Clay Copper
@claycopper.bsky.social
Fed defense university faculty, Security Cooperation pro, international relations, diplomacy, diverse democracy enjoyer, some boardgames, human
Pinned
There are few things as rewarding as fixing a wind-up music box.
"Vivek 👋, yes Vivek, over here. If I think DEI is how you achieve a colorblind meritocracy or that we should train medics with female manikins too, am I now NOT an American? Or do I have to wait for the gov to specifically come after a female close family member of yours?"
Vivek's main competition in the Ohio GOP primary now is a Car YouTube Guy
December 28, 2025 at 6:39 PM
"Vivek 👋, yes Vivek, over here. If I think DEI is how you achieve a colorblind meritocracy or that we should train medics with female manikins too, am I now NOT an American? Or do I have to wait for the gov to specifically come after a female close family member of yours?"
Once a month a bsky user unironically does the Dwight Schrute, "typical American arrogance that got us into a war we never should've been...," down to even leaving the punchline for the end.
"The top 3 worst war crimes are Kosovo, Gaza, and the forced scuttling of Graf Spee."
"The top 3 worst war crimes are Kosovo, Gaza, and the forced scuttling of Graf Spee."
December 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Once a month a bsky user unironically does the Dwight Schrute, "typical American arrogance that got us into a war we never should've been...," down to even leaving the punchline for the end.
"The top 3 worst war crimes are Kosovo, Gaza, and the forced scuttling of Graf Spee."
"The top 3 worst war crimes are Kosovo, Gaza, and the forced scuttling of Graf Spee."
Oh no I could win this whole fantasy league. How do I start sports betting?
December 28, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Oh no I could win this whole fantasy league. How do I start sports betting?
This is one of those rare arguments on this website where instead of making an academic argument to a bunch of nodding acolytes, you actually have an opportunity to convince a skeptical targeted audience and start actually Doing Good Things.
The embargo on hiring from industry is fucking moronic and getting rid of it is one of the tentpoles of that "how to fix/staff Dem defense" piece I keep promising to write someday
There is literally one path in D national security world and that’s attacking yourself to the hip of a principal and riding it all the way
December 27, 2025 at 10:12 PM
This is one of those rare arguments on this website where instead of making an academic argument to a bunch of nodding acolytes, you actually have an opportunity to convince a skeptical targeted audience and start actually Doing Good Things.
The cinematography of some of MoCo's traffic cameras rivals that of our finest police procedurals.
December 26, 2025 at 2:41 PM
The cinematography of some of MoCo's traffic cameras rivals that of our finest police procedurals.
Please help my kid wants to know if Black Santa or "Peach" Santa comes to our house
December 23, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Please help my kid wants to know if Black Santa or "Peach" Santa comes to our house
I am looking in earnest for the first time in 8 years and I can't really speak to how the job market actually is (plenty of friends still out of work or underemployed from early 2025 layoffs), but the job search process is completely dogshit, scam-infested, and extremely frustrating.
Purely anecdotally among my network the number of mid-career professionals searching for work in vain for months after a layoff is very high. My theory is that AI driven HR is really screwing up the application process. If you login to LinkedIn all you see are the dreaded green frame circles.
December 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I am looking in earnest for the first time in 8 years and I can't really speak to how the job market actually is (plenty of friends still out of work or underemployed from early 2025 layoffs), but the job search process is completely dogshit, scam-infested, and extremely frustrating.
If anyone is doing year-end giving, might I suggest:
1️⃣ Trans Lifeline (translifeline.org)
2️⃣ American Indian College Fund (collegefund.org)
3️⃣ Manna Food Bank (www.mannafood.org)
1️⃣ Trans Lifeline (translifeline.org)
2️⃣ American Indian College Fund (collegefund.org)
3️⃣ Manna Food Bank (www.mannafood.org)
The American Indian College Fund | Native American College Scholarships
The American Indian College Fund is the largest provider of Native American college scholarships with over $20 million given last year alone. Donate today to empower Native students and communities.
collegefund.org
December 22, 2025 at 11:29 PM
If anyone is doing year-end giving, might I suggest:
1️⃣ Trans Lifeline (translifeline.org)
2️⃣ American Indian College Fund (collegefund.org)
3️⃣ Manna Food Bank (www.mannafood.org)
1️⃣ Trans Lifeline (translifeline.org)
2️⃣ American Indian College Fund (collegefund.org)
3️⃣ Manna Food Bank (www.mannafood.org)
Wanted to share something cool I just rediscovered. Years ago a friend doing a stint on the NSC gifted me a deck of CBRNE playing cards distributed by the CIA (and immediately recalled).
December 22, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Wanted to share something cool I just rediscovered. Years ago a friend doing a stint on the NSC gifted me a deck of CBRNE playing cards distributed by the CIA (and immediately recalled).
Reposted by Clay Copper
This is to announce a new golden battleship warrior class (BBW-47) named after Trump.
December 22, 2025 at 4:37 AM
This is to announce a new golden battleship warrior class (BBW-47) named after Trump.
google.com
what is the relationship between avatar james cameron and avatar airbender
what is the relationship between avatar james cameron and avatar airbender
December 22, 2025 at 5:26 PM
google.com
what is the relationship between avatar james cameron and avatar airbender
what is the relationship between avatar james cameron and avatar airbender
$1,776 x 1.3m did not fix the economy nor purchase the unflinching loyalty of our Warriors. The shareholders demand additional dividends!
December 22, 2025 at 4:34 AM
$1,776 x 1.3m did not fix the economy nor purchase the unflinching loyalty of our Warriors. The shareholders demand additional dividends!
