Brian Urrutia

Grey and black striped cat sitting on wooden table next to black cat which is licking his lips; wall is wood in background

Happy Friday 🤞🤞🤞

Raging at Media, Pete Hegseth Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud He wants “patriotic” coverage of the Iran War. He doesn’t understand: in a democracy, coverage that asks difficult questions of the government is itself “patriotic.”

Pete Hegseth wants to live in a world in which the US military can drop bombs on scores of children and face no serious media scrutiny for it. His vile claim that he can't wait for David Ellison to run CNN shows he pines for oligarchic control of media.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2077...

“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.” — Pete Hegseth, war minister, speaking of CNN today. In public.

Orbánization of the media is having a moment because of Hegseth's performance.

Read Greg Sargent's interpretation. bsky.app/profile/greg...

The US Navy decommissioned Middle East minesweepers last year. Here’s what they did. Four Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships stationed in Bahrain were decommissioned in 2025 after each serving for over 30 years.

Whenever you're writing MilSF, remember things like this happened with the largest navy in the world...

My Year as a Degenerate Sports Gambler Practically overnight, America made wagering on a game as frictionless as checking the weather. I was determined to understand the consequences—for my country, and for myself.

Since 2018, Americans have wagered more than half a trillion dollars on sports, and roughly half of men ages 18 to 49 have an active account with an online sportsbook.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

'Let’s return to that question about the supposed poor returns for creative arts graduates. The answer lies in the fact that they are effectively subsidising the creative industries that they’re working in – they are...selling their labour for less than they might earn in other sectors'. 2/3

Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz | CNN Politics The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, accord...

"Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/p...

My experience of US professional military education is that the profs are both professional and dedicated to educating their “warfighters” (I hate that term) do their job.

When I think of US PME I don’t think radical left, woke communists.

“That era when a bitter terminal O-4 turned culture war Influencer wrecked military effectiveness for clicks“ is going to be the dumbest chapter in history in future PME courses.

Love an original Victorian gas lamp. The horizontal bars provided a secure support for the top of the ladder, preventing it from slipping sideways. Back when lamps like these were used, lamplighters needed to clean the glass, trim the wick (in earlier oil lamps) or later, to light the gas mantle.

Two Live Nation Entertainment Inc. executives bragged about the high fees the company charges fans at its venues, joking in internal messages that the company is “robbing them blind” and that “these people are so stupid” that “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them.” In a series of chats from 2022, Ben Baker and Jeff Weinhold, two regional directors of ticketing for Live Nation amphitheaters, boasted about their ability to raise so-called “ancillary fees” – like parking, lawn chair rentals and VIP access – and still get concertgoers to pay for them. In one exchange, Weinhold gloated about raising VIP parking costs at a Virginia concert venue to $250. “These people are so stupid. I almost feel bad taking advantage of them,” Baker wrote, adding later, “I gouge them on ancil prices.” In another exchange, he bragged about charging “$50 to park in the grass” and “$60 for closer grass.” “Robbing them blind, baby,” he said, “that’s how we do it.” The company said in a statement that the messages did not reflect its values.

stringer bell alert

New: A Houston woman is suing Tesla in Harris County, alleging that her Cybertruck, while using Tesla's "Full Self-Driving mode" tried to drive the car off of a bridge. Here is the dashcam footage provided by her lawyers: www.chron.com/culture/arti...

An open letter to Grammarly and other plagiarists, thieves and slop merchants To everyone at Grammarly, I am writing a book right now, a really challenging endeavor that no doubt someone in Silicon Valley will think it’s fine to steal the day it’s published. I’ve been a profes...

I finally lost my shit about so-called AIs, LLMs, enshittification & everything fucking evil that @officialgrammarly.bsky.social is doing. I'm fucking furious, and not just about what 1 company has done. An open letter to Grammarly & the rest of the LLM hype machine www.moryan.com/an-open-lett...

"People used to be excited about tech, now they dread what data you're going to steal next, they dread what violation of privacy or the environment will turn up next."

this whole missive will make you want to stand on your desk and yell "O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!," but that bit really got me good

Sing, goddess, of epic rage: The irony behind "Epic Fury" The U.S. military's latest operation evokes Homeric rage—but its meaning is lost on the leaders who named it, while war's human cost is already unfolding

"The story of the Iliad is all about how epic fury leaves a wake of ruin in every direction. Repeatedly, the poem asks its audiences to consider at what point any of its violence is worth it."

neoskosmos.com/en/2026/03/1...

A must read. Really. There is no over-learning. Those of us who teach must share the hard lessons of history and sing the stories for a new generation.

70s style office building

Hello and welcome on the Terry Sanford Federal Building in beautiful downtown Raleigh, NC where I will be live-posting a show cause hearing starting at 4:00 ET

Dear everyone,

As per the post from the Bodleian librarian below, AI bots and scrapers are putting just about every website under great pressure, British History Online included.

A lot of excellent tech staff are working hard to keep everything working, but outages and siruptions are inevitable.

DOGE Goon Took Social Security Data With Him, Whistleblower Says The Social Security data of millions of Americans could be at risk.

"Not only has an ex-DOGE bro been accused of running around with the Social Security information of every American on a flash drive, he also may have the ability to edit and manipulate data at the Social Security Administration at will." newrepublic.com/post/207596/...

Virginia campaign reporting database corrected, still no answer to who bankrolled ‘Jim Crow’ mailer The cost to print and mail campaign flyers statewide could cost tens of thousands of dollars, but the campaign finance report for the PAC responsible for the flyer is missing from the state databas…

every election Republicans do this illegal shit (and this one's very illegal - an unregistered PAC) to mislead voters and nothing ever happens

cardinalnews.org/2026/03/11/v...

Judge: why are you using AI to do run of the mill issue spotting which is a basic part of your job?

(I am also interested in this question)

I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public.

I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are.

1/ Here's what I can share:

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.”

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writing about the unfortunate director of the local paper factory

mannerofspeaking.org/2010/05/12/s...

Blowtorching diplomatic and humanitarian capacity while burning through military capabilities and alienating allies is malpractice of the highest order by the Secretary of State, the nation's top DIPLOMAT, and by the National Security Advisor. It does not help the military to kill US diplomacy. 14/

🧵Feels like shouting into the void, but it is essential to note that the Trump/Rubio gutting of the State Department and blowtorching of US diplomatic capacity and credibility is an accelerant to this spiraling war and will seriously undercut US/allied efforts to pick up the pieces after. 1/

We're running out of sky If Saudi or Azerbaijan airspace shuts, Europe will be cut off from Asia

We're running out of sky.

If Saudi or Azerbaijan airspace shuts, Europe will be cut off from Asia.

My newsletter, out now.

Denmark responded to 1973 oil crisis by reducing car-dependency. Let's do that now. - Streetsblog Chicago "The government had to introduce car-free Sundays. And then people realized that the car-free Sunday was the best day of the week."

FYI the 1970s oil crisis was the impetus for Copenhagen turning into a cycling city

NO NO NO YOU DON’T

GUYS LET ME PLEASE SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF FREE TAX USA

federal is free, state is $16, handles even my chaotic freelancer taxes just fine, same step-by-step “designed for normies” kind of interface as TurboTax but NOT EVIL

tell everyone you know

www.freetaxusa.com

Three burrowing owls with various expressions, none of whom look forward to Mondays.

Good morning! 🪶