Yesterday, for the first time, I turned my back on a liberal neighbor and walked away. For Charlie.

I get asked daily by conservatives how I can possibly live in the most liberal town of the most liberal state.

Truth is, I’ve always been fascinated by how they think. I usually just laugh at the irrational takes.

But a single gunshot drained all curiosity and humor out of me.

He simply asked how I was. I said I was sad. He asked why.

“It’s 9/11. My dad was FDNY. And yesterday I lost a friend.”

His face softened. “I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t want to cry, so I backpedaled. “It’s ok, we weren’t close. Just spoke a few times but he felt like a good friend.”

“Who was it?” he asked.

“Charlie Kirk.”

Empathy turned to anger. Like I’d tricked him.

“Well, I don’t know him, and I don’t care what happens to him.”

“But he was my friend. I’m your friend. Isn’t that enough to care?”

He pivoted to politics. Gun violence. Assault weapon bans. “You people.”

I said it was a bolt-action rifle. He didn’t care. He said he didn’t care about Charlie.

Even though Charlie was a father? A friend? A believer?

“No,” he said. But his body language betrayed him. He did care.

Then: “I don’t want to talk politics.”

“I’m not,” I said. “I lost a friend. A friend with a wife and two beautiful daughters.”

Again: “I don’t care.”

So I turned and walked away.

He could have changed the subject, asked me about my Dad and 9/11 instead. But he was fixated on political drama not true empathy.

Some Republicans will say I should’ve stood my ground, yelled, fought back, told him off.

Some Democrat friends will say I should’ve leaned in harder with empathy and spent time getting him to understand my point of view.

But here’s the truth: I’m done.
Done debating. Done convincing. Done trying to “win” them over.

Charlie lived that. He spoke truth with compassion, even behind “enemy lines.” He never saw Democrats as the enemy. He saw Americans missing key pieces of the truth. He gave empathy and respect coupled with hard truths until his last dying breath.

He was a better man than me. Better than most of us.

And now he’s gone.

I’m not a great men Charlie, I’m a Captain in the U.S. Merchant Marine. We don’t talk, or seek glory & fame, don’t ask for thanks or forgiveness. We just move cargo. LOTS of cargo.

Our motto is simple: Acta Non Verba.

Actions, not words.

So why don’t I fight harder in my own neighborhood? Why do I let it go when a neighbors took down my flag on “no kings day”? Why do I remove the Trump magnet on my tesla when I get home.

Because the consequences are real. They don’t just punish me my kids will suffer for the sins of the father. But as the man said, he doesn’t care. That’s the line I won’t let them cross.

And because I do not have the courage of Charlie.

But gratitude for Charlie demands something more. Something bigger than my town which isn’t going to change. Debate is over. Tears are over. The time for action is here.

Not violence. Not riots. Not theatrics.

Political action.

Votes. Campaign cash. Pink slips across DC. Crowds of conservatives in every GOP office in congress demanding they stop doing TV appearances and start playing hardball.

Laws flipped at local, state & federal levels.

A dozen Scott Preslers in every California & Vermont farm town & every NYC church, rising Christians to vote out Sanders, Newsom, AOC & Mamdani.

An army of white hats exposing criminal NGOs, with Mike Benz, Data Republican, and a phalanx of lawyers volunteering for Will Chamberlain to get convictions.

Mass action against every Marxist policy.

We will not out-scream them. We will out-organize them. You can literally debate them until your last dying breath and nothing will change.

They don’t care and there is no way to change the mind of an apathetic man.

The time for debate is over.

We must speak softly and start carrying a big stick.

Acta non verba.

For Charlie. tldr

They have the best theater kids. They have top Ivy league debaters. They have most MSM pundits.

What do we have in abundance?

Protestant Work Ethic

We can’t replace Charlie. But you can couple your individual talent with the work ethic of Charlie Kirk.

This ship wasn't a tanker carrying gasoline or a RoRo with EV cars. It was a simple bulker carrying coal for export.

Did you know that coal has been one of the most dangerous cargoes ever transported at sea? A history 🧵

https://twitter.com/AZ_Intel_/status/1957590461075660940

The danger isn’t new. As early as September 1753, near the end of a 2-month voyage to Virginia, Captain Thomas Francis warned of smoke in the hold of the Pearl, identifying sulfur-rich coal as the culprit. It was a harbinger of disaster to come.

Sal has confirmed the explosion of a ship in Baltimore. This is a bulk carrier.

We don’t know the cargo but Baltimore is a major exporter of coal & Mauritius is a coal importer.

Coal can create methane and is subject to self-heating and liquefication. Bulkers can explode… 1/4

https://twitter.com/mercoglianos/status/1957586721899704520

Even a ship “just carrying grain” can become a floating bomb.

A dust explosion happens when fine particles ignite in the air. One spark in the hold and the rapid combustion can blow steel apart.

Grain and coal dust can be as dangerous as dynamite when concentrated. 2/4

The Trump Administration just issued a potential death blow to the UN’s most ambitious and consequential Green initiative proposed by their powerful maritime arm @IMOHQ in London This is a marked shift. Normally the United States ignores this body and sends a small delegation of USCG SES and relatively Jr state department diplomats over just for committee meetings.

While other nations have full time Maritime Ambassadors snd teams of delegates permanently stationed in London.

Prior the last voting session State, DHS and @JerryHendrixII’s maritime team at NSC issued a letter warning the IMO to back off extreme measures.

Measures so extreme that one proposal suggested any ship that makes “ocean sounds” be banned from entering port.

In 1973, this French Navy warship steamed into NYC, guns out, to haul away tons of America’s gold.

In her wake, the global economy was changed forever. 🧵 The French frigate De Grasse quietly docked, crew crisp in dress uniforms. Below decks?

Empty space soon to be packed with crates worth hundreds of millions.

Alright, I’ll admit it—I was a fat kid. Not 2025 fat, but early 1980s fat, thanks to off-brand processed food because we were poor.

Here’s how the Presidential Fitness Test SAVED me from bullying. Strap in, this is a long story!

I was also uncoordinated, so uncoordinated that the gym teacher gave me a 30-minute head start just so I wouldn’t get roasted by the other kids.

I also got laughed off little league and soccer teams.

And boy did I dread the Presidential Fitness test.

But you have no idea how much that motivated me. I did sprints and shuffles in my backyard.

Problem was I couldn’t do a single pull up and there was no way to practice the rope climb.

Dad was the best dad ever in some ways and not at all supportive in others. He built me a pull-up bar and after to weeks watching me hang there trying, he cane out with hard advice only a Vietnam vet could

“You’re too fat. You’ll never get up there hanging. You need to jumpstart the pull-up”

So I got a little stool and jumped up half way pulling myself the rest of the way up.

After a few weeks I got my first pull-up.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GOOD THAT FELT

The confidence doing something hard and succeeding got me to new levels.

Then the Fitness Test came and there was just no way I was going to get the Presidential award for being in the top 85%

But I was fairly certain my practice could get me the National Award for the top 50%

Boy was I wrong. You had to climb a rope and touch the ceiling of the gym. It was about two stories up but felt like five.

I couldn’t climb 10 feet.

I wasn’t good enough in the other events to get in the top 50% without the rope climb points.

PLUS, if you made the rope climb you got your picture on the wall in the hallway.

That certificate and picture was important because I was getting bullied a lot for being fat and poor. And I’m not just talking verbal abuse, I got into many fights.

The worst bullies weren’t the most motivated kids and I figured when they called me fat I could just shrug and say “I don’t see your picture on the wall”

I ran all the way home, over a mile, that afternoon and begged dad to buy a practice rope. He said no.

I knew I could pass if I practiced as hard as I did for the pull-up but you can’t practice without a rope.

So I did two things.

I climbed the tallest tree and sat up there for hours one weekend until the fear of heights left.

And for however many weeks the fitness test was open I did nothing else in gym class but the rope.

Then I had to spend all day with my fists clenched to hide the sores on my hands from the teachers so they didn’t ban me from getting it.

Almost everyone who accomplished the rope climb did it in the first couple of days so well before the testing period was over the photo wall had been set. It was a done deal.

But I kept going. By the last day of the test I could get halfway up. That’s it. But I set my sights on the rope and refused to back down.

10 minutes of climbing agony I touched the ceiling. Problem was I was exhausted and nobody saw me do it.

So I yelled “look at me” and everyone laughed. “Where is John” they were looking all around the gym for me but nobody thought to look up.

Finally one kid did. Then they all started look. Then the gym teacher looked and just stared red.

I was in agony.

“Did I win the award?”

“YES,” she said. “You made nationals, now come down!”

“I want my photo!”

“We turned the camera back to the media department yesterday. Just come down.”

I refused. The principal was called and a frantic school wide search for a camera (these were the print days) ensued.