A lot of people I thought were fundamentally good people (despite disagreements) made some pretty insane bets as soon as CNN called the election that either the country was MAGA permanently or would completely forgive them for what they would become this year, and they look pretty over their skis.
Is the radicalization you're seeing in people from COVID era or mostly ramped up the second Harris lost? I lost a few friends to the brains breaking over COVID, then a few over any acceptance of trans people, then another batch of windvaners who decided to abandon all niceties post-Harris. It's X.
December 22, 2025 at 12:55 AM
A lot of people I thought were fundamentally good people (despite disagreements) made some pretty insane bets as soon as CNN called the election that either the country was MAGA permanently or would completely forgive them for what they would become this year, and they look pretty over their skis.
Your average captain's pre-game beer league locker room speech in the DMV
December 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Your average captain's pre-game beer league locker room speech in the DMV
The voting proclivities of the real or hypothetical man who voted Clinton - Biden - Trump are so capricious that I'm not sure any amount of even extremely accurate data-driven analysis is going to be useful.
I think the main issue here is that there's no specific inertia that's keeping this (very hypothetical) man voting GOP, requiring very specific policy positions. The economy sucked for him in 2024. If it sucks for him in 2028 and he hasn't cooked his brain on X he'll vote Dem. It's not that deep.
December 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
The voting proclivities of the real or hypothetical man who voted Clinton - Biden - Trump are so capricious that I'm not sure any amount of even extremely accurate data-driven analysis is going to be useful.
I am on the whole less interested in these kind of ticky tacky questions of who precisely qualifies, having had an extended family member killed in a training accident and watched his spouse struggle to find support bc her husband didn't die quite the right way.
DoD is (sadly) just going to say he's "Taliban-inspired" bc he's Afghan and issue them under the 2015 Fort Hood change.
December 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I am on the whole less interested in these kind of ticky tacky questions of who precisely qualifies, having had an extended family member killed in a training accident and watched his spouse struggle to find support bc her husband didn't die quite the right way.
I don't know the full Dort backstory, but c'mon, the Army cannot have an identifiable AD troop showing up to work at OSD poasting "I refuse to serve alongside or fight for my foreign-born brothers and sisters."
Bad military theory arguments usually require a more specific historical counterexample than just "WW2."
December 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I don't know the full Dort backstory, but c'mon, the Army cannot have an identifiable AD troop showing up to work at OSD poasting "I refuse to serve alongside or fight for my foreign-born brothers and sisters."
We were really living it up back then, weren't we?
My grandfather filled up his bathtub to the very top on NYE 1999, "in case the computers knock out the water."
My grandfather filled up his bathtub to the very top on NYE 1999, "in case the computers knock out the water."
MilleniOs (1999-2000): To ring in Y2K, Cheerios released this special edition, brown sugar-sweetened variant, with "2"-shaped cereal pieces that would spell "2000" when placed next to three "Os". They also encouraged consumers to use the boxes as time capsules for the "once in a lifetime" event
December 18, 2025 at 3:12 AM
We were really living it up back then, weren't we?
My grandfather filled up his bathtub to the very top on NYE 1999, "in case the computers knock out the water."
My grandfather filled up his bathtub to the very top on NYE 1999, "in case the computers knock out the water."
Agree entirely. So much of this is about keeping leadership from getting shit. The incentives are to quietly brush it off, rather than to definitively address it. We had a series of racist incidents at my DoD org several years ago and it was pretty eye-opening to see how they were mishandled.
When you quietly discipline people for something like this it means you don't really care about changing the behavior and just want to sweep it under the rug.
Exclusive at @cbsnews.com.web.brid.gy - The Navy quietly disciplined 18 Navy SEALs after military investigators found a private group chat that contained racist memes targeting a Black SEAL. We obtained over 500 pages of documents from FOIA. www.cbsnews.com/news/navy-se...
December 18, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Agree entirely. So much of this is about keeping leadership from getting shit. The incentives are to quietly brush it off, rather than to definitively address it. We had a series of racist incidents at my DoD org several years ago and it was pretty eye-opening to see how they were mishandled.
Really wonder how a possible war on VZ impacts US continued basing/presence at Soto Cano and mil-mil relationship with Colombia. Both have had big challenges in the last few years, especially JTF-Bravo (foreign mil bases not technically legal in Honduras), but a US war could trigger the end.
December 17, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Really wonder how a possible war on VZ impacts US continued basing/presence at Soto Cano and mil-mil relationship with Colombia. Both have had big challenges in the last few years, especially JTF-Bravo (foreign mil bases not technically legal in Honduras), but a US war could trigger the end.
Honestly, just laughing...hard. Great job sir, looks like total shit. Emblematic of the era, really. You've done it.
You could've shortened the dumbass summaries to fit the plaques. You could've just bought bigger fucking plaques to fit your rants. But you had the vision to stack the ugly plaques.
You could've shortened the dumbass summaries to fit the plaques. You could've just bought bigger fucking plaques to fit your rants. But you had the vision to stack the ugly plaques.
Per @garretthaake.bsky.social, the extremely tacky "presidential wall of fame" that lines the colonnade to the West Wing now has obviously-Trump-penned plaques insulting or praising the presidents.
December 17, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Honestly, just laughing...hard. Great job sir, looks like total shit. Emblematic of the era, really. You've done it.
You could've shortened the dumbass summaries to fit the plaques. You could've just bought bigger fucking plaques to fit your rants. But you had the vision to stack the ugly plaques.
You could've shortened the dumbass summaries to fit the plaques. You could've just bought bigger fucking plaques to fit your rants. But you had the vision to stack the ugly plaques.
Easy Top 10 Dick Holbrooke flick
December 17, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Easy Top 10 Dick Holbrooke flick