Michael Feinberg
@michael-feinberg.bsky.social
Lawfare Senior Editor - MS NOW National Security and Intelligence Analyst - Former FBI Special Agent
This is an important and necessary reminder, and I completely second the recommendation to read Havel's essay. (I'd also add in Milosz's "The Captive Mind.")
Nina Jankowicz@ninajankowicz.com · 14h agoSharing for no particular reason 🙃 www.thewayfinder.net/p/how-to-not...
Welsh rarebit or nothing. It’s grilled cheese, but for grownups. Grilled cheese, itself, with fig jam, bacon, and tart apple slices also works.
Amy@lolennui.bsky.social · yesterdaybeans on toast with a lil sharp cheddar on top hits the spot and I’ll defend her to the death
My wife just called me "snooty," and I'm genuinely wondering how on God's green earth it took her this long to notice.
The odd thing is that the administrators and politicos behind this seem like the type who would just love the Han Feizi or the Book of Lord Shang.
sakura christmas@prof-christmas.bsky.social · 3d agoThe UT-Austin Core Curriculum Task Force is requiring that Gen Ed courses draw 50% of their readings from this list of 50. Unfortunately, it seems to think that the “Great Questions of Human Life” can only be explored through the canon of Western civ (token exception: Confucius).
This is a great opportunity for law students, particularly those of conservative temperaments who utterly revile what the current administration has done to the rule of law and the agencies which should be enforcing it.
Applications are open for Spring 2027 Law Clerks!
We’re looking for exceptional students to join our fight to defend American constitutional principles.
chkbal.substack.com
An invisible man who can sing in a visible voice with which to start your week.
Big Star-14- September gurls - Live in Memphis 94
YouTube video by Juan C Marioni
youtube.com
We’re being fought to a draw by Iran, and we can’t protect our aircraft from them in, ahem, the United Kingdom, but at least the Defense Department is winning the war on — let me check my notes — beards and wokeness. Pete Hegseth is clearly the second coming of George Marshall.
U.S. Rushes to Withdraw Bombers From U.K. Air Base After New Threats
The withdrawal came with unusual speed, following what U.S. officials said were threats of an Iran-based plot against the installation.
nytimes.com
A hot take for the weekend: DePalma's film version, like most of his films, is horrendously overrated, and the Flanagan miniseries adaptation of "Carrie" beginning this week will be much better.
I’ve been thinking quite a lot about the Camus essay “Reflections on the Guillotine” since this story broke. Rereading it, I’m reminded of how humane and wise a thinker he was, and wishing that more were familiar with the piece.
Nicole Chung@nicolechung.bsky.social · 4d ago“While aspects of Ms. Pike’s case are unique, the cruelty she experienced in the execution chamber is not an aberration.”
Come for our thoughts on national security, but stay for the commentary on the fiction of Benjamin Labatut and Alina Habba’s wedding decor. We really do try and have something for everyone.
Lawfare@lawfaremedia.org · 4d agoOn this week's Rational Security, @sranderson.bsky.social, @annabower.bsky.social, @tylermcbrien.com, and @michael-feinberg.bsky.social discussed: ✈️The third country removal policy 💰Cuts to the FBI and DOJ's corruption unit 📰President Trump's war on the press youtu.be/0KfGYHa2Wh0
Absent a major change in policy, none of us will return to the Bureau. If you leave for more than two years, you’re required to redo the Academy. I’m quite sure that my wife, son, and my then-fifty-year-old body will not agree to that.
Common Sense Only@commonsenseonly.bsky.social · 2w agoCan I ask you an unrelated question around your prof calling, sir. Come '29 how many of the good folks that donny got rid of at the FBI, in the DOJ, etc etc do you think will come back to clean up the mess?
I recorded a podcast this very morning in which I proclaimed that Gary Oldman is my favorite George Smiley. I thought that the estate of Sir Alec Guinness might come after me, but now I apparently have to worry about "Succession" fans, too.
