-- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), British politician and statesman, in a telegram (21 November 1942) by Churchill from Cairo, Egypt to Home Secretary Herbert Morrison; cited in In the Highest Degree Odious (1992), Simpson, Clarendon Press, p. 391
TRVTH
Daily observations of TRVTH in the real world.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Odious
Thursday, July 10, 2025
DMSP Termination
Product(s) or Data Impacted: All Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data and products: FINE, SMOOTH and HOUSEKEEPING data from Operational Linescan System (OLS), Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS), and all Near-Earth Space Weather instruments
Date/Time of Initial Impact: no later than June 30, 2025
Date/Time of Expected End: NA Termination
Details/Specifics of Change:
Due to recent service changes, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and Navy’s Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) will discontinue ingest, processing and distribution of all DMSP data no later than June 30, 2025. ESPC interfaces will not receive DMSP data and all data products will be suspended. Users should expect all FINE, SMOOTH and HOUSEKEEPING data from Operational Linescan System (OLS), Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS), and all Near-Earth Space Weather instruments to be terminated. This service change and termination will be permanent.
-- Notice published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA (25 June 2025), announcing that after 40 years, on 5 days' notice, the U.S. Department of Defense will no longer provide satellite weather data, leaving hurricane forecasters without crucial information about storms as peak hurricane season arrives in the Atlantic. The termination has been delayed by 1 month after an outcry from scientists and forecasters, NPR "Defense Department will stop providing crucial satellite weather data" (1 July 2025)
Wednesday, July 09, 2025
Reasons
-- Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), French mathematician, logician, physicist, and theologian, The Pensées (1669) (literally "thoughts") Section IV: On the Means of the Belief (242-290) 277
Tuesday, July 08, 2025
In Dreams
-- William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), Irish symbolist poet, dramatist, and mystic, 1923 Nobel laureate in Literature, Epigraph to the book Responsibilities (1914)
Monday, July 07, 2025
None Of This Was Charity
The history of diplomacy has many euphemisms for disengaging from a fight before the enemy: "ending wars," "retrenchment," "refocusing," "a decent interval," and so on. The military has a simple word for it: surrender.
The past three U.S. administrations understood both the stakes and the complexity of supporting Ukraine. They helped Ukraine take the difficult steps toward interoperability with NATO while provided critical military equipment and training. Our policy and our delivery timelines weren't always perfect, but Republicans and Democrats agreed that a free, strong Ukraine in a position to defend itself was an asset to our security. And Americans supported that approach.
None of this was charity -- it was strategic investment with deliberate attention to what we could provide without compromising our own readiness. That took rigor, discipline, analysis, and more risk mitigation than almost anyone who doesn't work in the Pentagon will ever realize. But it paid off. Ukraine, once reliant on Soviet doctrine and gear, transformed its military structure and operational capability under fire while defending its sovereignty with courage, combat savvy, and increasing skill.
Ukraine is holding on. Barely, but bravely. Let's not make them hold on alone or for much longer.
-- Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.), former commander of U.S. Army Europe, "If We Don't Stand With Ukraine, What Do We Stand For?" (7 July 2025)
Friday, July 04, 2025
United We Stand
-- Patrick Henry (1736 - 1799), American attorney, planter, and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s, Last public speech (4 March 1799); as quoted in Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondences and Speeches (1891) by William Wirt Henry, Vol. 2, p. 609-610
Thursday, July 03, 2025
Bound By Ideals
-- Former President George W. Bush (6 July 1946 -). First inaugural address (January 2001)