Trump's War With Iran Is Unjustified and Unpopular
Plus: Congress is reluctant to assert its war powers, the Pentagon brands Anthropic a national security threat, and a listener asks whether regime change is ever morally defensible.
Pentagon
The Goalposts of the Iran War Keep Shifting
Trump and his team can’t get their story straight on why they started this war, how long they plan to fight it, and whether they'll put boots on the ground.
Anthropic CEO Refuses Pentagon Demands To Remove Safeguards on Military AI
Dario Amodei penned a public letter explaining the danger of the Defense Department's request to remove certain constraints from Claude, and refusing them outright.
Pentagon to Anthropic: If You Won't Let Us Use Your AI for Mass Surveillance or Autonomous Weapons, Expect Punishment
Pete Hegseth has threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to force Anthropic to come around.
Trump's Blatantly Unconstitutional Attempt To Punish His Congressional Critics Hits 2 Roadblocks
A grand jury and a federal judge rejected the president’s vendetta against legislators who produced a video about the duty to refuse unlawful military orders.
A Federal Judge Explains Why Trump Can't Jail Legislators for Producing a Video That Offended Him
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon notes that Sen. Mark Kelly's comments about unlawful military orders were "unquestionably protected" by the First Amendment.
A Grand Jury Rejects Trump's Attempt To Prosecute 6 Legislators for Saying Something He Did Not Like
The president was offended by a video reminding military personnel of their duty to disobey unlawful orders.
The Insurrection Act, Which Trump Keeps Threatening To Invoke, Is Alarmingly Vague and Broad
The antiquated statute arguably allows the president to deploy the military in response to nearly any form of domestic disorder.
Eric Trump Congratulates His Father for a Drop in Fentanyl Deaths That Happened Before He Took Office
The president's son also claims destroying cocaine boats somehow reduces fentanyl overdoses, echoing his father's confusion.
The DOJ Thinks Cocaine Couriers Are Not Worth Prosecuting. Trump Thinks They Deserve To Die.
Even as the president blows up drug boats, the government routinely declines to pursue charges against smugglers nabbed by the Coast Guard.
Trump's Designation of Fentanyl As a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' Is a Drug-Fueled Delusion
The executive order does not accomplish much in practical terms, but it jibes with the president's conflation of drug trafficking with violent aggression.
Hegseth Won't Let Us See a Video That Might Undermine Support for Trump's Bloodthirsty Anti-Drug Strategy
The defense secretary claims the video, which shows a second strike that killed two floundering survivors, would compromise "sources and methods."
Congress Gives the Military $8 Billion More Than It Asked for
The version of the NDAA passed by the House is larger than the administration’s budget request.
Trump's Word Games Can't Conceal the Murderous Reality of His Anti-Drug Strategy
Calling suspected cocaine smugglers "combatants" does not justify summarily executing them.
Trump Is Still Claiming He Saves '25,000 American Lives' When He Blows Up a Suspected Drug Boat
So far, by the president's reckoning, he has prevented 650,000 U.S. drug deaths—eight times the number recorded last year.
Hegseth Mulls Releasing a Video That Illustrates the Brutality of Trump's Murderous Anti-Drug Strategy
The footage shows what happened to the survivors of the September 2 attack that inaugurated the president's deadly campaign against suspected drug boats.
Boat Strike Inquiry
Plus: Hep B vaccines, national parks nonsense, Trump involvement in Netflix deal, and more...
The 'Threat' That Supposedly Justified Killing 2 Boat Attack Survivors Was Entirely Speculative
The commander who ordered a second missile strike worried that the helpless men he killed might be able to salvage cocaine from the smoldering wreck.
Boat Attack Commander Says He Had To Kill 2 Survivors Because They Were Still Trying To Smuggle Cocaine
Adm. Frank M. Murphy reportedly told lawmakers a controversial second strike was necessary because drugs on the burning vessel remained a threat.
Rand Paul Bashes Pete Hegseth Over Boat Bombings: 'He Was Lying…or He's Incompetent'
Paul says Hegseth misled Congress about deadly strikes on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean.
Hegseth's 'Fog of War' Is No Excuse for Summarily Executing Suspected Drug Smugglers
Regardless of what the defense secretary knew or said about the September 2 boat attack, the forces he commands are routinely committing murder in the guise of self-defense.
The Law of War Was Not Designed for Trump's Bogus 'Armed Conflict' With Drug Smugglers
Instead of asking whether a particular boat attack went too far, Congress should ask how the summary execution of criminal suspects became the new normal.
