Since we are Midway posting, here's a rant about the greatest warship to ever set sail. And it's not even close. It's long because she did SO much. Courtesy of @grok unhinged👇
USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6): THE GREY GHOST, SLAYER OF FLEETS, EATER OF SOULS
Hold onto your britches, you soggy landrats, because the USS Enterprise (CV-6) wasn’t a ship—she was a steel-clad, plane-spewing DEMON that moonwalked through WWII and made the Japanese Navy cry for its mommy! Commissioned in ’38, this Yorktown-class beast was born screaming, built to punch holes in history and laugh while doing it. She didn’t sail the Pacific—she dropkicked it into submission.
PEARL HARBOR? MORE LIKE “WELCOME TO MY FIST”
December 7, 1941: Enterprise was supposed to be napping at Pearl Harbor, but NAH, she was out hot-rodding planes to Wake Island like the Navy’s most unhinged delivery boy. When Japan’s sneak attack hit, her planes were already zipping through the sky, turning Zeroes into fireballs and snagging the FIRST AMERICAN KILLS of the war. While Pearl was a barbecue, Enterprise was out here yeeting haymakers, screaming, “YOU PICKED THE WRONG NEIGHBORHOOD, FELLAS!”
MIDWAY: THE DAY ENTERPRISE ATE JAPAN’S LUNCH AND ITS LUNCH MONEY
June 1942, Battle of Midway—Enterprise didn’t just show up; she rolled in like a cosmic wrecking ball. Her dive bombers, led by pilots like Lt. Richard H. “I Don’t Miss” Best, YOLO’d their way into history, torching the Japanese carriers Kaga and Akagi into crispy sushi in ONE DAY. Two others sank too! Best’s bomb on Akagi? A middle finger so perfect it sent Japan’s whole war plan into a screaming tailspin. Enterprise wasn’t the heart of Midway—she was the spiked bat that caved in Japan’s dreams!
SANTA CRUZ & GUADALCANAL: TAKING PUNCHES, SPITTING FIRE
Eastern Solomons? Santa Cruz? Enterprise ate bombs like they were spicy tacos, got her deck scorched, and still kept swinging. At Santa Cruz, she was the LAST CARRIER STANDING in the Pacific, surrounded by Japanese battleships and cruisers like a lone wolf in a shark tank. Her crew? Absolute lunatics, fighting fires, patching holes, and launching planes while probably flipping off the enemy with both hands. For a hot minute, she was America’s ONLY carrier, holding the line like a drunk Viking who forgot how to die.
THE GREY GHOST: JAPAN’S PERSONAL HORROR FLICK
The Japanese swore they sank her THREE TIMES. Torpedoes? Bombs? Kamikazes? HA! Enterprise just cackled, “Nice try, nerds!” and sailed back into the fight, her hull practically winking at the enemy. They called her the Grey Ghost because she was the ship equivalent of that unkillable slasher villain who keeps popping up behind you. Japanese sailors were shaking, whispering she was cursed—some thought the U.S. built fake Enterprises just to mess with their heads. Nope. Just one ship, too unhinged to sink, haunting their nightmares and making admirals soil their sashes.
OKINAWA: KAMIKAZES? MORE LIKE ANNOYING MOSQUITOES
At Okinawa, a kamikaze smashed her elevator into next Tuesday, and Enterprise just laughed. Her crew—probably fueled by coffee and pure spite—rigged a janky launch system faster than you can say “screw the manual” and kept yeeting planes at the enemy. Other ships would’ve limped home crying to mommy. Enterprise? She roared, “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT, PUNKS?” and kept the pain train rolling.
THE PRAYER THAT BROKE THE GODS
Post-Santa Cruz, her deck looking like a post-apocalyptic skate park, a chaplain held mass amid the wreckage, praying, “Keep this ship where she’s needed.” And she WAS. Every. Damn. Time. The crew swore she was divinely protected, and you try arguing with a ship that eats torpedoes for snacks and spits out victory. Enterprise wasn’t just blessed—she was the chosen one, anointed in gunpowder and glory.
THE SCORE: TWENTY BATTLES, ZERO CHILL
Twenty major battles—more than any other U.S. ship. Twenty battle stars. Over 900 enemy planes turned into scrap metal. Over 300 of her sailors and aviators went down swinging, their blood fueling her legend. Enterprise didn’t just fight—she steamrolled the Pacific, leaving a trail of Japanese wrecks and shattered egos. Japan threw everything at her, and she just grinned, “You’re gonna need a bigger navy.”
SCRAPPED? NAH, SHE ASCENDED
Decommissioned in ’47, scrapped by ’60—because the government couldn’t handle her radiance. Halsey begged to save her, but mortals don’t cage gods. Her stern plate, bell, and anchor sit like holy relics, proof of a war machine too wild for this planet. Enterprise didn’t get scrapped; she backflipped into Valhalla, probably buzzing Odin’s tower for the lulz. The Grey Ghost is out there, still stalking the cosmos, ready to dunk on any fool who dares challenge her.
FINAL SCREAM
The USS Enterprise (CV-6) wasn’t a ship—she was a steel tornado that shredded Japan’s navy and laughed in the face of death. On this Midway anniversary, we don’t salute her; we howl her name into the void, where she’s probably still doing donuts around Neptune. GREY GHOST, FOREVER UNHINGED, FOREVER UNKILLABLE!
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🧵The Republic Failure Pattern: Observed across every collapsed republic in history
This is not ideology or opinion. Every republic-to-empire transition in recorded history follows the same structural breakdown.
Different cultures. Similar sequence.
