James Vizzard
@jwvizzard.bsky.social
1.2K followers 400 following 4K posts
Political science PhD candidate specializing in civ-mil. Husband, father, former gangster for capitalism. Opinions, jokes, hot takes, and other skeets are only mine and not any current or former employer’s.
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jwvizzard.bsky.social
Yes, you could certainly see where having your key witness testify unequivocally under oath that the defendant did the opposite of what is alleged might be "problematic."
Federal prosecutors investigating former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly making false statements to Congress determined that a central witness in their probe would prove "problematic" and likely prevent them from establishing their case to a jury, sources familiar with their findings told ABC News. 

Daniel Richman -- a law professor who prosecutors allege Comey authorized to leak information to the press -- told investigators that the former FBI director instructed him not to engage with the media on at least two occasions and unequivocally said Comey never authorized him to provide information to a reporter anonymously ahead of the 2016 election, the sources said.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
It's not even show me your papers b/c the papers themselves are no protection. Can't wait for the SCOTUS decision that federal agents have unfettered discretion to reject govt-issued IDs based on nothing but "their professional judgement."
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I'd love to hear what feature of his ID caused them to assess it was fake other than just "he's hispanic."
tusk81.bsky.social
When US citizen Leo Garcia Venegas tried to prove his identity by showing federal agents his REAL ID, they dismissed it as a fake and kept him detained, releasing him only after they bothered to run his Social Security number.

Just a few weeks later, they detained him again:
Mass Deportation Is A Threat To Us All
Aided by the Supreme Court and the insidious "Kavanaugh stop," the administration's chaotic mass deportation operations are sweeping up Americans – including children and U.S. military veterans.
americasvoicecnn.substack.com
jwvizzard.bsky.social
Koger, Masket, and Noel's 2009 article on extended party networks identified a few conservative media outlets as the key nodes in the Republican EPN. Trump and MAGA have amplified that and extended/shifted it to the new media ecosystem of podcasts and influencer sites.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
We exercised far more restraint with Afghan teenagers who were throwing rocks at our tower guards. This is not law enforcement in any legitimate sense.
thetnholler.bsky.social
WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
Interesting rundown on how RW media influencers drove the administration's Portland actions. Strikes me that we need to remap the GOP extended party network--or more accurately the MAGA EPN. Ppl like Sortor on not really outside actors.

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/sordid-sor...
Sordid Sortor
A dust-up in Portland reveals the dangerous degree of Trump administration overlap with the right-wing marketplace
goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I think this is equally true of 9/11, which raises the question of whether these big terrorist strikes are ever "successful" in the strategic sense. Genuinely curious if there are counter examples?
jwvizzard.bsky.social
It's just like Haifa Street c. 2005.
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Kristi Noem confronts enemy combatants in the Portland war zone today.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
They're all E4s. Can't imagine what the E8s look like.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I had Blackwater assholes do this to me IN THE GREEN ZONE, but I would have never tolerated it from my battalion.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
My college roommate’s additional duty was weight control officer in a NG howitzer battery. He told me they could make ht/wt or shoot safely but not both. Autocorrelation between age, weight, and experience.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I have also not seen Dirty Dancing. And I missed a lot of the popular TV shows of the late 70s b/c my parents severely restricted our viewing (for which I’m very thankful)
hannahfearn.bsky.social
Inspired by a post I just saw in which someone admitted they hadn’t seen a single episode of Friends nor the film Love Actually… what cultural hole do you have that’s a bit weird for your generation?

I’ll go first: I haven’t seen Dirty Dancing.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I assure you just being born there does not help (although I can pronounce Puyallup correctly).
jwvizzard.bsky.social
Shutdown day 7. District Fishwife while District Cutlery sharpens my knives.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I think this is a misrepresentation of what’s happening, but I also think the voter ignorance that has been very very good for the GOP may be biting them in the ass this time. To blame Democrats they have to explain the filibuster to low info voters—good luck with that.
indivisible.org
Republicans control the government, but they can’t even manage to keep the lights on. This Trump Shutdown isn’t about ‘fiscal responsibility’ — it’s a tantrum. The GOP would rather close shop and disrupt key government services than fund our healthcare.
US Senate fails to reopen government after fifth budget vote - BBC News
This was the fifth time that Republicans and Democrats brought their funding measures up for a vote.
www.bbc.com
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I had a brigade commander who blew off our bn QTB b/c he had a tee time, in the middle of the work day, with a GO. The bde cdr made general despite being the most incompetent commander I ever served under. Anecdata, but . . .
jwvizzard.bsky.social
Currently writing a dissertation on military politicization, and whoo boy do I feel this.
chanret.bsky.social
As I've said before: what is good for me as a social scientist is bad for me as a citizen.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
There was a Douglas Adams bit on this, and now I feel compelled to go find it—an economist who hired herself out to rich people to do exactly this. I think Adams may have been a time traveler from the future sent back to warn us.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
You mean like Joe and Eileen Bailey from Long Island?
protectourcare.org
Schumer: If you’re a 55-year-old couple making $80,000 a year, you know how much you’ll have to pay for insurance? $25,000.

How is the average American family supposed to sit around the kitchen table on a Friday night and figure out how to pay the bills?
jwvizzard.bsky.social
Mountains, cold, cowboys, beautiful scenery. Hard to tell the difference, really.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
Imagine being willing to say that out loud.
jwvizzard.bsky.social
I remember getting “killed” as a LT about 10 days into a Hohenfels rotation and feeling like I won the lottery. I got to sleep for 2 hours.