Phil Klay
@philklay.bsky.social
Author of Redeployment, Missionaries, and Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War. Teaches at Fairfield University MFA.
I’d never seen this Nietzsche photo before. Quite something.
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I’d never seen this Nietzsche photo before. Quite something.
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
—Hosea
—Hosea
November 13, 2025 at 2:17 AM
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
—Hosea
—Hosea
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by…the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Catholic Bishops Rebuke U.S. ‘Mass Deportation’ of Immigrants
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:10 AM
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by…the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...
Happy birthday Marines!
November 10, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Happy birthday Marines!
‘He growled, “When one of your Marines is dying, what are you gonna do, recite poetry at him?”
Well . . . no, probably not.’
I wrote about the Yeats poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” for @thefp.com
www.thefp.com/p/things-wor...
Well . . . no, probably not.’
I wrote about the Yeats poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” for @thefp.com
www.thefp.com/p/things-wor...
Things Worth Remembering: Finding Meaning in the Madness of War
Memorizing poetry began as a way to kill time in the Marines. It turned into a lesson in how to live with the possibility of death, writes Phil Klay for The Free Press.
www.thefp.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:08 PM
‘He growled, “When one of your Marines is dying, what are you gonna do, recite poetry at him?”
Well . . . no, probably not.’
I wrote about the Yeats poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” for @thefp.com
www.thefp.com/p/things-wor...
Well . . . no, probably not.’
I wrote about the Yeats poem “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” for @thefp.com
www.thefp.com/p/things-wor...
Reposted by Phil Klay
GÜIRIA, Venezuela (AP) — One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver.
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump has accused boat crews of being narco-terrorists. The truth, AP found, is more nuanced
One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet.
apnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:46 PM
GÜIRIA, Venezuela (AP) — One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver.
apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com/article/trum...
‘Is there a name for the period between a person’s fatal diagnosis and their death? There should be. This time by its nature cannot possess the qualities that constitute “ordinary” time’
Peter Catapano on editing Oliver Sacks in his last days
pghrev.com/the-afterliv...
Peter Catapano on editing Oliver Sacks in his last days
pghrev.com/the-afterliv...
October 30, 2025 at 8:50 PM
‘Is there a name for the period between a person’s fatal diagnosis and their death? There should be. This time by its nature cannot possess the qualities that constitute “ordinary” time’
Peter Catapano on editing Oliver Sacks in his last days
pghrev.com/the-afterliv...
Peter Catapano on editing Oliver Sacks in his last days
pghrev.com/the-afterliv...
“THE EXPERIENCED HEAD OF A CRITICAL OFFICE that helps organize important technical research and disburse billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Navy is being replaced by a 33-year-old former DOGE employee with no apparent naval experience”
www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-trum...
www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-trum...
SCOOP: Trump Swaps Decorated Admiral With 33-Year-Old DOGEr
The highly unorthodox personnel change affects a critical government research role.
www.thebulwark.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:25 PM
“THE EXPERIENCED HEAD OF A CRITICAL OFFICE that helps organize important technical research and disburse billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Navy is being replaced by a 33-year-old former DOGE employee with no apparent naval experience”
www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-trum...
www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-trum...
Reposted by Phil Klay
From my book: "Grant was forced to arbitrate the Constitution—to choose between its two sources of civilian oversight of the military. He followed the law: In peacetime, Congress’s authority is supreme in matters of military policy. The commander in chief’s authority is supreme only in wartime.”
What Trump Could Learn From Ulysses S. Grant
The last American crisis over civilian-military relations ended with a general’s historic choice.
www.theatlantic.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:55 PM
From my book: "Grant was forced to arbitrate the Constitution—to choose between its two sources of civilian oversight of the military. He followed the law: In peacetime, Congress’s authority is supreme in matters of military policy. The commander in chief’s authority is supreme only in wartime.”
“I didn’t think the inner life was everything, but I saw its power.”
