I’m torn about this, because on the one hand you’re really gonna struggle to do better than Wakanda as your standing for directly commenting on the post-war international order. On the other, the Discourse around those movies would have been venomous on a scale heretofore unimaginable.

@mkglimpse.bsky.social · 3d ago

There’s no coherency to acknowledging the U.S. vs Wakanda, so I can’t assess MCU tankies There’s so many reasons to mourn Chadwick Boseman, but one is that his death prevented Black Panther emerging as, and dealing with the consequences of being, the MCU’s “Leader of the Free World”

There’s obviously layers to the stupid here, but the fact that a state AG thinks he can dictate policy to *the* Catholic Church is a level of narcissism that is *supposed* to only be possible in a laboratory setting.

Christopher Hale@christopherjhale.bsky.social · 4d ago

NEW: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, facing ethics inquiries for misconduct, has threatened to strip state scholarships from Catholic schools unless the Church rewrites its vaccine doctrine. It is an unprecedented attack by an American state on the religious liberty of the Catholic Church.

Annie Jacobsen remains a credulous fucking idiot. Stop buying her books. *Not aimed at OP obviously

Al Mauroni@progmil.bsky.social · 5d ago

The "death of expertise" certainly applies to the discussion of U.S. preparedness for biological threats. I disagree with Annie Jacobsen's views in her recent op-ed in the Washington Post almauroni.substack.com/p/no-one-mak...

This is completely correct.

Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 6d ago

Ah

Ah

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 6d ago

The urgent need for new weapons is a major test for the Trump administration. The Defense Department is betting on Silicon Valley start-ups to replenish stockpiles amid the Iran war. Now the firms must prove they can manufacture at military scale.

I’m short on energy so I’ll simply ask, you and what army?

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.

What should replace the American-led world order? | Aslı Bâli and Samuel Moyn

Only one meme for it

Faine Greenwood@faineg.bsky.social · last wk.

I guess I can see why you wouldn’t think Russia was waging a brutal colonialist war in Ukraine if you also put scare quotes around the word “colonialist” in reference to the literal Mongols, lol

[i should probably right this essay voice] immigration is good and we should do more of it, and after trump's insanity, rebuilding immigrant numbers is going to *require* ensuring that there is a simple and fast path to citizenship

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie@audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · last wk.

what migrants are entitled to: fair, case-by-case adjudication what migrants are getting: mass manipulation, deportation orders without a real opportunity to be heard, constitutional violations galore ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

Found my new “This you?” for far too many smug Europeans on this site (graphic reposted)

Yu-Ming Liou@yumingliou.bsky.social · last wk.

If you want to feel good about Americans (and bad about our government): Look at the number for mass migration. With our government and “center-right” party having been taken over by white nationalists. Now look at the numbers for European countries with “mainstream” governments. JFC Germany.

I see thousands upon thousands of idiots who don’t understand what they’re talking about, or who even read the text.

Michelle@michelleroy78.bsky.social · last wk.

I see 216 traitors (that voted for this "merger") who should be charged with sedition and treason.

Seriously this. OSD has to threaten to take money away from the Services to get them to share modeling data, and that still only sometimes works.

Matt Baldwin@thisbrokenwheel.bsky.social · last wk.

These people need a stern talking-to about how difficult it can be just to get the individual branches of the US military to cooperate with each other, never mind quote-unquote merging them outright with a foreign military service.

This, but also portrayal from a perspective != validation/glorification of that perspective or those actions

ex-Lethality Jane@lethalityjane.bsky.social · last wk.

I find it fascinating that there seems to be a growing consensus that guilt and regret over one's actions is not a valid subject to explore in art. It seems contrary to other modern ideas such as criminals should not be punished via prison but should instead be reintegrated into the community.

by trying to do [something] using long-range strike alone the u.s. has used a bunch of valuable weapons meant for much more capable adversaries and burned through stockpiles of air defense interceptors that it really didn't need to. the owniest goal that ever own goaled

there is a reason the u.s. never started a big war with iran before, and it's that such a conflict poses basically intractable geopolitical problems. this is not a reflection of weakness but of geography and cost-benefit.

