Jim Lippard
@lippard.bsky.social
I like infosec (esp. threat intelligence), history and philosophy of science and technology, skepticism. Mastodon: http://infosec.exchange/@lippard
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Bad news for Hegseth, it turns out the Pentagon is a big bureaucracy filled with people who got there because they know how to fight bureaucratic battles and they will wait for you to lie about something then leak details about it. Who knew?
A most important question on the Sept. 2 double-tap strike is who had "target engagement authority" (TEA).
Wall Street Journal:
"A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike."
www.wsj.com/politics/whi...
Wall Street Journal:
"A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike."
www.wsj.com/politics/whi...
December 2, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Bad news for Hegseth, it turns out the Pentagon is a big bureaucracy filled with people who got there because they know how to fight bureaucratic battles and they will wait for you to lie about something then leak details about it. Who knew?
Reposted by Jim Lippard
TPM readers first met the man photographed behind the Pentagon podium here when we exposed him as a prominent and devoted follower of the Neo Nazi Nick Fuentes. talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/pa...
December 2, 2025 at 11:23 PM
TPM readers first met the man photographed behind the Pentagon podium here when we exposed him as a prominent and devoted follower of the Neo Nazi Nick Fuentes. talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/pa...
Reposted by Jim Lippard
This speculation looks confirmed with the news today from @kenvogel.bsky.social that Stone hand delivered the pardon plea letter for Juan Orlando Hernandez to Trump
Wait so there are Peter Thiel-backed landlocked seasteading libertarian cities that the current Honduras govt wants to get rid of that Roger Stone has been advocating for that JOH also supports? And Stone has also been advocating for JOH 's pardon?
www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/m...
www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/m...
The For-Profit City That Might Come Crashing Down (Published 2024)
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:29 PM
This speculation looks confirmed with the news today from @kenvogel.bsky.social that Stone hand delivered the pardon plea letter for Juan Orlando Hernandez to Trump
Reposted by Jim Lippard
The Orban playbook: use the regulatory powers of the state to ensure media is owned by your allies who turn it into propaganda for the regime.
Here’s Trump intervening to help his ally Ellison’s bid for Warner Bros (and CNN).
Here’s Trump intervening to help his ally Ellison’s bid for Warner Bros (and CNN).
December 2, 2025 at 3:50 PM
The Orban playbook: use the regulatory powers of the state to ensure media is owned by your allies who turn it into propaganda for the regime.
Here’s Trump intervening to help his ally Ellison’s bid for Warner Bros (and CNN).
Here’s Trump intervening to help his ally Ellison’s bid for Warner Bros (and CNN).
Kyrsten Sinema is an idiot. www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona...
Kyrsten Sinema kisses up to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: ‘MAHA is amazing’
Sinema gave RFK Jr. a tongue-bathing while promoting the psychedelic drug ibogaine.
www.phoenixnewtimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Kyrsten Sinema is an idiot. www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona...
Reposted by Jim Lippard
On the liberal fragility (and reactionary centrism) of The Economist.
www.liberalcurrents.com/dear-sir-on-...
www.liberalcurrents.com/dear-sir-on-...
Dear Sir: On the Liberal Fragility of The Economist
I want to see The Economist do well. With a few gap years, I’ve subscribed to The Economist for well over a decade—ever since I could enjoy the still-expensive student price in grad school. I place a ...
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
On the liberal fragility (and reactionary centrism) of The Economist.
www.liberalcurrents.com/dear-sir-on-...
www.liberalcurrents.com/dear-sir-on-...
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Just gonna drop this right here.
No reason...🤷♂️
No reason...🤷♂️
December 1, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Just gonna drop this right here.
No reason...🤷♂️
No reason...🤷♂️
Reposted by Jim Lippard
"By our Law, all Ministerial Officers are accountable for their Actions: The Authority of Superiours, though the King himself, cannot justifie inferiour Officers, much less Ministers of State, if they should execute illegal Commands."
-Rev. William Sherlock, May 1688
-Rev. William Sherlock, May 1688
Entire Chain of Command Could Be Held Liable for Killing Boat Strike Survivors, Sources Say
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s actions could spark investigations for war crimes or outright murder, sources told The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2025/12/02/h...
