John Ismay

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

A policy expert described Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s push in favor of private schools as a “great American heist,” funneling money from public schools: “It’s a strategic theft of the future of our country, our kids and our democracy.”

By @megomatz.bsky.social & @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

Soldiers at the Bass Pro Shops pyramid in Memphis, TN.

> It is 2025 BC. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

> It is 2025 AD. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

Pope Leo Calls on Christians to Care for the Poor in His First Teaching The message signaled a continuation of one of the priorities of his predecessor, Francis.

Pope Leo XIV placed the poor at the center of the Christian message in his first major document, which was released on Thursday, urging people to defend and protect the most vulnerable as Jesus did while carrying out acts of charity like almsgiving.

West Point graduate who eventually went Guard, did two Iraq deployments and Afghanistan deployment, and then a fourth Kuwait/Iraq/Syria one commanding the California Guard’s aviation brigade. Has also commanded the Oregon Guard’s main unit, the 40th Infantry BCT.

Qatar Pushes U.S.-Venezuela Diplomacy as Trump Focuses on Military Action

NEW: While Qatar helps with Gaza talks, it's trying to mediate the US-Venezuela conflict. But Trump is cold on diplomacy. He has put 10,000 troops in the Caribbean and is continuing airstrikes on civilian boats. And Rubio pushes to oust Maduro. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Yesterday's Syria strike puts US combat actions during the second Trump administration at:

—1,000+ air strikes in Yemen (March-April)
—75+ air strikes in Somalia
—7 air strikes and 3 JSOC ground raids in Syria
—4 air strikes in the Caribbean
—B-2 strikes on 3 sites in Iran
—1 air strike in Iraq

Open-Source Reporter (Video Journalist), Visual Investigations | The New York Times Company

Our New York Times Visual Investigations team is hiring a reporter. It's the same job I have -- use visual investigation/OSINT/etc. skills to report on the world.

You'll need to be based in/near NYC. Pay range is ~110-130k.

www.nytco.com/careers/job-...

Years ago, I got a fellowship from the Marine Corps to research counterinsurgency in Vietnam, and in part of it I wrote specifically about the Vietnam stab-in-the-back thesis, its historical precedents and motivations, and how it persisted in political and military thought. That was 2007

TFW you’re reading a profile of a war criminal and realize you probably have multiple mutual acquaintances.

Sigh

Thursday night: @nekocasefans.bsky.social playing Deep Red Bells at the Lincoln Theater in DC

What Women Heard in Hegseth’s Remarks About Physical Standards

Bobbie Scholley, one of the Navy's first deep-sea dive officers, and Kate Wilder, the first woman to graduate from Army Special Forces training, shared their thoughts after watching Pete Hegseth's remarks about women in combat www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told

Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told

A notice calls the people the U.S. military recently killed on suspicion of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea “unlawful combatants.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Washington Spirit embraces ‘unique power’ in community hit heavily by U.S. government shutdown The team has also allowed chants of "free D.C." during matches in reference to the city's push for statehood.

Yet another reason why @washspirit.bsky.social is the best professional sports team in DC www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...

‘Dangerous Cities,’ the Military, Trump and the Founding Fathers

"Military policy and norms evolved from [Gen. Ulysses S.] Grant’s example. The military discourages political rallies in front of troops, and those on active duty are urged to avoid partisan politics" - via Helene Cooper www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/u...

Are You Quitting the Military? We Want to Hear From You.

During his address today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invited the U.S. military’s generals and admirals to quit, “if the words I’m speaking today are making your heart sink.” Here's a confidential questionnaire for any flag officers resigning their commissions.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

Are You Quitting the Military? We Want to Hear From You.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/u...

Hegseth and Trump to Meet With Military Brass: What We Know Tuesday’s meeting at a Marine Corps base appears to be without precedent, and a lack of explanation for it has led to speculation and fear.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned hundreds of the military’s most senior officers and their enlisted counterparts to attend a gathering on Tuesday at a military base in Virginia. Military officials and historians say the event is without precedent in size and scope.

Here's what we know.

The Missiles Threatening Taiwan China’s rapidly growing missile force threatens Taiwan and the U.S. forces that protect the island.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I think a lot about my exchange trip to Uzbekistan and Russia as a teen in 1995, watching street cops saunter around in tactical cammies like soldiers and thinking to myself, man, I'm glad I'm American

Peter Gurney obituary: bomb disposal expert Soldier and police officer whose cold courage when dealing with explosives earned him two George Medals dies aged 93

“Get inside and get those stupid bastards away from the windows. If this thing goes off, they’ll be wearing glass for the rest of their lives.” www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

$578 million for Stingers. The Biden Administration sent more than 3,000 of them to Ukraine

Defense Department Delays Cleanup of ‘Forever Chemicals’ Nationwide

I'm glad I never got covered in AFFF www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/c...

The Hong Kong Police Bureau EOD team is world-class, and they do these kinds of high profile UXO call-outs all the time. Got to work with them in 2009 and have nothing but respect for those folks

One stark marker of how much our society has devolved in just a few years is Bob Iger personally got on a call to convince us to let Disney/HULU make the 1619 Project. That America no longer exists.

My friend and colleague Wesley Morris and I had a very sobering conversation about America since the 1619 Project published and how it feels to be falling back under the veil that W.E.B. Du Bois so mournfully wrote about. I hope you’ll listen to this episode of Cannonball @nytimes.com

Read the Pentagon’s New Restrictions on Reporters The Pentagon said it would forbid reporters from gathering any information that had not been authorized for release, and would revoke press passes from any journalists who did not obey.

The new mandate was the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration to limit the ability of the media to cover the federal government without interference. Read the restrictions:

Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access

The Pentagon said on Friday that it would require journalists to pledge not to gather or use any information that had not been formally authorized for release or risk losing their credentials to cover the military.

Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access

“This policy operates as a prior restraint on publication which is considered the most serious of First Amendment violations,” we told @kenbensinger.bsky.social “The government cannot prohibit journalists from public information merely by claiming it’s a secret or even a national security threat.”

Draft Bill Would Authorize Trump to Wage Drug Trafficking War

A draft Authorization for Use of Military Force, circulating in exec branch & on the Hill, would grant Trump the power to kill people he deems narcoterrorists and to attack any nations he says are aiding/harboring them (e.g. a Venezuela regime change war). www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

I love it when the right books find the right people.