Military

China’s Nuclear Arsenal Expansion Is a Direct Threat to the U.S.

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China poses a continuing nuclear threat to the U.S. through a relentless effort to modernize and expand its nuclear arsenal and delivery capabilities.

The PLA is executing the fastest and largest peacetime nuclear buildup in history, moving from a “minimum deterrence” force of roughly 200 warheads a decade ago toward a force that multiple U.S. officials now project could approach numerical parity with the United States and Russia within four to five years. This is a direct military threat: more silos, more delivery platforms, new low-yield and tactical designs, and — per credible but contested reporting — a resumed covert testing program.

Baghdad NYT: ‘A More Confident Iran Emerges After Six Months of War With the U.S.’

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That was the headline in the New York Times. The sub-headline read, “New intelligence reports have assessed that Iran now has a far better understanding of its capabilities and the limits of U.S. power.”

Fact-check: Well, yes if you consider they now realize their capabilities are nada, non-existent, zilch. The Persian Army has more power and it disappeared in a sandstorm west of Thebes 2,551 years ago.

The FOBbit: How the Army Turns Warriors Into PowerPoint-Slinging Indoor Cats

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The Army has a remarkable ability to take a perfectly functional warrior, promote him a few times, hand him three computer monitors, and turn him into a PowerPoint-slinging indoor cat. Thus begins the evolution of the FOBbit: that mysterious creature who once went outside the wire but now survives on RFIs, synchronization meetings, Green Beans coffee, and Baskin-Robbins. The real horror comes when you finally look down at your ice cream, look at your clean uniform, hit “Send” on another 1600 suspense, and realize the terrible truth: Oh, $h!tt! I’m the FOBbit.

Highlights of the News with Don Surber

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Don Surber delivers his take on this week’s news items as only he can. He’ll make you think, laugh, and learn to recognize the absurdity of the media’s coverage of the news.

ITEM 1: Yahoo reported, “A Popular ED Medication Was Just Linked to a Greater Risk of Blindness in Men Over 40.’

As the movie asked, can I do it till I need glasses?

When Uncle Sam Ordered a Sewing Machine Company to Make a .45

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Before America entered World War II, Uncle Sam looked at the Singer Sewing Machine Company and essentially asked, “Nice factory. Can you make a .45?” The result was just 500 Singer M1911A1 pistols—one of today’s great military-firearms collectibles. Singer wasn’t forced into gunmaking by the Defense Production Act; that law wouldn’t exist until 1950. Instead, the Army paid civilian companies to learn military production before the shooting started. It was industrial mobilization with refreshingly little mystery: you cannot surge a factory you don’t have.

Welcome to the Pentagon Wars: The National Guard Still Hates Me

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The Pentagon doesn’t fight just one kind of war. Some are fought with tanks and rifles; others with spreadsheets, PowerPoint, and somebody quietly asking, “Where haven’t they spent their money yet?” Born from Robert McNamara’s 1960s-era attempt to bring rational analysis to defense spending, the POM process evolved into an institutionalized food fight where the Active Army, National Guard, and Army Reserve defend their rice bowls while hunting for everyone else’s leftovers. I happened to be pretty good at looking under the fiscal seat cushions—and somewhere, I suspect, a retired National Guard programmer still mutters my name. Welcome to the Pentagon Wars.

The Greatest Generation Didn’t Have A Port Call Scheduled

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The Greatest Generation didn’t have Wi-Fi, DoorDash, FaceTime, scheduled port calls—or an expected return date. They had a war to win. Today’s sailors aren’t the problem; they’re products of a culture that has become extraordinarily good at eliminating discomfort. The question isn’t whether young Americans are “soft.” It’s whether America still teaches resilience before history demands it the hard way.

The Pacific Ocean doesn’t have an HR department, and the enemy doesn’t care about your deployment schedule.

