Elisabeth Vallet

Pentagon bars press photographers over 'unflattering' Hegseth photos Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's staff took issue with photos taken in a rare briefing last week and decided to shut out press photographers from two subsequent news conferences.

The First Amendment is clear: The government can't punish journalists for unflattering coverage.

Keep in mind that Pete Hegseth's reported Pentagon spending spree happened just months after Trump and Republicans made devastating cuts to the social safety net in exchange for huge tax cuts for the rich.

And defense spending may soon hit a record $1.5 trillion.

Priorities.

This interview with the great @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social was a "wow" moment for me. Thanks, New York Times and David Marchese.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/m...

I couldn't help noticing the question that seemed the most Times-like to me.

🤟🏼

Pentagon Should Focus on Defense Priorities, not Lavish Dinners, After Historic $93.4B “Use-It-or-Lose-It” September Defense officials typically enter the end of each fiscal year with at least one goal in mind: spend the rest of the military’s budget by any means necessary.

En cette fin d'année budgétaire, tirer les leçons du sud.
openthebooks.substack.com/p/pentagon-s...

The US government will not stop sharing Nazi propaganda And their supporters are loving it.

"Individually, each post could easily be dismissed, but taken together, they seem to form something more deliberate: a stream of repurposed Nazi propaganda for the everyday person’s feed."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Former Deputy NSA has NEVER read the constitution.

Napoleon sitting despondently on a chair with a caption above his head that reads logistics Pete, logistics

20 % de journalistes en moins et 108 agences fermées en dix ans : la presse locale en danger, alerte Reporter sans Frontières

➡️ https://l.humanite.fr/EzF

Que ce soit ici ou en France, les grands médias devraient s'intéresser en urgence aux menaces et intimidations que subissent leurs collègues des médias indé. Tout mon soutien à @rachelgilmore.bsky.social et @ricardoparreira.com

The Tropic of Cancer is drifting southwards by about 15 metres every year.

Some Mexican highways used to have signs marking the changes.

The shift happens because Earth’s axial tilt is slowly decreasing, due to gravitational tugs from the Sun and Moon.

#astronomy 🧪 ⚛️

📷 Roberto González

Why DOJ Hasn’t Charged Anyone Else From the Epstein Files The release of the Epstein Files upended American politics — but it doesn’t mean people are going to jail.

COLUMN: Don’t hold your breath for any prosecutions from the Epstein files, writes our legal columnist Ankush Khardori.

"The reality is that thus far, there has been no compelling evidence that the Justice Department failed to charge someone ... who should have been charged."

In Talking to Parents About Vaccines, Pediatricians Navigate a Sea of Misinformation

Many young pediatricians have never seen some of the diseases once prevented through vaccination, and now have to prepare for unvaccinated children bringing viruses to their waiting rooms, exposing other patients and staff.

This is seriously alarming and it’s thanks to the Andrew Tates of this world. Pay attention to what your kids are consuming online; it matters. It shapes who they often become.

How dare her!! 🧐🤨

"When people like Kamala Harris send our sons and daughters, our young people, to fight in stupid wars, it is the young generation that carries the burden of that. We're gonna stop sending our young people to far away lands. We are not the policemen of the world."

So ... who is going to tell him? 🤔

Police body cam footage shows DOGE knew Institute of Peace was private property during raid Footage obtained by The Handbasket’s lawsuit shows a hostile takeover on March 17, 2025.

You can read about my winning lawsuit with @rcfp.org against DC MPD, and the resulting footage from the DOGE raid on USIP here:

AOC: The Pentagon has not passed an audit, and they are out here trying to kick people with disabilities off of Medicaid. It is corruption that is stealing from the public coffers — and that is the actual waste, fraud, and abuse.

[ 🇺🇸 ÉTATS-UNIS ]

🔸 Caitlin Kalinowski, directrice générale de la branche robotique d’OpenAI, annonce sa démission après l’accord conclu avec le gouvernement américain autorisant l’utilisation de la technologie de l’entreprise à des fins militaires

[La suite en réponse ⬇️]

Are we allowed to get the rest of the Epstein files now?

As an IR professor, it's depressing that this is outperforming all others as the best theory of US foreign policy

Fascinante évolution, en 5 ans à peine:
- Pré-2022: les hélico, arme offensive par excellence, longue vie au gunship!
- 2022-2025: hélico, finito; trop vulnérable, drones font pareil pour moins cher
-2025-?: pas si cher finalement pour casser du drone; arme défensive de choix, longue vie au gunship!

How Trump’s War in Iran Has Echoes of Putin and Ukraine

The Trump administration keeps using Putin's language. from Anton Troianovski @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/u...

The Desire for Terror And the defense of democracy

Self-terrorism as an afterthought and a then-deliberate strategy ?
By @timothysnyder.bsky.social

snyder.substack.com/p/the-desire...

Deep sigh

The whole war is a crime

But need more facts to assess whether individual attacks are war crimes

A screenshot of the Polymarket website showing a prediction market titled "Nuclear weapon detonation by...?" under the Geopolitics and Ukraine categories. The market displays three betting options with their current probabilities and "Buy Yes" or "Buy No" prices: "March 31" at 5%, "June 30" at 12%, and "Before 2027" at 22%. The total trading volume shown is over $843,000.

Polymarket has created a betting market on the use of nuclear weapons. Everyone involved in this should be put in prison for life.

Authorities searching debris after suspected tornadoes kill 6 in Michigan, Oklahoma A 12-year-old boy is reported to be among the dead following powerful storms that stretched across the middle of the country.

A 12-year-old boy is reported to be among the dead following powerful storms that stretched across the middle of the country. n.pr/4s4dz2q

Americans Are Now a Target in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown A WSJ investigation tracked the U.S. citizens caught in the crosshairs of an aggressive federal campaign to detain and demonize dissenters.

Isn’t the right to protest what makes America great? an American in the back of a government vehicle asked the agent who had just arrested her.

No, the agent responded.

Inside the Department of Homeland Security’s war on American dissent.

www.wsj.com/us-news/immi...

OpenAI Is Opening the Door to Government Spying Whether it means to or not

The Pentagon can likely get away with using OpenAI’s technology for mass surveillance of Americans under the terms of their contract, legal experts told @matteowong.bsky.social.

The Gulf Countries Are Facing Their Nightmare Scenarios Iran has exposed their vulnerabilities.

Even without missiles, a “trickle of drone strikes, if they continue for months, could damage the Gulf’s brand as a haven within a volatile region,” Robert F. Worth writes: