this goes directly against the intent of congress and the law.

My book, Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War, is only $22.50 with code SPRING50. Get it before Hegseth bans it (again).

Your moment of Vermont Zen

Name and shame: "The pool repair contract was given on April 3 to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, based in New Canton, Va. Contracting records show the firm had never previously held a federal contract...AIC does not appear to advertise an expertise in painting swimming pools."

Your moment of Vermont Zen

Same at Dartmouth

My book, Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War, is only $22.50 with code SPRING50. Get it before Hegseth bans it (again).

We know some of their names. I wrote about them here open.substack.com/pub/timhirsc...

You never miss professional diplomats until they're gone

Not sure why having a "laser focused" strategy is a good thing. You want your strategy to be holistic, flexible, aware of context, adaptable, & taking inputs from a wide set of sources while housing a theory of victory that scales from individual actions to macrolevel outcomes i.e. not a laser

You never miss professional diplomats until they're gone

Not sure why having a "laser focused" strategy is a good thing. You want your strategy to be holistic, flexible, aware of context, adaptable, & taking inputs from a wide set of sources while housing a theory of victory that scales from individual actions to macrolevel outcomes i.e. not a laser

The fix is in

"So we noticed that most professors are NOT voting for the party that's defunding higher education, canceling grants for political grievances, banning books, attacking entire fields, placing professors on 'watch lists,' and pushing pseudoscience." "Well, clearly that is the fault of universities."

i think it is cool that one of the brightest minds of the new right couldn't draw a simple linear projection from trump's conduct in his first administration

hegsgeth wanted a big boy war, and he got one

New, from me: This should be a clarifying moment about the relationship the Supreme Court's opposition to representative democracy in America. Lets look at some graphs that make this point. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...

i'll note that mockler's hand is nowhere near jennings' face

(WSJ) - The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II. @wsj.com www.wsj.com/economy/u-s-...

Being able to get from Point A to Point B on the seas without having to worry about tolls, harassment, piracy, and general assholery is a good thing, and those advocating for some sort of naval retreat sorely underestimate the consequences. My latest⬇️

I am begging people looking to make major donations to universities to either 1) care as much about academics as they do sports, or 2) make unrestricted gifts instead. Signed, A faculty member at a university with brand new athletic facilities and crumbling teaching and research infrastructure

Every damn book, conference, big money fellowship has been about reducing polarization. Many knew the real issue wasn’t polarization, but that polarization was the only politically correct proxy for the real problem. What a joke man

RIP, Cheech

The United States now has the most government restrictions on academic freedom of any high-income country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/academi... Raw data from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social —> academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

Where is Marco Rubio? During his first 15 months in office, Rubio has spent 71 days traveling — fewer than any other secretary of state this century over the same period. And he's nowhere to be found on Iran.

Absolute disaster.

Where is Marco Rubio? During his first 15 months in office, Rubio has spent 71 days traveling — fewer than any other secretary of state this century over the same period. And he's nowhere to be found on Iran.

Need to name and shame the companies that are doing this work

Need to name and shame the companies that are doing this work

Your moment of Vermont Zen

Your moment of Vermont Zen

the argument for this is that allies need to step up so we can spend less on defense, correct? which is why we need to spend dramatically more on defense?

This is correct. Best available estimates suggest that the destruction of USAID, in which musk played a central role, will kill over 14 million people by 2030, 1/3 of them children aged < 5 years www.thelancet.com/article/S014...

Zero. Sympathy. They did this to themselves. Oh, and also? There definitely is an easy answer.

518,428 children have died preventable deaths in the year since Musk dismantled USAID, saying, “Time for it to die.”

BREAKING: The Pentagon has fired the Stars and Stripes ombudsman — the role Congress created to protect the military paper's editorial independence — after she publicly criticized the DOD's overhaul of the publication. w/ @liamjscott.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Fresh Vermont Zen

The IR prof in me is just screaming: he literally gets the length of every single war wrong here.

Another dose of #VermontZen

Too bad math is woke

Another dose of #VermontZen

Fresh Vermont Zen

The Secretary of the Navy is not in the chain of command. Phelan was not the last person stopping Trump from nuking Iran. The SECNAV is responsible for getting ships built and making sure the sailors have the stuff they need.

Another moment of #VermontZen, just because

Your moment of Vermont zen, teaching-my-son-to-drive-in-the-back-country edition

"It could take six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines deployed by the Iranian military, and any such operation is unlikely to be carried out until the U.S. war with Iran ends, the Pentagon has informed Congress" This is my shocked face

Just gonna leave this here

PSA: Noah Kahan Tiny Desk Concert www.youtube.com/watch?v=M34D...