Moving scenes as Pope Leo XIV cries as thousands of faithful sing the Salve Regina in Latin to honour Our Lady of Paris, on the steps of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.

@BlakeSeitz reached out a few months ago and wanted me to expand on my X post in reference to the private sector developing their own mini nuclear pipeline to home grow talent. Enjoy! open.substack.com/pub/firstb…

“There is something in humanity that is repelled and entranced by a machine that seems to have more than human powers.” World of Wonders by Robertson Davies (1975)

you’re failing algebra? not now honey, mommy’s writing the 1619 project

“Secularists in Silicon Valley are filling the God-shaped hole in their heart with AGI.” - @ssankar “There’s not an empirical basis to believe that such a thing….The models get better. Why do you think that this cliff is gonna happen, or they somehow turn us into house cats?” “The people who have religion are the most skeptical of this. The people who are kind of transhumanists…..it becomes what they wish were true.” “The doomerism of Silicon Valley, it’s both a fundraising shtick where the frontier labs can say, ‘My technology’s so powerful, it’s going to lead to mass unemployment, so you better invest in me or you’re gonna be poor.’” “And also it’s divorced from any sort of reality. They are sitting in Silicon Valley building these models, spending no time on the front lines of how are people using this.” This was filmed 10 months ago……

Industrial Explosives Manufacturing The entire global military sector only buys 25% of all explosives that are manufactured, the other 75% of explosives are purchased and consumed by the mining industry. Whilst the military usually outspends mining in terms of the financial expenditure, mining totally dominates on raw tonnage. The mining industry gets through thousands of tonnes per day of Ammonia Nitrate Fuel Oxide (ANFO), this is a stable and low cost blasting media that is used in thousands of open pit mining operations around the world. The mining industry shifts millions of tonnes of earth and rock every day, almost all of it is blasted loose for recovery. Demand for metals and commodities is demand for high explosives and the chemical pre-requisites. Permitting for explosive manufacturing facilities is one of the big limits on the expansion of global mining operations, and the expansion of global commodity supplies. This isn’t obvious to most people, but if we want to build and make more things, if we want more goods manufactured, then that starts with making a lot more explosives. Explosives are one of the furthest upstream markets for the global economy and are therefore a good canary for an expansion of the global economy. Explosive prices will rise sharply before any new surge in commodity volumes feed through to the wider economy. This a good place to monitor the “fast takeoff” scenario commonly advocated by lots of people who have a very “software” understanding of how the world works. The reality is that upstream commodity prices and feedstock materials will need to blow out and stay blown out for a long time, for the supply chain to begin to respond to the price signal. A lot of these markets are cyclical and market participants often view price spikes as transient opportunities rather than structural shifts, and respond to price spikes with gouging rather than increasing production volumes. The Ukraine war disrupted the ammonia market in 2022 causing prices to rocket, but they have since fallen back quite substantially. The Ukraine war remains a bit of a ceiling on a major expansion of the global extractive industries. Interesting times ahead.

Let's not forget today that Rick Rescorla was a hero. At age 62, as the director of security at Morgan Stanley and battling cancer, Rick was credited for going up and down the towers' stairs as it burnt and led 2700 people to safety. Rick, when hired was convinced the next attack at the WTC would be by plane. He ran drills with the employees on how to evacuate. While going up and down the stairs over and over, trying to save more and more, he'd sing Cornish songs that he used to sing in war to calm his men. Ricks last call to his wife showed just what kind of a man he was: "Stop crying. I have to get these people out safely. If something were to happen to me, I want you to know I’ve never been happier. You made my life.” Don't forget, heroes exist, and Rick was one of them. Rest in peace to a legend.

The haunting sound of hundreds of PASS (Personal Alert Safety System) devices chirping in the rubble after the towers fell. Each one represents a fallen hero. I can't get that sound out of my head.

MAHIYA NAMAN KAYO | Secretary of National Defense Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. responded to a note from the Chinese side during the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) 2026 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. #DNDPHL #DiKaPasisiil #SDD2026

Evelyn Waugh on the cognitive dissonance of pilgrims in the Holy Land.

This is now an annual occurrence, by the way. We've just decided that major sporting events have to smell like marijuana and everyone has to tolerate it. Why?

George Washington on gambling: 'This is a vice which is productive of every possible evil...It is the child of Avarice—the brother of inequity—& father of Mischief—It has been the Ruin of many worthy familys—the loss of many a mans honor—& the cause of Suicide"

We are building our own defense tech company. Alex Karp, CEO of @PalantirTech, will become its first lead investor. Our ambitious new project will strengthen Ukraine and help build a safer future for the entire world. More details to come.

On August 5, Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg lit a fire under industry to solve America's munitions production problem. He sent a memo to industry leaders giving them 21 days to submit plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities. . . " We put the question to some of our favorite doers in the industry: If you had free reign to fix America’s munitions bottleneck, what would you propose? It's been three weeks, so we’re sharing the best—and hottest—takes we received. 👇

Jacob Reses is such a talent, such a pro and a patriot. As he moves on from being Vice President Vance’s Chief of Staff, I wish him success and happiness in whatever his future holds. He will be a dear friend always.

Ferdinand Knab

TR island is a hidden oasis in DC. Nice to see it come to life. Sometimes good governance is simple.

Arnold Böcklin Odysseus und Kalypso