Giled Pallaeon
@giledpallaeon.bsky.social
Military & International Affairs nerd. Defense professional. Mostly naval subjects, but all aspects of defense and natsec welcome. Oh, & plastic spaceships, that too. All opinions on all subjects my own #WeAreNAFO
Pinned
Giled Pallaeon
@giledpallaeon.bsky.social
· May 15
Previous type entries have made note of the appropriate deployment of a particular type, with special regard to campaign operations. Star Destroyer as defined here overrides those generalized parameters. It is the assessment of [Redacted] to append the designation “Star Destroyer”…
Reposting so I can pin this. Below is part of a thread I wrote including my Watsonian redefinition of the term “Star Destroyer”
He was already allergic to using his supposedly great mind. I couldn’t be less surprised.
MIT's famous linguistic professor Noam Chomsky was in regular and close contact with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a review of emails published by the U.S. House Oversight Committee. In the documents, Chomsky described Epstein as a "highly valued friend."
Epstein emails show close connection with MIT's Noam Chomsky
MIT's famous linguistic professor Noam Chomsky was in regular and close contact with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a review of emails published by the U.S. House Oversight Committee. In t...
www.wbur.org
November 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM
He was already allergic to using his supposedly great mind. I couldn’t be less surprised.
I could probably remove the party filter and still be on one hand. And that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight the Cult of the Gizmo, it’s extremely dangerous. But we should be clear-eyed that this is a campaign for the indefinite future. Americans are weak to the Cult of the Gizmo unfortunately.
I can count on (maybe) 1 hand the number of elected D’s I actually trust in dealing with the gizmo cult so if we can get to 2 hands…
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I could probably remove the party filter and still be on one hand. And that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight the Cult of the Gizmo, it’s extremely dangerous. But we should be clear-eyed that this is a campaign for the indefinite future. Americans are weak to the Cult of the Gizmo unfortunately.
*reads military news from non-mil specialized outfit, sighs*
Per SOUTHCOM, FORD is sailing with three DDGs, BAINBRIDGE, MAHAN, and WINSTON CHURCHILL. SOUTHCOM’s press release describes CHURCHILL as the “integrated air and missile defense command ship”, which presumably means she is the designated…
Per SOUTHCOM, FORD is sailing with three DDGs, BAINBRIDGE, MAHAN, and WINSTON CHURCHILL. SOUTHCOM’s press release describes CHURCHILL as the “integrated air and missile defense command ship”, which presumably means she is the designated…
It was deployed to support Operation Southern Spear. The ship is the first of a new class of aircraft carriers being built for the U.S. military. n.pr/4807YRU
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is in the Caribbean. Here's its backstory
It was deployed to support Operation Southern Spear. The ship is the first of a new class of aircraft carriers being built for the U.S. military.
n.pr
November 16, 2025 at 11:57 PM
*reads military news from non-mil specialized outfit, sighs*
Per SOUTHCOM, FORD is sailing with three DDGs, BAINBRIDGE, MAHAN, and WINSTON CHURCHILL. SOUTHCOM’s press release describes CHURCHILL as the “integrated air and missile defense command ship”, which presumably means she is the designated…
Per SOUTHCOM, FORD is sailing with three DDGs, BAINBRIDGE, MAHAN, and WINSTON CHURCHILL. SOUTHCOM’s press release describes CHURCHILL as the “integrated air and missile defense command ship”, which presumably means she is the designated…
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
Love this by @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social: "The plot against the United States is not a Philip Roth-esque conspiracy built by conspiring fascists in the shadows. The plot against America is more banal. It is the desecration of our basic sense of what it means to be a good citizen of our Nation."
The Conspiracy Against America
National Populism and the United States
othermeans.io
November 16, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Love this by @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social: "The plot against the United States is not a Philip Roth-esque conspiracy built by conspiring fascists in the shadows. The plot against America is more banal. It is the desecration of our basic sense of what it means to be a good citizen of our Nation."
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
Some inspiring words on cinema in the streaming era from the Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
November 15, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Some inspiring words on cinema in the streaming era from the Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Yes, THAT Pope.
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
Some are calling him one of the stupidest motherfuckers in American defense policy (me)
June 20, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Some are calling him one of the stupidest motherfuckers in American defense policy (me)
It’s a black swan event that does actually happen. The tricky part is this particular swan has the largest strategic and non-strategic nuclear arsenal in the world, spread out over the largest country in the world. Ezpz
the thing about predicting russia's collapse is eventually you'll be right you just have to wait anywhere from a few weeks to seventy years
November 14, 2025 at 10:19 PM
It’s a black swan event that does actually happen. The tricky part is this particular swan has the largest strategic and non-strategic nuclear arsenal in the world, spread out over the largest country in the world. Ezpz
Alternative units of measure include a destroyer, about 20-25 F-35s depending on the lot, and quite a few missiles.
