“As much about” doing a hell of a lot of work here.

Enjoyed this read.

JUST IN: Judge blocks series of Trump administration immigration policies adopted following National Guard shooting in DC last November. Judge John McConnell (Obama/RI) says holds on USCIS asylum grants & work permits are illegal. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

We are disgusted that Boulder SJP chose to celebrate the firebombing attack on a peaceful march. They dress up the language to make murder sound like liberation. The reality is they are celebrating the horrific killing of an 82-year-old woman who came out to march. Nothing excuses this.

As May comes to an end, it sure seems like there’s been a significant downward change in the pace of strikes in Somalia. Only two this month. Lots of caveats about what that may mean but interesting. www.newamerica.org/insights/afr...

Little skeptical of reporting work in pieces like this when they include sections like this w no discussion of publicly available info on what the ev behind that statement likely was and seemingly no link to the doc to check claims. www.wired.com/story/us-law...

Per AFRICOM reply to query it has conducted 63 strikes to date in Somalia this year. Here’s a look at a few interesting points about that tally and its meaning. www.newamerica.org/insights/afr...

With Friday strike, over 200 people killed by US military in alleged drug boat strikes. Overwhelming consensus of experts, myself included, assess these to be murder because no armed conflict (and war crime if it were armed conflict). 200 killed also raises serious question: crime against humanity

U.S. strikes in Somalia seem to have slowed substantially over this month compared to prior pace. That and more thoughts derived from AFRICOM confirming its tally is 63 strikes to date in Somalia this year. www.newamerica.org/insights/afr...

U.S. strikes in Somalia seem to have slowed substantially over this month compared to prior pace. That and more thoughts derived from AFRICOM confirming its tally is 63 strikes to date in Somalia this year. www.newamerica.org/insights/afr...

NEW: The Trump administration's DOJ has been systematically removing materials from its websites regarding the many indictments and convictions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In response, @lawfaremedia.org has been systematically restoring them:

Two key points beyond the number. 1) means a denial of responsibility for a recent alleged civcas case. 2) means US strikes this month appear to be way down.

This book was a fascinating read. Worth a look as is the review here.

Per AFRICOM reply to query it has conducted 63 strikes to date in Somalia this year. Here’s a look at a few interesting points about that tally and its meaning. www.newamerica.org/insights/afr...

Israel wasn't mentioned once in this clip. Calling a Jewish member of Congress "Israel first" over *this* is conflating Jews and Israel in a very problematic way.

This article has a lot important in it. But this specific frame is not helpful. 1) data on the first year of a change is rather early to judge effectiveness. 2) this data is driven by battles which can be a sign of progress/success. 3) the anti-ISIS campaign is about aims beyond local death toll

Similar thoughts as this but for how people are discussing the latest strikes and interpretations of self defense.

Some things of note from Recent AFRICOM commander testimony. 1) heavy use of homeland threat frame for ISIS and other groups in Somalia. 2) references to narco-trafficking and cartels as a funding stream make an appearance. armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfile...

Tend to think the answer is that the difference is not determined by a measure of violence but by the stance of the negotiating parties. If they say there is a truce, then the question is whether specific acts are violations or fall in the allowances of agreement.

BREAKING: Federal judge dismisses the case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Tennessee. Opinion: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Unadulterated anti-semitism. No you do not get to insert ‘Israelis’ or ‘Zionists’ in shit like this and have it not be anti-semitism.

Yeah so cool how Massie’s campaign was pretty much just about spreading ZOG ideas to millions of white working class voters in Kentucky isn’t it?

A little surprised by some of the shock over the NYT Ahmadinejad story (even if I remain skeptical on some framing points) from folks ostensibly following the war/region? I mean some aspects of this dynamic if not explicit confirmation of collab and claims about importance seemed to be openly known

I’m a bit skeptical about this Ahmadinejad story’s framing. First, that the strike was a prison break was reported earlier. Second, the idea that this was THE plan rather than one part of a broader range of efforts serves two distinct interests - for critics it comes off as absurd but for

. @moulton.house.gov responds to his dustup with Adm. Cooper today: "If Admiral Cooper is unwilling to ask these questions himself, or is uncomfortable answering them, then he’s not doing his job." Gift link: wapo.st/4dxZ9Bj

Criticism of America’s wars from policymakers and prospective ones not tied to criticisms of specific decisions and visions of alternative approaches is worth very little. It does not ground real policy and it is often an unstable position prone to shifting in crises or with political winds.

