Geoff > Status Update

I've often thought about how if I had been in a coma for a couple years and woke up to this, I'd be convinced that I was dead or dreaming, or had suffered severe brain damage.

Nils wrote: "I've often thought about how if I had been in a coma for a couple years and woke up to this, I'd be convinced that I was dead or dreaming, or had suffered severe brain damage."

Right? It seems so fucking unreal.

He stated before he got into office that he loved war. He is like the men you see in movies that want to take over the world.

You wouldn't believe what they can do with a meringue these days. This thing, we're talking, this meringue, it was 6, 7, 12 inches high, toasted, there was this, look, I'm hearing the creme brulee was the best, believe me, I know creme brulee, the finest there was, I didn't say it, but Xi said it was tremendous, tremendous. And the generals, they say to me, "we're locked and load--" this meringue, it's just the best, "we're locked and loaded." So we deploy the nuke on Iran because I told'em. Where are they now?

Ian wrote: "You wouldn't believe what they can do with a meringue these days. This thing, we're talking, this meringue, it was 6, 7, 12 inches high, toasted, there was this, look, I'm hearing the creme brulee ..."

This isn't even a great exaggeration. Sigh.

And because with President Camacho so many things happen in one day it's hard to keep track of the insanity, today he also privately signed a bill allowing states to withhold funds from organizations that provide abortions. G'bye Planned Parenthood in red states, it was nice knowing you. Get those back alley abortion techniques honed up quick folks! Also, regular gynecological stuff like cancer screenings? Fuck that!

If there's any good news, it's that I don't think Trump stands to gain any long-term support. He's alienating a part of his support base, he's causing fear/worry/concern to most others, and if he's trying to court any new supporters, people just don't trust him.

I think the real issue with the strike on the Syrian airfield is context. We know it's Trump. We know he's incompetent, we know he's acting impulsively without any sensible plan, we can see that he's trying to look strong and that really is a sign of weakness, and we know he wants to distract attention from other issues and scandals, so the distraction can't really be effective if it leads to greater suspicion of his motives. He's substituting one kind of negative attention for another.

He's tactless and foolish, and he came into this situation with enormous levels of distrust.

Another leader who had more trust and some degree of moral authority could perhaps justify the same act, especially if it was linked to a sensible strategy or it seemed to serve some humanitarian purpose such as forcing a negotiation for a ceasefire, or to remove all chemical weapons from the battlefield.

Dropping a big-ass bomb on Afghanistan suddenly, now, is bound to just make everyone say WTF. Whatever political motives are behind this, I don't think it can work out to his benefit.

He miscalculated because he really doesn't know how little support he has at the moment, and how difficult it will be to try to win new support from those he's alienated for so long.

At least that's how I see it. I could be wrong. I hope I'm not. (It is risky to underestimate the stupidity and pliability of the masses.)

I'm just wondering what books to haul down to the shelter. Things are looking pretty fucking grim.

It's at times like these that we can only hope to find succor in music/books/etc.

"Wake me when the conflict's over/My aim is a peaceful life"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7uIL...

Geoff wrote: "The bomb was almost the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima..."

Also, I don't want to be an apologist for this at all but just a correction in terms of scale. Let's not mix up tons and kilotons. The Hiroshima bomb had a blast yield equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. This bomb had a blast yield of 11 tons. So Hiroshima was approximately 1,500 times this... Nagasaki was 2,000 times this bomb... And most modern nuclear weapons are on the order of 50,000-100,000 times the yield of this bomb.

Zadignose wrote: "Geoff wrote: "The bomb was almost the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima..."

Also, I don't want to be an apologist for this at all but just a correction in terms of scale. Let's not mix up tons ..."

Okay yeah my mistake - I swear I read different numbers earlier but I guess I was wrong - anyway, the Mother of All Bombs ain't even as big as Russia's Father of All Bombs (both really what they are called, because you know everything military also has to be weirdly psychologically gendered and sexualized too... Just call me Tyrone Slothrop)

Geoff wrote: because you know everything military also has to be weirdly psychologically gendered and sexualized too... Just call me Tyrone Slothrop) "

This reminds me of what Milan Kundera wrote in Identity.

