The speech made by the U.S. president in his maiden address on the U.N. arena in the prevailing serious circumstances, in which the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been rendered tense as never before and is inching closer to a touch-and-go state, is arousing worldwide concern.
Category Archives: Military
Come Fly With Musk
We depend on Russia to launch our astronauts into space at $70 million a pop.
Here’s The Wire in The Atlantic back in 2014:
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden voiced his concern, saying it would be better if the U.S. could launch its own astronauts to space. Because, who knows, it might turn out the Russians are trying to rig our elections.
Just kidding. He actually said, “we might enter into a Cold War-style territorial dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin and want to be able to credibly pose a financial threat.”
Come Fly With Musk
But maybe America is getting its space mojo back thanks entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and his SpaceX program. Here’s BBC video of the launch of his Falcon Heavy Rocket earlier this month. And the release of its payload – a red Tesla Roadster headed for Mars piloted by a mannequin named Starman.
You can track Starman here.
Wrong Button
Someone working in a Hawaiian state agency pushed the wrong button. The wrong button pusher set off 38 minutes of panic. Here’s what happened according to NBC:
At 8:07 a.m., cellphones across the archipelago pinged with the following all-caps warning: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
The button pusher wasn’t named or fired but was temporarily reassigned.
Button Man
Kim Jong Un told the world he has a button. It’s on his desk and within his reach. And with it, he claims his missiles can reach anywhere in the U.S. And that’s how he plans to have his way.
For some reason Kim’s threat reminded me of President Obama. He said he had a phone and a pen. And he would use them to get his way.
It wasn’t all button rattling though. Kim also reached out to Seoul. He wants North Korea to participate in the 2018 Olympics.
Button Men
Still, it was all too much for our own current Dear Leader. President Trump tweeted that his button is bigger and it works. I thought it was funny, in a Trump sort of way.
But the WSJ editors were not amused. They say Trump’s tweet explains his low poll numbers despite his first year successes.
Assignment Niger
Last week most of the media focused on an Empty Barrel in a sequined cowboy hat criticizing President Trump’s call to comfort a war widow. But Reason.com wanted to know why we have troops in Niger. Good question.
Niger
It turns out the U.S.military is stretched all over the place trying to fill vacuums before Islamic extremists do the same. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford says there are about 800 American troops in Niger and 6,000 overall in in Africa.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Meet the Press,”I didn’t know there were 1,000 troops in Niger”
Rocket Man vs. Mentally Deranged U.S. Dotard
President Trump (in his speech to the U.N.): “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”
Rocket Man (in his speech responding to Trump): “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.”
CNN adds that North Korea’s foreign minister suggested a possible hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific might be in order.
Rocket Man Responds
The NYT has the full text of Kim Jong Un’s response to Trump’s U.N. threat here:
Shaping the general idea of what he would say, I expected he would make stereotyped, prepared remarks a little different from what he used to utter in his office on the spur of the moment as he had to speak on the world’s biggest official diplomatic stage.
But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors.
A frightened dog barks louder.
I’d like to advise Trump to exercise prudence in selecting words and to be considerate of whom he speaks to when making a speech in front of the world.
The mentally deranged behavior of the U.S. president openly expressing on the U.N. arena the unethical will to “totally destroy” a sovereign state, beyond the boundary of threats of regime change or overturn of social system, makes even those with normal thinking faculty think about discretion and composure.
His remarks remind me of such words as “political layman” and “political heretic” which were in vogue in reference to Trump during his presidential election campaign.
After taking office Trump has rendered the world restless through threats and blackmail against all countries in the world. He is unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country, and he is surely a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire, rather than a politician.
His remarks which described the U.S. option through straightforward expression of his will have convinced me, rather than frightening or stopping me, that the path I chose is correct and that it is the one I have to follow to the last.
Now that Trump has denied the existence of and insulted me and my country in front of the eyes of the world and made the most ferocious declaration of a war in history that he would destroy the D.P.R.K. [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], we will consider with seriousness exercising of a corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.
Action is the best option in treating the dotard who, hard of hearing, is uttering only what he wants to say.
As a man representing the D.P.R.K. and on behalf of the dignity and honor of my state and people and on my own, I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the U.S. pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying the D.P.R.K.
This is not a rhetorical expression loved by Trump.
I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue.
Whatever Trump might have expected, he will face results beyond his expectation.
I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire.
