Seventy Miles in Hell | The U.S. Navy Has an 'Achilles Heel' | The U.K. Admits Failure in Pandemic Response, and more

One way to read this post is that Trump is delusional. He can’t cope with Harris besting him on the metric he’s long valued the most — the size of his audience — and so is denying reality and having a tantrum. But however disordered Trump’s mind might be, I suspect there’s also a sort of strategy at work here. He is helping his supporters build a rationale for rejecting the election results if Harris wins.

The U.K. Admits Failure in Pandemic Response and Offers Preparedness and Resilience Lessons  (Bob Kolasky, HSToday)
I read with great interest the recently published Module 1 of the United Kingdom government’s “UK Covid-19 Inquiry”. This is the first in a series of modules assessing the U.K’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The first module focuses on the resilience and preparedness of the United Kingdom, and many of its findings and recommendations are universal and almost certainly apply to the United States as well. 
Among the top-line findings was that: 
“Had the UK been better prepared for and more resilient to the pandemic, some of that financial and human cost may have been avoided. Many of the very difficult decisions policymakers had to make would have been made in a very different context. Preparedness for and resilience to a whole-system civil emergency must be treated in much the same way as we treat a threat from a hostile state.”

Seventy Miles in Hell  (Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic)
The Darién Gap was thought for centuries to be all but impassable. Explorers and would-be colonizers who entered tended to die of hunger or thirst, be attacked by animals, drown in fast-rising rivers, or simply get lost and never emerge. Those dangers remain, but in recent years the jungle has become a superhighway for people hoping to reach the United States. According to the United Nations, more than 800,000 may cross the Darién Gap this year—a more than 50 percent increase over last year’s previously unimaginable number. Children under 5 are the fastest-growing group.
The U.S. has spent years trying to discourage this migration, pressuring its Latin American neighbors to close off established routes and deny visas to foreigners trying to fly into countries close to the U.S. border. Instead of stopping migrants from coming, this approach has simply rerouted them through the jungle, and shifted the management of their passage onto criminal organizations, which have eagerly taken advantage. The Gulf Clan, which now calls itself Ejército Gaitanista de Colombia, effectively controls this part of northern Colombia. It has long moved drugs and weapons through the Darién Gap; now it moves people too.
Everyone who works in the Darién Gap must be approved by the cartel and hand over a portion of their earnings. They have built stairs into hillsides and outfitted cliffs with ladders and camps with Wi‑Fi. They advertise it all on TikTok and YouTube, and anyone can book a journey online. There are many paths through. The most grueling route is the cheapest—right now, about $300 a person to cross the jungle on foot. Taking a boat up the coast can cost more than $1,000.

Forget Aircraft Carriers: The U.S. Navy Has an ‘Achilles Heel’  (Peter Suciu, National Interest)
A Big Challenge for the Navy: The U.S. Navy faces significant challenges, including a shortage of sailors and shipyards. Recruiting and retaining personnel has become difficult, leading to operational and safety concerns.
More Problems: The Navy’s shipbuilding capabilities are also in decline, with only a few shipyards remaining, and issues like rising costs, material shortages, and workforce problems exacerbate the situation.
What Next? The Navy is struggling to maintain its fleet, and without addressing these logistical challenges, building up a sufficient naval force seems unlikely.