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
‘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...
“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...
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
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?
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...
At Chuck E. Cheese, explaining to my kids that when I was young, before American children’s entertainment went soft, Chuck wasn’t a friendly mouse, he was a cigar smoking rat from New Jersey.
October 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
At Chuck E. Cheese, explaining to my kids that when I was young, before American children’s entertainment went soft, Chuck wasn’t a friendly mouse, he was a cigar smoking rat from New Jersey.
Apparently providing aid to foreign countries benefits America. Now, if only we had an agency for that sort of thing…
October 10, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Apparently providing aid to foreign countries benefits America. Now, if only we had an agency for that sort of thing…
Hahahahaha…nice try, AI
October 9, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Hahahahaha…nice try, AI
The Books I Have Not Read, by Shel Silverstein
October 5, 2025 at 11:53 PM
The Books I Have Not Read, by Shel Silverstein
One other thing about this whole dumb affair. In what universe did Hegseth think inviting comparisons to Patton would work to his benefit?
I’d rather have George C Scott as SecDef
I’d rather have George C Scott as SecDef
October 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
One other thing about this whole dumb affair. In what universe did Hegseth think inviting comparisons to Patton would work to his benefit?
I’d rather have George C Scott as SecDef
I’d rather have George C Scott as SecDef
‘The appeal to the mystical image of the “warfighter” is that it avoids having to discuss war in concrete terms. It sells the attractive myth that by doing more of the parts of war that look cool and really make you feel like a man, you can actually win wars.‘
www.deadcarl.com/p/clausewitz...
www.deadcarl.com/p/clausewitz...
October 1, 2025 at 5:04 PM
‘The appeal to the mystical image of the “warfighter” is that it avoids having to discuss war in concrete terms. It sells the attractive myth that by doing more of the parts of war that look cool and really make you feel like a man, you can actually win wars.‘
www.deadcarl.com/p/clausewitz...
www.deadcarl.com/p/clausewitz...
TONIGHT! At Fairfield University I’ll be in conversation with Thomas Chatterton Williams bout the cultural and political convulsions that led up to our current, fractured politics, and what we can do about it.
September 30, 2025 at 12:45 PM
TONIGHT! At Fairfield University I’ll be in conversation with Thomas Chatterton Williams bout the cultural and political convulsions that led up to our current, fractured politics, and what we can do about it.
“this unbelievable story, this foolishness that there's really no way to believe, and I think what I really believe in is the force of this foolishness, the power of thinking this way,”
Jon Fosse, Septology
Jon Fosse, Septology
September 27, 2025 at 12:55 PM
“this unbelievable story, this foolishness that there's really no way to believe, and I think what I really believe in is the force of this foolishness, the power of thinking this way,”
Jon Fosse, Septology
Jon Fosse, Septology
Hell yeah. Superb book
September 26, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Hell yeah. Superb book
Next Tuesday at Fairfield University I’ll be in conversation with Thomas Chatterton Williams about his new book, THE SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT
quickcenter.fairfield.edu//2025-26-sea...
quickcenter.fairfield.edu//2025-26-sea...
September 26, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Next Tuesday at Fairfield University I’ll be in conversation with Thomas Chatterton Williams about his new book, THE SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT
quickcenter.fairfield.edu//2025-26-sea...
quickcenter.fairfield.edu//2025-26-sea...
Hegseth has long praised murderers.
Worth reading @gregjaffe.bsky.social Clint Lorance’s platoon. Lorance, “a man they blamed for ruining their lives, an officer the Army convicted of second-degree murder” was championed by Hegseth before Trump pardoned him.
www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/202...
Worth reading @gregjaffe.bsky.social Clint Lorance’s platoon. Lorance, “a man they blamed for ruining their lives, an officer the Army convicted of second-degree murder” was championed by Hegseth before Trump pardoned him.
www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/202...
September 26, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Hegseth has long praised murderers.
Worth reading @gregjaffe.bsky.social Clint Lorance’s platoon. Lorance, “a man they blamed for ruining their lives, an officer the Army convicted of second-degree murder” was championed by Hegseth before Trump pardoned him.
www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/202...
Worth reading @gregjaffe.bsky.social Clint Lorance’s platoon. Lorance, “a man they blamed for ruining their lives, an officer the Army convicted of second-degree murder” was championed by Hegseth before Trump pardoned him.
www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/202...
“You say X dead person is philosophically important but I googled and they also said bad stuff” is an unbelievably stupid line of attack.
(from, of course, a Chotiner interview)
(from, of course, a Chotiner interview)
September 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
“You say X dead person is philosophically important but I googled and they also said bad stuff” is an unbelievably stupid line of attack.
(from, of course, a Chotiner interview)
(from, of course, a Chotiner interview)