"The reality is that despite a variety of statements promising action at unspecified future dates, he has continued to treat Putin with deference. The Trump White House has taken no significant action against Russia to force a more equitable and lasting solution to the conflict."

Happy 250th Birthday, Marines.

“All of the rhetoric flying around about a potential return to testing is really disturbing,” Dr. Emma Belcher, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a nonprofit that works to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, tells @macwbishop.bsky.social. More: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Escalating an arms race that could bring about Armageddon is only part of the reason Trump’s push to resume nuclear weapons testing is terrifying.

“I’ll keep it real simple. This administration is taking the U.S. down a road to authoritarianism,” Ethan Wilson, a 42-year-old veteran of the war in Iraq, told @macwbishop.bsky.social at Saturday’s No Kings rally.

EXCLUSIVE: Photo of the girlfriend of the founder of Antifa resisting arrest, shortly before being taken into custody

“…the troubled country’s supreme leader has asked loyalist governors to deploy regional military forces to opposition strongholds and provide support for the central government’s internal security paramilitaries, as they seek to quash growing protests.”

[Authoritarian police state arrives] Me: [simply outruns it in a quarter mile]

Finishes watching “A Bridge Too Far.” Amazon autoplays “Terminal List: Dark Wolf.” Voiceover says “…but when you ask a SEAL…” Cuts to commercial peddling Jocko’s energy drinks. Chucks computer off balcony. Begins researching virus that will destroy humanity. It is time.

“…so Thulsa Doom is portrayed by James Earl Jones as an ancient wizard from Atlantis, with a snake cult in honor of Set. But in the original stories, Thulsa Doom is an undead necromancer with a skull for a head, and it’s actually Thoth-Amon who is a high priest of Set, and uses a giant snake to…”

The trailer for Mstyslav Chernov’s new film “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” which will premiere at Film Forum NYC on July 25th, and elsewhere August 1st. Chernov is doing incredible work documenting the war in Ukraine. H/T Tetyana Denford, who worked on the translations.

There is absolutely no reason for domestic U.S. law enforcement personnel to be dressed like military personnel. Period. (Screenshot from MacArthur Park in LA, original video here: x.com/cardon_brian...)

Boy, the GOP and Democratic establishments must be quaking in their boots to have someone as politically astute, charismatic, and immune to criticism as Elon Musk starting a new political party.

“Soldiers presumably become soldiers for exactly that: to die in defense of the king… Dying for somebody or something, that was perfectly normal, of course…”

My latest for @rollingstone.com, on how the U.S. strikes on Iran may not have had the intended effect regardless of what happened at Fordow. With analysis from @nicolegrajewski.bsky.social, @alivaez.bsky.social, @warmatters.bsky.social, and Farzan Sabet

[In elevator with 6 sheriff’s deputies] Receptionist: wow you guys wear so much stuff Deputy: yeah Me: weird you just wear Level IV plates & no soft armor tho Deputy: huh? Me: I figure subsonic rounds are a more common threat & you have no oblique coverage [uncomfortable silence]

F/A-18F assigned to Lt Emily King & Lt Natasha Koenneker during Operation Inherent Resolve in 2017. The markings on their bird indicate they carried out 78 bombing runs against ISIS.

“A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads,” Dmitriy Medvedev says.

"YOUR MOM is conducting a battle damage assessment from Operation Midnight Hammer"

“Now that the horses have fled, we must close the barn doors”

The biggest difference between now and 2003 is that with Iraq, the U.S. went to great lengths to create elaborate lies about WMDs. But in the age of social media, everything is just vibes-based casus belli.

“The Iraq War was an ill-considered bloody debacle that never should have happened, by which I mean if we just try a slightly different approach next time we can remake the Middle East to our liking through force of arms.”

Luckily it’s impossible there will be any downsides or complications from America’s latest military adventure.

It’s not technically war if you say you want peace while bombing another country

In December 2017, I was in Jerusalem when the US announced it was recognizing the ancient city as the capital of Israel. Amid daily clashes and protests in response, a meme began to spread among Israelis, based on an iconic photograph from the 1967 Six-Day War.

I’ll be the first one to say: if JD Vance becomes the voice of caution that convinces Trump not to embark on a nebulous regime-change adventure in Iran, then truly his experience of Iraq in the Marine Corps has served both him and America well… www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Was honestly rather naively hoping to make it through the rest of my life without ever having to don MOPP gear again

“What the Nazis had to gauge was the point at which atrocity would awaken the community to the consciousness of its moral habits. This point may be moved forward as the national emergency, or Cold War, is moved forward, and still further forward in Hot War…” 1/2

Must read by CJ Chivers from 2020: www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/m...

LIVE: Anti-ICE demonstrators in Los Angeles clash with law enforcement WARNING: MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSNM...

It is not illegal to fly a foreign flag in the United States, any more than it is illegal to fly the flag of the Confederacy, which as history buffs may be aware, actually took up arms and killed more than 360,000 U.S. soldiers in an effort to destroy the Union.

Them: The problem with the poets of the First World War is that they were soft, hypersensitive elites who just couldn’t hack the realities of combat Alan Seeger: I Have a Rendezvous With Death

The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.

Hell of a photo

Posting for no reason. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Yesterday I caught up with Ken Casey, the lead singer of the iconic punk band Dropkick Murphys at a rally of veterans and labor unions on the National Mall, to talk punk rock and politics. My latest for @rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

This is now what's happening in California. May be too late there, but it's not too late in other blue states.

Had some green onions I bought at the grocery store a few weeks ago, but didn’t have time to use as intended. So I planted them in a balcony pot that had extra space. They are now like four feet tall, and flowering. Feel like it’s becoming a “Day of the Triffids” type scenario.

Become ungovernable

NEW: Inside the Billion-Dollar Effort to Make Trump Feel Good About Himself Trump’s administration is marshaling vast public resources and more than $1 billion worth of taxpayer money to flatter the president. Full story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Just gonna leave this here...

Me, as they put me up against the wall in front of the firing squad, desperately trying to think of final words that will echo down the ages: “Oh yeah? Your mom wanted a blindfold and a cigarette, too.”

I, for one, am shocked that the current president is having a falling out with someone he publicly praised and held in such apparent high esteem.

Nearly a dozen immigration officers and eight deportees are sick and stranded in a metal shipping container in the searing-hot East African nation of Djibouti, where they face the constant threat of malaria and rocket attacks from nearby Yemen, according to a federal court filing issued Thursday.

At least Andrew Carnegie built libraries. Even if now they’re Apple Stores or whatever

Several oligarchs & industrialists who chose to back Hitler & finance the Nazis ended up in concentration camps after falling out of favor. Fritz Thyssen & Hjalmar Schact, among others. Some, like Gustav Krupp & his son, were indicted for war crimes at Nuremberg. Just sayin’

Ugh. You can still disagree with someone, or even hate them for their actions, while still believing they have a right to publicly criticize any and all politicians and policies, without that criticism becoming the sole basis for financial and legal retribution by the government.

I'm pretty sure these confrontations are a part of the design of the program. They'll use them as an excuse to enact a state of emergency, particularly around election season.

Amazing. The White House is literally doing the “AJ” scene from “In the Loop.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...