After about 15 minutes they found one.

I GOT MY PICTURE

Next problem was I didn’t have any practice descending from that height and my hands were raw.

I showed them to the teacher and she shrugged.

So slowly, very slowly, I made my way down and when I reached the mat the entire class clapped and cheered.

One of the best feelings of my life!

1/4 Fast forward to High School and I get into a magnet track for smart kids.

Problem was I’m dyslexic and not nearly as smart as the kids in my class.

I’m not joking either, WAPO wrote a book about the class and my best friend Adrian Cavalieri now is now a lead scientist at the proton accelerator in Switzerland. Unbelievably smart kids.

Most were unbelievably wealthy and could afford tutors too.

As puberty hit I became rail thin but I was still only one of the few poor kids snd the ONLY republican and one of the few from a military family.

There was no question I was joining the military and the one and only place I did really well was on the water sailing… so I was absolutely determined to get into the Naval Academy

It became my mission. Problem was I was at the bottom of my, albeit brilliant, class and I still wasn’t great with ball.

No way I was getting in with sports and extracurriculars.

I was extremely shy and a teacher suggested I apply for a magnet theatre and modern dance program. I was accepted.

I can not even begin to describe how much I hated it. BUT I got through it. Extracurricular done.

I still needed a varsity letter. I tried out for Lacrosse and didn’t even make the freshman team. Not even the fencing geeks would have me.

But the cross country coach offered me a tryout. Not only was I a fat kid but I have short legs. I also couldn’t lift them high enough.

But I could do one thing nobody else could: not stop. Ever.

End of freshman season I was the very fist kid in my class to get a varsity jacket. At the awards dinner my coach showed a photo of me running and said

“This kid is clearly in pain. He looked like this whenever I saw him. We just had to give him a letter.”

I got 7 more.

All that effort, and god knows how many hours struggling to study for four years, all for one goal:

To attend Annapolis.

Problem was Annapolis had a presidential fitness test too. And I failed it bad.

I could do everything except throw a simple medicine ball overhead with both hands.

I came nowhere close to the minimum standards. Problem was the coaches back then discouraged long distance runners from bulking up with weights. My arms were noodles.

But the Presidential fitness test taught me the secret. Practice until you physically can’t.

Months I spent on the basketball court in my knees throwing the MF’n medicine ball. I just kept throwing until my knees started to bleed.

And I passed. And I got I to Annapolis.

I want to say I lived happily ever after.

I did not. My life went horribly wrong.

2/4

BREAKING NEWS: Massive shipbuilding changes in DC. None of them good.

@gCaptain has confirmed from a White House source that Trump has closed the shipbuilding office at the NSC.

Reuters reports that Ian Bennitt, the President’s Special Assistant for Shipbuilding at the White House, has been fired.

Favored candidates for Provost and Superintendent positions at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy have received denial notices.

At a recent USNI shipbuilding conference, it became clear: major shipbuilding primes are actively fighting plans to expand commercial shipbuilding.

Sources inside the Pentagon say Admirals and SES are digging in their heels on several key shipbuilding objectives.

Some Jones Act companies now expressing fear that building new ships could devalue their current fleets.

Congressional sources say progress on the SHIPS Act is stalling in committee.
It’s also unlikely the new Commandant will be confirmed before the August break.

We’ve confirmed that the French billionaire who offered to invest $20B in U.S. shipping sent a letter to Trump saying he’s not getting the support he needs to move forward.

The U.S. Coast Guard is slashing cutter orders left and right.

Reports from my sources in Korea say the new far-left, pro-China president is chilling U.S.-Korean shipyard cooperation.

Nobody has seen or heard from @SecDuffy’s new acting Maritime Administrator.

The plan to centralize shipbuilding under the Department of Commerce is apparently stalled or stalling.

I spoke with half a dozen senior sources in DC—every single one is frustrated.

Yes, there’s still optimism around @SECNAV’s commitment to shipbuilding but his plate is full with emerging priorities

Not a single Admiral has publicly supported the SHIPS Act or the White House’s “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” plan.

Deadlines are being missed or pencil-whipped on the Maritime Executive Order, and with the NSC shipbuilding office closing, no one knows how the next deadline will be met.

Zero follow-through on Trump’s State of the Union promise to open a dedicated White House shipbuilding office.

New intel confirms more Navy shipbuilding delays, including further slippage in carrier programs.

