Robert E Kelly Profile picture
Aug 11, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Can we all agree that ‘functional training’ is a euphemism for still being able to tie your own shoelaces as you slide into 50? God, this is depressing
I’m really not very functional, apparently. Ugh
Seriously, I hate all this cross-fit stuff. It’s depressing. It really makes you feel washed out. I’d rather run
Here we go again. Wow. All these mobility exercises are actually pretty tough. All this ham and spinal twisting makes you feel like a grandmother who can’t get out of a recliner. Very humbling
Seriously, I miss the 80s, when everyone sat around the gym in knee-high Dad tubesocks pretending to bench. That was way easier.
Wait, this gets worse? What the hell are ‘commando planks’? Planks are bad enough. Good grief.
How about some hill repeats instead? At least I know what that is: strava.app.link/ZOsZqrsWU8
So I’ve completed a week of ‘functional training,’ and my conclusion is that I’m, um, dysfunctional.

Pretty sure my wife and my dean would concur with that assessment.

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More from @Robert_E_Kelly

Mar 10
BBC Dad content

Today is the 7th anniversary of the BBC Dad blooper.

So here it is again, with some recent family pictures in the thread below.

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These are from Marion's birthday party today, and James and I hiking this morning


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Another hiking picture, and some Christmas 2023 pictures


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Read 4 tweets
Feb 20
This thread makes a point political science emphasizes a lot - and which I tell my students constantly:

Competent democratic government is actually really boring. A lot of it is unappealing trade-offs, wonks diving deep into detail the public won’t track, maintenance instead

1
of flashy new initiatives politicians can put their name on, compromise between parties which leaves no one happy, incremental, unexciting improvements only visible over the medium-term, and so on.

This is not entertaining or engaging, & doesn’t make for exciting journalism.

2
But it is how you mostly want democracies governed. This is why you don’t elect showboats like Trump or Jesse Ventura, and you do elect competent administrators like George W. Bush or Biden.

Sometimes I think Fukuyama is right: wealthy democracies get so bored that they

3
Read 5 tweets
Jan 18
🧵No, there won't be a War with N Korea

Yes, NK's rhetoric seems more belligerent lately. Yes, this Kim seems to enjoy making scary threats more than his father did. Yes, the US is distracted by Ukraine & Gaza. But

1. N Korea is the Boy who Cried Wolf

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reuters.com/world/asia-pac…
NK constantly talks like this. I made this point back in 2013👇when Kim told foreigners to leave SK bc war was imminent (jerk). Perhaps Kim means it this time. That is possible,of course. But it's impossible to reliably infer that f/ NK rhetoric anymore

2
thediplomat.com/2013/04/north-…
2. Talk is Cheap

National elites say outlandish stuff all the time. Look at Putin. Threats are a cheap signal. What matters instead are costly signals, which in the NK case would mean something like a seventh nuclear test, a missile test flight over SK, or border skirmishes.

3
Read 11 tweets
Oct 29, 2023
Latent capacity is not capability. Khrushchev said we will bury you, and Mao thought he could fight a nuclear war bc of China’s huge population.This is not how conflict works

Sacks says stuff like this all the time. I’ve no idea why he’s taken seriously as a geopolitical thinker
1. We are highly unlikely to fight all three at the same time. Sacks is ginning up an extreme scenario to scare people

2. The U.S. would not fight alone. We have a huge alliance network, and those states are wealthy and capable too

3. Our goals against all three are limited…
We are not going to invade Russia or China

4. Nuclear weapons limit the likelihood of great power escalation. That works in our favor as the status quo power

5. US has spent trillions on defense for decades. These states have not.That’s a huge logistical advantage you don’t see
Read 5 tweets
Oct 10, 2023
In fact, Biden’s dealt with these crises pretty well.

In Ukraine, he’s helped that fledging democracy fight off increasingly overt fascist imperialism. On Israel, he’s robustly supported Israeli security while discouraging Netanyahu’s legal coup, and has encouraged Israelis

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and Palestinians toward the negotiated solution which is the only durable way out of the cycle of violence they’re locked in.

Yeah, it’s choppy and messy, but that’s how the sausage gets made and it could easily be a lot worse.

Were Trump were POTUS, Russia would be on the

2
Dnipro and NATO would be fracturing as Eastern Europe armed to the teeth while Western Europe dithered.

In Israel, the hard right government would feel unbound in the coming offensive, and the US and Iran would probably be in a shooting war by the end of the month.

So yeah,

3
Read 4 tweets
Sep 27, 2023
🧵So most of this on Ukraine is wrong:

1. Yes, Iraq was a terrible decision, but that was 20 years ago by a different administration with very different ideological beliefs (neoconservatism). Just bc that choice was awful, does not mean US engagement/assistance elsewhere is

1
now automatically an error. Indeed, Republicans used to reject exactly this logic, calling it the Vietnam Syndrome.

2. Yes, 1930s analogies are far too common in US foreign policy. However, Putin is pretty close to a fascist now, and he has engaged in serial imperialism.

2
3. Ukraine aid is easy to justify the war in terms of US interests. Putin is now very anti-American. He very much wants to overturn the democratic world's political structures, particularly in Europe, which is why he aligns with China, North Korea, and Syria. The US benefits

3
Read 14 tweets

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