Ainy

(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.

this means it is not open for transit

Lawyer: You don't regret that people might have lost income?

Cavanaugh (DOGE): No, I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit from two trillion dollars to close to zero.

Lawyer: Did you reduce the federal deficit?

Cavanaugh: No, we didn't.

Iranians rethink the price of regime change Destructive US and Israeli war and Islamic republic’s resilience have alarmed even those who supported foreign intervention

Terrific reporting, sad piece:

After a series of fatal strikes involving civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress directed the Pentagon to reduce civilian casualties as part of a 2019 law. During the Biden administration, the Defense Department created the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response initiative. The civilian mitigation teams – cut by 90% by Hegseth – work with military commanders on target planning, and making sure that targets are actually military sites. The teams help come up with "no strike" lists, including religious and cultural sites and schools

I knew that the Department of War shot a missile into a school & killed 175 civilians, mostly children.

This is learned today:

Secretary of War Hegseth had cut the teams assigned to prevent such tragedies by 90%.
www.npr.org/2026/03/11/n...

wtf

KENNEDY: You said, 'Republicans think can troll their way to ethnic cleansing.' Did I read that correctly?

BIER: DHS tweeted for 100m deportations. That would be ethnic cleansing!

K: You don't think it's hyperbolic?

B: I think advocating 100m deportations is ethnic cleansing. Yes. Your time is up

Having Pete Hegseth in charge of the DOD has always felt like an insanely risky proposition. He's deeply unqualified, and is concerned with projecting dominance to the detriment of actual leadership.

Now though...feels like this could be a catastrophic failure of leadership.

crazy long read, but so so good.

Stoic Kristi Noem Bears Firing With Stiff Upper Lip, Chin, Cheeks, Forehead

Stoic Kristi Noem Bears Firing With Stiff Upper Lip, Chin, Cheeks, Forehead

Unfortunately, “Yo brother, legal team confirmed we can’t work with minors rn” is an instant classic

Never forget that this what The Washington Post said when Noem was nominated.

Turns out lawlessness is not a winning strategy. See you at Nuremberg 2.0

It feels like we're sleepwalking into a disaster and global conflict that will change how we live for years or decades. For Americans, this may be the first time a war actually affects civilian life in a material way since World War 2.

It's absolutely surreal how no one is talking about the Iran war in daily life. No one is discussing it and they seem oblivious. This conflict is spiraling and deteriorating in a way that it will substantially disrupt daily life for most of the world for the first time in decades.

the kind of thing that gets played at a war crimes trial

I'm sorry, if you're going to make a big show about how you've got a Department of WAR helmed by a Secretary of WAR and staffed by WARfighters, it's totally inane to then claim that your massive bombing of a foreign country constitutes something other than a war.

Her book about the dog came out before Tillis *confirmed* her. Now he’s relitigating the dog story as a proxy for relitigating his vote, which is a sign of the tide turning against Trump.

Tillis to Noem: "A 14 month old dog is basically a teenager in dog years. You decided to kill that dog bc you hadn't invested the appropriate training, then you have the audacity to write a book & say it's a leadership lesson! ... Those are bad decisions not unlike what happened in Minneapolis"

picture from the just-completed White House event of a side profile of Trump with a visible injury on his neck

whoa -- this is new. Trump has a significant rash-like injury on his neck today in addition to his disfigured hand

(Saul Loeb/Getty)

It cannot be stressed enough how these Republicans don’t see government jobs as jobs at all. They see them as titles, no-show gigs where they can do whatever they want. That’s why they hated the people in those jobs before, they thought it was a scam because they don’t believe in doing the work.

Hegseth on how US troops died: “Every once in a while you might have a squirter that makes it's way through”

wtfffffff

But like you literally did start it Pete

because this is an oil-excavation exercise. having the entire middle east in disarray allows plundering

make sure you vote in the primaries!!!

A Year Without USAID and What Comes Next YouTube video by Council on Foreign Relations

Watching this now.
youtu.be/2N2gDAUw_BU?...

Remember all those times Trump & Vance said they wouldn’t drag America into another war? They LIED.

Their actions today put American lives at risk, undermine our broader interests around the world, & will cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

On the one hand, the presidency is a fundamentally broken institution.

On the other hand, Congress is a fundamentally broken institution.

On the third hand, the Supreme Court is a fundamentally broken institution.

I think if I'd gotten away with attempting a coup, suffered no consequences for it, then won an election four years later, got away with executing citizens in the streets and foreigners in boats, and successfully abducted a head of state, I too might think I could just bomb my way to regime change