Empty Bag of Ducks📎
@emptybagofducks.bsky.social
Ex-Army officer. Retired Fed 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.
Read Theory
“In each case the United States intervened to prevent what was called “anarchy.” Often intervention made things worse…”
“In each case the United States intervened to prevent what was called “anarchy.” Often intervention made things worse…”
January 4, 2026 at 12:06 AM
Read Theory
“In each case the United States intervened to prevent what was called “anarchy.” Often intervention made things worse…”
“In each case the United States intervened to prevent what was called “anarchy.” Often intervention made things worse…”
The Return of Dollar Diplomacy. “In each case the United States intervened to prevent what was called “anarchy.” Often intervention made things worse…”
January 3, 2026 at 10:29 PM
The Return of Dollar Diplomacy. “In each case the United States intervened to prevent what was called “anarchy.” Often intervention made things worse…”
Just a reminder
January 3, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Just a reminder
Read Theory
January 3, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Read Theory
My own umbilical cord. I was a preemie. They lost my pulse immediately after I was born. Resuscitated. Emergency baptism and given last rites.
My whole life has been gravy.
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
My whole life has been gravy.
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January 2, 2026 at 4:39 AM
My own umbilical cord. I was a preemie. They lost my pulse immediately after I was born. Resuscitated. Emergency baptism and given last rites.
My whole life has been gravy.
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
My whole life has been gravy.
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
My college roommate‘s dad gets transferred from San Francisco (home of extended family as well) to Wichita as an 8th grader. He despised Wichita. One year for Christmas I bought him this shirt.
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December 30, 2025 at 4:16 AM
My college roommate‘s dad gets transferred from San Francisco (home of extended family as well) to Wichita as an 8th grader. He despised Wichita. One year for Christmas I bought him this shirt.
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My project as I sat in my infusion chair today getting chemo. They frame and hang these in the waiting areas.
December 22, 2025 at 8:23 PM
My project as I sat in my infusion chair today getting chemo. They frame and hang these in the waiting areas.
My first build was Chris’s Roubio done mainly with hand tools I had restored. Repurposed some Lee Valley vises. Yes, I’m a lefty!
October 21, 2025 at 4:56 AM
My first build was Chris’s Roubio done mainly with hand tools I had restored. Repurposed some Lee Valley vises. Yes, I’m a lefty!
Headlines like these are why the love and support of my friends and family are the only things making this shitty fight with cancer worthwhile. Not this stupid shit.
July 14, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Headlines like these are why the love and support of my friends and family are the only things making this shitty fight with cancer worthwhile. Not this stupid shit.
Not this defilement of the Army motto
June 11, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Not this defilement of the Army motto
As a young Army officer I bought a complete set of these because I thought these were worth fighting for and defending
June 11, 2025 at 12:20 AM
As a young Army officer I bought a complete set of these because I thought these were worth fighting for and defending
I wish the man who never served would stop screwing with those who did. Meanwhile, for those U.S. service members fighting in the Pacific - like my three uncles - victory would come not on May 8, but on August 14, 1945
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
May 3, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I wish the man who never served would stop screwing with those who did. Meanwhile, for those U.S. service members fighting in the Pacific - like my three uncles - victory would come not on May 8, but on August 14, 1945
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
I’ve got some reading for Milo. Spoiler Alert: Factory work isn’t scintillating or satisfying.
April 5, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I’ve got some reading for Milo. Spoiler Alert: Factory work isn’t scintillating or satisfying.
So ok, they made it appear like something appropriate by invoking price elasticity.
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
April 3, 2025 at 2:29 AM
So ok, they made it appear like something appropriate by invoking price elasticity.
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...
I wish they would get the premise of a movement rooted in lived historical experience. This is why they erase that history to align the past to their beliefs.
March 24, 2025 at 11:51 PM
I wish they would get the premise of a movement rooted in lived historical experience. This is why they erase that history to align the past to their beliefs.
Happy memory
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March 21, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Happy memory
miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fi...
miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fi...
Norwich Terrier fans of the world unite!
March 15, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Norwich Terrier fans of the world unite!
I know Trump wants to take us back to the 1890s, but can we skip the company towns?
March 14, 2025 at 12:34 AM
I know Trump wants to take us back to the 1890s, but can we skip the company towns?
When I was Senior Executive Service member, my staff had to shoe horn in time for “correspondence/lunch” into my calendar. Sometimes, it was as little as 15 minutes.
Musk doesn’t seem that busy.
Musk doesn’t seem that busy.
February 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
When I was Senior Executive Service member, my staff had to shoe horn in time for “correspondence/lunch” into my calendar. Sometimes, it was as little as 15 minutes.
Musk doesn’t seem that busy.
Musk doesn’t seem that busy.
Oh yeah, you mean this kind of help?
February 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Oh yeah, you mean this kind of help?
Small detail first: Current administration doesn’t have a published NDS yet. They have to write a National Security Strategy first.
Second, this is um, like normal language every budget cycle. Like, if it’s not in the NDS you shouldn’t be doing it.
Second, this is um, like normal language every budget cycle. Like, if it’s not in the NDS you shouldn’t be doing it.
February 15, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Small detail first: Current administration doesn’t have a published NDS yet. They have to write a National Security Strategy first.
Second, this is um, like normal language every budget cycle. Like, if it’s not in the NDS you shouldn’t be doing it.
Second, this is um, like normal language every budget cycle. Like, if it’s not in the NDS you shouldn’t be doing it.
Just gonna put this up for no particular reason.
February 15, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Just gonna put this up for no particular reason.
Josh Rogin: “Multiple lawmakers here in Munich told me the U.S. Congressional delegation presented Zelensky with a piece of paper they wanted him to sign which would grant the U.S. rights to 50% of Ukraine's future mineral reserves. Zelensky politely declined to sign it.”
We’ll always have Munich.
We’ll always have Munich.
February 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Josh Rogin: “Multiple lawmakers here in Munich told me the U.S. Congressional delegation presented Zelensky with a piece of paper they wanted him to sign which would grant the U.S. rights to 50% of Ukraine's future mineral reserves. Zelensky politely declined to sign it.”
We’ll always have Munich.
We’ll always have Munich.
I know my Military Ethics class was forty years ago, but they drew bright lines between legal and illegal orders.
February 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
I know my Military Ethics class was forty years ago, but they drew bright lines between legal and illegal orders.