War with Iran

[Uncle Rico]

Building 'Trump Class' Battleships Will Be a Big, Expensive Mistake

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/opinion/trump-class-battleships-navy-military.html?

President Trump has proposed building a new fleet, with battleships at its core. He is right that the United States needs a larger and more lethal Navy, along with a rejuvenated shipbuilding industry. But his plan would have been outdated a century ago. Unless senior Navy officials steer him off his course, the nation will spend billions to make the Navy more vulnerable and less deadly.

The president said that the classic 1950s documentary series "Victory at Sea" inspired him to invest in battleships — which are essentially big, floating artillery platforms. Pity he did not watch it more closely. Naval conflict in World War II, the subject of the documentary, proved aircraft carriers and nimble destroyers to be far more important to succeeding in an era of planes and submarines. Today, new technologies such as precision missiles and sea drones demand even more innovation away from battleships.

Mr. Trump nevertheless last year ordered new battleships, "the largest we've ever built," the first of what the Pentagon said would be the "Trump class." (Naming the class after the president rather than the first ship of the class, in this case the Defiant, is a departure from longstanding Navy tradition.) Mr. Trump said that his secretary of the Navy at the time, John Phelan, was excited about the new ships. Four months later, apparently after explaining to Mr. Trump that the Defiant could not be delivered by 2028 as the president wanted, Mr. Phelan was fired. But work on the new ships continued.

Now, the Congressional Budget Office has issued a report projecting that the first ship would cost just over $23 billion, $8 billion more than the Navy initially announced — and that is before inevitable cost overruns. Some of the weapons systems that the Defiant is supposed to carry don't even exist yet. Each of the 14 additional ships planned is expected to cost at least $18 billion, up from an initially projected $10 billion per hull, for a total cost of $275 billion. The most expensive ship ever built for the U.S. Navy was the nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, which, with significant overruns, cost about $13 billion in 2017.

Spending any money on battleships — let alone such huge amounts — conflicts directly with the Navy's desire to modernize itself. A single missile or bomb can easily disable any ship, so the nation's offensive firepower should be distributed among many smaller ships rather than a few big ones. The idea is that losing one or two ships would not disable the country's capability to project force in a region. Battleships just make big targets.

For the same price as one of the new ships, Harlan Ullman, a senior adviser at the Atlantic Council in Washington, explained to me, the Navy could buy five or six advanced guided missile destroyers. Taken together, they would have more firepower than a single new battleship would, along with antisubmarine weapons the Defiant would lack. Some of the money planned for the Trump class could also pay for more submarines, amphibious ships and hundreds of small, autonomous sea drones.

Yet as far as we know, no active duty and few retired admirals have ventured to tell Mr. Trump that his battleship plan is a bad strategic choice, and an expensive one.

No administration has done more damage to this country since Franklin Pierce

[Hards Alumni]

Don't worry, they'll never be built.

[Jockey]

No administration has done more damage to this country since Franklin Pierce

Most people don't know it because they are too dum, but Franklin had a massive brain and an outsized interest in little girls.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Yes, let's base our military spending on a 75 year film.  Sounds like brilliant strategy.

[MU82]

Yes, let's base our military spending on a 75 year film.  Sounds like brilliant strategy.

You aren't surprised, are you? It's all part of making America great again - harkening back to the good ol' days when broads and coloreds knew their places, when real men smoked filterless Lucky Strikes, and when nobody cared if a guy drove drunk.

Next on the agenda: Getting back to building cars as good as Edsels.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Next on the agenda: Getting back to building cars as good as Edsels.

Ahem

https://autos.yahoo.com/new-vehicles-and-reviews/articles/tesla-cybertruck-became-bigger-flop-123027813.html

"But it has got even worse for Musk and Tesla. Because now, according to the latest figures and reports, the Cybertruck is likely the worst-selling vehicle in the United States. It has taken that title away from the Ford Edsel, a car first released way back in 1957."

[MU82]

The Washington Post reports that at least 22 U.S. soldiers have died in Captain Bone Spur's unnecessary Iran war - significantly more than Bone Spur, his imbecilic war czar and the rest of his lying administration is admitting.

But at least the snowflake Censor In Chief is getting to the nation's important business of trying to ban CNN, Politico and MSNOW reporters from the White House.

[Pakuni]

Yeah, Pete is definitely into dudes.

NEWS: The Pentagon has announced mandatory low-testosterone screenings for male troops 30 and older, including screening for symptoms such as "reduced libido, loss of spontaneous morning erections, erectile dysfunction," and other symptoms.

https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2101103215551132068?s=20

[Uncle Rico]

Anything to distract from the disastrous war in Iran that any Scooper with half a brain could have seen coming from outer space

[Jockey]

Yeah, Pete is definitely into dudes.

NEWS: The Pentagon has announced mandatory low-testosterone screenings for male troops 30 and older, including screening for symptoms such as "reduced libido, loss of spontaneous morning erections, erectile dysfunction," and other symptoms.

https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2101103215551132068?s=20

Pete will personally go through the barracks every morning to perform these checks up close and personal.

