Bon Cop Bad Cop, the 2026 TV show, is quite enjoyable but it gets thoroughly unbelievable in some of its portrayals of Canada's various ethnic divisions and regional politics. For example, the Prime Minister in the show is from New Brunswick.
Birb_at_Arms
@birblib.bsky.social
Skeets about history, politics, martial arts, birbs and post-Soviet space. He/Him
I feel like it's a pretty established pattern that Iran likes to respond symmetrically whenever it can, or as close to symmetrically as possible in cases where it can't. Which has... implications.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5d ago(NYT) - The scope of cyberattacks on U.S. water systems has grown to include at least seven states and may be far wider, officials and experts warned .. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/u...
This is partly inspired by the (excellent) @bretdevereaux.bsky.social series on pre-modern armies and part just something I've been interested in for a while. When discussing unit cohesion and morale in a military context, it's common to talk about combatants as if they have lost rational thought.
Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IVb: Cohesion
This is the second half of the fourth part (I, IIa, IIb, III, IVa) of our honestly-who-knows-how-many part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are organized. Last we…
acoup.blog
I wonder if our particular collective fear of venomous animals is related to the tendency of many to overestimate the relative effectiveness of chemical weapons. Because while there are some nerve agents out there that can kill you in comically small doses, you can prevent that with a goofy suit.
Birb_at_Arms@birblib.bsky.social · 6d agoLol I've heard Australians say that it's a lot easier to get treated for a snake or spider bite than it is to get treated after being ripped in half by a grizzly bear
Sort of interesting that the author ties this (ridiculous) trend back to the dynamics of dating sites. Women get more attention than men, leading to a surplus of options. To pare down the list suitors to something less overwhelming, women often filter men by fairly arbitrary traits like height.
Playboy@playboy.com · 7d agoWhat are the incel men up to over on X? Focussing on a quirk of women’s bodies most of us have never even thought about before now. Our take? "Making women mad and getting likes from fellow incels is all they have going for them." Read now: www.playboy.com/read/sex/the...
I have one of those target dummies and you're supposed to put gravel in the base to stop it from falling over. They clearly haven't done this, and even balanced the dummy precariously on the edge of a desk. So I think the ramming drone is actually weak as fuck and won't stop anyone able-bodied.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last wk.Schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters The plastic, non-lethal aircraft, which can smash windows and ram attackers will be at the ready at certain schools in Colorado, Florida and Georgia www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...
Given how the rest of the quote sounds like she's having a stroke, I assume she meant "defund the police" but at this point, whatever.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.Sen. Deb Fischer on Democrats: "They want to demilitarize the police. It's everybody's worst nightmare on what this society would become ... people have deep knowledge of what happens in countries that say they are democratic socialist ... look at Russia"
There is a nasheed on the youtube account of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Allahumma salli ala Muhammad. Заслужений академічний Ансамбль пісні і танцю ЗСУ
YouTube video by Генеральний штаб ЗСУ
youtube.com
A bit close to the wind for a man who committed treason against the US government and appears to support the invasions of several US treaty allies, Mr. Musk.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · last mo.X owner Elon Musk indicates he would prioritise political violence (assassination of pro-migration politicians is the common sense meaning) over violence against "invaders" (refugees, asylum seekers, maybe ethnic minorities generally) while endorsing call for violence (killing) against both groups
Once again, it is 1) A land of 23 million people with their own institutions, customs and culture not "5 randos" 2) It has never been part of the PRC.
VonDonDolo@vondondolo.bsky.social · 2w agoI held a democratic election with 5 randos nearby and we all say you owe me money. Am I practicing self determination right? If Taiwan, a province of China, wants to secede from China, they either need to cut a deal with Beijing or defeat Beijing. They got this far on the premise that Beijing can't
One of my favorite types of concerts is one where they sing older working songs or sea shanties or whatever, because they'll be like "this is a song about a really special woman, anyone here love your girlfriend this much?" and it's clearly a song about a prostitute
I've been catching up on @bretdevereaux.bsky.social 's posts about pre-modern armies and was particularly interested in this section of part IVa on leadership that specifically dealt with written treatises. acoup.blog/2026/07/18/c...
Not to say this isn't culture war nonsense but veterans have been doing the "military went soft the moment I left" thing since Babylon we just have craven outlets willing to let them write articles instead of bitching at the Legion or writing letters that get ignored.
Toby Buckle@polphilpod.bsky.social · 2w agoour elites want to abolish hard men
Really an enormous part of the problem here is that Americans indeed stopped taking their government seriously (see also Sen Moreno's bill to sanction Canada). But the rest of the world still has to.
James@gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 2w agoIt’s essential to understand people like Elbridge Colby fall in a long line of a sort of guy in DC for whom national security is a hobby for cocktail parties rather than a professional field that determines the fate of millions of people. You’re not obligated to take them seriously in any context.
Fuck elbows up. Dump your bucket and drop the gloves
Mark Carney@mark-carney.bsky.social · 2w agoMy statement on the United States administration’s intention to impose new tariffs on Canadian goods:
Also, I didn't realize this until double checking some details just now, but Viktor Tsoi's surname is a corruption of the Korean "Choi" which means "high" or "tall" One of his inspirations was Vladimir Vysotsky, whose surname means the exact same thing except in Russian (and other Slavic languages)
Birb_at_Arms@birblib.bsky.social · 2w agoI'm sometimes reminded of how Viktor Tsoi - easily the greatest rock star the USSR ever produced - had to get a side hustle as a boiler technician to support the band and avoid being charged with parasitism
I'm increasingly fond of @polphilpod.bsky.social 's concept of conservativism as the belief that: A) there are natural laws outside of human control that don't and cannot be changed B) people may deviate from them at their peril C) the role of the state is to keep society in line with these laws
The Fig Economy@figgityfigs.bsky.social · 3w agoGenuine question: is everybody who says Nolan is a conservative because his characters believe they have a moral duty or whatever also self-applying the label (if not why not?), and defining a rhetorical opposite to it (liberal doesn’t capture it, neither does radical, nor reactionary quite)?
I wonder if the Chinese get mad at the Russians over wildfire smoke from Siberia
"how else was I supposed to get around??" Asks man whose job is riding a bike really fast
Gravel Influencer@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 3w agoRohan Dennis fucking sucks
See for example the song "British Grenadiers" which goes like "Those heroes of antiquity ne'er saw a cannon ball Or knew the force of powder to slay their foes withall But our brave boys do know it and banish all their fears" And I think this is genuinely correct!
Birb_at_Arms@birblib.bsky.social · 3w agoThe interesting implication, I would say, is this makes pre-gunpowder combat genuinely kind of fun. It *can* get terrifying and unpleasant and is obviously still dangerous, but a skilled fighter in good armour is relatively safe unless things go very badly. Nobody was shooting artillery at you etc.
Apparently the way to make sexual harassment bearable is being able to say A) "you must give me another hundred bucks to continue", and B) "or else my large friend Steve will throw you out the door so hard you'll hit the building across the street"
Birb_at_Arms@birblib.bsky.social · 3w agoSo one of my close friends from high school worked as a trucker for a couple years, before she decided to quit to become a stripper because the pay was better and the sexual harassment wasn't as bad.
2 skills every good-at-the-job politician I’ve ever known, any party, have had: 1) Terrific memory for faces & names. 2) Maniacal interest in numbers & details. On 2, best-case it’s about dollars, quotes & outcomes. Usually it’s donations & precinct or county vote numbers.
i'm at the heat wave i'm at the canadian wildfire smoke i'm at the diarrhea lettuce i'm at the combination heat wave canadian wildfire smoke diarrhea lettuce
Probably unfair to the Duke of York, who sucked at war but turned out to be pretty good at military reform
Birb_at_Arms@birblib.bsky.social · 3w agoWhat if he had like 10,000 ground troops And he sent them somewhere, then had them come back again Is this anything
Been too long since I did a big silly ancient history 🧵so let's bring an old one back over from the Bad Place: It's time for ::air horn:: Publius Ventidius Bassus, the coolest Roman you have never heard of and the only person to walk in a triumph first as captive, then as triumphing general. 1/