Blog 27 | The Libertarian Institute

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Memo to DOGE: A Good Start

by Bill Buppert | Jan 15, 2025 | Blog

doge

Memo to DOGE:

Fire all 8,222 Federal Senior Executive Service (SES) employees. Rehire if needed as Limited Term appointments only as defined under 5 U.S.C. 3132 (a)(5): limited term appointee means an individual appointed under a nonrenewable appointment for a term of 3 years or less to a SES positions the duties of which will expire at the end of such term. In 2024, the basic annual salary for SES members ranges from $180,000 to $246,200.

Fire all 93 federal district attorneys.

Fire all Ambassadors (they have to submit their resignations with each new administration, they serve “at the pleasure of the President”,) and all 7,999 Foreign Service officers, called “generalist” diplomats.

Fire all serving active-duty general and flag officers (GFOs) and impose a ten year moratorium on working for industry after retirement. Employ two phases: retire all flag officers with an odd number in their SSN in February 2025 and even numbered SSNs in March 2025. As of March 2024, the number of GFOs in the US Department of Defense (DoD) was 809. This was 48 fewer than the maximum of 857 authorized by law. Reduce the GFO authorization to 100 authorized by law immediately.

Relocate all 168 Foreign Embassies and 727 Consulates placed in the territory of United States to Greenland once it is acquired.

Consolidate all 271 bilateral posts (US embassies and consulates) in 173 countries to single centralized continental embassy pods (for instance, close all African embassies and locate a modest and single facility in one country on the continent that wants it).

Close the UN in New York and reflag it as Trump Tower. Relocate the 6500 NY UN personnel to Diego Garcia in Quonset huts or barges in the atoll.

Zero out all Federal subsidy to college educations and make the university itself and their endowments the first and only recourse for paying student loan debt when forgiveness is asked. All Federal employment of non-STEM college graduates is forbidden in the first ten years after graduation.

Zero out all Federal subsidy to K-12 and shutter the Department of Education.

Apply Horne v. Department of Agriculture, 569 U.S. 513 (2013) (“Horne I”); 576 U.S. 351 (2015) (“Horne II”) standards to all Federal asset forfeiture and seizure activities.

Hold every executive agency to the Chevron defeat pronouncements in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024).

Hack and slash the 441 agencies that cripple the liberty and economic freedom of Americans (see federalregister.gov/age…).

This is a good start.

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Will Mike Waltz’s Ukraine Strategy LEAD TO DISASTER? New Episode of the Kyle Anzalone Show

by Kyle Anzalone | Jan 15, 2025 | Blog

Ukraine’s Future on the Frontlines: Mike Waltz to Send Ukraine’s Youth to Slaughterhouse

Will Mike Waltz’s Ukraine Strategy LEAD TO DISASTER?

In this episode of The Kyle Anzalone Show, Kyle dives into the shocking remarks made by Congressman Mike Waltz, calling for Ukraine’s youth to step into the frontlines of the ongoing war. Kyle breaks down the implications of Waltz’s controversial stance, examining the human cost of feeding young lives into the so-called “meat grinder” of war. With hard-hitting analysis, he explores the broader geopolitical ramifications, the toll on Ukraine’s future, and the moral questions surrounding the use of young men as pawns in a brutal conflict. Tune in for an unflinching discussion on the realities of war and the reckless political rhetoric fueling the crisis.

Kyle also turns his attention to Israel’s escalating war in Gaza, shedding light on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the region. He critiques the White House’s push for expedited approval of weapons sales, delving into the courageous resignation of former State Department official Josh Paul, who stepped down in protest of U.S. policy last year.

Lastly, a viral clip from Prof. Jeffrey Sachs was posted by President Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform. Sachs and Judge Napolitano, on his Judging Freedom Podcast, discussed it further. We take a brief look at their conversation and unpack the key points.

Join Kyle for an unflinching analysis of the reckless political decisions shaping global conflicts and their dire consequences for human lives.

Carrier Follies on Parade (Again)

by Bill Buppert | Jan 15, 2025 | Blog

carrieraflame

Fact is more hilarious than fiction now.

USS Repulse and USS Prince of Wales would be more appropriate names for these missile sponges and future fish apartments.

The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse by Japanese naval aviation was a naval engagement in World War II, as part of the war in the Pacific, that took place on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off the east coast of the British colonies of Malaya (present-day Malaysia) and the Straits Settlements (present-day Singapore and its coastal towns).

In his last week in office, President Joe Biden on Monday named the Navy’s next unnamed future Ford-class aircraft carriers President William J. Clinton. The super carrier that will follow it will be named after George W. Bush. However, it will be years, even under the current plans, before either ship is delivered to the Navy.

