David Burbach 🇺🇸🌹

Just an idea thought as I look out at the Atlantic from my office window and hope that we'll authorize telework if in a war with China

What if you are military but you currently a student at a war college where uniforms are not worn? Your CAC close enough? And are the DOD civilians mixed in legit targets too or just lawful collateral damage?

Um, wut?

Please note also I do not want that to happen and would be in favor of our Navy sinking the shit out of this hypothetical Iranian platform, but legally, war is a two way street

Please note that I said "Iranian regular forces".

A corollary to this, it would be a legitimate use of force, not terrorism, for Iranian regular forces to strike a US Navy base (including Newport), or the Pentagon.

An Epidemic of ‘Victory Disease’ The president is pointing to the American military’s excellence as though that somehow constitutes a strategy in itself.

For years, strategists have warned national leaders against the temptations of "victory disease," the belief that winning battles means they're winning the war. Leaders throughout history have made this mistake, and Trump seems to be making it now.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

I have done that math and when planning long trips away from Portland we don't mind renting. This trip staying close to family house the whole time

Good q, that's long term. I suspect they do more city driving than out of town highway

God bless America, baby 🇺🇸🦕🛢️💸

Seriously were stunned that we more online Xers had any idea what it was

I may be overgeneralizing from a few face to face conversations I've had where that was the case -- e.g. boomer professors who don't study history or politics or ever been near a tattoo shop

Beyond the bad faith defenders there well meaning naive liberals, older especially, who believe no one but a tiny number of card carrying neonazis would know anything about extremist symbols or white nationalist codewords or whatever, so "how could I have known?" is believable from 'normal' people

Your lack of faith in Elon is disturbing

Using Starship to facilitate one-way suicide missions is perhaps an under discussed concept tho...

Somewhere in the Pentagon, someone is saying "now *this* is why we need rocket-deployed commandos!"

(Ok, you landed your Starship on a patch of dirt and grabbed the UF6. How then, do you lift off...?"

I wrote up some thoughts from yesterday.

Parents left it 1/4 full but thankfully the sketchy independent station down the hill has been slow to raise prices (up $.10 since this morning at chevron and shell)

Believe it or not it's better than my old family visit vehicle: 1999 V6 Ranger that they recently sold -- I got 10-12 mpg city!

That's my plan

Visiting family and driving a 2006 Ford Explorer V8 the next 10 days

In RI, relative gasoline (avg) and electric rates (v v high) make one of the least EV favorable situations in the country. Roof solar would help though I imagine less so than in CO

Yed, I think it's a (to them) toxic term associated with neocons, liberals, Blob etc.

Also curious if China is providing Iran with useful satellite imagery or other space-based intel. (Russia less likely because their ISR satellite capability is surprisingly low)

You could square this with Venezuela where we took out one top leader and left the 'regime' in place, but then you can't square that with our killing Iranian political elites or potential elites en masse and saying well spend weeks bombing governmental infrastructure

I'm on vacation today but even so have been counseled to not get personal in attributable commentary, so, I have nothing to add on that 😇

We don't want change we just want different

Blowtorching diplomatic and humanitarian capacity while burning through military capabilities and alienating allies is malpractice of the highest order by the Secretary of State, the nation's top DIPLOMAT, and by the National Security Advisor. It does not help the military to kill US diplomacy. 14/

So finally at Midway. Got up at 4:30a Eastern Thur, depending on the late night Uber wait in Portland, likely to hit my parents guest room at about 6:00a Eastern Friday. I am officially Too Old For This

How about NO. Also, NO