"No stupid rules of engagement"

Our (@psjpbc.bsky.social) next policy briefing is on the use of Sentinel Event Reviews as a tool for changing deadly police policies and practices. March 10th on Zoom. RSVP in comments.

When Thomas Friedman is right, he’s really right. When he’s wrong, he’s really really wrong. His take on Bibi is absolutely on target. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/o...

Pentagon tells Congress no sign that Iran was going to attack US first, sources say | Reuters www.reuters.com/world/us/pen...

I don't see how there can be a future republic without tribunals for regime criminals

we reached the “no WMDs” phase in two days.

Basically, the military wants to outsource decision making to AI for the same reason CEOs have outsourced decision making to consulting firms for decades. And for the same reason those consulting firms are now also outsourcing decisions to AI. It's all about having somewhere else to place blame.

They don't *need* AI to make these decisions. But they *want* AI to make these decisions. Because the tech gives them plausible deniability--something to blame (other than themselves) when things go wrong.

This is a bombshell: "the Pentagon wanted the company to allow for the collection and analysis of unclassified, commercial bulk data on Americans, such as geolocation and web browsing data" This kind of agenda echoes the defunded Total Information Awareness effort, post-9/11

A long time ago, I used to know a lot about foreign-imposed regime change (FIRC) and study them. I guess that makes me qualified to write a thread about them, especially in wake of Trump bombing Iran. So here goes nothing. 🧵

This is a sobering thread even if I already knew where it was going…

“The support comes as rural hospital closures have left tens of millions of people with fewer health care options. The East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, now named after Parton, has operated with an ‘open-door” policy that no child would be denied care …’”

“Ever since I’ve been in a position to do my part, to help others, I have tried to do just that. Especially when children and families need it most,” Dolly said in a video announcement. “I’ve always believed that every child deserves a fair chance to grow up healthy, hopeful and surrounded w/love.”

“Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital did not share how much Parton donated as part of the naming announcement. But Matt Schaefer, its president and CEO, said her support would ensure ‘every child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve.’” GOD BLESS DOLLY PARTON

in case anyone ever needed confirmation that it's not about building a democratic Iran, it's about collapsing Iran and turning it into a land of rubble that can be bombed every six months

I wonder if a hard-line successor will assume power and further destabilize the region just like every other time this has happened

The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

there are a lot of people working in the government right now who want to intentionally trigger an apocalypse to create the conditions for the return of jesus christ and I know how crazy that sounds but its absolutely true

“Frio County 911. What is your emergency?” “I’m calling from the Dilley immigration center in Dilley, Texas. I’m calling for a little kid going through respiratory distress.” Listen to 911 calls for children held at Dilley www.nbcnews.com/video/listen...

NEW: We obtained 911 audio from the Texas detention center housing hundreds of immigrant kids and their parents. Since mid-September, EMS crews have been dispatched to Dilley at least 11 times to treat children in medical distress. Burning fevers. Low oxygen. Seizures. A broken leg. My report:

Coming from a culture of people that include organ meats as part of their traditional food because we lived in conditions where society enforced poverty on us and it’s all we could afford: this is what you say to people you’re enforcing poverty on.

This is what happens when you build with "AI".

Callers to Washington state’s driver’s license agency who select automated service in Spanish are instead hearing an AI voice speaking English with a strong Spanish accent.

For the first time in Gallup history — More Americans sympathize with Palestinians in the “Middle East Situation” than with Israelis. 41% Palestinians (+8) 36% Israelis (-10) Democrats: Palestinians +48 Independents: Palestinians +11 Ages 18-34: Palestinians +30 Ages 35-54: Palestinians +18

A major Pentagon–Anthropic showdown is underway. The Pentagon is pushing for Claude to enable mass AI surveillance + autonomous drones, threatening a supply-chain-risk label or a defense production act takeover if they don’t. Ultimatum was issued for tomorrow. Anthropic just refused.

