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17 Aug, 7 tweets, 3 min read
Back in 2013, during Chuck Hagel's Senate confirmation hearing, hardly anyone asked the incoming Defense Secretary about Afghanistan, even though 66,000 U.S. troops were at war there. They only wanted to talk about Israel. Afghanistan was an afterthought.
nation.time.com/2013/02/04/jus…
Ted Cruz, for example, had the opportunity to question Hagel about U.S. plans for Afghanistan. He never brought it up. He didn't care. Instead, he mentioned Israel 10 times. But today, he's VERY ANGRY about how Afghanistan is being handled.
Utah Senator Mike Lee is calling the withdrawal a "historic failure." But when given the opportunity to question an incoming Defense Secretary about what 66K troops were doing in Afghanistan in 2013, he never brought it up. He mentioned Israel 16 times.
Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker suddenly cares about Afghanistan. When he questioned an incoming Defense Secretary in 2013 when we had 66,000 troops there, he never mentioned it. Never occurred to him. Instead, he brought up Israel half a dozen times.
Missouri Senator Roy Blunt is the same. He was concerned enough about Israel to bring it up with Hagel half a dozen times. He never mentioned Afghanistan. Not once. At a confirmation hearing for a Defense Secretary.
So don't fall for all the bullshit from these suddenly concerned Republicans. When we had tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan, they couldn't have cared less. We have the receipts.
(And yes, tip of the hat to Carl Levin, who knew what was up)

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More from @BFriedmanDC

Brandon Friedman Profile picture
6 Sep
the insurrection continues
Trumpists attacking school board meetings is really important.

Stay with me here: While Democrats have historically focused on House, Senate and presidential races, Republicans have built electoral power nationally through relentless focus on state and local races.
But free and fair elections have lost favor with most Republicans. So back in January, they stormed the U.S. Capitol. This was a bad idea and ended in embarrassing defeat. It was much too early, too national and the majority of Republicans weren't ready to support open rebellion.
Read 6 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
5 Sep
Not criticizing Walter here, but yes, I can imagine what will happen. Fascism will reign (not historically unusual) or widespread civil conflict will break up the country (which has already happened twice). We should stop dancing around the possibility and address it directly.
If Trumpists take control of the government through voter suppression, I would predict the fascism option if the economy stays strong. If the pandemic sticks around and the economy remains sluggish or takes a dive, then we'll have open conflict.
What has always made America exceptional, the thing that has kept us together when other similarly diverse countries would have broken up, is our wealth. As long as the economy stays strong and employment stays high, we'll only have sporadic conflict.
Read 4 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
18 Aug
One thing that would help veterans not feel so sad about our failing wars is if we didn't constantly tell them they were heroes fighting for freedom. It sets the bar way too high relative to what the actual job was.

🧵
Sure, many performed heroically, but troops are basically plumbers: Someone highly trained to solve an important problem. You got a busted, corrupt government allowing terrorism to fester? Call these guys. Problem solved.
Asking them to do more than that, and worse, putting them on a pedestal as being more virtuous than everyone else is a real mismanagement of expectations. So when the freedom and democracy doesn't materialize, vets feel like they failed, or worse, that their job was pointless.
Read 7 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
16 Aug
We went to Afghanistan to avenge 9/11 and to bring its perpetrators to justice. Everything else was peripheral or came later. Whatever happens, Bin Laden lies at the bottom of the ocean, his colleagues dead or imprisoned in a Cuban dungeon. We got that, even if that's all we got.
Was it worth it? No. Much of the effort before 2011 was a waste, all of the effort after 2011 was. The thing is, the war went on so long and got so muddied, that most people who served there in the past decade have only childhood memories of 9/11 at best.
There's no chance anyone will be held accountable for the waste: the politicians who funded the long war, the voters who elected them, the defense companies who lobbied to stay or the generals who lied about progress.
Read 5 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
6 Aug
The situation in Dallas:

- No virtual learning options; students must attend class in person

- Schools are banned from requiring masks

- Schools are not required to notify parents of covid cases

- Parents attempting to enroll virtually in other cities
wfaa.com/article/news/l…
If you're the parent of an unvaccinated child, the choice is to send your child to school in unsafe conditions or home school your child. This is a total abdication of government responsibility at the state and local level and it requires federal intervention.
During a deadly pandemic, a school district must answer at least one of these questions affirmatively:

1. Have we created the safest learning environment possible?

2. If not, have we provided learning alternatives for parents and students?

@DallasSchools is a "no" on both.
Read 4 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
5 Aug
Allen Independent School District, a suburb north of Dallas, held its convocation with teachers and staff this week to kick off the new school year. They held it indoors.

This is how they handled the mask issue in a county where Covid-19 cases are up 500% in the last month.
Imagine being the parent of a vulnerable child in this district. These are supposed to be the people who protect your kids.
Sometimes I wonder what it would take for me to home-school my kid. I think knowing people like this are teaching him math and science would put me over the edge.

"If Collin County has 58 covid cases per day in June and 500 cases per day in July, should we wear our masks?"
Read 5 tweets

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