Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
The F-35’s Class A flight mishap rate at this point in its history is quite good compared to other aircraft at that point in their history!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLuxM5lg8Jo
The Trump administration keeps claiming how well they have degraded Iranian capabilities, but US bases keep getting hit. Iran isn’t going to surrender due to air strikes. The best way to win the war is a full land invasion, with the massive costs that that would entail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgn9dL9T_cI
Secretary of Defense Hegseth has been firing top military people based on whether he thinks their politics align with his. And, he is firing well respected people with great experience.
The first day of the war the US slaughtered Iranian girls in a girls school. This was hopefully a legitimate mistake, but, the US has the obligation to acknowledge what happened and explain it to the public. Instead, Hegseth and Trump refuse to talk about it.
Hegseth may have done his job well when he was in the military, but he did not have the experience to be Secretary of Defense. He also doesn’t have the personality to be Secretary of Defense. He had problems with alcohol, with his own finances, and regularly publicly spoke like a biased reactionary partisan hack who buys into many falsehoods and exaggerations often told by Trump and his supporters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II7pGJkV5C8
The US military needs to improve its urban warfare and subterranean warfare capabilities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfqD0Oaa48
Trump thinks a trade deficit means the US lost. This is false. Americans agreeing to buy goods from another country is a win for both sides.
Trade enlarges the pie, creating more total goods than we’d have without it. Consumers count too, and they benefit by buying foreign products, so do companies using foreign inputs to create goods and services in America.
The US needs to maintain its ability to produce military necessities, but the administration’s approach is to treat deficits generally as a lost. They broadly attack bilateral deficits without a sensible strategy–this hurts most people.
Lower prices aren’t necessarily “cheap”. They mean more. You can buy more; American businesses can produce more.
A lot of manufacturing jobs aren’t even good jobs anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYsdgsiyQO0
US bombers should be renamed missilers because, these days, they tend to drop missiles more than bombs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ-qBf5ufMc
Long-term military containment with ships escorting oil tankers through the Strait may be the best among bad options. Future congresses and presidents would need to maintain it though, and it would be expensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT6h3-2HZ6k
Russia and China are building out their military reach and facilities in the Arctic. They are close to Alaska, and the US is behind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFCS2HwInU8
The US is blowing up bridges, water, food, and bases that help Iran reinforce the Strait of Hormuz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPt6VVQWF4s
Due to European military dependence on the US, Europe has been deferential to the US. They let the US use their land and facilities even for wars they disagreed with.
Defending Europe is not a driver of US spending. Europe spending more is good, but it won’t make the defense of the US and its interests cheaper. If the relationship is too damaged, it will make it more expensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAr7k_ACewY