The MSM Gets Punked Again on Fake Syria Bombing

The MSM got punked…Again.

The Putin-Chumph fake missile attack in Syria which succeeded in blowing up a couple of goats and a couple of antique junkyard Mig 15s, and left the target airport in such bad shape they were launching planes a few hours later to bomb the hell out of hospitals – was a publicity stunt to try and bail out a rapidly failing presidency…The Chumph’s.

Yet no one seemed to attack the absurdity of the attack, and things only became unglued when ABC News reported two hours after the attack that the Russians and Syrians had, under Putin’s orchestration – moved their aircraft, personnel, chemical weapons, and critical equipment to another airport long before the Chumph ordered the launch of the missiles.

Sexual Molestation and Racial Discrimination Central, Fox News was overjoyed to have something else to talk about except serial rape by their leading talking head and others on their staff. Literally gushing about Putin’s Bitch bombing the hell out of some “A-rabs” they lead their easily dupeable slack jawed, ignorant followers in the usual orgasmic outpouring of plastic patriotism, that their “Trump had bombed some brown people. Faux News even trotted out a couple of pics of some destroyed antique Mig 15, last used in the Korean War, an which hadn’t been flown above sea level in 30 years as evidence of the “destruction”.

Took three days for much of the MSM to get their collective dicks off the table and realize they had been royally hoodwinked again.

Media masochists fall for Trump: One ineffectual missile attack, and cable news goes into White House fluff mode

One pointless display of military machismo, and the TV talking heads Trump loves to mock are swept off their feet

For nearly two years now, we’ve followed the incomprehensibly remedial political life of Donald Trump. For nearly two years, we’ve observed in shocked horror at episode after episode in which Trump is engulfed in controversy of his own making, only to be given chance after chance after chance to redeem himself, unlike nearly every other worldwide public figure, political or otherwise.

No matter how often President Trump whines and hurls tantrums on Twitter about the “dishonest media” and all the “fake news” it publishes, the television press has gifted him with unprecedented latitude — his very own set of political rules, devised by Trump and implemented by the cable news media. Actually, I hesitate to call them “rules” because the word suggests there are limits to and punishments for Trump’s behavior. Anyone following his greatest hits knows there aren’t any, at least in compared with the rules applied to previous presidents, not to mention the Democratic nominee whom Trump barely defeated last year.

This partially illiterate New York socialite turned reality-show punchline continues to be given opportunity after opportunity to behave in a reasonable, rational way by kneejerk pundits who appear desperate to artificially endow Trump with presidential qualities. His version of “presidential” lasts around 12 seconds and is barely more presidential than the behavior of a tween bully running for class president. Whether in describing his banal, off-the-rack address to Congress last month or his transparently political missile strike against a Syrian airbase, there are more than a few actors in the cable news sphere who can’t wait to normalize and legitimize Trump, only to be castrated by the president hours or days later.

In the aftermath of Trump’s ineffectual cruise missile strike against the Al Shayrat airfield in which 59 missiles constructed by Raytheon — a military contractor in which Trump owns undivested stock — caused marginal damage, allowing Bashar al-Assad to launch new airstrikes from the base the very next day, cable news was buzzing with declarations of Trump’s freshly acquired savoir-faire as a sober and decisive leader. This was Trump they were talking about — the TV huckster who once looked into a video camera and declared that “Trump Steaks,” inexplicably sold at Sharper Image stores back in the day, “are the world’s greatest steaks, and I mean that in every sense of the word.”

It’s also worth noting that President Obama dropped more than 26,000 bombs in 2016, his final year in office.

NBC News reporter Kristen Welker said she thought Trump had “turned a page” in his presidency: “This is a president who is coming off of a rocky couple of weeks. Arguably, he’s turned the page on that to some extent with these foreign leader meetings that he’s had this week and now with the focus on Syria.”

Elliott Abrams wrote in the Weekly Standard that “the Trump administration can truly be said to have started only now. The president has been chief executive since January 20, but this week he acted also as Commander in Chief. And more: He finally accepted the role of Leader of the Free World.”

Fox News Channel’s Carl Higbie: “Huge victory. All the people I have spoken to recently, active and former, have all said this was Donald Trump’s first test and he absolutely nailed it. This is right on par. This is a show of force that the world needs to see and the world now knows that we will do. And everybody in the military that I have spoken to is extremely proud to call him our president this morning.”

On Friday night’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” CNN’s Ana Navarro qualified her praise for Trump, but endowed him with a role neither he nor any president actually possesses. Navarro said, “I still think he is a racist, misogynist, lying pig, but he’s also my commander in chief.” Apologies for nitpicking, but the president isn’t Navarro’s commander in chief, nor is he the commander of any American civilian. He’s strictly the commander in chief of the military. Nothing more. Please stop giving him ideas like this. Thank you.

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria has been widely and justifiably mocked as the worst of the batch, declaring: “I think Donald Trump became President of the United States” with this ineffectual strike.

The only excuse I can think of for this brand of unearned fluffing, other than submissiveness and/or masochism, is that certain members of the press continue to genuflect before the “both sides” attitude. These are transparently weak attempts to generate some sense of cosmetic balance around the coverage of a president who, no matter what he says or does now, is still under numerous federal investigations for colluding with Russia to hijack the 2016 election cycle. It was a trespass against American sovereignty and the integrity of our electoral process, and if the current president was involved in any way, it was an unprecedented and massively treasonous act. And the Russia headlines make up only part of the roster of manifest reasons why Trump shouldn’t have been allowed to tour the White House, much less run the nation from the Oval Office.

A monkey can order a missile strike, and Trump kind of screwed this one up. He hit a few inconsequential items on the checklist — managing to avoid upwards of 100 Russian personnel who were on hand at the base for some still-unexplained reason — but he failed to take out any chemical weapons, which I thought was the point of sticking our noses into a civil war that hasn’t involved any attacks against the United States. And let’s say this again: Syrian fighter jets were taking off from Al Shayrat the next day. Oh, and Trump’s attack reportedly managed to kill seven civilians, including four children.

You had one job, Mr. President.

All in all, my biggest objection to Trump’s intervention in Syria — he’s also secretly put boots on the ground there, by the way — is the fact that it’s being carried out by this tabloid weirdo with cartoon hair named Donald Trump. It’s like finding out your bypass surgery is being performed by Gary Busey and the pilot for your cross-country flight will be Meat Loaf. Trump is in no way equipped with any of the qualities of a strong leader. He’s a petulant, obnoxious, intellectually incurious doofus who needed four tries to correctly spell the word “hereby.” He and his worthless, somnambulant secretary of state don’t have a Syria policy, beyond lamenting Assad’s murdering of babies on one hand while blocking other Syrian babies from seeking refuge from Assad inside the United States on the other.

Everything Donald Trump touches turns to crap sooner or later. As American warships steam toward the Korean peninsula, we, and especially the cable news media, must not forget who this president really is. We must not forget the myriad disasters and irreparable destabilization for which he’s responsible. And the worst is yet to come.

 

More “Shuck and Jive” Trump Asks Putin’s Permission to Bomb Empty Airfield in Syria

About the only thing the Chumph bombing of a Syrian airfield accomplished last night was to kill 5 or 6 goatherds who didn’t get the message beforehand to get out of Dodge.

The Chump asked his master, Putin if it was OK, because he needed to look tough in the press.

Fifty-nine tomahawk missiles launched from an aircraft carrier hit their target. At $1.59 million a piece, the attack cost the Defense Department $93,810,000…

To kill a dozen or so goats and half a dozen goatherds.

Oh! But the “value” of the Chumph name!

The original “Shuck and Jive” – the totally senseless and useless bombing of Baghdad during the Bushit Administration, only surpassed by Putin’s Bitch bombing an empty airfield.

 

Syrian military knew the US raid was coming and evacuated personnel and equipment: ABC News

Sec. of State Rex Tillerson revealed late Thursday that the U.S. warned Russia that they would be bombing the airfield in Homs, Syria since there was Russian military in the vicinity.

ABC News reported early Friday that the Syrian military seemed to know that something might happen. Eyewitnesses claim the military then evacuated personnel and moved equipment before the strike took place.

The United States dropped 59 Tomahawk missiles on the Shayrat airbase at approximately 8:40 p.m. EST. The bombs were aimed at refueling stations and aircraft. The Pentagon explained that the strike was aimed at preventing another chemical attack on Syrian civilians in the future.

 

Turkey Shoots Down Russian Plane

A Turk F-16 shot down a Russian Su-27 Fighter-Bomber over the Turkey border with Syria this morning. Both Russian pilots are reported to have ejected safely. Turkey is a member of NATO, which means that if there is a conflict with Russia, the US will be under treaty obligation to help defend Turkey. Putin has directed his military to play Cold War type games against NATO countries, including flying Backfire Bombers within a mile of a US Carrier Group, and invading the airspace of Norway, the UK, and Sweden. In flying warplanes over Turkey, he pick the wrong guys to mess with, as the Turks have always been absolute about protecting their country. Whether this means a return to the Cold War or not remains to be seen. It may also have been done intentionally to curb Putin’s aggression.

Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Border With Syria

NATO member Turkey shot down a Russian warplane after it violated the country’s airspace near the Syrian border on Tuesday, officials said.

The Russian aircraft was warned 10 times in five minutes before being fired upon, according to the Turkish air force.

The incident — the first time a NATO member’s military has downed a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s, according to Reuters — risked worsening tensions between Moscow and the West.

Within hours, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident a “stab in the back by terrorist helpers.”

“Do they want to have NATO serve ISIS? I understand that every state has regional interests, and we respect that, but we would never tolerate crime like today’s,” he told journalists on state television.

NATO said it would hold an extraordinary meeting later Tuesday to discuss the incident at the request of Turkish officials.

Syrian fighters on the ground and Turkish sources told NBC News that the Russian jet’s pilots ejected and landed in north of Latakia, Syria. That area is controlled by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. Russia has an air base in Latakia which is used to launch bombing raids targeting Assad’s foes — including ISIS.

Footage from Turkish Haberturk TV showed a warplane going down in flames in a wooded area with a long plume of smoke trailing behind it. Russian and Syrian regime helicopters were later seen searching the area where the jet went down, a rebel commander who goes by the name Abu Faiz told NBC News.

The head of the Turkish military briefed President Tayyip Erdogan on the incident, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered consultations with NATO, the United Nations and related countries, Reuters reported citing their respective offices.

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, there are 69 warplanes based in Latakia. Russian planes have run thousands of bombing raids in Syria since Sept. 30 when the Kremlin announced it would start targeting ISIS.

However, U.S. officials say many of the strikes appear to be hitting areas where ISIS doesn’t have a presence.

Putin ordered his air force to step-up bombings after a passenger plane crashed in Egypt’s Sinai on Oct. 31, killing all 224 on board. On Thursday, ISIS claimed it brought down the Metrojet plane with an improvised bomb.

 

 

Sarin Attacks in Syria

Initially developed during WWII by German industrial giant IB Farben as an insecticide, Sarin is a Phosphate based poison, which can be absorbed into the body by either breathing it in a gaseous form or coming into physical contact with is and absorbing it through the skin. An almost microscopic small drop of this stuff is enough to kill a grown man in under 10 minutes. Victims die through it’s attack on the nervous system, causing convulsions, uncontrollable shaking, and breathing issues.

It is formerly classified as a WMD and banned by virtually every country in the world. Sarin is neutralized by water – so if it is used as a weapon, rain quickly neutralizes it. It’s persistency is from several weeks to 3 months if not neutralized by weather. It is what is called a Binary – meaning two non-lethal parts combine to make the killing chemical. But by no means is it the most deadly chemical weapon. However, it is fairly easy to manufacture – making it a favorite of third rate second and third world regimes. In a desert environment like much of the Middle East, it can be used as an area denial weapon – effectively closing off avenues of approach by enemy troops without CBC protective clothing and masks for periods of 2-4 weeks. It is really nasty stuff, with a very high lethality rate.

CBS 60 Minutes brought some very graphic images to American Television last week, of a Sarin Attack which killed over 1400 men, women, and children in a Damascus suburb controlled by a rebel group. All told, about 400 children were killed in the attack, which apparently consisted of only 3 artillery shells full of the agent. This report isn’t the CBS report – but another which goes a bit deeper.

 

On the Next American War… Syria

It’s fairly obvious the American people aren’t buying in to the justifications for bombing Syria. There are a lot of reasons, not the least because the previous President and his Staff lied America into it’s last, and longest lasting War in Iraq… And quite possibly in Afghanistan. All to accomplish exactly nothing.

The list of American national interests in Syria is very very short…

In fact you’d have to search hard to find just one.

The just isn’t any evidence on the table that should the Syrian rebels overthrow the existing government, they will be any better than the current monsters. Indeed,, the only way terrorism and extremism has successfully been destroyed in the past is to implement an even greater level of barbarity. Think Romans and Spartacus, where the roman crucified each and every “rebel” after defeating them alongside  the road to Rome. Opening the doors of the hidden armories, unleashing the gates of WMD hell – completely depopulating the region may well be the ultimate solution – but a cancerous “victory” won at the cost of our collective morality and national souls.

