Andrew Rudalevige

huh, makes the whole 25 year period when the Shah was our top ally kind of awkward

61 years ago today at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama.

An original Nashville sit-in member, along with Diane Nash, James Bevel, and John Lewis. Trained in non-violence by James Lawson. At age 21, he signed a will before the Freedom Rides, knowing he could die.

May his soul be at peace, and may we all have such courage in the face of oppression.

On congressional Iran hawks who oppose war powers legislation:

1) Haven't seen any introduce a recent Iran AUMF to authorize this war.

2) Likely b/c they know it would be deeply unpopular & fail. And they don't want to own a vote for war.

3) So they surrender their constitutional power to POTUS.

Trump’s Unauthorized War The Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the power to mobilize the military—and for good reason.

Why this war is illegal, and how the Constitution's checks on war powers broke down

From FT comments

Thanks for these -- it seems as well that striking a vessel (that is not attacking you) thousands of miles from what is claimed to be a site-specific defensive conflict is yet another problem for the 'this is not really a war' argument.

The Framers, 1787: “This system will not hurry us into war… It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress.”

The Speaker of the House, 2026: not allowing one man to hurry us into war is a “terrible, dangerous idea.”

… Hegseth is saying that for too long America’s leaders have neglected the Monroe doctrine and focused too much on matters overseas instead, which is quite something to say as we bomb Iran but ok

If a member of Congress thinks war with Iran is so great, they should introduce an AUMF, vote for it, and own that decision.

But simply allowing the executive to usurp Congress's war powers is a complete abdication of constitutional responsibility.

(War with Iran is a bad idea even if authorized.)

Trump Has Been Sued 198 Times for Withholding Funding. It Hasn’t Stopped Him. (Gift Article) Immigration demands for highway dollars, D.E.I. rules for homeless grants: how Trump has tried to wield spending to get his way.

An important piece showing that losses in court haven’t stopped Trump from seizing Congress’s spending power and targeting dissenters and “blue states.”

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

U.S. sub sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing 87 and expanding war zone A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, killing dozens of sailors and dramatically widening Washington's pursuit of the Iranian navy.

A US submarine sinking a lonely, dinky Iranian surface ship an ocean away from the theater of the main conflict—and 9000
miles from North America—makes it pretty clear the US is fighting a general war, without the declaration required by the Constitution. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

A nice footnote is that Sen. Rubio actually voted for himself… because 98 votes apparently weren’t enough. (The 100th would have been Vance.)

Well, the mayor likes the Declaration of Independence because he has read it.

Kash Patel’s latest firings ousted agents with expertise in Iran The FBI director gutted a specialized, global espionage unit of counterintelligence agents, just days before Operation Epic Fury.

When FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff last week for their role in the classified documents investigation of Donald Trump, he targeted an elite counter espionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran www.ms.now/news/kash-pa...

Honestly this is less George Orwell and more Lewis Carroll.

Previous mentions of "war" are apparently inoperative.

Except for the "wars" that Trump "stopped." *Those* were all totally wars. Even if there wasn't any actual shooting, but there could have been.

Delighted to welcome @jamellebouie.net to beautiful Brunswick, Maine, and to Bowdoin this week!

Madam President of the UNSC, Melania Trump (I’m serious), has begun the meeting on “children and education in times of conflict” (I’m serious, again).

Brandon Straka: I’m at the Pentagon this morning for a briefing with @SecWar @PeteHegseth on the Iran strikes. Session starts in 10 minutes.

Here's a Jan. 6 rioter posing with a press pass before Pete Hegseth's press conference, just to give you a sense of the type of "journalists" who were in the Pentagon briefing room this morning.

Update from Shawn McCreesh

"After just a few minutes, Trump has moved on from his war in Iran to the curtains he’s picked out for the White House and his new ballroom" www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

Sen. Robert Taft (“Mr. Republican”), within two weeks of Pearl Harbor, noted that “As a matter of general principle, I believe there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government."

This is what happens when you effectively have no ethical rules at the top of government — virtually limitless opportunities for insider profiteering.

In my time at Princeton, we've had several Army officers in our doctoral program. They've all done excellent work.

When this former Princeton undergrad says we're actually teaching them "the enemy's wicked ideology" I have no idea what the hell he's talking about but, of course, neither does he.

Congress Should Be Embarrassed Which is worse: being lied to or being ignored?

"Under Trump, State of the Union addresses have become clown shows—and though Trump himself is chief clown, the members too have been smeared in greasepaint. Until they can reclaim their dignity, the show should be put on hiatus."

Indeed! - sorry if it wasn't clear my point meant to be supportive of yours.

YES! please do just that.

"The precedents OLC applies in determining the president’s inherent authority are its own prior opinions.... [U]npacking an array of quotation marks reveals not the buttress of external authority but rather OLC citing itself citing itself..."
csdp.princeton.edu/sites/g/file...

We seem to have collectively decided, gradually and mostly out of apathy, that presidents can launch flagrantly unconstitutional wars of choice without congressional approval and there just won’t be any consequences. Would be nice if this is where we start reversing the trend.