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s actions could spark investigations for war crimes or outright murder, sources told The Intercept.
theintercept.com/2025/12/02/h...
Entire Chain of Command Could Be Held Liable for Killing Boat Strike Survivors, Sources Say
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s actions could spark investigations for war crimes or outright murder, sources told The Intercept.
theintercept.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:40 PM
"By our Law, all Ministerial Officers are accountable for their Actions: The Authority of Superiours, though the King himself, cannot justifie inferiour Officers, much less Ministers of State, if they should execute illegal Commands."
-Rev. William Sherlock, May 1688
-Rev. William Sherlock, May 1688
Reposted by Jim Lippard
JUST SECURITY: “.. If actually issued, these orders irresponsibly and unlawfully placed all those involved in the attack in serious legal jeopardy. If the reporting is accurate, those orders should, as a matter of law, have been refused.”
@justsecurity.org
www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...
@justsecurity.org
www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...
Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder
An expert backgrounder on the reported Hegseth "no quarter" order to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.
www.justsecurity.org
December 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
JUST SECURITY: “.. If actually issued, these orders irresponsibly and unlawfully placed all those involved in the attack in serious legal jeopardy. If the reporting is accurate, those orders should, as a matter of law, have been refused.”
@justsecurity.org
www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...
@justsecurity.org
www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...
Reposted by Jim Lippard
“A lead investigator in that case was Emil Bove, then a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
This is ridiculous. It was the first TRUMP admin which developed the cases against President Hernandez. His brother Tony Hernandez was indicted in 2018 and convicted in 2019, and key ally Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez was indicted in 2020.
Both were later sentenced to life in prison!
Both were later sentenced to life in prison!
Leavitt: "The people of Honduras have highlighted to him how the former President Hernandez was set up. This was a clear Biden over prosecution."
December 1, 2025 at 7:42 PM
“A lead investigator in that case was Emil Bove, then a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w...
Reposted by Jim Lippard
This is ridiculous. It was the first TRUMP admin which developed the cases against President Hernandez. His brother Tony Hernandez was indicted in 2018 and convicted in 2019, and key ally Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez was indicted in 2020.
Both were later sentenced to life in prison!
Both were later sentenced to life in prison!
Leavitt: "The people of Honduras have highlighted to him how the former President Hernandez was set up. This was a clear Biden over prosecution."
December 1, 2025 at 7:36 PM
This is ridiculous. It was the first TRUMP admin which developed the cases against President Hernandez. His brother Tony Hernandez was indicted in 2018 and convicted in 2019, and key ally Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez was indicted in 2020.
Both were later sentenced to life in prison!
Both were later sentenced to life in prison!
hopefully this is as baseless as the fear that recorded music would end people learning how to play instruments and perform live
Not sure I'd cosign every claim made in this essay, but I think the overall message is correct, urgent, and very well put. Functional illiteracy is one of the most dangerous social contagions we face today. jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-o...
The dawn of the post-literate society
And the end of civilisation
jmarriott.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:37 PM
hopefully this is as baseless as the fear that recorded music would end people learning how to play instruments and perform live
Reposted by Jim Lippard
*not shopping at Target intensifies*
December 1, 2025 at 8:31 PM
*not shopping at Target intensifies*
Reposted by Jim Lippard
so it is very apparent that
1) You are not going to be able to know for sure who or where an order came from, much less if it is legal
2) The President and SecDef will disavow any order that retroactively proves to be unpopular or risky
1) You are not going to be able to know for sure who or where an order came from, much less if it is legal
2) The President and SecDef will disavow any order that retroactively proves to be unpopular or risky
December 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
so it is very apparent that
1) You are not going to be able to know for sure who or where an order came from, much less if it is legal
2) The President and SecDef will disavow any order that retroactively proves to be unpopular or risky
1) You are not going to be able to know for sure who or where an order came from, much less if it is legal
2) The President and SecDef will disavow any order that retroactively proves to be unpopular or risky
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Senator Kelly is correct.
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Senator Kelly is correct.
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Plus a Public Service Announcement:
KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.
The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
Reposted by Jim Lippard
This article from September contained an important quote.
I trust this over Prasad, Hoeg, and Makary any day of the week.
