How important is it to have a competent President who is respected by world leaders? In UK, the equivalent of the "nuclear football" is called "Letters of Last Resort." These hand written letters are issued by each newly installed prime minister and sent to their sub commanders. When new letters are received, the old letters from the outgoing prime minister are destroyed unopened. The letters assume the UK has been attacked by the nuclear weapons and is no longer there. There are four main options a PM offers to sub commanders, they are:

When I left the service, I helped train volunteer park rangers at this nat park. Rhino poaching is a huge problem. Rangers shoot to kill. We were stalked by a bengal for over a day. I didn't think we were getting out of it. Shooting it wasn't an option.
cnn.com/2024/02/15/wor…

https://twitter.com/altnoaa/status/1456091863031615488

You can see how serious it's taken. This crime occurred in 2012, and arrest made in 2023. There's really no statute of limitations, if they can prove you killed a rhino, you're going down. If they see you with a rifle in the park, you're getting buried.
deccanherald.com/amp/story/indi…

In this single paragraph from the US District Court for the District of Columbia in 1973, the court found two important factors that pertain to today's legal questions.

1. The President is an Officer.

2. The President is not a king, and therefore doesn't have (crown) immunity.

https://twitter.com/altnoaa/status/1754761535350567402

The first is important, the Colorado case is before the SCOTUS, but there are cases depending on this decision in other states (such as Massachusetts) where Trump will be removed from ballot in General Election. Is the POTUS an Officer? Yes!

I've been trying to think of how to write this thread for awhile and I'm still not sure how to do it, so I'm just going to write. And before getting into it, I'm not a "prepper" and I'm not advocating violence in any way. But I did spend a decade in Spec Ops, and have concerns. There is a very real possibility that Donald Trump will go to prison. I'd consider it more of a probability at this point. When that happens, a few of his supporters could possibly try to throw this country into chaos. I think this is something that we need to be prepared for.

Tlaib is correct that a government can be criticized without criticizing an entire population. That said, Netanyahu is a racist prick. He always has been and he always will be. If you agree with that, now let me say some things that will make you uncomfortable. The IDF is conducting this war, as I would expect any professional and superior military force would. I served in the USAF 24th STS, alongside Army ODA teams (Green Berets). A large part of what we did was direct air strikes from the ground. Let's examine Gaza.

I was deployed to support counter narcotics operations in the 90s and counterterrorism is the 2000s. A family friend tonight said the cartels are "terrorists". They are not, at least not to the USA, they're organized crime. There is one major unwritten rule to back that up. Earlier this year, a group of Americans visiting Matamoros were shot in their car. It was a case of mistaken identity. The cartels have an unwritten rule to not directly attack Americans. And because this rule was broken, the Gulf Cartel quickly handed over the shooters.

We lost our dad while ALL his kids were serving overseas. When my brother learned about it, it heavily distracted him, he let his guard down, got hurt and he spent a year at Walter Reed recovering. When he was released from his service, he turned to pain killers and alcohol. I was dealing with my own demons after I resigned my commission and left to go to Europe for awhile, so I wasn't around for him. He went through some really tough times. Eventually I returned, learned the extent of things and got him rehabilitation. But his addiction took a toll.

One of my favorite eps of Star Trek from any series is DS9's "Profit and Lace" where Quark dresses in drag and Wallace Shawn plays the Grand Nagus. It's inconceivable! Makes me laugh no matter how down I am! .@ShimermanArmin is a master class actor. He never fails to make me smile.

Florida Republicans who want Trump back in the White House should vote for Charlie Crist. 🧵 There are now several criminal investigations against Trump and his company happening at the state and federal level. Trump has two possibilities of not going to prison, either winning in court in every case (unlikely) or becoming President again (more likely).

It's actually a very important part of national security. In this country, China owns much of the mineral rights in the Permian Basin and Saudi Arabia owns the largest refinery. American oil died when Republicans traded it off. Our military is dependent on foreign corporations.

https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/1583945542459080713

Which, don't get wrong...isn't entirely a bad thing. If we're buying bunker fuels to power a fleet of ships from Chinese (American) wells, then China wants us happy and doesn't want to lose a customer (or their wells). But, if they become a war enemy, things get messy fast.