Stop building these things.

https://www.twz.com/sea/new-aircraft-carrier-to-be-named-after-bill-clinton

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Production Is Spiritual, Not Material

by Sheldon Richman | Jan 14, 2025 | Blog, Economics

“Production is not an act of creation; it does not bring about something that did not exist before. It is a transformation of given elements through arrangement and combination. The producer is not a creator. Man is creative only in thinking and in the realm of imagination. In the world of external phenomena he is only a transformer. All that he can accomplish is to combine the means available in such a way that according to the laws of nature the result aimed at is bound to emerge….

“Only the human mind that directs action and production is creative. The mind too appertains to the universe and to nature; it is a part of the given and existing world. To call the mind creative is not to indulge in any metaphysical speculations. We call it creative because we are at a loss to trace the changes brought about by human action farther back than to the point at which we are faced with the intervention of reason directing human activities. Production is not something physical, material, and external; it is a spiritual and intellectual phenomenon. Its essential requisites are not human labor and external natural forces and things, but the decision of the mind to use these factors as means for the attainment of ends. What produces the product are not toil and trouble in themselves, but the fact that the toiling is guided by reason. The human mind alone has the power to remove uneasiness.

“The materialist metaphysics of the Marxians misconstrues these things entirely. The ‘productive forces’ are not material. Production is a spiritual, intellectual, and ideological phenomenon. It is the method that man, directed by reason, employs for the best possible removal of uneasiness. What distinguishes our conditions from those of our ancestors who lived one thousand or twenty thousand years ago is not something material, but something spiritual. The material changes are the outcome of the spiritual changes.”

—Ludwig von Mises, Human Action

NGIA, Please

by Bill Buppert | Jan 14, 2025 | Blog

ngia

Employees will start moving into new $1.7B NGA HQ in St. Louis, MO in Fall 2025.

In other news, it’s a good thing the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency wasn’t called the National Intelligence-Geospatial Agency…

Please.

The budget is classified of course but part the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is disclosing the aggregate amount of $73.4 billion in requested appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2025 National Intelligence Program (NIP) of which a portion is spent here.

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Back to Basics: A Rare Instance of US Naval Sobriety

by Bill Buppert | Jan 10, 2025 | Blog

celestialnav

Navigation is fundamental.

Every ship in the USN should do this yearly.

Advanced, hand-computed celestial navigation is a full-time job. It required both of us to be on (or near) the bridge for approximately 18 hours a day, especially during the morning and evening star fixes. Performing sight reduction by hand required approximately three to four hours per day. Navigators who aspire to conduct a similar voyage may use STELLA to avoid cumbersome hand computations.

The surface warfare junior officers and quartermasters loved this evolution. No longer able to stare at the VMS screen, they were liberated from the temptation to make micro course adjustments to keep the ship perfectly on the electronic track line. Not only did this save fuel, but it also gave the watch officers and quartermasters the freedom to enjoy being what they called “real sailors” as they toiled over a paper plot.

Patience and foresight are required. When a ship configured with GPS and VMS makes a course or speed change, there is immediate feedback. However, with these systems no longer in play, navigation teams must rely on past solutions to predict future success. For example, after plotting an evening star fix and obtaining the ship’s position, we calculated set and drift, noted how far left or right of track the ship was, then chose a course to correct our position in relation to track while compensating for observed set and drift. We were unable to obtain feedback on our decision until after our morning star fix—typically 12 hours later. Since the length of time between observations is so long, solutions must be minor and meticulously considered. For example, using the radian rule, steering 1 degree off base course for 12 hours at a speed of 16 knots results in nearly 3.5 nm left or right of track (565 yards per hour).

Most navigators and senior QMs have the training to complete a similar voyage. Any Surface Navigator/Assistant Navigator Course or QM A School graduate can perform celestial navigation using only STELLA, paper charts, and plotting sheets. However, while being trained in the competencies of the craft, many navigators and quartermasters do not practice celestial navigation regularly in the fleet. Despite the fact that since 2015 the NavDORM requires that each ship conduct a celestial navigation Day’s Work in Navigation (DWIN) daily, Mr. O’Donnell has asked more than 1,000 Surface Navigator/Assistant Navigator students if they had done one and fewer than half said they had, with most admitting that celestial navigation is the first part of their jobs they sacrifice to fulfill their administrative duties. Despite the Chief of Naval Operations’ emphasis on celestial navigation, a culture of using celestial navigation daily has yet to be embraced again in the surface fleet.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/january/ships-must-practice-celestial-navigation

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Gaza’s Future and Trump’s Bold Rhetoric: New Episode of the Kyle Anzalone Show

by Kyle Anzalone | Jan 10, 2025 | Blog

Dave DeCamp from Antiwar.com joins us for an eye-opening exploration of Middle Eastern politics. Former President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning about Gaza, claiming “all hell will break loose” if hostages aren’t released by his next tenure. Is this another of Trump’s infamous negotiation tactics, or a genuine threat? We’ll question the implications of his comments, especially considering the high improbability of U.S. military intervention in Gaza due to Israel’s own formidable capabilities. Together with Dave, we’ll scrutinize the dire conditions already present in Gaza and ponder what further escalation might entail.

