Copyright 2026 Clifford May Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:18:09 -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/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... https://cliffordmay.org/31285/free-jimmy-lai Tue, 17 Feb 2026 09:00:00 EST Last week, a Hong Kong court imposed a 20-year prison sentence on Jimmy Lai, China's most prominent advocate for freedom of speech and the press. The Wall Street Journal was hardly alone in observing that because he is 78 years old and in failing health,... https://cliffordmay.org/31274/iran-gaza-advice Thu, 12 Feb 2026 09:00:00 EST "Carthago delenda est!" In case your Latin is rusty, that means "Carthage must be destroyed!" Cato the Elder would repeat the demand in every speech he gave in the Roman Senate. This was between the Second and Third Punic Wars in the 150s BCE. In case... https://cliffordmay.org/31263/repairing-western-alliance Wed, 4 Feb 2026 09:00:00 EST Hindsight isn't always 20/20. It's reassuring to recall the Cold War as a time when the nations of the Free World (we capitalized the term back then) were united in a great struggle against Communism. The reality wasn't quite so neat. For example, in... https://cliffordmay.org/31242/trump-greenland-deal Wed, 28 Jan 2026 09:00:00 EST Readers of a certain age will recall the late, great Tina Turner introducing her iconic performances of "Proud Mary" by informing her audience: "We never, ever do nothing nice and easy. We always do it nice and rough." President Trump could say the same... https://cliffordmay.org/31224/iran-venezuela-ukraine-support Wed, 21 Jan 2026 09:00:00 EST Iran, Venezuela, and Ukraine are very different countries, but most Iranians, Venezuelans and Ukrainians want the same thing: to not be ruled by tyrants. They look to America for support – which means they look to President Trump. Where else and to whom... https://cliffordmay.org/31210/venezuela-after-maduro-arrest Wed, 14 Jan 2026 09:00:00 EST Nicolas Maduro was led to believe that Russian air defense systems would keep American helicopters from landing near his fortified compound in Caracas. He was misinformed. The Venezuelan dictator also thought that any hostiles who managed to enter his... https://cliffordmay.org/31189/the-many-shades-of-islam Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:00:00 EST Following the massacre on Bondi Beach earlier this month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters that the murderers were adherents of a "radical perversion of Islam." Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett added that the... https://cliffordmay.org/31171/trump-national-security-strategy Wed, 24 Dec 2025 09:00:00 EST Every American president publishes a National Security Strategy because, as the NSS recently released by the Trump administration says, "all Americans need to know what, exactly, it is we are trying to do and why." The rub, of course, it that the NSS...