Despite Trump requesting her resignation, the rogue U.S. delegate to the @IMOHQ still attended last month’s meeting, compromising U.S. objectives. @michaelgwaltz’s confirmation as UN ambassador is still not scheduled.

A Panama Canal pilot confirms U.S. military ships are still paying for transits, and @Michael_Yon confirms that China’s bridge over the canal is still under construction.

New Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea point to a failure of massive US bombing (first revealed during signalgate) to reopen the Red Sea.

It’s been 252 days since the election, and not a single new ship has been ordered.

Still no updates on public hearings into Biden-era maritime disasters, including the Gaza Pier and Baltimore Bridge.

The Baltimore Bridge removal is delayed another 9 months, and retrofits to prevent future bridge strikes around the nation are postponed.

Still zero word from @PeteHegseth on fixing the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for inland rivers and dredging.

What am I missing? The number of panicked and/or depressed calls I’ve received from DC in the last few days is unreal.

I’m struggling to find a silver lining. For background listen to @mercoglianos and I on the @CavasShips podcast last week

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cav…

USCG hero Scott Ruskan saved 165 lives this week.

But few realize the Rescue Swimmer program that made this possible was born from tragedy, made possible by three men history has forgot.
🧵

In 1983, the WWII-era cargo ship Marine Electric sank in freezing Atlantic waters.

Of the 34 men aboard, 31 died—many seen clinging to wreckage, slowly succumbing to hypothermia as Coast Guard helicopters circled above.

They could see the men.
But they had no one trained to jump in.

The real mystery with the Mexican Navy tall ship ARM Cuauhtémoc isn’t what went wrong, we know the engine was likely stuck in reverse.

It’s why the tugboat wasn’t tied up.

I spoke with a New York Harbor pilot and a tug captain near the scene.

Here’s what we know 🧵👇

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1923947432947118436

This is important because the ship only has a small 1,125 horespower Auxiliary engine installed.

The Tugboat Charles D. McAllister is 58 years old but was repowered in 2007 with two CAT 3512 engines with 2,800 horespower.

mcallistertowing.com/our-fleet/char…

Here’s my thread on what we know so far. For notes I have been a competitive sailor and I am licensed to captain ships of any size but I have not sailed tall ships. 🧵

https://twitter.com/nova_campaigns/status/1923934572732899382

First of all this photo confirms there were Mexican Navy’s Cadets on the highest yardarms.

The incident happened at 8:30PM with current traveling upriver.

Currents aren’t strong but it’s only 1.5 hours after low tide so they were still building and hadn’t reached maximum which happens approximately 3 hours after low tide.

Average maximum current at the bridge is usually 2-3 knots.

What can you tell me about the current in the east river at nine pm may 17th based on this data

Nothing in my 18 years since founding gCaptain has caused more panic than @USTradeRep’s recent proposal to charge companies that own Chinese ships $1 million per port call in the US.

USTR held hearings on the fees and today issued major modifications. 🧵 The biggest problem was the original port fees proposed by Trump late February was there were ship size and type agnostic.

All Chinese built ships would be charged $1.5 million per port and $1 million for any ship owned by a company that operates chinese built ships.

When something goes wrong, the experts say, “Wait for the report.”

Let’s be real—you won’t remember or care in a year but… this is a teaching moment.

So here’s a 🧵 on possible causes: 👇

https://twitter.com/gcaptain/status/1899114687905878461

First we have to define what type of incident it is.

We say incident instead of accident because we can’t rule out foul play.

This is also not a collision. It’s an Allision. A collision is between two moving objects, an allision is 1 moving and 1 fixed

gcaptain.com/maritime-word-…

This post is going viral, and I’m getting a lot of questions about whether a Marine could be appointed as the next Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and who’s actually in the running.

Could a Marine Be the Next CNO?

Here’s a 🧵 on who it might be

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1893663977130832166

General Heckl would be a great choice but a marine is highly unlikely. The CNO has always been a Navy admiral. General Karsten Heckl is retired—he could technically be called up, but it’s a long shot.

While predicting the next CNO is tricky, here are the names that keep coming up among insiders—ranked by likelihood.

Now that @shashj has blocked me, accused me of alchemy and called our VP a racists against Indians gloves are off.

Here’s 🧵with my thoughts on his “masterful” rebuttal to @JDVance Like most articles he’s written for @TheEconomist hi post is a masterclass in the kind of self-deluded, pseudo-strategic thinking that has kept Ukraine locked in an unwinnable war with dwindling resources, mounting casualties, and zero path to victory.