Hegseth's Alleged Order To 'Kill Everybody' Complicates Trump's Defense of His Murderous Anti-Drug Campaign
Even if you accept the president's assertion of an "armed conflict" with drug smugglers, blowing apart survivors of a boat strike would be a war crime.
The Pentagon and the FBI Are Investigating 6 Legislators for Exercising Their First Amendment Rights
The Trump administration is desperately trying to criminalize a video noting that service members have no obligation to follow unlawful orders.
Trump's Habitual Charges of 'Treason' Reflect His Authoritarian Impulses
The president’s reaction to a supposedly "seditious" video illustrates his tendency to portray criticism of him as a crime.
Trump Says Legislators Committed Treason by Noting That Soldiers Are Not Obligated To Obey Unlawful Orders
The president's authoritarian response to a video posted by six members of Congress, who he says "should be arrested and put on trial," validates their concerns.
Trump Says His 'Armed Conflict' With Drug Traffickers Does Not Involve 'Hostilities'
The government is tying itself in knots to cast murder as self-defense and avoid legal limits on the president's use of the military.
Trump's National Guard Plan Edges the U.S. Closer to a Permanent Federal Police Force
A newly revealed Pentagon directive instructs every state to train riot-control units within their National Guards—raising questions about federal overreach and the growing militarization of domestic emergencies.
Trump's 'Golden Dome' Missile Defense Could Cost $3.6 Trillion: Report
The pie-in-the-sky space system promises to be a government spending bonanza—and might be a very bad idea.
Pentagon's Foolish Press Policy Might Encourage Tougher Journalism
The military establishment’s efforts to quash leaks could encourage them instead.
The Pentagon's New Press Policy Is Absurd
Mainstream and conservative news outlets were correct to reject it.
Trump Says Tariffs Are About National Security. Pentagon Officials Say They Need a Tariff Exemption.
It turns out that free trade is essential for the military too.
The U.S. Military Is Helping Arab Dictatorships Run Psyops
The Pentagon spends a lot of taxpayer money on propaganda worldwide. Some of it is coordinated with Middle Eastern dictators, The Washington Post revealed.
Defending the Summary Execution of Suspected Drug Smugglers, Trump Declares an 'Armed Conflict'
The president thinks he can transform murder into self-defense by executive fiat.
Another Military Strike on a Speedboat Confirms Trump's Policy of Murdering Suspected Drug Smugglers
The president's new approach to drug law enforcement represents a stark departure from military norms and criminal justice principles.
Trump Calls His Drone Strike on an Alleged Drug Boat 'Self-Defense.' It Looks More Like Murder.
Equating drug trafficking with armed aggression, the president asserts the authority to kill anyone he perceives as a threat to "our most vital national interests."
Trump's 'Department of War' Rebrand Might Be His Most Honest Move Yet
A billion-dollar rebrand won’t change the fact that defense hasn’t meant defense in decades.
Pentagon Awards up to $200 Million to AI Companies Whose Models Are Rife With Ideological Bias
The Department of Defense awarded contracts to Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. The last two are particularly concerning.
The Attack on Iran Is Unlawful
Trump's attack on Iran plainly violates the War Powers Act. Limits on executive power are most important when they are inconvenient.
Parades Are Great, but We Shouldn't Venerate the Military
America’s founders were deeply suspicious of a standing army.
Gavin Newsom Defends Federalism Against Trump's Unilateral National Guard Deployment
In a federal lawsuit, California's governor argues that the president's assertion of control over "the State's militia" is illegal and unconstitutional.
The Pentagon Is Getting $150 Billion From the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Giving the Defense Department even more taxpayer money is a recipe for waste, not security.
Trump's New Budget Is Another Blueprint for Big Spending
We don't need more of the same. We need evidence of a serious turnaround.
Trump Wants To Increase Military Spending by $113 Billion
The president wants to develop the F-47 fighter jet 60 years before the F-35 is scheduled to retire.
Pete Hegseth's Carelessness and Dishonesty Mirror Hillary Clinton's
The defense secretary, who shared information about imminent U.S. air strikes in a manifestly insecure group chat, thought Clinton should be prosecuted for her careless handling of sensitive information.
It's Not Journalists' Job To Protect Government Secrets
With the controversy over the leaked White House group chat, mainstream media have been treating secrecy as a virtue and disclosure as a vice. That’s a dangerous game.
If You Want To Cut Government Spending, You Can't Ignore the Pentagon
Since Congress began requiring annual audits in 2018, the Department of Defense has never passed.
Meaningful Pentagon Cuts Will Require Rethinking What 'Defense' Means
If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is serious about reducing military spending, he will need to embrace a narrower understanding of national security.
