James Fallows

Yes, this is an excellent piece of investigation, narration, and accountability, by Mike Baker and Steven Rich in @nytimes.com Very much worth going back to read.

With departure of Noem, Hegseth now leads the cabinet in cosplaying.

He is in a snit because people are using "unflattering" pictures.

Here's one I used two days ago, matching him with a SecDef who actually took the job seriously. (Original images via Getty. fallows.substack.com/p/the-arroga... )

Good to see a current US Senator talking this way.

(No sarcasm.)

The Arrogance of Ignorance. What I have learned in 45 years of interviewing experts about peace and war, and how it applies to the tumult of these past nine days.

Yup

fallows.substack.com/p/the-arroga...

Who could possibly have foreseen that war on Iran would (a) make Iran retaliate by closing the strait of Hormuz, which (b) could disrupt world oil markets, enriching Russia and penalizing most everyone else?

Who, indeed, except EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER THOUGHT FOR ONE MINUTE about the situation.

As a nation, do you know how assholic you have to be and how badly you have to behave to radicalize Canadians?

2/2
Since this slipped through cracks ystrday: Trump said Iranians could have hit their own girls school, because they also have Tomahawk missiles

THEY DO NOT. These are not "generic." Used by US UK Japan Aussies Dutch. NOT Iran

Either: 1) Trump doesn't know this. Disqualifying.
2) He does. Liar.

Iran’s Araghchi calls U.S. strikes a ‘failure’ and vows to fight 'as long as it takes' For perspective from the Iranian government on the conflict with the U.S. and Israel, Amna Nawaz spoke with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi from Tehran.

Really excellent interview by @amnanawaz.bsky.social on PBS NewsHour this evening, with Foreign Minister of Iran.

www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

Listen to this man. Compare what he says (in English) with the slop we're getting from Hegseth, Trump, or Araghchi's counterpart, Rubio.

If you are watching Trump's presser right now, you are seeing beyond reasonable doubt a person not mentally suited for any position of responsibility. Even running a small store.

GOP members of the House and Senate: You are seeing this too.

2/2
And, to make the obvious points:

—The US offers "thoughts and prayers" when school children are gunned down with AR-15s.

—Any country's reaction is different when a foreign entity is involved.

How long will people in Iran remember? How long would Americans remember an Iranian missile.

Imagine the reaction in the US if ~175 schoolgirls had been killed by a targeted Iranian missile. (Or anyone's missile.)

This is an atrocity.

Powerful, gripping new story by @garrettepps.bsky.social in @washingtonmonthly.com, about the reaction in small-town coastal Oregon when ICE and the "deportation industrial complex" arrived.

washingtonmonthly.com/2026/03/09/i...

Yeah, and (as you know) that does not mean it will be over for the people in Iran. And therefore not for the US.

If everyone you know (not you, but the author of this piece) steals from Whole Foods, you know the wrong kind of people.

Wow indeed.

Let's hope this follows the Hemingway model of how things fall apart (for MAGA): Gradually, then suddenly.

Short for "deck"

Hed/dek is journalese for "headline" and "subhead."

Good for the hed/dek writers at @nytimes.com just now:

Not "appears to contradict" or "is at odds with" or "may give rise to suspicions that."

Flat out: "Contradicts." "Video shows." About the US blowing up a school full of little girls.

And of course, terrible for the world.

The opening scene of my 2004 article 'Blind Into Baghdad' is an interview with Feith, at the Pentagon, on why it didn't make sense to plan for "the day after" in Iraq.

20+ years later, applying same 'logic' to Iran

See also: fallows.substack.com/p/the-arroga...

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

So great that MAGA did everything possible to kneecap the electric-vehicle market in the US, while doing everything recklessly possible to ramp up the cost of fuel.

/s

The Arrogance of Ignorance. What I have learned in 45 years of interviewing experts about peace and war, and how it applies to the tumult of these past nine days.

What I've learned in 45 years of reporting on the military.

And why that makes the current reckless folly even worse than it looks.

(Most before paywall.)

fallows.substack.com/p/the-arroga...

Ah, yes, remember it well!

Time is a flat circle.

(Cover of the Atlantic, 21+ years ago.)

Thanks on the 99.9!

So do you consider the USS Missouri in 1945 "unconditional" ? US allowed the Emperor to remain.

But, yes, agree on main point.

That was for a different surrender (Fort Donelson 1862, not Appomattox. In 1865 Grant allowed Lee's officers to keep their sidearms, their horses, etc.)

'Unconditional surrender':

- Surviving Nazi leaders to Allies, 1945.
- Japan to Allies, 1945, with "condition" of emperor staying on throne.
- Saddam Hussein to Schwarzkopf, 1991, with some conditions.

Zero resemblance to anything she is talking about.

Yup.

Different accent. But otherwise ...

In a crowded field that includes Miller, Kash, Hegseth, Marco, RFKJr, Bondi, Vance, Bessent, and until recently Kristi/Corey, etc .... KL deserves a place in the pantheon all her own.