More Americans have died in the illegal undeclared Iran War than died during the Afghanistan withdrawal that was portrayed to the American public as a presidency-annulling catastrophe for Joe Biden.
But in Argentina in the 1970s, the military dictatorship offered another option: a parallel unit that needed staffing, valued loyalty over competence, and offered career-pressured officers a second chance. The dirty work of state terror — kidnapping, torture, disappearing people — was psychologically repugnant enough that high-performing officers with smooth career trajectories had every reason to avoid it. But for the men at the bottom of the cohort, it was a ladder. A ladder that paid off in terms of higher positions at the end of the career, more salary, and better pensions. The worse an officer’s academic record, the more likely he was to join the secret police. Once inside, the worst performers were assigned to the most brutal departments, where the work was most repugnant and the career reward for doing it most valuable.
Who is willing to to the dirty of an authoritarian regime? A study of the Argentinian secret police found that those who joined "were not the most extreme officers in Argentina’s army. They were the most stuck." Mediocre men whose careers had stalled out.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-secret...
Oops
Incredible that just 24 hours after this tweet, it's being reported that America is preparing to put boots on the ground in Iran.
Faith in Housing legislation passes Senate as they approve Conference Committee version, now to House for approval in #VALeg
They've learned nothing
Ummmm
Great questions…
Weird how we funded defense and they used it on war.
These are generally people who believe money talks and bulkshit walks. Hegseth has a trillion dollar ($1,000,000,000,000) budget and we've given him all the money and weapons he needs to overwhelm Iran with asymmetrical firepower.
We the people of the United States are responsible for this.
No one who knows anything about oil markets is surprised that attacking Iran led to clamp downs in Hormuz, nor that Russia has a vested interest in (a) high oil prices and (b) easing sanctions. And yet Trump & Major Pete have own-goaled their way into all of the above.
A great reason to support @vpm.org @statesnewsroom.com and @nashvillebanner.bsky.social among others.
It's only 8:30 am and we already have today's Quiet Part Outloud winner
I have American Muslim friends who, during Ramadan, are watching this while two of their adult children are in the US military. Meanwhile, Andy Ogles is running his mouth, Hegseth is escalating aggressive strikes, and Bibi is claiming superpower status.
Pete Hegseth proving Iran correct that we are who they say we are. Good job, Pete. Now we're the terrorists.
Some background here: Again, the Jerusalem Cross *was* adopted by crusaders, but the symbol itself was/is widely used in a variety of Christian contexts.
However, Hegseth also has a “Deus vult” tattoo, the rallying cry of crusaders that he *overtly mentions in that context in his own 2020 book.*
She's not wrong
NEW: US Treasury issued a general license for the delivery and sale of Russian oil loaded on vessels as of March 12.
Moscow continues to be the single largest beneficiary of the Iran War.
Twinsies
If we bomb a girls school and kill 165 people, are we the state-sponsored terrorists?
Meanwhile, Sen. Marsha Blackburn seems to have a blank check no holds barred anything goes mentality.
youtu.be/6RoY49aLKpk?...
As had been mentioned, there is no way to conclusively end nuclear threat without military "boots on the ground". Even then, hard to do.
The Senate GOP posted an AI deepfake of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.
Using this tech isn't just a profound threat to our democracy - it's a disgraceful attempt to intentionally deceive voters.
Congress must swiftly pass federal AI protections.
Springtime for Donald
It's been a pretty awful 16 years
Not bad for a felon convicted of fraud.
Don't forget spend a billion dollars a day...
The fog of war isn't that foggy anymore. But Trump's lies create a fog of news coverage in an age of AI deep fakes.
As I asked friends and co-workers more than 20 years ago, when state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage slimed across the nation, do they seriously believe such measures will make gay people go away? #ksleg
The Department of Justice is quietly restarting a decades-dormant program to restore gun rights to felons. One of them was an alleged fake elector in 2020. n.pr/3OTXX2R
