Charlie Stross

RE: https://mastodon.social/@FeralRobots/116052828028311024

Yeah, this is the most parsimonious explanation:

Hegseth is an utter fool who thinks the military is about "fighting wars" and wishy-washy libtard stuff like keeping the civil authorities in the loop is useless fluff, so he axed the civilian liaison roles. And FAA runs on the precautionary principle ("avoid putting airliners at risk"). So the shutdown only got rolled back when it was escalated to Kegbreath's desk and he said "WTF? Not Like that!!"

Feb 11 at 4:23pmWeb
Show threadIl Fiore del ParmigianoFeb 11
@cstross I know we use it in these contexts because Republicans use it unironically, but can we please stop with the R-word riffs? Subjecting disabled people to that does far more harm than it does any good for anyone else.
Show threadSeiðrFeb 11
@cstross Malicious compliance use of precautionary principles is one of my favourite ways of sabotaging arseholes.
Show threadDavid Penfold Feb 11
@cstross Kegbreath 😁💯
Show threadMighty OrbotFeb 11
@cstross Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity, I guess.
Show threadBernFeb 12

@cstross there's also the issue of live-fire testing a laser-based anti-drone system right next door to a commercial airport... 🙄

The White Sands missile test range exists for a reason.

Show thread🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑Feb 17
@cstross
One reason the US Department of War became the Department of Defense in 1949 is that our leadership recognized that the primary objective of the Department had become to _prevent_ war. Actually fighting a war was what happened only if the primary objective failed.
It is not, therefore, a surprise that Trump and Hegseth wanted the old name back. As usual, they are signalling intent.
"Be afraid. Be very afraid."