Todd Stelzer

bike. drink. eat. ski. think. care.

(Updated 11/19 - wipe. change diaper. feed. sleep. :) )

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

The average life expectancy of a new Russian recruit—from arrival at a training ground to death in a combat zone—lies somewhere between 10 days and three weeks. Once sent onto the battlefield, they survive an average of 20 to 35 minutes. @peterfrankopan https://t.co/W3UhBerdH0

[Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC]

From the Navy SEAL officer who planned and executed the Bin Laden raid: “In recent months, President Trump, upon advice from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, has relieved or forced the retirement of some of the finest officers that have ever served this nation. I have personally worked with most of them in combat….And this week, in an egregious decision, the president forced General Chris Donahue to step down from his position in command of U.S. Army Europe. Donahue is without question one of the most brilliant officers I know. He is strategically focused, tactically aggressive, personally courageous, exceptionally thoughtful in his planning and execution, and compassionate with his troops. He has the respect of every man and woman who ever served with him—and you can put me at the top of that list.”

[Barry R McCaffrey @mccaffreyr3]

Sec Hegseth fires four star US Army General CD Donahue commanding US Army Europe. Donahue clearly the most extraordinary combat leader in a generation. Brilliant. Fearless. Bold. Integrity. Incredible leader.

[John Harwood @JohnJHarwood]

possibly the worst person in the Senate

[Osama Bin Javaid @osamabinjavaid]

Did the world really think this tech is for fireworks displays only?

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

Yesterday’s abrupt retirement announcement by Gen. Chris Donahue, the Commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) and NATO’s Allied Land Command, was made at the request of the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, people familiar with the matter tell The Wall Street Journal.

Prior to this announcement, many believed Donahue was on a fast track to become Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, having led the Army’s Delta Force commandos in Iraq and Syria when it took the fight to Islamic State militants and was the “last man out” when the troops he commanded at the 82nd Airborne Division were called in to secure the 2021 evacuation of U.S. personnel and Afghan allies from Kabul, Afghanistan.

General Donahue’s removal is said to be part of an ongoing push by Hegseth to put his imprint on the military’s leadership, while squeezing out officers with track records of battlefield valor and command experience in favor of less accomplished political loyalists, officers that fully support both himself and President Trump.

[Frank Luntz @FrankLuntz]

LOL, absolutely brilliant.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

The irony of Republicans controlling all branches of government while

bankrupting the country, starting a war, sending money to fraudulent programs, violating the Constitution, giving corporations immunity...

but arguing that the biggest problem we have is “stolen elections.”

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

The Lessons I Learned from My Dad

I am not the man my father is.
I am trying. Some days closer. Some days farther.
He never sat me down and explained these lessons. He lived them. I’m still learning them.

Show up.
The kitchen table. The hospital room. The funeral. The picket line. The call from the son who won’t answer.
Show up.
Most days that’s the whole job.
My whole life I watched him do it. Not for cameras. Not for headlines. Not because there was something in it for him. He showed up because someone needed him.

I learned that grief doesn’t make you special.
My father buried a wife and daughter. He buried a son. Yet he never treated grief as a claim on other people’s sympathy. Instead, it made him notice theirs.
A mother who lost a child. A father sitting beside a hospital bed. A kid scared about what comes next. A son who lost his mother, his sister, his brother.
He always noticed.

I learned that power is not the point.
The people who chase power eventually confuse the office with themselves.
My father never did.
Whether he was a county councilman, a senator, vice president, or president, he was the same man.
The title changed.
He didn’t.

I learned that family comes first.
The train from Wilmington wasn’t symbolism.
It was every night.
He read to us. Showed up to games. Sat through hospital rooms. Waited up for children who were lost.
And when the day came that the country and the family could not both have him at full strength, he chose family. He relinquished the last chapter of how he wanted to be remembered. And he never complained about it.

Most of all, I learned that love is not soft.
Love is discipline.
Love is showing up at one in the morning when nobody is watching.
Love is answering the phone.
Love is staying.
Love is getting back up after life knocks you down and doing it all again tomorrow.
That love saved my life.
I’ve failed at many of these lessons, sometimes in very public ways.
He loved me anyway.

That’s the last lesson.
I am not trying to become my father.
I am trying to carry what he gave me.
And if I can do that, even imperfectly, that will be enough.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love you.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

A brand new bridge between Detroit and Canada is finished and ready to open. It would speed up traffic for millions of trucks, cut delays for American businesses, and help the auto industry that employs people in every state. There is just one problem.

Donald Trump won’t let it open.

Here is why.

The family that owns the old bridge stands to lose business when the new one opens. So in January, they gave one million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Weeks later they met with Trump’s Commerce Secretary.

He called Trump.

Hours after that, Trump announced he would block the new bridge. The opening was set for June 12. It got canceled the day before. The bridge sits there finished and empty.

Now here is the part that should make every taxpayer angry.

Canada paid for the entire bridge.

Every dollar. And the United States already owns half of it for free. Trump is holding up a bridge we got for nothing, to protect a donor who wrote him a check, while picking a fight with our closest ally and biggest trading partner.

This is corruption in plain sight.

A billionaire pays, and the President delivers. American workers and businesses pay the price.

Open the bridge. A government should work for the people, not for whoever writes the biggest check.
https://t.co/9o9Gz9UrBo

[Tim Walz @Tim_Walz]

Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went.

The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Never was.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Ukraine has spent 4 years defending against Russian invasion and terror attacks and refuses to give an inch. Trump conceded everything to Iran and made the US less safe because of slightly higher gas prices hurting his image and GOP in midterms.

[Travis Wall @tjwall17]

If you read anything today, make it this.

[Tim Miller @Timodc]

“Michelle Obama is a man” shouted on the White House lawn in a ring sponsored by Bud Light only available on Larry Ellison’s Paramount Plus. What a way to celebrate America 250 and the twilight of liberal democracy.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Gladiator circuses and a rising cost of bread are sure to help!

[Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 @jimstewartson]

There has never been a more perfect metaphor.
He didn’t drain the swamp, he literally installed one.

[mark normand @marknorm]

This looks like a Disney movie where a 12 year old becomes president

[Jonathan Chait @jonathanchait]

That the U.S. military is losing the first war of the drone era while the television-trained defense secretary focuses on facial hair and push-ups is probably not a coincidence. https://t.co/m94JgVDlVm

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

"This Sunday night’s UFC spectacle on the South Lawn...captures something about this moment in our history.

It's vulgar, violent, commercial, grandiose, tacky, and it dishonors a place once thought worthy of care and respect. In other words, it’s Donald Trump."

https://t.co/YSuFldfj70