Empty Bag of Ducks📎
@emptybagofducks.bsky.social
Ex-Army officer. Retired DoD civil service/SES. Historian. Battling advanced metastatic bile duct cancer. Hoya. Diehard Packer fan. Fighting the dying of the light, the dying of liberal democracy and the death of the American Republic.
Pinned
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
No one seriously thought you left one of your kids behind at Pedophile Paradise. The issue is that you insisted Epstein was a monster that you'd never be with again, and then you took the entire Lutnick Extended Universe to bask in his presence.
VAN HOLLEN: Did you in fact make the visit to Epstein's private island?
LUTNICK: I did have lunch w/ him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me as were my 4 children and nannies. We had lunch on the island. That's true. For an hour. We left with all of my children
LUTNICK: I did have lunch w/ him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me as were my 4 children and nannies. We had lunch on the island. That's true. For an hour. We left with all of my children
February 10, 2026 at 5:00 PM
No one seriously thought you left one of your kids behind at Pedophile Paradise. The issue is that you insisted Epstein was a monster that you'd never be with again, and then you took the entire Lutnick Extended Universe to bask in his presence.
What he said after ”the wrong type of question” is even worse In referencing the Holocaust Museum.
GOLDMAN: Do you know what other regimes in the 20th century required similar proof of citizenship?
LYONS: Various nefarious regimes did that
GOLDMAN: Is Nazi Germany one?
LYONS: This is the wrong type of question
LYONS: Various nefarious regimes did that
GOLDMAN: Is Nazi Germany one?
LYONS: This is the wrong type of question
February 10, 2026 at 5:08 PM
What he said after ”the wrong type of question” is even worse In referencing the Holocaust Museum.
I’m getting tired of those who rail and complain about things and simply poast. I had a rule with my staff to never bring me a problem without a proposed solution grounded in reality. Thinking about applying that here in terms of whom I choose to read/follow/interact with.
February 10, 2026 at 5:03 PM
I’m getting tired of those who rail and complain about things and simply poast. I had a rule with my staff to never bring me a problem without a proposed solution grounded in reality. Thinking about applying that here in terms of whom I choose to read/follow/interact with.
Nannies on family vacation?
VAN HOLLEN: Did you in fact make the visit to Epstein's private island?
LUTNICK: I did have lunch w/ him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me as were my 4 children and nannies. We had lunch on the island. That's true. For an hour. We left with all of my children
LUTNICK: I did have lunch w/ him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me as were my 4 children and nannies. We had lunch on the island. That's true. For an hour. We left with all of my children
February 10, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Nannies on family vacation?
Okay, two days in a row the admin has put some one on Fox Business to talk about tomorrow’s job numbers. In both cases non-sensical explanations as they hint they will be bad.
Throw in a “don’t panic” press release.
Color me VERY curious
Throw in a “don’t panic” press release.
Color me VERY curious
Peter Navarro: "The jobs report comes out tomorrow. We have to revise our expectations down significantly for what a monthly job number should look like ... Wall Street has to adjust for the fact that we're deporting millions of illegals out of the job market."
February 10, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Okay, two days in a row the admin has put some one on Fox Business to talk about tomorrow’s job numbers. In both cases non-sensical explanations as they hint they will be bad.
Throw in a “don’t panic” press release.
Color me VERY curious
Throw in a “don’t panic” press release.
Color me VERY curious
So the number of Reps is the same as 1913 (codified in law in 1929) when the US population was 28% of what it is today. Applying the Wyoming Rule would give the House about 575 members.
Time to expand the House
Time to expand the House
A quarter baked GOP attempt to overturn an election (again) being the spark that ends up resulting in house expansion would be extremely funny
or i guess the other possibility is like 480 dudes on the floor (double dibbing on who shows up) is another possibility but i think that's more just embarassing for everyone involved than anything
February 10, 2026 at 3:52 AM
So the number of Reps is the same as 1913 (codified in law in 1929) when the US population was 28% of what it is today. Applying the Wyoming Rule would give the House about 575 members.
Time to expand the House
Time to expand the House
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
🧵 on the ignorance on display. 1) Starting w/diversity. The US military should broadly look like the US as that keeps the military tethered to American society. If it's all just a bunch of door kicking rural white Christian dudes that's bad. It's bad for the military & it's bad for American. 1/
February 10, 2026 at 2:38 AM
🧵 on the ignorance on display. 1) Starting w/diversity. The US military should broadly look like the US as that keeps the military tethered to American society. If it's all just a bunch of door kicking rural white Christian dudes that's bad. It's bad for the military & it's bad for American. 1/
Let’s talk diversity Petey. Look at the names on this monument in northern France that includes my great-uncle. Pretty damn diverse group who died fighting wannabe Nazis like you.
