Reposted by Wesley MorganJake Godin @godin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Important to note that these bases are built on the cleared ruins of a densely populated area where people lived. Same thing has happened in Swedish Village, Bani Suheila, Al-Qarara, Shujaiya and Jabaliya. 1229
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 21h“Israel is removing essentially every structure its troops encounter, military officials said. During a recent visit, The Wall Street Journal didn’t see any buildings remaining on the Israeli side of the line.” www.wsj.com/world/middle... 02415
Reposted by Wesley MorganAlan Siegel @alansiegella.bsky.social · 08/10/2026"The apotheosis of insanity.” For the 20th anniversary of 30 Rock, I went deep on my favorite thing about it: all the fake shows, movies, and songs. With help from Tina Fey. www.theringer.com/2026/10/08/t...theringer.comFrom ‘MILF Island’ to ‘The Rural Juror’: Inside the Fake World of ‘30 Rock’Nothing explains the greatness of the NBC sitcom—which premiered 20 years ago—like its TV, movie, and song parodies. “They were a treat to write,” says Tina Fey. 35575115
Reposted by Wesley MorganJake Godin @godin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Helped a bit with satellite imagery analysis for this new piece from WSJ's Anat Peled covering IDF outpost construction in Gaza. Currently, there are 32 active IDF bases throughout Gaza with 9 of them being newly-built since the ceasefire last year. Link: www.wsj.com/world/middle... 19735
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026Just an alternative to think about: instead of this healthy and productive vision, you could go chase the dragon in various ugly conflicts around the globe that you have no moral stake in at all, like Tim Kennedy 1130
Reposted by Wesley MorganB. A. Friedman @bafriedman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I really don’t think a public execution by firing squad of a guy in a wheel chair is going to look how they expect it to look. 18842151
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026(2/7 went on to have a crazy suicide epidemic among veterans of that tour)nytimes.comIn Unit Stalked by Suicide, Veterans Try to Save One Another (Published 2015) 020
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Yeah this was probably the craziest example of the whole war outside of SOF 150
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Here is an interesting paper comparing 2/7’s terrible experience in northern Helmand and Farah in 2008 as an orphan battalion under CSTC-A to BLT 1/6’s in southern Helmand at the same time as part of a MEU. I think that had a big effect on MARCENT’s behavior in 2009. web.archive.org/web/20220215... 230
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026In fairness to MARCENT, they had sent 2/7 as an orphan battalion in 2008 and it went terribly. No logistical support, no nothing, terrible casualties. But the insane thing that caused that was that 2/7 was placed under *CSTC-A,* the ANSF training command, rather than under RC-S or TFH Helmand. 270
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Here is a relevant excerpt from LITTLE AMERICA about the Marines-to-Helmand issue www.washingtonpost.com/world/war-zo...washingtonpost.com‘Little America’ book excerpt: Obama’s troop increase for Afghan war was misdirectedThe Pentagon’s decision to send most of the U.S. surge forces to Helmand province instead of Kandahar in 2009 revealed the dysfunction of its war effort in Afghanistan. And the consequences were profo... 180
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026…Basra and felt they needed to demonstrate to the Bush admin that they were willing to take on a bigger mission in Afg, and between the UK, Canada, and the Dutch divvying up RC-S, Helmand was the province available and didn’t seem very violent. www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpo... 260
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026This whole arrangement also kind of echoed the nothing-to-do-with-actual-conditions logic that brought the Brits to Helmand in the first place in 2006: it wasn’t because they were needed there or understood at all what they were getting into, it was because they knew they’d screwed the pooch in… 190
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026…shifted partly out of Helmand to Kandahar as they were building up to the full two-RCT force, it was already a fait accompli and MARCENT, which retained a greater degree of control of Marine forces in theater (I forget whether OPCON or what) than any other component besides SOF, wouldn’t budge. 170
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026…either of the RCTs to the existing RC-S division headquarters in Kandahar. And the only feasible place to put an extra division headquarters was in Helmand. And MARCENT arranged this deal with ISAF and the Brits in early 2009 under McKiernan, and when McChrystal arrived and tried to get Marines… 1100
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I’d recommend Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s LITTLE AMERICA about this, but basically it was because the Marine Corps insisted on getting an Anbar-like arrangement where they could deploy a division headquarters and air wing and everything alongside their two RCTs and fight as a MAGTF, rather farming out… 2140
