A.M. Links: North Korea Threatens 'Super-Mighty Preemptive Strike' Against U.S., Massive Protests in Venezuela, Tillerson Warns Iran

• 

  Todd Kranin

  President Donald Trump continues to garner historically low approval ratings.

• North Korea is threatening a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the United States.
• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea and to take the world along with it."
• Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets yesterday in Venezuela, marching against the dictatorial regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
• General Motors has ceased operations in Venezuela after one of its plants was seized by the Maduro regime.
• The first-round vote in the French presidential election occurs this Sunday.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

General Motors has ceased operations in Venezuela after one of its plants was seized by the Maduro regime.

They're just one seizure away from worker's paradise.

[Anomalous]

They will retool the plant to produce Trabants.

[Citizen X - #6]

Seizures would explain anyone being able to look at Venezuela and say, yeah, more of that.

I'm talking about grand mal.

[Libertarian]

+1 Sean Penn

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

I think.

[Citizen X - #6]

Probably not, though.

[Aresen]

Don't Venezuela! It's a TARP!.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Real libertarians say "stolen" rather than the state-approved "seized"

[Brandybuck]

Why the hell did General Motors still have a plant in Venezuela? Were they stupid? Did Obama pack their board?

[Careless]

well, when was the last time anyone would have been stupid enough to buy it from them?

[Bee Tagger]

The first-round vote in the French presidential election occurs this Sunday.

Billy Packer thinks they should re-seed the candidates when they get to the final four.

[Conchfritters]

First round?? Thank Gaia for the two party system!

[Citizen X - #6]

Brackets are fine for sports fans, but are far too complicated for the type of person who takes voting seriously!

[colorblindkid]

Can you imagine a Le Pen/Melenchon election? Their equivalent of our primary process might leave them with worse choices than ours! Both are dead set on leaving the EU.

[Gadfly]

Commie vs Nazi, round 2! FIGHT!

That's an exaggeration, of course, but it's how such a run-off would be portrayed. It will be fun to watch the media reaction if that happens.

[Citizen X - #6]

President Donald Trump continues to garner historically low approval ratings.

Sic semper ALL politicians.

[Bee Tagger]

North Korea is threatening a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the United States.

They certainly have picked up on the way Trump speaks.

[Libertarian]

In all fairness to NK, "the mother of all preemptive strikes" was already taken.

[DanO.]

O'Reilly still fired. That is all.

[Bee Tagger]

o rly?

[Fist of Etiquette]

MSNBC can snatch him up!

[Libertarian]

He could co-host with Rachel Maddow and call the new show "WE'RE DOING IT LIVE!!!!"

[Citizen X - #6]

I'm pretty sure SugarFree has already scripted the first season's worth of episodes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's a splitter. We don't talk about splitters here.

[geo1113]

We'll get to see Rachel's strap-on.

[Conchfritters]

I dunno - Melissa Harris Perry was fired last year, so no more hot chocolate.

[Domestic Dissident]

Maybe he and Keith Olbermann can hook up and they can do a joint podcast together in that dark, grungy basement, wherever the hell it is.

[Citizen X - #6]

Fun fact: Mikey was absorbed by his twin brother in utero.

[Bee Tagger]

President Donald Trump continues to garner historically low approval ratings.

I hope we one day find out that these numbers ever meant something.

[Zeb]

That's the problem with surveys. I tend to be a bit more open to it not being total BS than some people around here. But the fact is it's really hard to know what everyone is thinking.
How do you check the results of a survey? Another survey? Surely someone out there is honestly just trying to get a sense of public opinion without ideological motivations.

[MarkLastname]

George HW Bush's record high approval rating sure didn't do much for him.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets yesterday in Venezuela, marching against the dictatorial regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

Was he caught on a hot mic saying something about grabbing pussy?

[Libertarian]

That would be a First World problem. They're running like hell away from that.

[dan'o en barrel]

Anyone else catch the report that Maduro handed out 400k guns to his loyalist? That way the inevitable violent crack down on the uprising can be described as being carried out by "the people" rather than typical despotism.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea and to take the world along with it."

What about the third axis of evil?

[Princess Trigger]

I think we should call it the Z-Axis of Evil.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The first-round vote in the French presidential election occurs this Sunday.

No, no, no. You have elections on workdays, so that the unemployed have the most opportunity to cast their vote.

[brokencycle]

In France no one really works anyway.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, yeah. Duh.

[Conchfritters]

If we had a 25 hour work week, we'd have more time to vote too

[$park? leftist poser]

General Motors has ceased operations in Venezuela after one of its plants was seized by the Maduro regime.

