Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
The basic issue Biden's critics are dodging on Afghanistan is that the Taliban was steadily gaining ground in Obama's second term and Trump's first three years *before* the withdrawal agreement was signed.
What was the plan to turn that around?
11:09 AM · Aug 31, 2021
302 Reposts · 2.17K Likes
Nate Silver@NateSilver538
In any event, the goal is to prevent severe outcomes and death. Out of 15,000 people tested in the 98% vaccinated Duke community, there are NO cases severe enough to wind up in the hospital. Yet they're imposing substantial new burdens on students. *This* is losing the plot.
12:11 PM · Aug 31, 2021
523 Reposts · 3.84K Likes
Matthew Zeitlin@MattZeitlin
12:20 PM · Aug 31, 2021
25 Reposts · 258 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
I am committing to Taliban-free opioid use in my household — stick to fentanyl.
Sam Raskin @samraskinz
I hereby declare *never* to use any Taliban-produced products, a significant but necessary sacrifice, and won’t attend any panel discussions featuring Abdul Ghani Baradar. https://t.co/ULPatViVgx
12:22 PM · Aug 31, 2021
9 Reposts · 237 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Really underappreciated that mainstream Democrats (that's the Hamilton Project launch) very sincerely but incorrectly believed George W Bush had set the country on track for a budget crisis.
@adam_tooze's book covers the impact of this well but it tends to get missed.
Michael Andersen @andersem
Each of these charts knock my socks off, both individually and in combination https://t.co/hvlx7mCozd https://t.co/R1NFbwjEED
1:13 PM · Aug 31, 2021
9 Reposts · 125 Likes
Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias
Something you see whenever humanitarian rationales for military action are on the table is that US national security hotshots seem to have no idea how cheap global public health interventions with high odds of success are.
5:06 PM · Aug 31, 2021
125 Reposts · 1.08K Likes
Musa al-Gharbi@Musa_alGharbi
I didn't love Biden as a candidate. But even if he accomplishes nothing else in his administration than ending this war, I'll be grateful he ended up in office. It was a call that obviously needed to be made, but that no one else apparently had the fortitude and honesty to do.
8:08 PM · Aug 31, 2021
42 Reposts · 395 Likes