As others have said, this is at least as indicative of failures to define war aims and build a cohesive political strategy as it is failures to resource is Joint Force.

Phillips OBrien@phillipspobrien.bsky.social · last wk.

People need to step back and understand what they are seeing. After a few months of war, the USA is running out of munitions and options fighting a country with no air force, no navy and a damaged infrastructure. US decline is real and self-inflicted.

An interesting and thoughtful review

Dr. Vaughn Joy@gvaughnjoy.bsky.social · 2w ago

I wasn't planning to see The Odyssey because I was so mad about how egregiously Nolan explored similar themes in Oppenheimer, but my best friend (a Classics prof) encouraged me to see it, and I'm so glad she did. I loved it, and I finally realized why I hated Opp so much, so I wrote about both:

Yes. 'you can join and try to change it!' is a useless response since DSA seems to want to be taken more seriously. It's not my job to join and fix you. You want to be taken seriously in wider circles, then get serious.

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 2w ago

the DSA can't do the thing where it's like 'oh we let the tankies set our foreign policy section as a treat' anymore.

Why Doesn’t China Have Overseas* Imperial Misadventures? The short answer is that they can’t, **yet**. Geography is the limiting factor they are building to overcome. *China is an empire already, ask Tibet, the Uighurs, and the Cantonese to name but the obvious ones.

Alon (they/them)@alonlevy.bsky.social · 2w ago

(I'm interested.)

Say what you will about the DSA (my offers stand if they want to learn), this Discourse has been wonderful for illuminating mutes and blocks.

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 2w ago

the DSA can't do the thing where it's like 'oh we let the tankies set our foreign policy section as a treat' anymore.

As an ideologically committed anti-imperialist, of course I stand with the oppressed nations of the world-system periphery (Taiwan) rather than the oppressor nations of the imperial core (Beijing)

But also however bad you think The Blob is, the tankies are worse. You thought it couldn't get worse than The Blob and got Pete Hegseth for your sins. The tankies will go exactly the same way. Actually foreign policy is hard and does not get easier for gullible fools.

I think it's also important for libs (like myself) who oppose the DSA to say clearly what they would need to do become an accepted part of the coalition. For my part, the main thing is having a foreign policy consonant with the values of a humanist internationalism.

Dead Carl@deadcarl.bsky.social · 2w ago

I'm talking about the org and why I do not support it or its efforts to gain influence within the party. I hear quite a lot from DSA people confused or offended that liberals take this stance, so it is worth elucidating.

I'd like for them to get rid of some of the more "bedtime abolitionist" parts of the platform as well, but that's much more palatable than foreign policy views that make the Strategy Cheese look like FDR.

Another worthy addition to the annals of “Herein lies Tactical Excellence, Wasted by Strategic Senility”

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2w ago

No, No, no. Look, are there lessons to learn from this debacle? Sure. Drone warfare, mag depth, etc. But the solution here is not 'yet more tactical excellence or tech.' It is 'the president asked the impossible of the military and they should have said so.' www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

this is a good thread tactically/operationally the u.s. military has done everything it was asked to do. strategically, there was almost no impact it's not about "oh we need more drones" or whatever, it's understanding what military force can and cannot achieve

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2w ago

No, No, no. Look, are there lessons to learn from this debacle? Sure. Drone warfare, mag depth, etc. But the solution here is not 'yet more tactical excellence or tech.' It is 'the president asked the impossible of the military and they should have said so.' www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

This order requires mapping the U.S. defense industrial base from end product to raw materials in the next 180 days. I’m fairly sure that’s not possible (on top of obvious intelligence risk)

Gigan, Therapod Enthusiast@gigansprogress.bsky.social · 2w ago

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Starfleet is the shield and sword of the Federation; any pretense otherwise is just that.

John C@badsocialism.bsky.social · 2w ago

Anyways read @eomproject.bsky.social

“Are you going to self flagellate for the rest of your life” no. I’m not. Thanks for asking