It cherry-picks facts, ignores strategic realities, and engages in outright fantasy when it comes to U.S. and European support.

Sad to see America’s most beautiful ship—the fastest ocean liner ever—towed to her final resting place.

But see that tall tugboat leading the way? That’s Capt. Mike Vinik, my good friend. He rescues vintage tugs 🧵

Mike is a legendary in New York Harbor—all agree he’s nicest guy you’ll meet, an unusual trait on this notorious waterfront.

A volunteer firefighter, rescue diver, & a man who put himself through New York Maritime while restoring old fire trucks. Some people just live to serve.

Charlie Kirk is on fire supporting @ElbridgeColby, and for good reason. There’s no shortage of editorials on why he matters for DoD policy and planning.

But they’re missing seven CRITICAL points🧵 This is a HUGE appointment.

Most people don’t realize just how big this is. Colby’s appointment is happening before ANY military service secretaries—right after heavyweights like Tulsi & RFK.

That tells you everything about how important this job- DoD Policy & Planning- is

This is blowing up, but most don’t get why the U.S. fell behind in shipbuilding—or the massive forces keeping it that way.

Here’s a 🧵 breaking it down. I have to tread carefully and keep this at 10,000 feet, but hopefully some flesh them out in the comments

https://twitter.com/johnkonrad/status/1891359854440157653

The first thing that must be questioned is the conventional wisdom: seablindness & apathy

J is spot on. The U.S. Navy is laying up 17 ships—not just from a manpower shortage, but from idiotic regulations that trace back to the UN

And that’s just the start.

How the UN is Sabotaging the U.S. Military’s Global Reach: 🧵

https://twitter.com/jdlbmd/status/1890730513733709875

The U.S. Navy is laying up 17 ships, and @IMOHQ is a big reason why.

Worse, the UN has crippled our ability to deliver aviation fuel—jeopardizing carrier ops and forward USAF refueling bases.

Our Achilles’ heel? Logistics. And the Navy let the UN tighten the noose.

The War is Won - Now Secure the Victory.
As we watch men battle for yards, we must remember that for decades, the Uniparty ruled unchecked, masquerading as patriots while surrendering American sovereignty piece by piece.

Here’s how 🧵 They gave us the Bushes, the Cheneys, the Clintons—families who waved the flag in public but bent the knee in private. They told you to accept managed decline. They stole from you, sent your money overseas, and lined the pockets of their friends and relatives.

Now that we’re finally allowed to talk about conspiracies and USAID—can we talk about the CIA moving gold on ships?

Can we talk about how, before WWII, nearly every village in China had a gold Buddha filled with gems, serving as the local bank?

Can we talk about how the Japanese looted them all and launched a massive sealift operation to stash them in the Philippines?

Or how a farmer found ONE of these Buddhas—only for Ferdinand Marcos to steal it?

Or how a U.S. court valued that SINGLE Buddha at $22 BILLION in 1998?

Or how, if that one Buddha had been invested in the S&P 500, the farmer would be richer than @elonmusk today?

Can we talk about how Google raided libraries and archives, scanning every book to track it down?

Can we talk about how certain tech firms used this knowledge to leverage the US Government and CIA to work for them?

Or how most of that gold is STILL buried in the Philippines—
And how Taiwan is a distraction while China builds a massive Navy to take it back?

Or how at least one of the CIA’s secret ship registries was accidentally exposed in the USAID data dump?

Or how the CIA funded a History Channel program about all this—to paint anyone searching for the truth as a nutcase?

Or how the co-founder of Jeff Bezos’ starship company wrote a bestselling “fiction” book about this gold becoming the world’s Bitcoin reserve—nine years before Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin?

Or how I know American ship captains who have moved some of this gold?

Or how there are connections I can’t talk about?

Are we allowed to talk about that yet?

🤪 And definitely don’t read these this nonfiction book

amzn.to/3Q9hOs3

I’ve seen wild things as a ship captain & maritime reporter—USAID & CIA stories that’d turn your hair white. I don’t have a death wish, so I stay quiet…

Unless it’s about USAID & Democrat graft. So, F it.

It all started with a call from a man—let’s call him Derick 🧵 Full disclosure: I’m adding fictional details. Why? Because it’s the CIA—you gotta give them an out, a way to deny involvement.

Consider this their out.

Also, this was over a decade ago, and I didn’t take notes for obvious reasons… so this is all from my faulty memory.