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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 8h

Aside from shattering core state sovereignty, it's saying one state's Guard (TX) is somehow more loyal to the national authority than another's (IL). It's treating the latter as something bordering on hostile, or at least alien. One part of the country and its soldiers are more America than another.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 3h

Oof, yeah I know how that is! You have my sympathy!

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 9h

Kind of wild, as an aside, that Charlie Chaplin dropped one of the great all-time movie speeches in his first film with sound, which he also wrote, directed and produced.

Just one of those insane 'lemmie show you how it is done' moments.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 9h

- Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator (1940), of course.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 9h

Do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

Wayne E. Lee @milhistlee.bsky.social · 16h

Hey Military Historians, esp Grad students! The SMH is announcing its 2026 Summer Seminar in Military history, hosted by the Adams Center at VMI. This is a fabulous opportunity to learn the field outside your specialty, to network, and enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountains. www.smh-hq.org/summersemina...

Summer Seminar | The Society for Military History

www.smh-hq.org

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

Fortunately the flag features a handy illustrated guide if you don't speak Latin.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

Pete Hegseth paging frantically through a Europe from 1500 textbook trying to find where they make the ancien regime great again.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 10h

So Trump is now going to try to rule like an early modern king - just avoid calling the estates general or parliament or the diet and so rule by fiat.

Maybe someone in the GOP should turn the page in book and see what happened next...oh, oh dear...oh no...oh dear ohnonono....

George Pearkes @peark.es · 13h

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 11h

Don’t think these Texas National Guard guys are going to be chasing any immigrants around Chicago on foot

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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 13h

“No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”

George Pearkes @peark.es · 13h

Well that's not how appropriations work at all

*WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER TARIFF REVENUE TO FUND WIC: LEAVITT

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 14h

Substantially worried this is where we are headed and the results if we go there will be robustly bad.

There's just clearly no one left in the room to pull Trump aside and explain this won't just be bad for the country, but dangerous *for him.*

Charlie Sykes @sykescharlie.bsky.social · 14h

Yes, Of Course, Trump Will Invoke the Insurrection Act

open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 15h

Perhaps the best thing is the Patreon model makes it possible for people to pay for and support no-paywall public creation in a meaningful way. That's my model, of course, and it is hard to see how else you get that without government support which is forever fickle.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 15h

In terms of parasocial bonds, in my experience my own Patrons tend to slot very neatly into professor-student patterns with a range of formality and I think that's a fairly healthy social framework for an academic creator.

But I imagine for many, it would be hard to avoid toxic parasociality.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 15h

That said, there's something oddly beautiful about taking the old aristocratic patronage model and truly democratizing it, where The People can directly support 'creatives' of various types to produce the things they want, rather than what CEOs or princes want or think they want.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 15h

The challenge, of course, with the Patreon model is the size of the ecosystem it supports is small (compared to traditional publishing) and if we're honest about its nature, it is reliant on parasocial bonds, which can be unhealthy, to do some of the work of prying dollars out of pockets.

The Questionable Authority @questauthority.bsky.social · 15h

The extent to which Patreon has effectively permitted creatives to monetize their work in a manner that is largely indifferent to intellectual property law protections* is underappreciated and understudied.

*In large part because it's basically a "Distributed de' Midici" compensation model.

Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 18h

This week for @wired.com Big Interview pod, I talk to Patreon CEO Jack Conte, who wants to carve a different path in this era of IP theft and AI slop.

"We're sending rockets into space; we got self-driving cars. We should figure out how to get creative people paid for their work."

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 18h

Imperialism in one country.

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 18h

I was on a panel at Conservative conference today where the UAE model was seriously proposed as a direction to take Britain’s immigration system.

Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 18h

Or the maid, with the employer with grabby hands and nothing to eat but bread and noodles, no bedroom, and no way to leave.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 18h

Adjuncts who actually teach the classes: not in picture, not invited to meeting. Busy actually teaching the classes.

Evangeline Warren @evangelinewarren.com · 1d

assistant professor, associate professor, grad student

the coach of the KC Chiefs, Travis Kelce, and Patrick Mahomes. From left to right they are wearing (1) a very normal grey suit with red tie, (2) a newsboy cap in brown with a shirt that looks like a bad motel wallpaper, and (3) a barbie-esque italian table cloth vest

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 18h

Alas, I believe that ship has already sailed and sunk.

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Reposted by "Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux

Amy J. Rutenberg @amyjay401.bsky.social · 1d

Haven’t listened to the referenced podcast, but yep, this 🧵 is spot on. Recruiting standards move because they have to, push and pull. And they cannot be extricated from social values. I wrote a whole book on it. #civmil #milhist a.co/d/ftzprwH

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

The temptation to focus on the trappings of victory, the things that look like they often accompany victory, without stopping to ask, "wait, does that actually move us towards victory?" is a perpetual problem, though I'd argue that the military's pre-Trump diversity push was victory-oriented.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

It is an almost absurdly simple observation, but a great many pathologies in military policy come from the tendency to reason from values which were in the past or are merely thought to be now, connected to victory, rather than reasoning *from victory* itself as a goal.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

In short, the correct recruiting and fitness standards do not flow from moral assumptions or some ideal, they flow directly from the question of "how many do you need and of what sort?" If the answer is 'more and technical' (it is) and you don't have buckets of money, you have few options.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

FWIW, military enlists are up, but the uptick started in 2024; the army made their goals both this year and last year. I suspect the soft economy has more to do with it than 'woke' or 'unwoke.'

But if Hegseth drives out women and minorities, he'll find them hard to replace.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 1d

Now Hegseth and his fellow travelers believe that Trump will unlock a reserve army of ultra-fit masculine skinheads to fill the ranks, solving the recruiting problem - a thing which does not appear to be happening and a casual glance at demographics suggests probably cannot happen.

Recruiting numbers from Jan 2024 to March 2025, showing them being broadly steady (with a fair bit of variation), with no huge 'Trump surge' in recruitment.

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