China’s Play

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China has always tried to play us on North Korea, distract us from their own massive military buildup, trade war and South China Sea aggression. Working better than ever for them these days. Maybe they’re realizing it’s worked too well for their own good.

  • CNN: “China may be getting fed up with continued nuclear bluster from long-time ally North Korea and tilting toward the United States.”
  • The Guardian: North Korea “regime has ‘disrespected China’, says Donald Trump”
  • Reuters: The missile test “came as the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group arrived in waters near the Korean peninsula, where it will join the USS Michigan, a guided missile submarine that docked in South Korea on Tuesday.”
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79 thoughts on “China’s Play”

  2. d.c is not the only place where one finds snakes in the grass. for your Saturday morning entertainment here’s a portion of

    Carl Hiaasen
    You never want to hear: ‘Just hold still, and we’ll pry the jaws off.’
    Wildlife officials in Florida are now offering free T-shirts and raffle prizes for anyone who catches a Burmese python.

    The new “Python Pickup” program may be viewed either as whimsical desperation, or state government merely trying to make the best of a hopeless situation.

    Any serious snake expert will tell you the big constrictors are here to stay. Uncountable thousands are slithering across South Florida, reproducing constantly and in boggling numbers.

    At the current pace of infestation, it probably won’t be long before a python shows up on the croquet lawn at Mar-a-Lago. The Secret Service should scope out the instructional video provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

    This is no joke. The title is “Safe Capture of Burmese Pythons,”

    It’s highly entertaining, even if you’ve got no intention of placing yourself within 500 yards of a live python.

    Consider this gem of low-key advice in Step Two, which describes the proper way to pin and secure a large snake’s head: “You have to be quick to do this. Try not to hesitate.”

    Seriously. And there’s more: “Working at ground level helps prevent the python from wrapping around your face, neck and chest, all of which you don’t want.”

    Nobody can say the FWC doesn’t have a sense of humor.

  3. Patd

    That is right up there with the instructions to Australians on how to capture and turn in Sydney Funnel Web spiders for milking.  Maybe we could import them for Mar A Lago

  4. Apparently the natural predators for Burmese pythons are alligators & prolonged cold snaps. Two things tourism boards pray for.

    Anyone remember Anne Murray’s version of Snowbird?

    Spread your tiny wings and fly away ….

     

     

  5. what’s a python but a big inch worm….bigly big

    “Glow Worm” with Kermit the Frog on The Dick Cavett Show (1971)

  6. the assumption is these pythons come from dumbos who had them as pets until they got too big to handle, so they released them. We never heard of them when I was growing up, a recent phenomenon, last 25 years or so.

  7. I agree with Sturg…  Is lil’ Kim crazy…   I don’t know.  But I do think he’s drunk on power.  So he has a choice.  Do nothing and stay in power….   do something stupid and he and everyone he knows gets vaporized.  IMO, he’ll choose option no 1…  posturing and doing nothing.  And he’ll keep on doing it as long as China tolerates it.

    BTW Craig…  I didn’t see anyone here call you a name.  I did see some who disagreed with your opinion….   so…

  8. Frankly I’m fed up with being called a racist and/or misogynist for suggesting how progressives could actually win elections instead of talking to themselves, so I’ll just shut up now and hope for the best. [fearless leader]

    like flatus said, “Craig, if I am one who has offended, I apologize”…. it’s just not easy being of the female kind to hear again and again how white men are being abused by dems.

    wouldn’t you start to question the bias of a fellow trail mixer who continuously complains about dems being too partial to gays, dumb dems ignoring all the suffering heteros, and then mighten you perhaps react in an unkindly way towards him?

    again, please forgive me for my own bias and if, by it, it caused hurt and discomfort.

    as sturge noted “CC…….good that chu got opinions……..I got opinions too……a difference is, that you got an actual platform.” therefore imho you have more clout and influence to motivate or to harm. 

  9. no offense taken from here, all. it comes from parlor debates I’ve been into with dems, conversations that never end productively. which is frustrating, anytime I get into this discussion. gives me a sense of what bill c went thru last year, failing to get a campaign focus on white working class folks. That’s why I’m just gonna quit getting into it, and hope I’m wrong.

