Trump

[Puja]

At least the orange one has confirmed when he said they'd shoot children throwing rocks he meant arrest. Though he did also say they'd be arrested a very long time, whether he means arrested, prosecuted and sentenced for a long time or actually held without charges being brought remains unclear. And of course what Trump considers a long time is perhaps open to wild speculation and too a movable feast

I would add on a personal level if you walk up to an armed force and throw rocks at them I don't have much sympathy if they shoot you, essentially don't poke bears

The yanks once used an AC130 gunship to defuse a riot in Iraq, so anything is possible.

There is potential here for a real disaster, but hopefully the commander will have some common sense.

Then again....

Will Trump not have had an influence on the choice of commander?

Puja

[Sandydragon]

At least the orange one has confirmed when he said they'd shoot children throwing rocks he meant arrest. Though he did also say they'd be arrested a very long time, whether he means arrested, prosecuted and sentenced for a long time or actually held without charges being brought remains unclear. And of course what Trump considers a long time is perhaps open to wild speculation and too a movable feast

I would add on a personal level if you walk up to an armed force and throw rocks at them I don't have much sympathy if they shoot you, essentially don't poke bears

The yanks once used an AC130 gunship to defuse a riot in Iraq, so anything is possible.

There is potential here for a real disaster, but hopefully the commander will have some common sense.

Then again....

Will Trump not have had an influence on the choice of commander?

Puja

Probably not actually. He will tell the secretary of defence what he wants done and the pentagon will assign a unit. Trump might try and push for a particular commander but I suspect they will assign a brigade with tha command chain in place already.

The greater influence will be the direction he gives to the commanders, but even then they are constrained by their rules of engagement, which admittedly allow for a fair amount of latitude but legally the soldiers on the ground have to follow them even if trump is both ignorant and pushing for harsh measures.

[paddy no 11]

Looks like total polarisation is the way to get a good voter turnout anyway

Will the increase 18-29 demographic favour the Dems?

[Digby]

Any increase is likely to favour the Dems, so yes

[paddy no 11]

That'd be the theory alright but is it going to materialise that way..............strange times

[Digby]

That I can't possibly judge, it makes no sense to me to even consider voting Trump, but clearly people keep doing it

[Puja]

That I can't possibly judge, it makes no sense to me to even consider voting Trump, but clearly people keep doing it

Because the alternative would apparently instantly turn your state into Venezuela.

Puja

[Digby]

Granted the Senate seats up for grabs made the upper house a harder target for the Dems to win back, nonetheless this result nicely sums up the mess

[Which Tyler]

I see Nevada managed to elect a dead guy...

Red, dead and redeemed

[paddy no 11]

Win win for trump, unless they get something big or he does something majorly wrong (seems impossible given the state of things) he's going to be returned in 2 years time, going to be ugly

[Digby]

That I can't possibly judge, it makes no sense to me to even consider voting Trump, but clearly people keep doing it

Because the alternative would apparently instantly turn your state into Venezuela.

Puja

I can't imagine Trump would try to get his hands on gold reserves belonging to the nation without satisfying he wasn't merely looking to flog it for personal enrichment

Also Trump wouldn't ignore he's legally not allowed to do something without the agreement of say congress just because he disagreed with the electorate voting for people not in his party

Say what you like of Trump but he's a man of high moral standards, probably the greatest most highest morals ever

[WaspInWales]

Pretty pleased with how things panned out. It was always going to be tough for the Dems to win the Senate, but winning control of the House is a great result, and as Pelosi said, it's about restoring checks and balances on Trump and his administration.

Bit surprised by the news that Trump has forced the resignation of Sessions. It seems he is shitting it about the prospect of impeachment, and possibly the Dems looking into his business practices, finances and tax returns. Could Trump be about to pull the plug on the Mueller investigation too?

If he was going to do that, surely the best time would be before the Dems had control...although, there's then the risk of losing voters.

He is looking on thin ice at the moment.

[Digby]

Having wondered if one might feel sorry for Jeff Sessions in the event he was forced out I find the answer is no. Sessions is a poor excuse of a man

[Digby]

And another day another shooting, this time at a bar in California. I've not seen any reports of fatalities, yet

Accounts suggest an attack was made using smoke grenades and a gun, obviously if people had been there to return fire across a crowded smoke filled bar this could likely have been averted

[Stones of granite]

And another day another shooting, this time at a bar in California. I've not seen any reports of fatalities, yet

Accounts suggest an attack was made using smoke grenades and a gun, obviously if people had been there to return fire across a crowded smoke filled bar this could likely have been averted

Obviously, the problem was that California has just about the most restrictive firearms laws in the US, so there was unlikely to be anyone else in the bar who was armed.
Obviously....

[Digby]

And another day another shooting, this time at a bar in California. I've not seen any reports of fatalities, yet

Accounts suggest an attack was made using smoke grenades and a gun, obviously if people had been there to return fire across a crowded smoke filled bar this could likely have been averted

Obviously, the problem was that California has just about the most restrictive firearms laws in the US, so there was unlikely to be anyone else in the bar who was armed.
Obviously....

Hard to know at this stage if decent people were the targets. It's California which suggests Dems, but a country music event which suggests republicans

Either way more guns are needed

[Digby]

The man is on a mission to get so much wrong it's impossible to take it all in, there is indeed a horse loose in the hospital

[Digby]

Trump forgets Hindus from a list of those celebrating devali

[Puja]

And confuses Baltic nations with Balkans, confusing the shit out of the Estonian and Lithuanian leaders when he made comments about their wars in the 1990s.

Puja

[Digby]

And confuses Baltic nations with Balkans, confusing the shit out of the Estonian and Lithuanian leaders when he made comments about their wars in the 1990s.

Puja

He'd have been okay if he knew where his wife was from

[Puja]

And confuses Baltic nations with Balkans, confusing the shit out of the Estonian and Lithuanian leaders when he made comments about their wars in the 1990s.

Puja

He'd have been okay if he knew where his wife was from

I think his wife stopped speaking to him many years ago and he stopped listening to her a long time before that.

Puja

[Digby]

Over a thousand missing in California isn't the obvious starting point for comedy, but Fins getting busy taking photos with rakes and even vacuum cleaners in forests has I confess had me chortling

How anyone is taking the odious bastard seriously is less a cause for good humour

[Digby]

Lock her up, lock her up...

That said kudos to Trump for being behind the bipartisan move to give some wider discretion to judges on the three strikes and out sentencing nonsense. It seems an obvious move but it's only happening, perhaps, under Trump

[Mikey Brown]

Wow. His statement on Khashoggi/Saudi is insane.

[WaspInWales]

Wow. His statement on Khashoggi/Saudi is insane.

Yep, those were the ramblings of a man who considers himself a genius, a stable one at that.

However, is the decision any surprise?

Had this happened under Obama's watch, would anyone expect ties to be cut? Considering the wealth the Saudis supply to the US, I'm sure they could get away with, erm...murder. Hmm perhaps a better metaphor is needed in this case.

The UK were pissed and decided to withdraw a few people from a convention, but will we be cancelling defence contracts?