RRR Quick Hits + Coming Soon

Grieving human suffering, a new book, plus, the under-performance and monopolistic nature of defense manufacturing in the U.S.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. Primarily, the oxygen in public discourse has been dominated by the happenings in Israel / Gaza / The West Bank. I would love to offer an insightful message on those proceedings but I think there are plenty of people who are more well informed and/or smarter than me that have taken to many different mediums and shared their thoughts.

One such piece of content that precedes the most recent developments is this, from Benjamin Kerstein. A three state solution is a very interesting thought experiment if nothing else, but I do think the article also does a good job of portraying the predominant schools of thought that exist in the different parts of the region.

There is one possible solution to this question that for some reason is excluded from discussions of Israel’s future by parties domestic and foreign, whether in high or low places. It is supremely difficult to accomplish, though it is also an elegant solution, and it has the virtue—so far as I am aware—of originality. And if the one-staters are entitled to their unlikely thought experiments, then others are certainly entitled to the same. The solution is the partition of the territory into three states: a Jewish state in Israel, a Palestinian state in Gaza, and a binational state in the West Bank.

Perhaps, the only comment I am qualified to add into this arena is that we should all be grieving in our own way.

Grieve for the innocent people who are suffering.

Grieve that the situation is being exploited to drive home ill-intended agendas.

Grieve that these recent escalations make it increasingly difficult to improve the situation on the ground.

Grieve that territorial and ideological disputes are doing more to separate us than our humanity is doing to unite us.

We need to grieve anytime that there are people forced to endure dire conditions in life. It doesn’t have to be this way.

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New Book Alert ⚠⚠

One thing I’m learning is that audio books present a different challenge to me than traditional reading 🤔🧠💡.

In a previous Quick Hits post, I spoke about starting “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer. It’s been challenging to stay diligent with listening for a couple reasons:

1. I find the visual reminder of a book on my nightstand really helpful for habit forming. There’s no natural reminders blended into my life that scream out “open the audible app”.

2. I do find myself in the car a lot for long distance travel. However, there are many podcasts I’ve formed habits of listening to over the years. The conversational dialog that exists in podcasts is a bit easier for me to follow than the intimate details of WW2 that come in waves throughout the audiobook.

I fully intend on finishing the “book”, but I need to think of a way to make it easier on myself. In due time…

Anyways, now I really have a new book:

“Kayaks Down The Nile” by John Goddard

Goddard and two of his friends traversed 4,145 miles on the worlds longest river (which flows south to north from Lake Victoria in Tanzania, all the way to the Mediterranean sea north of Cairo). As the name and cover art suggest, they accomplish this impressive feat within the confines of a Kayak.

It seems like there are some wild stories in store, but I’m most excited to hear about the people they meet along the way, as well as the geographies they encounter.

I was able to snag it for $6.47 after tax and shipping on thriftbooks.com 🤑🤑.

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Why America Is Out of Ammunition, by Matt Stoller

Stoller’s commentary explores how despite unmatched historical spending on military might, the U.S. is running low on some basic militaristic necessities. This comes at an opportune moment as the U.S. finds itself entangled in major conflicts in Europe and Asia.

One of the more important side stories to the recent wars in Ukraine and Israel, and competition with China over Taiwan, is that the U.S. defense industrial base, composed of 200k plus corporations, is being forced to actually build weapons again. Defense is big business, and since the end of the Cold War, the government has allowed Wall Street to determine who owns, builds, and profits from defense spending.

The consequences, as with much of our economic machinery, are predictable. Higher prices, worse quality, lower output. Wall Street and private equity firms prioritize cash out first, and that means a once functioning and nimble industrial base now produces more grift than anything else. As Lucas Kunce and I wrote for the American Conservative in 2019, the U.S. simply can’t build or get the equipment it needs. There are at this point a bevy of interesting reports coming out of the Pentagon. The last one I wrote up earlier this year showed that unlike the mid-20th century defense-industrial base, today government cash goes increasingly to stock buybacks rather than actual armaments. And now, with a dramatic upsurge in need for everything from missiles to artillery shells to bullets, we’re starting to see cracks in the vaunted U.S. military.

The signs are unmistakable. In Ukraine, fighters are rationing shells. Taiwan can’t get weapons it ordered years ago. The Pentagon has put together a secret team to scour stockpiles to find high-precision armaments in demand on every battlefield and potential battlefield. But the problem goes beyond national defense. In Lake City, Missouri, the largest small arms ammunition plant in the world has decided all ammo production is going to the military, meaning that there is going to be a domestic shortage for hunters, sportsmen, and maybe even police. This shortage may look like a story of a sudden surge in demand, but it’s actually, as Elle Ekman wrote in the Prospect in 2021, a story of consolidation and de-industrialization.

Of course, as it is the theme of Stoller’s “BIG” newsletter, the problem gets tackled through the lens (appropriately, if I might add) of ill-conceived consolidation:

But don’t take my word for it, take that of the Pentagon. In 2022, the DOD reported that “that consolidation of the industrial base reduces competition for DOD contracts and leads DOD to rely on a more limited number of suppliers. This lack of competition may in turn increase the risk of supply chain gaps, price increases, reduced innovation, and other adverse effects.” And that’s why, more than a year into the Ukraine conflict, the ramp-up is still not where it needs to be.

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Seen In The Dallas Airport…

Re: Gummies…

I ended up going with a couple bags of “RIPS”. RIPS never quite left my head after I published the top-5 gummy list, as they’d always been a consistent and comforting presence in my life…

But what really caught my eye was this new Mango Chili flavor I had never tried before:

They managed to get the sweet / sour / spice levels pretty much spot on, in my estimation 😋.

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Coming Soon…

As promised, I will publish some content before the start of the NBA season. Some time on Tuesday, you’ll get an extra note from me breaking down the following:

1. The “League Pass Rankings” and RRR Power Rankings for all 30 teams

2. More NBA Over / Under Predictions

3. Players to Watch

Come hopefully next weekend, but possibly early the following week, we’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming with RRR12. That will come out a handful of days before I start an incredibly exciting adventure across the pond in London. I can’t wait to learn about and experience a new city. I’ll also have close to a month of alone time, which excites me very much.

I feel like the most transformative periods of life come when you’re thrust into unfamiliar and/or uncomfortable environments.

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Cheers, everyone. Have a great week ahead! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading.