That pretty much sums up the glee with which the media embraced the U.S. military’s attack with a never-before-used giant weapon: heralding the “Mother of All Bombs” in headline after headline. Yes the 22,000 lb. GBU-43 is so unwieldy, it has to be pushed off the back of a cargo plane. And yes it is 10-100X the size of “normal” bombs. But there was no real reason given why it was used on ISIS positions in Afghanistan, and why it was used now. Just that it’s “the right munition.” Early this morning, the Afghan Ministry of Defense claimed the big bomb killed 36 members of ISIS.
And this Fox News analysis agrees with our assertion that the media is making too much of it, and explains why.
President Trump said while he didn’t authorize the strike, he certainly endorses it. And when asked if it sends a message to North Korea, replied “It doesn’t make any difference if it does or not. North Korea is a problem, the problem will be taken care of.”
An editorial in China’s quasi-governmental Global Times directly threatens North Korea’s oil supply if it makes any “big moves” this month, but more interestingly puts a lot of focus on the “increased credibility” of a U.S. military strike. (BTW, the editorial is in Chinese–but drop it into Google Translate–it’s worth a read.)
Let’s Sign This One Very Quietly
President Trump signed a bill that lets states withhold federal money from organizations that provide abortion services, like Planned Parenthood. Yes, Federal law already prohibits taxpayer money from funding abortions and 97% of Planned Parenthood’s service don’t involve abortion. The President usually makes a big show of his signing ceremonies, but this one he signed in private with no media. We doubt Ivanka was in the room.
Finally Losing Faith in Trumpland?
Will Trump true believers ever turn on him? It’s a question many Trump critics have been asking for a long time. During the campaign, Trump famously said he could stand on “5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Well, there are now some signs he is losing voters. Politico writes “Trump’s true believers are losing the faith.” They are complaining about his foreign interventions and the weakening role of Steve Bannon. [Editor’s Comment: Put this in the category of Liberals trying to make themselves feel better. The story is completely anecdotal, and even if it’s accurate, Trump has a lot of time to win his supporters back since the next federal election of any widespread significance isn’t for another 2 years. Same goes for this analysis in the NY Times, explaining how the Republican win in this week’s Kansas special election was really a victory for Democrats. No it wasn’t. Yes, it was close-r than might’ve been expected, but it still wasn’t close. Anyway, close doesn’t count. Pick up a win next week in Georgia and maybe you’ll start convincing me.]
If he can’t even run a restaurant, how do you expect him to run the country? Florida health inspectors found potentially dangerous raw fish and under-cooled meat in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago kitchen, just days before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit. The Miami Herald says they wrote up 13 violations, including three labeled “high priority.” Sure, Trump himself isn’t the guy in the kitchen responsible for this. But, the way a company acts and the principles it follows are usually set at the very top. It’s not what you might expect from a place with a $200,000 initiation fee.
