Mike R

Tweets are my own and not representative of my employer.

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@StrongBullSr @birdlandmetrics Assuming there isn’t a lockout

[Leo Terrell @LeoTerrellDOJ]

Jews fought alongside us African Americans when we fought for our rights during the Civil Rights Movement. When the civil rights of Jews are threatened, we must stand by them!

[Reverend Jordan Wells @WellsJorda89710]

🚨Jews stood with us during the Civil Rights Movement — now we stand with them.🇮🇱

They helped found the NAACP, fought Brown v. Board with Thurgood Marshall, marched with MLK in Selma, and risked their lives in Freedom Summer (two of the three murdered workers were Jewish).

Real solidarity goes both ways.
When Jewish rights are threatened, we must stand together.
#JewishAndBlackSolidarity #StandTogether #CivilRightsForAll #NeverAgainIsNow #AlliesInTheFight

[Mike R @spacehikes]

Hey @Hilton, the hotel that had a 3pm checkin told me at 4pm that the room wasn’t ready but would be in 30 min. 90 min later 1 room isn’t ready and they don’t have a timeframe, have 2 young kids. Ridiculous! Please help!

[Ilan Goldenberg @ilangoldenberg]

What you often hear from Israelis or even American Jews is: "You don't live in Israel. You don't understand Israeli security concerns."

Fair enough. But I've spent my career working on national security. So let's put morality and idealism aside for a moment and ask a simple question: Is Israel's current strategy actually making it safer?

The answer is clearly: no. And frankly it hasn’t been for 20 years arguably even much longer.

Israel has repeatedly demonstrated extraordinary military superiority over Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Yet after each conflict, it finds itself confronting many of the same threats often in a worse strategic position than before. That's not because the IDF isn't capable. It's because military success alone is not a strategy.

Israel's greatest strategic achievements came when military victories created opportunities for diplomacy. Between 1948-1973 the IDF excelled at fighting conventional state-on-state wars and those victories eventually translated into peace with Egypt and Jordan fundamentally transforming Israel's security. Military power mattered, but it was used to achieve a political end state.

Today's conflicts are different. Asymmetric wars can't be won through military force alone. The United States learned that in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel has experienced it in Lebanon and Gaza. Killing terrorists matters. Replacing them with legitimate political and security alternatives matters even more. And when your strategy results in killing thousands of civilians that doesn’t help you on the battlefield and it turns the world against you.

That was one of the biggest strategic failures after October 7. The United States consistently urged Israel to pair military operations with a plan to empower a credible Palestinian alternative to Hamas. Instead, politics prevailed over strategy. Hamas was weakened militarily, but no viable replacement was built.

The same pattern is visible in Lebanon. Israel achieved remarkable tactical success in Lebanon in 2024, but two years later rather than turning that into a strategy where it works with a new Lebanese government more willing to take on Hezbollah and with the Lebanese Armed Forces, it is instead drawing itself into a new occupation, like the previous 20 year occupation that ended in failure.

And with Iran. Israel demonstrated remarkable capacity to dominate Iranian airspace, take out thousands of missiles heading its way, and kill Iranian leadership. But where is it now that the war is ended. Isolated, while the United States negotiates a deal that Israelis don’t like and that is far weaker than the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by President Obama in 2015 that Israel fought so hard to undo.

None of this means Israel should abandon military strength. Israel should maintain the strongest military in the Middle East. It is useful for deterrence, leverage, and if you do need to fight to defend yourself. But military power cannot be a substitute for strategy.

The alternative isn't naïve. It means building credible Palestinian institutions that can replace Hamas (There is a 20 point plan on the table to try to do that), supporting and strengthening the Palestinian Authority while pushing for reform, working with Arab partners, strengthening the Lebanese state against Hezbollah, and pursuing the strongest realistic agreement that constrains Iran while maintaining military deterrence. Ultimately, all of that takes you to what at J Street we call the 23 state solution – Israel at peace with all of its neighbors including the new state of Palestine.

Many Israelis will understandably point to Oslo or the Gaza disengagement and say “we have no partner. We have no choice.” Those failures should inform future policy, but the answer isn’t to pursue an approach that Israel has for 25 years and led to the disaster of October 7 and the horrific wars that followed which have come at great cost to Israelis, have isolated Israel internationally, and are turning Americans against the Israeli government and undermining Israel’s most important alliance.

Take the withdrawal from Gaza, which was largely unilateral and uncoordinated. Israel did little to build a viable alternative to Hamas – and Netanyahu, once elected, actively strengthened it. The apt analogy is President Obama’s decision to withdraw from Iraq. When that decision helped lead to the rise of ISIS, Obama did not conclude that the only solution was a permanent American reoccupation and a return to 2003. That strategy had already failed. Instead, the United States developed a different strategy – one that relied on local partners, sustainable political arrangements, and much more limited use of U.S. forces.

Israel should draw the same lesson. The failure of disengagement does not prove that perpetual occupation is the only option. The 20-point plan, if fully executed with active cooperation from the Israeli government, offers a viable alternative to building a replacement for Hamas.

From a purely security perspective, the conclusion is straightforward: what Israel is doing today is not making it safer. Military power remains indispensable, but only if it serves a broader political strategy. Israel has repeatedly shown it can win battles. The challenge now is building a strategy that can turn military power into a more stable peace.

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@Juicenjhu @Avis Race and ethnicity are different. Race is physical traits and ethnicity is about cultural heritage. Won’t spend time on a lost cause who is too ingrained in their own preverbal reflection

[Mike R @spacehikes]

Why am I having issues creating a booking with @Avis for a card that I just used and know works?? @avis is showing "Not a valid card" but holding card and verified number 5 times

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@Juicenjhu @DSA_Watch How does that explain your idiotic post about Jews not being white? Are you retarded?

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@Juicenjhu @Avis If I’m a boomer, then you’re a bot and/or racist. Because you’re wrong, 😂

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@Juicenjhu @DSA_Watch What? You’re crazy

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@JustTrollinLibs @Badhombre 😂

https://t.co/UqGcLHFYW5

It’s gonna take a LOT for the GOP to lose. The GOP is great at 1 thing: getting their people to fall in line to vote the party line.

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@spencerjsteel @speechboy71 Her supporters are as bad as Trump supporters in a way. Equally as radical. Blinded by their own ignorance.

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@JustTrollinLibs @Badhombre What world are you living in? GOP has been busy rigging the seats and such so they stay in power in the house. And Senate has always been in GOP favor to keep majority,

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@justin_fenton But her lead has shrunk from 53.33 or whatever to 52…%, so stayed steady but has decreased

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@Taniel When would the race get called?

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@garycollins With nearly 70% counted (adding context for readers), when does it get called? Still chance for Shellenberger to catch up?

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@justin_fenton At what point will we know the winner? Can’t use the @BaltimoreBanner website because it doesn’t have this info

[Mike R @spacehikes]

Hey @BaltimoreBanner, your states attorney page for Baltimore county election primary isn’t updating the % and is broken!

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@WBALPhil @wbalradio Please add context. That number sounds really sad. But is that expected at this time? Or super low?

[Mike R @spacehikes]

@bokinkaizoku Some of the mailers have turned people off in the states attorney race since it’s by a 3rd party