Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds

NOW THIS ACTUALLY IS SMART DIPLOMACY:

NEW RESPECT FOR Seth Barrett Tillman. He’s a smart guy and he convinced me years ago with his and Josh Blackman’s take on officers of the United States, which turns out to matter now.

THE WAGES OF TAKING YOUR MBA TO WAR: “Something very predictable happened in our quarter century roadtrip on the way to Tomorrowland; we realized instead we wound up on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride instead. I would like the record to show here in 2QFY24 that this exact problem was discussed in detail back when I was a JO in the mid-1990s. This is not shocking to anyone who is wearing the uniform of a GOFO. They lived the same history I did. We knew we were living a lie that we could sustain a big fight at sea. An entire generation of Flag Officers led this lie in the open and ordered everyone else to smile through it. Ignore your professional instincts, and trust The Smartest People in the Room™.”

PUTTING MORE WOMEN IN CHARGE WOULD PRODUCE A KINDER, GENTLER CULTURE, THEY SAID: Report: Fired USS Lake Erie captain instilled a ‘culture of fear’.

Capt. Danielle DeFant — who commanded the ship for roughly 14 months — was ousted following an investigation that began after three unnamed subordinates aired grievances about “toxic command climate and/or sexual discrimination.” . . .

In one incident, a conning officer responded to a question from DeFant that was meant for the officer of the deck, causing DeFant to grab him by the collar and reprimand him.

The investigator noted that, in response, DeFant pulled the officer close and whispered something along the lines of, “was I talking to you … You’re not the [OOD] … I was talking to the OOD … don’t ever interrupt me again.”

The Navy has had leadership problems lately. Full report here.

FIGHT THE POWER: Law Prof Presses Male Sex-Bias Allegations In New Suit After Federal Judge Tosses His Title IX Claim. “A professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law has filed a new lawsuit against the school stemming from a former associate dean’s alleged comments in 2016 that she didn’t want to see white men teaching anymore in the trial advocacy program that he headed. Law professor David Schott alleges in his Feb. 2 suit that he notified the law school dean of the alleged comments by Viva Moffat, the associate dean of academic affairs. In the years that followed, he was subjected to a ‘steady barrage of adverse actions and false statements,’ the suit contends.”

THEY’D BE WISE TO. Should Poland Go Nuclear? “Many Ukrainians will admit that giving up the country’s nuclear arsenal in the 1990s was a tragic mistake, setting the stage for Russian interference and aggression in the years to come.”

WATCHING THIS VIDEO I FEEL A POWERFUL DESIRE FOR A BASEBALL BAT:

50 years ago — heck 20 years ago — most people in the store would have brought this guy down. Now, nothing, even from the “security” employees. On the one hand, Apple deserves this because it’s what they’ve worked to produce. On the other, this guy is a pollutant to his neighborhood, and by encouraging him Apple is no better than a factory with a stinky smokestack poisoning its neighbors.

OPEN THREAD: Anything to talk about?