An image depicting the Siege of Alesia, in which Julius Caesar's Roman army encircled and laid siege to the Gallic city of Alesia. Caesar's forces were themselves encircled by Gallic reinforcements. Caesar had a wall constructed around his forces, meaning that his army was stuck between two walls: his own and Alesia's. The Romans defended their position and maintained the siege until Roman reinforcements arrived.

Trump channeling his inner Caesar with this whole blockade the blockade idea

A stat that surprised me, but perhaps shouldn't have, when I was reading YIMBY stuff is that homelessness is correlated with housing prices. I guess this is surprising because you tend to assume it can't be as simple as price. And price isn't the only thing, but it turns out to matter.

1/You have to kill Unitary Executive dead like you are the final heroine in a horror movie involving Zombies. What have we learned from the last year about future-proofing agencies from the Unitary Executive?

Even the chart Hank shared shows the decline starting around the time that the iPhone was released

I think you're right that they're just kind of inextricable. If we didn't have smart phones and could really only access the Internet through a laptop or home PC then the algo on social media wouldn't be nearly as prevalent. No one's doomscrolling with a mouse and keyboard

I held this post up to the light.

Donald Trump needs to go — the 25th Amendment needs to be invoked.

Judge to hear motion of dismissal in Spokane 9 federal conspiracy case ‘Time-worn and protected methods of civil disobedience,’ or violent federal conspiracy? Federal judge could dismiss charges against the Spokane 9 next week as May trial date approaches.

‘Time-worn and protected methods of civil disobedience,’ or violent federal conspiracy? Federal judge to hear motion to dismiss charges against the Spokane 9 next week in advance of May trial date:

Michael Baumgartner is a bad person who blindly rubber stamps Trump's agenda and should not be in Congress.

Mr. Netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to near-certain victory: Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in a few weeks. The regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U.S. interests in neighboring countries was assessed as minimal.

How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran

Basically, Israel oversold the "benefits" of the strikes and handwaved the risks and Trump was sold. Almost everyone else around him was ambivalent or for it (except for Vance).

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/u...

- Trump's had a pretty consistent red line with his actions and it's boiled down to how the bond market reacts to his decisions. Whenever the 10-year gets in the 5% area he's backed off. Outright nuking Iran would kill any remaining confidence in the US dollar as the reserve currency

- Political and economic fallout: Trump's admin loves goosing the market to enrich themselves. Nuking Iran would absolutely crush the global economy, probably trigger a bank run, and we'd become global pariahs a la Russia (with sanctions and all)

- Vague posting about nukes is similar to what Russia did during the start of the Ukraine war, when they were trying to deter NATO from helping Ukraine (which at least was partially the reason for why everyone slow-dripped assistance the first year)

Anyway here's some reasons why I don't think he'll actually do it:

- Vance is out of the country. Not sure when he's supposed to be back, but it'd be a weird choice to nuke a country while the 2nd in line is abroad

- Trump has been more specific in naming bridges/energy infrastructure as targets

To be clear, I don't find it very likely he'll nuke Iran. Even if it's "only" a 5% chance, that's infinitely higher than what's ideal.

But even hinting at using nukes as a point of leverage is so disgustingly irresponsible that itself should be a impeachable and removable offense

I sure hope all these congressional reps who are posting their thoughts are on their way to the airport to get back to DC.

Yeah! Please convene! But don't wait for Thune to order you guys back. Just fly back right now! Get all the Dems together and march to the white house and demand a meeting with Trump

(Assuming we get out of this in more or less one piece as a country) we really, really need Dems and progressives to run on a platform of anti-corruption, reducing a president's military oversight (especially when Congress hasn't declared war), and readfirming Congress has the power of the purse

Like yeah, Republican leaders will refuse to field a vote, but at least you'll be taking action instead of posting videos of you shaking your head solemnly. Action that quite a lot of people that voted you in would follow and like, too.

I am begging elected Dems to get on flights back to DC and demand an emergency vote from Johnson and Thune. Make theater out of it. Pitch tents outside the Capitol. Give Sanders a megaphone. Tell constituents you need them to stop working and start protesting.

It depends on how committed you are to using the phrase "believe it" at the end of sentences. Regardless of context.

"American casualties, heartbreaking"

The force depletion report must've been bad bad.

Why are we building up troop presence in the Middle East if not for a potential ground invasion?

To increase leverage in negotiations? So it's a bluff or are we actually willing to invade to achieve our goals (assuming we had firm ones)?

Idioms are useful and all, but it'd be good to move away from boots on the ground language which can be semantically squishy. Troop build-up for a ground invasion and occupation seems better for pinning these guys into actual stances.

Glad you're asking the question. I think it'd be better phrased if you used more precise language and moved away from the vague "boots on the ground" and framed it more around "troop build-up for a potential ground invasion and occupation of Iran."

It's a big-brained move to use the most unpopular agency to crater travel as a means to moderate fuel prices

That was a good game by the Sounders and cool that Spokane got to host them! Looked like the stadium was bumping