A Year After U.S.A.I.D.’s Death, Fired Workers Find Few Jobs and Much Loss (Gift link!)

Given recruitment difficulties and losses from disease, George Washington literally mandated smallpox inoculation for all troops in 1777

In case anyone's interested in the historical track record of these "meat wave" attacks, I have a recent paper on that topic (with Yuri Zhukov)

Spoiler alert: forcing your soldiers to fight isn't a war-winning move

In case anyone's interested in the historical track record of these "meat wave" attacks, I have a recent paper on that topic (with Yuri Zhukov)

Spoiler alert: forcing your soldiers to fight isn't a war-winning move

"Dude"

The Earthset abides. I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that.

Seems like the Strait of Hormuz is only open when the stock market is.

Might be game on again.
Watching carefully. 😐

You never miss professional diplomats until they're gone

Schrödinger's Strait

Pretty wild that Tehran might be a more credible source of info about the war than the Trump administration

Kash Patel advisor Erica Knight says a “lawsuit is being filed” over The Atlantic’s article alleging that the FBI director’s drinking has been “a recurring source of concern across the government.”

Patel retweeted the post.

Remarkable.

Your moment of #VermontZen

Schrödinger's Strait

You never miss professional diplomats until they're gone

You never miss professional diplomats until they're gone

You never miss professional diplomats until they're gone

A photo of a tray with three sections empty. One has chopped carrot in it. The other has what can only be described as a posit of brown dog vomit and an insole liner of a sneaker (or a used panty liner from the mid 1700s). The kind of meal that would have you happily tossing yourself overboard.

NEW: Growing fears of food shortages on USS Tripoli & other US ships in the Middle East.

This photo is the kind of meals now being served. It was sent by a sailor to her family.

Families are now trying to send food parcels to the ships.

Full story 👉 www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity Demands for “viewpoint diversity,” a pillar of the Right’s strategy to remake higher education, collide with the pursuit of truth.

calls for “viewpoint diversity” are little more than demands for a quota system for political conservatives who otherwise could not hack it www.aaup.org/academe/issu...

Trump administration pushes nations to sign ‘trade over aid’ declaration Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it an opportunity to use the U.N. system to “promote America First values,” according to a cable reviewed by The Post.

Not content with merely killing millions of people, now Rubio and co. are pushing other major donors of humanitarian aid to embrace a "trade over aid" agenda that will severely curtail any remaining aid in favor of "letting companies enrich themselves on newer markets"

Trump administration pushes nations to sign ‘trade over aid’ declaration Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it an opportunity to use the U.N. system to “promote America First values,” according to a cable reviewed by The Post.

Not content with merely killing millions of people, now Rubio and co. are pushing other major donors of humanitarian aid to embrace a "trade over aid" agenda that will severely curtail any remaining aid in favor of "letting companies enrich themselves on newer markets"

Hegseth Borrows Violent Prayer from ‘Pulp Fiction’ to Bless Iran War at April Pentagon Worship Service For the second month in a row, Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself “secretary of war,” read a violent prayer — that echoes a scene in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction — during a worship ser...

At Pentagon worship service today, Pete Hegseth again read a violent prayer to bless the Iran war. But this time his prayer was apparently borrowed from 'Pulp Fiction.' I promise I'm not writing for @theonion.com now:
publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-bo...

“only 41,714 aid and commercial trucks have entered Gaza over the past six months.. a mere 37% of the 110,400 trucks stipulated under the ceasefire agreement. The fuel situation is even more critical, with only 1,366 fuel trucks entering out of a promised 9,200 – an abysmal 14% compliance rate.”

As a former US Capitol Police officer, I’m disgusted by this. As a current local detective, I’m disgusted by this. As a future criminal attorney, I’m disgusted by this.
As an American, I’m terrified by this.

The aftermath

The aftermath

We're watching the river close tonight, but all should be OK. Hope you guys are doing well!

18 seconds of liquid Vermont zen, courtesy of our first decent spring rain of 2026

Please don’t let the lesson of Trump’s stupid Iran war be that we need to spend more money on weapons 🙏