Reposted by Wesley MorganChris Conti @chriscontiphoto.bsky.social · 08/10/2026You got me, Amazon. Guilty as charged 😂 01629
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Mine is all exactly accurate except it thinks I have a home gym 020
Reposted by Wesley MorganWesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026The crescendo is the second full-scale IDF push into Gaza City in Sept-Oct 2025. There are airstrikes going on against high-rise buildings during this but mainly the destruction is from intense use of tons of earthmovers—the earthmovers are the main effort, with infantry and tanks securing them. 1273
Reposted by Wesley MorganWesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026“Hamas and the population of Gaza will pay a heavy price, beyond all proportion,” if Hamas attacks IDF troops manning the Yellow Line in Gaza on the 10/7 anniversary this week, Defense Minister Katz says.timesofisrael.comKatz says military on alert ahead of possible Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 anniversary* * * 281
Reposted by Wesley MorganWesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026You can really see the different phases of the war play out in this radar imagery. These first two show the damage from the most intense bombing, before ground forces entered Gaza, when the IDF was announcing the destruction of “power targets” and sometimes dropping more than 1,000 bombs in a day. 110135
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Thread breaking down how the frames of this animation map onto the chronology of the war: 0222
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Here’s footage from an Israeli quadcopter of what the earthmover phase of concerted urban demolitions in Gaza in 2025 looked like. I think this is harder for most people to picture than the initial aerial bombing because there were so many fewer Gazans around to document it (they’d been forced out). 1304
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026The crescendo is the second full-scale IDF push into Gaza City in Sept-Oct 2025. There are airstrikes going on against high-rise buildings during this but mainly the destruction is from intense use of tons of earthmovers—the earthmovers are the main effort, with infantry and tanks securing them. 1273
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Feb-April 2025 are a lull again in terms of demolitions (ceasefire and first few weeks after). Destruction picks back up in Rafah, Shejaiya, and Beit Hanoun in late April (and continues until those places are totally gone). From May on, it expands to Khan Younis with Operation Gideon’s Chariot. 1232
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Late summer and early fall 2024 are another relative lull, with controlled demolitions continuing in Rafah and the southern outskirts of Gaza City (the Netzarim Corridor). Then in Oct 2024 the IDF goes back into Jabaliya in a big way. That’s when/where the earthmover demolitions start in earnest. 1261
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026There’s a lull in March-April 2024, and then the next big uptick in destruction is in May-June, when the IDF pushes into Rafah and goes back into Jabaliya briefly and the eastern Gaza City district of Shejaiya. Airstrikes have tapered way off by this point—this is mostly controlled demolitions. 1243
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026These next ones show Dec 2023, when the most ground troops were heavily engaged in Gaza City but had also pushed into Khan Younis, and Jan-Feb 2024, after the IDF pulled out of Gaza City but was still in Khan Younis. Air strikes have started to drop off—about 10 to 15,000 bombs dropped in Dec-Jan. 1232
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026(Those images coincide with when the IDF delegated the highest NAZA numbers—thresholds for expected civilian casualties—to strike cell commanders for strikes on even low-level militants without getting top-level approval: the baseline NAZA number was 20 from 10/7 to mid-Nov, when it was cut to 10.)nytimes.comIsrael Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians (Published 2024)Surprised by Oct. 7 and fearful of another attack, Israel weakened safeguards meant to protect noncombatants, allowing officers to endanger up to 20 people in each airstrike. One of the deadliest bomb... 1262
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026These next ones show the period between the entry of IDF ground troops into Gaza and the first ceasefire on Nov 24, 2023. This was the second-most-intense phase of aerial bombing. From 10/7 through the end of this period, the IDF dropped 30,000 munitions and fired 90,000 howitzer shells into Gaza. 1252
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026You can really see the different phases of the war play out in this radar imagery. These first two show the damage from the most intense bombing, before ground forces entered Gaza, when the IDF was announcing the destruction of “power targets” and sometimes dropping more than 1,000 bombs in a day. 110135
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026…and remember that what this data (based on Sentinel 1 radar satellite imagery) can’t capture is the extreme, to-the-foundations thoroughness of the earthmover demolitions of 2025 compared to the damage inflicted by aerial munitions. 1343
