Hi friend,
Happy Tuesday!
What follows are the source notes for this podcast.
So, if you just happen to be stopping by on the internet, or you’ve arrived here from the Apple Podcast, you’ll find these items below.
On the other hand, if you’re on Apple Podcast or one of the other podcast apps, you’ll need to click the “episode website” button at the bottom. Otherwise, not all of the source notes (which are often tweets) will show up.
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For those who don’t know, every Tuesday and Friday, I discuss military and defense news, as well as some history, motivation, and wisdom. (And I do all of this from a moderate perspective.)
Tuesday posts will be available to everyone, but they’ll be delayed by one day unless you’re a paid subscriber.
That way, it will encourage folks to support what we’re doing here if they can, but also doesn’t really penalize you if you can’t make that $5 a month payment. At most, you’re waiting an additional day for the content.
But I do want to keep the option there (and the incentive there) for you to support this effort with a paid subscription. I’m doing this for several reasons.
First, I believe in the mission of this. Of trying to highlight what our military troops are doing around the world, while also trying to better educate Americans about looming hotspots. We want to avoid those places we should avoid. We also want to avoid unplanned mission creep, such as we did in Afghanistan, where we went from removing the Taliban and pursuing Osama bin Laden, to then trying to create a thriving democracy in one of the poorest, least-educated parts of the world. I could also mention our invasion of Iraq. Or our intervention of Vietnam. Or a number of other things. These decisions mattered, and decisions being made now matter as well. I am passionate about this topic because I’ve been the scared, young rifleman, who went into a foreign land and had the wits scared out of him, while dodging bullets for a few days in a foreign land.
Second, I know that as our support grows, so, too, can the depth, length, and reach of the show. This, given the mission I just mentioned above, is important to me. And it’s also something that’s hard to achieve while continuing to work a full-time job, as I’m currently doing. Not to mention trying to be as awesome of a husband and step-dad as I can possibly be.
Finally, I also know that this isn’t a broad topic that 80 percent of the country is excited to hear about. Foreign policy news is a very-small, niche subject, and I’m not kidding myself into believing that I can somehow single-handedly make half the country care about it.
So for all of these reasons, I need your support. If you’re a free subscriber, I need you telling others who might be interested. Or sharing some of the podcasts from time-to-time. And for those who can, and who really believe in what we’re trying to do, i’d greatly appreciate it if you can throw a few bucks in the hat. It’s $5 a month to subscribe, and if you do so, you’ll get the Tuesday edition without the one-day delay. And you’ll also eventually get some in-depth, single-topic podcasts that I’ve been wanting to do. These will only be for paid subscribers, but I’m not going to share too much about those. Honestly, I’m a big believer in under promise, over achieve. So, if you’re going to subscribe, do it because you support what we’re doing and you want ot be a part of this community.
Source Notes follow (motivational tweets at bottom):
China:
Ukraine:
Ukraine gets more U.S., German rocket launcher systems.
With these three from Germany, that will increase the number that they have up to 19. (Since we’ve sent 16, as I reported in the July 22 episode.)
Afghanistan:
Saudia Arabia: How to deal with despots from The Economist.
Motivation and wisdom:
That’s it for this edition.
As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.
I believe with every fiber of my being that we have to pull this country together. We have to stop hating those on the other side of the aisle and we have to stop rewarding the loudest (and most angry) voices on either side.
I’m not sure how we do this, but it certainly starts with each of us being nice to our fellow Americans. And understanding what the great Abraham Lincoln said.
Lincoln, who is one of my absolute favorite people to look up to and study, said that a house divided cannot stand.
It’s also worth remembering that Lincoln had approximately one year of schooling. He was self-educated, learning through books and reading that he did. And yet he proved to be one of the wisest leaders we ever had.
I think his example is one we should all follow. So, stay engaged on the issues and be kind when you talk about them, especially online.
And, please, sign up for free episodes at a minimum. We’d be proud to have you join us here.
And if you love what you’re reading, throw a couple of bucks in the hat by subscribing below.
The view from the front is a reader-supported publication. The best way to make this work sustainable, and to help improve it, is with a paid subscription. But at the same time, free ones are appreciated, too!
Semper Fidelis,
Stan R. Mitchell
P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. I’ve written a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational/biography book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan.
P.P.S. And here’s a short bio about me and what I’m trying to do with the newsletter.
Stan R. Mitchell: The view from the front podcast for 8-2-22.