FWIW, the answer to this question is “no”

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

OMG

Kash Patel appears to be a drunken national security threat

"Meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights."

"A request for 'breaching equipment' ... was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors."

Exactly one year ago today:

BREAKING: An ICE charter landed in the Democratic Republic of Congo minutes ago following third-country deportation deal with the Trump administration.

gillianbrockell.com/breaking-ice...

On April 15, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed. @DeptofWar #OpSouthernSpear

Despite the administration’s rhetoric and bogus legal theories, the supposed armed conflict with “narco-terrorists” appears to be entirely make believe.

Murder is the general term for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict.

Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest won’t erase the pain for Afghans – but it shows Australia is willing to face uncomfortable truths | Shadi Khan Saif In the context of the Afghanistan war, this kind of accountability is rare, and it matters

'For the families who lived through these events, nothing can bring back what they lost. But being recognised, being heard and having their stories taken seriously still matters. Because in the end, justice is not only about punishment. It is also about acknowledgement.'

Splashdown!

If SCOTUS takes this, and they rules as I think it will in Noem v. AOL, it will completely upend the 1980 Refugee Act and IIRIRA and make both basically laws that say refugees are to be turned away and turn the US into an immigrant gulag

Feb 3 2025: "Despite plans for restructuring, Rubio said the United States would remain the 'most generous nation on Earth.' "

2025 ODA statistics: Germany has overtaken US as largest donor.

Sad.

NEW: Russian and Ukrainian reporting appears to confirm battlefield reporting that Ukrainian forces have achieved a drone advantage over Russian forces on the battlefield.

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 9, 2026: isw.pub/UkrWar040926 (1/8)

BREAKING: in March 2026, *every single one* of the 1,341 refugees admitted in the United States were white South Africans:

In FY 2026, the U.S. has admitted a total of 4,496 white South Africans, three Afghans (back in November), and nobody else.

www.rpc.state.gov/documents/Re...

UNOHCHR confirms Russia in occupied territory in Ukraine has created displacement through widespread and systematic discriminatory measures enforced through threats, detention, torture and ill-treatment.

www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...

Guardian article noting US Army chief of staff Randy George was asked to step down by defense secretary Pete Hegseth and take immediate retirement, CBS News reports.

This is not good, per @guardian. Did he refuse an illegal order?
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Stephen Lewis, Canadian politician, diplomat and journalist, dead at 88 | CBC News Former politician, diplomat and activist Stephen Lewis has died at age 88.

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

A new algorithm for determining how much aged care support people can receive to remain living at home is being blamed for reducing care for older Australians. Peter Willcocks, who was on a Department of Health aged care panel, likens the new Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) system to the Robodebt fiasco because clinical assessors cannot override its algorithm — even if they think the person deserves a higher level of care. Early communications from the department advised assessors they would have the power to "override" the algorithm, but that option was later removed.

Yet another case of automated austerity. When the humans in the loop are actually just treated as vestigial organs waiting to be removed. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids A ProPublica analysis of new ICE data shows that Trump has detained parents of U.S. citizen children at about twice the rate that Biden did, and moms have been deported four times as often.

NEW: More than 11,000. That’s how many US citizen children have a parent who has been detained under Trump, our new data analysis shows. When Doris Flores was separated from her four-month-old who was still breastfeeding, she turned to her pastor for help.
www.propublica.org/article/trum...

This is a very interesting, comprehensive explainer of where things stand in Hungary and how/why this specific election may bring Orban down, whether he would step down if he loses, and whether he's capable of completely paralyzing a Magyar govt.

'I Messed Up' LaGuardia Air Traffic Controller Was Juggling Sky And Ground Traffic By Himself Right Before Deadly Crash With Firetruck - Jalopnik I cannot imagine trying to deal with all of this, I'll tell you what.

At one point will insurers stop insuring flights going into the US, when the US asks for billions for wars, but funds only one flight controller at La Guardian:

www.jalopnik.com/2129924/lagu...?

Wonderful news!!!!!!!!! 👏👏👏

Cuba’s power grid collapses after weeks of US oil blockade | CNN Cuba’s electrical grid suffered a total collapse on Monday, the country’s power operator said, marking the latest nationwide blackout in recent years, and the first since the US effectively shut off t...

Just evil behavior from the US

www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/a...

This is the alternative to USAID style programs of course

A black and white photo of cinematographer Autumn Cheyenne Durald Arkapaw on the set of SINNERS TAGS Filmsky moviesky MOVIES films Oscars Academy Awards best cinematography winner

She won the Oscar not just because SINNERS is a stunning visual achievement: it's also a remarkable technical feat.
For the first time, the IMAX and Ultra Panavision 70 camera systems were used on the same movie.
The end result is jaw-dropping and immersive.
Congrats Autumn Durald.
#oscars

Who Fights for Reputation How psychology explains why a leader is willing to use military force to protect or salvage reputation In Who Fights for Reputation , Keren Yarhi-Milo provides an original framework, based on insights...

From all the IR theories that may explain bits and pieces of the puzzle of how we got to this stupid war, there is one that I think explains Trump's decision-making best: Keren Yarhi-Milo's book, Who Fights For Reputation? www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

I guess it’s woke to study the history of the Iran Iraq war or, like, every serious analysis of what bombing Iran would look like published in the last twenty years.

We won’t accept racism as “part of the job” in parliament. We’re calling on Labor to stop looking the other way, stop normalising this behaviour, and fix the rules that allow racism to persist in parliament.

US responsible for deadly missile strike on Iran school, preliminary inquiry says Strike that killed at least 175 people, most of them children, reportedly the result of a targeting mistake by US military planners

US responsible for deadly missile strike on Iran school, preliminary inquiry says. It appears the "US Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using obsolete data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency"

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Yeah! Glad to see they’ve finally arrived!

Finally, these are editor copies of The Oxford Handbook of Norms Research in International Relations found their way to my Hamburg office!
Here is a big 🙏🏻 again to my steadfast co-editors @sassangholiagha.bsky.social & @philorchard.bsky.social
& to all brilliant Section Editors & Contributors! 🙌🏻🙏🏻

Trump starting a war against Iran is perhaps the most unpopular major use of military force in recent memory, as measured by polls taken just after each attack. Eg, support *among Republicans* is lower than overall approval was for invading Iraq
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/polls-trum...

Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe

Using the phrase “legitimate concerns” non-ironically to justify appalling cruelty. She has to go asap.