All kidding aside, converting back to steam will cost billions. Where are all the deficit hawks very concerned about their grandchildren economic future?
This is where DoD's bureaucracy turns into an advantage. It will first need to be "studied" and then "requirements" drawn up and refined. Then there are appropriations and authorizations to be mapped out. The Navy leadership can stretch this out until Trump is gone.
I wonder how well they can slow this down. There's the suck up admiral getting the role regarding Navy planning. Trump has, by executive order, rolled back regulations for nuclear energy, environment, amongst others.
Not to mention the impact on fleet readiness given the fact that the Nimitz class is getting long in the tooth and having Ford refit may extend the service life of Nimitz and her sisters.
The deficit hawks realize that spending money drives jobs and economic growth (there is a reason war is inflationary and has ended depressions), but they want the spending directed towards them and their government contractors, not some plebeian living in backwoods Alabama.
I wonder what it'll cost to update the schematics and drawings of the Ford class carrier to reflect this change. Can you imagine how many fuckin' red lines there will be on the updated drawings?
How does this impact the shipboard power distribution? Who will perform the refit? How long will it take? And the cost estimate is going to be way off because there is no historical baseline for how much it'll cost to rip out one system and replace it with technology that is 50+ years old.
I just figured it out. The Navy just needs to contract with a special effects studio. When footage is being filmed for the President's viewing, just exhaust a plume of steam. It'll look cool and that's all he's really after.
It won't cost nearly the billions actually constructing 15 of the Trump class 'battleships' will. That's an estimated 275 billion over the next 30 years, or 18.3B per ship. The Ford class air craft carrier came in at 13.3B, but that will go up now that the have to be refitted with steam catapults.
It's a vanity project by Trump. And the funniest part about it is his claim the lead ship will be in service within two years. Which leads me to ask the following questions which is by no means a comprehensive list:
* Who is under contract to be the ship's primary system integrator?
* How much of the engineering scope is non recurring?
* Has a draft master phasing schedule been generated?
* Where will the ships be constructed?
* How does this construction schedule impact other ongoing construction schedules?
* How many workers will have to be hired?
And then my pet questions:
* What radar system will the Trump class use?
* What equipment will be used for backend signal processing and digital beamforming?
* Can we leverage designs from previous systems to reduce cost and complexity?
And so on. Failure to answer one of these questions intelligently means the Trump class is just a wet dream by an impotent old man.
That's why I'm in such a sarcastic mood today. Battleships were obsolete before the end of WW2. Yet, our nation is now moving forward on spending billions on these boondoggles to satisfy the whimsical of an overgrown toddler.
I'd bet that military recruiters are not meeting, and will not meet in the future, their recruiting goals. Who would want to sign up for such bad treatment? Who in the groups of people Hegseth despises, would join the military? He's made it clear that certain groups (minorities, women, etc.) will not get promoted. What parents could read about this mistreatment and encourage their kid to join the military? I'm sure there are some, but probably far fewer than there would have been if President "Suckers and Losers" and his Dandy Henchman, Hegseth, had not so utterly destroyed our military.
Military recruiters are meeting and even surpassing recruitment goals. The problem is, the new recruits are often unfit. To overcome worsening recruiting deficits in the time of Trump the services have slashed standards. The result: substandard recruits who could not have met pre-Trump goals with respect to physical and psychological fitness, literacy and other baseline standards. Having abandoned selectivity they're having to invest in training. But this still allows them to claim that the overall numbers are great.
Speaking of aircraft carriers, I saw that Trump is demanding that the new AC under construction be equipped with steam catapults instead of the more modern electromagnetic catapults. I'll leave this argument for the experts, but I'm convinced the only reason Trump wants catapults to be steam is because it reminds him of Top Gun. Nothing says 'Murica like Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in their underwear.
Yeah- I've read that initially, there were some problems with the EMALS, but that they have long since been fixed and are superior to steam catapults. Again, I've read that, so others more familiar might have better information, such as what you pointed out.
But it seems to me to be a ridiculous waste of money and a frivolous exercise in nostalgia.
