Trump just signed order "reclassifying" ~8,000 civil servants so they are easier to fire for political reasons -- this has been in the works since his first term www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

Full statement of Scott Pelley after he's fired from CBS 60 Minutes, detailing the sort of corruption of journalism Bari Weiss has brought to CBS News:

60 Minutes no more.

It’s Martinez time.

Gradually, then suddenly? “Vladimir Putin has been told by senior Russian officials that the war in Ukraine is becoming unaffordable, the most serious sign of internal division in Moscow since the full-scale invasion began.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Trump Library's annual Profiles in Corruption Award dinners are gonna be lit!

Finally reading @bcdreyer.social’s Dreyer’s English & laughing at the footnote on author-copy editor communication remembering my correcting, politely, my copy editor about a couple of things. Little victories.

Delightful rabbit holes & weeds "On the morning of 9 March, some 10,000 soldiers transferred from forty chartered civilian vessels to twelve warships and selected transports while the Company of Sappers and Miners and the army’s engineer train remained aboard their two schooners, Iona and Orator."

Free weekend update just released. People surprised that the Ukrainians are taking the initiative just were not listening. For many months the Ukrainians were open on what they wanted to do (I told you in January). Listen to them not the western press. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

It's true. Oxnard really is more than just a pretty name. It was also the name of a chartered ship serving as a transport for the U.S. invasion fleet off Veracruz in 1847.

This is bad. Bad for researchers. Bad for science. Bad for universities. Bad for professional associations. For example: 1. Every award would be vetted by political appointees, who could overrule peer reviewers and deny the award if it doesn't advance the president's priorities. 1/🧵

Good. Keep it up Ukraine.

"I don't know how I could instruct and advise about respect for human rights and rule of law while defending the current SOUTHCOM boat strikes." — Fmr. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. & Counterterrorism Strategy Instructor Greg Smith Read this piece on our Substack here: open.substack.com/pub/nsl4a/p/...

It was fun to be a small part of this project, "Clement & Rebekah Biddle: A Family at Camp." #Andalusia www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwLf...

.@frankcogliano.bsky.social and Peter S. Onuf will join us June 3 to close out this season of our #ReadtheRevolution Speaker Series with a lecture and discussion to launch their new book, "Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours." 🎟️: https://bit.ly/4vduKzA

Pretty cool. Sail 250 tracker. @smh-historians.bsky.social @mercoglianos.bsky.social www.globalterramaps.com/viewer/?even...

Hello? Hello? Evidence?

For @jacobinmag.bsky.social, I wrote about the transatlantic class struggle entangled with the American Revolution: jacobin.com/2026/05/amer...

Featured in today’s civic education news roundup from The Renovator! @the-renovator.bsky.social

Best damn rendition of Taps youtu.be/wfZRdxiX2bM?...

Krugman links an article you wrote, chat, have we made it?

The Unknown "In the [Civil] war’s aftermath, 46 percent of the 300,000 Union soldiers and sailors buried in 74 national cemeteries were unidentifiable. That figure was even higher for the U.S. Colored Troops. . . About two-thirds of their dead were never identified."

Brilliant

Despite intelligence dominance in the war with Iran, events suggest the US intelligence community is having little influence on White House decision-making. Read the latest RUSI Commentary by Dan Lomas (@sandbaggerone.bsky.social) and @mtsavill.bsky.social.

Leo has been condemning slavery for 30 yrs, but he’s now doing so on behalf of the Catholic Church.In 1992 “visit to Goree Island, Senegal…the largest slave-trading center in West Africa, he denounced the injustice of slavery and called it a ‘tragedy of a civilization that called itself Christian.’”

A Memorial Day Question: Who Exactly Are We Honoring? cc: @hcrichardson.bsky.social #CivilWarMemory open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

Some seriously spicy stuff

THERE IS NO PURELY MILITARY SPHERE open.substack.com/pub/deadcarl...

"Bad history" indeed.

It must be emphasized that we need powerful, robust ACADEMIC history IN universities to sustain history OUTSIDE universities. If we can’t employ people in higher ed to train future generations of public historians, we will not have future generations of public historians. 🗃️

Adventures in documentary filming done! Covert Wars, for the Spanish history channel.

Is it an RMA? carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

Familiar. High-ranking patrons placing an emotionally damaged and intellectual mediocrity in charge of a premiere PME institution is similar. Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/w...

Off to Boston for the day to be filmed for a Spanish documentary on Spain’s role in the American War for Independence and Bernardo de Galvez, then back and on to Mount Vernon.

America’s ailing one-trick pony ft.trib.al/WPTctsS

“It’s an open question if the Chinese military could invade and occupy Taiwan, an island about 120 kilometers off China’s coast. The biggest things they’ve done this century is crush democracy in Hong Kong (. . .)and gain a little territory in the Himalayas from border clashes with India.”

How do you govern a smoking pile of ruins?

Marking the 250th anniversary of the American War of Independence, we are pleased to announce our new 'Echoes of War' project, intended to create a gazetteer of sites associated with that conflict outside of the USA. The first instalment covers England: www.sahr.org.uk/echoes-of-wa...

THE MANY TRAPS OF THUCYDIDES & THE VIRTUE OF COMPLEXITY warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/thu...

I'm hard it, @kansasjoyce.bsky.social! "More than infantry drill occupied the Mounted Rifles at Camp Page. Four general courts martial tried, convicted, and sentenced members of the regiment:"

Childlike joy moment. Quoted & cited by #RaminGaneshram. First time for me (I have such a low bar for joy 😂). www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/d...