Jason Dempsey

YouTube video by theRevolutionBegin Woody Allen on how to handle Nazis

youtu.be/ptxkVhDYog8?...

If I drank a shot every time Trump changed his Epstein story I’d be Secretary of Defense.

if i were a pro-trump financial type i might view the destruction of reliable government data with the kind of anger and apprehension that might lead me to reevaluate my politics, but then if i’m a financial guy throwing my weight behind strongman rule, i’m already too stupid to breathe

NYC Mass Shooting Was Nearly Impossible to Prevent, Experts Say

Holy shit, they did it. They wrote the headline.

I've got bad news for folks about what skills are actually useful for 4-stars.

“As the occupying force, the Israelis are responsible for the basic survival of civilians in Gaza.”

"We've got to keep going after it, we're having some successes, we are trending positively," he said of the mission with no fixed end-date .

Afghanistan or dumbass border theater

The most worrisome thing to me in the near to medium term is how quickly ICE is going to scale up. If you think the masked bullies now are bad, wait for the 10,000 who see it and want in themselves.

"The figures on the memorial do not depict the American actors of World War I; they depict an idealized bastardization of memory."

Fantastic piece from @pptsapper.bsky.social.

Makes me shudder to think of the jingoistic fantasy we are going to unleash with the 'GWOT' memorial.

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. —J.R.R. Tolkien

JRR Tolkien vs Palantir

Trump’s National Guard Troops Are Questioning Their Mission in L.A.

“The moral injuries of this operation, I think, will be enduring,” one of the Guard officials said. “This is not what the military of our country was designed to do, at all.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/u...

A black-and-white newspaper clipping with the headline: “‘Superman’ Poisoning American Children, Irate Nazis Claim.” The article, credited to United Press and datelined Berlin, April 24, reports that Das Schwarze Korps, the Nazi SS newspaper, denounced the American comic strip Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The Nazis criticized the comic’s Jewish creator and accused it of corrupting American youth with messages of "strength, courage, justice." The article sarcastically quotes Nazi propaganda calling Siegel a "Colorado beetle" working in "dark, incomprehensible ways" and claims American children are being poisoned by these ideals. The clipping notes that Superman appears in The Springfield Daily News and that the paper intends to continue running it despite Nazi disapproval.

Everything old is new again.

Something I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about is how the GWOT negatively affected the culture of the enlisted infantry. I've not done any reading or really any talking, just thinking mind you.

Something I saw as I was getting out (12!!! Years ago tbc) was an unfulfilled list for pumps.

Heard LLMs called “enterprise-grade Lorem Ipsum”

State Department to Soon Begin Mass Layoffs

700 diplomats at State are set to be laid off. This amounts to 60% of all foreign service officer currently based in DC. 60%!

State Department to Soon Begin Mass Layoffs www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...

Are we the baddies but with a mask.

What Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Understand About Soldiers Lethality alone doesn’t win wars.

Late to this great piece by @mikenelson586.bsky.social.

"he appears far more eager to present himself as a jacked-up model warrior than to do the less glamorous work of running the Pentagon." ... ultimately maybe not a bad thing?

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

YouTube video by Democracy Now! "What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?": James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass's Historic Speech

While I shared Frederick Douglass’s speech earlier, this is always a great reading by James Earl Jones

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free

Absolute fucking dorks

On Obedience The U.S. Naval Institute provides an independent forum for those who seek to advance and strengthen the naval profession.

On Obedience www.usni.org/press/books/...

Opinion | I’m a Conservative Evangelical. I’m Done With the Army.

"I do not expect my resignation to persuade the president or the secretary of defense to reconsider ... I do hope, however, that my actions will prompt some reflection among military leaders about what it would take for them to disobey a lawful but unethical order"

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/o...

🕯️

No doubt this was more driven by the fact that CASA ranks were filled with members appointed over several administrations than an explicit topical pivot. I might also add it was a fairly diverse group. Convenient justification for a purge.

The 2025 War on the Rocks Summer Fiction Reading List - War on the Rocks Forget the algorithm — this list was created by the humans who bring you War on the Rocks. Here, they share some of their favorite works of fiction. Kerry

Do I read enough fiction? Absolutely not. Do I want to read everything on this list? Yes.

warontherocks.com/2025/06/the-...

SNL’s Mr. Bill showing a doll with yellow hair, blue button eyes with sparkly dots, a red dot nose, a red O face, and a red outfit surrounded by yellow, blue, and red lines

the only big beautiful bill there is

New Army Shaving Policy Will Allow Soldiers with Skin Condition that Affects Mostly Black Men to Be Kicked Out The Army is preparing to roll out a new policy that could lead to soldiers diagnosed with a chronic skin condition that causes painful razor bumps and scarring to be kicked out of the service -- an is...

“Of course, this is racially motivated," one senior noncommissioned officer familiar with the plans told Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. "There's no tactical reason; you can look professional with facial hair."

www.military.com/daily-news/2...

🚨Call for chapters: Supreme Military Command Authority / Commanders-in-Chief 🚨

Why Does Every Commercial for A.I. Think You’re a Moron?

"The people in these commercials are motivated by laziness and incuriosity, even when it comes to the most intimate of concerns."

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/m...