Megan McArdle

It is an almost absurdly simple observation, but a great many pathologies in military policy come from the tendency to reason from values which were in the past or are merely thought to be now, connected to victory, rather than reasoning *from victory* itself as a goal.

All legal nonsense aside about the supposed state of armed conflict between the U.S. and Venezuelan gangs, what "I wish to emphasize is that there is a word for killings outside of armed conflict for which there is no domestic legal authority. That word is murder." [@benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org]

That tariffs are bad and the administration’s immigration policy is gratuitously brutal, or that democrats will find it harder than they’d like to restore the old policy equilibrium?

Live Updates: Trump Addresses Rare Military Gathering as Government Shutdown Looms

Breaking News: President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military should use U.S. cities as “training grounds” at an unusual meeting focused on culture wars. It was unclear why they needed to gather senior military leaders from overseas to tell them this face to face.

The good news is that it seems like they’re overpaying

Opinion | Charlie Kirk’s death reveals heroes — and hypocrites Conservatives and liberals are undermining core principles of free speech.

"You need broad and impartial principles that equally apply to everyone, and are equally enforced by everyone, even against their own," @mcmegan.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4nG1ca6

I barely post here, since I don't have many followers, and almost everything I say tends to attract unpleasant screaming.

"Let me be crystal clear: I was trying to rebut the argument that 'Well, these shows aren't doing so well anyway, who can say why he was taken off air', not endorse it. Carr's actions are dangerous to democratic norms and constitutional principle, unpatriotic and utterly indefensible."

Megan McArdle on X: "Since this has been widely misinterpreted on Bluesky, by people who haven't read the rest of my Twitter feed on this subject, let me be crystal clear: I was trying to rebut the argument that "Well, these shows aren't doing so well anyway, who can say why he was taken off air"," / X Since this has been widely misinterpreted on Bluesky, by people who haven't read the rest of my Twitter feed on this subject, let me be crystal clear: I was trying to rebut the argument that "Well, these shows aren't doing so well anyway, who can say why he was taken off air",

Just throwing this out there for anyone who was confused. I can't prove that ABC yanked Kimmel off the air because of government pressure. But that doesn't matter, because what I do know is that pressure was applied, outrageously, abusively, and unconstitutionally. x.com/asymmetricin...

Which is, of course, exactly the argument that was made for suppressing speech that might help Trump. Sigh.

To be clear, that doesn't mean this is the left's fault--Trump's authoritarian instincts are his own. But at least some of the people going along with it are doing so out of a conviction that the stakes are now existential and we can't afford the niceties.

Which means when you *do* win politically, you tell yourself you have to make it harder for them to regain political power and suppress your speech. And so the wheel goes round and round ...

I think it also raised the stakes--if your opponents are trying to make it impossible for you to make a bunch of arguments, that makes it harder for you to win politically.

Should the government censor speech it doesn’t like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the “public interest.”

Who, in your view, should have the power to draw the line between a “lie” and “free speech”? Government officials that want to stay in political power or the people that can hold them accountable ?

President Biden is right. Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.

Free speech is the counterweight—it is democracy’s check on government control. That’s why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream. After all, there’s a straight line from the soap box to the ballot box. You retain freedom at both or neither.

Today's decision being heavily criticized by Past Brendan Carr

I would support free speech even if it wasn’t a tactical necessity right now, because I don’t think I have a lock on all the truth in the world. But the fact is, given American realities, where almost half the electorate voted for Donald Trump and large numbers don’t even believe in evolution, no one needs it more than the left.

This, from 2021, by @kathapollitt.bsky.social, strikes me as deeply on point. www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-...

I think people would be extremely happy to accept the plain meaning of his words if they’d be clearly right-wing, but since they’re somewhat left-coded, those same people have retreated to arguing that on the internet everyone is a trickster elf who speaks in riddles all the time

If you are a Free Speech Warrior angrily demanding the firing of anyone who criticizes both Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the views he expressed, you embody the very “cancel culture” that you pretended to decry—but which you always planned to employ against your own enemies.

Starting a podcast aimed at tiny dogs called “Your Ancestors Were Wolves.”

Boxing is even worse!

Opinion | The uncomfortable truth about watching football Survey of NFL players citing mental and physical decline raises the dilemma of being a fan.

A survey of NFL players citing mental and physical decline raises the ethical dilemma of being a fan, @mcmegan.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4pgvTV1

An entire government department has been derailed from its extremely valuable work and is now dedicated to validating the risible delusions of a single crackpot.

I think maybe Democrats are just bowing to the reality that a large number of voters just do not care about process norms and never have, cannot be made to care about them, and will find you somewhere between boring and infuriating if you try to make them care.

I wish I believed that voters can be persuaded by Democrats setting their hair on fire, but Democrats spent four years doing that 2016-2020, in concert with most of the professional class and ... he's president again, after denying the results of a legitimate election and inciting a riot.

Opinion | Both my parents died. This letter explains how I kept going. I lost my mother and father in a little over a year. It will be brutal, but you will endure.

I wrote about losing your parents, and what we can do for them when there's nothing left to be done. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | When the rule of law becomes rule of lawfare Friday’s Bolton raid and the rebuke of Trump’s $500 million fine show what happens when justice is not impartial.

"Those who believe in the value of neutral institutions must do everything they can now to protect the rule of law — and I’m afraid that doesn’t mean condemning just Trump."

The latest from @mcmegan.bsky.social:

Opinion | Masks off, please Federal officers intimidate D.C. citizens by refusing to identify their agency or show their face.

Americans have a right to know what their government is doing. Law enforcement needs to ditch the masks. wapo.st/4oClJgV

I don't understand how the LA Times union thinks a strike will end well. Can someone help me out? What's the plan?

Opinion | What does Trump’s takeover mean for D.C.? Three writers discuss Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to combat crime in the capital city.

"Is it justified, or just political theater?"

Robert Gebelhoff, Jason Willick and @mcmegan.bsky.social discuss: wapo.st/4ftv8mK

I am happy to agree that my comments section was the best part of my old blog.

Opinion | Trump should heed, not hide, the jobs numbers Firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner won’t improve the U.S. economy.

Firing the head of the BLS is not only destructive; it's stupid. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...