Ergo – We aren’t going to go there. And as such will be fighting pinpricks for the next 20-30 years as the region burns.

Giving the “bad guys” bombs to kill the even “badder guys” isn’t a strategy based in a formula for success. We tried that with Saddam. We tried that in numerous other places around the world. Didn’t work then…Won’t work now.

Sometimes, you just have to let the fire burn out by itself.

 

Another War in the Middle East?

Syria seems determined to play the ” let’s declare war on a foreign somebody and the folks at home will come together” card.

It probably is not a real good idea to be shooting at the Turkish military. Not only because Turkey still has an army which has the ability to kick ass and take names…

But going to war with Turkey brings in the NATO Alliance – including the US, which includes at least 6 countries which could lay Syria to waste without breaking a sweat.

Maybe they should pick a fight with another neighbor?

A Turkish Air Force F4E Phantom similar to the one shot down by Syrian forces.

Turkey says Syria fired at second Turkish plane on Monday

Turkey said on Monday Syrian forces had fired towards a Turkish military transport plane involved in a search for an F-4 reconnaissance jet shot down by Syria last week, but the second aircraft was not brought down.

The disclosure of the second incident came on the eve of a NATO crisis meeting that Turkey summoned to address the shooting down of its F-4 jet, which Ankara has described as an unprovoked attack in international airspace.

Despite deep frustration among many NATO countries over the conflict in Syria, where the opposition says President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on an increasingly armed popular uprising has killed 14,000 people, it’s highly unlikely the military alliance will take armed action against the Arab state.

The unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet was shot down a mile (1.6 kilometres) inside international airspace on Friday, and two Turkish pilots are still missing, the Turkish government says.

Syria has officially acknowledged shooting down the F-4 phantom jet after it violated its airspace, but insists it only identified it as a Turkish fighter after the fact.

“What happened was an accident and not an assault as some like to say,” Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told the Al-Watan pro-government daily on Sunday.

“Turkish Jet, which was downed by Syrian forces, had violated Syrian airspace.” the Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdissi said Monday.
He added that Syria “could take positive steps if the Turkish government takes similar steps.”

Syrian FM spokesman also indicated “The rescue efforts are underway with the coordination of all sides. We found the wreckage of the jet and Turkey was informed about it.”

But Turkey said that the incident would “not go unpunished” but it did not intend to go to war over it.

 

13 Syrians Killed Rescuing British Journalist

This sounds like something out of an Action and Adventure movie – but it is real life. In an effort to save foreign journalists targeted by government forces, the Syrian rebels lost 13 of their own. The Revolution will not be televised…

Wounded British journalist smuggled safely out of besieged Syrian city of Homs

A wounded British photographer who had been trapped in the besieged Syrian city of Homs has been spirited safely into Lebanon in a risky journey that killed 13 rebels who helped him escape the relentless shelling and gunfire.

Also Tuesday, a Syrian diplomat stormed out of an emergency U.N. meeting amid renewed calls for a cease-fire to deliver humanitarian aid. A top human rights official said a U.N. panel’s report concluded that members of the Damascus regime were responsible for “crimes against humanity.”

The United Nations said the death toll in the 11-month uprising against authoritarian President Bashar Assad was well over 7,500, and activists reported more than 250 dead in the past two days alone _ mostly from government shelling in Homs and Hama province.

Tunisia’s president _ the first since the country’s own Arab Spring uprising toppled his predecessor _ offered the Syrian leader asylum as part of a negotiated peace, an offer Assad will almost surely refuse.

The harrowing ordeal of British photographer Paul Conroy, who was wounded with a French colleague last week by government rockets that killed two others, has drawn focus to the siege of Homs, which has emerged as the center of the anti-Assad uprising.

Hundreds have been killed in the city, parts of which the army has surrounded and shelled daily for more than three weeks. Many have died while venturing outside to forage for food, and activists have posted videos online of homes reduced to rubble and alleyways rendered no-go zones by snipers.

Conroy’s escape was the first sign of relief for a group of Western journalists who sneaked into Syria illegally and reached the embattled Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr only to find themselves trapped. Government rockets bombarded the makeshift media center they shared with activists last week, killing two of them and injuring Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier. Conroy and Bouvier later appeared in activist videos lying on makeshift hospital beds, pleading for help.

Conroy crossed the border into neighboring Lebanon after leaving Homs on Sunday evening, according to the global activist group Avaaz, which said it organized the evacuation with local activists.

The group said 35 Syrians volunteered to help get the journalists out and 13 were killed in the operation.