Our conversation doesn’t stop there. The complex web of U.S. military presence in Syria and the involvement of key regional players like Turkey and Israel creates a dynamic backdrop for our discussion. We dissect President Erdogan’s geopolitical ambitions and the tensions between Israel and northern Syrian factions, including the U.S.-backed Kurds. The episode also touches on Trump’s potential strategies regarding troop withdrawal from Syria and unwavering support for Israel. Finally, we delve into the concerns about possible U.S. support for Israeli military actions against Iran, alongside President Zelensky’s remarks on military aid to Ukraine, highlighting the intricate balance of financial and military assistance.

RIP USMC: The Corps is Toast

by Bill Buppert | Jan 10, 2025 | Blog

uss america sinking aircraft carrier

Force Design 2030 murdered the USMC.

The Marines are struggling to keep more than one Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) forward deployed at a time. Sometimes, two are forward deployed but only for limited periods. Each MEU has about two weeks of sustainment. Unless quickly reinforced, the MEU is out of action. The Navy has reduced the number of Maritime Prepositioning Ships from 20 in three strategic locations in 2018 to seven in two locations today, so rapid reinforcement is also a thing of the past.

Bottom line: the MEU will contribute virtually nothing to major theater war. TLAMs, SM-6s, and PrSMs are useless if you can’t position, reposition, dynamically retask or logistically sustain them inside contested areas, which the Marines can’t, not now nor in the future. And none of these weapons are hypersonic, which the other three services are pursuing. The Marines Corps senior leadership dreams of subsonic, ballistic, and largely ineffective future capabilities without having a plan or the means to logistically support them.

The Marines have transformed from theoo’s premier expeditionary force in readiness to irrelevance. The Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) is a house of cards. The Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) has no means to maneuver; no combined arms. It is not survivable against a determined enemy. The small unit Stand-in Forces cannot be repositioned or logistically supported inside contested areas. The maritime connectors don’t ask to go from gator ship to shore. They are duplicative and ineffective to other Services’ capabilities. For example, the “long range missile” is the subsonic, short-range (115 NM) Naval Strike Missile (NSM). After 5+ years, not a single MLR has obtained initial operating capability.

Not one.

Until the Marines can solve the logistics issues ( which they can’t), the MLR will continue to consume resources but nothing else.

I am continually amazed at those who believe that any Service can divest itself of some 25% of its combat power, to include troops, armor, bridging equipment, mine-clearing equipment, cannon artillery, fixed wing and rotary wing aviation assets, and significant logistics capability and claim it is more capable than ever. How can those same people claim it continues as the “premier crisis response force” when it agreed to cut its requirement for amphibious shipping from 38 to 31 ships knowing that the availability rate for amphibious ships today is slightly above 40%? The Marines, not the Navy, cut the requirement for L-class amphibious ships from 38 to 31. The Navy currently has 32 on the active rolls, 1 more than the Marines’ stated requirement. You can’t blame the Navy for not meeting the Marine Corps’ requirement. The Marines have subsequently requested 35 Landing Ship Medium (a slow speed, essentially unarmed connector built to civilian survivability standards we discussed earlier this week) to support the MLR/Stand-in Forces.

None have been built.

None will probably be built.

Why? They are not survivable inside China’s WEZ, an area where the Navy’s Arleigh Burke destroyers will avoid.

If this “new” Marine Corps is so flexible, why couldn’t it respond to the earthquake disaster in Turkey when it was asked for or conduct the Embassy evacuation in Africa? The value of the Marine Corps is being world-wide deployable in near real time, NOT sitting on islands off of China taking pot shots at PLAN ships as they sail by. Obviously any funds that are directed at better sensing, intelligence, and communications is welcome. The same for increased lethality. BUT, how is this Corps going to cross a river or a minefield? Will it “cyber its way”? The Character of War may be changing (as always) but the Nature of War remains…brutal, deadly, chaotic and unforgiving of mistakes. That massive contest between complex adaptive systems clashing in fury and blood-letting.

Sheer stupidity by a dumb grunt Commandant. This isn’t 1942 when no one knows you’re on an island, satellites and air-breathing assets will pick you up in one hour.

Eliminate the USMC soonest.

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