John Dovey

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

This is why I live X. Never deleting this app

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

USA. My neighbor's mailbox has a small red flag, and yesterday I watched him raise it like a banner before battle.

I asked what he was declaring.

"Outgoing mail," he said. "Flag up means the mailman takes it."

I need you to understand what this means, because my neighbor clearly did not. You place your letter in the box. You raise the flag. And a sworn officer of the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, seeing your signal, stops at your gate and carries your words anywhere in the nation.

The flag is a SUMMONS. Every house on this street has the power to summon the federal government with one finger, and they use it for birthday cards.

In Japan, we carry our letters to the post office, humbly, as petitioners. Here, the post office comes to YOU, because you raised a tiny flag. The samurai of my province summoned messengers with seals and lanterns and rank. You people do it with a red stick, while in pajamas.

I tested it. Of course I tested it. I wrote to my brother in Japan, placed the letter in the box, raised the flag, and stood watch at the window.

Three hours. I made tea. I regret nothing.

The carrier arrived. Saw the flag. Stopped. TOOK THE LETTER. Lowered the flag — closing the covenant — and drove on, as if the miracle were a Tuesday, which, to her, it was.

It works, America. The signal works. It costs nothing. The republic ANSWERS.

A man does not ask the republic to notice him. He raises the flag, and is noticed.

My neighbor says I "send a lot of mail now." Correct. I have written to my brother, two museums, and the company that makes my preferred tea, who replied with coupons and kind words. The flag has been up four times this week.

A man with a summoning flag and nothing to send will find something worth sending. That is not an excuse. That is a philosophy.

The flag is up right now, America. What did I send?

Wouldn't YOU like to know.

It is dorayaki. For Devin at the drugstore. He will not understand, and he will eat them anyway.

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@66NavVet @Milajoy It's not your algebra or arithmetic, but story-sums that you need to revise 😁

[Deputy Matt @BangSwitchMatt]

Not sure how I am only just now hearing this*, but in case you had not heard it, that POS dirtbag with the AR that went on a shooting rampage in Cambridge, MA the other day, he was stopped by an armed civilian who was joined by a cop, they worked as a team, and stopped the suspect.

You know, ALL of the stuff that the antigun crowd says NEVER happens.

In fact, this one incident is the perfect example of how every relevant democrat policy is dead wrong.

- Democrat soft on crime policies put a multiple time convicted felon and attempted cop killer back on the street in the blink of an eye.
- MA strict gun laws (rated an A by Giffords) did absolutely nothing to prevent a convicted felon from getting a gun.
- An armed private citizen actually engaged the suspect.
- When the cops arrived, despite what antigun Dems love to say, the cop was immediately able to tell the difference between the armed civilian and the armed shitbag.
- The cops did not shoot the wrong person.
- The armed civilian did not shoot a bunch of random innocent people.
- The armed civilian and the cop worked together to end the situation, saving innocent lives.

Guns Save Lives! Practice your ABC's - Always Be Carrying!

(* Actually, I do know why it took so long to come out, the MSM doesn't like it when armed civilians save the day.)

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

I received an award @Viewbug https://t.co/3IIv2LWqz7 #photography

[InfantryDort @infantrydort]

Men of action will always be hated by men of “intelligence.”

That hatred deepens when a man has both. He leaves them no refuge in theory, no comfort in critique, and no illusion of superiority.

Those who won’t act learn to tear down those who do.

And the world ONLY moves with those who move it.

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

GOSA Girls on Fire Photoshoot. @GOSAhasmy6

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@timdavies_uk But twenty years from now they'd be trying them for murder....

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

... Until I view my own post. So the same on Android...

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

🔫 I don't see the 1911

[Resist the Mainstream @ResisttheMS]

ELON MUSK: "If you use a gun emoji on X, Apple forces it to be a squirt gun. Then the X app turns it back into a 1911. Yes, you can actually have a 1911. We reverted Apple's change inside the app."

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

Love the Japanese crashing into X and making it a whole new experience

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@Paratus2014 Exactly right.

[Tom Kratman @TKratman]

From Martin Iles, reposted:

Having lived in the USA for nearly two years, I've realised something.

The USA and the remainder of the Western world are no longer aligned.

We all laugh and mock when the Americans say, "Freedom!" because we truly think we're as free as they are.

Wrong. We're not. Not even close. The laws, the mindset, and the behaviour, is totally different in this regard.

