The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Iran Warned Over Drop in Trump Polls

    By NCD on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 2:40pm |

    NYT today:

    WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran on Sunday that the United States could attack the country within its borders if leaders there take hostile actions against the President's interests in the aftermath of the drone strike that killed a top general.

    “I’ve been part of the discussion and planning process — everything I’ve seen about how we will respond with great force and great vigor if the Iranian leadership makes a bad decision,” Mr. Pompeo said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He declined to say whether he thought American casualties would help or hurt the President.

    Pompeo was reported to have said privately in an emergency meeting with Republicans that due to President Trump's purge and new appointments at the National Security Council, they are now tasked "110%"  on watching movement in Trump polls, and particularly, how deaths of Americans may be good or bad for the President's approval rating with his core base.  Sources in the White House said Trump's top aides are working with Mitch McConnell and the Trump 2020 campaign to develop media responses to reduce, and quickly reverse, any damage to the President's planning for his re-election.

    The President's latest shout out to his polarizing right wing media supporters, "Rush, Sean Hannity, Laura -- a lot of great people ". (Trump Friday), before an evangelical rally for Trump,  would be expected to back his usual method of escaping accountability for his actions by helping him in blaming Nancy Pelosi, the "impeachment scam" and Chuck Schumer if American blood is spilled.

    A spokesman for Pompeo said that "any Iranian attack that would impact" those re-election polls in a negative fashion for the President, would result in what President Trump threatened today:

    “Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.

     

    Comments

    We've had OceanKat - now we have Poll Kat. At first I thought this was Andy Borowitz. But why stop there - peg to profits and portfolio performance. Bear market = Bombs away. Looking Bullish = Peace in our time. Chamberlain shoulda had it so easy.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 3:31pm

    SAVING LIVES....? ?  Trump never saved anyone's life, not gonna start now.

    Don't know Borowitz, but I guess that Trump hates him.

    Breaking: Iran just withdrew from limits on nuclear enrichment.


    by NCD on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 3:38pm

    He's a comic.

    Meanwhile, Secretary of State Pompeo reassure Republican Americans, "“We are confident that the Iraqi people want the United States to continue to be there to fight the counterterror campaign even though they've told us to fuck off and may a thousand camels sodomize our children".

    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/05/mike-pompeo-iraq-iran-troops-09...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 3:55pm

    Re: Trump never saved anyone's life, not gonna start now.

    I was encouraged by the following story that many of the kids seem to get that. Not to mention that the home page editor over at the Military Times has a sense of irony now, here is how they have it posted, with this illustration (how times have changed!)

    Widespread fears of a new draft crashed the Selective Service website

    “Due to the spread of misinformation, our website is experiencing high traffic volumes at this time. If you are attempting to register or verify registration, please check back later today as we are working to resolve this issue. We appreciate your patience.”


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 4:15pm

    Is "extradition Canada" trending yet on Google?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 6:28pm

    Sam Donaldson thinks Trump is logical and does things like consult with this campaign advisors, HAH how clueless:

    I don’t think he’s wagging the dog now,” Donaldson said, of Trump. 

    “If you wag the dog you have to do it in early September, early October when the rally around the flag instinct is there for all Americans. You can’t wag it now, and then after several months of a dog bringing back body bags to this country and the people saying, ‘what are we doing this for,’ that won’t work,” the longtime political journalist added. 

     Said today on CNN's Reliable Sources according to TheHill.com. 


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 4:34pm

    from another piece at The Hill: thankfully Chuck gets it:

    “I will do everything I can to assert our authority. We do not need this president either bumbling or impulsively getting us into a major war,” Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

    “We need Congress to be a check on this president,” he said.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 4:47pm

    Old fuck. Why do they let useless bastards drone on and on? He was a cocky enough bastard 50 years ago.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 6:30pm

    YUGE!


