“The window for inflicting the “shock and awe” envisioned by the “effects-based operations” crackheads who apparently still hold American and Israeli war planning captive is closed.” @michaelshurkin.bsky.social

The real answer is: The US fails strategically PRECISELY because we have an overwhelmingly powerful military, and that makes military solutions seem like an EASY answer to complex problems. It's an enticing, shiny button, and without advisors empowered to push back, it's very tempting.

‘As Plato wrote, the deepest and most important things are learned only after much time and effort, by engaging in discussion with others, “striking upon” ideas and experiences together like flint until the spark of understanding is kindled within us.’ www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Pope Leo XIV on realism www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

“From these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”

“All of these reasons, though, are smokescreens. I wanted to hitchhike because I’m an American, and hitchhiking is an American tradition” www.futuristletters.com/p/american-e...

“For one thing, in losing or weakening the social pervasiveness of deep reading, we may be placing explosives in the structural foundation of our liberal political order. The postliterate society may also be a postliberal one.” @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/montas-roose...

I'm hoping for reassurance of the shape of things, a glimpse of my old allegiances, but find at best an outline here such as my finger might draw in dust. —Richard Greene, The Blaschka Invertebrates @commonwealmagazine.org www.commonwealmagazine.org/poem-blaschk...

Tom Sleigh, in Rosie on his mother reading Thoreau, seeing the quiet exaltation she took in words: “And from that moment, I wanted to understand what had the power to move her from the category of mother into the more enigmatic category of weirdo.”

"American history was forged not by “warriors” or “lethality,” but by soldiers who were citizens—family members, laborers, teachers, tradesmen, etc.—first and foremost, and who reluctantly agreed to engage in the horrors of war.” @pptsapper.bsky.social

Satellite imagery shows that at least 46 towns and villages in southern Lebanon have been heavily damaged or, in some cases, entirely flattened by the Israeli Defence Forces. Bellingcat’s interactive map reveals the scale of the destruction: www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/05...

No attack on the US or plausible threat of one, so no self-defense argument at all. Without Congressional authorization, and in violation of both American and international laws of armed conflict. Bad strategy, and driven by lies. In a way, a preview of the comparatively disastrous Iran war.

“Defeat for the United States, therefore, is not only possible but likely. Here is what defeat looks like.” This is quite something coming from Robert Kagan www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Pretty excited about this. Forty-nine Vasily Grossman articles from WWII, from @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social

“Gregor Samsa goes from corporate drone to literal drone in this misunderstanding of The Metamorphosis from the studio that brought you a misunderstanding of Animal Farm!”

The wild God of the world is sometimes merciful to those That ask mercy, not often to the arrogant. You do not know him, you communal people, or you have forgotten him; Intemperate and savage, the hawk remembers him; Beautiful and wild, the hawks, and men that are dying, remember him. —Jeffers

“The path that leads from scathing denunciation through gradual accommodation to sycophantic embrace of Trump is a well-worn pilgrimage trail. The journey is less wearisome for self-mortifiers who never considered democracy…all that important in the first place.” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Congress legislated a prohibition on withdrawing any troops from Europe or Asia without an extensive study of costs/consequences and an assurance by the Secretary that it’s in U.S. national interests — neither condition has been met. It’d be great if Congress would exercise its authority.

A U.S. defense official said to AP the U.S. military didn’t have prior knowledge of Trump’s decision to pull 5,000 troops from Germany and learned about it “in real time.” apnews.com/article/germ...

60 days ago, the President notified Congress that U.S. forces had begun hostilities against Iran. That notice started a clock that runs out today. Both the notice and the 60-day deadline come from the 1973 War Powers Resolution. Here's how that statute works:

“A mixture of confusion and nihilism hangs in the air; immanence no longer seems to suffice.” @christineemba.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/o...

Nice to see Elliot Ackerman acquitting himself well. www.thefp.com/p/my-takeawa...

War Memorial, by Peter Englot www.gramercyreview.com/war-memorial/

Fascinating on RFK and MAHA www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/o...