February 10, 2026 at 3:04 AM
Let’s talk diversity Petey. Look at the names on this monument in northern France that includes my great-uncle. Pretty damn diverse group who died fighting wannabe Nazis like you.
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
One time at JRTC our battalion S3 marched into our TOC yelling and holding a M4 that he'd found in a bathroom and demanding that the soldier be present in headquarters within the hour and it had to all get quietly walked back because it was the B Company Commander's rifle.
Fuck a morning coffee, this picture is enough to jolt me awake
February 10, 2026 at 12:04 AM
One time at JRTC our battalion S3 marched into our TOC yelling and holding a M4 that he'd found in a bathroom and demanding that the soldier be present in headquarters within the hour and it had to all get quietly walked back because it was the B Company Commander's rifle.
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
Payrolls must be absolutely brutal.
February 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Payrolls must be absolutely brutal.
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
It is. The Jewish Musuem in Prague has a collection of children's drawings from the Terezin ghetto. It was the worst thing I've seen in my life.
“Collection of Handwritten Letters from Children in Detention Center” sounds like an exhibit in the Holocaust Museum.
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 8:12 PM
It is. The Jewish Musuem in Prague has a collection of children's drawings from the Terezin ghetto. It was the worst thing I've seen in my life.
“Vested interest united ties landed gentry rationalize
Look who bought the myth by jingo buy America”
R.E.M., Exhuming McCarthy, 1987
Look who bought the myth by jingo buy America”
R.E.M., Exhuming McCarthy, 1987
Trump's "Freedom 250" group promises that anyone who gives them $2.5 million will have a chance to speak on July 4 at the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It's exciting to consider how many rich whack jobs may take this chance to air their takes to the nation.
February 9, 2026 at 9:25 PM
“Vested interest united ties landed gentry rationalize
Look who bought the myth by jingo buy America”
R.E.M., Exhuming McCarthy, 1987
Look who bought the myth by jingo buy America”
R.E.M., Exhuming McCarthy, 1987
Exactly!
I love all sorts of choral works (I don’t know Latin), and the fact I don’t speak Italian or German doesn’t prevent me from enjoying operas in those languages
The funny thing is I wonder how many of the MAGAs complaining are Tridentine Mass advocates…🤔
I love all sorts of choral works (I don’t know Latin), and the fact I don’t speak Italian or German doesn’t prevent me from enjoying operas in those languages
The funny thing is I wonder how many of the MAGAs complaining are Tridentine Mass advocates…🤔
my opinion on the Bad Bunny halftime show, and non-English music in general, is that i think a need to “be able to understand the lyrics” displays an embarrassing shallowness of the speaker to appreciate the voice as an instrument & to appreciate music as something other than a lyric delivery system
February 9, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Exactly!
I love all sorts of choral works (I don’t know Latin), and the fact I don’t speak Italian or German doesn’t prevent me from enjoying operas in those languages
The funny thing is I wonder how many of the MAGAs complaining are Tridentine Mass advocates…🤔
I love all sorts of choral works (I don’t know Latin), and the fact I don’t speak Italian or German doesn’t prevent me from enjoying operas in those languages
The funny thing is I wonder how many of the MAGAs complaining are Tridentine Mass advocates…🤔
Post a banger that isn’t in English
youtu.be/Fpu5a0Bl8eY?...
youtu.be/Fpu5a0Bl8eY?...
February 9, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Post a banger that isn’t in English
youtu.be/Fpu5a0Bl8eY?...
youtu.be/Fpu5a0Bl8eY?...
Did they “overcome” the odds, or were the oddsmakers just flat out wrong?
The 2025 Seattle Seahawks overcame 60-to-1 preseason odds to win the Super Bowl
They are one of the most unlikely championship teams in US pro team sports
They are one of the most unlikely championship teams in US pro team sports
February 9, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Did they “overcome” the odds, or were the oddsmakers just flat out wrong?
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
It also points out how the cultural ignorance of much of our pundit & MSM class fails. 135 million Americans watched an important & controversial cultural event & many journalists are 1)ill-equipped to explain its significance or 2) too arrogant to know that would need assistance in unpacking it.