That’s 2/3 of annual cost of Sentinel
Trump's Pentagon name change could cost up to $2 billion www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
November 13, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Alternative units of measure include a destroyer, about 20-25 F-35s depending on the lot, and quite a few missiles.
Increasingly hard to resist the view we should have intervened from the get-go, potentially with maximalist aims, nuclear threats be damned
November 13, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Increasingly hard to resist the view we should have intervened from the get-go, potentially with maximalist aims, nuclear threats be damned
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
sharepoint answers the question of “what if google drive hung every time you changed a font”
November 10, 2025 at 7:42 PM
sharepoint answers the question of “what if google drive hung every time you changed a font”
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
For those unfamiliar with probably the best airport from a functional perspective in the country, Hartsfield has five runways. That’s a plane per runway every ten minutes, instead of the usual 2.5.
Waiting for a very delayed flight to Atlanta & the pilot (Scott!) has become everyone's best friend, hanging out amongst the people. He's let us know that Atlanta is only allowing 30 flights an hour, when it's usually 120.
Obviously frustrating but also enjoying how much Scott is relishing this.
Obviously frustrating but also enjoying how much Scott is relishing this.
November 9, 2025 at 4:42 AM
For those unfamiliar with probably the best airport from a functional perspective in the country, Hartsfield has five runways. That’s a plane per runway every ten minutes, instead of the usual 2.5.
If I may pivot off this, this does bring one to the areas of advantage a carrier does have. First and foremost, a carrier can provide elevated sensing. The curvature of the Earth is a problem for all sensors, but the gap in sensing between a surface ship and aircraft is of category difference.
Today, the better capability for long-range strike is any ship with a Vertical Launch System (VLS). They can launch different types of missiles and missiles are just better at long-range strike than the manned aircraft that a carrier can handle (land-based bombers are a totally different story).
November 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
If I may pivot off this, this does bring one to the areas of advantage a carrier does have. First and foremost, a carrier can provide elevated sensing. The curvature of the Earth is a problem for all sensors, but the gap in sensing between a surface ship and aircraft is of category difference.
What does it take to convince you that:
A. American hegemony is good for you/America
and
B. “Be[ing] the world’s mom and dad”is good for American hegemony.
There’s also a wave of ethical arguments but cold assessments of American cost benefit still favor this overwhelmingly.
A. American hegemony is good for you/America
and
B. “Be[ing] the world’s mom and dad”is good for American hegemony.
There’s also a wave of ethical arguments but cold assessments of American cost benefit still favor this overwhelmingly.
I dunno. I do like our government spending less money anywhere they can. I like even more if my taxes go down as a result. Since when is our job to be the world’s mom and dad? Did other countries step up to fill that gap?
November 7, 2025 at 2:50 PM
What does it take to convince you that:
A. American hegemony is good for you/America
and
B. “Be[ing] the world’s mom and dad”is good for American hegemony.
There’s also a wave of ethical arguments but cold assessments of American cost benefit still favor this overwhelmingly.
A. American hegemony is good for you/America
and
B. “Be[ing] the world’s mom and dad”is good for American hegemony.
There’s also a wave of ethical arguments but cold assessments of American cost benefit still favor this overwhelmingly.
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
It also seems to me to be suicide for fear of death. What exactly do we fear from China that’s worse than command-economy-ing ourselves into manufacturing and out of all the industries we’re world leaders in?
Friendshoring makes sense. Fantasies of autarky are just that.
Friendshoring makes sense. Fantasies of autarky are just that.
November 6, 2025 at 10:11 PM
It also seems to me to be suicide for fear of death. What exactly do we fear from China that’s worse than command-economy-ing ourselves into manufacturing and out of all the industries we’re world leaders in?
Friendshoring makes sense. Fantasies of autarky are just that.
Friendshoring makes sense. Fantasies of autarky are just that.
As an engineering project, I’m quite curious how Lego got the saucer and the upper secondary hull built, especially with the ability to separate off what looks like one small button in the video. Larger Star Wars UCS models have been using technic as the skeleton and “hanging” the skin off that.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD ☝️
The Lego Icons Star Trek: The Next Generation USS Enterprise-D ($400, 3,600 pieces) will be available on November 28.
The Lego Icons Star Trek: The Next Generation USS Enterprise-D ($400, 3,600 pieces) will be available on November 28.
November 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
As an engineering project, I’m quite curious how Lego got the saucer and the upper secondary hull built, especially with the ability to separate off what looks like one small button in the video. Larger Star Wars UCS models have been using technic as the skeleton and “hanging” the skin off that.
(Surprising no one) I have thoughts on this, but first and foremost is that the American public wants what classes as a moral good of building things but absolutely don’t actually do that. We also want the wealth and easy work lives of our service economy. And we seem to want that more.
We can’t feed McKinsey to people or build a data center with shares in Meta, much as “We are a service economy” sounds good.
