The really weird part is that Rs convinced themselves they needed a totally new voting base after they won a 234-seat House majority, a 54-seat Senate majority, 68 of 99 state legislative chambers, and had 33 governors, 25 of whom presided over GOP-led trifectas.
That was the point at which the vaunted “base” decided all the GOP does is lose, somewhere between the period when Obama complained that the GOP blocked “500 bills” and the scuttling of the Iran deal in the Senate. That kind of losing sounds like a dream today.
Nov 30, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
A story in two parts. Part one, Ben Rhodes pronounces a grim verdict on the Biden admin’s support for Israeli self-defense against the genocidal terrorist group Hamas. nytimes.com/2023/11/30/opi…
Part two, via @TeviTroy who actually read Rhodes’s memoir, the guy’s nickname in the White House was literally “Hamas.” politico.com/news/magazine/…
Aug 2, 2023 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
The @NRO editors’ view is that Jack Smith’s latest Trump indictment is an overreach that seeks to “criminalize protected political speech” and undermine the rule of law.
I dissent from our editorial.
"January 6 Was a Crime" nationalreview.com/2023/08/januar…
Summarizing some points: Smith’s charges, conspiracy to defraud the gov’t and obstruct it’s proper workings, are distinct from Trump’s 2021 impeachment article on “incitement to insurrection.” This is not a “do-over” of impeachment by Biden’s DOJ.
Apr 5, 2023 • 19 tweets • 1 min read
This is all free media.
He’s fundraising off it. There’s a text-to-donate code right there.
Feb 6, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Was it an intelligence-gathering instrument? If so, why would a state that operates a sophisticated assortment of orbital reconnaissance satellites deploy this relatively crude alternative?
Is it likely that China lost control over two harmless weather balloons that just happened to menace America’s continental defenses? Is it likely two airships, which typically fly at altitudes outside the range of the naked eye, descended to observable altitudes by accident?
Nov 9, 2022 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
The degree to which tonight’s results reset everything back to square one is hard to overstate.
Lord knows what happens if this comes down to 50/49 with a runoff in GA for control. If it does, that’s depressingly familiar.
May 24, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The cultural conformists of the 1600s were horrified by theatrics, in part, because the conventions of the day ensured gender roles would be blurred on stage. Puritan lawyer, William Prynne, famously inveighed against its inherent attack on our basic identifying characteristics.
The scholar Laura Levin diagnosed the puritans’ anti-theatricality as rooted in their belief “that they have no way of knowing they are men except in the re-enactment, the relentless re-enactment, of their own masculinity.”
Mar 15, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
"A pandemic that began in Wuhan, and, for now, has been contained in China, is still rampaging through America’s economy and citizenry — even though we saw the whole thing coming." nytimes.com/2020/10/13/opi…
"China’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Model for Epidemic Preparedness and Management" karger.com/Article/FullTe…
Feb 25, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
The run up to and initial phase of the Russian invasion has gone eerily according to predictions, even those made back in Dec (msnbc.com/opinion/biden-…). But there are plenty of assumptions that have not played out as expected, which cause for qualified optimism.
Many assumed that Ukraine would be a black hole by now. Information and electronic disruption would take out most civilian communications. Not the case. There’s plenty of video and information available on open source, and mobile/data seems functioning in much of the country.
Feb 24, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
We are witnessing something that just should not be. In Europe, a nationalist autocrat has launched a war of naked aggression--a war of territorial acquisition in pursuit of national prestige. That wasn't supposed to happen anymore. But it is.
In this one brazen display of hard power, all the diplomatic pieties of the modern world are dissolving like the gauzy fantasies they always were. ... the trappings of internationalism are a feeble veneer.
Jan 27, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
This was the week when we transitioned from “no one wants to do this forever” to “yeah I guess we have to do this forever.” A few examples: foxnews.com/us/maryland-co…
If this is a cynical ploy to curry favor with Putin-loving Republicans, Carlson is courting a tiny constituency. At least, according to this June CBS/Yougov poll... cbsnews.com/news/biden-put…
That poll found 62% of Rs saying Russia was either “unfriendly” or “an enemy,” 57% saying Biden has been “too friendly” toward Moscow, and two-thirds saying Biden “should take a tough stand” against Putin. Indeed, just 14% of Rs had a “favorable” impression of the Russian leader.
Dec 1, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Fauci Says Florida Is ‘Asking For Trouble’ By Fully Reopening Restaurants And Bars” forbes.com/sites/tommybee…
"This cycle of desperately seeking to 'control' the pandemic, failing, and retreating into despair has repeated itself throughout Joe Biden’s first year. But those who are most exposed to these temptations never self-correct." commentary.org/noah-rothman/a…
"There is a profound reluctance among Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats to admit that the pandemic-related costs imposed on the public are not justified by their rewards... The governing class has made repeated demands on the public’s patience without ever asking for it."
Nov 5, 2021 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Ds respond to the charge that they're slouching toward 2010 redux by racing to pass a bill jammed with social engineering that no one has read, and which Rs will spend the next 10 months framing while Ds talk up the massive price tag.
At least in 2010, they had a hope of passing the thing into law. This is just a positioning statement that Rs get to make the centerpiece of their midterm pitch. Rs are blessed. They didn't do anything to deserve their good fortune.
Nov 3, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Given our collective refusal to learn simple lessons and to overthink the obvious, we should state the lessons of 2021 plainly. They are as follows...
Americans don’t like to be humiliated abroad, and they don't like surrendering to terrorists. Voters don’t typically reward policies that make them feel both mortified and unsafe.
Aug 16, 2021 • 8 tweets • 1 min read
What a nauseatingly facile display.
We will continue to speak out, so everyone who is going to be subjugated can take heart that there will be speeches on their behalf.
Apr 23, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
“Doctors and scientists agree that, at least for the foreseeable future, indoor masking is here to stay. Vaccines may not offer complete protection and contagious variants continue to pose a risk.” abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/dit…
“ So when can you consider going mask-less outside?
When you are alone outside or with your household, you may not need to mask up, although you’ll want to keep your mask handy, experts suggest.”
Apr 16, 2021 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
A slightly nuanced take on the implosion of the Russia bounties story, which is indicative only of how discourse on this website is not only unhelpful but an obstacle to the fullest understanding of events. Apologies in advance, but it’s a thread…
When the story broke, my take on it was A) we shouldn’t know about it, because leaking this claim all but forecloses on the possibility of substantiating it sufficient to prove the charge. But also B) it’s *plausible.* commentarymagazine.com/noah-rothman/w… Here’s why…
Apr 14, 2021 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
Vaccine demand falls at University of Arizona state POD google.com/amp/s/www.kold…
Pa. ‘incredibly concerned’ about falling demand for COVID-19 vaccine as eligibility expands Tuesday google.com/amp/s/www.penn…
Feb 22, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
"In the blunt equation of capitalist production, the workers are worth less than the chickens they are processing." nytimes.com/2021/02/19/t-m…
"To treat food as a commodity rather than a necessity is to accept that there will always be people who can’t afford it and must go hungry."
3 subscribed