I wish for just 1 minute Americans citizens would just think about the interest we are paying daily on the ballooning deficit. What we could've bought for ourselves with that money - healthcare, good wages, no hungry people, a better future for our grown children. As it is, I can't see that my 45 yr. old daughter and her husband will ever be able to own a home. The one thing the middle and lower middle class can have as security and an investment. I'm sure many parents see that for their children.
We (taxpayers) had to bail out the banks, we had to bail out the auto industry. We were scared into the thinking that these businesses were just too big to fail. You'll crash the economy! You'll lose your assembly line jobs! They keep our noses to the grindstone so that we don't notice their self enrichment. We are too tired to care, too powerless to do anything to stop what we voted for.
My own kids are too beat down to even dream about the future, to have just a small cut of the pie we managed to eek out for ourselves.
I don't know that We the People can even save ourselves, I don't think we can.
I hear you and agree. JVL's Triad yesterday (which I'm sure you also read) talks about the housing issue, and it's scary to think what all the youth in our country are faced with.
With respect to "We the People", what comes after that is almost more important IMHO - "in Order to form a more perfect Union" - we need to always strive for a better future, as Mike says. I feel like for some people (maybe a LOT of people?), the entire US Constitution starts *and ends* with "We the People". Sad.
What else can we expect from a pampered rich boy who never grew up and who got his fame through a reality show and interviews with fawning TV hosts owned by corporate media?
I have to ask myself how elevating and empowering the mediocre rich based on their money is any better than the monarchy that we separated ourselves from 250 years ago.
DEI-like systems for the promotion and protection of mediocre (and worse) rich and/or connected people have been in place since before the founding of this country and continue to this day. Except it doesn't have an easy acronym and is not limited to a literal designated class called the aristocracy. It might be called the old boys' network, it might be called getting along to go along; it might be included in the catch all term "white privilege" or it might actually be called DEI. The high office "achieved" by Hegseth, RFK Jr, Noem, Cao, Blanche, Bondi, Lutnick et al are in no way attributable to their abilities, skills, achievements or performance.
I follow these boards and make comments because I get to engage with a lot of perceptive and intelligent people from whom I learn a lot.
We the Common People are indoctrinated in the public schools. Any insight we might gain into the machinations of the ruling class we have to learn on our own.
The aristocracy passes on its knowledge of how to control us to each generation.
While somewhat outdated in its specifics, *The Power Elite,* C. Wright Mills's classic examination of the American aristocracy still provides an excellent sense of the hidden levers and connections that make the American aristocracy go. Other books of his including *White Collar*, which describes the unseen "bargains" the Common People make with the aristocracy, are worth a look.
There are plenty of more modern critiques of the American class system, but I think the Power Elite is particularly useful on the "soft stuff" of intergenerational and inter-family connections.
In the 70s, Americans learned from TV programming that average Americans were just as good, and often better, than their wealthy counterparts. Think about Columbo, Little House on the Praire, The Waltons, and a host of others...
In the 80s, that changed. We watched Dallas, Dynasty, and the Lives of the Rich and Famous. The New Aristocracy wanted to put a stop to the idea that they shouldn't be envied, admired, and adored by us commonfolk.
The idea that DJT is a "populist" who truly cares about "ordinary Americans" was patently ludicrous from the start --as were nearly all of the other claims made to boost him into the presidency and defend him thereafter.
I'm only grateful for the fact that Trump is too stupid, too blind to reality, too immature, and too much of a sociopathic narcissist to convince the world that he was what he said he was once he actually acquired the power he wanted.
If he had been an intelligent and artful man who was capable of making plans and rational decisions, he would be even more dangerous than he already is.
My fear is that there are people around him who are.
But was it top grade, designer, underwear hawked by the latest and greatest influencer on social media? It isn’t real ‘Murica anymore if there isn’t grift involved somewhere.
Hegseth has always struck me as the type of soldier who was constantly bitching about the higher-ups, and how he could do better if only he and his mates were in charge.
And the juxtaposition between Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, and the sailors aboard ship is telling but not surprising. The priorities of this administration are out of whack to say the least.
How many folks in the Military voted for what is happening to them now? I don't mean to "blame" them. I just want to point out that if you can't see that a guy like Trump has done nothing but use people to his own advantage his whole f'ing life, you maybe should look long and hard at your own judgement.
