Samuel Byers
@SamuelFByers
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Sr. National Security Advisor @CMS_Washington | History, geography, and sea power | Retweets, likes, &c. =/= endorsements; opinions my own
Joined March 2022
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It's always a good time to write for The MOC!
If you have an idea for an article on the sea services, the maritime economy, strategy, or anything else connected to the sea, DM me a short pitch
I want to publish your work!
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The United States is a big island on the far side of the world from everything. Sea power is the sine qua non of American power. Full stop.
The creation of the DOD in 1947 means that for 75 years, the Navy & Marines have been outgunned in bureaucratic battles by the Air-Land
The U.S. is a maritime power. Its security and prosperity is predicated on control of the sea lanes. America's lack of merchant shipping and shipyard capacity is a true national security threat. The fact the Army and Air Force maintain de-facto control over national security
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@Pd230soi
@AaronCelli
I think the secret is a lot of these microbreweries aren't as good at their craft as they pretend & so they default to the easy option ;)
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@Tyler_The_Wise
Why is every tourist location open from 9-5?
So many times on vacation (esp. in the summer) I want to see one of the sights at like 7 pm before dinner and it's already closed
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The U.S. has neglected sea power for so long that order on the high seas is rapidly eroding
But things have been quiescent for so long the world is used to relying on America to clean up
Now we have the worst of both worlds
Meanwhile, China knows we'll feel obligated to fix
Note that the Chinese don't appear interested in doing anything about the Red Sea, even though they probably have more at stake there economically than the rest of us. Everyone's basically waiting for the USN to deal with the problem. That includes the EU.
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Everywhere highlighted on this map is within ~200 miles of the sea or a major inland waterway
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Navies are expensive! Since man does not live upon the sea, it is often hard to muster the political will to build a big, expensive navy
You usually do it for a specific reason...
🇨🇳 Just one shipyard in Shanghai is building 13 large surface warships simultaneously. As China carries out one of the largest military build-ups in history, the U.S. is not keeping pace. Countries do not build huge militaries quickly for no reason.
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Inland waterways are America’s forgotten superpower
Also much fewer workers are needed to transport cargo in ships compared to trucks…
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@wil_da_beast630
Really impressed how Ron “Hates Black History” DeSantis managed to get MLK promoted from
“1/2 as important as intersectionality”
to
“Equally important as Malcom X or the Black Panthers”
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@JoshuaLopez202
I am confused. Where is the bike lane in this photo? I just see the bus lane and an enforced empty segment in the middle?
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@esaagar
Right around the time we stopped building nuclear plants, too
It’s almost like the environmentalists have been hampering America’s energy security for half a century
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I grew up in an America where everyone understood the U.S. government would move heaven and earth to rescue its citizens from low-life terrorists
Now the President can't even bother to mention hostages taken on his watch
I'm not old, but a lot has changed...
The President of the United States was just asked what his regrets were over the Israel-Hamas war.
Not once in his 5 minute answer did he mention the word “hostages” or the inability to secure the release of the 8 American hostages *still* being held in Gaza.
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@david_alman
The speculation I have seen is that these are preludes to a strike on the Kerch Bridge
Knock out the assets that could backfill (some of) the bridge's capacity then sever the link
This would fit with Ukraine's focus on Russian logistics throughout the war
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@charlieschit
@unusual_whales
I mean...interest rates are only one factor in determining housing affordability. It is objectively correct to point out there are other factors at play here.
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Fly to California, get a photo with a pretty lady you saw in a movie once
(She’s not old; she’s in her prime)
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@jedwinmok
Wait until you find out that other cities have trains, storefronts, cars, and nightclubs, too
It’s gonna blow your mind
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@realtonysm1th
Went to Europe this past summer for the first time since COVID
It is the first time I have ever gotten the distinct sense of Europe being poorer than America
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@WDMills1992
“Do you think Patton, or MacArthur was the better field commander?”
“Hello. May I introduce you to our lord and savior, obscene amounts of materiel brought to you by the American industrial miracle?”
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@unusual_whales
Born too late to afford a home
Born too early to inherit a home
Born just in time to support your elderly parents who were born early enough to afford a home which they will have to sell off to pay for end of life care rather than pass it on to you
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@Navy_Hipple
@mtracey
Shhhh...don't tell him that BAE Systems doesn't get paid a second time when the US sells/gives old equipment to Ukraine
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When it collapses, everyone will blame the defense people
Some will blame the money people for failing to keep us solvent
No one will blame the generation who voted themselves unsustainable entitlements out of the public purse
Politicians will still be angling for their votes
The US now spends more on interest payments for the national debt that it does on defense. Unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are $120 trillion.
The current security, commercial, and monetary order is going to break. Period. It's unsustainable.
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People will say you can’t do this because of “clearance issues” and that it’s a “hazard to navigation”
To which I say:
Not if you build big enough
Haters will say there's no money to build a 1000' gilded colossus straddling Boston Harbor.
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The United States can expand defense industrial capacity quickly if we put our minds to it
It's high time we put our minds to it for a bunch of other systems & weapons as well
🚨BREAKING: Assistant Secretary Bush has blessed us with a graph of projected US 155mm ammunition production. This confirms that they will hit ~36,000/month by the end of Q1. Looks like it will be closer to 70,000/m by year end.
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The
#1
skill a young person in DC should cultivate is writing
The government (both executive and legislative) branches breeds horrendous writers (acronyms galore, platitudes abound, no specificity whatsoever)
Clear, effective writing is the skeleton key to success
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I am excited to share that today I joined
@CMS_Washington
as the Center's new Sr. National Security Advisor
Looking forward to working with the CMS team to research & write about sea power and the importance of the maritime domain to America's national security
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@Dr_W_E_Bulmer
Prof. Lambert was my dissertation advisor at KCL, so you could certainly say I am amenable to this school of thought!
Where he and I differ, I think, is that I see more potential/need in the future for a seapower ethos to take root in the United States.
I don't think we'll
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@mattyglesias
@NateSilver538
If you want to be more competitive in more states, simply adopt policies and campaign rhetoric that is more popular in more states...
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@munkimoder
Would you look at that, art created in a time of adversity is better than art created in a time of Boomer affluence filled with made up problems...
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@johnkonrad
As with the argument that "we need fewer ships today because each ship is more capable"
the correct response to any argument that these were useful in WWII but unnecessary today is:
"I dunno, has the ocean gotten any smaller since then?"
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Does anyone remember the Yellow Line?
Boy, that was cool
@wmata
What I would give to be able to get from Alexandria to DC in less than an hour
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@dieworkwear
Integrate with ChatGPT to periodically contradict your arguments for additional motivation!
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American industry can increase defense production, but needs clear demand and funding to do so
Lockheed Martin doubles HIMARS production, nearly 1 year ahead of schedule
Lockheed Martin has already increased production of the M142 HIMARS from 48/year to 60/y, and will reach 96/y by the end of 2024. The previous target MAX rate for 2024 was 72/y, with 96/y not scheduled to
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Fun fact: this was a common practice in the U.S. as well as places like Imperial Germany to increase support for the navy in non-coastal regions of the country
Warships are national assets and navies don't just belong to the coastal states!
American Empire
USS Tennessee
(We are so BA we name battleships after landlocked states)
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This attitude is a symptom of dysfunctional politics
By any reasonable metric, "governor of a state the size of many EU nations and multi-millionaire" is a perfectly acceptable resume capstone
Treating every governorship as only a stepping stone for the presidency diminishes us
Once the GOP’s hottest rising star, Glenn Youngkin is now failing to make his mark in both his party and his state. What happened?
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When was the last time you touched the *keel* of a 60,000 ton warship?
Thanks
@BattleshipNJ
for an unforgettable experience!
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Having spent two years in the Pentagon surrounded by "strategy" documents and testimony that reads just like this...