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 4:52pm

    funning aside, definitely looks like it's all a no go:

    From this:

    Excerpt, there are charts @ the link

    [....] A September 2019 University of Maryland poll of a nationally representative sample of 3,016 respondents shows the trouble Trump faces with U.S. public opinion as the crisis with Iran escalates. There are three main takeaways: Three-quarters of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, say that war with Iran would be unwarranted; the public mostly blames the Trump administration for heightened tensions with Iran and disapproves of Trump’s Iran policy; and Americans are deeply divided in assessing Trump’s goals in Iran.

    Overwhelmingly, the U.S. public does not believe that U.S. interests warrant war with Iran. Only about one-fifth of respondents say that their country “should be prepared to go to war” to achieve its goals with Iran, while three-quarters say that U.S. goals do not warrant it. Among Republicans, only 34 percent say that war should be on the table to protect U.S. interests.

    Even more worrying for Trump, roughly half the poll was conducted before the Sept. 14 militant attacks on Saudi oil fields, which the United States pinned on Iran, and half was conducted after, providing an unusual window into public reaction. The attack had no impact on U.S. public attitudes, with three-quarters continuing to say the war option is unwarranted. And there’s reason to believe that the recent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and the killing of Suleimani would have the same result.

    An October University of Maryland poll probed four different possible explanations for the crisis with Iran: the nature of the Iranian regime; the war in Yemen; the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal; and the U.S. imposition of new sanctions on Iran, including on its oil exports. The importance of each was probed separately, after which respondents were asked to rank these factors. The least popular options were the war in Yemen, which 5 percent blamed, and the nature of the Iranian regime, which 22 percent blamed. A greater 69 percent fault Trump administration policy, either his decision to withdraw from the Iran deal (35 percent) or the imposition of new sanctions (34 percent). Notably, 60 percent of Republicans attributed the crisis to Trump administration actions [....]


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 5:06pm

    Thanks for the posts, interesting.

    But...who will tell the Führer..?  Mulvaney? ... O'Brien.?   Pence..?  Jared?


    by NCD on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 5:25pm

    really, all funning aside again, I was just thinking about the leakers in the NYTimes most recent piece, WTF, when is enough is enough, how bad does it have to get, when is someone going to stop that anonymous source shit and just go public?


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 5:46pm

    .....abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice.....

    Primo Levi 1947


    by NCD on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 6:12pm

    This

    reminded me of these recent leakers:

    Like Rick, I'm just sayin'.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 8:09pm

    here's an interesting quote for the collection:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 10:05pm

    Tomorrow he will have about 42% support, the same as for the last 18-21 months. Ironclad support. That's a problem.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 6:32pm

    True. Until the economy crashes they could care less.

    When it does, no one will admit they ever believed him or voted for him and it'll be Tea Party, new improved real Republicans, Act Two.


    by NCD on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 7:24pm

    Implausible deniability.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 7:50pm

    I see he's on a manic roll:

    Trump to reporters on AF1 contradicts Pompeo on Iran:

    “They’re allowed to kill our people? They’re allowed to torture and maim our people, they’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people? And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way”

    — Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) January 6, 2020

    (found via Col. Davis running for NC-11 making some threats of his own)

    Immediately before seeing that I was thinking: Iranians play chess, they might be thinking an October surprise more along the lines of hackers taking down a big part of our electrical grid, something like that....

    Good point from Chris Hayes:

    The President of the United States ran on a pro-war-crimes platform, explicitly. He likes war crimes and thinks they are good. He's been very clear about this.

    — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 6, 2020

    and NCD, you'll like this one:

    The evangelicals I'm talking to see the escalation of Iran as fulfillment of End Days prophecy, cementing their perception of Trump as a faulty messiah used by God. Many are bragging openly about their foresight in prepping, others are purchasing more weapons.

    — Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) January 5, 2020

    Edit to add, more bloviating from today from from the pool reporter:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 8:08pm

    Still, it very much seems all about "I'll show Obama how to do Iran" because so far it seems he gives a shit about 3 American killed by al Shabaab in Kenya, and surely they intended to kill a lot more.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 8:00pm

    Seems likely you're right. That for whatever mental  process it matters to him to convince himself that  he will be seen as doing something better than Obama.