Don’t worry, somehow the right-wing media will convince them that the democrats would still be far worse—they’ll eat their sons and daughters, so all is as it should be in the world….:)
Despite what is happening on the Lincoln, I'll bet that if you took a poll, 70% of the respondents will tell you that the GOP is better for the troops.
Maybe 80%. Everybody knows that Democrats despise our troops.
An interesting feature of far-right regimes like ours is that they tend to treat the military much worse than they do the internal security forces. ICE is lavished with money and weapons, while the sailors on the Lincoln eat garbage. The explanation for this dichotomy is that the regime is counting on the internal security forces for protection from the public, and regime survival is paramount.
I'm old enough to remember when conservatives claimed character is destiny. In the year of our Lord, 2026, we've got a drunken, unapologetic adulterer as SecDef, the CNO is a brazen partisan who got his gig because he kissed up to the right people, and the acting SecNev believes "witchcraft" had taken hold in Monterey. As Stuart Stevens wrote, it was all a lie.
I have an enormous amount of compassion for the Lincoln's crew and their families. But at the same time, I would argue that the Trump --> Hegseth --> Cao --> Caudle chain of command is *exactly* what the American people deserve. The 2024 election wasn't just a turn towards autocracy. It was a rejection of subject matter expertise and the belief that strong personal character was essential in our leaders. After all, if the voters valued strong character, Kamala Harris would be POTUS.
Cao’s wanting alpha males and females who will rio out their guts and ask for seconds sounds like someone whose perception of what is w warrior comes from playing video games rather than experience with actual combat. Unfortunately, we seem to have leader who do not value the lives of those who serve underneath them. I hope the families of those a board the Lincoln become more vocal and visible about how their family members are being treated by the current administration.
My public TV station had a 9 part program on war. In one segment, a British historian exclaimed that the duty of the foot soldiers up to WWI was to die in battle. Seems to be the case with Hegseth and his toady generals and admirals.
Theme song of the Lincoln (With appropriate apologies to Gerry Rafferty): "Clowns to left, jokers to my right, here I am stuck on the Lincoln with you".
"Mrs. Conrad, by the way, says she voted for Trump."
I am amazed that Trump could show his disrespect for the military in so many ways, and yet these people only heard what they wanted to hear and saw only what they wanted to see.
The fact that they didn't demonstrates, for one thing, how much work the Democratic party has ahead of them to convince working and middle-class Americans that they have been voting against their best interests for nearly 50 years.
And to convince them that the GOP has been playing them the entire time while the standard of living has fallen for every class except the rich.
I'm sad that the Morning Shots didn't think to include the results from Clacton's by-election. Count Binface's effort to defeat Nigel Farage was valiant but ultimately doomed. Still, getting almost 30% of the vote was a hopeful sign, at least to me.
One reason my dad was against Obama was because Obama was going to get rid of the military, per the Australian National Socialists. He's died since, but I really wonder what he would have made of Trump's desecration of the military. I'm not sure if he'd have gone quiet or rejected Trump.
One of the two best movies about the USAAF bomber force in WWII, Command Decision (the other IMO being Twelve O’Clock High), has it’s flaws, but one line toward the end epitomizes the eternal and essential question - how are our soldiers, sailors, and airman to be used? Wars kill military people, so it is essential that they understand heir lives are being spent usefully, not wasted.
Live aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln seems to be difficult in some measure. I doubt that it is any more difficult than it was aboard many a fleet carrier during WWII in the Pacific (not including deaths by Japanese attack). But the sailors aboard those ships knew what they were fighting for and how necessary the fight was.
The difference between their lives and those now aboard the Lincoln is likely, then, the nature of this war and why it is being waged. I don’t know what those men and women have been told officially, but I’m guessing that most if not all of them are at least minimally aware of the controversy surrounding this war of whimsey, and I don’t doubt that a good part of whatever morale problem they are dealing in the face of whatever physical discomfort they may experience has much to do with that controversy.
Nimitz class carriers are big ships, but 5,000 human beings stuffed into one space, even so large a one, has to be difficult at best. What makes the difference is morale, and morale ought to be at the center of any discussion.