  10. Bill Maher grilled E. Warren last night on voters rejecting Dems: “this is the disconnect I’m talking about. They’re with you on the issues, but they vote for him. So what is that problem?”

    I liked her response, certainly would need to be the first step:

    “I think Donald Trump tapped into a real anger in America. People are angry, and let’s face it: they are right to be angry,” said Warren, later admitting, “The first step is: our side has to acknowledge the anger, and has to say, yeah, people are angry and they have a right to be angry.”

  12. This morning someone quoted Trump as saying that he would be paying more taxes under his proposed tax plan than the current plan. SHOW ME THE PROOF

  13. Flatus, he’s all but said that in his new book and interviews. Still, he sure looks like he’s setting up a primary challenge to Trump on a “take back the party” theme. So does Graham. They’d split many of the same voters, so they might want to draw straws.

  16. “…Trump as saying that he would be paying more taxes under his proposed tax plan than the current plan.”

    flatus, easy if he doesn’t pay any to begin with most years.  he admitted not paying taxes and was proud of it during one of the interminable campaign debates when hit with a question about a known/reported year he didn’t pay..

  18. from today’s   bbc:
    European Union leaders have unanimously agreed the negotiating guidelines for Brexit talks with UK.
    European Council President Donald Tusk, chairing the talks in Brussels, tweeted that the “firm and fair political mandate” for the talks was ready.

    The 27 leaders – UK PM Theresa May was not present – approved within a minute the guidelines first issued on 31 March by Mr Tusk.

    Talks with the UK will begin after the general election on 8 June.

    The deadline for completing the negotiations is 29 March 2019.

    EU officials said leaders burst into applause as the negotiating stance was waved through.

    The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said: “We are ready… we are together.”

    […..]

    Reports say Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Enda Kenny will also ask his EU partners to back the idea of Northern Ireland automatically joining the EU if the province’s people vote to unite with the Republic.

    UK Brexit Secretary David Davis has said that in the event of such a vote, Northern Ireland could become “part of an existing EU member state”.

  19. At least Warren seems to understand.

    This is what I posted two days ago.

    “* The high numbers aren’t necessarily a reflection of their adoration of Trump,  but of their disdain for Congress/past administrations and the negative impact they’ve had on their lives.”

  20. Being prez is hard. Now, he knows.  If he makes it through this term, I doubt he’d run for a second term.  It would be much easier for him to say what a magnificent job he did in his first term, how much folks wanted him for a second term, but that he was going to focus on his grandkids or something.

    Dems (and Indies) still have to find a way to win elections, though. If they don’t understand what Donald, Bernie, and, Jill do, the outcome will not be in their favor.

  21. Saturday morning and all is less than good in the world.  I could go on about a failed presidency.  Or about a House so desperate to govern far right it cannot govern at all.  Or about how an idiot is on the brink of WWIII.  All that has been done enough to leave little more than brown stains on the bottoms of shoes.

    I think the republicans bought out by the Soviets (russians) is the main thread in all of what is common today.  The hope of a Russia, democratically governed is no longer around.  It is a dictatorship again.  But a powerful dictator with the full apparatus of spies and agents provocateur.  The military is still in rebuild mode, but powerful enough to hold its own against the U.S.

    The death of America is possible unless the Republicans and Democrats get organizing to drive the russians out.  So far it looks like the entire WH, including the vp, and much of the republican party.  Even in Montana there is the Putin influence.

  22. This is part of an analysis from CNN on Trump’s presidency so far.  The last sentence says it all.
    “He wanted to win. He didn’t want to do this,” this person said, referring to the task of governing.
    Another person close to Trump portrayed a tight inner circle of top aides gripped by paranoia to the point that “if one of them goes into that office alone, the other one is there within two minutes” to make sure their voice is heard.
    The presidency poses profound challenges for the 70-year-old Trump, who owes much of his success in business and last year’s campaign to a savvy ability to cultivate a favorable persona. Now that he’s in the White House, the problem, many sources said, is that Trump is so concerned about an image he can’t control and staffers are so anxious about their standing with him that the administration easily slides into dysfunction.