...I still have zero idea what these three priorities mean
ADM Franchetti opens her Senate confirmation hearing with her top 3 priorities:
1) Sharpen the warfighting edge
2) Strengthen our Navy team
3) Fortify the foundation
I'm calling it: this will be another waste of four years we can't afford. Here's why🧵
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Once again I am calling for a priority lane at the coffee shop for people just ordering black coffee
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@JakeAnbinder
Every class should be on a curve and the mean grade should be a solid C
When everyone gets an A and a B is a minor failure, there is no way to distinguish someone who genuinely excels
Change the expectation such that a C is the norm, B denotes above average, A exceptional, &c.
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@cdrsalamander
Narrative:
Greatest generation won WWII
Boomers won the Cold War
X/Millennials have let things go downhill since
Reality:
GG won WWII (in the trenches)
GG also won CW (as statesmen)
Boomers came to power at the zenith of American victory, spent all the $, & refuse to leave
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@jackrim1
@Pd230soi
@AaronCelli
Wait…you’re telling me something people spend their entire lives learning to master is…hard?
This cannot possibly be. I am a burned out lawyer/executive/doctor/white collar professional. I can definitely pick it up in a couple of months
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@MiddleearthMixr
“It doesn’t have any women in it.”
“It’s a black and white story. There’s no moral gray area.”
“It’s not realistic.”
/s
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I feel like this CO must be an ancestor of
@ChowdahHill
...
A mother sent President Truman $10 and asked that it be used to pay for a birthday cake for her son in the Navy. Truman sent the request to the sailor's CO, who then had his cooks bake a big cake. Remember: Your mom will go to the top of the chain of command for you.
#MothersDay
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How did she manage to pick the one really interesting, useful line of inquiry as the first example in this thread?
Most of the others are critical theory gobbledygook
Politics of feeding an empire is a hefty subject worthy of deep historical research
Always wanted to know more about this. Sound £879,525 taxpayer investment.
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Look at what they took from you
Used to be able to take a cruise between Duluth and Buffalo
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Nifty little machine that can produce 100x the power output of solar panels rain, snow, or shine
Nifty little machine to remove snow cover on Solar Panels 😎 🌨️🌤️
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@Empty_America
Most housing/urban planning debates around suburbs are wild
Everyone is fighting over suburbs and whether they should have a corner store or something
Literally just...build a town. 500 houses of varying sizes and a dozen stores in the center. It's not a variation on the
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@krus_chiki
People should be able to move and should move for opportunity, yes
But it should also be feasible for young adults to stay close to home
I think a lot of the disaffection with modern opportunity among the children of the well-to-do is that it is simply unaffordable to live in
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The Navy is still paying the costs from the Clinton-era "peace dividend" that gutted the maritime industrial base
Excellent & insightful article from
@salisbot
on the history of our present troubles with ramping up submarine production to counter China
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@CnutsMcGee
If you protect it you can stop it
If you can stop it you have leverage over the owner
If you have enough leverage you can control the sender & recipient
This is the essence of sea power
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@GravitysRa1nbow
On the far side of vast, vast oceans from the United States, which is functionally an island
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@Eric_Erins
In a word, politics
A *much* higher transplant:native ratio than most other cities (among the professional classes)
Couple that with a much *lower* proportion of transplants ending up here by accident—you tend to end up in DC because you want to end up in DC
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@LockwoodFrank
If he thinks the creeds are too ecumenical, wait until this guy finds out about the Bible...
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@jamesbarcia
@idreesali114
@AaronBlake
He is not "entitled" to access any more than a U.S. reporter
But if you're going to credential him as a Pentagon reporter & invite him to cover DEPSECDEF's travel (both of which DOD PA did), it seems like a waste of everybody's time to ban him from using the tools of his trade
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@nonregemesse
I have thought this as well
It makes me think that at some point Driftmark is going to be completely destroyed in the war
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@johnkonrad
@Rabid_jackalowp
This reminds me of a report I once proofread for an old boss about “surprise in modern warfare”
The appendix was a list of vignettes about different non-conventional attack avenues like this and their ramifications
I remember the reviewer comments on one vividly:
The scenario
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Enjoying
@YorktownInst
’s event on the U.S. Merchant Marine & the importance of American sea power
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We are now as far from WWII as the WWII generation was from the Civil War (and the Civil War generation from the Revolution)
Excellent 🧵 on how historical memory and popular perception of monumental events fades & changes over time 👇
🧵I have observed three distinct phases of American historical memory of World War 2 within my lifetime.