[MUBurrow]

Yeah, Pete is definitely into dudes.

NEWS: The Pentagon has announced mandatory low-testosterone screenings for male troops 30 and older, including screening for symptoms such as "reduced libido, loss of spontaneous morning erections, erectile dysfunction," and other symptoms.

https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2101103215551132068?s=20

But that's not possible, he belongs to a christian nationalist church that says women should submit to their husbands and homosexuality should be a crime.

[MU82]

From today's MJS e-newsletter:

As Wisconsin breaks all-time diesel gas price records, hardship mounts for farmers in America's Dairyland.

The increased prices have two effects , writes Caden Perry: Costs for general farm operations – combines, tractors, sprayers and heating – are spiking and now transport companies are adding new surcharges to move harvests.

Farmers like Kyle Nilsestuen, a row crop and beef cow farmer in Arcadia, report current diesel prices are "right at the nightmare mark" before cuts to fall preparation have to be made.

"I'm looking at budgets for fertilizer, looking at seeds for planting, I might be looking for pesticides, and I wanted to, maybe, buy some new cattle, expand our beef stock a little," Nilsestuen said. "With the price of fuel, we're probably going to go back to the drawing board, see what else we can do."

[Uncle Rico]

From today's MJS e-newsletter:

As Wisconsin breaks all-time diesel gas price records, hardship mounts for farmers in America's Dairyland.

The increased prices have two effects , writes Caden Perry: Costs for general farm operations – combines, tractors, sprayers and heating – are spiking and now transport companies are adding new surcharges to move harvests.

Farmers like Kyle Nilsestuen, a row crop and beef cow farmer in Arcadia, report current diesel prices are "right at the nightmare mark" before cuts to fall preparation have to be made.

"I'm looking at budgets for fertilizer, looking at seeds for planting, I might be looking for pesticides, and I wanted to, maybe, buy some new cattle, expand our beef stock a little," Nilsestuen said. "With the price of fuel, we're probably going to go back to the drawing board, see what else we can do."

They'll be fine.  They'll get socialism from someone.

[Jockey]

These lucky farmers got exactly what they voted for.

Plus they had the bonus of owning the libs.

Good luck with your farm.

[jesmu84]

They'll be fine.  They'll get socialism from someone.

And then vote for Republicans again

[Uncle Rico]

And then vote for Republicans again

As long as those "unamericans" suffer

[TSmith34, Inc.]

$43.6B in direct war costs to-date, plus $107B in additional consumer costs.

Heckuva job, Trumpy.

[MU82]

$43.6B in direct war costs to-date, plus $107B in additional consumer costs.

Heckuva job, Trumpy.

And those numbers are almost surely low.

[Uncle Rico]

U.S. diesel prices hit $6.52 per gallon, up from $3.68 a year ago.

Trump's folly in Iran.  Trump's promise to end the war in Ukraine on January 20, 2025.

Promises made, promises kept.

It's just a few pennies

[#UnleashThePortal]

Pete will personally go through the barracks every morning to perform these checks up close and personal.

He's a big fan of some good morning wood.

[cheebs09]

He's a big fan of some good morning wood.

He plays the Taylor Swift song about Kelce on repeat in the Pentagon.

[Uncle Rico]

https://bsky.app/profile/brandyzadrozny.bsky.social/post/3mw4i7wiovk2h

[MU82]

U.S. diesel prices hit $6.52 per gallon, up from $3.68 a year ago.

Trump's folly in Iran.  Trump's promise to end the war in Ukraine on January 20, 2025.

Promises made, promises kept.

It's just a few pennies

"We will stop the Biden-Harris war on American energy. ... I will cut your energy prices in half. That's going to bring everything down." - GOP presidential candidate, August 2024, when the average price of a gallon of gas in America was $3.17.

"I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again." - GOP presidential candidate, August 2024.

"We will expel the warmongering from our government." - GOP presidential candidate, August 2024.

"We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end - and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into." - America's 47th president, Jan. 20,. 2025.

"I will stop the chaos in the Middle East." - America's 47th president, Jan. 20, 2025.

"The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE..... " - America's 45th president, Oct. 9, 2019.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

"We will stop the Biden-Harris war on American energy. ... I will cut your energy prices in half. That's going to bring everything down." - GOP presidential candidate, August 2024, when the average price of a gallon of gas in America was $3.17.

"I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again." - GOP presidential candidate, August 2024.

"We will expel the warmongering from our government." - GOP presidential candidate, August 2024.

"We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end - and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into." - America's 47th president, Jan. 20,. 2025.

"I will stop the chaos in the Middle East." - America's 47th president, Jan. 20, 2025.

"The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE..... " - America's 45th president, Oct. 9, 2019.

You're telling me he lied? Well, that's out of character.

Also, he has ended 8 wars, but MSDNC doesn't want to tell you that.

[Uncle Rico]

US of A proposes $10 billion fund with Middle East allies to bypass Hormuz.

A confederacy of dunces.

So much for fiscal conservatism.