  23. bb:  yep, unfortunately you’re right.  all the tweet twists and turns, the breathless 100 days boasts, even maybe the horse race of gov’t shutdown keep eyes off the real problem…. putin puppets are in power

  24. Exciting day at TM HQ. Our Pottery Barn couch arrived, a hand-me-down from cousin Carolyn, altho almost new. Wasn’t easy giving up the old TV couch we had for some 25 years. But it was an eyesore, covered with black masking tape I had used for its torn-up hide. David has been trying to get me to let it go for several years. Like pets, it’s so tough to say goodbye to your favorite couch.

  26. craig, look at it this way you put it out of its misery…. old age odor shedding, incontinent, creaking in pain, hard to keep carrying the load.

    btw, how were the $5 steaks?


  28. Published on Apr 28, 2017

    Tallying the accomplishments of Donald Trump, the candidate who promised so much.

  29. only a bit of gristle, PatD, but a not a problem at $5 each. And more marbleized than usual NY strips, but that’s an advantage — Fat means Flavor

    I think the ottoman might be wide enough for two cozy pairs of feet, dvitale. we’ve haven’t tested that yet

  30. Craig – your old couch description instantly brought the picture of Frasier Crane’s father, Martin, and his Laz-E-Boy recliner.  Well patched with duct tape.

  31. Poobah, I frankly can’t imagine how anyone would consider your comments that Dems can’t ignore the white vote as racist.  That concept makes zero sense to me.

    As for messengers – I can’t see Bernie being it – he tried, he gathered a large following, but when the votes were counted he failed.  And from the point of view of a dem voter, I buy parts of his message but I don’t see him as the right messenger, particularly 4 more years down the road.  I also don’t think Warren is the answer.  Again, I like parts of her message, but she ain’t going to appeal to the flyover and rust belt white voters that dems will need to peel off the repug side if they want to retake the WH. She might get some of the white woman’s vote Hillary didn’t get, but I’m very skeptical that a Harvard prof will have that appeal.

  33. Pogo, as usual I accept your wisdom as fact.

    IMO Bernie failed the character/leadership/followership tests once it became evident that Clinton would be  nominated.

    Elizabeth had a strong message. But, to my overly sensitive ears, I heard her saying ‘if you don’t totally agree with me, I reject you as a human being’.

  34. I am liking Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA 28th) more and more.  He will be 60 in 2020, which I think is a good age for a president.  Experienced but not into senility, yes there are some who are off at that age but Most of us are not.

  35. We are now a week away from the annual mounting of the Trailmix Ponies.  The field has now been narrowed to the final 26 horses of which 20 will run.  This years crop seems unusually healthy and wealthy so you may not see the bottom six until the Preakness or the Belmont.

    Place your bets.  Post position draw will be next Wednesday morning so now until Tuesday is the time to speak your piece.

     

  39. People are angry…..what does that even mean.

    If they are angry because they think govt is fubar   they should be angry at the goopers

    is it just free floating anger…are they all angry at the same thing?

    I’m angry and I’m angry because people are proudly stupid  who is going to do something about that if you can’t point out when people are stupid –because it’s their right

  40. Jamie

    Fast and Accurate for me.

    If you haven’t picked a horse from our Trailmix bookie   –it as always is fun and makes watching the race a lot more fun too.  Thanks to Jamie for taking us to the track

  41. “People are angry…..what does that even mean.”

    crackers – It would serve Dems & Indies well to ask that question, understand that anger, and, address the anger-inducing  problems.  It’s not free-floating anger.   The system used to work for some people; it no longer works and Trump was the equivalent of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks or not.   It seems that the verdict is still out for his base, as to his stickiness.

  42. BID

    What  does the system doesn’t work mean?   For a lot of people the system has never worked in any way
    It sounds to me like people are saying only certain groups (white people) have the right to be angry.