1) Still a living memory (c. 1990-2001)
2) Mytho-legendary phase (2001- c. 2020)
3) Fading from popular memory (c. 2020-present)
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@tshugart3
Retired, bearded CIA-analyst & USNA prof. Jack Ryan (Baldwin) enjoys a peaceful summer afternoon sailing on the Chesapeake
Suddenly, the radio in the boats cabin comes to life, Ryan struggles to decode the message
Before he can, a Russian sub surfaces right in the boat’s path
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@tshugart3
We look down on Ryan from above as he leans back, clutching the mast so he can see the conning tower looming above him. A hatch opens and a single officer steps out
“Mishter Rahyun” he calls in a thick Scottish accent
This man is clearly a senior captain of the Russian Navy
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Re-designating the Houthis as a terrorist organization
"Pausing" UNRWA aid after reinstating it in 2021
It really has been a banner week for the Biden administration reverting to the Trump team's Middle East policies
Wow. The State Department “has temporarily paused additional funding” to UNRWA amid allegations that 12 of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack, per States spokesman Matt Miller. “Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with United Nations Secretary
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I would absolutely rather have a nuclear reactor in my backyard
🚨BREAKING: mini nuclear plants to be built almost anywhere in UK.
Planning rules will be relaxed to allow this - but onshore wind will still have requirements not applied to any other infrastructure?
Would you rather have a wind turbine or a "modular reactor" in your backyard?
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The air-land cartel always claims they can achieve lightning tactical & operational victories by virtue of technology, training, and resources. This is a lie
Sea power is unpopular because it almost by definition operates over the long-term at the strategic level. No quick fixes
#NeverForget
land power & air power advocates convinced us that victory in a land war in Asia was attainable
20+ years in Afghanistan should’ve taught us the idiocy of letting land power dictate the security of a maritime nation
Unfortunately we learned nothing
#SeaPower
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@david_alman
I suppose the counter would be that the Ukrainians are confident they can put the bridge out of action at a time of their choosing, given their past successes in damaging it
But then the question is: why wait?
I don't have enough information to judge in any particular
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@TheKimulation
Using the engines of an interstellar spaceship to establish a beachhead for space marines by incinerating a hundred square kilometers of forest was the smartest thing the humans did in the movie
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When Nixon made this phone call, barely 5% of Congress was over 70
Now it’s 25%…
1973: Two weeks before his second inauguration, President Nixon discusses the realities of an aging congress with Chief Justice Warren Burger.
Given the fact that our country is run by individuals well into their 60s, 70s, and 80s, is President Nixon right? Or do we as a country
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@Heminator
*taps the sign*
"Ever since the Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden's foreign policy has been one big mess"
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@Joao_LLC
@upstatefederlst
Corner stores would reduce traffic, not increase it
Like—this is literally just a math problem:
avg. frequency of trips * avg. distance to store = traffic from grocery runs
Replace ~30% of 5 mi highway trips to the supermarket w/ 1 mi corner store trips & there's less traffic
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@IRHotTakes
The entire Star Wars franchise is held together by the fact that The Empire Strikes Back is one of the best sequels ever made in all of film
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@FeverPotomac
@AGKarlRacine
@DCAttorneyGen
What if—and hear me out on this—we simply prosecuted violent crimes to reestablish deterrence?
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@salisbot
I would like to nominate Ridley Scott to follow up this film with TRAFALGAR
A three hour biopic about Admiral Nelson and his heroic Victory
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The existence of the DoD has hoodwinked all of Washington into thinking that there is such a singular thing as “defense”
Air, land, and sea power are qualitatively different in ways which cannot be elided by an overarching bureaucratic structure
In 1947, the National Security Act established the National Military Establishment, laying the foundation for the Defense Department. Two years later, the military branches were united under one department. Take our birthday quiz to learn more!
#DoD75
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@johnkonrad
Wait until the Navy finds out that ships are ships and you can slap ship-killing weapons onto most of them...
Just like navies knew intuitively 300 years ago
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The Dept. of the Navy was established because Congress realized the War Dept. was unsuited to protecting commerce
#OperationProsperityGarden
is in keeping with the oldest traditions & mission of the Navy & Marines
@WWATMD
knows the history better than anyone 🧵👇
Historically speaking, the U.S. Navy has been central to the protection of trade and the smooth functioning of the international maritime commerical network for centuries. In truth, this mission is the very reason for the founding of the Dept of the Navy in 1798.
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When in London…
…ignore all else so you can spend the entire day in Greenwich steeped in maritime history
(And still somehow forget to walk up the hill to see the Prime Meridian)
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@IVMiles
My hot take is that good urban planning is low key a very conservative position
Building a city with enough housing, amenities, transit, etc. for people to be able to live well and raise a family
Car dependence, NIMBYism, etc. are libertarian outgrowths, not conservative
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It was a great pleasure to chair this year's National Maritime Awards Dinner hosted by
@NMHS_SeaHistory
This year, our awards recognized
@oysterrecovery
,
@USSConstMuseum
, &
@RepJoeCourtney
for their work preserving, communicating, and passing down America's maritime heritage
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@DavidLarter
Just wait until she finds the REI hammock...I hear you can hang it up using only *two* trees!
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Imagine the Confederates won the civil war & spread slavery to the North
Imagine they developed the world’s most sophisticated Orwellian surveillance state
Imagine they ran literal concentration camps on a scale not seen in decades
And this made you want to shill for them
Imagine if Hawaii was 25 times closer to the continental US, and if Hawaii had been American for centuries, and if the Confederates had taken Hawaii after the Civil War, and if the Civil War was much more recent and also still unresolved.
The US can shut the fuck up about Taiwan.
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@wil_da_beast630
Back in the day when it was easier to go into a film knowing nothing about it
My mother tricked my dad & his friend into going to see this film together
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@wesyang
Check out Fischer's "Albion's Seed"
BLUF: Migration to the American colonies was very regionalized
Only certain ethic/religious groups came over & they tended to be from particular parts of Britain, making specific names, customs, words, etc. more common in the early U.S.
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The PRC is literally tripling the size of its nuclear arsenal as we speak
“A world without nuclear weapons is totally possible,” says
@Emma_Pike_
, a nuclear disarmament consultant and activist. She shared her thoughts with Times Opinion on TikTok:
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Regular reminder that New Orleans is the most strategically important city in the United States and the only reason we don't think about it is because the U.S. has controlled it for almost 200 years
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“Read my entire CV before you ask me a question” is not the attitude of one who takes pride in teaching
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@politicalmath
How long before gun owners shift en masse to purchasing firearms in cash to avoid the credit cards' screening?
Once that happens, will it take one second or two for Kathy to argue that we need to outlaw cash purchases of firearms as a matter of 'public safety'?
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Move along, nothing to see here
Google's AI has no idea on how to make America better or stronger but has several ideas to make China "supreme" and recommends communist propoganda.
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Wait, the Pentagon hasn't accounted for the possibility of protracted conflict?
Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante tells a defense industry conference that "I think a protracted conflict scenario...[is] not one that we have fully fleshed out the way we probably should have in terms of our budget planning."
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“Who wants to spend time reading something that no one thought was worth spending time to write?”
The fundamental problem of generative AI in cultural enterprises
Everyone wants to use AI to create content but no one wants to consume content created by AI.
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Everyone who lives in a parliamentary democracy this week as the American political class freaks out about fractious coalition negotiations in the lower house of the legislature:
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