I was supposed to drive a lady to talk with FEMA this afternoon, but had to cancel and feel like crap about it. I have a few grand worth of tools on a delivery truck that I'm waiting for and being the only one at the property right now, don't want to risk this stuff sitting here. Delivery was supposed to be here several hours ago. It's still very tough to drive around here. In fact, driving right now is a bit of a Motorsport, so I get the delay. Things like this tho just make it very tough to keep your word with people. I hate that. Grrr.

Just got back from Englewood, first trip post Ian. It's a war zone. They still don't have internet restored (Comcast) and cell phones are barely crawling. That is ridiculous! We have two people we'll be assisting with property cleanup there, a double amputee and a quadriplegic. We get recommendations from professionals who recommend ppl they know are both physically incapable of work and have financial need. We're self funded, not accepting outside donations. We do require homeowners to sign a waiver. I felt bad, because we had do this waiver on video.

There are two NWS offices taxpayers in the CONUS should be familiar with. The first is the SPC. They issue "watch" products for the lower 48. The second is your local WFO who issues "warning" products for your area. Additionally, coastal residents should know NHC products. What is the fire weather risk for your area today? You can find out here.
spc.noaa.gov/products/fire_…

My brother and I maintain the "No Hunting" policy on our land that my grandfather established probably in the 1940s. For nearly a century my family has guarded against poaching on our land. When I was little, I'd ride the fences with my grandfather and father to hunt poachers. In those days, most of family lived on or near the ranch so it was easier to take "shifts" and keep watch. Today, my generation of our family lives in other places and our patriarchs are gone. My brother is the sole full time resident and came up with a genius solution.

Florida is going to screw over their students. My background is seamanship, military and meteorology. In every one of those fields (which are related) you have to be able to learn fast, or to think in a certain way. What Florida is doing will result with unprepared students. Let me give an example, my father thought it important that I learned a second language. So I took extra classes growing up to do so. When I joined special forces a 2nd lang was required. Hey, I got one! Military says, "that's wonderful kid, but you're going to learn another!"

Do you see Disney World packing up to relocate? Is the USAF planning on shutting down MacDill? Is NASA moving Kennedy to Georgia? No, No and No. Florida is not going to "be underwater in 20 years" and no respectable climate scientist has suggested it. They will lose some beaches. Sometimes, it's almost like people want climate change to get worse than it is just because they hate a state or geographical region. But, saying these things spreads a false narrative and it's just as bad as denying climate change. Florida is going to be around for awhile.

A lot of people have proposed Putin's objectives in Ukraine. One of the most common is minerals and gas fields. They're getting it wrong. Yes of course he wants that stuff, but his primary goal is weakening NATO. That's it. He says it's going as planned, we should listen... Putin doesn't care that 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. He's got the public's support and he's locked down the press in Russia. Both are giant wins for him! He knows he's propelled Zelensky's popularity, that's part of his plan. Why?

If Will Smith was a white guy everyone would be saying an actor slapped an actor as opposed to saying it was a violent attack. Body slam instead of violent attack.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/happe…

I'm "intimidating" or so I'm told. I'm a nice person who does a lot to help others. But, when I enter a room, people size me up and they know if I wanted to hurt them, I could. It wasn't always that way. I was a small kid. I was bullied and extensively for over year. 1/x My bully was a large kid. He towered me. And he was surrounded by the same group of friends who enforced his bad behavior. I see a lot of people saying "violence is never the answer." I tried a lot of things. I tried making a joke out of him. I tried to ignore him. Never worked.

Just a reminder that Russia's flattop has to travel with a fleet tug because it's that unreliable. I saw it at sea once, it wasn't under tow at the time, but was exhausting so much black smoke that we thought a vessel was on fire when we first saw it on the horizon. I'm fairly confident a troop of Boy Scouts and some kayaks could disable it.

A shorter distance left to go than the distance across Texas! James Webb Space Telescope is almost home! #jwst 400 miles. #jwst