Copyright 2026 Clifford May Wed, 03 Jun 2026 03:28:34 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Clifford May :: Writings https://cliffordmay.org cliff@defenddemocracy.org (Clifford May) webmaster@pundicity.com en-us https://cliffordmay.org/31435/iran-islamic-revolutionaries Wed, 3 Jun 2026 09:00:00 EST Dear President Trump: I'm sure you were disappointed to learn on Monday that Iran's rulers have decided they're not interested in negotiating an extension of the ceasefire you granted on April 8. That ceasefire was in exchange for their promise to let... https://cliffordmay.org/31428/liberate-the-cubans Wed, 27 May 2026 09:00:00 EST President Trump fancies himself a peacemaker, and the record supports him. His first-term Abraham Accords normalized relations between Israel and three Arab states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. Since his return to the White House,... https://cliffordmay.org/31424/trump-distrust-verify-xi Wed, 20 May 2026 09:00:00 EST How successful was last week's summit in Beijing? President Trump said it was a "great success." Xi Jinping, China's supreme ruler, merely called the meeting "constructive." Perhaps Mr. Xi thought: "Trump is cunning and unpredictable, so I'd better keep... https://cliffordmay.org/31413/trump-iran-speech Thu, 14 May 2026 09:00:00 EST My fellow Americans, I don't often sit down here in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk to give speeches. I prefer to talk to you more off-the-cuff. But I'm making an exception today because I want you to understand exactly what I'm thinking and... https://cliffordmay.org/31402/iran-ideology-peace Wed, 6 May 2026 09:00:00 EST During a Senate hearing last week, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth why she is so vehemently opposed to the use of military force to address the threat posed by Tehran: "We did not have any evidence that Iran intended to... https://cliffordmay.org/31398/jeffersonian-strategy-iran-threat Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:00:00 EST Last Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad where he was expected to finalize the terms of a deal he'd offer President Trump. Less than 24 hours later, he headed back to Tehran. President Trump's special envoys, Steve... https://cliffordmay.org/31391/all-quiet-on-the-lebanese-front Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:00:00 EST This headline from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week was typical: "Trump announces Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, but major disputes remain." That framing misses a basic truth: Ceasefires don't resolve conflicts. Though they can lead to... https://cliffordmay.org/31384/iran-ideology-ambitions Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:00:00 EST After the Twelve-Day War of June 2025, President Trump probably thought something along these lines: "We gave those guys a good thrashing. They won't want to repeat the experience anytime soon." If Iran's rulers were what we call "rational actors," that... https://cliffordmay.org/31380/america-fights-iran-rulers Wed, 8 Apr 2026 09:00:00 EST During World War II, my father served in the South Pacific. Who did he think he was fighting? I know from reviewing his letters back home that it wasn't "the Imperial Japanese government." He was fighting "the Japs." And G.I.s deployed to Europe, I'm... https://cliffordmay.org/31370/tsa-dhs Wed, 1 Apr 2026 09:00:00 EST Let's take a short break from the imbroglio over delivering paychecks to TSA agents and funding the DHS to recall why we need a Transportation Security Administration and a Department of Homeland Security in the first place. Because if you're, say, a 22... https://cliffordmay.org/31359/wars-of-choice Wed, 25 Mar 2026 09:00:00 EST On the illiberal left and the defeatist right, America's military campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran is being condemned as "a war of choice, not a war of necessity." I'm here to make the case for wars of choice. My argument is simple: Delaying... https://cliffordmay.org/31331/strait-of-hormuz Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:00:00 EST Forty-seven years ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran vowed "Marg bar Amrika!" – "Death to America!" That declaration of war was followed by multiple acts of war from the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran to the orchestration of two bombings of... https://cliffordmay.org/31321/tucker-carlson-has-lost-his-way Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:00:00 EST Israelis are spending much of their days and nights hunkered down in bomb shelters. But they're hopeful that the conflict in which they're now engaged will leave them and their children safer. Iranians are doing their best to get by as the U.S.-Israeli... https://cliffordmay.org/31306/trumps-iran-america-first Wed, 4 Mar 2026 09:00:00 EST On Saturday, President Donald Trump made one of the best – and, at 8 minutes, briefest – speeches of his career. The objective of the combined U.S.-Israeli operation, he explained, "is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from... https://cliffordmay.org/31291/rubio-europe-america-marriage Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:00:00 EST One of the most popular magazines in the years following World War II was the Ladies' Home Journal. One of its most popular features was "Can this marriage be saved?" Why am I dredging up this tidbit of journalistic trivia? Because of Marco Rubio's...