The word 'life' is a king of words. The King-word surrounded by other grand words. The word 'adventure'! The word 'future'! And the word 'hope'! By the way, do you know the code name for the atom bomb they dropped on Hiroshima? 'Little Boy'! That's a genius, the fellow who invented that code! They couldn't have dreamed up a better name. Little boy, kid, tyke, tot - there's no word that's more tender, more touching, more loaded with future."

It's pretty much the whole basis of Dr. Strangelove

Cody wrote: "I'm just wondering what books to haul down to the shelter. Things are looking pretty fucking grim."

Hey, we're thinking positive - we're booked to visit Seoul in late May. Like, if the apocalypse is about to happen, why not get a front-row seat?

I wouldn't come within a thousand miles of North Korea while Trump is president.

Ted wrote: "I wouldn't come within a thousand miles of North Korea while Trump is president."

According to Google Maps, we'll be within about twenty miles of it. This either makes us fifty times braver or fifty times stupider... not very sure which :)

At least we've got 28,500 U.S. troops on the ground ready to catch the first missiles. I'll stand behind those guys.

(That's 28,500 that are happy at least not to be in Afghanistan.)

Zadignose wrote: "At least we've got 28,500 U.S. troops on the ground ready to catch the first missiles. I'll stand behind those guys."

They will be the first to fly.

You know, it's safer to bomb from the skies.

Ted wrote: "I wouldn't come within a thousand miles of North Korea while Trump is president."

Bit tough on Japan if there's nuclear fallout...

Miriam wrote: "Ted wrote: "I wouldn't come within a thousand miles of North Korea while Trump is president."

Bit tough on Japan if there's nuclear fallout..."

Nuclear fallout isn't really dangerous. That was just invented by the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.

Funny, seems the Chinese don't want to be within a thousand miles of North Korea this week, either. Kind of disproves Manny's theory, when you think about it.

Mike wrote: "Funny, seems the Chinese don't want to be within a thousand miles of North Korea this week, either. Kind of disproves Manny's theory, when you think about it."

Now you mention it, this idea doesn't seem to be entirely mainstream. I must try to be less trusting of information I get from Breitbart, but damn, they make it all sound so convincing!

I suppose Obama may not be a gay Muslim drug dealer of Kenyan origin either. I'm having to readjust my entire world-view.

Maybe you can find some honest news in Seoul.

We won't be there until the last week of May. Not, who will be part of the commentary team at an international bridge tournament, mailed one of the organisers to ask how worried we should be, but uncharacteristically received no answer. Maybe no news is good news.

Maybe the person she emailed has been detained somewhere.

In the DPRK I'd be worrying that he'd been convicted of using a counterrevolutionary bidding system, but this is South Korea...

BBC is saying Ominous things about Korea and if China gets dragged into a shooting war it is pretty much game over everywhere on the planet.

You know things are bad when you find yourself agreeing with Ann Coulter. As she said earlier this week, Trump got elected on promises of keeping the US out of further pointless wars. Maybe his base should be a little more vocal about reminding him of that.

Danger of war on easter weekend and tax day in the US.

Manny wrote: "Ted wrote: "I wouldn't come within a thousand miles of North Korea while Trump is president."

According to Google Maps, we'll be within about twenty miles of it. This either makes us fifty times b..."

Well I certainly hope it turns out to be "braver" Manny. 8 )

Miriam wrote: "Ted wrote: "I wouldn't come within a thousand miles of North Korea while Trump is president."

Bit tough on Japan if there's nuclear fallout..."

Indeed. Seriously I have too frequent thoughts of our president doing something to show how tough he is, and his opposite number in N. Korea responding by showing how crazy he is - like lobbing a nuke onto Seoul, or even Tokyo.

I feel somewhat confident that Trump would be persuaded by military advisors to consider that possibility, and to proceed very cautiously with N. Korea. It's a very difficult situation, which hopefully the Chinese can help steer onto some sort of less dangerous path.

Ok...so what is happening in "Trump-world" this week?!?! Have we survived the apocolypse? Are we the only country left?

BBC NEWS "We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war," said Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be North Korea's second most powerful official.
"We are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks," he said.

I suppose spy agencies around the world are tracking the White House kitchen's activities to see if they're baking more chocolate cake. A lot of comic potential here when they make the movie.

Just so people are on the same page about the dangers here is a BBC video that might be of some import. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuPOT...