This administration disincentivizes military service. In normal times, they know they are brave and patriotic citizens, fighting for freedom and defending the defenseless, but now in these abnormal times, they know they are pawns on the chess board. Why would future recruits be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and give their lives for a government that doesn’t reflect their values and betrays or abandons them in both the short and long term? Nations neglect no one more shamefully than our heroes.
We haven't won a war since WWII. We had to be bombed before we entered into that one but we knew what we were fighting for. And after seeing the death camps, we knew we never wanted that to happen again.
Now war is just old men sending young people off to get maimed or die. But all of them will experience some kind of mental scarring. Will our government be there for them? No
President No One Knows "Military" Like I Do is going to leave the U.S. military in the same decrepit state he's leaving the rest of the federal government.
Bill, Trump's legacy is going to be his failed war against Iran. He has been a one-man wrecking ball with respect to our relationship with our allies. He has completely destroyed our reputation among other nations. He is a joke to those dictators he so admires. Do you think this country will ever be able to repair the damage he's caused? Side note: I'm almost 70 years old and I sure would like to see some justice, some retribution for all the crimes he and his minions have committed before I croak.
Katy, I hit 70 this year and one of my fears is that I will not live long enough to see justice served on these corrupt and incompetent clowns. I understand that Trump himself is probably immune thanks to the Supreme Court, and I suspect that he will toss pardons all around before he leaves office, but I also am hopeful that some clever legal minds in the future will find a way around some of these protections and punish some of the members of this pathetic administration.
Garvin, I would say that I'm in pretty good health for a 70 year old. A little overweight, but who isn't?? (LOL) Anyway, based on Trump's diet, my one hope is I will outlive him. The party that will occur then, the dancing in the streets, I will definitely enjoy. But the damage he's caused to this country may take longer to fix, if it can be fixed....and that makes me sad.
Apparently, all the new President needs to do is claim that former President Trump and various persons from his former administration are a threat to national security and need to be addressed.
Read this morning in the AP that this moron actually ordered the advanced jet fighter system on aircraft carries to revert back to steam catapults.
Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that Republicans are the party of a strong military.
All kidding aside, converting back to steam will cost billions. Where are all the deficit hawks very concerned about their grandchildren economic future?
This is where DoD's bureaucracy turns into an advantage. It will first need to be "studied" and then "requirements" drawn up and refined. Then there are appropriations and authorizations to be mapped out. The Navy leadership can stretch this out until Trump is gone.
I wonder how well they can slow this down. There's the suck up admiral getting the role regarding Navy planning. Trump has, by executive order, rolled back regulations for nuclear energy, environment, amongst others.
This. Trump will be long gone before they can even finish the bid process to make a steam catapult again.
Not to mention the impact on fleet readiness given the fact that the Nimitz class is getting long in the tooth and having Ford refit may extend the service life of Nimitz and her sisters.
The deficit hawks realize that spending money drives jobs and economic growth (there is a reason war is inflationary and has ended depressions), but they want the spending directed towards them and their government contractors, not some plebeian living in backwoods Alabama.
What economic future?
I wonder what it'll cost to update the schematics and drawings of the Ford class carrier to reflect this change. Can you imagine how many fuckin' red lines there will be on the updated drawings?
Is adequate steam generation available? Is adequate demineralized water available to make steam? Can the steam pipe runs actually be routed?
This is a big, big deal all based on one man's whims.
Mike - careful dude you’re getting dangerously close to naysaying!!
If my comments ever get read by the Administration, I'm on my way to the camps anyway. What's one more?
Not actually kidding.
Mike, there's a spot for all of us already.
We all have at least one follower on this substack dedicated to tracking our thoughtcrime
How does this impact the shipboard power distribution? Who will perform the refit? How long will it take? And the cost estimate is going to be way off because there is no historical baseline for how much it'll cost to rip out one system and replace it with technology that is 50+ years old.
I just figured it out. The Navy just needs to contract with a special effects studio. When footage is being filmed for the President's viewing, just exhaust a plume of steam. It'll look cool and that's all he's really after.
