@tribelaw @stengel 1. What was striking for me was the gross misunderstanding of politics in a democracy exhibited by the Trumpet justices. They raised the specter of the politicization of accountability as if that was a flaw in the system. In a democracy, particularly one founded by revolution... @tribelaw @stengel 2. on the logic of that "all men are created equal", that government derives its JUST powers from the consent of the governed, & accountability for an executive with a history of "repeated injuries and usurpations", political accountability is the ultimate form of accountability.

@vinemetlex @stengel 1. This is where an understanding of the history of the moment is critical, and you're misreading that history. The structure of the Constitution plainly puts the President within the law, subject to the law. Washington rejected even the trappings of the Presidential role... @vinemetlex @stengel 2. being unique, insisting on "Mr. President" (the honorific for all citizens) rather than "Excellency" or any of that European claptrap. Just as the war power was vested in Congress (truly unique - formally the war power still rests with the Crown in the UK), the impeachment

@StephanAJensen @DandyGent This needed to be built from the peace process down. Not having a theory of victory (TOV) they couldn't answer the question "tell me how this ends?" in a realistic, concise way to the public. They failed the "Westmoreland test", as did he. 2🧵irp.fas.org/offdocs/pdd56.… @StephanAJensen @DandyGent Rice, Khalilzad, Petraeus others tried but never fully articulated a peace process TOV, never resolved the core problem of peace - the less you include adversaries in settlement, the more force you need to defeat them. A peace process TOV is comprehensive.... 3🧵

@heroicslug @HecklerAndKoch Guns have been used in the defense of freedom at home. By the Black Panthers California. history.com/news/black-pan… @heroicslug @HecklerAndKoch By freed slaves after the Civil War. slate.com/human-interest…

@heroicslug @HecklerAndKoch Indeed it does. Ultimately all advertising is grounded in sex or fear. But what you just highlighted is that all that 2A crap is just legal mumbo-jumbo to enable the gun industry to sell guns. @heroicslug @HecklerAndKoch The fact that you can effectively (from the POV of the gun companies) advertise based on that combination of sex & status, and fear & fantasies of power that tickle deep parts of the male brain doesn't mean it is good for community or society.

@RonaldN67315508 @chuckwoolery While I agree it is a superb and unique document, it is not biblical though the founders did read the Bible, mostly the King James translation. Jefferson, of course, did his own edition of the bible - cutting out what he saw as the extraneous material thejeffersonbible.com @RonaldN67315508 @chuckwoolery The founders were actively engaged in the French and Scottish Enlightenments, and deeply aware of other cultures and history. Jefferson had a Koran. Here's just some of what they read constitutioncenter.org/the-constituti…

@nils_gilman 1/ Have ranted (privately) for at least three decades on how 60s-70s left-antiauthority and right consumer-capitalist trends interacted to produce deeply corrosive effects on social structures that we now re-appreciate are foundational for human well-being - stable community... @nils_gilman 2/friend, and family networks within a relative stable economic framework. No doubt "left" movements - against unreflective obedience, for race, gender, LGBTQ inclusion and rights - were vital and necessary. But wider general anti-institutional sentiments ("never trust the man")

@RepJeffries @RepMikeLevin @katieporteroc @HouseDemocrats Write & offer an EXPLICIT coalition agreement, as in parliamentary systm. Use to demonstrate commitment to governance. Demand 2+ cmte chairs & majorities, use to run counter-programming to Gym Jordan et al nonsense. @RepJeffries @RepMikeLevin @katieporteroc @HouseDemocrats GOP is too dysfunctional, McCarthy doesn't have the 'nads to accept the idea, but imagine having Transport cmte and investigating SWA debacle w/ @PeteButtigieg BE BOLD, show that you can lead and adapt. Use 50+ Dems in swing districts to vote for McCarthy with coalition. LEAD

@jrpsaki 1/ Yes, but defending democracy needs to be viewed as a complex process. It's not merely about election victories and defeating "the other." That leads to more polarization, more anger, more distrust. Hillary was right - there are some MAGA "deplorables." But they're only a... @jrpsaki 2/ small percentage of Trump supporters. Those that carry active hate catalyze fear and distrust in the mass of the MAGA movement.

So election victories are only a small start. The hard part is a peace process, that acknowledges the underlying fears, doubts, distrust that...

1/ @HurubieMeko I realize that you don't write headlines, but the headline and the article distort the issue of the triptych at USMA. I used to teach at USMA and walked past the triptych multiple times a day. Indeed, I used to bring my sociological theory, and race and 2/ ethnic relations, class to the triptych to discuss history as represented there. The 5 square inches with the the klansman are depicted in the context of American history - it's not a memorialization (except of Lincoln), but a representation of US history.

