For @RollingStone, I wrote about the meaning of one of the most evil, disastrous wars America ever waged & its legacy not only abroad but here at home.

The Mattis stuff may get the most attention. But it’s the reflections of Iraqis I want to highlight.

rollingstone.com/politics/polit… There were times in speaking to these Iraqi writers that I didn’t understand where they were coming from. Why would Iraqis speak *now* about an occupation more than during the height of an occupation?

They reminded me that I was free to use that word then. They weren’t.

NEW: what happened yesterday was the 21st century version of the Catiline Conspiracy. Catiline didn’t end the Roman Republic. But he exposed how rotted Roman republicanism had become. Caesar watched and took notes. A @mikeduncan collab thedailybeast.com/the-gops-repla…

Update: the Pentagon says the Justice Department is in charge. The Justice Department has said nothing.

Clearly and unsurprisingly, the administration confronted mostly peaceful protests by Black Lives Matter with a thousandfold more concerted and heavier response.

https://twitter.com/attackerman/status/1346917255981002754

Update: DOJ says the acting attorney general “is coordinating with our law enforcement partners to add additional Federal law enforcement support to the Capitol Grounds.”

That, to me, is not affirmative confirmation that Rosen is in charge. (“Coordinating”.) seeking clarity

FBI Director Wray says the FBI is “actively investigating the potential for violence” from regional “nodes” of Antifa. North Carolina GOPer Rep. Dan Bishop cites false reports of pre-positioned bricks at protesters and invented stories about a shadowy funding source. Wray attempts a diplomatic answer about how the vast majority of protesters are peaceful & coordination is “on the tactical level.”

ICE is feeding Muslim detainees pork at its Krome detention center in Miami and its chaplain dismisses this basic, deliberate dignity violation by saying “it is what it is.” Every Jew familiar with our history knows exactly what this is. We’ll see who stands up for our Muslim cousins and who doesn’t.

NEW: the COVID outbreak at an ICE prison happened after ICE xferred sick migrants from 2 states where it faced legal efforts to free ppl. Now Farmville detainees tell me they’re waiting to die & ex-employees describe exploitation by the for-profit prison. thedailybeast.com/ice-dodged-ord… “We think we’re going to die without seeing our families,” a detained man told me.

“There was no reason to intake any more detainees, but it’s all about profit,” a former employee at ICA Farmville told me. There is no union protecting workers there; at least 22 tested positive.