Bay 12 Games Forum

Probably? Iirc there's already been rumblings from trump's lot about cutting the WH loose from the GOP. It'd kinda' fit their profile... though it'd probably be political suicide and quite possibly the only way you'd get the reps to impeach a president elected on their ticket.

'Course, I'm fairly sure at least some of the folks at the WH recognize just how bad an idea that is. Just a wee titch less sure that knowledge would actually stop 'em :V

Huh. Did sessions actually get around to explicitly recusing himself? Last I paid attention he was still trying to hump the letter rather than spirit of the statements involved.

You're exagerating, there is a clear increase in the pace of tests over the last two years. One each in 2014 and 2015, 5 in 2016 and 12 so far this year. But this also mean that one extra test doesn't change much.

At this point, the one thing that could cause someone to overreact is NK displaying a capacity to send a nuke via ICBM.

... isn't the whole reason people have been getting increasingly tetchy about the last couple (including the latest) specifically because they've been displaying greater apparent launch capability, relative to earlier tests? Iirc (I just woke up, mind, so I'm pretty definitely forgetting details, here) either this latest one or the one before displayed capability fairly conclusively indicative of being able to hit LA for the first time, or somethin' along those lines.

One extra test can change quite a lot if that one extra test is different from the ones before, heh. There's also, as y'note, the increase in frequency. Which I can kinda' understand, either 'cause they're getting close or 'cause one of their primary antagonistic entities (the US) ended up electing someone persistently inconclusive about how willing to nuke someone they are. Hand in hand with the political party that's been willing to include glassing other countries in their rhetoric without much or any censure gaining enough institutional control to conceptually make an offensive strike possible.

Add on that one of the major nuclear powers (russia) also violated a non-proliferation treaty (ukraine's you-no-invade-we-no-build-nuke thing) in the last few years, and you got some pretty fresh incentives to get stuff able to get in the air.

One of those cases where as sketchy as all hell as I am about NK being a nuclear power, at the same time I have trouble blaming pretty much fucking anyone for wanting the capability and the potential deterrence it brings to the table, right now.

Don't think anyone knows, yet.

Though I'd probably wager decent money a drill sarge would go astoundingly poorly, unless they have something else going on, too. Their skill set doesn't quite lend itself to the sort of power dynamics and personalities you'd be dealing with in the position.

Have to see how it goes, heh. Signs point to raging dumpster fire, but maybe that's an improvement.

Also, hey, priebus is out. "General/Secretary" kelly is the new chief of staff, apparently.

E: Though that does mean we're getting a new secretary of homeland security. Gods know who's going to end up with that.

Well sure. Not really many better targets to yell at considering he's not going to be around to hold a grudge or somethin'. Him being yelled at is just an extension of the huge god-damned favor (that functionally cost mccain very little, since he's, y'know, going to be dead soon), letting a disproportionate amount of the vitriol the latest failure generates fall on the one guy involved here that has pretty much zero chance of mattering much past the next few years, if that long.

Hell, if I were trying to engineer this kind of thing, getting mccain on board with being the primary "villain" involved would be a pretty obvious step. Any political capital he has left to spend isn't going to be around much longer, and whatever flak he catches is flak that doesn't hit the other two sacrifices or the rest of the party that may still be there in a decade. If you're going to martyr someone you might as well squeeze as much out of it as you can, yeah?

E: And in other news... russia's decided today was a good day to seize US properties and demand our embassy to cut stuff. These last few days probably haven't been that pleasant for some of the folks in our government.

Man, if that last bit actually happens anytime soon I'd be hella' surprised. If they ain't stopped for eight years why the hell would they stop now? The bipartisan healthcare bill already passed, and the GOP's spent the better part of the last decade trying to burn it to the ground. Why would we think it's something they're going to get out of their system?