Charles E. Morrison

@JohnBlaxland1 Can't access. ASEAN has had articulate, visionary leaders, Surin Pitsuan most cited. My understanding: basic purposes to strengthen diverse ind'l SEA states thru coop when achievable & have peaceful region. Not an EU! Pretty good record & still early decades.

"ASEAN at 60: Why the region needs a visionary secretary-general #ASEAN needs a secretary-general that can act as both secretary and general - someone capable of convening difficult conversations, anticipating emerging conflicts and articulating a compelling vision for ASEAN’s role in the world." Noor Huda Ismail & I in @jakpost with thanks to @SIPRIorg - the Stockholm International Peace & @FEStiftung Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung thejakartapost.com/opinion/2026/0…

@Rmanning4 In theory, but in real world Xi looking forward to hosting Trump, war notwithstanding.

Moved THAAD & Patriot missile defenses from S. Korea to ME, now ships and Marines from Japan. If China was thinking about moving on Taiwan, this might be a pretty tempting time.

@NOELreports Why didn't Witkoff make sure their fingers weren't crossed behind their backs?

US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said there are no publicly available indications that Russia is participating in the current conflict alongside Iran. Steve Witkoff said Russians told him directly they are not involved, Whitaker added. #NATO

@NOELreports While in a new war, best to pause the on-going war against previous administration, esp as strong bipartisan & allied support for giving Ukraine weapons it needed to defend itself.

You get it? White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized past US weapons transfers to Ukraine, saying the previous administration “gave away much of our best weapons for free.” Later she added the US still has more than enough weapons to address Iran. #Iran 🙂‍↔️

@EvanFeigenbaum For Meloni, lg term vision/hope for "stretch" goal. In '80s Mansfield, amb to Jpn, also called for FTA at trade conflict height to "get past" much of the pettiness. But FTAs hard fought themselves on details & don't solve everything, as US neighbors & industries can attest.

Why would the U.S. agree to a free trade zone with the EU, much less, say, Japan, when the administration's priorities are to make in America, reshoring, inbound not outbound investments, and to replace imports while sustaining exports?

@StateDept Second sentence is a hypothetical that cannot be verified or disproven. He believes just as he believed Putin would help stop the war once he was president, but why repeating so often?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re working very hard to end a ninth war: the killing and slaughter between Russia and Ukraine. This is a war that never would have happened if I were president.

I looked at Reagan's first SOTU speech of his second term. He was proud of his record and strongly pushed his policies. But I could find no reference in the speech to either "Republicans" or "Democrats." reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speec…

@kamo_mash @TheEconomist Of course not. Doctors do their best, but have started to tell relatives so family members could decide whether to inform patient. Many families still prefer patient not to know, thinking they would live longer and happier in ignorance.

@TheEconomist That's rough. Family deciding for you?

In China, catastrophic diagnoses are often kept from patients economist.com/china/2025/06/…

@TheEconomist Quite common in N.E. Asia where people feared knowledge of a terminal illness would discourage patient/loved one, destroying happiness & hastening death. First step away is inform relatives. Giving realistic diagnosis directly to patient is a recent phenomenon in Japan.

@jacmayzmi1412 @SenMcConnell He's a Reagan-era Republican conservative w/ strong belief in limited govt involvement in economy. Also highly educated in Constitutional law & Founders' framework to limit and balance exec power.

Mr. Carmack/Sen McConnell can you please explain to the American people the real reason you oppose the Save America Act? Why are you in support of opposing Tariffs knowing that it is in the best interest of America? Keep this in mind, President Trump has been right about everything! And he will get done what we have voted for him to do. Sincerely, MAGA

Today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed authority that has rested with Congress for centuries. The American people already know that tariffs make building and buying here at home more expensive. And Kentuckians understand this painful reality better than most. But the use of IEEPA to circumvent Congress in the imposition of tariffs, already without precedent, isn’t just bad policy – it’s also illegal. My full statement: mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.c…

@EdwardGLuce Insist wand stolen by bribed or mentally impaired justices. Substitute wands inferior. So not his fault if US not turned into paradise on earth. Benefit for him: like all hypotheticals (Putin would never invaded Ukr if he'd been president) cannot be disproven!