Of course the capitalist pigs at GM would try to destroy Venezuela's dreams of utopia.

[Libertarian]

"North Korea is threatening a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the United States."

Hey, North Korea. Saddam Hussein called and said that you might want to rethink your strategy.

[creech]

Japan got away with it for about two years after Pearl as the U.S. wasn't prepared. North Korea must realize there's an Ohio class sub cruising right now in the Sea of Japan that, by itself, can wipe out Pyongyang and the next ten largest cities.

[jshiggin]

No, there is not an Ohio in the Sea of Japan.

Putting an Ohio in such constricted waters is just inviting someone to sink her.

Which is not to say that there's not an Ohio close enough to North Korea to totally ruin their day. It's just not so close as the Sea of Japan....

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is anyone really taking the Norks serious this time?

[Citizen X - #6]

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto might have a few words of advice to give as well.

[Conchfritters]

Need to send Dennis Rodman and an all-star team of early 90s NBA stars over there to straighten this shit out.

[Shirley Knott]

Why does Reason toe the 'main-stream journalism' line of calling Venezuela a 'dictatorial' regime? Call it what it is, a socialist regime.
That can't be emphasized enough. This is socialism. This is democratic socialism. This is how it almost inevitably plays out. Blood in the streets.

[DanO.]

Calm down.

[LoneWaco]

shut up joe

[Citizen X - #6]

"Dictatorial" is an accurate descriptor too, though.

[DanO.]

Shirley probably thinks Denmark's "socialism" is the same as Red China's.

[MarkLastname]

So if we call privatized airports 'socialist' you'll go along with it?

[Libertarian]

True, but "dictatorial" is almost synonymous with "extreme right wing" in a lot of Lefty minds.

[Citizen X - #6]

So what, though? Leftist philosophies are wrong about all sorts of things, why rely on them for defining words?

[Libertarian]

Understand. I was trying to explain why the word was used by the press, not justify it. They'd rather that failed states, even "National Socialist" ones, be thought of as being owned by the Right, not the Left.

[Zeb]

I'm not sure that's really true. Other than Pinochet and maybe a few others, I can't really think of many right wing dictators at all. Most dictators seem to depend on handouts to the people to keep things calm enough that they can maintain power.

And I don't think anyone is confused about whether or not Venezuela is socialist (whether they think that is a good thing or a bad thing).

[H. Farnham]

I don't know why everyone's so critical of the Maduro regime. They're facing a food shortage right now, and action is needed to prevent bread lines. Let's assume the plant produced 100 cars per day and each car weighs approximately 4,000 lbs. That's a capacity of 400,000 lbs of car per day. If they convert this plant to a collective bakery, then they can produce another 400,000 loaves of bread per day (assuming 1 lb per loaf of bread). Only stupid capitalists would think that people need cars more than they need food.

[Citizen X - #6]

Earnest retard or trying-too-hard satirist? I can't tell anymore.

[DanO.]

Possible Transvestite Coulter Vows to Gurgle Anyway

https://tinyurl.com/m9htwhy

[DanO.]

Berkeley, a public institution, is compelled by both the Constitution and California law to protect free speech, even if campus Republicans there continue to degrade themselves by abetting or being fooled by nihilistic performance artists?and even if campus leftists invite the most odious of their fellow travelers.

Now, rather than giving campus Republicans the booby prize of having to sit through an Ann Coulter speech, an experience more likely to evoke shame than pride as they age and mature into adults, her critics achieved the booby prize of postponing it.

[Conchfritters]

allegedly

[Rufus The Monocled]

Polls.

/Sticks thumb up ass, other thumb in mouth.

[Citizen X - #6]

If you take 'em out, don't forget which thumb was which before you put 'em back.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's been DanO's constant mistake.

[DanO.]

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

[$park? leftist poser]

This one goes in your ear, this one goes in your mouth, this one goes in your ass. No wait. This one goes in your ass... uh... hold on...

[Mr. Flanders]

Well when you're constantly talking out of your ass...

[Memory Hole]

How many times do you think Trump has fucked his wife since he's been President? They don't even live together. I fuck my wife pretty much everyday and twice a day more often than not and I would fuck the shit out of Trump's wife if I was married to her. I don't like it. Trump doesn't fuck his wife but he stays up all night. Is he watching porn? It's all very suspicious.

[DanO.]

is he watching porn?

Yes. Fox News.

[$park? leftist poser]

You have the strangest hang-ups.

