Jack Kennedy @35th_potus

@JDVance The Vice President’s analysis is what you get with a Yale legal education, I suppose.

@ScottJenningsKY Barack Obama would like a word.

@FoxNews It’s fascinating to watch some “Originalists” on the Court contort themselves to reach a result. Text matters. “Tariff” is not in the text. The Chief is right. Justice Kavanaugh has revealed himself to be a legislator from the bench. Sad!

@ScottJenningsKY You know, in Boston a few years ago an angry mob stood up to law enforcement. What do you think happened?

Shared today by Bev Perry in the Expand Dem Values in the House and Senate Facebook group. I need to say something that's been bothering me for a while, and I'm saying it as a Marine Corps veteran who leans center-right. This isn't partisan. This is observation. We've slow-faded into accepting militarized police as normal, and nobody seems to notice or care. Even as a USMC pilot, I went through six months of infantry training as an officer before flight school. I've worn the gear. The helmet, the tactical vest, the whole kit. And I can tell you from experience, it changes you. There's a psychological shift that happens when you strap that stuff on. You feel different. You carry yourself different. You start seeing the environment differently. In the Marine Corps, that shift was appropriate because it's a combat culture and organization. But these are American streets. American citizens. And we've got law enforcement dressed like they're kicking down doors in Fallujah to serve warrants in suburbia. What happend to high standards and real policing tactics? Think Adam-12...Officers Reed and Malloy. Crisp uniforms. A revolver. A baton. High standards and professionalism. They looked like public servants because they were public servants. They de-escalated. They talked to people. They were part of the community. Now? Tactical gear, beards, ball caps, Oakley sunglasses, sleeve tattoos, and a tactical kit that would make special operators jealous. And we've turned it into a fetish. We celebrate it. We assume that because someone looks hard, they must be a professional. They're not. I loved the Marine Corps. But I'll be honest, I was also blinded by it for a while. Mission first. Unit over everything. And that mentality made sense in that context. But law enforcement doesn't get that critical examination. "Back the Blue" has become a shield against accountability. A blanket assumption that a badge plus gun equals hero. That tactical gear equals competence. It doesn't. Most people who join law enforcement aren't special operators. They're average people who desperately want to belong to something bigger than themselves. I understand that impulse deeply, it's why I joined the Marines. But wanting to belong doesn't make you qualified. Looking the part doesn't mean you can perform under pressure. And wrapping yourself in warrior aesthetics doesn't make you a warrior. Old school law enforcement represented something. Standards. Bearing. Discipline. Professionalism that was demonstrated, not costumed. A revolver and a baton meant you had to rely on your training, your words, your judgment, not overwhelming firepower. What I see now in law enforcement is the costume without the culture. The gear without the training. The authority without the accountability. Are there good people in law enforcement? Of course. I know some personally. But this reflexive "law enforcement can do no wrong" mentality is lazy, dangerous, and intellectually dishonest. A woman is dead. And before we sort ourselves into teams and start assigning blame, maybe we should ask harder questions: Why do we accept a militarized police force as normal? Why do we assume tactical gear equals tactical competence? Why have we let "Back the Blue" become a substitute for actual standards? I wore the uniform. I went through the training. I know what that gear does to your head. It shouldn't be normalized on American streets against American citizens. And we shouldn't pretend everyone wearing it is qualified to carry it. The fact that he called her a “fucking bitch” after he shot her three times should be a huge red flag for all of us.

@SecWar Nonsense. You should resign.

Over twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy, thirty-nine combat missions, and four missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution – including the First Amendment rights of every American to speak out. I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me for doing exactly that. My rank and retirement are things that I earned through my service and sacrifice for this country. I got shot at. I missed holidays and birthdays. I commanded a space shuttle mission while my wife Gabby recovered from a gunshot wound to the head– all while proudly wearing the American flag on my shoulder. Generations of servicemembers have made these same patriotic sacrifices for this country, earning the respect, appreciation, and rank they deserve. Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that. If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.

@elonmusk Nonsense.

@RickPetree How many times did the word “oil” come up just now? I lost count.

@LindseyGrahamSC @POTUS Yes, and that’s why it was in our national security interest to pardon President Hernández. Kudos to our military for a brilliant operation. One hopes for equal brilliance in restoring democratic rule to Venezuela. Perhaps USAID can lend a hand.

Several contradictory things are simultaneously true: 1. Maduro was an oppressive, unpopular and illegitimate ruler, disastrous for his country and the region. 2. Using the US to remove him may have been equally illegitimate. 3. Venezuela would be better off with a new government under the opposition's Edmundo Gonzalez (who probably won the presidential election but is now exiled). 4. It's not clear that Maduro will be replaced by Gonzalez. Maduro's VP is still apparently in power, as are other regime figures and the Cubans who back them. 5. As we've seen in Iraq and Libya, it can be easier to topple a leader than to establish a new government; sometimes you get a worse leader, or Somalia-style chaos.

To believe this is about drug smuggling, you have to ignore Trump’s pardon of the former Honduran president for drug smuggling. To believe it’s about Maduro’s democratic legitimacy, you have to believe Trump cares even slightly about democratic legitimacy. Alternatively:

@dick_nixon They’re not happy in Moscow. Or Tehran, Beijing, and Managua. I’d call that a win. Though one wonders if Mario and State now are up to finishing the job. Even money on that. At best.

@JakeSherman The Democrats would be wise to avoid seeming to side with Maduro, even indirectly. This action is not sending troops into Chicago. It was a legitimate law enforcement action à la Noriega. Better for the Democrats to have pictures taken alongside Ms Corina Machado and Mr González.

If this morning’s action results in Ms Machado or one of her allies leading Venezuela, the strike will have been a very good thing. The military side of the equation was brilliantly performed. Now we need equal competence from State and our diplomats. Hope springs eternal.

FOX & Friends @foxandfriends

7 months ago

FLASHBACK: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado urged Americans to trust the Trump administration’s strategy against Nicolás Maduro. “This is not a legitimate president. This is the head of a criminal structure that was already defeated in a presidential election by

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@JoeBiden Merry Christmas, Joe, to you, Jill, and the family.

@ForecasterEnten I’m not great at arithmetic, but apparently being less below 50% is now defined as “up like a rocket” … perhaps call it the Redstone trajectory.

Trump, Vance & others either have forgotten or never knew that Zelensky signed a ceasefire agreement with Putin in 2019. Three years later, Putin launched his full-scale invasion. So, signing another ceasefire with no security guarantees feels like suicide for Ukrainians.

I love my country with all my heart and I've never been more embarrassed for America than the spectacle I just witnessed in the Oval Office. Zelensky is fighting for the survival of his country, his people and their democracy. Trump and Vance appear to be completely aligned with Putin, the invader whose aim has been to conquer Ukraine. Zelensky should know that millions and millions of Americans still stand with him and his valiant people.

VP Vance could have used his speech in Munich to also criticize Putin and Lukashenko for "jailing people for dissenting views." A widow & daughter of dissidents killed by Putin were at @MunSecConf. So was @Tsihanouskaya, whose husband is also in jail. He did not. Missed opportunity.