Jessica Britt

Mom. wifey. Regional Manager @salesforce ex @Gartner_inc. @Bentleyu grad. much love for emerging tech. celebrity gossip. wine snob. foodie. boston sports 👏🏻

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@SavageSports_ As a Disney kid and now mom I have more ideas than I can fit here, feel free to DM me. Ages of kids? Where are you staying?

[Michael Rodnick @MJRodnick]

It feels like a good time to bring this up for a little.

🧢: @SavageSports_

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@Chilis But also the classic nachos 😭

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@Chilis bring back classic nachos 😭

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@Xposed My husband, who lives in the US, born and raised in toronto He’s made my kids Blue Jays fans, and I’d love him to take our kids. His dad took him as a child and that memory has stayed, never wavering his support to my dear Red Sox even during those championship runs 🇨🇦

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@JeffDLowe Was there. Can confirm. Unreal

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@JetBlue flight cancelled, customer service saying owed nothing because you didn’t cancel it. What kind of support is this?

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@KerriTrueCrime I have a good one

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@SavageSports_ Oh my. Buckle up

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@WatcherBruins Fire him

[Marc Benioff @Benioff]

FY25 was a record-breaking year:$37.9B in revenue, $13.1B in cash flow, & Agentforce driving AI-powered success. None of this would be possible without our Ohana—our customers, partners, & employees. Your dedication fuels our innovation & customer success. Here’s to an even greater FY26! ❤️

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

Pete Hegseth and I share a lot of the same values: A commitment to meritocracy, a love of country, and a belief that our military — and society writ large — should commit to high and difficult standards. Ironically, these shared values are exactly why I think Hegseth should not be Secretary of Defense, and why I have a hard time overstating my disappointment at the entire spectacle of his nomination and yesterday's confirmation hearings.

Let's start by going back to about a month ago: Hegseth's nomination looked dead on arrival; I wrote in Tangle that he was going to have "an even harder time getting confirmed" than Tulsi Gabbard, and predicted a "bruising" confirmation fight. At the time, this made sense. Hegseth doesn’t fit the recent trend of high-ranking nominees to the position, and he's been tailed by controversy and damning indictments on his character everywhere he’s gone. Yet as we sit here today, Hegseth's confirmation looks all but assured, and I left the confirmation hearing without any sense that Democrats (or "concerned" Republicans) had put any real dent in his odds.

Which is a shame.

Since being nominated, Hegseth has emphasized his military service, saying his combat leadership experience qualifies him for the position. “It is time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent,” he said in his opening remarks on Tuesday. It’s worth giving this framing a critical eye.

To be frank, this is a ridiculous and borderline offensive thing to say, given that Hegseth's immediate predecessors served in the military, many of them much longer than he did. Spend some time reviewing the resumes of Christopher Miller, Mark Esper or Jim Mattis, and the absurdity of Hegseth’s comments will sink in. Presently, our Secretary of Defense is Lloyd Austin, who served 41 years in the Army and is well known for being the first African American to command a division, corps, and army in combat. He is a four-star general who also received the Silver Star, the third-highest award one can receive for combat valor. We can criticize Austin for his views, or his stint at the military contractor Raytheon, but I wouldn’t pretend he lacks "some dust on his boots."

Not incidentally, Hegseth has spent the last 11 years as a Fox News commentator, spent decades fewer in combat than Austin, and is far less decorated. Indeed, in trying to determine what uniquely qualifies Hegseth for this role — where he will be leading over three million service members and DoD civilians — it basically comes down to his experience on television and his ability to communicate Trump’s worldview.

I'm not saying that to be cruel. While Hegseth’s service was certainly honorable, there is very little about his resume that is exceptional. He rose to the rank of major, served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, was awarded Bronze Stars, and even got a Master of Public Policy from Harvard after his second deployment. I've never served in the military or graduated from Harvard, so he's certainly more qualified than me. But there are likely thousands of other veterans who have graduate degrees, served multiple tours, were awarded medals, and have risen to the rank of major or higher. I suspect several readers of my newsletter share those qualifications.

Hegseth has promoted the idea that DEI initiatives and women in combat are lowering standards in the military, but if we were to take Hegseth's own emphasis on merit then the prospect of him becoming Secretary of Defense would seem wholly ridiculous. The only exceptional thing on his resume is that he became a millionaire as a Fox News host after serving in the military, and that the president-elect really likes him on television.

For anyone watching closely, the prospect of Hegseth taking this role is already "lowering our standards," which (again) is ironic given it’s the critical issue he claims he is uniquely positioned to solve. The scenes in the Senate hearing became so debased that Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) could only muster a defense of Hegseth by sharing that some senators cast their votes while drunk (encouraging!), later defending his point by clarifying that what he really meant was if senators are capable of doing their jobs while drinking, Pete Hegseth can, too. Yay.

