Kurt Taylor Gaubatz
@kurttg.bsky.social
Independent scholar & analyst-Washington DC. Previously Old Dominion, Oxford, & Stanford Universities. Democracy & foreign policy, int'l law, research methods, & political philosophy. Some work now on econ forecasting, philosophy & the equality of women.
This is pretty far short of the two-MRC (Major Regional Conflict) standard, or the newer peer-competitors posture. I wonder how often Hegseth's interference in the promotion process has impacted officers who excelled at logistics and planning rather than pull-ups and testosterone.
Shibley Telhami@stelhami.bsky.social · yesterdayStunning: "US has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles" www.reuters.com/world/us-has...
The Constitutional Conundrum of Impeachment: We can only hope that the midterms will bring serious impeachment hearings. One challenge will be what do you do about a Vice President who (despite a Yale legal education) denies that the obviously illegal actions of the President are impeachable?
Vance Downplays Watergate and Compares Himself to Nixon
The vice president said that the scandal that ended Richard Nixon’s presidency would be “like a 12-hour news story” if it happened today and that the “deep state” had taken down Nixon.
nytimes.com
It's almost as if the Pentagon is being run by some disgruntled mid-level officer who was always sure he and his drinking buddies knew more than the generals.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d agoPENTAGON: Anyone got any ideas? @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/p...
Trump Administration Live Updates: Republican Holdouts Say They Now Support Blanche Nomination www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08...
Doug Burgum & the Interior Dept LIED to Jeanine Pirro & the Justice Dept about the Reflecting Pool fiasco! There will have to be some serious consequences in the Administration for this... Most likely, I suppose, Jeanine Pirro will get fired & the Olympic Canoeing Committee will be disbanded.
Charges Dropped Against Ex-Olympian David Hearn Accused of Damaging Reflecting Pool
A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.
nytimes.com
But isn't Hearn still on the hook for undermining the Iran operation and contaminating the lettuce?
Scott MacFarlane@macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 5d agoFLASH: Justice Dept seeks to dismiss Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn Trump Admin acknowledges: "Damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor"
The depressing thing about this is the sense that no one in the chain of command seems to have any sense that sanity might someday return & impose costs for their eager endorsement of Hegsethism. After Trump’s order, West Point curbed faculty speech. One professor said no. - The Washington Post
But the new justification for Trump Tariffs is weak standards on forced labor…
The Mighty Jungle💙💛@ocanannain.bsky.social · last wk.My Maddening Quest to Find Out if Blueberries Come From Farms Where Workers Were Harmed Thousands of foreign farmworkers had been illegally charged fees by labor contractors to work in the US. Some were forced to pick crops for little to no pay in what prosecutors described as "modern-day slavery"
What? People who need glasses can still be war-fighters? No wonder we're stuck in this Iran mess! An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u...
An Admiral’s Rise Reveals the Politics Driving Hegseth’s Pentagon
Before he was picked to lead the Navy, Adm. Daryl Caudle found ways to signal his support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-diversity goals.
nytimes.com
How is it we got into the Iran War without a policy process to think through the likely consequences? Oh yeah...
This admitted to avoid discovery, which "could have required federal agencies to hand over more damaging records." Even MORE damaging!?! Let's have a look at those records, please. This article also makes it clear we need to look at the politicization of charges about lying to Congress.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
nytimes.com
Price of oil just hit $100 barrel. Economists tell us that rising prices lower demand. But don't worry, we've got a whole-of-government approach working on that: www.npr.org/2026/07/23/n...
DOT cranks up its campaign to strip bike lane references from federal websites
Transportation officials have removed a growing list of safety materials that mention bike lanes from federal websites. Safety advocates warn that's undermining proven measures for reducing crashes.
npr.org
Just making it up as he goes along. Trump says a U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal hinges on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...
As Part of Nuclear Deal, Trump Demands Saudi Arabia Join the Abraham Accords
The president’s new condition could create a roadblock to the Saudi nuclear deal his administration announced this week.
nytimes.com
Taxes on American consumers will be increased until affordability improves (or until the courts require them to be refunded). Trump to Impose 50% Tariff on Many Canadian Goods www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/b...
Trump to Impose 50% Tariff on Many Canadian Goods
The administration will use an untested legal provision to put significant duties on Canadian exports, reigniting a clash with one of America’s biggest trading partners.
nytimes.com
Soviet Politburo attacks scientists over Mendelian Genetics Chapter in Manual. Trump Attacks Nation’s Top Scientific Body Over Climate Chapter in Manual www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/c...