November 6, 2025 at 2:22 AM
(Surprising no one) I have thoughts on this, but first and foremost is that the American public wants what classes as a moral good of building things but absolutely don’t actually do that. We also want the wealth and easy work lives of our service economy. And we seem to want that more.
Fun fact, this movie is about the same period in history that ended up (indirectly) causing:
1. Teddy Roosevelt’s Peace Prize
2. The fall of the Russian Empire and the rise of the USSR
and its own cause is inextricably linked to the Emancipation Proclamation.
1. Teddy Roosevelt’s Peace Prize
2. The fall of the Russian Empire and the rise of the USSR
and its own cause is inextricably linked to the Emancipation Proclamation.
It’s hard to believe but there was a cartoon about an immigrant mouse and it was seen as totally fine and not controversial and not woke because it was an aspirational and nice thing about America that people could come here and find a better life
November 5, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Fun fact, this movie is about the same period in history that ended up (indirectly) causing:
1. Teddy Roosevelt’s Peace Prize
2. The fall of the Russian Empire and the rise of the USSR
and its own cause is inextricably linked to the Emancipation Proclamation.
1. Teddy Roosevelt’s Peace Prize
2. The fall of the Russian Empire and the rise of the USSR
and its own cause is inextricably linked to the Emancipation Proclamation.
As usual, SecDef Rock not only can’t miss but has broad critiques layered into the razor sharp way the bullshit is sliced apart.
November 5, 2025 at 10:43 PM
As usual, SecDef Rock not only can’t miss but has broad critiques layered into the razor sharp way the bullshit is sliced apart.
I’m not the only one jumping on this, but sweet baby Jesus in the manger what the actual fuck is a non-militarized security framework?
I’m serious, how do you plan to deter an invasion without hard power? Leaflets? Sanctions by a government-suddenly-in-exile? Protests?
I’m serious, how do you plan to deter an invasion without hard power? Leaflets? Sanctions by a government-suddenly-in-exile? Protests?
The Green Party condemns Russia’s invasion, backs Ukraine’s sovereignty, and urges peace talks. It opposes NATO expansion and supports replacing NATO with a cooperative, non-militarised European security framework 💚
November 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I’m not the only one jumping on this, but sweet baby Jesus in the manger what the actual fuck is a non-militarized security framework?
I’m serious, how do you plan to deter an invasion without hard power? Leaflets? Sanctions by a government-suddenly-in-exile? Protests?
I’m serious, how do you plan to deter an invasion without hard power? Leaflets? Sanctions by a government-suddenly-in-exile? Protests?
This. As others have called it, it’s an O-3 mindset in a job above O-10
The beef I have with all this stuff from Heggy is that I do not need the SecDdef bolstering fitness standards. The US has a bunch of NCOs and officers capable of that. I need the SecDef to get us more B-21s and unfuck shipbuilding and make the army pick a goddamn identity and stick with it. 2/2
November 2, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This. As others have called it, it’s an O-3 mindset in a job above O-10
Reposted by Giled Pallaeon
No, NO
All of their decisions in the movie suck and are bad!!! They talk themselves into striking before a single ICBM of unknown origin even hits!!!
All of their decisions in the movie suck and are bad!!! They talk themselves into striking before a single ICBM of unknown origin even hits!!!
November 2, 2025 at 12:38 AM
No, NO
All of their decisions in the movie suck and are bad!!! They talk themselves into striking before a single ICBM of unknown origin even hits!!!
All of their decisions in the movie suck and are bad!!! They talk themselves into striking before a single ICBM of unknown origin even hits!!!
Your regularly scheduled reminder of one of the pioneering groups of what is now called operations research was a group of teen and twenty something women led by a gamer too ill for sea duty trying to do their part to defend their island home.
This here is one of the great U-boat hunters of the Second World War.
Grab a comfy seat and a glass of something pleasing. We're going on a journey...
Grab a comfy seat and a glass of something pleasing. We're going on a journey...
November 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Your regularly scheduled reminder of one of the pioneering groups of what is now called operations research was a group of teen and twenty something women led by a gamer too ill for sea duty trying to do their part to defend their island home.
For the gazillionth time, this. They’re right *on average*. That’s not the same thing as either right or smart.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
October 27, 2025 at 10:24 PM
For the gazillionth time, this. They’re right *on average*. That’s not the same thing as either right or smart.
Yeah I reread this this morning hoping to find some sense, and it got worse. This launch platform is being towed by a HEMTT, a *ten ton truck*. You can’t drive that over huge fractions of the theater, and it sticks out everywhere it can go. This is insane. www.twz.com/wp-content/u...
October 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Yeah I reread this this morning hoping to find some sense, and it got worse. This launch platform is being towed by a HEMTT, a *ten ton truck*. You can’t drive that over huge fractions of the theater, and it sticks out everywhere it can go. This is insane. www.twz.com/wp-content/u...