  46. interview with a trump voter –“He’s gotten a lot done.  A lot of legislation through Congress…”

    Really?  And the reporter doing the interview asked no follow-up.  Stupid

  47. remember the ky clerk who wouldn’t issue marriage licenses to same sex couples?  well, meet her soulmate in conscience the ky judge who has a thing about them adopting.  from courier journal:

    Judge says he won’t hear gay adoptions because it could never be in child’s best interest

    Echoing the case of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who wouldn’t issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, a family court judge who sits in Barren and Metcalfe counties has announced he will no longer hear adoption cases involving “homosexual parties” because he believes allowing a gay person to adopt could never be in the child’s best interest.

    Judge W. Mitchell Nance, who starts court each day by requiring everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, said in an order this week that he would recuse himself from all adoptions involving gay people.

    Nance cited a judicial ethics rule that says a judge must disqualify himself when he has a personal bias or prejudice.

    In an order issued Thursday, he said “as a matter of conscience” he believes that “under no circumstance” would “the best interest of the child be promoted by the adoption by a practicing homosexual.” Kentucky state law allows gay couples to adopt, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that all states must permit same-sex marriage.

    Experts on judicial ethics say judges do have a duty to disqualify themselves from cases in which they are biased, 

    Dan Canon, a Louisville lawyer who helped win the right of same-sex marriage in Kentucky, said: “The bottom line is if this judge can’t fulfill his duties because of his personal biases, he should resign.” Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign, said, “If he can’t do the job, he shouldn’t have the job.” 

    Some experts said Nance may be violating other rules in issuing a blanket refusal to hear such cases.

    “He has taken an oath to uphold the law, which by virtue of the equal protection clause does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation,” said Charles Geyl, an Indiana University law school professor whose research specializes in judicial ethics. “If he is unable to set his personal views aside and uphold the law — not just in an isolated case, but with respect to an entire class of litigant because he finds them odious — it leads me to wonder whether he is able to honor his oath.”

     

    just watch mike huckabee and ted cruz will be singing his praises and putting on a rally on his behalf

  49. KGC – I agree.  There’s no reason for the Dems to be supporting pro-lifers, almost 70% of America is pro-life.  They’re going to have to stand out against John Kasich – cause I really think he’s gearing up for 2016.

  50. dv & kgc, there are dems like tim kaine and joe biden who personally as a matter of religion/conscience don’t believe abortion is right but who are pro-choice.  same as there are judges and governors who have had to uphold/decree the death penalty even though  they personally are against it.   supporting such believers depends to me on whether or not they are willing to follow the law and to respect the rights of others.

  51. Pat, I absolutely agree.  I wasn’t clear enough on my post – but you put it into great context.  Thanks!

  52. Yes, BB, I’m also impressed by Schiff–comes across as a rational team player.

    I wonder at what age younger people (20s-60s) realize that some older people can and will share relevant life experiences that can give them a serious leg-up against their competition? Or, simply make them happier and more effective in their chosen life work.

  53. crackers – Nobody said anything about any group having a right to be angry when others have had it worse, for a longer time.  You are projecting.

     

    That is the exact attitude that, if held by the Dems, will not serve them in coming elections.   It caused them to fail to understand the popularity of Bernie among millennial during the primaries, and, it caused them to dismiss Trump’s support in areas where the system stopped serving those folks.

    Pointing fingers and labeling people who don’t agree with you, or, who just have drastically different life experiences will not win elections for the Dems.  They, and the media, were condescending to Bernie’s supporters, Stein’s supporters, Trump’s supporters; they should’ve listened.

     

  54. My old running mate has penned a murder mystery:

    Buck is a gypsy horseman/Pianist who splits his year with summers on Mackinac Island and winters in Hobbs, NM where he writes a column in the Hobbs newspaper, called “Tales from the Buck-Board”.

  56. The candidate in question Mello when in the state legislature supported anti-choice legislation and may have authored some

  57. Katherine, you have it right. You and your date are too far from Central Park, but you can motor down to the shady area at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Afterwards, have a fine breakfast on the Pier.

  59. Somehow the whole idea of May Day (International Workers Day) and Loyalty Day indicates another humongous level of ignorance from our so called President.

     

  61. KGC – so what now – we’re celebrating May Day as loyalty day?  I’m waiting for the official “loyalty arm band” that’ll be so cool.  I wonder what color “T” will be on it?