A few million dollars, tops.
And then hope he gets fixated on something else.
AI dude, AI.
It won't cost nearly the billions actually constructing 15 of the Trump class 'battleships' will. That's an estimated 275 billion over the next 30 years, or 18.3B per ship. The Ford class air craft carrier came in at 13.3B, but that will go up now that the have to be refitted with steam catapults.
The Trump class battleship will never be built.
I think you are correct about that. Plus, battleships are obsolete, so building 15 more of them is colossally stupid.
It's a vanity project by Trump. And the funniest part about it is his claim the lead ship will be in service within two years. Which leads me to ask the following questions which is by no means a comprehensive list:
* Who is under contract to be the ship's primary system integrator?
* How much of the engineering scope is non recurring?
* Has a draft master phasing schedule been generated?
* Where will the ships be constructed?
* How does this construction schedule impact other ongoing construction schedules?
* How many workers will have to be hired?
And then my pet questions:
* What radar system will the Trump class use?
* What equipment will be used for backend signal processing and digital beamforming?
* Can we leverage designs from previous systems to reduce cost and complexity?
And so on. Failure to answer one of these questions intelligently means the Trump class is just a wet dream by an impotent old man.
I'd characterize him as a "spoiled toddler." Beyond that, spot on!
That's why I'm in such a sarcastic mood today. Battleships were obsolete before the end of WW2. Yet, our nation is now moving forward on spending billions on these boondoggles to satisfy the whimsical of an overgrown toddler.
"If you believe that story, I have a Trump Class Battle ship to sell you..."
See? The much needed ballroom doesn't look so bad in comparison. 😀
Give it some more time. It's already gone up to a billion.
For a project that is so urgently needed, we can't afford not to build the ballroom. 😀
Between the steam catapults and the Golden Fleet led by the Trump Class Battleships, our Navy will finally be great again!
/s
They'll be ready to fight World War II anyway.
Battleships were obsolete by WWII. Looked cool and were well designed for sinking by aircraft and subs.
The President has history's greatest military mind and he says we need them!
/s
We could end up with a horse battalion. On a carrier. With diving boards.
Straight from the Steel Pier! 😀
I'd bet that military recruiters are not meeting, and will not meet in the future, their recruiting goals. Who would want to sign up for such bad treatment? Who in the groups of people Hegseth despises, would join the military? He's made it clear that certain groups (minorities, women, etc.) will not get promoted. What parents could read about this mistreatment and encourage their kid to join the military? I'm sure there are some, but probably far fewer than there would have been if President "Suckers and Losers" and his Dandy Henchman, Hegseth, had not so utterly destroyed our military.
We just need more Alpha males! 😀
All kidding aside, look at WW2 and the US Civil War. One side had their racially-pure troops. The other side didn't. Who won?
Military recruiters are meeting and even surpassing recruitment goals. The problem is, the new recruits are often unfit. To overcome worsening recruiting deficits in the time of Trump the services have slashed standards. The result: substandard recruits who could not have met pre-Trump goals with respect to physical and psychological fitness, literacy and other baseline standards. Having abandoned selectivity they're having to invest in training. But this still allows them to claim that the overall numbers are great.
Comment first, read later. You beat me to it. Kudos!
My rage and disgust couldn't wait until the parting shots. IT HAD TO BE SHARED!
At one point they were but that ship has sailed, so to speak. The Party is Trump and Trump is the Party.
sigh
I dunno, Steam Punk is kinda cool.
Speaking of aircraft carriers, I saw that Trump is demanding that the new AC under construction be equipped with steam catapults instead of the more modern electromagnetic catapults. I'll leave this argument for the experts, but I'm convinced the only reason Trump wants catapults to be steam is because it reminds him of Top Gun. Nothing says 'Murica like Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in their underwear.
Actual experts at the Navy don't want to convert back. Just another way to waste billions to satisfy the King's whims.
Tell me why we can't afford Head Start again?
Yeah- I've read that initially, there were some problems with the EMALS, but that they have long since been fixed and are superior to steam catapults. Again, I've read that, so others more familiar might have better information, such as what you pointed out.
But it seems to me to be a ridiculous waste of money and a frivolous exercise in nostalgia.
