“The real problem for any democracy, then and now, is not the single authoritarian leader and the cronies around him, but the support by those who know better.” momentmag.com/are-we-in-we...
Did not expect David to be writing about the dual state, but I agree with him.
I invoked it last month at workshop with respect to the boat strikes.
The administration has asserted a prerogative to kill outside the law abroad and now at home.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...
Trump's bombings are "murder" and "summary executions," says @tessbridgeman.bsky.social, and Hegeth should watch "where he travels when he’s no longer in office" due to potential prosecution by "international tribunals."
On the pod Tess powerfully lays out this case:
newrepublic.com/article/2041...
Operation Southern Spear: Why the Crews, Drugs, and Boats are Not Targetable
A deep dive into international law applicable to US lethal operations against suspected drug boats
By Mike Schmitt, Tess Bridgeman, Ryan Goodman
@mikeschmitt.bsky.social @tessbridgeman.bsky.social @rgoodlaw.bsky.social
Really important point: it’s not just the second strike that was illegal www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...
U.S. Southern Command @Southcom X.com On Dec. 4, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. #OpSouthernSpear
SOUTHCOM announces another boat strike.
Notable that the Pentagon carried out this strike on the same day that Adm. Bradley appeared before members of Congress to defend the Sep. 2 strike.
Drug traffickers are not an army and carrying drugs is not an armed attack on the US. There is no plausible legal justification for the US attacking boats suspected of carrying drugs and killing everyone on board. These are murders.
The Trump economy is a dumpster fire
Updated this post with the news that Mexican authorities failed to rescue the lone survivor of these latest boat strikes.
I wrote about Trump’s missile strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, and about the secret Justice Department opinion that underwrites them. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/o...
We can't be sure what Hegseth's meeting with senior military officers next week will entail - all the more reason to prepare for plausible contingencies.
Start with Eugene Fidell's new Q&A:
www.justsecurity.org/121421/hegse...
The United States’ Dirty War on “Narco Terrorism”
By Ben Saul, Challis Chair of International Law at The University of Sydney and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism
The US terrorizing civilians on the high seas is an odd thing for the Vice President to boast about
Vance on Trump's strikes on boats: "I wouldn't go fishing right now in that area of the world."
Analyzing the legal and moral stakes of the Caribbean strikes – and how Congress could respond.
From Annie Shiel, @jwrchappell.bsky.social, Priyanka Motaparthy, Wells Dixon and Daphne Eviatar:
www.justsecurity.org/120794/legal...
The Trump administration is claiming to be shutting down am major wind-power project over "national security interests." Like...continuing to rely on foreign countries for imported oil? www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-econ...
The Many Ways in Which the September 2 Caribbean Strike was Unlawful … and the Grave Line the Military Has Crossed
By leading expert @martylederman.bsky.social
www.justsecurity.org/120296/many-...
An important resource for active duty military nlgmltf.org/military-law...
Turns out Trump’s claim he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it was not theoretical. His logic for killing Venezuelans at sea would apply equally here in the US. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/u...
In win for infectious diseases, Florida to end all school vaccine requirements
Exposing vulnerable people to vaccine-preventable disease is just part of life, Ladapo said.
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
Trump’s Chicago Occupation Could Cost Four Times More Than Housing City Homeless
Sending troops to Chicago could cost $1.6 million per day, four times as much as housing the city’s homeless — plus it’s illegal, experts say.
Full story: theintercept.com/2025/09/03/t...
This lethal strike against a Venezuelan ship, killing 11 civilians, was a blatant violation of international law and deserves much more attention than it’s getting. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...
National guardsman in DC will now carry weapons. What could possibly go wrong?
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/u...
Trump and Hegseth are wrecking our military's ability to protect the country and turning its focus inward, no matter American tradition and the law strictly limit that
Arendt’s Law, via Paul Krugman:
“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Group of Israeli international law scholars send urgent letter to Israel’s Minister of Defense, IDF Chief of Staff, and Attorney General
On plan to "concentrate" Palestinian population in South Gaza
via @eliavl.bsky.social and @tamarmegiddo.bsky.social
In light of state and local law enforcement doing more immigration enforcement, I’m re-upping this article via @justsecurity.org that highlights the rise of “287g” agreements between #DHS and state/local police and National Guard
> 800 agreements and rising!
www.justsecurity.org/114395/the-m...