“Infantrymen can and should be taken out of direct fire. Our goal for 2026 is to replace up to 30 percent of personnel in the most difficult areas of the front with technology,” Zinkevych said. - this was often the hope with new military tech. Let’s see whether it can happen this time.

New Marlon James is incredible.

“They viciously snapped, not only at each other’s disembowelments, but like flexible bows, bent round, and bit their own; till those entrails seemed swallowed over and over again by the same mouth, to be oppositely voided by the gaping wound.” —Moby Dick

Thirteen U.S. troops died trying to get these people to safety — Afghan interpreters, soldiers, and the families of our service members. Veterans spent sleepless nights during the chaotic withdrawal fighting to keep them alive. Now our own government is going to abandon them.

“The issue is not whether to engage with figures like Piker; it’s how to do so in a way that’s genuinely informative.” @yair-rosenberg.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

“When Vice President JD Vance was campaigning for Viktor Orbán earlier this month, he was also campaigning to preserve the Hungarian funding for the New Right organizations that would support his own future political ambitions” Makes sense of that grotesque debacle providencemag.com/2026/04/the-...

“Fighing for justice—suffering and dying so that a bestial barbarism may not rule over the earth—they know…that they may count upon the help of God. They do not say: our cause is divine, our cause is the cause of God, we are the soldiers of God.” Maritain, 1939

“War exacts a toll so severe that only the clearest and most necessary purposes can justify it. If…Iran is still in the fight and still able to exact major military and economic costs, then it is fair to ask what purpose this war truly serves.” warontherocks.com/tactical-suc...

Cardinal Cupich: "We're dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people & killing of children & our own soldiers into entertainment. To splice together movie cuts w/ actual bombings & targeting of people for purposes of entertainment is sickening. This is not who we are."

Great piece; don't miss it.

“Conversation is not a reward to be bestowed on those with whom we agree; it’s a necessary habit in a democracy” @ezraklein.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/12/o...

"In most instances examined by The Times, the intended target of a strike was not clear. In some cases, schools and health care facilities ... were directly hit." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

When the Pope suggests we should worship the Prince of Peace, rather than Mars and Mammon.

“When a sitting president says that an entire civilization will probably die, he has done something morally serious regardless of whether he intends to follow through. He has normalized genocidal rhetoric as a negotiating tool” firstthings.com/when-rhetori...

RSVP to attend on Monday, April 13 at 12:30 pm EDT online via livestream: bit.ly/IranWarCST #IranWarCST @sohrabahmari.bsky.social @philklay.bsky.social @krocinstitute.bsky.social

But your flag decal won't get you Into Heaven any more. They're already overcrowded From your dirty little war.

Hear reflections from Sohrab Ahmari, Phil Klay, Mary Ellen O’Connell, and Elisabetta Piqué at the Public Dialogue “War is Back in Vogue: Iran and Catholic Social Teachings on a Moral Foreign Policy” on Monday, April 13 at 12:30 pm EDT online via livestream. RSVP: bit.ly/IranWarCST #IranWarCST

“It was not the face of a god reclaiming his suspended immortality, but the face of a man who until a moment ago had been thoroughly and horribly dead, and still had the smell of death in his clothes and the terror of death in his mind.” —Stegner, Crossing to Safety

Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good. www.davidgorman.com/4quartets/2-...

All senior officers serve at the pleasure of the President. Firing lots of them is a bad idea both because it squanders talent and causes the public to view our military as partisan.

Next week: "The State and the Soldier: A Conversation with the Author" with @kschake.bsky.social RSVP here ⤵️ cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/events/state...

Vanity Sounds the Horn and Ignorance Unleashes the Hounds Overconfidence, Rashness and Desire —15th century Netherlandish tapestry

Awards! Celebrations! Live performances! Can't make it to Town Hall in NYC for the PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony? Join us for the livestream — 7:30pm ET tonight, March 31! Full details: https://pen.org/event/2026-pen-america-literary-awards-ceremony/ #PENLitAwards

My son’s math homework cutting deep.

Just went to my high school (Regis High School) to debate whether the war in Iran was a just war under Catholic teaching. My old high school debating coach, Eric DiMichele, moderated, and the kids had fantastic questions.