Brian Hawkins

don’t forget to destroy your clocks tonight, walk away from your mortgage, just start driving, you’re free

Listened to the audiobook version of James SA Corey’s “Livesuit” yesterday and today (it’s a novella, so short.) First audiobook I ever finished (my mind wanders.)

It’s in the Captive’s War universe but is a standalone. Solid military SF leavened with transhumanism/ body horror. Very cool.

Have fun shitting out all that Parmesan buddy!

Ok if Top Chef ever does a “one quarter of your prep just got devoured by a counter surfing golden retriever, now you have to salvage the meal” challenge I guess I’m ready for that

🫡

I’m on it, sir!

🧵

Pretty much everything written by Aaron Sorkin

None of these people have ever learned the basic lesson of dealing with a narcissist — you can debase yourself all you want to bask in that special narcissist sunshine a few minutes longer, but the sun of the narcissist always moves on, and you’re left exposed as weak, having done it all for nothing

Screenshot of an excerpt of a Bulwark article by Lt. Gen. (retired) Mark Hertling: *** This is why responsible national leadership requires two qualities at the same time: expertise and, in my view, a level of discomfort and anxiety. Expertise ensures decisions are grounded in strategy—clear thinking about ends, ways, and means. What is the political objective? What military action advances it? How do those individual tactical actions contribute to an operational plan? What risks follow? What happens the day after the strikes end? Discomfort serves as a moral and strategic guardrail. Leaders who feel the weight of ordering teenagers toward hardship, injury, and death are more likely to ask the necessary hard questions. They consult widely, think about escalation, and remember that war is not simply a tool of policy but a human undertaking with irreversible consequences. The paradox is that those who understand force best are rarely eager to use it. They prepare for it. They plan for it. They master it. But they never become comfortable with it. If a president is becoming more knowledgeable about military power, that is a good thing. If he is becoming “comfortable” ordering it, that should give all of us pause—because too much comfort with the desire to use force is rarely a sign of wisdom.

"The paradox is that those who understand force best are rarely eager to use it. They prepare for it. They plan for it. They master it. But they never become comfortable with it."

Really wise piece here from @markhertling.bsky.social.

www.thebulwark.com/i/190103369/...

MANDATORY TIMELINE CLEANSE

this is like

the thesis statement of our times

I’m REALLY good at this. (Dogs sleep on the bed so they get washed every week. Lots of practice!)

Well, pretty happy that for now I only gas up my car about once/month

Gyllenhaal: you know, you really can't talk about the bride of frankenstein
Gyllenhaal: [sitting backwards in chair] without talking about consent
Dan Simmons: UGH i can't believe frankenstein went woke!
Mary Shelley: shut the fuck up loser
Shelley: let her cook

So Philip Glass just joined TikTok. He only has like 4 posts and they’re simply him in what I assume is his living room playing the piano. First comment on one I saw was “your piano is too close to the fireplace, you’ll dry it out” and if that’s not the internet in a nutshell I don’t know what is.

DHHS has existed since 2003; Secretaries have served under four presidents.

Including acting, 16 people have served as Secretary.

8 (and counting) under Trump.

Convo yesterday with my partner…
Me: Did you hear the news about @sgj.bsky.social?
B: No?
Me: new book comes out in October! Titled “Off the Reservation”
B: oh fuck yeah
Me: takes place 5 years after “The Only Good Indians”
*shows cover*
B: OH FUCK YEAH

In general I like this age because a whole lot of things that used to trouble me mostly don’t anymore on the other hand I had a brief slip on some ice while walking this evening (didn’t even fall!) and now I can’t turn my head so

I mean…they already have in my opinion but I know what you mean

If I’m reading things correctly there are currently zero elected Democrats in any statewide office or US House seats in OK. So while not technically impossible it seems unlikely.

Shit’s bleak y’all. Enjoy the schadenfreude when you can but don’t let yourself believe this is progress.

Noem wasn’t really running DHS. Stephen Miller was, and still is.

My somewhat serious take on Trump’s cabinet, generally: it doesn’t matter much. Policy, such as it is, is being run out of the WH.

Possible exception for RFK b/c no one in the administration really cares about HHS apart from defunding “woke science”. They’re just letting that lunatic do whatever.

Never forget: it can always get worse

Taymor’s Titus is so good and so hard to find. I’m pretty sure the only time I saw it was in the theater.

Human rights aren't selectively extended to some humans, that's literally why they are called "human rights"

Mirror selfie of a middle aged white man. He’s stocky with a closely trimmed and mostly gray beard , wearing chunky black glasses, a black toque, a black Nine Inch Nails T-shirt layered over a dark grey long sleeve thermal, and olive green pants.

GenXmaxing this morning

pan of cute biscuits decorated to look like faces

same pan baked, a horrific fucked up mass of evil

how it started/how it's going

Awkward honesty is sometimes a pretty good ice breaker. It sounds like you have a healthy enough relationship to dispense with the awkwardness quickly.

Although his critics were concerned about the repercussions with regard to Canada/U.S. relations, Chrétien was praised at the time for prioritizing Canadian values and keeping soldiers out of the conflict over diplomacy. Today, it's regarded as one of Canada's greatest foreign policy achievements.