Thomas Bartscherer

Take the gun, leave the cannolis.

Take the gun, leave the cannolis.

RIP Habermas, whose death follows that of his beloved Public Sphere

Hannah Arendt's lessons for our times: the banality of evil, totalitarianism and statelessness Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was one of the most influential political theorists and philosophers of the 20th Century. Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge FBA explores three of Arendt's key concepts – totalita...

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* WIST wist.info/arendt-hanna...

* Article 2024
Hannah Arendt's lessons for our times: the banality of evil, totalitarianism and statelessness.
by Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge FBA

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/hannah-...

Light reading for Heideggerians

But the price of ever keeps going up too

In Case of Emergency: The Dubious Legality of Trump Allies' Draft EO Conservative activists say that declaring a national emergency would allow Trump to assert sweeping authority over elections. They're wrong.

NEW: Right-wing activists are circulating a draft executive order that purports to give Trump sweeping power over federal elections.

@mollyroberts.bsky.social and I got new details on the activists, lawyers, and conspiracy theorists behind the proposed order:

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/in-c...

Jürgen Habermas im Alter von 96 Jahren gestorben Jürgen Habermas ist in Starnberg gestorben. Das teilte der Suhrkamp Verlag mit.

The death of Jürgen Habermas www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...

Is the secretary of defense subject to the regulations set forth in this manual?

This is remarkable. Chapter & verse.

(1) The accused declared, ordered, or otherwise indicated that there shall be no survivors or surrender accepted; (2) The accused thereby intended to threaten an adversary or to conduct hostilities such that there would be no survivors or surrender accepted; (3) It was foreseeable that circumstances would be such that a practicable and reasonable ability to accept surrender would exist; (4) The accused was in a position of effective command or control over the subordinate forces to which the declaration or order was directed; and (5) The conduct took place in the context of and was associated with hostilities.

✋ Former USG war crimes lawyer here.

Apropos of SecDef's remarks this morning:

Denial of quarter—even the declaration of no quarter—is a war crime.

And recognized as such by the US Government.

From DoD's Manual for Military Commissions.

Thank you.

"even the declaration of no quarter"

Tired of all this winning….

Not u break it u bought it; it’s now you break it, you walk away

Never seen a bow tie on the neck look so much like a tail between the legs.

Never seen a bow tie on the neck look so much like a tail between the legs.

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Trump Knew the Risk of Iran Blocking the Strait of Hormuz. He Still Went to War. The president told his White House team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait, the world’s most vital shipping lane.

WSJ: The likelihood of Iran closing the strait was discussed, Gen Caine predicted it, and Trump decided “Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait — and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.”

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Light reading for Heideggerians

"'I doubt it will take 6 months,'" he said, about 8 years before it ended.

The Novelists and the Warmongers Reading Mary McCarthy on Vietnam in a new era of wartime illusions.

“Few literary figures living in the West are willing to confront war as directly as McCarthy did, and they, like her, are typically rewarded with the condescension of a loud and powerful segment of their peers.”

Andrew Holter rereads McCarthy’s Vietnam writing in a new era of wartime illusions:

You know the news is bad when Bigfoot makes it to the front page over at Fox

You know what Kevin Kruse would say about that.

'Never seen anything like it' — what Trump's favorite phrase says about his presidency President Donald Trump often uses hyperbole to describe his achievements and challenges. He claims the U.S. is building a missile defense system "the likes of which nobody's ever seen before" and that...

"As President Donald Trump tells it, never-before-seen things are happening with stunning regularity."

A DOGE staffer assigned to the National Endowment for the Humanities to flag grants for "DEI" tries to explain what "DEI" is. This deposition is part of a lawsuit by the @acls1919.bsky.social, @historians.org and @modernlanguage.bsky.social.

Guessed all the human samples pretty easily. The difference is in the complexity of the ideas. The human-written text is always saying more.

Sadly, I think that’s why the majority opted for AI text.

Who’s a Better Writer: A.I. or Humans? Take Our Quiz. (Gift Article) A.I. chatbots contain the sum of all human knowledge. That can make them pretty good writers.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...