Most of all, the governments are totally different. The USA's convictions around core freedoms are on a scale we do not share.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump wins the popular vote, the electoral college, the House, and the Senate... a man who, in every other Western country, is held in open derision, if not contempt.

For these and other reasons, we are not the same.

Yet the West, including Australia, fully expect to rely on the USA for our very survival.

If the world turns bad (which will happen - only a question of time), then the whole West, without America, is toast.

So, you may ask - if we're not very aligned ideologically, then it must be that we bring something to the party militarily?

Well, no... actually... we don't matter that much militarily.

The USA has about 470 ships in its navy, including 11 aircraft carriers, 69 submarines, 75 destroyers... plus 110 new ships in the pipeline.

Australia has about 30, including 3 destroyers, 7 frigates and 7 outdated submarines. The UK does a little better, with about 60.

Meanwhile, the US has over 14,000 military aircraft. A staggering number.

Australia has 252 military aircraft. The UK has 556.

The US army has just shy of 1,000,000 uniformed personnel in its military. Australia has about 45,000.
The USA spends 3.4% ($968 billion) of its GDP on defence. Australia spends 2% ($36.4 billion). The US spends as much as the next 15 largest military-spending countries (including China) combined.

The USA has a fighting culture. The men shoot things (a lot) and hunt things, the veterans get favoured in everything from parking spots to boarding planes. A uniformed young man is thanked in the street a dozen times a day.

"Oh, the Americans and their guns!" we say, in our smug way. Yes, they have a warrior culture. We do not. We don't have to, because we're a leech on theirs.

How many young British men are willing to fight for their country? Now ask the same regarding young American men. The difference is about as wide as it could be.

Militarily, we don't offer squat.

Meanwhile, look at the way Australia works against America's interests by loving on China. China made us rich and we stay close. This is a Marxist regime with expansionist aims.

Again, you have to spend time in the USA to realise just how vast a gulf there is between us on China.

Europe, too. They let China have their way everywhere from Germany to Greenland, all the while importing Islam and sending their own people to court for saying hurty words.

Somehow, we have landed the deal of a lifetime with the USA that says, "when the baddies come, you'll save us ok?" Because we can't save ourselves.

And we live in peace. But we keep gnawing away at freedoms, keep enabling China, and get flabby and disinterested about our military because Uncle Sam's got it.

And, let's be honest, Americans are widely looked down on. To add insult to injury, we don't think that highly of our protectors.

So, the USA is finally saying "enough." I am here, I can tell you what the vibe is, and that's it. Trump is doing what people want in this regard. They're over it.

And we come across all shocked and hard done by. We behave like people with no self-insight at all.

Yes, the global alliance system is all over the place now. From America's perspective, it's about time.

And I must say, though I be a proud Australian, I am forced to agree. Something has to change.

[Dr. Brian L. Cox @BrianCox_RLTW]

Retired Army JAG here. And former infantry soldier & officer. And current law professor.

And YOU are full of shit.

No quarter ORDERS do violate #LOAC. Giving that order is a war crime even if it's not carried out.

But that is NOT an order @SecWar @PeteHegseth gave. And that is why you are full of shit.

See, I've also trained hundreds of soldiers on LOAC in the applied context. Thousands, actually. And I've advised commanders & decision makers on LOAC in combat, in Afghanistan as Chief of International & Operational Law for CJTF-101/RC-E (OEF XIV).

That's why I know the difference between what SECWAR said in a press briefing yesterday & a war crime. Apparently you don't - so I'll do you a favor & spell it out for you step by step, in simple language that you'll hopefully understand.

Let's start off with what Hegseth ACTUALLY said:

"It's a mess for them. Who's in charge? Iran may not even know. With every passing hour, we know and we know they know, that the military capabilities of their evil regime are crumbling. They can barely communicate, let alone coordinate; they're confused and we know it.

Our response? We will keep pressing. We will keep pushing, keep advancing, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies."

(https://t.co/5DSRnR9sM2)

Alright, if we consider this "no quarter" observation in context, we see Hegseth's intent is to convey that @DeptofWar is going to exert max pressure on our adversary. We know their military capabilities "are crumbling" & we're not going to back off. Keep pushing, keep advancing.

"No quarter. No mercy."

See, content & intent are important. This is how we differentiate political rhetoric from war crime. Reality from...bullshit.

If we go all the way back to Hague, II (1899) & Hague, IV (1907), the Regulations annexed to both Conventions make it forbidden, "To declare that no quarter will be given" (pic 1, from Hague, IV).

