Jon Duffy

Jon Duffy

@joncduffy.bsky.social

I care a lot about democracy. And dogs. Writer | Veteran | Los Angeles Times contributor Orioles & Ravens fan in Southern California The Harder Question: https://theharderquestion.substack.com

819 followers1.2K following106 posts

Jon Duffy reposted

Jim LaPorta
@jimlaporta.bsky.social

Washington — The U.S. Army Reserve is examining whether it can provide the military's Southern Command with police forces, medical personnel and other support units within the next four months, according to an internal Army message reviewed by CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-gro...

cbsnews.comU.S. military lays groundwork for potential action around CubaSome units would "possibly [be] needed in 90-120 days," according to an internal Army message reviewed by CBS News.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

U.S. forces are fighting in Ecuador. Congress never authorized it, and Americans barely know it exists. The president cannot decide alone when America goes to war. My latest for @latimes.com. Thanks @nslayton.bsky.social, whose reporting led me here. PDF in replies. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: America is at war in … Ecuador?Trump has initiated and expanded another unconstitutional, open-ended combat campaign without congressional authorization.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

Americans have already paid billions to move forward. Now we’re paying billions more to go backward. My latest in the Los Angeles Times on aircraft carriers, renewable energy and the cost of reversing technological progress. PDF in first reply. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: Trump is spending billions to reverse American progressThe Navy spent decades developing a technological leap to aircraft carrier launch systems. Now the president wants to revert to the equipment it replaced.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

The Iran consensus: civilian strategy failed, but military performance was brilliant. The evidence says otherwise. Iran did not overpower the U.S. military; it exposed the limits of how the U.S. prefers to fight. My latest for @latimes.com. PDF in first reply. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: The Iran war has exposed the limits of the U.S. militaryThe campaign has left U.S. forces vulnerable, has depleted critical weapons and has failed to establish control of vital waters.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

Military schools should develop officers who can question flawed assumptions and tell senior leaders unwelcome truths. Politically sanitized schools may produce more compliant officers. They will not produce better leaders. (PDF in first reply) www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comThe Pentagon is waging a war on critical thinkingA proposal to eliminate civilian tenure at military academies would weaken the minds and the might of America's future leaders.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

America is at war. Pete Hegseth is focused on beards and hormones. Military standards should measure excellence, not whether someone fits a particular image of what a warrior looks like. My latest in @latimes.com. PDF in first reply: www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: America is at war. Pete Hegseth is focused on beards and hormones.The Defense secretary is working to replace military standards rooted in mission with standards that reflect his personal image of the American warrior.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

The administration wants Congress to pay for a war it never authorized, while refusing to say what that war actually cost. Oversight keeps faith with people a nation sends in harm's way. Americans deserve a straight account. New in the LA Times. PDF in first reply. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: Why won’t Trump just tell us what the Iran war cost?The administration owes Americans a serious accounting of what has been lost and what future spending is supposed to fix.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

The U.S. charged Héctor Guerrero Flores in federal court. Then the military killed him. The president is abusing military power. Senior military leaders are helping make it possible. My latest in the Los Angeles Times. PDF in the first response. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: U.S. military leaders are enabling Trump’s lawlessnessThe president abused his power in the killing of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores. Worse, the military did nothing to stop him.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

My latest in the Los Angeles Times on Pete Hegseth’s meddling with military promotions. It undermines trust in leadership, puts every military leader under a cloud, and weakens the force Americans rely on to defend the country. PDF in the first reply. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: Hegseth’s meddling with promotions tarnishes leadership and endangers the countryA visible pattern of removing women and minority officers from promotion lists sends a message to his military.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

What exactly is our strategy in Cuba? The administration has increased pressure with little discussion about what outcome this pressure is intended to produce — or why ordinary Cubans must bear the cost. My latest in the Los Angeles Times. PDF in the first reply. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: Why Trump is manufacturing a new crisis in CubaFor more than 60 years, the U.S. has tried to pressure Cuba’s leadership into breaking. The regime has endured.

Jon Duffy reposted

Jacob Soboroff
@jacobsoboroff.bsky.social

"Hello daddy. I hope you are OK. Tell everyone from my class hello." here's some of what I saw and learned this week when I visited the Dilley ICE family detention center in Texas.

Jon Duffy reposted

Max Boot
@maxboot.bsky.social

I wrote on Monday about Pete Hegseth and Gen. Francis Donovan ramping up lawless boat strikes, which amount to extrajudicial killing. This week there have been 3 more strikes! Truly out of control. Awful that the US military is doing this and the world barely notices. wapo.st/4tOygA5

Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

Trump won’t accept his failures in Iran. What began as a show of force has turned into a search for smaller and smaller signs of progress. That is how strategic failure plays out. My latest in the @latimes.com: www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: Trump isn't ready to accept his strategic failures in IranThe president's justifications have shifted repeatedly, and claims of victory have grown theatrical as the results have grown less convincing.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is about more than control of a waterway. It exposes a deeper and more familiar problem: the repeated failure of the United States to match military power with equally serious strategic thought. My latest in @latimes.com www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: The Strait of Hormuz shows us the biggest flaw in America's Iran war strategyThe most obvious strategic move following strikes in Iran has become a central problem for the United States.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

It’s not clear what this war in Iran is actually meant to achieve. As American casualties mount and operations expand, the absence of a defined political end state matters. My latest in @latimes.com: www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: It's not clear what this war in Iran is actually meant to achieveThe president's weekend address following initial strikes in Iran offered forceful nationalist rhetoric but little actual clarity of purpose or strategy.
Jon Duffy
@joncduffy.bsky.social

Using military force as leverage in negotiations is not self-defense. Air strikes can impose costs, but they cannot dictate how a determined adversary recalculates survival. My latest in @latimes.com on Iran, force and constitutional process: www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

latimes.comContributor: Don't mistake military escalation in Iran for an actual strategyWhat is imagined as calibrated pressure in Washington could easily be perceived as an existential threat in Tehran.