The Carry a Sword Movement: Bring Back the Original Open Carry

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America once produced men who wouldn’t leave the house without a sword hanging from their belt. Washington carried one. Patton designed one. West Point cadets still have them. Yet today, strap on a saber for a trip to Home Depot and suddenly you’re the weird guy. Maybe it’s time to bring back the original open carry. Swords are arms. Shall not be infringed. Support the right. Respect the right. Carry a sword.

IRAN EYES MIDTERMS: Tehran may want prolonged war for Trump defeat in November

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As President Donald Trump teases hard retaliation against Iran after the two sides traded strikes over the weekend, some observers think the ‘failed regime’ believes in can outlast the U.S. and influence the outcome of the midterm elections.

Fight Iran with pirates

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Shiver me timbers. Bloomberg reported:

Arrr! The Department o’ Justice be makin’ ready to wake a long-sleepin’ prize court o’ the high seas, so as to make swift the seizin’ by the king’s men-o’-war o’ them Iranian oil tankers as Yankee prizes—so say three souls what be in on the plot.

Me mateys that means, “The Justice Department is preparing to activate a long-dormant maritime war court to streamline military capture of Iranian oil tankers as U.S. prizes, according to three people familiar with the plans.”

5th Gen War: The Next Battlefield Is Already Plugged In

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America’s next battlefield may not begin with missiles, tanks, or troops crossing a border. It may begin with a transformer failure, a cyberattack, a communications outage, and a supply chain that suddenly stops supplying. The new executive order protecting America’s bulk-power system recognizes an uncomfortable reality of fifth-generation warfare: the electrical grid is now strategic terrain. Securing foreign vulnerabilities and rebuilding domestic manufacturing are important first steps—but preparing for the next war means building a nation resilient enough to keep fighting, communicating, manufacturing, and rebuilding even when somebody tries to turn the lights out.

Michigan’s Trojan Horse: The Brilliant Surprise Attack That Captured Fort Michilimackinac

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In 1763, Fort Michilimackinac fell without an artillery barrage, a breached wall, or a prolonged siege. The Ojibwe used something far more effective: deception, surprise, a lacrosse game—and a British commander who ignored warnings that an attack was coming. What followed was one of the most audacious actions in Michigan history, preserved for us through the eyewitness account of a fur trader who somehow survived it.

If Colonel Townsend Whelen Had an iPhone

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Colonel Townsend Whelen spent a lifetime proving that only accurate rifles are interesting. But imagine handing him an iPhone and asking ChatGPT for a 6.5 Creedmoor load. After staring at it for thirty seconds, he’d probably ask, “What the hell is Wi-Fi?” Then he’d type, “Best accuracy load. 140 Berger. H4350. Go.” After 41 years behind a rifle, I did exactly that—and one of the best first-round load developments of my career popped out. Luck? Maybe. Or maybe AI just read a hundred years of load manuals, match reports, and internet arguments in about half a second. Either way, it didn’t pull the trigger. It just saved a little barrel life. And these days, that’s worth its weight in powder.

If I Were Dr. Evil: I’d Skip the Shark Death Ray and Start Three Wars

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If I were Dr. Evil, I wouldn’t build a death ray—I’d build three crises. Light up the Middle East, keep NATO and Russia occupied in Europe, then watch China eye Taiwan while America tries to put out three fires with one garden hose. The nightmare isn’t one enemy defeating America; it’s several adversaries realizing they don’t have to take turns.

1985: The Future of Warfare Was Supposed to Be Blinding

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Imagine explaining to a military planner in 1985 that the laser weapons designed to blind enemy soldiers would never become the future of warfare. During the Cold War, some experts genuinely believed that bullets would eventually give way to directed-energy weapons that would simply remove an enemy’s ability to see. Then reality intervened. It turned out that permanently blinding someone wasn’t viewed as the humanitarian breakthrough some had imagined. The battlefield stayed remarkably old-school, and the age of the battlefield ophthalmologist never quite arrived.