What does we destroyed Afghanistan mean here? Because while there’s much to criticize, Afghanistan was not a functioning, peaceful state before the U.S. war.

Has there been a good recent analysis of to what extent ISIS’ leadership is now based in Africa? Because AFRICOM’s statements - most recently this Nigeria operation, have made some strong claims. But I know at least some in past have been subject to question. www.africom.mil/pressrelease...

Curious: how many non violent offenders are in Colorado prisons for non violent offenses? Do they get pardons too?

Lot to note in this unsealed complaint. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/n...

Do not see why folks think criticizing the very idea of an off ramp or exit strategy is helpful. The problem isn’t the concept, it’s that the admin put no real thought into it before the war. The critiques of exit strategy are actually part of what produced that. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/o...

This is the flipside of the Middlebury Hillel story I wrote about the other day, and it goes to show the squeeze play afflicting Jews on campus right now. Terrible look from Sarah Lawrence.

My view is this article relies upon a bad definition of proxy and a bad focus on proxy identity. And it also juices the bad results with adjectives and adverbs in the definition that work to exclude core cases. warontherocks.com/why-lebanon-...

Watching people discover Iran’s targeting of Jewish communities and others globally and then frame it as a product of the current war and not a longstanding part of Iran’s strategy with multiple examples predating the current war. And gets worse when you see replies to folks who are generally good

To understand the effect here, you have to understand that while as a package you could maybe see it as fitting a progressive vision, the only thing that would likely actually get passed is the tax cut that would increase fossil fuel spending while hurting infrastructure.

Understanding the counter-ISIS campaign in Somalia is key to understanding the massive escalation of strikes. Without the strikes against ISIS it’s still a high tempo but looks a lot more similar to the first Trump term as opposed to an unprecedented phase shift.

The Trump Regime’s new counterterrorism “strategy”: 1. Continues to equate drug cartels with terror orgs. 2. No mention of rightwing terrorism at all - even though it’s been far deadlier than leftwing extremism. 3. “Antifa” is treated as an international org. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

A May 6 strike in Somalia brings our tally of reported strikes to 64 this year (of which 63 are confirmed by AFRICOM). www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

A May 6 strike in Somalia brings our tally of reported strikes to 64 this year (of which 63 are confirmed by AFRICOM). www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

There’s a lot of weirdness in the new CT strategy but these paragraphs caught my eye as possibly signaling strikes on AQAP. I’ve written on the lack of transparency (not resolved) here and its dangers. www.justsecurity.org/129392/us-ai...

New CT strategy reads in part: “Jihadi terrorists have continued to plot against and kill Americans, in part because of the failed “forever war” policies of prior Republican administrations” An odd use of the plural there. Overt criticism of Trump’s first term?

The new CT strategy appears to raise further qs about possible U.S. strikes against AQAP. Sure would be great if Congress/more media could look into this.

CT Strategy is out. Even more of a barely edited hodge podge than I expected. Embarrassing this took over a year to put together at this quality. Have some thoughts on specific things but not sure it’s worth even discussing specifics around this product. justthenews.com/sites/defaul...

May 4th brought another strike in Somalia against ISIS. This is the 62nd declared strike this year and 63rd by our tally which includes one reported strike that AFRICOM has denied. www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

May 4th brought another strike in Somalia against ISIS. This is the 62nd declared strike this year and 63rd by our tally which includes one reported strike that AFRICOM has denied. www.newamerica.org/insights/ame...

One area where I find Miller’s book useful is the q of the rhetoric of defeat as aim. That said, I think he’s too dismissive of critiques as cliche but more importantly where he attributes the lack of strategy to lack of a defeat aim, I think defeat frame provided cover for lack of defined ends.

This is a wild thing to write. And I want to emphasize not just for the reason that Trump gave various signs he might do such a thing. But also because it takes some real blinders to look at the past 25 years and be like no one would ever think a presidency could run aground on a Mideast crisis.

In Jan 2025, I wrote about Trump 1.0 as commander in chief: "And, as with the Suleimani strike, Trump may act heedlessly without fully appreciating the consequences of his actions—particularly if encouraged by his advisors." Not so hard to foresee this disaster. foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/16/t...

Currently reading. I’d rank this as one of the top books on the subject for critics of endless war to read for 3 reasons. 1) it presents clear specific areas of clash with key ideas. 2) it does correct some bad common myths 3) there’s interesting areas of alignment

This. But also think this might be relevant to certain claims about the situation in the Middle East wars over the past few years more broadly that a lot of folks aren’t willing to admit to.