    I suppose " envy". Is a good enough explanation. Sad. For him ,if one cares. I don't. But importantly terrible  for this country which despite many  important failures  still sometimes behaves  nobly and now, "for its sins," is tarred  with his inadequacy

     


    by Flavius on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 9:19pm

    Confirmation of our bias:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 12:14am

    Trump threatens Iraq:

    “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever,” Trump said on Air Force One. “It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”

    SANCTION AFRICA OVER SHANANA BOB..!


    by NCD on Sun, 01/05/2020 - 9:38pm

    Boris teams up with Angela & Manny!

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 11:05am

    Boris really pushing it now:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 12:10pm

    then there's Bibi:

    Those with a long term memory of events in the region will appreciate this on another level. https://t.co/f9gqm5EYcX

    — Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) January 6, 2020

    Edit to add:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 2:10pm

    Israel minding its own business? If only.

    Bibi's been cheering this on for years - wrap it around his fucking neck. Come to Republican Congress to give his speech? That sneaky shithead mitherfucker. May heblose a thousand elections.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 3:49pm

    GOP Tribalism: Note that Trump is now dividing the country further with what he bombs:

    -) GOP base -  It's OK to bomb raghead cultural sites cuz the Taliban and ISIS blow us up with IED's when we invade their countries and kill them.

    -) Real non-Trump cult Americans - No not OK. See Geneva Convention, international law - destroying cultural sites is a war crime, as with:

    (1) ISIS destroying ancient Roman site Palmyra in Syria,

    (2) ISIS blowing up Shiite mosques all over Syria and Iraq,

    (3) Taliban blowing up the giant Bamiyan stone Buddhas in Afghanistan.


    by NCD on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 7:32pm

    yes except I would call it Trump-style populist tribalism, not GOP tribalism. And I think it's an important distinction because the enemy are establisment elites of any and all parties (see Bannon and pals for further elaboration). So it follows that this type of populist secretly admire the technique of the Mullah Omar and ISIS types blowing up the treasures of the elites who care more about their precious artifacts than people. They were just upset, like Trump is now, that they can't use the same techniques, especially because they believe Great America could blow all that crap up mo and better! I.E. nuke it all!

    I always felt it important not to underestimate the bourgeois tastes in this country where new and shiny and clean is considered better than old and showing age and a patina. Aristocratic taste never really took hold here much at all. Americans have often had to be bullied into saving their historic artifacts. (And Trump, if by any means he acquired something 18th or 19th century, he made sure to regild it nice and shiny, make it like new!)


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 9:03pm

    P.S. I oddly got reminded about my thoughts on this after seeing this picture of Mar-a-Lago babes who probably like to claim they have careers as decorators:

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 9:16pm

    Or else his handlers can move around easier there.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 01/07/2020 - 12:37am

    toon:

    Day 1080: Very cool of Iran to spare the Tomb of the Unknown Hairline. #presidentfulldiaper #unfit #asteriskpresident #magaisformorons #thedailydon pic.twitter.com/BERd3SIVrE

    — TheDailyDon (@JRDuquette) January 7, 2020

     


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 10:43pm

    Yeah but the rich enslaver Confederate generals and politicians were the elite. Their bronze statues are sacred relics to the so-called populous Trump base.

    There's a undeniable racist basis to virtually every bombing, caging, immigration or dehumanizing action/ policy of the Trump administration. And Republicans, particularly evangelicals, love very bit of it. 


    by NCD on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 11:00pm

    Gen. McCaffrey: like bluster from an adolescent and wondering whether there are any grownup GOP in the Senate...


    by artappraiser on Mon, 01/06/2020 - 10:11pm

    TREASON! OFF WITH HIS HEAD?


    by artappraiser on Tue, 01/07/2020 - 2:21am

    Blame the administrative assistants?


    by artappraiser on Tue, 01/07/2020 - 2:23am

    Handled!

    (the tweeter is a WaPo reporter @ their Baghdad bureau.)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 01/09/2020 - 5:57am