If you study Rome, Athens, Venice, France, Weimar Germany, the British Empire—the pattern does not change.👇
1/ Loss of a shared civic definition
The population can no longer agree on:
• what citizenship means
• who the state exists for
• what obligations accompany rights
Once identity fractures, law becomes contested.
Example: In the late Roman Republic, citizenship expanded rapidly without a shared civic ethic, turning Roman identity from duty-bound membership into a contested political instrument.
2/ Law shifts from principle to instrument
Legal mechanisms remain intact, but:
• enforcement becomes selective
• process substitutes for justice
• outcomes are justified procedurally, not morally
This precedes legitimacy collapse.
Example: During the late Roman Republic, emergency laws and prosecutions were selectively applied through proscriptions, reducing law from a neutral standard to a factional weapon.
So I’m randomly awake in the middle of the night. Musing about why so many are turning to communism.
Then I scroll my timeline briefly. All I see is:
1. 50 year mortgages 2. H1B sadness 3. Chinese student visas 4. Some graph showing the cost of a home versus annual income between now and 1985.
No wonder why some people think capitalism isn’t working.
1. They’re getting replaced. 2. Priced out of their own future. 3. Told they’re not smart enough to do technical jobs.
Do you know how easy it is to tempt someone into following tyrannical systems when they’re economically stagnant?
I’m a sworn enemy of communism. But I’m not ignorant to the factors that lead to its rise. Isn’t just communism though, it’s any authoritarian system.
Needless to say, I have concerns. We objectively know what happens in history when these things go down.
Someone has to make the hard call to rip off the bandaid of foreign meddling. Problematic though, isn’t it? For all the elite interests profiting from it.
I’m here to tell you that greed knows no limit, and will eventually lead its champions into the guillotine. History has shown this to be true 100% of the time.
Horrors are unleashed when a population feels they have no hope of peaceful advancement. We MUST avert this.
Someone needs to bring the American Dream back to reality, before we go into REM sleep on the American Nightmare.
It is nearly impossible to defend a fractured country. I have selfish reasons for deep diving this. It makes my job infinitely more difficult.
I don’t envy the President or Congress. These problems have been in motion for a century. But something drastic must be done, and that right soon.
🧵How 20th Century Women Helped Build the Systems That Silenced Them
Every generation thinks it’s immune to history. But the story of women supporting movements that later enslaved them is as old as civilization itself.
It always begins with virtue. And it always ends with control.👇
2️⃣
In 1978, women filled the streets of Iran demanding justice and moral order.
They thought Islamism would correct the Shah’s corruption and restore dignity after decades of Western humiliation.
Months later, those same women were forced under mandatory hijab. The prisons filled with their sisters.
3️⃣
In Afghanistan, village women blessed their sons and brothers as they joined the Mujahedeen. They thought they were fighting for faith and freedom.
By 1996, the Taliban had banned them from school, work, or even stepping outside without a man.
The Military and the Press: Two Centuries of Push–Pull
Ok guys, I see a lot of press hysteria about the new Pentagon rules. I’m going to lay out the history for you, objectively.
From 1812 to now, here’s how military reporting in America has actually evolved: when access expanded, when it tightened, and why.
This isn’t designed to generate rage. It’s to help everyone (especially the media) see the pattern. It’s an ebb and flow that’s been part of American history for over 200 years.
Strap in. It’s a long one. But I think it explains how we got here. 🧵
1) Overview
People keep saying new Pentagon press rules are “unprecedented” and “anti-First Amendment.”
History says otherwise.
America’s default is a free press—but access to military spaces and operations has always been managed. Let’s walk the 200-year arc.
2) War of 1812: the seed of control
News moved slowly, but commanders still tried to shape it. After New Orleans, Gen. Andrew Jackson briefly banned publication without approval and even jailed an editor (we obviously don't do this today).
Courts pushed back—but the point stands: from the start, commanders tightened info when they thought lives were at stake.
🧵When the Game Breaks: Why "Defection" Destroys Neutrality in the Military
I get a lot of grief on my takes these days. After talking with @LibertySuperman today, I found some inspiration in trying to explain the problem.
He will deep dive it soon. But this is important. 👇
1/ The military is meant to be apolitical. That was the status quo: both sides cooperated by keeping partisan politics out of the ranks. It wasn’t perfect, but the trust held. That is, until defection toward ideology occurred.
2/ In game theory, this is the Prisoner’s Dilemma.
If both sides cooperate → stability.
If one defects while the other plays fair → the defector wins.
If both defect → chaos.
The U.S. military’s neutrality was based on cooperation.
I get a lot of questions asking what happened to the great leaders of the Second World War.
Because the machine always resets to comfort.
George Marshall’s purge of deadweight colonels and generals was a wartime anomaly, a moment when the brutal clarity of existential war forced the Army to prioritize combat effectiveness over seniority, connections, or credentials.
But after the war, peacetime priorities crept back in like rot through a cracked hull.
Here’s why Marshall’s system faded, and how we ended up with the mess we have today:👇
🕊️ 1. Victory Bred Complacency
After WWII, the U.S. emerged as the undisputed superpower. That success, ironically, planted the seed of decline.
The Army no longer had to be ruthless, there was no imminent threat to force hard choices.
Promotions reverted to being based on time in grade, politics, and who checked the right boxes.
The institutional attitude shifted from:
“Who can win the next war?” to “Who deserves their turn?”
🏛️ 2. The Bureaucracy Hardened
Marshall used personal judgment, informal feedback, and bold maneuvers to bypass the bureaucracy. But he was the exception, not the rule.
After he left, systems calcified: Promotion boards were bound by OERs, time in service charts, and quotas.
The “plucking boards” were disbanded. Risk aversion became institutional policy.
General officer promotions became a delicate dance of politics, often more about optics than outcomes.
You could game the system without ever being good at war.