Merlin has been deprived of his wand. What's he going to do?

@RepDonBacon As trade leg asst to ranking Rep on the Sen Finance Trade Subcommittee in 1970s (Roth of IRAs), I can unequivocally say right legal decision. EEEPA never covered tariffs - went to Banking. No Senator (R or D) then even conceived delegating such broad powers.

Perfect words by Supreme Justice Gorsuch.

@casolution @vtchakarova This, w/ no accounting of inflation or size of economy, says zero. Since 1939, Fed debt as a percentage of GDP spiked at 115% end WW2 and bec tax cuts & COVID, new high abt 130% in the second quarter of 2020.

@vtchakarova Its Just over.

$16B is probably nothing

@business Could make. some sense as long as clear mutual benefits. Ford has yrs of working w/ Chinese jt venture partners selling Ford-branded cars there. Unused Ford facilities in Michigan and Europe. Must bring jobs & income.

Ford's top executive spoke to Trump administration officials about a potential roadmap for Chinese automakers to build cars in America by partnering with US car companies bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@DavidSantoro1 Long debate. In last 20 yrs of Cold War, Cong efforts to reduce US troops - Mansfield amendment & Jackson-Nunn amendment in 1970s, another Nunn amdmt in 1980s. Based on belief Europe had recovered enuf to handle own defense & too much US support allowed subsidized riding.

Too many in the US today answer that question like this: "Because we've been too nice for too long." The idea that the US has benefited tremendously from defending Europe (and still does today) is completely overlooked.

@prachatai_en So when voting party preferences, people significantly favor the liberal People's Party. When voting for their own constituency representatives, overwhelmingly vote conservative BJP. How can we explain?

After midnight, over 90% of votes have been counted. The conservative Bhumjaithai Party, led by the construction tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul, emerged top of the poll with 192 seats, while the progressive People's Party, the main opposition party in the last parliament's term, won 116 seats. Meanwhile, the Pheu Thai Party, previously one of Thailand's largest political parties with over a hundred seats in the last parliament, won 75 seats. The Klatham Party, founded in April 2020 as the Thai Economic Party before changing its name in April 2023, wins 58 seats. Klatham is the current affiliation of Thammanat Prompow and a faction of MPs who defected from Palang Pracharat and Pheu Thai parties.

Interesting experiment w/ potential lessons for elsewhere. Link can be opened 5 times within 7 days. China has launched a huge free-trade experiment   economist.com/china/2026/02/…

@ramez Would suggest debate on presidential/VP age limits, e.g., 35 to "no person over the age of 75 may be elected to serve as president or vice president."

Trump has made clear that the US Constitution and overall system have significant security flaws and traits that benefit extremism. We need structural changes, including multiple Constitutional Amendments, to improve resilience to future authoritraians. A starter list. 🧵

@ramez Would add rank-order voting here as possible option as well as for the Senate. Requires candidates to reach out beyond extremists in their own parties to be successful. W/ PR you need to exclude small parties, e.g. those w/ under 10% or even 25% total votes.

6. Proportional Representation for the House. The combination of one-district-one-member-of-congress plus first-past-the-post means that 80% of all House seats are safe for one party or another. This makes the Primary the only important election for those seats, which encourages extremism. A better system is Proportional Representation, where elections for House members are done at the entire State level rather than district level. This would end gerrymandering in one fell swoop, and remove the extremist bent of the current system. More here: fairvote.org/our-reforms/pr…

@ramez Long history, justified by notion that a king or president needed to correct occasional clear judicial mistakes. Much abused, but don't need to end so much as reform, e.g. non-partisan judicial board must recommend, Senate advice and consent needed to execute.

2. End the Pardon Power. The Pardon Power, while well-intentioned, is another tool that allows the President and his delegates to be above the law. The President can instruct his followers and appointees to commit crimes, with all parties knowing he'll pardon them. Corrupt.