  63. BID

    Just sayin’ a common thought is the Democrats lost because they lost white rust belt voters the question is why — what message did Pussy Grabber consistently send — one of racism.  The evidence is in – his voters were motivated by racism.   What could Democrats have said that would have made a difference

  64. Why did millions vote for someone other than Clinton or  Trump?   Folks  looking for someone who understood them, or, someone who at least spoke to them in away that made them feel heard.

  65. Pogo: “Poobah, I frankly can’t imagine how anyone would consider your comments that Dems can’t ignore the white vote as racist.”

    I’m telling you friend, you can’t begin to imagine the narrow mindset out there. Utterly self-defeating, no matter how many elections lost.

  66. Flatus – the generation issue is becoming more important.  My grand-parents were worn out and barely functioning at age 65.  They looked old and were old.  Many of my older friends are in their upper fifties and into their upper 60’s and they do not look or act it.  There have been a handful who looked old and acted old, but they are the minority now.

    When I was 65 people guessed my age as early to mid-40’s.  Young people and old, did that.  My friend and co-worker just went through throat cancer.  He is 69.  He does not look it or act it.  Post radiation he is returning to his former look, somewhere in his late 50’s.

    Where this is a problem is in the employment world.  In the pre-computer era, when America was rebuilding the world with goods and concepts, the post WWII 50’s, the era of my grand-parents in their 50’s, they were doing physical work.  Just like multi-millions of other men were doing across America.  They had a pension of some type for working for a company for twenty or thirty years.  By their late 50’s and early 60’s they were worn out.  A physical part, a bearing in the gears, and they were going to be replaced by new bodies coming in the front door.

    In our new world, a computer driven world, a work environment where physical effort is not important, even in traditional work places of the factory, where thinking is more important than sweat, those of us who are old continue to work, not letting the progression of youngsters come in the door.

    By not leaving the work place young workers are forced to lower paying positions for longer times.  That is a huge issue.  A pay gap builds.  The young have not yet realized that the old is just a phrase.  Most of us will work for many more years.  Not by plan, we were raised to think of retiring at 65, but with the changes of the Social Security statutes that has now advanced to 67 and older.  That alone is causing a blockage for the young.  But the physical and mental changes brought by better health and medical arts means we are on the job longer.

     

  70. I keep waiting for the answer to KGC’s questions. I’m hearing crickets.

    Flatus,  I appreciate the confidence. Just wish I had an answer or two.

    Poobah, I live in the middle of narrow minded self defeating BS. I see it, I know it, and I have no idea how to get around it other than to out lie the pugs. I just can’t convince myself that is the way forward. If it is, screw it. I’m out.

  71. KGC: “What could Democrats have said that would have made a difference.”

    For starters, “You are being fed lies by corporate politicians.”

    But of course that would require a Dem party not owned by corporate politicians.

  72. White House Correspondents Dinner about as fun as a Kiwanis Club Treasurers Report without dessert. Went early, left early, home in time for Green Acres reruns. Thankfully the Frank Lloyd Wright Hilton monstrosity within walking distance.

  73. Why’d you go to that shindig? Show of solidarity for fellow journalists in this age of kill the messenger? I am Spartacus.

     

  74. Thank the Gods the “first hundred days” broken record is finally over. I hope no one comes up with another “milestone date.”

  75. 1. I subscribe to Mr Pogo’s 11:21 dismissal of the charges of racism and sexism against Mr Crawford.

    2. Ms Jamie is a national treasure for managing the Trail Hands Derby.

    3. Schiff looks great, but can he be a real executive ? He is a very sharp & photogenic legislator.

    He is also a Jew and Stanford/Harvard educated. Not exactly the poster boy to win Missouri, Michigan, Arkansas, West Virginia, or Tennessee.

  77. When Stump starts crowing about having been elected President, maybe someone close to him could point out how Geo. W Bush has already proven that Any Damn Fool can get elected president.

    Haha……..Donny-Come-Lately.

  79. “What could Democrats have said that would have made a difference.”

    For starters, “You are being fed lies by corporate politicians.”

    and then what, craig?  call for a boycott of walmart, amazon, mcdonalds? cancel facebook?

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