Most people in #guntwitter will tell you, the problems with the NRA all lead to Wayne LaPierre.

It is a classic story not unique to the NRA: institutions, if they are not careful, won't just drift from their mission, they can be hijacked by people
/1

dnyuz.com/2023/12/21/the… ...who turn that institution away from its founding and a cause they exist to serve, and towards a personal fiefdom for their executives/board for personal gain with extravagant compensation packages for chief executives & an opportunity for the same people to leverage the
/2

A couple of years ago, an older relative in Mississippi told me that he thought that so many of the problems we had with our culture, and with men specifically, was the arrival of first the satellite dish, and then cable. It allowed people to have excuses to stay home.
/1

https://twitter.com/thewardoll/status/1734357088816803887

...Fewer people started going to Wed. Bible study. Fewer people joined the local Masonic lodge, you no longer had large groups of men who would go 'coon hunting, or spend a week together in the "deer camp." People started getting fatter which made it almost impossible for many
/2

@GrayConnolly @GomesBolt ...geography, demographics, family, money and culture. Similar dynamics are in play here as are in the part of Mississippi my family has been a part of for over two centuries.

First, geography.

Welcome to Colleton County, South Carolina. Named after a Baronet back in
/2 @GrayConnolly @GomesBolt ...the 1680s. It is about as "Old South" as you can get outside Virginia.

Though on the map up-thread you see monied places such as Hilton Head & Kiawa Island, along with the rich cities (relatively speaking) of Savannah and Charleston, Colleton County is poor. The average
/3

Movie pitch: 93-year old retired San Francisco policeman Harry Callahan, living on a policeman's pension, struggles to live in 2023 San Francisco, a city he spent his life to make better.

His daughter who was raised by her mother's parents but reconciled with her father in
/1 ..., the late 1980s, is now retired herself and living in Florida's "The Villages."

She flies her father in to visit and tries to convince him to move here too. While driving around in a golf cart with his daughter he cracks a joke that it would be hard to get used to the
/2

The more graphs I see of different parts of our society, the more one thing keeps popping up: the pivot in 2012/3.

Why? That is the interesting question.

https://twitter.com/jonahdavids1/status/1671207009994125342

Another example of the 2012/3 pivot point to a darker future.

I haven't I think once mentioned it here, but I've been watching the Murdaugh family rolling nightmare for awhile as though I don't know them - I know their social class/culture because, it is mine. I "know" them.

The Netflix docu, BTW, is incredibly good.

While I was
/1 ...doing some work in the orchard this AM it came to mind something missing in this story. Well established, powerful families in the South, as everywhere, are deeply political. They run the political machines in their area - especially when they are politicians themselves.
/2

I really hope this isn't how the Decision Brief went. If so, the WH is more dysfunctional that I thought.

Ideally - & you have time to do it ideally as we're talking about a balloon here, this is how it works:
(NB: this is textbook case, the White House works differently, &
/1

https://twitter.com/CatchUpNetwork/status/1621975880938696704

...each White House is different. This is simply an outline of intellectually how this should be done, not how it was done. Situationally dependent modifications are expected, but the milestones should be similar)
1. Higher Direction and Guidance/Commander's Intent:
/2

Inside the military and in defense journalism, we need to up our game.

Two example recently from a top shelf resource for everyone in the natsec arena; Defense News.

I’ll take my two examples from this recent article; defensenews.com/news/your-air-…

/1 1st we need to set some foundations here. Words mean things. Especially when it comes to military equipment and capabilities, if you are a commissioned officer or SNCO, you are expected to be the resources for your profession. No one is perfect (I’m a walking example of that),
/2

Show pitch: Felicia Sonmez and Taylor Lorenz reality show (edited & live stream option).

In this (motor1.com/news/533909/yu…) 1990 Yugo GVC Cabrio with a 1.3-liter overhead cam 4-cylinder engine & 5-speed manual (no a/c) starting 15 June, they have to drive from Miami, FL

/1 ...to Seattle, WA.