TOMORROW I’m in conversation with the great Joan Silber about the craft of writing and about her phenomenal new novel MERCY.
events.fairfield.edu/event/inspir...
TOMORROW I’m in conversation with the great Joan Silber about the craft of writing and about her phenomenal new novel MERCY.
events.fairfield.edu/event/inspir...
October 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
“I didn’t think the inner life was everything, but I saw its power.”
TOMORROW I’m in conversation with the great Joan Silber about the craft of writing and about her phenomenal new novel MERCY.
events.fairfield.edu/event/inspir...
TOMORROW I’m in conversation with the great Joan Silber about the craft of writing and about her phenomenal new novel MERCY.
events.fairfield.edu/event/inspir...
‘Unfortunately, the preoccupation with destruction as a proxy for victory has not remained a matter of history. “Lethality” has long been a buzzword at the Pentagon, but the second Trump administration has elevated it to an obsession’
Hegseth’s Dangerous Obsession With Lethality
www.persuasion.community/p/hegseths-d...
www.persuasion.community/p/hegseths-d...
Hegseth’s Dangerous Obsession With Lethality
The “warrior ethos” is no way to run an army.
www.persuasion.community
October 27, 2025 at 3:13 PM
‘Unfortunately, the preoccupation with destruction as a proxy for victory has not remained a matter of history. “Lethality” has long been a buzzword at the Pentagon, but the second Trump administration has elevated it to an obsession’
Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! Especially podcasting.
New episode! Jake and I discuss Philip Roth's 1961 essay "Writing American Fiction" and the Qohelet, also known as the Book of Ecclesiastes
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
New episode! Jake and I discuss Philip Roth's 1961 essay "Writing American Fiction" and the Qohelet, also known as the Book of Ecclesiastes
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
Episode 84: Philip Roth and Ecclesiastes
Podcast Episode · Manifesto! · 10/27/2025 · 1h 4m
podcasts.apple.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! Especially podcasting.
New episode! Jake and I discuss Philip Roth's 1961 essay "Writing American Fiction" and the Qohelet, also known as the Book of Ecclesiastes
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
New episode! Jake and I discuss Philip Roth's 1961 essay "Writing American Fiction" and the Qohelet, also known as the Book of Ecclesiastes
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
“Shrinking the addiction economy will require Americans to upend decades of conventional political and economic wisdom. For some time now, we have imagined that robust moral judgments should be relegated to the private sphere…”
Ian Corbin and Gov. Spencer Cox
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Ian Corbin and Gov. Spencer Cox
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | The consequences of America’s moral drift
Consumerism and the addiction economy are undermining the republic.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 26, 2025 at 6:39 PM
“Shrinking the addiction economy will require Americans to upend decades of conventional political and economic wisdom. For some time now, we have imagined that robust moral judgments should be relegated to the private sphere…”
Ian Corbin and Gov. Spencer Cox
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Ian Corbin and Gov. Spencer Cox
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Reposted by Phil Klay
The Leahy law is being killed off. "The US State Department has removed an online portal for reporting alleged human rights violations by foreign military units supplied with American weapons." www.bbc.com/news/article...
US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces
The Human Rights Reporting Gateway acted as a formal "tip line" to the US government.
www.bbc.com
October 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM
The Leahy law is being killed off. "The US State Department has removed an online portal for reporting alleged human rights violations by foreign military units supplied with American weapons." www.bbc.com/news/article...
Today I learned that the “A time to cast stones” line from Ecclesiastes is about ejaculation
October 23, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Today I learned that the “A time to cast stones” line from Ecclesiastes is about ejaculation
“The daily newspapers then fill one with wonder and awe: is it possible? is it happening? And of course with sickness and despair. The fixes, the scandals, the insanities, the treacheries, the idiocies, the lies, the pieties, the noise…”
—Philip Roth, 1961
—Philip Roth, 1961
October 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
“The daily newspapers then fill one with wonder and awe: is it possible? is it happening? And of course with sickness and despair. The fixes, the scandals, the insanities, the treacheries, the idiocies, the lies, the pieties, the noise…”
—Philip Roth, 1961
—Philip Roth, 1961
Reposted by Phil Klay
Once again, if the administration had a good story to tell on the law or the facts, it would be telling it—including to Congress.