I no longer feel anything but contempt for Donald Trump, and I would rather die in a nuclear holocaust than change my travel plans to accommodate his pathetic ego. I'm sure this whole thing is just another artificial crisis whose real point is to divert attention from his links with Putin. The guys investigating them are now pretty close to connecting the dots.

I look at it this way. As far as the ship of state or state of the world goes. I have a paddle I can stick out of the porthole and use my exertions to maybe change the course of this ocean liner in a hurricane a centimeter or two. One can give up and or one can paddle. Whatever one does it will have a limited effect on the outcome. Do what you think you should.

Manny wrote: "I no longer feel anything but contempt for Donald Trump, and I would rather die in a nuclear holocaust than change my travel plans to accommodate his pathetic ego. I'm sure this whole thing is just..."

I think the same thing. He is causing an uproar so we will forget about his ties with Russia, and he began with the Syrian attack, and now Putin and he are on the outs, so see, he says, I don't like Putin.

Make no mistake I had contempt for Trump when he came onto my radar in the 1980s I haven't changed that assessment. I am alarmed that half the US doesn't share this contempt and put him in office.

Or maybe they share my contempt but would rather elect him because he is a Republican and being a Republican or conservative is an identity and you vote your brand come hell or high water.

I do not believe that this so-called crisis is more than smoke and mirrors. We're at the stage in the Agatha Christie where Poirot is getting close and the killer is starting to eliminate more people to cover his tracks.

How anyone can take this clown seriously is just beyond me. He's a liar, a fraud, a thief, a traitor and now a mass murderer. And he's turning the US into a global laughingstock.

Manny wrote: "I do not believe that this so-called crisis is more than smoke and mirrors. We're at the stage in the Agatha Christie where Poirot is getting close and the killer is starting to eliminate more peop..."

I agree. In terms of the Russia angle, I think it's very convenient for both the Trump administration and the Kremlin that they suddenly seem to be at odds. Trump offers some harsh rhetoric, the Kremlin responds in kind, and they treat Tillerson rudely when he arrives in Moscow. How difficult is this to stage? Then Spicer is ready with his line- that just a week ago you were accusing us of collusion with Russia, and now our SoS can't even get a meeting with Putin!

I swear, sometimes I think some of you guys won't be satisfied until Trump nukes Moscow.

Niklas wrote: "I swear, sometimes I think some of you guys won't be satisfied until Trump nukes Moscow."

No one's asking for nukes. Obama never did more than apply sanctions when Russia blatantly violated the integrity of a sovereign state and then say some harsh things. I don't recall anyone claiming he was in bed with Putin.

Niklas wrote: "I swear, sometimes I think some of you guys won't be satisfied until Trump nukes Moscow."

No one wants that, obviously. But are we going to be so easy that we immediately forget the months of investigations and circumstantial evidence simply because Trump made a public show of wagging his finger at the Russians?

What will happen when Kushner is forced to resign for not having disclosed his meetings with Russians as part of his security clearance process?

Hopes for near future: Bannon goes first and turns his whole army of nuts against Kushner and Trump, Spicer breaks down and resigns/gets dumped, all distractions fail and Trump's image takes a beating when he realizes he's painted himself into another corner--he will be blamed for either taking action in North Korea or for NOT taking action after bluff and bluster--no budget extention gets passed by congress and there's a shutdown, Trump's support falls to the 1 or 2% range (okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, let's aim for 17%), then Page and Flynn finally get arrested and turn evidence, Kushner's security clearance is revoked, Trump is virtually without a team, Congress realizes that the only way to cover for their own corruption and ineptitude is to put the blame elsewhere, they finally achieve the "unity" they've dreamed of by uniting against a common enemy, the president, and impeachment proceedings begin.

Oh, by the way, knock wood, I'm thankful at least that so far Trump has been too busy to try to directly provoke Iran.

Zadignose wrote: "What will happen when Kushner is forced to resign for not having disclosed his meetings with Russians as part of his security clearance process?

Hopes for near future: Bannon goes first and turns..."

from your lips to god's ears.

I don't wish us to nuke anyone. If Spicer gets kicked out, SNL will lose a very funny skit. I hope I get tired of that skit before he gets kicked out.

Zadignose wrote: "What will happen when Kushner is forced to resign for not having disclosed his meetings with Russians as part of his security clearance process?

Hopes for near future: Bannon goes first and turns..."

Does everyone in the audience who believes in fairies have to clap their hands?