Matthew Macfadyen and Charlie Hunnam revealed in first-look images from Legacy Of Spies
Filming has wrapped on the highly anticipated espionage thriller, which will launch exclusively on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK
bbc.com
I’ll be on MS NOW during the 11:00 hour to provide commentary on Jack Smith’s testimony.
This, if anything, understates the case. Prior to Trump, the Deputy Director was always a capstone and final position in a decades-long career, spent in its entirety at the FBI.
Bradley P. Moss@bradmossesq.bsky.social · last wk.I know it’s hard to imagine but before Trump came on the scene and wrecked government folks in these roles didn’t jump ship after a year. They often were long time Bureau officials who served without media attention for years.
On a slightly more serious note, counterintelligence concerns only arise when one cares about one’s country; none of these people do.
Michael Feinberg@michael-feinberg.bsky.social · last wk.Counterpoint: Patel is an idiot.
Hell is empty and the devils are all here.
Anna Bower@annabower.bsky.social · last wk.that’s a lot of flowers at alina habba’s wedding
My thoughts be fucking bloody, or nothing worth.
Mark Wallace@wallaceme.bsky.social · 2w agoOk don’t let’s get carried away but I found something genuinely good on Threads.
“First of all, he’s got my face as his profile picture, so that right there gave me a high degree of confidence, because I know what I look like.” — Kash Patel
Kash Patel Phished By Scammer Posing As Kash Patel
WASHINGTON—Despite carefully checking and double-checking the credentials of the man who reached out to him via email, FBI director Kash Patel was reportedly phished Friday by a scammer posing as FBI ...
theonion.com
He’s one of the greatest authors to reread as one ages; his insights and lamentations hit harder with every passing decade.
The Paris Review@parisreview.bsky.social · 2w ago“There are moments, as the poet said, when the blind captain dreams of the sea.” —James Salter buff.ly/q3RVlAL
@nickharkaway.com was kind enough to let me read this in galley a month ago, and I’d unhesitatingly recommend it; it’s probably the best spy fiction I’ve read since, well, his last foray into the world of George Smiley.
Nick Harkaway@nickharkaway.com · 2w agoMy relentless assault on your good nature and your Autumn/Winter shopping list is beginning... Bookshop.org is offering a 20% discount on pre-orders of The Taper Man until 27th of this month (code below). Get 'em while they're hot!
Approaching fifty, having lost one’s professional calling and having gained one’s first child, is an opportune time to find meaning in a frivolous and idiosyncratic hobby: I think I need to get into Japanese denim.
Today, on national television, I called the FBI’s Washington Field Office the Bureau’s flagship office. It was the most passive-aggressive thing I’ve ever done, for those who will understand why.
Isn’t this not too far from the “Ender’s Game” plot?
Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS@waitmanwbeorn.com · 2w agoOur Secretary of Warfighteriness has another great idea: Make all potential generals and admirals pass a war game. And the guy they picked to design it? A Marine Corps LTC (never close to being a general) who was courtmartialed for his unhinged rant after the Afghan withdrawal. Great work,guys!
Less than a year later, the Clash will release its debut album, and the musical world will begin to be set right after a long and horrid era.
Tom Nichols@radiofreetom.bsky.social · 3w ago#AT40 The year is 1976, and Alan Parson and Rick Dees are on the same chart
On Lawfare Daily, @michael-feinberg.bsky.social was joined by @juliacurlee.bsky.social and @johnsipher.bsky.social about John Ratcliffe’s tenure as the Director of Central Intelligence and cultural changes in the intelligence community writ large. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...
On Lawfare Daily, @michael-feinberg.bsky.social talked to @eileenguo.bsky.social about her research into whether the “censorship-industrial complex” was an actual entity or a pretextual justification to dismantle the government’s anti-disinformation apparatus. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...
Regardless of the altruism, he’s certainly made sure that we’re not effective at, well, pretty much anything for which we rely upon a functioning government.