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
I trust this over Prasad, Hoeg, and Makary any day of the week.
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
November 30, 2025 at 2:01 PM
This article from September contained an important quote.
I trust this over Prasad, Hoeg, and Makary any day of the week.
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
I trust this over Prasad, Hoeg, and Makary any day of the week.
www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
there's also a joke that's so funny it will cause LLMs to die
this is quite the detail
November 30, 2025 at 2:44 PM
there's also a joke that's so funny it will cause LLMs to die
Reposted by Jim Lippard
I said a few days ago that RFK Jr. was advancing a stealth campaign to ban vaccination in the US.
That campaign is accelerating, & it ain't that stealthy.
I'll have more to say about this soon, but for now, just take this in: the US under RFK Jr.'s reign of error is about to kill a lot of kids. 1/
That campaign is accelerating, & it ain't that stealthy.
I'll have more to say about this soon, but for now, just take this in: the US under RFK Jr.'s reign of error is about to kill a lot of kids. 1/
Experts say strict new FDA protocol for vaccine approval is ‘dangerous and irresponsible’
Lead FDA vaccine regulator announced new approval process after claiming Covid vaccine had killed 10 children
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I said a few days ago that RFK Jr. was advancing a stealth campaign to ban vaccination in the US.
That campaign is accelerating, & it ain't that stealthy.
I'll have more to say about this soon, but for now, just take this in: the US under RFK Jr.'s reign of error is about to kill a lot of kids. 1/
That campaign is accelerating, & it ain't that stealthy.
I'll have more to say about this soon, but for now, just take this in: the US under RFK Jr.'s reign of error is about to kill a lot of kids. 1/
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Attacks on VPNs are attacks on digital privacy and digital freedom. And that battle is being fought by people who clearly have no idea how any of this technology actually works. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing
It's unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual
www.eff.org
November 29, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Attacks on VPNs are attacks on digital privacy and digital freedom. And that battle is being fought by people who clearly have no idea how any of this technology actually works. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Reposted by Jim Lippard
"How the next DOJ is going to deal with it." Nice. This is what we want. This is what we have to re-establish. A little more fear of "how the next DOJ is going to deal with it."
Dimon on why JPMorgan Chase is not funding WH Ballroom:
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
We have an issue, which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it.
November 29, 2025 at 7:45 PM
"How the next DOJ is going to deal with it." Nice. This is what we want. This is what we have to re-establish. A little more fear of "how the next DOJ is going to deal with it."
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Wait, I was told 19 kids dead in a single month didn’t matter.
November 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Wait, I was told 19 kids dead in a single month didn’t matter.
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Everyone should read this terrifying thread about Hegseth’s published views wrt war crimes. It’s pretty fucking radical …. We needed to hear about this in his confirmation hearing.
A chapter in Hegseth’s book is literally titled “More Lethality, Less Lawyers.”
It’s almost as if there were signs!
It’s almost as if there were signs!
November 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Got an email from Jay Clayton at the DoJ, first inclination was that it was a scam, but no, it's a real DoJ victim notification for Keith Taylor's (CEO of Modest Needs) upcoming sentencing, inviting me to submit a victim impact statement, confer with US attorney, or request to speak at sentencing.
November 29, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Got an email from Jay Clayton at the DoJ, first inclination was that it was a scam, but no, it's a real DoJ victim notification for Keith Taylor's (CEO of Modest Needs) upcoming sentencing, inviting me to submit a victim impact statement, confer with US attorney, or request to speak at sentencing.
Reposted by Jim Lippard
It’s wrong to lump all top Trump people in one category. There are differences among them. But they do seem to fall into three (sometimes overlapping) categories:
• Ordinary criminals (grift and corruption).
• Sex criminals.
• War criminals.
• Ordinary criminals (grift and corruption).
• Sex criminals.
• War criminals.
November 29, 2025 at 4:06 PM
It’s wrong to lump all top Trump people in one category. There are differences among them. But they do seem to fall into three (sometimes overlapping) categories:
• Ordinary criminals (grift and corruption).
• Sex criminals.
• War criminals.
• Ordinary criminals (grift and corruption).
• Sex criminals.
• War criminals.
Reposted by Jim Lippard
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
November 29, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”
open.substack.com/pub/executiv...