Seems legit, right? Isn't that what SECWAR just "declared"? Well, if LOAC development stopped at 1907, maybe you could make that argument.

But, it didn't. In negotiations for later treaties, delegates decided to be more clear about what exactly that prohibition should entail.

So, next we'll consider 2 later treaties 🇺🇸 hasn't ratified but we were deeply involved in shaping - Additional Protocol I (1977) to 1949 Geneva Conventions & Rome Statute @IntlCrimCourt (1998).

As we'll see below, these sources confirm Hegseth's political rhetoric is NOT a LOAC violation or war crime...and US DoW doctrine is consistent with relevant text of these treaties.

Let's start with AP I. As we see from art. 40, this treaty clarifies (7 decades after Hague IV), "It is prohibited to ORDER that there shall be no survivors, to THREATEN an adversary therewith or to CONDUCT hostilities on this basis" (pic 2).

So, 3 specific verbs to highlight + 1 condition. No ordering, threatening, or conducting (verbs) armed hostilities under condition(s) of NO SURVIVORS.

Now, reach all the way back in your memory - like 2 minutes ago - when you read actual text of Hegseth's remarks.

Do you genuinely believe SECWAR just ordered or threatened there will be no survivors, even if an enemy IRGC member tries to surrender - or that we are now as a result conducting hostilities on that basis? Be honest.

Of course not. And no one in the military is going to hear/read his remarks and think, "SECWAR just ordered me to take no prisoners." Seriously.

Moving on from AP I, art. 8(2)(b)(xii) of Rome Statute essentially copies text of Hague IV, art. 23(d) to make "declaring no quarter will be given" a war crime (not pictured). BUT the elements of crimes follows AP I (pic 3), as does DoD Law of War Manual (pic 4).

Yes, actual no quarter ORDERS do violate LOAC. Just the order alone is a war crime.

But max pressure political rhetoric is not the same as an ORDER "that there shall be no survivors."

Which means Sec Hegseth's comments are neither LOAC violation nor war crime. Which also means Rep Vindman is full of 💩.

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@MossadCoalition The propaganda is simply a joke now. The dying gasps of a deathcult.

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@riseup47372847 @iky_fwjett @grok are there seagulls in Africa?

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

I received an award @Viewbug https://t.co/3IIv2LWqz7 #photography

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Keith the Apocalypse Bringer is a three-year-old Anglo-Nubian goat in a field in Devon.

Keith should not be underestimated.

Keith has been systematically dismantling the ecosystem since approximately 7am, when he ate a bramble. This is significant because bramble is an invasive scrub species that outcompetes wildflowers, reduces biodiversity, and creates dense monoculture thicket that nothing else can use.

Keith ate it. Keith does this every day. Keith does not charge for this service.

8:15am - Keith ate a thistle. Thistles are also considered invasive scrub in managed pasture. Goldfinches eat thistle seeds, but Keith's grazing will ensure the pasture remains open enough for the ground-nesting birds that can't use dense scrub. Keith has not attended a conservation workshop. Keith arrived at this conclusion by being a goat.

9:00am - Keith dismantled a section of hedge. This was less helpful. Keith does not have a perfect record.

10:30am - Keith escaped the field. He was in the road for eleven minutes. He ate a neighbour's rose. This is not being counted in Keith's environmental impact assessment.

11:00am - Keith was returned to the field. Keith regarded the farmer with the specific expression of an animal that does not recognise the concept of property.

12:00pm - Keith ate more bramble. His digestive system: four stomachs, a rumen full of specialised microorganisms, the ability to extract nutrition from lignified plant matter that would defeat any other animal on this field, is converting scrub vegetation into milk with a fat content of approximately 4.5%. The milk will become cheese. The cheese will be sold at the farm shop. The farm shop is four miles away. The cheese food miles are: four.

3:00pm - Keith produced manure. The manure will grow the grass. The grass will grow the bramble. The bramble will be eaten by Keith.

This system has no inputs.

It has been running since goats were domesticated approximately ten thousand years ago.

Keith is not aware he is saving the planet.

Keith is thinking about whether the fence on the north side has a weak point.

It does. Keith found it at 4:45pm.

Keith got out again.

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@coffee_anytime LOL. We can only wish

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@HermosORiain @auderdy *Sicarri, no Maccabees. That was earlier.

[John Dovey @PJDovey]

@HermosORiain @auderdy Except it didn't. The Maccabees killed themselves instead. I've stood on that wall and looked down at the land-bridge. It's awesome. Do you know about the oath "Masada shall never fall again!"? You should.