They cannot take interstates. They cannot stay in nationally owned hotel/motels, bed & breakfast, private homes, etc. They have to stay in privately held motels, 1-story cinderblock motels built before 1970, or campgrounds. All of these must be located

/2

Sometimes I bump in to topics I have not thought of in awhile that are, really, Navy stories that many people don't think of as Navy stories.

Most people know that Jim Morrison's father was a Navy Rear Admiral. Jim was born in the middle of WWII when his father was a LTjg.

/1 ...Those who know Jim's story also know about the love of his life, Pamela Courson. Pam's father was also a WWII Navy officer from the aviation side of the house, retiring as a CDR in the USNR. Pam was 3-yrs younger than Jim and was there when he died at age 27.

Jim's dad

/2

One of the greatest dangers to our nation is that our foreign policy establishment as it is presently structured cannot see its complete failure in the post-WWII era & especially the last 40-yrs.

They failed to see & in some areas opposed the collapse of the Soviet Union. /1 …they were as a body the strongest proponents of helping China grow in to the threat she is. Their arrogance led to the debacle of Somalia, post-911 Bonn Accords/Lead Nation Construct for AFG, the ‘03 invasion of IRQ, looking the other way as Pakistan & Saudi Arabia worked /2

There is it.
navy.mil/CNO-Profession…
The CNOs name is on it. Ibram X. Kendi, eh?

Has the @USNavyCNO actually read it?

I would love the CNO to explain how unit cohesion & good order & discipline is achieved by injecting this in to the minds of his Sailors.

From that book,/1 ... let's take a few quotes, shall we. I'd love for the CNO to read these lines & then explain.

"The most threatening racist movement is … but the regular American's drive for a 'race-neutral' (state). ... There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist.” /2

There is a sub set of 202-conservatives I’ve been watching, perplexed, my entire life. They were omnipresent when I became politically aware in the 80s. They were happy & content being the minority. They would constantly position themselves to do & say things not to advance /1 ...the conservative cause, but to have nice things said about them from their “opponents” across the aisle, the WaPo, the evening news, or maybe the NYT. Whenever possible, they insisted to their friends across the aisle they were not “that” kind of conservative. Oh, no. They /2

This is your "Summer Before an Election" reminder:

There are a lot - and I mean A LOT - of various organizations based out of DC that have "veteran" in their title claiming to represent or support "vets."

If you have not heard of many before, you're not alone. These are just/1 ...shell organizations that are holding pens, stalking horses, or more likely, marketing ventures for people desperate to get in politics who happen to have once served.

Before you read their stuff or sign their petitions, go to their websites. Check out their "about" section/2

It simply is not done.

Here is how it works. This is for a 4-star, you can scale up to a CINC.

Before the 4-star sees the slide deck, 50/50 chance the COS has looked at it (another 3 or 4 star). Prior to that, the at least two other 2 or 3 stars have approved it. Before that /2 a whole gaggle of O6 types were involved in getting it ready for prime time. Everyone in that series would have to give a nod to a "throwaway slide" containing something they would not want to, or would not be able to, execute. Best practices, based on preliminary direction & /3

OK, gather around old Cold Warriors & kiddies alike - time for a trip down memory lane. I continue to work through Mama Salamander’s papers - a thorough woman who kept ALL THE PAPERS - & now and then I find a jewel.

This is a good follow-on to @RadioFreeTom & my snark earlier /1 this spring about how tiring it is to hear Millennials complain how scary & deprived they are, that the future is so bleak, why bring children in to it, bla, bla,bla.

We’ll let’s set the scene. Mama Salamander was born in the heart of the Great Depression & it was not until /2

This is,
1) Good news. We’ve been shooting up the horse for way too long.
2) Get used to it. There is neither the political will or the budgetary heft to build enough CVN to meet what we think we need. @ConsWahoo is correct, 13 is the minimum, but Congress will never fund that/1

https://twitter.com/cavasships/status/1045191162129240064

...nor the airwings to put on them - not to mention proper escort numbers.

We need to accept this as we are about to enter the Terrible 20s. Political disruption has only begun, we will have a recession NLT 1QFY21, we will spend more on interest on the debt than DOD by 2023 /2