Adrian Monck

We are all going to die no matter what we do. But that is no way to live. You have to admire flippant media commentary masquerading as wisdom.

The Creditor Generation Dies: How Japan’s Bond Crisis Signals the End of the Postwar Order Where geopolitics, demographics, and fiscal mathematics collide

7thin.gs/p/japan-bond...

New newsletter is out ($) 👇 – don’t be put off by the nerdy title.

These facts about dark personalities seem too weird to be true but are backed by science We often imagine people with dark personalities as obvious villains. But science reveals a far stranger truth, showing how these traits influence everything from head movements to vulnerability to ema...

“Narcissistic individuals’ reduced ability to feel compassion for others and their desire for intense experiences made them more interested in stories about harm and conflict, and less interested in stories about cooperation and kindness.”
www.psypost.org/these-facts-...

‘I’m leaving,’ Trump said. ‘There’s no reason to be here any more’: inside the meeting that brought Nato to the brink Former secretary general Jens Stoltenberg recalls the rollercoaster ride of dealing with Donald Trump – and how close the US president brought the alliance to the point of collapse

NATO by a thread.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

RIP to this crazy diamond. Incredibly demanding, quite bonkers, but also very kind.

Absolute Leseempfehlung um zu verstehen, was in den USA und in Teilen auch hierzulande passiert

🙏

The redoubtable @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social with a useful reminder that you can't have your cake and eat it too. (Source: mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/09/misu...)

So Britain’s political Ragnarrok will also be a battle between serious and disappointing democrats vs comedic aspirant authoritarians. And match commentary will be of the good-natured, tongue-in-cheek variety. Until that light too goes out.

The Miller-tary: Stephen Miller’s Parallel Pentagon How a MAGA ideologue built a parallel command system to direct military strikes, purge resistant officers, and prepare troops for domestic deployment

Stephen Miller’s Parallel Pentagon >> new newsletter open.substack.com/pub/7thing/p...

Remember the catastrophic rock-ice avalanche of Blatten 🇨🇭 this May?
This incredible image comparison shows like nothing else the darkening of mountain peaks.
And along with the disappearance of snow, ice and permafrost, new hazards come along
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

a man in a suit and tie is smiling and says thank you and goodnight ALT: a man in a suit and tie is smiling and says thank you and goodnight

12 Next crisis, the lock can be unpicked. Miller can deploy Guard units in hours. Officers who might resist have already been purged. Those promoted through Scheller’s system know what loyalty means.

11 This is a toolkit: fitness standards that remove anyone on demand, promotions controlled by someone court-martialled for insubordination, and Miller’s HSC deciding when troops deploy domestically. Each piece is necessary.

10 Maybe this is just civilian control working as designed. Remove policies that weakened readiness. Make sure generals are fit. Put someone willing to challenge bureaucracy in charge of promotions. But who’s been fired?Pattern’s pretty clear.

9 In June, Trump federalised 4,200 California Guard troops without Governor’s consent. 700 Marines deployed. Federal judge ruled it violated the law barring military from domestic law enforcement, called it an attempt at ‘a national police force with the president as its chief’.

8 Miller personally approves strikes on Venezuelan drug boats. Officials sometimes learn hours before attacks happen. That’s not how national security normally works. Defence, State, and intelligence coordinate through the NSC. Miller’s HSC bypasses that. He authorises military action directly.

7 Stephen Miller now runs the Homeland Security Council. Trump’s first-day memo merged HSC/NSC functions. Miller controls immigration enforcement, counterterrorism, and domestic troop deployment. Rubio’s NSC handles foreign policy. Miller handles when military force gets used INSIDE America.

6 The no beard stuff? Shaving waivers mostly go to Black service members. Razor bumps are a painful medical condition. A study from 2021 showed airmen with waivers got promoted slower. Hegseth isn’t fixing the discrimination, he’s making life harder for black servicemen.

Army axes promotion boards that weighed opinions of peers, subordinates for commanders The Army's now-defunct Command Assessment Program considered how peers and subordinates view officers selected for command positions.

5 In September, Hegseth cancelled the Army’s Command Assessment Programme. CAP used cognitive tests, emotional intelligence scores, 360 feedback to pick commanders. Army data showed CAP actually selected white men more often than women or minorities. taskandpurpose.com/news/army-en...

4 Scheller was punished for criticising Biden’s team. Now he decides who advances. Officers who challenged Biden leadership are truth-tellers. Officers who might question Trump?

The unmaking of Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Part 2: What you didn't know about the "accountability" Marine.

3 In July Hegseth put Lt Col Stuart Scheller in charge of reviewing how officers get promoted. Scheller was court-martialled in 2021 for attacking leaders over Afghanistan withdrawal. The Marines convicted him. Now he controls the promotion ladder. www.militarytimes.com/news/your-ma...

2 “War” Sec Hegseth used the gathering to announce that every officer will take PT tests twice yearly. Four-star generals included. ‘Male-level’ standards for combat roles. On paper, it’s about readiness. In practice, any general can now be forced out for failing a fitness test.

1 Nearly 800 generals and admirals ordered home from posts worldwide. No explanation given. At Quantico, they discovered why: America’s cities would now become military training grounds against ‘the enemy within’ – a phrase borrowed from Stephen Miller’s mentor David Horowitz.

🧵THREAD: The Quantico Address – How Stephen Miller Is Remaking Military Command

The Black-Veined Jugular: Russia’s War Hits The Wall The Unforgiving Power of Budgets over Bombs and Bullets.

The Black-Veined Jugular: Russia’s War Hits The Wall ($) 👇https://7thin.gs/p/russia-fiscal-collapse-india-oil-putin-war-economy?r=zw96&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Oxford’s new overlord…

Went to the bike shop to get winter tyres put on today. Mechanic showed me a hairline fracture on my carbon frame… very, expensive trip. 🚲 >> moral of story? Be careful with bike racks.

Porter House Booze? Peaty Blinders? Wuthering Pints? Downton Shandy? Stoutcession? I admit defeat.