Empty Bag of Ducks📎

Tbh, I don’t know…

Autonomous systems have a role, especially in a highly contested environment where being cheap and attributable are virtues. The issue becomes having enough to deliver the mass required. I don’t think most people appreciate the sheer tonnage a modern military consumes

US acquisition rules prohibit it and given the SHIPS Act Congress would never allow changing those rules.

If you are willing to be an air and maritime power only, then you are correct. At best your Army becomes the Brits on the eve of WWI….a very well trained colonial constabulary.

So, B. A. Friedman nailed it. The industrial base has crumbled. My neighbor was a lead engineer on F/A-18. He’s in his 80s. He will tell you the vulnerability is we are losing the industrial engineers to design the lines to actually build what we need. Those folks are dying with no replacements

Take a RORO. Five years ago, I could build one in a South Korean yard for $85m. A US yard? Ten times that. When we studied the problem, only a tiny fraction of that cost differential could be attributed to regulatory differentials (stricter safety and environmental regs in the U.S.).

Additionally, 20 years of GWOT rotted our LSCO capabilities. I have not envied the Service programmers as I watched them pivot and make hard choices with innovation, modernization and readiness in an evolving threat environment.

I don’t necessarily view it as a D vs R problem, but a function what happens in a world where expensive precision/cutting edge tech weaponry drives up costs. Additionally, U.S. acquisition rules conspire with industry consolidation to hold DoD hostage when it comes to costs. Monopoly profits

Went back and looked up publicly available statements.
Median age of 46 RORO vessels we use to move BCTs = 47 yrs
14 of those > 50 yrs old

When the last KC-46 is accepted the average age of KC-135 will be 67 yrs

DoD rail car fleet is hitting its 50 year service life as we get to early 2030s

Two cities under siege Remarkably similar scenes from Boston and Minneapolis, 260 years apart, show a federal government betraying its founding principles.

ICYMI: I looked through a published archive of Boston newspapers from the 1760s, when British troops were stationed in the city.

The accounts read remarkably similar to what's happening in Minneapolis.

radleybalko.substack.com/p/two-cities...

That power projection capability is rapidly aging with no replacements on the horizon. It would take at least a decade for the first replacement for the C-17 to roll off an assembly line. A large chunk of sealift capability is slated for retirement in the next decade

Again, it’s not just the Republicans. The strongest bipartisan trend in U.S. defense is the investment in exquisite technology by divesting logistics. The U.S. is building a highly-trained, well-equipped military that can’t go anywhere. It’s buying a sports car it can’t afford to drive.

When I teach Vietnam, I explain that opposition to the war really grew in fits and starts. Some big rallies and visible protests, but also a steady stream of celebrities and ordinary folks breaking with their priors and taking a new stand.

This last month, this last week, feels like a real shift.

Nomination and selection of Nobel Peace Prize laureates - NobelPrize.org A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria. A letter of invitation to submit is not required. The names of the nominees and other informati...

Some thoughts:

1. The deadline for nominating a person or group for the Nobel Peace Prize is Feb. 1.

2. History professors are qualified nominators.

3. The people of Minnesota have been awe-inspiringly peaceful in the face of state violence.

4. He would be so mad.

i wonder if the WH will try to give up Bovino and Noem as a way to avoid legislative action in the senate, curious if Senate Ds take the scalps they've got as a victory / how long they hold the line on the DHS aprops

People of Maine, how can the rest of the country help you stand up the way MN successfully did?

Now, where's Miller?

The killing of Alex Pretti and the grotesque lying was an overreach by the administration. They've paid a price and had to pull back a bit. But it's when there's some disarray that the democratic opposition needs to intensify the offensive, and turn a marginal tactical success into a major victory.

That should be blue city crackdowns aren’t over. They just sacrificed a pawn, a high ranking one, but still a pawn, to protect Trump and Miller. That’s it, that’s all they’ve done.

What I learned about crisis comms was you always wanted tomorrow’s message to be better than today’s. The lying isn’t crisis comms, it’s about trying to establish an alternative reality.

Photo of the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statue in Bemidji, MN

Can’t help it….
lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipOMOq...

Back in the 1980s (a million years ago) the “Officer Christian Fellowship” (I think that’s what it was called) made some inroads, but I always steered well clear. Like you, I took pride in no one knowing my beliefs on religion or politics. Served me well for 39 years

I cannot fathom being an active duty military officer and talking about religion publicly, let alone openly denigrating someone else's faith.

As a former Army Quartermaster….who am I to argue with you. 😉

Typical combat arms. A box of shit gets delivered and they think it’s “professional grade” logistics.

I grew up in Wisconsin. Rule #1 for driving safely in snow and ice? Don’t drive in snow and ice.

Phew, and here I thought I was the only one to have that experience.

One of the best things I’ve read in a while:

Core concepts such as majoritarianism, freedom of speech, etc. have been contested throughout American history despite what we learned. The idea of mastery itself is fundamentally anti-democratic.
Lincoln’s fragment on democracy: “As I would not be a master so I would not be a slave.”

Pam Bondi: Our country was founded on law enforcement.

Our country's founders: