Lol, Thomas participated in this decision. Surprised that Alito didn't write it was error for the lower court to fail to consider whether the briber was a *dear friend* of the bribee.
The very real problem with Thomas staying on the Court is that the majority of Justices are going to be heavily incentivized to legalize all kinds of graft now and the Roberts Court's record on that front was already no bueno.
Aug 22, 2021 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
Personally, I think if someone is trotting out the old America's *standing* or *leadership* within the global community trope, that should be viewed as a tacit admission that they don't have good strategic arguments for staying.
But if we're going to place value on precedent...
Then we should look to the otherside of that coin.
1) What does it say if the American people want to end a foreign occupation, elect not one, but three successive Presidents to do that, and it still doesn't happen?
A national security crisis is basically a bad takes Olympics.
Aug 17, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Our plan was to leave, the Afghan government's plan was to continue to be corrupt, and the Afghan security forces' plan was to surrender rather than fight in the face of that corruption.
And there's just no way around the latter two problems which is why all of these op-eds, every single one of them, simply decide to disappear them.
Aug 17, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I'd like to preface what I'm about to say by noting that I'm not unsympathetic to those who fought with us and were left out in the cold by their own countrymen.
I'd like Biden pursue all reasonable measures to rescue as many of those folks as possible.
The MSM can seriously go fuck itself right now. You want to know how we get stuck in places like Afghanistan for 20 years? You want to know why we never leave? Pick up a newspaper and read how national security conflicts are covered.
Aug 16, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
If you're of the opinion that the U.S. should've kept troops in a half a dozen forward positions to stave off collapse, and had half a dozen extraction points, you should say that.
You should also be clear about the risks that would present to our troops.
There are no free rides here, and once the Afghan security forces called it quits, there were no good options.
Aug 15, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
The Taliban did not win a bunch of battles. Despite having more troops and better weapons, the Afghan security forces simply abandoned their posts.
And with respect to this, I want to evacuate as man allies as possible, there's a hard limit on how many more U.S. troops I'm willing to risk to do so. In addition to failures that include many agencies through 4 administrations, I'm angry with actors outside the U.S.
This paragraph, on the other hand, underscores the problem.
Sep 20, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Only a party that was planning on being out of power for a long time, or a party that believes it will need the Court's help to retain power, would undertake the risk Senate Rs are about to undertake.
There is no reasonable argument in favor of expanding the number of SCOTUS seats if they leave this seat open until the next POTUS is sworn in. No one benefitted by differing standards or hypocrisy. They have a safe and legitimate conservative majority on the Court.