But it doesn’t.
These lawless premeditated killings are exactly what they look like.
But it doesn’t.
These lawless premeditated killings are exactly what they look like.
The U.S. military has killed at least 32 people in seven strikes off the coast of Venezuela without telling Congress or the American people who was killed, or on what evidence.
Trump's Venezuela operation expands in the dark
32 people have been killed. We don't know who they are.
www.axios.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Once again, if the administration had a good story to tell on the law or the facts, it would be telling it—including to Congress.
But it doesn’t.
These lawless premeditated killings are exactly what they look like.
But it doesn’t.
These lawless premeditated killings are exactly what they look like.
Does calling them “the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere” mean that we’ll pursue wasteful, destructive and stupid policies going after them?
October 20, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Does calling them “the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere” mean that we’ll pursue wasteful, destructive and stupid policies going after them?
Reposted by Phil Klay
NEW: The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did.
We found more than 170 such incidents since the start of the second Trump administration. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes nearly 20 children, two of whom have cancer.
We found more than 170 such incidents since the start of the second Trump administration. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes nearly 20 children, two of whom have cancer.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 4:01 PM
NEW: The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did.
We found more than 170 such incidents since the start of the second Trump administration. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes nearly 20 children, two of whom have cancer.
We found more than 170 such incidents since the start of the second Trump administration. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes nearly 20 children, two of whom have cancer.
Reposted by Phil Klay
Wow—has a president ever explicitly confirmed a presidential finding authorizing an ongoing covert action before? Let alone a brand new one?
October 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Wow—has a president ever explicitly confirmed a presidential finding authorizing an ongoing covert action before? Let alone a brand new one?
“The new authority would allow the C.I.A. to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela…The agency would be able to take covert action against Mr. Maduro or his government either unilaterally or in conjunction with a larger military operation.”
Regime change is back.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
Regime change is back.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela
www.nytimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
“The new authority would allow the C.I.A. to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela…The agency would be able to take covert action against Mr. Maduro or his government either unilaterally or in conjunction with a larger military operation.”
Regime change is back.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
Regime change is back.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
Marked by Love
Close reading four sentences from Augustine’s Confessions
open.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Whenever there’s a completely absurd claim about how well Israel has treated civilians (as in this Noah Rothman National Review article), it’s always laundered through John Spencer, the urban warfare expert who told Ukrainians they should fight Russian tanks with paintball guns.
October 15, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Whenever there’s a completely absurd claim about how well Israel has treated civilians (as in this Noah Rothman National Review article), it’s always laundered through John Spencer, the urban warfare expert who told Ukrainians they should fight Russian tanks with paintball guns.
“that light, yes, it's most often connected to something bad, to pain, and suffering, I might say, if that's not too big a word…and the person who buys the painting is also given some of the light, and the suffering too, the despair, the pain that's in the light, I think”
Fosse, Septology
Fosse, Septology
October 14, 2025 at 11:15 PM
“that light, yes, it's most often connected to something bad, to pain, and suffering, I might say, if that's not too big a word…and the person who buys the painting is also given some of the light, and the suffering too, the despair, the pain that's in the light, I think”
Fosse, Septology
Fosse, Septology
“ICE has set up checkpoints outside my street most mornings – pulling people out of cars usually around 7am. They have repeatedly showed up to a Catholic elementary school and another school down the block from me…”
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
October 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
“ICE has set up checkpoints outside my street most mornings – pulling people out of cars usually around 7am. They have repeatedly showed up to a Catholic elementary school and another school down the block from me…”
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...