makes it close in the Georgia 6th in June, Republicans will get nervous and are going to start to distance from Trump. If Ossoff actually wins, look for fear to start settling in. And if an Ossoff win or close finish is backed up by a strong showing in the Virginia state-wides in November of 2017, look to House Republicans to recreate the bouncing boobs panic scene from Airplane on all things Trump
FAKE BOOBS, SAD!
That’s great to see. I hope the GOP pays dearly for years to come for the shit they’re putting us through right now.
How much of this AHCA failure was a break between Trump and the house GOP. I think it was more a straight example of how dysfunctional the house GOP is. Trump just wanted something passed to replace ACA. I doubt if he cared what it was.
However, the fact that he couldn’t bring the party together on this does emphasis how little control he actually has over the party.
Yes, this is totally the case. It’s not new, either. The far right wing of the party is a bunch of lunatics who do not know how to govern, and worse, don’t even WANT to govern. They are essentially spoiled children.
And the thing is, they are in districts which want exactly that kind of spoiled child interaction… so they are actually safe by pulling this kind of shenanigans. There is no reason for them to compromise or be reasonable.
In situations where the Democrats are 100% against a bill, factions like the liberty caucus become immensely powerful, because they are big enough to sideline anything. And the flip side is that the moderate wing of the GOP also becomes powerful in these situations, because they too are big enough to sideline any bill. And they are directly at odds
What this means is that in order to get shit done, the GOP may actually need to compromise enough to get some Democrats on their side. If that happens, then it basically robs the far right of all of their power.
But the problem with this is that the GOP has spent ages demonizing the Democrats, and the fringe right thinks that compromise is equivalent to surrender.
So, ya, they’re hosed.
That warms the cockles of my heart. What I can’t figure out is what the two of them have to do with each other. Brief Googling reveals he is married to somebody else and they haven’t acted together.
I’ll call that number just for the chance of getting somewhat near to Alyssa Milano…
Wait, did I type that out loud…?