Trump Attacks National Academies Over Climate Chapter in Judges’ Manual
The president joined Republican officials who slammed the National Academies of Sciences for a chapter about climate science in an educational guide for judges.
nytimes.com
Vance: "If your alternative is just to drop bombs without any clear goal or any clear American interest implicated, then you’re not making wise decisions.” Trump: "the United States would resume bombing Iran if he did not like how the preliminary agreement was executed"
Live Updates: After G7 Leaders Praise U.S.-Iran Deal, Trump Threatens Iran Again
nytimes.com
TACO Tuesday. Someone told him what Hormuz tolls would do to the price of gas and the economics of windmills. Trump Drops Plan to Tax Ships but Will Restore Blockade in Strait www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07...
U.S. and Iran Reignite War Over Strait of Hormuz: Iran Live Updates
The two countries exchanged attacks, reigniting their war over the waterway. The U.S. prepared to restart a blockade of Iran’s ports on Tuesday.
nytimes.com
Is this radical transparency? Policy without process or filter--straight from Trump's addled brain without regard to legality or long-term costs. Amusing when it's a few millions wasted on a reflecting pool. Alarming when it undermines a world order central to American power & prosperity.
George Pearkes@peark.es · 3w agoThe President just announced a 20% toll on all cargo shipped through Hormuz, payable...to the US>
Making Medical Ignorance great again: A Proposed Rule would Politicize Medical Research. Scientists are not Happy. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt... The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnesses. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/w...
One has to wonder how he is going to have time to run Cuba too. He may have to give up the National Archives. How Marco Rubio Is Running Venezuela From Afar www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/u...
How Marco Rubio Is Running Venezuela From Afar
The secretary of state effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources and its government. His grip on the country is a vivid manifestation of American power in th...
nytimes.com
This is an extraordinary NYT story, both re athletic skill, & as football analytics/journalism. One wonders, though, if the world would be a better place if we had the same analytic depth on poverty, or Trump's lies. Lionel Messi has spent 63% of this World Cup walking tinyurl.com/MessiWalks
As with so much of the Trump program, it’s all about appearances rather than real qualities. We will be paying for this egomaniacal puffery for years. New Air Force One Lacks Defensive Countermeasures of Previous Model, Officials Say www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/u...
New Air Force One Lacks Defensive Countermeasures of Previous Model, Officials Say
nytimes.com
Good to know: If they had just tightened the wording up a bit everything would be copacetic. apple.news/AW1X6-zWCQ9K...
The Fight Over Hormuz Boils Down to One Poorly Worded Clause in Trump’s Deal — The Wall Street Journal
Paragraph 5 hands Iran a leading role in opening the waterway, but one the U.S. and its allies aren’t comfortable with
apple.news
@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu shows Trump's blow-up-small-boats strategy is doing nothing to slow the flow of drugs: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec... Meanwhile, @gilduran.com notes @sfchronicle.com on the dramatic reductions following California's crime policies. www.sfchronicle.com/crime/articl...
The Results Are In On Trump’s Boat Strikes Campaign
They haven’t stopped the drugs, but that may not be the point.
theatlantic.com
On Jan 21, 2029 Burgum’s quote should go up on a large banner replacing the Trump banner now hanging on the DoJ building.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.BASH: There's an olympian - David Hearn - who was indicted. He faces 10 years in prison. He says he didn't do anything other than reach into the reflecting pool. Do you really think he should face a 10 year sentence? BURGUM: Just bc you were a former something doesn't exclude you from the law
And white supremacists march in the Capital. America Celebrates Its 250th Birthday www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07...
July 4 Live Updates: America Celebrates Its 250th Birthday
nytimes.com
Trump, who "works harder than the hardest working Americans," has played golf on 21% of his days in office, costing taxpayers an estimated $162 million dollars. didtrumpgolftoday.com
Did Trump Golf Today?
Track Donald Trump's golf outings and the cost to taxpayers.
didtrumpgolftoday.com
Supreme Court should have had this 9-0 instead of 5-4 (on the constitutional question). Alas the public isn’t any stronger on the issue. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/u...
55% of Americans support birthright citizenship.
nytimes.com
Fed independence is missing from the Constitutional context of 1790, but is obviously necessary, given the requirements of a modern economy. Restricting automatic weapons, on the other hand, is obviously unconstitutional, given the founders failure to explicitly consider that bit of "progress".