Dark Laughter
@darklaughtertdb.bsky.social
OIF/OEF vet and Duffel Blog writer. DarkLaughterTDB (at) gmail (dot) com #satire #natsec
As far as I can tell, Vader's actual billet is like the Joint Staff's chaplain. The guy he chokes, Motti, is like the Chief of Naval Operations. That scene is a case study in B2C2WG management, not just for Tarkin getting it back on track but for illustrating why you might want conflicting events.
The Death Star board room scene is low key the funniest scene in cinematic history. It’s a work meeting with an evil samurai wizard everyone else finds mildly annoying and when his manager tells him to stop killing a coworker with his magicka, he has to listen.
February 17, 2026 at 8:42 PM
As far as I can tell, Vader's actual billet is like the Joint Staff's chaplain. The guy he chokes, Motti, is like the Chief of Naval Operations. That scene is a case study in B2C2WG management, not just for Tarkin getting it back on track but for illustrating why you might want conflicting events.
Reposted by Dark Laughter
“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”
- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.
Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.
www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.
Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.
www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
February 17, 2026 at 7:31 PM
“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”
- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.
Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.
www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.
Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.
www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
People used to learn this in grade school, mostly from playing The Oregon Trail, which for younger users I guess I need to explain was a wildly popular educational game created by the government of Minnesota.
Historian of medicine here. Yes. Yes, they did.
before antibiotics did people just die all the time from everything?
February 17, 2026 at 8:04 PM
People used to learn this in grade school, mostly from playing The Oregon Trail, which for younger users I guess I need to explain was a wildly popular educational game created by the government of Minnesota.
Reposted by Dark Laughter
Bari Weiss didn’t want you to see this
February 17, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Bari Weiss didn’t want you to see this
Reposted by Dark Laughter
Father of 3 Marines won’t be deported, immigration judge rules trib.al/ZPM4dqp
Father of 3 Marines won't be deported, immigration judge rules
Narciso Barranco’s eligibility for Parole In Place under his sons' military service means he can not be immediately deported.
trib.al
February 17, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Father of 3 Marines won’t be deported, immigration judge rules trib.al/ZPM4dqp
Reposted by Dark Laughter
Marshall said of World War II "I doubt there was any one thing, except the shortage of LSTs, that came to our minds more frequently than the political factors."
Every conflict where we translated military success into long-term success was because we had warrior-diplomats who brought together all elements of national power to do so.
February 16, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Marshall said of World War II "I doubt there was any one thing, except the shortage of LSTs, that came to our minds more frequently than the political factors."
Reposted by Dark Laughter
At the top level our job mostly reduces to putting cards in the hands of FSOs to negotiate a new status quo that's both favorable to us and stable enough that we don't spend our careers deploying to the same places over and over. Also, the FSOs are honestly better at this job than we are.
It’s kinda funny how these guys really want safe spaces, sounds kinda woke if you ask me
February 16, 2026 at 6:26 PM
At the top level our job mostly reduces to putting cards in the hands of FSOs to negotiate a new status quo that's both favorable to us and stable enough that we don't spend our careers deploying to the same places over and over. Also, the FSOs are honestly better at this job than we are.
RIP to the first actor who portrayed a toxic Marine in a movie that made valid and incisive criticisms of us, and accidentally drove recruiting by making the Marine Corps look like a blast. youtu.be/JJ0IOFvfu3Q
February 16, 2026 at 6:20 PM
RIP to the first actor who portrayed a toxic Marine in a movie that made valid and incisive criticisms of us, and accidentally drove recruiting by making the Marine Corps look like a blast. youtu.be/JJ0IOFvfu3Q
Up until like 2012, when the scout sniper SS rune flag story broke, the Marine Corps still had idiots who got moto tats that they didn't know were white power shit, like valknuts because hur dur Valhalla blah blah blah. I don't believe for one goddamn second that's what happened with Graham Platner.
February 16, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Up until like 2012, when the scout sniper SS rune flag story broke, the Marine Corps still had idiots who got moto tats that they didn't know were white power shit, like valknuts because hur dur Valhalla blah blah blah. I don't believe for one goddamn second that's what happened with Graham Platner.
On the one hand, nice to see comments on a Stars and Stripes story. On the other hand, disheartening to realize how little the left knows about the military. You guys should probably know we relieve commanders all the time for loss of trust and confidence, especially from destroyers and battalions.
The commander of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mason was relieved of duty Friday, service officials announced without providing specific details about the decision. www.stripes.com/branches/nav...
Navy fires commander of destroyer USS Mason
The Navy fired Capt. Chavius G. Lewis, who had commanded the ship since November 2024, “due to a loss of confidence in Lewis’ ability to command.”
www.stripes.com
February 15, 2026 at 5:33 PM
On the one hand, nice to see comments on a Stars and Stripes story. On the other hand, disheartening to realize how little the left knows about the military. You guys should probably know we relieve commanders all the time for loss of trust and confidence, especially from destroyers and battalions.
Texas plans death by chocolate execution.
February 15, 2026 at 2:49 AM
Texas plans death by chocolate execution.
This reminds me, we should all agree now on who's writing which op-eds in the wake of the coming military disaster where a SOF Wile E. Coyote plan doesn't work and they all get captured/killed. We can just write them now and have them ready to go.
The Trump administration says Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured at minimum cost to the US taxpayer. Bloomberg calculations show the price tag of the ships deployed in the Caribbean hit more than $20 million a day at its peak.
Trump's Caribbean Surge Nears $3 Billion Price Tag So Far
The operations around Venezuela that eventually led to the capture of its president pulled in nearly a fifth of the US Navy’s surface fleet at a cost of more than $20 million a day.
bloom.bg
February 14, 2026 at 6:58 PM
This reminds me, we should all agree now on who's writing which op-eds in the wake of the coming military disaster where a SOF Wile E. Coyote plan doesn't work and they all get captured/killed. We can just write them now and have them ready to go.
