Jay D. Aronson

Fucking burn it down

there's so much bad in the world but there's also people who lift up and carry an elderly bat around every day so he can pretend he's flying again, and that's the part of the world I think is worth fighting for

INBOX: data from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migrations show that in the most recent three months, every single one of the 1,651 refugees accepted into the United States were of (white) South African origin.

www.rpc.state.gov/documents/Re...

It Wasn't Fascism All Along Conservatism was a distinct ideology but it is dead and it is not coming back.

"Mainline conservatism is dying. In the US and UK at least, it is dead.This has been destabilizing to be sure, but let us not waste too much sympathy on it. It caused many harms and ignored many more. We should not fight for a creed that could not fight for itself."

Key Questions on the Role of Technology in the Expanding Middle East War Tech Policy Press asked experts working at the intersection of technology policy, security, and international affairs to share what they are watching.

The expanding war in Iran brought to the fore questions about the role of technology in armed conflict, including the controversial use of new artificial intelligence technologies. Tech Policy Press invited perspectives from experts on what they are watching for as the situation unfolds.

Given the billions being spent on war these days, it's a good time to read this @bmj.com series on the (h)arms industry!

"the arms industry should be seen as a commercial determinant of health"

Even as people are being killed, this industry is making billions in profit

www.bmj.com/collections/...

Not a lawyer, but it seems like Hegseth's explicit order to relax rules of engagement, thereby deliberately endangering civilians, would make this a war crime for which he is responsible. He should he prosecuted as a monstrous war criminal at the earliest opportunity. His order killed 165 children.

Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say Military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Saturday, two U.S. officials told Reu...

"No stupid rules of engagement." — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, March 2, 2026

"The strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of U.S. conflicts in the Middle East." — Reuters, March 5, 2026

I assume, broadly, we'll see very similar reporting eventually on Claude and target generation in Trump's Iran War

‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties, +972 and Local C...

This from 2024 is essential reporting about AI, target generation, and tempo, deadly deadly deadly tempo.

www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-...

Good discussion here. I think an important part of what Mina’s getting at is that you won’t get out what you didn’t ask, and often when you’re doing research or prep, you find the key question isn’t the one you started with.

On @pablo.show I talked about the limits of generative AI, and why the brainstorming process—which LLMs mostly eliminate, imo—is fundamental to doing *good* work.

But honestly, you are making 2026 look positively delightful! How can a year so horrible look so charming when represented by tiny adorable needlepoint icons?

The bed on the DHS plane.

There is such an easy route that Uni's are failing to take. Lead with culture change. Stop spamming us about the new software and partnerships. Stop the endless workshops in the teaching and learning centers. Start talking about what learning is and when these products help or hurt this process.

Americans are finally taking a critical approach to Israel. We can do that without sliding into antisemitism | Joel Swanson Israel’s role in drawing the US into a war on Iran is attracting healthy scrutiny. It’s also creating a permission structure for antisemitism

I’m in @theguardian.com, talking about the struggle between acknowledging that increased criticism of Israel is completely justified, and also that some people are using that to mainstream antisemitism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The US-Israel relationship is finally facing a reckoning. It doesn't need to slide into antisemitism | Joel Swanson Israel’s role in drawing the US into a war on Iran is attracting healthy scrutiny. It’s also creating a permission structure for antisemitism

There are a lot of legitimate questions to ask about Israel's role in lobbying the US to fight this war in Iran, and also a lot of antisemitic conspiracies about the "Zionist-occupied government" going around. I wrote about sorting through those fuzzy lines here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I know that @fractalecho.bsky.social and @lizjackson.bsky.social wrote a great piece on a related topic: how disability tech and technologies of war and violence are entangled for @thenewrepublic.bsky.social
It’s a must read to understand disability and AI discourse

newrepublic.com/article/1793...

Close to 650 federal agents remain in Minnesota weeks after border czar announced end of operation There are still more than quadruple the 150 agents Tom Homan said there would be in the state by the end of last week.

They’re still lying to us.

www.startribune.com/close-to-650...

Florence ICE detainee dead after untreated tooth infection, official says An ICE detainee, who had been at a Florence detention center for four months, died Monday following an untreated tooth infection.

An ICE detainee in Arizona has died of a TOOTH INFECTION after it went untreated for weeks, a local official says. He was a Haitian asylum seeker imprisoned in Florence, Arizona. @emilybregel.bsky.social reports.
tucson.com/news/local/b...

Florence ICE detainee dead after tooth infection, Chandler official says A Haitian asylum seeker held for four months at Florence Correctional Center died Monday at a Scottsdale hospital due to complications from an infected tooth, a local official in Chandler

Haitian asylum seeker Emmanuel Damas, 56, died at a Scottsdale, AZ hospital Monday, while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after struggling to receive timely care for a worsening toothache: @tucson.com tucson.com/news/local/b...

Presented without comment.

I haven't said anything about this before, bc in the grand scheme of horrors this only rates as an inconvenience, but since others are experiencing it:

Just three days after CBP arrested me for filming them outside Broadview on 9/27, my TSA Pre & Global Entry were suspended—and so were my wife's.

Antiwar Rap - YouTube

Since I've abandoned Spotify, I've been recreating some of the playlists that were in my account. Thought it was a good time to reassemble my Antiwar Rap playlist on YouTube:

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

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...

Grammarly's presentation of something they call Expert Review, including my name (plus Stephen King's, plus Mary Norris's), though to be sure I've never been contacted by Grammarly, much less compensated.

What in the absolute fuck is this.

Even putting aside the implications for the laws of war, someone who describes mass killing in this way is not well, nor is the society that empowers that person to kill.

We are at war, therefore we are Months after proclaiming a 'historic victory,' Israel embarks on another offensive against Iran — and the ritual erasure of political dissent begins anew.

“If ‘in wartime there is no coalition or opposition,’ then perpetual war becomes [Bibi’s] most reliable political strategy — and he has learned to deploy it with increasing frequency.”

www.972mag.com/2026-israel-...

For years on my old blog I published the names of servicemembers who died in Iraq & Afghanistan. No other outlets were.

These are the first 4 Americans to die in the Iran War.
Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35
Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42
Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39
Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20

3/ “This has the potential to undermine Iraqi sovereignty and essentially empower armed militias with no accountability and with little understanding of what it may set in motion.”

- Jen Gavito, former senior U.S. diplomat in CNN interview