It’s a shame 70% of America is a cultural outback instead of everybody getting to experience the best of what this country has to offer.

The “groundwork” has been laid for years & this is action officer/service level preparation, but the new EXORD strongly suggests to me that we’re going to see a move to rip through military death row as soon as Blanche/Trump remember it exists.

inspired: get the government to pay you a salary for running the heist of Fort Knox for yourself

As someone living in Hawaii without a Hawaii birth certificate, happy to leave the “gotta be born here to belong here” discourse to the New Yorkers.

Oh hey it is June 6 so it is officially Queensland Day Happy Queensland Day to all who celebrate and keep it holy

My heart is warmed by the sound of the laughing kookaburras, but my blood runs cold at the sight of the feathered velociraptor.

New job has a “do not post about work” policy, so my quest to grow a personality outside of my job is becoming really critical.

“A lot of people I’ve spoken to just in the last few months have said that they would look down on a person if they had a federal job on their résumé that they started during this administration … they would see a person willing to go to work at this D.O.J. as somebody they couldn’t trust.”

Me on my last day in uniform this week.

Oldest has been taking city bus to school in the mornings with a couple of other kids from our carpool. I’m all for her learning that mentally ill folks have a right to exist in public spaces (I’m on Bluesky!), but it’s a real shame it feels like negligent parenting to put a kid on public transit.

You cannot successfully lead soldiers by telling them you hate the people they love.

“It does not seem probable that air bombing can settle a major war.” George Orwell, 1941

“As more Americans believe the military is on 1 side, or that military leaders have partisan loyalties, there will be an upper limit on approval of the military that corresponds with the proportion who believe military shares their partisan leanings.” Good investigations make good organizations.

Law schools have a forced grade distribution, & are famous for producing collegial & well-balanced graduates.

About to inspire my middle aged ass onto a surfboard.

Fun fact: falling asleep on guard duty is one of those crimes that does not exist in the civilian world, but is taken incredibly seriously by military law. Right now, in 2026, the American military's max punishment for a soldier dozing off on guard during war is death.

The “adult content” tag for the Hopper bot is sending me.

I *love* this podcast, but really hated the guy at the center of this recent episode. Gary is at best a crank, at worse exhibit a for the dangers of inherited wealth & sophistry. Basically a global sovereign citizen loon. Also, if fighting Nazis convinced you to renounce the world… yikes, man.

AI slop merchants seem to have stumbled onto military death row. Either they’re mixing up their Afro-American inmates or they don’t know that a Sergeant isn’t an Officer - pictures are Akbar & description is closest to facts in Akbar, but Hasan is only Officer on death row.

“[S]uch an approach — to tackle every problem all at once — is so wildly audacious, it’s hard not to hope for it, a program that brings out our better angels.” Wonderful piece on an innovative criminal justice program in Hawaii. Gift link below.

When you combine common-sense gun laws with the culture that brought you Chief of War, you get some folks who can tussle.

Every Brigade Judge Advocate has enacted some version of this moment.

Totally functional job market we’ve got here. I feel like the *job application* should “tell hiring teams you’re really interested.” Shouldn’t need a franchise tag to get your resume reviewed.

The bottom line of the opinion: using JAGs to prosecute cases without a "military nexus" violates DOD regulations, but doesn't violate federal statutes, and violation of regulations doesn't authorize the Court to stop DOJ from using military prosecutors to execute the laws against civiians.

TEL hunting is a mug’s game.

“certain Australian psychopaths excepted” is a shockingly common caveat in my life lately.

Roll that beautiful B-24 footage.

Army non-commissioned officers (Sergeants) historically carry a straight sword (not a curved saber) b/c they acted as ‘line closers,” pushing, herding, & aligning riflemen. You can push guys into line effectively & harmlessly w/ non-cutting edge of a straight sword, like a cop w/ a baton.

He said, “I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima.”

“American civilization has grown too far toward the creating and too far away from the giving. It'll adjust later on. It'll have to. Men will go mad from too much getting. They always have in the past." - J. Michener, Tales of the South Pacific

Slightly diminish a book The Middle of the Affair

Post a random cool car photo you took on another year, with no explanation.

Some of this seems like fuzzy math - 2MDTF Long Range Fires Battalion was always going to be based at Fort Drum with *rotations* to Europe. I think they’re counting cuts to exercise deployment/rotational forces, which while still bad is different from cutting forces permanently based forward.

Live look of INDOPACOM:

The author identity/conflict of interest disclosure at the very end of this editorial arguing to maintain cash bail sent me.

Pretty sure Apple AirPods are the best advertisement for every other type of headphones. How can something so expensive be so awful? And how does a company that clearly has contempt for their customers do so well?

deleted my uber account last month. Wish I could say it was a principled stand against vampire capitalism, but it was actually due to their abysmal customer service. They lost my business over $23, but I don’t miss Uber & turns out they allegedly use AI to rip off workers like they do customers.

Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA) & American Battlefield Monuments Commission (ABMC) are two federal agencies that don’t get enough credit.

I firmly believe the Motel 6 in Moore has been destroyed & rebuilt more time than Carthage.

Remembering this #AnzacDay all those from those far off lands who volunteered to do their bit in the Great War & those who now lay forever thousands of miles from home #ww1 #WeWillRememberThem 🇦🇺🇳🇿

Not to take a shot at @lawdorknews.bsky.social (excellent reporting, proud subscriber), but there are actually 7 federal death row inmates. Everybody forgets the 4 folks pending sentence of death from courts-martial.

Wife just referred to middle daughter’s dress rehearsal as “outfit practice,” and you can tell which parent wasn’t a theater kid in high school.

If Hawaiian Electric gave a damn about incentivizing paperless billing, they’d stop charging a 3 dollar junk fee to pay your bill instead of offering a 1 in 1.5 million chance at an iPad. In the meantime, enjoy paying to mail me recycling bin fodder. Happy Earth Day!

I’m a big proponent of the idea that ceremony ennobles our daily lives, & that wearing something other than “street clothes” is appropriate for formal occasions like trial, but one thing I learned whilst serving in Australia is the best of those bad boys are actual horse hair & they *smell.*

Actual Jawaiian jams are not to my taste, but they were here before I was & folks like them, so I try to stay aloha about it. AI slop Jawaiian jams are truly cursed. Nobody needs a WarTalk outro about the HNL baggage claim office.

Setting side the prudence aspect of targeting civil rights groups - what’s the theory of liability here? My guess is a “novel” use of Computer Fraud & Abuse Act for unauthorized access to Telegram/racist group chats, or Fraud against USG for not disclosing informant payments when sharing intel?

Eternal struggle.