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Striking in this animation of damage in Gaza by the Conflict Ecology team: there’s an intense initial surge of destruction in Oct-Dec 2023 coinciding with by far the heaviest Israeli aerial bombing—but the bulldozer-based phase of the war in spring and Aug-Oct 2025 lights up the map almost as much… 17321
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026“Hamas and the population of Gaza will pay a heavy price, beyond all proportion,” if Hamas attacks IDF troops manning the Yellow Line in Gaza on the 10/7 anniversary this week, Defense Minister Katz says.timesofisrael.comKatz says military on alert ahead of possible Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 anniversary* * * 281
Reposted by Wesley MorganGrantscherm @grantscheam.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Woher der Name "Sauerteig" wohl kommt ? 1028224
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Forget Fat Bear Week. It’s Fat Wētāpunga Week nowtheguardian.com‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brinkWētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss 1203
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026It seems the phrase to search on eBay to find these is “vintage naughty German turtle lady” 0112
Reposted by Wesley MorganWesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026A fun story about British officers in Kandahar being a dick to the French Canadian officer who ran their headquarters, and the French Canadian officer being a dick right back 4532
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026It’s in volume 2 of the Canadian Army’s extremely detailed official history of its involvement in Afghanistan (all free for download as pdfs) www.canada.ca/en/army/serv...canada.caThe Canadian Army in AfghanistanThe War in Afghanistan is unlike any conflict that Canada has ever been involved in. The duration of the war generated continual stresses on the Army and put soldiers, units, and leaders at all level... 091
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I think we can guess that the first name might have been DROP BEAR—try that p-to-b transition in French!—although actual operation wound up being called ASP-E JANUBI, Dari for “Southern Horse.” I’m curious what the retaliatory French Canadian phrase was. 2211
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026A fun story about British officers in Kandahar being a dick to the French Canadian officer who ran their headquarters, and the French Canadian officer being a dick right back 4532
Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I forgot that Jennifer Coolidge was in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans 290
Reposted by Wesley MorganKenny Logins @kennylogins.bsky.social · 02/03/2026me: i am fundementally opposed to mel gibson as employable celebrity/auteur. history is a record of his atrocious views my therapist: that's fair me: but i love it when max rockatansky flips on the blower on his v8 interceptor and vanquishes marauders in glorious battle my therapist: who doesn't 222731
Reposted by Wesley MorganThe Spaceshipper 🚀 @thespaceshipper.com · 01/10/2026Here comes the first part of a new series of articles published on my Patreon: The design and making of ALL the spaceships in the Alien saga, starting with those from the very first movie: the Nostromo, the Narcissus, and the Derelict. This first article is open to everyone. Enjoy!patreon.comAll the spaceships in the Alien universe #1: Alien (1979) | The SpaceshipperFollowing the modest success of the article on the spaceships in For All Mankind, I spent the week combing through every book in my sci-fi l 218044
Reposted by Wesley MorganWesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The kind of people I know now don’t have barbecues, Mama. They stand up alone at nights in small rooms and eat cold weenies. My so-called friends are bums. Many of them are nothing but rats. They spread T.B. and use dirty language. Some of them can even move their ears. 143
Reposted by Wesley MorganDan Murphy @bungdan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Can't pin this one on Trump alone. Shoveling cash at Egypt despite full knowledge of industrial scale torture and other human rights abuses is a long, bipartisan American tradition. reut.rs/4hD4KZareut.rsEXCLUSIVE: US waives rights conditions for $320 million in military aid to Egypt, letter showsThe US State Department has waived human rights conditions for more than $300 million of military aid to Egypt in light of Cairo's "helpful role" since the launch of the US war with Iran, according ... 0274
Reposted by Wesley MorganBrian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Per declaration from the Pentagon's General Counsel, the OLC boat strike memo is TS/SCI, exists in hard copy only, there are only four hard copies, and DoD's sole copy is secured in his safe. Umm, ok This is not some sort of super secret squirrel CA program www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/u...nytimes.comJudge Questions Secrecy Around Trump Administration’s Memo on Boat StrikesThe judge also ordered the Justice Department to privately show the court the contested document, which blesses the disputed killings at sea. 28384113