My latest: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Next column will address needed guardrails for private funding of science, esp. in light of #Epstein/ #Summers etc.

Quite rare to see a chart that says quite so overtly that no one involved has the slightest clue what’s happening here

And any trans person arrested under this will be placed in units of their sex assigned at birth. For trans women, this means v coding, rape, and sexual assault. They'll also be denied access to hormones and forced to detransition. I can't begin to tell you just how cruel all this is.

Relevant. encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/t...

Kansas is sending letters to trans people telling them that their licenses will be revoked as of tomorrow and that they risk arrest for driving on a suspended license. This is pure cruelty. www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

As of tonight, licenses of trans people across Kansas are being invalidated en masse, enabling the overnight criminalization of an entire group of people for going about our lives. It’s often said you never know when you’re living through history, so let me assure you: that’s what’s happening now.

It’s not just Medicaid funding they’re withholding to MN. It’s food assistance, child care assistance, social services, job training, safety testing, public health, disaster relief. SNAP. Free lunch for kids in school. They hate us for loving our neighbors, and are collectively punishing us for it.

JD Vance: "We're announcing today that we have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that is going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people's tax money."

My god no! It was mass slaughter! In 1915, the US government counted the largest ever horse population in the US at > 21 million, which started to drop in the 1920s until the population hit 3 million in 1960 when the count ended. Horses live for 25, 30 years. This was not natural decline.

Here's a story about his death www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/25/b...

They found him. He died. Another murder by our immigration goon squads

JUST IN: Judge Murphy has ruled that the Trump administration's policy of sending deported immigrants to third countries without notice or a chance to challenge is illegal and unconstitutional. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The pronatalist movement isn't just trying to make sure you have as many babies as you want. It's trying to make sure you have as many babies as possible. How many is that? Depends. But maybe about 10.9 on average.

"The court found that the former Chief of Rio de Janeiro Civil Police Rivaldo Barbosa, Brazilian Congressman Chiquinho Brazão, and his brother, Rio State Auditor General Domingos Brazão, were responsible for ordering the killing of Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes in 2018."

"Today, the Brazilian Supreme Court announced that they had convicted the masterminds behind the assassination of socialist Rio de Janeiro City Councilwoman Marielle Franco guilty on all counts." massive news in Brazil today, writeup by @mikeelk.bsky.social paydayreport.com/rio-police-c...

I wrote about the US funneling pregnant children in immigrant detention to a Texas facility where their rights can be more effectively restricted. I hear echoes of disappeared parents and kidnapped children in Argentina decades ago. In each case, the intent is to inflict deep generational trauma.

students know they are being cheated

Indiana University's football crown was the feel-good story of the year. Off the field...not so much Ranked last for free speech, DEI cuts, slashing the humanities while paying its coach $13M under MAGA trustees My column on how IU ranks No. 1 in moral bankruptcy www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...

If somebody attempts a coup, and then they’re not held accountable by elites and institutions, the public will draw the conclusion that it’s not a big deal.

Painful to read this and think about the 2021 coup attempt, which was as blatant as it gets. An utter failure of US elites to seize the moment when everybody saw the threat right in front of their eyes. If we have history books in the future, they will be unkind.

For the first time since @projectsaltbox.bsky.social launched their DHS warehouse acquisition tracker, the number of canceled sales is higher than any of the other warehouse-related figures. We've reached a tipping point, folks. lookerstudio.google.com/reporting/b0...

My people contain multitudes. This is fascinating commentary on what it means to be Jewish today. I honestly relate to many of the respondents, even in their contradictory nature. jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/i-asked-my-j...

The U.S. women’s hockey team, which won gold at the Olympics last week, will not attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address due to "timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."

View the ICE whistleblower documents here: www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

The docs seem to suggest that ICE ERO cadets receive 334 hours of training—far fewer than before—which appears to counter Acting Director Lyons’ sworn testimony to Congress on Feb 12. This is also far fewer training hours than other law enforcement officers.