Tim Mathews

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

The Most Chilling Detail in the U.S. Attack on an Iranian Naval Ship The Iranian warship was taking part in an international exercise with many other countries—including the United States.

If we’re in an int’l armed conflict, I’m not aware of a prohibition on attacking a military vessel belonging to the other state.

That’s not to say this was a good idea.

If we had the means to recover shipwrecked crew and knowingly abandoned them, that’s bad.
newrepublic.com/post/207429/...

My son’s progress report describes adequate progress for a 1st grader learning math. In the same folder, there was an assignment he did in class. On the back, apparently for fun, he converted speed of light from MPH to miles/s, and calculated how long it takes light to travel from Earth to Jupiter.

I will miss Kristi Noem's inimitable constitutional insights, as when, asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. at a Senate hearing to define "habeas corpus," she replied, "Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country."

Deathonomics 2.0: Why the System Is Starting to Stall – Riddle Russia Vladislav Inozemtsev on the challenges that «deathonomics» poses for modern Russia and how long the system can keep running without radical changes

“… no one in the military hierarchy seems concerned with improving operational efficiency. This inertia is partly a byproduct of «deathonomics» itself: when the supply of manpower appears virtually unlimited, there is little incentive to refine tactics or strategy.” ridl.io/deathonomics...

The Burden That Should Not Be Theirs: How Congress Turned the Military into the Last Check on Illegal War Congress has unintentionally shifted the burden of preventing an unconstitutional war squarely onto the military. By failing to exercise its war powers,

A dangerous expectation is growing in Washington: that the military will stop unconstitutional wars if Congress won’t. A law professor and retired Air Force officer weighs in.

As I was saying… bsky.app/profile/atru...

A couple years ago, I occasionally hit the drive thru for a breakfast sandwich when in a hurry. Orders were messed up nearly every time because they were understaffed. Each time, they offered me a gift card. I told them to give it to their overworked employees and consider hiring more people.

'UNIMAGINABLE CRUELTY': Judge Gary Brown, a Trump appointeee from NY, thrashes DHS' treatment of a man who came to the US at 9 as an abuse/neglect victim, has no criminal record and became a college grad.

"The laws of decency condemn such villainy." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Here’s the latest.

“… potential new leaders of Iran had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign… the worst outcome would be that whoever takes over Iran could be ‘as bad’ as their predecessors.”

Planning process must have been epic.

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

He’s not saying “no rules of engagement.” He’s saying “no *stupid* rules of engagement.”

Rules of engagement are directives which govern the initiation and continued engagement with hostile forces. They are part of any operation. What differs is how permissive or restrictive or detailed they are.

Gilded Capability: Overinvestment and the Survivability Paradox Infernos raged aboard Japanese aircraft carriers after U.S. Navy dive-bombers found their marks during the Battle of Midway. Many Japanese pilots were

This is one of the best articles I’ve read on national security recently. There are so many good points that I don’t know how summarize it, other than to say you put way too many eggs in one basket when you try to make something survivable against nearly everything.
warontherocks.com/2026/02/gild...

The Allure of Battle Cathal Nolan on why decisive battles rarely decide wars

When I was looking for a link to the book, I saw that he was a guest on one of my favorite podcasts: Historically Thinking. www.historicallythinking.org/p/the-allure...

Takeaways as I recall:
- short wars are a delusion; leaders hope for a quick knockout and it turns into a debacle
- “decisive” battles really aren’t; they merely accelerate what is in motion
- wars are won by economic output, mobilization, achievable policy goals, and coherent strategy (duh)

Last year, I finally finished reading “The Allure of Battle” by Cathal Nolan. It’s a thick book and covers a lot of ground. I don’t think any one of his ideas is novel, but the clarity and emphasis he places upon his arguments make it readable and digestible.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...

The targets’ anticipated military advantage is or is not outweighed by expected harm to noncombatants and civilian objects - regardless of whether the decision to launch the armed conflict had a legal basis.

Yes, but the decision to go to war is different from the assessment of whether targets within the scope of that war are lawful. A judge advocate will not say, “this target would be lawful if the decision to initiate the armed conflict were lawful.”

Vibes

Reminder that there are streaming church services beginning pretty much anytime today that works for you. Here are a few with start times at 8:00, 8:55, 9:00, 9:15, 10:45, 11:00, 11:30, and 12:00 (all times eastern).

(Updated times and links)

I also heard that some stuff exploded. No idea how.

History is like a Rube Goldberg machine.

What began as paranoia about trans athletes in high school sports and an 18-month period of inflation, has somehow led to masked agents disappearing people off the streets, measles outbreaks, and decapitating the state in Venezuela and Iran.

Cover of The Lancet:

@thelancet.com
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Took a while due to a few years of ARNG time, and a 5-year break in service.

20 years active federal service today.

But they rhyme, don’t they?

Allowed and aloud are spelled differently, but it would be understandable if two people heard and differently interpreted “no reading allowed” vs “no reading aloud.”
Same for “I dropped the flour” vs “I dropped the flower.”

Please read this article to the end. Even before ICE got involved, this started because this *blind man who speaks no English and uses a curtain rod as a walking stick* got lost on a walk and some Karen called the police on him and they tasered and beat him bc he didn’t drop the rod. WTF

Sell-side research in the Substack era Market-moving distribution with zero disclosure

Here’s @marcruby.bsky.social’s debut Alphaville post, on the obvious arbitrage between disclosure-free “research” on social media and the massive burdens faced by traditional analysts. Hope it’s the first of many Rubyposts! www.ft.com/content/04b5...

Dammit. Why did have to be a lawyer? Giving us a bad name.

Cuban troops report fatal clash with Florida speedboat Cuban authorities say they have intercepted more than a dozen speedboats arriving from the United States this year .

This is not unprecedented. apnews.com/article/cuba...

Cuban troops report fatal clash with Florida speedboat Cuban authorities say they have intercepted more than a dozen speedboats arriving from the United States this year .

This has happened before, so hopefully not a big deal? apnews.com/article/cuba...