Bad Bunny’s performance began in the plantation, featured broken electric poles, and ended by centering a hemispheric understanding of “América”—among many other things—and some Anglo journalists are like “his performance wasn’t political.”
This is why we need to be telling our stories.
This is why we need to be telling our stories.
February 9, 2026 at 5:23 PM
It also points out how the cultural ignorance of much of our pundit & MSM class fails. 135 million Americans watched an important & controversial cultural event & many journalists are 1)ill-equipped to explain its significance or 2) too arrogant to know that would need assistance in unpacking it.
And it’s in some ways worse because a lot of the “pipeline“ of one stars have left voluntarily. On the civilian side I saw a lot of SESs abruptly announce their retirements. Now, with a new evaluation system in place that is basically a loyalty test, I would expect the departures to accelerate
A site tracking recent purges in the PLA vs purges at the Trump-Hegseth Pentagon purge-comparison.vercel.app
February 9, 2026 at 7:13 PM
And it’s in some ways worse because a lot of the “pipeline“ of one stars have left voluntarily. On the civilian side I saw a lot of SESs abruptly announce their retirements. Now, with a new evaluation system in place that is basically a loyalty test, I would expect the departures to accelerate
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
"we do a disservice to young people when we discourage them from pursuing the liberal arts and treat education as the mere acquisition of skills and knowledge. To withstand the challenges posed by scientism and politics... the #humanities need positive accounts of their value." bit.ly/45XTTUO
Why I Don’t Regret Majoring in the Humanities
Literature, it turns out, is a great teacher of humility.
bit.ly
February 9, 2026 at 2:15 PM
"we do a disservice to young people when we discourage them from pursuing the liberal arts and treat education as the mere acquisition of skills and knowledge. To withstand the challenges posed by scientism and politics... the #humanities need positive accounts of their value." bit.ly/45XTTUO
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
It’s odd that the religious right is so upset about a halftime show that celebrated marriage, love, community, small business, hard work, and family. 🤔
February 9, 2026 at 4:50 AM
It’s odd that the religious right is so upset about a halftime show that celebrated marriage, love, community, small business, hard work, and family. 🤔
I made Bloch’s Strange Defeat mandatory reading for my staff.
This is rather special. Marc Bloch was a titan of modern historiography, and a big influence on me as a young history student. He was a brilliant French medievalist murdered by the Gestapo for both his Jewishness and his contribution to French resistance, but they couldn’t kill his work
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
February 9, 2026 at 5:27 AM
I made Bloch’s Strange Defeat mandatory reading for my staff.
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
Ilia Malinin, the son of immigrants, in those few minutes just accomplished more for our country than JD Vance has in his entire life so far.
February 8, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Ilia Malinin, the son of immigrants, in those few minutes just accomplished more for our country than JD Vance has in his entire life so far.
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
the answer to his hypothetical about a five year old American citizen is his party would like to deny it food and healthcare if its parents are working but poor and that the party would like to tear gas the American child if the parents take the kid to do free speech incorrectly
Gonzales on Liam Ramos and his family: "They're not gonna qualify for asylum. So what do you do with all the people that go through the process and do not qualify for asylum? You deport them. I understand that 5-year-old and it breaks my heart. I also think, what about that 5-year-old US citizen?"
February 8, 2026 at 8:32 PM
the answer to his hypothetical about a five year old American citizen is his party would like to deny it food and healthcare if its parents are working but poor and that the party would like to tear gas the American child if the parents take the kid to do free speech incorrectly
Reposted by Empty Bag of Ducks📎
For someone like Stephen Miller a democratically elected Congress even with a Republican majority is not a legislative instrument to be used but rather a constitutional obstruction to be eliminated
February 8, 2026 at 7:44 PM
For someone like Stephen Miller a democratically elected Congress even with a Republican majority is not a legislative instrument to be used but rather a constitutional obstruction to be eliminated
I’m glad he clarified that ferments were yogurt. Otherwise I was running with he’d meant to say varmints.
Something wrong Hon, you've barely touched your meat and ferments.
RFK Jr on what he'll eat during the Super Bowl: "I am on a carnivore diet so I just eat meat and ferments, and I'm very happy with that. So I'm probably going to have yogurt."
February 8, 2026 at 6:50 PM
I’m glad he clarified that ferments were yogurt. Otherwise I was running with he’d meant to say varmints.