Tom Dickson

I have Cerebral Palsy and chronic face pain - Classical Liberal/Buckleyite Conservative - Eagle Scout - Sports + esports fan - The cool uncle 😎

[Tom Dickson @TomDickson]

Just so everyone knows:

I have chronic face pain, and reading and retweeting news helps distract myself from the pain.

I don’t post my original thoughts much, because dealing with idiotic people from the far left and right that respond just makes my head hurt more...

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

I agree with Yossi, the grizzled veteran of Israeli intelligence reportage.

The deeper story of the NYT article about Israeli spying -- citing an alleged report the NYT itself hasn't seen -- isn't the spying itself. There's no direct spying on America, because the costs of discovery would be enormous. But there's obviously a great deal of analysis and open-source intelligence work on America, just like there is in America's intelligence community on Israel. Because neither side is stupid, and to do otherwise would be incompetent.

No, the real story here isn't the claims in the article, but the leak itself. It's part of a spate of leaks, possibly but not yet certainly from the Vance orbit, that are trying to distance the administration from the perceived failure of the Iran war by dumping all the blame on Israel.

The simple fact that there's a scapegoat tells us that many in the administration think the war has failed.

[Jonathan H. Adler @jadler1969]

Less than two weeks after attempted swatting of Justice Barrett, Senator accuses SCOTUS of committing "violence" against democracy, and NYT interviewer doesnt bat an eye. It seems only seems harsh rhetoric about judges matters.

[Phil Magness @PhilWMagness]

If a historian on the right abused evidence in this way, they'd face career ruination.

When Boston University's Quinn Slobodian does it, he gets a Guggenheim fellowship, book awards, and a Hewlett Foundation grant.

Academia's rot runs far deeper than a simple crisis of rigor.

[Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz]

The claim that Mojtaba Khamenei is “more rational” is an analytical error. By all evidence, he shares his father’s worldview: ruthless, violent, deeply ideological, and committed to the regime’s revolutionary jihadist project and the development of nuclear weapons and ICBMs.

[Jonathan Schanzer @JSchanzer]

This could get messy rather quickly

[Tanya Berlaga 🇮🇱 @TBerlaga]

HOT TAKE: If you find Graham Platner "relatable" you are probably a horrible person. Just because another horrible person is running for office doesn't make you NOT a horrible person.

[Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz]

This Lebanon-Israel road to peace is blocked by Iran, Hezbollah, and the waning but still strong support they command within Lebanon’s Shiite community.

[AG @AGHamilton29]

Yes. It’s all exhausting and extremely harmful. We will not survive as a society if we don’t push back on it and return to a shared reality.

[LoLNothingMatters @DastDn]

Platner's campaign is a fascinating real-world representation of all those charts/graphs showing the alienation of the Left from the male voters.

The simulacrum of a Blue Collar Dude they built to bridge the gap is the product & reflection of the biases losing them that demo.

[LoLNothingMatters @DastDn]

The entitlement is off the charts. "I ambushed my boss, lectured him on his professional and moral failings in front of the rest of the work force , and told him that I would work to undermine his attempts to run the company. I was shocked when he fired me."

[LoLNothingMatters @DastDn]

If only that was true.

Plenty of highly intelligent people have convinced themselves to support evil causes over centuries, and sometimes helped them win.

It would be nice if the bad guys were always stupid, cowardly, and doomed. But alas.

[Barak Ravid @BarakRavid]

Israeli officials claim the target was a Hezbollah headquarters

[Max 📟 @MaxNordau]

Abuse women, play victim, raise tons of money.

It’s all so Palestinian.

[Mike Coté @ratlpolicy]

Besides the clear CTE on display here, I find it endlessly fascinating that these people hate Jews so much that they've memed themselves into defending Islam.

[Fusilli Spock @awstar11]

Yup, they never probe the "minutiae of his personal relationships" when it comes to Republicans. Not once. Not even a little. Not even a pubic hair on a coke or a boof.

Fuck all the way off.

[Faytuks Network @FaytuksNetwork]

NEW: Israel said its military is currently striking Hezbollah command centers in Beirut's Dahiyeh district, acting on orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, in response to Hezbollah rocket fire toward Israeli territory.

[LoLNothingMatters @DastDn]

No, people in this photo fought fascism.

[AG @AGHamilton29]

I think this might wake up some people who normally don’t notice this stuff and just how absurdly corrupt California elections have become…

And this isn’t some conspiracy. The ballot harvesting is insanely corrupt and undermines the legitimate democratic process.