Jon Rauch
@jonrauch.bsky.social
Journalist, writer, unlicensed epistemologist. Brookings and The Atlantic. Please be sane, BlueSky.
An important essay by a thirty-something gay kinkster on why he isn't "queer." And why "queer"might not mean what you think...if it means anything at all. sacredtension.substack.com/p/queer-what...
Queer, What Art Thou?
Why I, too, am gay, not queer.
sacredtension.substack.com
David Frum nails it (as usual). "Trump’s record of dishonesty, callousness, and selfishness during the pandemic is a documented reality. The imputations against Fauci are mostly fantasies." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Anthony Fauci Is Not the Villain in This Story
The doctor was thrust into his pandemic-leadership role because of Trump’s deadly dereliction of duty.
theatlantic.com
Isn't there a word for stopping ships on the high seas and demanding money at gunpoint? Isn't that word "piracy"? (Is it really possible we're even having this conversation?) www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/i...
UN maritime agency opposes Hormuz transit fees after Trump demands protection money
The security situation in Hormuz has deteriorated since Iran attacked multiple commercial ships transiting the strait over the past week.
cnbc.com
We're now at war with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz...something that was not even in question in January. I'm tired of so much winning. apnews.com/article/iran...
Trump says US will blockade Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge ships for safe passage
U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and will charge other ships for safe passage.
apnews.com
What's wrong with OMB's new proposed rules for federal science grants? Practically everything, according to Anna Krylov (a brilliant and brave ex-Soviet scientist who knows whereof she speaks). hxstem.substack.com/p/public-com...
Public Comment on the Office of Management and Budget Proposed Regulation on Federal Financial Assistance
This is the comment I submitted in response to the OMB call for public comments on the proposed rule on federal financial assistance.
hxstem.substack.com
SCOTUS's birthright citizenship decision was a closer call than most people realize...and opens the door to future mischief. www.theunpopulist.net/p/there-is-n...
There Is No Originalist Rationale for Denying Citizenship to the US Born
So the conservative dissenters on the Supreme Court ditched their own preferred approach in the recent birthright ruling
theunpopulist.net
This is the first and only email I have ever received from the Social Security Administration. I didn't even know they have my email address. Your tax dollars at work!
The greatness of George Washington. On the occasion of the 250th, read and weep. teachingamericanhistory.org/document/let...
Letter from George Washington to Catherine Macaulay Graham (1790)
“From George Washington to Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay Graham, 9 January 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://teachingamericanhistory.org/zg52. Madam: Your obliging letter, dated in Oct...
teachingamericanhistory.org
Here's a reality check for Mamdami et al. TL;DR: "Neoliberalism" never happened, Sweden isn't socialist, and economic populism is a stagflationary failure. essays.victormenaldo.com/p/the-old-di...
The Old, Discredited Left in New Clothes
America’s democratic socialists aren’t Scandinavian. They’re resurrecting a flawed paradigm buried by stagflation — and the “neoliberalism” they think they’re overthrowing was never really a thing.
essays.victormenaldo.com
A shrewd assessment by Peter Berkowitz (Trump 1 State Dept senior official). TL;DR: Tehran took Trump and Vance to the cleaners. www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/202...
realclearpolitics.com
The same government that the US and Israel went to war to overthrow is now claiming, and effectively controlling, the world's most important waterway. I'm tired of so much winning! apnews.com/article/iran...
Iran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait following US strikes and threatens to halt talks
Iran has again launched drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait in response to new U.S. airstrikes.
apnews.com
Smart and refreshing: Europe should stop appeasing Trump. He needs NATO more than Europe needs him. open.substack.com/pub/billemmo...
The purpose of NATO is to guard against Russia, not to appease Donald Trump
English original of article published this morning in Italian by La Stampa
open.substack.com
NEW: A stunning new project from @lawfaremedia.org's @katherinepomps.bsky.social finds that 97 Jan. 6ers who received clemency for their role in the Capitol riot then got arrested, charged, and/or convicted with subsequent crimes—a number much higher than previously reported.
Is America about ideals, or identity? Mitt Romney or JD Vance? It's emerging as the great ideological division of the future, especially on the Right. Join me for an exciting conversation @brookings.edu on June 23... www.brookings.edu/events/what-...
This dismissal for vindictive prosecution is how a judge sounds when he's shouting from the rooftops that an administration is corrupt. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Judge drops criminal case against Kilmar Abrego García, ruling it vindictive
The Maryland man was charged with human smuggling after a high-profile legal fight in which courts ruled he had been illegally deported to El Salvador.
washingtonpost.com
This is what friends of law and liberty are projecting on the DOJ's Trump banner right now:
We should have seen it coming. www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/dem...
Democracy’s Troubles Should Be No Surprise | Journal of Democracy
Democracy’s present difficulties were predictable. History and older theories of democratic stability should have prepared us for both democratic backsliding and the vulnerability of Western democracy...
journalofdemocracy.org
The Supreme Court is about to give the president authority over the executive branch that's undreamt-of by the founders. www.aei.org/op-eds/a-thr...
aei.org
While Israel is spit-roasted for a genocide it didn't commit, crickets about Hamas's use of Gaza's population as human shields. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
The Dangerous Failure to Hold Hamas Accountable for Using Human Shields
How international institutions’ silence on Hamas hiding behind civilians incentivizes human shields use, and distorts law and accountability.
lawfaremedia.org
The Declaration hinges on "consent of the governed"...but what does it actually mean? And are we losing it? www.brookings.edu/articles/is-...
Is ‘consent of the governed' possible amid polarized politics? | Brookings
The Declaration of Independence declared that legitimate government rests on the “consent of the governed.” Where does the social contract between Americans and government stand today? In this episode...
brookings.edu
No, there wasn't a global effort by the Biden administration to censor the internet...and two recent consent decrees don't change that fact. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
What the Murthy v. Missouri and Daily Wire Consent Decrees Do—and Don’t—Establish
Despite the spin, these consent decrees are negotiated settlements—not court verdicts. They contain no judicial finding or admission that a Biden-era “censorship regime” existed.
lawfaremedia.org
Here's an actually solvable, yet important, problem. There's no reason to sell precise geolocation data to consumers. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/it-i...
It Is Time to Ban the Sale of Precise Geolocation
The latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, now on Lawfare.
lawfaremedia.org
Patrimonialists and authoritarian populists are always corrupt and incompetent...and that's how you defeat them, as Hungary demonstrates again. Orban’s defeat shows the Achilles’ heel of populist power www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Orban’s defeat shows the Achilles’ heel of populist power
Formerly ascendant European right-wing parties are in retreat, a possible omen for Trump’s MAGA movement.
washingtonpost.com
Remember the song-and-dance we got about Vietnam? The White House tallied ordnance dropped and targets hit, as if that was the same as winning. Well...here we go again. maxboot.substack.com/p/what-did-o...
What did Operation Epic Fury actually achieve?
A close read of Central Command's dodgy claims suggests this was no victory.
maxboot.substack.com
Though I know we're all out of bandwidth, this is important: Trump's DOJ is vindictively prosecuting Smartmatic as part of its election denial campaign. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
The Prosecution of Smartmatic
A rare corporate FCPA indictment tests whether courts will more closely interrogate prosecutorial motive.
lawfaremedia.org