Reposted by Dark Laughter
USSOCOM investing in cruise missiles is a kind of mission creep that, if you saw Wendy's abandoning The Baconator and instead buying riverboat gambling paddleships, you'd think the management had completely lost the plot.
But since it's The Innovation Ecosystem and there's no scorekeeping at all...
But since it's The Innovation Ecosystem and there's no scorekeeping at all...
February 14, 2026 at 4:38 PM
USSOCOM investing in cruise missiles is a kind of mission creep that, if you saw Wendy's abandoning The Baconator and instead buying riverboat gambling paddleships, you'd think the management had completely lost the plot.
But since it's The Innovation Ecosystem and there's no scorekeeping at all...
But since it's The Innovation Ecosystem and there's no scorekeeping at all...
February 13, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Dark Laughter
Been toying with the same thought. Pointless barriers to voting pitched as a solution to an imaginary problem are a bad idea in principle, but Republicans seem very sure it will help them on net, and that’s not really obvious to me.
The funny thing about the MAGA voter ID crusade is...are they SURE they want to do that? Increase the hurdles to advantage the most motivated? Because I assure you, Democratic voters will jump through any hoop you put in front of them to get a ballot cast. Can MAGA say the same of its voters?
February 13, 2026 at 10:14 PM
Been toying with the same thought. Pointless barriers to voting pitched as a solution to an imaginary problem are a bad idea in principle, but Republicans seem very sure it will help them on net, and that’s not really obvious to me.
No idea what happened here, but three thoughts. First, UNREPs are very difficult, it's insane we've made them routine. Second, we're very good at them because they're routine. Third, when we screw up like this the PLAN should be sweating bullets over their ambition to become a true ocean-going navy.
The destroyer USS Truxtun and the supply ship USNS Supply collided as the warship was getting a load of supplies, leaving two troops with minor injuries.
Two US Navy ships collide in Caribbean, leaving 2 sailors injured
The destroyer USS Truxtun and the supply ship USNS Supply collided as the warship was getting a load of supplies, leaving two troops with minor injuries.
www.defensenews.com
February 13, 2026 at 9:12 PM
No idea what happened here, but three thoughts. First, UNREPs are very difficult, it's insane we've made them routine. Second, we're very good at them because they're routine. Third, when we screw up like this the PLAN should be sweating bullets over their ambition to become a true ocean-going navy.
As long as this has come up, Eurovision should be an Olympic event.
in what other sport can I watch a white Swiss man saucily undulate to oud music while wearing knife boots
February 13, 2026 at 6:57 PM
As long as this has come up, Eurovision should be an Olympic event.
Okay, here's my plan to fix this. We add a sub-category to the reading lists for bullshit from an airport book store. It will act as a heat sink to absorb all the bozo recommendations, and we can just tell leaders "Well, we're set for airport books, sir, but we have to do history and leadership."
I don't normally keep up with what the Army is reading these days, but I happened to click on this official recommended reading list for junior officers and it's appalling. 53 of 66 titles are corporate-style self-help books. This is a great way to hollow out and dumb down your military.
juniorofficer.army.mil
February 13, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Okay, here's my plan to fix this. We add a sub-category to the reading lists for bullshit from an airport book store. It will act as a heat sink to absorb all the bozo recommendations, and we can just tell leaders "Well, we're set for airport books, sir, but we have to do history and leadership."
First thought:
February 13, 2026 at 6:45 PM
First thought:
Reposted by Dark Laughter
NEW: Intel whistleblower accuses director of national intelligence of being Tulsi Gabbard www.duffelblog.com/intel-whistl...
Intel whistleblower accuses director of national intelligence of being Tulsi Gabbard
Officials deny claim, insist DNI ‘almost certainly a man’
www.duffelblog.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:15 PM
NEW: Intel whistleblower accuses director of national intelligence of being Tulsi Gabbard www.duffelblog.com/intel-whistl...
Reposted by Dark Laughter
For those of you here in the UK it seems that ‘Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire’ is one of the £1.99 kindle daily deals on Amazon. Which is a heck of a discount!
www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Ri...
www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Ri...
February 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM
For those of you here in the UK it seems that ‘Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire’ is one of the £1.99 kindle daily deals on Amazon. Which is a heck of a discount!
www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Ri...
www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Ri...
Reposted by Dark Laughter
Let's see the GOP searches - how many checked for their own names?
The Trump Justice Department admits: It "logs all searches" by members of Congress who view the unredacted versions of the Epstein files on their data systems.
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/e...
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/e...
Epstein files: DOJ says it logs Congress members' searches to 'protect' victim information
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Rep. Pramila Jayapal exchanged sharp words at a hearing when Jayapal asked victims of Jeffrey Epstein about meeting with the DOJ.
www.cnbc.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Let's see the GOP searches - how many checked for their own names?
A simple rule is that if you're in a tense situation and think even once about your health insurance deductible, even if you realize you've met it for the year, you should defuse the situation or run away instead of fighting.
I never took it but a bunch of my college friends did jiu-jitsu and the first thing they taught you was how to open in any real fight, which was to put up your hands and say “hey man, I don’t want any trouble”
I’m not saying don’t buy a gun or don’t get tactical training. I’d be a huge hypocrite because I’ve done that. The thing I am saying is don’t think doing so makes you John Wick. If you get mugged, give them your phone and wallet. Live to fight another day.
February 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM
A simple rule is that if you're in a tense situation and think even once about your health insurance deductible, even if you realize you've met it for the year, you should defuse the situation or run away instead of fighting.