[Domestic Dissident]

"I fuck my wife all the time, believe me. I fuck her so much she's tired of getting fucked."

[Citizen X - #6]

That's a really bizarre thing to care about, man.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Ask him if he wondered if Obama fucked Michelle hard - or the other way around.

[Citizen X - #6]

I think it's pretty obvious who was catchin' in that relationship.

[Memory Hole]

Rufus, you must have me confused with somebody because I pretty much always vote for libertarians, I'm a registered libertarian and yeah, I'm not hardcore libertarian (maybe I think the rich can pay a higher tax rate than poor people and I feel bad for people bankrupted by horrible medical conditions) but they get my votes okay, so take your Obama shit somewhere else. Oh yeah and need I remind you that you're Canadian? Do I need go there because I can go there dude.

[$park? leftist poser]

STFU RUFUS UR FRM CANADIA! IM TEH REEL LIBRTRIAN!

[Memory Hole]

It's not strange. Trump thinks he's a badass and his supporters talk shit like they have big dicks. You're not a badass if you're not fucking your hot wife. And his supporter don't have big dicks. It's way more likely they have old shriveled dicks and that explains their love affair with authoritarianism. I'm telling you dude. The dick is the heart of all of this. I think Freud say that.

[Citizen X - #6]

[backs slowly out of room]

[Agile Cyborg]

You are correct, Hole Where Reflections Drown, Trump is not fucking Melania. Please understand that Melania does all the fucking in the mighty house of golden power. Trump's kingly billboarding reflects an icon smitten with pink castle smotherings, women in steel armatures crunching hung jewels, and painful excited sighs emanating from crushing svelte thighs under moonlight ray on Fiorentino silk.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's hot.

[Cynical Asshole]

Too bad SugraFree's not around anymore. I'm sure he'd have some interesting things to say on this subject as well.

[Memory Hole]

You read my mind, the reptile part of it anyway, I think?

[Agile Cyborg]

The delicate blood-brain barrier coursing between individual rights and socialized tyranny is effectively terminated when Marxist troopers erase ownership of business and property.

The final bell tolls over the eruption of decay. Socialists cannot be educated on the criminal nature that possesses their vintage philosophy.

[Conchfritters]

That's what I'm talking about

[Conchfritters]

It's 4/20 and there isn't even one link to a story on weed? What in the hell is going on down there?

[DanO.]

The glibs ate your baby weed.

[Zeb]

There is a story on weed, though: http://reason.com/blog/2017/04.....a-use-2017

[DanO.]

Q: What's the difference between Fox News and FBN?
A: To get on FBN, you only have to sleep with O'Reilly once.

[MarkLastname]

Um... good effort?

[Cynical Asshole]

North Korea is threatening a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the United States.

"Relax, it's North Korea, the nation-state equivalent of the short bus."

Although they are one of only 2 countries (Cuba being the other) that has a handle on obesity.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Venezuela's getting there.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

What is Ethiopia, chopped gruel?

[Rebel Scum]

North Korea is threatening a "super-mighty preemptive strike" against the United States.

It'll be the mightiest preemptive strike. High class. Big league. Believe me, it's gonna be YUGE.

[Rebel Scum]

President Donald Trump continues to garner historically low approval ratings.

When you start at the bottom, the only way is up.

[Rebel Scum]

General Motors has ceased operations in Venezuela after one of its plants was seized by the Maduro regime.

The factory will now start producing Trabant's.

[Cynical Asshole]

Obligatory.

[Citizen X - #6]

You are a whole hour late with that reference, homeslice.

[geo1113]

The North Korean Rockettes

[Domestic Dissident]

The Deep State heads off to New Zealand, presumably to do some "Five Eyes" anti-Trump spying coordination, or perhaps to scope out some "bug out" property for when western civilization collapses. Or perhaps a little of both.

[Citizen X - #6]

THER SPYING ON MUH PRSEIDINT

[Mickey Rat]

NBC News continues blaming Venezuela's woes on the drop in oil prices rather than Chavista socialism. They seem to dance around the issue that Maduro's grab at dictatorial power is in pursuit of left wing ideals.

[Conchfritters]

Another gas station masquerading as a country, per McCain?

[Not a True MJG]

General Motors has ceased operations in Venezuela after one of its plants was seized by the Maduro regime.

The state needs that plant to start producing Trabants.

Am I right, friends?

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

General Motors has ceased operations in Venezuela after one of its plants was seized by the Maduro regime.

At least Maduro has the brains to seize assets. The US government seized all of GM's liabilities circa 2007.