While most Democrats pitifully spent their time making sure we all knew Hegseth cheated on his former wives, we got very little in the way of illuminating questions about Hegseth's ideas on Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, China, or any of the other major global issues our armed forces will face in the coming years. In the few moments where senators asked smart questions designed to better understand Hegseth's qualifications, we found out he couldn't name any international security agreements he would lead as defense secretary, incorrectly guessed several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), was non-committal on using the U.S. military against U.S. civilians, and seemed to think the military has quotas for demographic groups, which is not a thing (though diversity in the military has been a point of emphasis for the DoD during the Biden administration). Hegseth, funnily enough, has his own demographic quotas: At a time when the military struggles with recruitment, he’s repeatedly said that he does not think women should serve in combat roles, a position he’s backtracked on in an effort to get this job.

Here, I want to pause briefly to shout out Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) (a decorated veteran herself), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) (a former CIA analyst who served in Iraq) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who asked important questions that brought Hegseth’s above responses to light. Also, a special callout to Republican Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), who was even handed and organized in overseeing the hearing. They were the few bright spots on the day.

Republicans otherwise avoided even feigning any real scrutiny of Hegseth during the hearings, as represented by Sen. Tim Sheehy’s (R-MT) questioning: Sheehy opened by asking Hegseth "how many genders" there are and how many push-ups he can do, then tossed him a bunch of softball questions about ammunition and guns to make the point Hegseth understood the tools of war (though Hegseth seemed to be guessing on the last one about what batteries go in night vision goggles).

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joni Ernst (R-IA), who expressed “concern” about various allegations of Hegseth’s sexual misconduct, reportedly refused to meet with his accuser (Collins denies this) and dutifully fell in line without providing any real scrutiny to the nomination. So here we are: Mediocrity everywhere, in every direction, and Hegseth cruising through the hearings.

As I've said in the past, we — as Americans — have been remarkably safe in the post-9/11 era from foreign threats, and we are totally unaware of how good we have it here in the U.S. Our soldiers are in about as little danger as they've ever been in my lifetime, we’re pulling back from many major conflicts, and the vast majority of the issues facing our Department of Defense involve wasteful spending, inventory issues, shaky leadership, and the fact we are falling behind on advanced military technology. I don't see any reason to believe Hegseth — who as a leader of several smaller, less complicated organizations has been followed by allegations of poor leadership, disorganization, sexual misconduct, poor financial management, and drunkenness — is the right person to solve these issues.

It's perfectly okay for Hegseth to tell us he's a changed man, has found Christ, and has reformed. That may well be the true arc of his character and person, and I hope it is — I love a redemption story as much as anyone. But that doesn't mean we need to accept him as the best of the best, the brightest of the brightest, or the best leader for our entire military.

But, of course, our country is in a "change" mood. We want to light the house on fire, kill the rich, and tear it all down. People like Hegseth are happy to oblige — or happy to pretend they’ll oblige for power. So, soon enough, it looks like we're going to get what we asked for.

[Marc Benioff @Benioff]

Heartbroken by the ongoing devastating LA fires. Grateful for the heroic first responders and all helping on the ground. Salesforce is donating $1M to support disaster relief and community recovery. Join us in helping: https://t.co/RhILmqCNMf ❤️

[New England Patriots @Patriots]

WHO WANTS A SIGNED @CHRISGONZO28 JERSEY!?!?!

RT to enter & #ProBowlVote 🔥

📋: https://t.co/YypLkGt5Wq

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@OnlyInBOS It’s an absolute nightmare driving in the city now.

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@OnlyInBOS Al forno or persimmon

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@MattMcCarthy985 Cheap ownership. Lack of coaching and leadership.

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@SavageSports_ What a loser

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

Proud of my company!!

[Marc Benioff @Benioff]

Q3 Results

Salesforce Growth:

FY25 $38.0B (guidance)
FY24 $34.9B
FY23 $31.4B
FY22 $26.5B
FY21 $21.3B
FY20 $17.1B
FY19 $13.3B
FY18 $10.5B
FY17 $8.4B
FY16 $6.7B
FY15 $5.4B
FY14 $4.1B

Salesforce Margin:

FY25 32.9% (guidance)
FY24 30.5%
FY23 22.5%
FY22 18.7%
FY21 17.7%
FY20 16.8%

Salesforce Operating Cash Flow:

FY25 $12.9B (guidance)
FY24 $10.2B
FY23 $7.1B
FY22 $6.0B
FY21 $4.8B
FY20 $4.3B
FY19 $3.4B
FY18 $2.7B
FY17 $2.2B
FY16 $1.7B
FY15 $1.2B
FY14 $0.9B

https://t.co/qUsE9HPP4H

[Jessica Britt @jmacbritt]

@admcrlsn THIS