[Ten] days of Christmas

Under the Electoral College, the President is elected by the states and it is the states who choose to run popular elections to select electors. This is actually an integral part of the longevity of the union, because the great compromise ensures that small states are not subsumed by a national policy driven be the population advantage of large states. Remove this framework and why would a state like Wyoming stick around and be dictated to by a government that only represents the coastal enclaves?

The largest supermarket in Britain, that operates on razor-thin margins, is about to be crushed for the crime of paying different jobs different salaries, while our legislature shrugs. How dare they suggest that “so-called market rates” can exist in Soviet Britain.

U.S. Air Force Reveals New B-1B Lancer Hypersonic Strike Loadout With AGM-183 ARRW Missile

I’ve noticed this trend in military weaponry, why is the HIMARS less capable than the M270 it’s replacing? HIMARS can carry 2 precision long range missiles while M270 can carry 4. This plays out the same with the B21 replacing the B2 bomber. B21 has 1/3 the payload capacity as the B2. Same thing with submarines, the Columbia Class carries less missiles than the Ohio Class 24 vs 16. We are being robbed by defense contractors.

Counterpoint. Trans people should be allowed to participate in low stakes minimally competitive recreational activities without drawing attention to their histories of transition.

Gotta admit I've changed my mind about this. I was in the camp that loved the Hog but was grudgingly prepared to concede that its time had passed - not survivable in a modern threat environment stiff with drones and MANPADs. But damned if the A-10 didn't turn out to be an effective tool against small-boat swarms in the Straits of Hormuz. And not so expensive to fly or ammo up that you end up with a nasty shot-exchange problem either - not something you can say for putting the F-35 on that job. The Hog has demonstrated that there is still a tier of missions in between the envelope of an attack helicopter and a fast fighter for which the Hog is excellently fitted. Still. In 2026. Of course you need to have done SEAD to lower the odds that it will be popped by competent air defense, but the US Air Force is very good at that mission. As it keeps demonstrating. I was wrong. The Hog deserves its extension. And we ought to be seriously looking at building an A11. Maybe not a manned A11, but a functionally similar instrument with a big fucking gun and the ability to fly low and slow and loiter on a patrol area. In conclusion: "Let me sing you the song of my people: BRRRRRRRRRT."

Audio of the Indian oil tanker Sanmar Herald pleading with Iranian forces to stop shooting at it in the Strait of Hormuz this morning.

Hot take but SpaceX is probably the best civil engineering company in the world. Somehow they are able to make these insanely complex ground system and building designs and find the perfect contractors and technicians to build out their ideas in months or 1-2 years. I feel like we need the SpaceX methodology and their contractors across many projects. If we did we could probably have gotten so much done and in a much higher quality. They say you can’t have fast, cheap, and good, but somehow SpaceX always manages to deliver on all 3.

A US official told CNN that the Navy is not escorting any ships through the strait, but has been communicating to merchant vessels (that have not entered or exited Iranian ports) that it is safe to pass and encouraging them to do so. The official said the US is not enforcing a full blockade of the strait — only a blockade of ships entering and exiting Iranian ports along the entire Iranian coastline. The US also sent destroyers through the Strait of Hormuz last weekend to demonstrate that there is a safe path through the waterway, the official said.