Beyond the expense there is the strategic impact of having one of the 11 carriers in dry dock for *years*.
They're completely different technologies. I can't imagine the expense in going from one to the other.
Seriously.
I wish for just 1 minute Americans citizens would just think about the interest we are paying daily on the ballooning deficit. What we could've bought for ourselves with that money - healthcare, good wages, no hungry people, a better future for our grown children. As it is, I can't see that my 45 yr. old daughter and her husband will ever be able to own a home. The one thing the middle and lower middle class can have as security and an investment. I'm sure many parents see that for their children.
We (taxpayers) had to bail out the banks, we had to bail out the auto industry. We were scared into the thinking that these businesses were just too big to fail. You'll crash the economy! You'll lose your assembly line jobs! They keep our noses to the grindstone so that we don't notice their self enrichment. We are too tired to care, too powerless to do anything to stop what we voted for.
My own kids are too beat down to even dream about the future, to have just a small cut of the pie we managed to eek out for ourselves.
I don't know that We the People can even save ourselves, I don't think we can.
Sorry for the long wail.
I hear you and agree. JVL's Triad yesterday (which I'm sure you also read) talks about the housing issue, and it's scary to think what all the youth in our country are faced with.
With respect to "We the People", what comes after that is almost more important IMHO - "in Order to form a more perfect Union" - we need to always strive for a better future, as Mike says. I feel like for some people (maybe a LOT of people?), the entire US Constitution starts *and ends* with "We the People". Sad.
Amazing insight!
I'm in a "mood" today, too. I'm coping my making way too many wise guy sarcastic comments.
We'll keep trying to get a better future. What else can we do?
What else can we expect from a pampered rich boy who never grew up and who got his fame through a reality show and interviews with fawning TV hosts owned by corporate media?
I have to ask myself how elevating and empowering the mediocre rich based on their money is any better than the monarchy that we separated ourselves from 250 years ago.
DEI-like systems for the promotion and protection of mediocre (and worse) rich and/or connected people have been in place since before the founding of this country and continue to this day. Except it doesn't have an easy acronym and is not limited to a literal designated class called the aristocracy. It might be called the old boys' network, it might be called getting along to go along; it might be included in the catch all term "white privilege" or it might actually be called DEI. The high office "achieved" by Hegseth, RFK Jr, Noem, Cao, Blanche, Bondi, Lutnick et al are in no way attributable to their abilities, skills, achievements or performance.
Thank you.
I follow these boards and make comments because I get to engage with a lot of perceptive and intelligent people from whom I learn a lot.
We the Common People are indoctrinated in the public schools. Any insight we might gain into the machinations of the ruling class we have to learn on our own.
The aristocracy passes on its knowledge of how to control us to each generation.
While somewhat outdated in its specifics, *The Power Elite,* C. Wright Mills's classic examination of the American aristocracy still provides an excellent sense of the hidden levers and connections that make the American aristocracy go. Other books of his including *White Collar*, which describes the unseen "bargains" the Common People make with the aristocracy, are worth a look.
There are plenty of more modern critiques of the American class system, but I think the Power Elite is particularly useful on the "soft stuff" of intergenerational and inter-family connections.
It's been the long term goal of all the mediocre rich - "A New Aristocracy".
They got it!
In the 70s, Americans learned from TV programming that average Americans were just as good, and often better, than their wealthy counterparts. Think about Columbo, Little House on the Praire, The Waltons, and a host of others...
In the 80s, that changed. We watched Dallas, Dynasty, and the Lives of the Rich and Famous. The New Aristocracy wanted to put a stop to the idea that they shouldn't be envied, admired, and adored by us commonfolk.
The idea that DJT is a "populist" who truly cares about "ordinary Americans" was patently ludicrous from the start --as were nearly all of the other claims made to boost him into the presidency and defend him thereafter.
I'm only grateful for the fact that Trump is too stupid, too blind to reality, too immature, and too much of a sociopathic narcissist to convince the world that he was what he said he was once he actually acquired the power he wanted.
If he had been an intelligent and artful man who was capable of making plans and rational decisions, he would be even more dangerous than he already is.