@StratcomCentre Your strat comms lines on the Amnesty report are completely backwards. Instead of reacting defensively, you should see it as an opportunity to focus world attention on Ukraine's commitment to the rule of law (including the laws of armed combat) and it's determination to fight @StratcomCentre 2/ a just war in accordance with its values - respecting human rights, democracy, the rule of law. And, in turn, to reinforce the sharp contrast with Putin and his brutal generals who deliberately, consistently, as a matter of policy violate the laws of armed combat and all

@Grumpytraveler3 1/ I think all your points are fair, but recall that Petraeus came late to Afghanistan. The absorption capacity issue was central to his effort - TF Shafafiyat tried to counter the corruption that had grown massive and sustained the opposition. The political structure was locked @Grumpytraveler3 2/ in place so really wasn't a variable for him - just a fact of life. He didn't have much time in Afghanistan, only a year, in contrast to his repeated tours in Iraq. So his fingertip feel is much less.

@JustinTLogan Maybe reviewing wines is more your forte. Or didn't you notice that it was Khalilzad (clear, hold, build) and Petraeus & Crocker who got as close to right as we could in 🇮🇶 🇦🇫? Maybe you don't recall that the Bush Administration planned Afghanistan as if it were a car-jacking... @JustinTLogan 2/ rather than a complex and sustained socio-political campaign. Maybe you missed that the Bush Admin supported a political effort to centralize a country that had never been centrally governed in its history. And then turned that effort into an economy of force effort and

@kamilkazani @amnesty 1/ @NATOinUkraine @DefenceU @GeneralStaffUA @Ukraine @USNATO @NATOpress Seeing the Amnesty report as a problem is missing the point and value of the report entirely. As a result, you see a problem where there is a HUGE opportunity for Ukraine. We must not let defensiveness.. @kamilkazani @amnesty @NATOinUkraine @DefenceU @GeneralStaffUA @Ukraine @USNATO @NATOpress 2/blind us to realities. We fight FOR the rule of law (including the laws of armed combat). We fight for self-determination and democracy, and the value of every life. The laws of armed combat embody those values. Amnesty seeks to preserve those laws and values.

@nils_gilman 1/ The expectation that there will be some spontaneously evolving "solution" that arises out a democratic crisis is nonsense. Such thinking is grounded, either in a version of libertarian/market radical "invisible hand" thinking, or in a gross misunderstanding of equilibrium ... @nils_gilman 2/ dynamics and processes in ecology. Whatever its origins, its a distractingly bad idea. The fact that there will be no spontaneous solution doesn't mean that the situation can't be fixed. We must face a simple fact: if we fear a democratic collapse and civil war, we must

@samuelmoyn 1/ You're a professor of law and history, not sociology, so you can be forgiven for not understanding how social institutions are constructed and how they fail. Saying the international order doesn't exist is rather like Maggie Thatcher's "no such thing [as society]" quote. @samuelmoyn 2/ The "international order" has been an object of US foreign policy since David Porter sailed forth under the banner of "free trade and sailor's rights" in the War of 1812. It exists today in a deep and complex network of agreements, organizations, and understandings.

@ProfessorHannah @EGFound @RStatecraft I agree with your conclusion. Which makes the vague call for "talking" all the more damaging. Calling for talking without a real sense of the negotiation dynamics is not merely useless, positively dangerous. Until I see a negotiation analysis that shows how we can can... @ProfessorHannah @EGFound @RStatecraft 2/ actually end up closer to a just and lasting wider peace through negotiation, I read every vague call for "negotiation" as a call for stopping the war and letting Putin keep what he's got, and draw whatever conclusions he wants from his adventure.

@holland_tom @sarahchurchwell Looking forward to listening to the series and reading the book. The key lesson we have to take from the North's triumph at war, and the North's defeat in peace (the Posse Comitatus Act being the North's surrender document - the equivalent of Lee's surrender @ Appomattox)... @holland_tom @sarahchurchwell is that peace must be built. This isn't the same as surrendering to the radical extreme (was was done in 1877) but building inclusive peace for the majority, while marginalizing, defeating, arresting the radical entrepreneurs of violence and polarization. We need a new...

@Doctrine_Man @NavalInstitute 1/ DoD & the Joint Staff, unsurprisingly, aren't too good at thinking about effects other than kinetic ones. They lack the social science theory base, & the analytical capacity (practical social & conflict analysis skills) to do non-kinetic effects thinking well. @Doctrine_Man @NavalInstitute 2/ So not thinking well about "presence" (particularly problematic for Navy and Air Force, but the Army isn't as good as it should be) has similar roots to not thinking well about how to achieve our strategic effects ("stability") in Iraq and Afghanistan.

@WarInstitute 1/ It's a shame that CPT O'Brien isn't more familiar with the long history of peace-building efforts in Somalia, given his association with the 10th Mtn. Somalia is a complicated bit of the world. The recent US withdrawal from the combined AMISOM/EU/US/UN... @WarInstitute 2/ effort long in place temporarily removed Somalia from US attention. But his "mowing the grass" article w/ disregard for successful nation- & state-bldg efforts in Somalia is exactly the wrong approach. The long effort undertaken by regional partners supported (irregularly)

@SpeakerPelosi @RepRaskin @RepSwalwell Progressives have cheered McConnell's statement on Trump's "provok(ing)" "the mob." But there is enough space between that statement and a vote to convict in an impeachment trial to drive a bus load of Senators through. @SpeakerPelosi @RepRaskin @RepSwalwell If the House impeachment managers want to convict the former President, they must slam that gate shut. Here's how.

The key is three words.

Preserve. Protect. Defend.