“It was atrocious. It was horrible … This is about humanity and it can’t be allowed to happen. If it’s the Russians, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out.” President Trump says “Nothing is off the table” in response to Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons.

+ US officials confirm Israel hit Syria after suspected chemical attack. (America, Israel, Russia, Iran … there are a lot of big players fighting a proxy war in what’s left of Syria.)

+ John McCain tied the attack to Trump’s suggestion America will soon pull out of Syria. “Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers have heard him, and emboldened by American inaction, Assad has reportedly launched another chemical attack.” (Assad, like his father before him, has been emboldened by the world’s inaction for decades.)

+ “Assad already has unraveled the global taboo against chemical weapons, in the process exposing the incoherence of the international community. Syria has exposed the international liberal order as a convenient illusion. Western bromides of ‘never again’ meant nothing when a determined dictator with hefty international backers committed crimes against humanity.” The Atlantic: The Logic of Assad’s Brutality.