My fear is that there are people around him who are.
Are you talking about Trump or Hegseth?
I was talking about Trump, although it might apply to a lot of other people who enable and participate in this gold-plated freak show.
Don't get me started on the engineering implications on what Trump wants to do.
But was it top grade, designer, underwear hawked by the latest and greatest influencer on social media? It isn’t real ‘Murica anymore if there isn’t grift involved somewhere.
He’s got dementia, it’s getting worse, and his id lives in the 1980s.
That's funny 😁.
Hegseth has always struck me as the type of soldier who was constantly bitching about the higher-ups, and how he could do better if only he and his mates were in charge.
And the juxtaposition between Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, and the sailors aboard ship is telling but not surprising. The priorities of this administration are out of whack to say the least.
Look. Maxwell is keeping Felon Trump on his throne and out of jail. Isn’t that more important? /S
How many folks in the Military voted for what is happening to them now? I don't mean to "blame" them. I just want to point out that if you can't see that a guy like Trump has done nothing but use people to his own advantage his whole f'ing life, you maybe should look long and hard at your own judgement.
Republicans LOVE the military, right?
Don’t worry, somehow the right-wing media will convince them that the democrats would still be far worse—they’ll eat their sons and daughters, so all is as it should be in the world….:)
A woman with her son on the Lincoln admitted that she voted for DJT! Lots of buyers' remorse out there, but unfortunately it's hitting all of us!
Don't be fooled, she's going to vote for him again in 2028.
You're probably right.
Despite what is happening on the Lincoln, I'll bet that if you took a poll, 70% of the respondents will tell you that the GOP is better for the troops.
Maybe 80%. Everybody knows that Democrats despise our troops.
These voters wanted to hurt someone, the same someones that foodtruckfatty said he'd hurt.
Ends up we all get hurt.
No, our American government has never, ever loved our military.
An interesting feature of far-right regimes like ours is that they tend to treat the military much worse than they do the internal security forces. ICE is lavished with money and weapons, while the sailors on the Lincoln eat garbage. The explanation for this dichotomy is that the regime is counting on the internal security forces for protection from the public, and regime survival is paramount.
It demonstrates that this regime is more frightened of its own citizens than of anyone in the international community.
I'm old enough to remember when conservatives claimed character is destiny. In the year of our Lord, 2026, we've got a drunken, unapologetic adulterer as SecDef, the CNO is a brazen partisan who got his gig because he kissed up to the right people, and the acting SecNev believes "witchcraft" had taken hold in Monterey. As Stuart Stevens wrote, it was all a lie.
I have an enormous amount of compassion for the Lincoln's crew and their families. But at the same time, I would argue that the Trump --> Hegseth --> Cao --> Caudle chain of command is *exactly* what the American people deserve. The 2024 election wasn't just a turn towards autocracy. It was a rejection of subject matter expertise and the belief that strong personal character was essential in our leaders. After all, if the voters valued strong character, Kamala Harris would be POTUS.
"We get the government that we deserve."
Cao’s wanting alpha males and females who will rio out their guts and ask for seconds sounds like someone whose perception of what is w warrior comes from playing video games rather than experience with actual combat. Unfortunately, we seem to have leader who do not value the lives of those who serve underneath them. I hope the families of those a board the Lincoln become more vocal and visible about how their family members are being treated by the current administration.
My public TV station had a 9 part program on war. In one segment, a British historian exclaimed that the duty of the foot soldiers up to WWI was to die in battle. Seems to be the case with Hegseth and his toady generals and admirals.
Theme song of the Lincoln (With appropriate apologies to Gerry Rafferty): "Clowns to left, jokers to my right, here I am stuck on the Lincoln with you".
I was today years old when I learned that Rafferty came from Stealers Wheel
And was used during one horrendous scene in Reservation Dogs.
"Mrs. Conrad, by the way, says she voted for Trump."
I am amazed that Trump could show his disrespect for the military in so many ways, and yet these people only heard what they wanted to hear and saw only what they wanted to see.
The fact that they didn't demonstrates, for one thing, how much work the Democratic party has ahead of them to convince working and middle-class Americans that they have been voting against their best interests for nearly 50 years.
And to convince them that the GOP has been playing them the entire time while the standard of living has fallen for every class except the rich.
I'm sad that the Morning Shots didn't think to include the results from Clacton's by-election. Count Binface's effort to defeat Nigel Farage was valiant but ultimately doomed. Still, getting almost 30% of the vote was a hopeful sign, at least to me.
Wild that the craziest SOB in the race wasn't the guy wearing a cape and trash can mask.
Sometimes losing is winning! Also in video watches no contest.
Look, Republicans love the troops, unlike those evil Democrats. Everyone knows this!
/s
Yes. I believe that is a truth universally acknowledged ;-)
From a distance maybe; but up close, not so much.
One reason my dad was against Obama was because Obama was going to get rid of the military, per the Australian National Socialists. He's died since, but I really wonder what he would have made of Trump's desecration of the military. I'm not sure if he'd have gone quiet or rejected Trump.
One of the two best movies about the USAAF bomber force in WWII, Command Decision (the other IMO being Twelve O’Clock High), has it’s flaws, but one line toward the end epitomizes the eternal and essential question - how are our soldiers, sailors, and airman to be used? Wars kill military people, so it is essential that they understand heir lives are being spent usefully, not wasted.
Live aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln seems to be difficult in some measure. I doubt that it is any more difficult than it was aboard many a fleet carrier during WWII in the Pacific (not including deaths by Japanese attack). But the sailors aboard those ships knew what they were fighting for and how necessary the fight was.
The difference between their lives and those now aboard the Lincoln is likely, then, the nature of this war and why it is being waged. I don’t know what those men and women have been told officially, but I’m guessing that most if not all of them are at least minimally aware of the controversy surrounding this war of whimsey, and I don’t doubt that a good part of whatever morale problem they are dealing in the face of whatever physical discomfort they may experience has much to do with that controversy.
Nimitz class carriers are big ships, but 5,000 human beings stuffed into one space, even so large a one, has to be difficult at best. What makes the difference is morale, and morale ought to be at the center of any discussion.
This administration disincentivizes military service. In normal times, they know they are brave and patriotic citizens, fighting for freedom and defending the defenseless, but now in these abnormal times, they know they are pawns on the chess board. Why would future recruits be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and give their lives for a government that doesn’t reflect their values and betrays or abandons them in both the short and long term? Nations neglect no one more shamefully than our heroes.
Well said.
We haven't won a war since WWII. We had to be bombed before we entered into that one but we knew what we were fighting for. And after seeing the death camps, we knew we never wanted that to happen again.
Now war is just old men sending young people off to get maimed or die. But all of them will experience some kind of mental scarring. Will our government be there for them? No
President No One Knows "Military" Like I Do is going to leave the U.S. military in the same decrepit state he's leaving the rest of the federal government.
Bring the fire engines to the Reichstag. Trump and his Tame Republicans are burning this country down. Our military pseudo leaders are a disgrace.
Bill, Trump's legacy is going to be his failed war against Iran. He has been a one-man wrecking ball with respect to our relationship with our allies. He has completely destroyed our reputation among other nations. He is a joke to those dictators he so admires. Do you think this country will ever be able to repair the damage he's caused? Side note: I'm almost 70 years old and I sure would like to see some justice, some retribution for all the crimes he and his minions have committed before I croak.
Katy, I hit 70 this year and one of my fears is that I will not live long enough to see justice served on these corrupt and incompetent clowns. I understand that Trump himself is probably immune thanks to the Supreme Court, and I suspect that he will toss pardons all around before he leaves office, but I also am hopeful that some clever legal minds in the future will find a way around some of these protections and punish some of the members of this pathetic administration.
Garvin, I would say that I'm in pretty good health for a 70 year old. A little overweight, but who isn't?? (LOL) Anyway, based on Trump's diet, my one hope is I will outlive him. The party that will occur then, the dancing in the streets, I will definitely enjoy. But the damage he's caused to this country may take longer to fix, if it can be fixed....and that makes me sad.
Apparently, all the new President needs to do is claim that former President Trump and various persons from his former administration are a threat to national security and need to be addressed.