The Navy was really going to name some ship “Harvey Milk?” Surely these sorts of decisions come firstly under the purvey of The Secretary of the Navy yet also whatever Hegseth is. I’d have counseled that this is the wrong administration to allow to pass rules or whatever against stuff like the naming of ships. And were I the Secretary of the Navy, Hegseth would have my resignation signed and on his desk.
I reckon there are too many top military guys who really want to meet some calendar date where they get the most money. I dunno how Colin Powell bought into the yellowcake thing and testified about it, yet textbook example of how to torpedo your career (as he was either Army or Marine not sure what word is more applicable).
So there’s this, which I didn’t see mentioned (my pardons if it has):
Firstly (from the article) what is a “suicide drone”? I suppose I naively thought the launchees of drones did not necessarily expect them to return. So are these things packed with some massive payload and crashing into their target is much worse than merely shooting hellfire missiles (or whatever Russia or Ukraine has) at them?
And why inform Trump? Is it just about using tiny nukes so no worries? Is it hypersonic misses to Odessa and Kiev? Is Putin going to inform Trump that Fiinland has more of Karelia than he’d like them to have?
Not just “was really going to name some ship ‘Harvey Milk’” – it was already done, in 2016. And, yes, that naming was done by the then-Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus. The Harvey Milk (which went into service in 2023) is a member of the John Lewis class of “replenishment oiler” ships, and Mabus began the tradition of naming the class after prominent civil rights leaders (including Lewis).
For what it’s worth, Milk served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War; as a lieutenant (junior grade) in 1955, he was forced to accept a less-than-honorable discharge, rather than being court-martialed, due to his homosexuality.
Other ships in the class, besides the John Lewis and Harvey Milk, include the Earl Warren, the Robert F. Kennedy, the Lucy Stone, the Sojourner Truth, the Thurgood Marshall, the Ruth Ginsburg (those last two still under construction), the Harriet Tubman and the Dolores Huerta (those final two on order).
One would suspect that, given the Trump Administration’s hatred of DEI, civil rights, and brown people, they’re going to try to rename most of those other ships, too.
It’s worth remembering that Colin Powell was the person who led the cover-up of the My-Lai massacre. By the time of the Bush administration, he didn’t have any honor to compromise.
@Monty, may I just extend a big hug and thank-you for keeping us in the loop with all the shitfuckery going on. I really appreciate your posts and the links, because without them, I’d be pretty much in the dark. We only hear the ‘headlines’ here in Australia, but it’s folks like you who actually fill in the details.
You’re already asking too much if you expect the average American to know any more than 1,000 kilometers is some European invention and is less than 1,000 miles. And if you say 25 C° most will ask “No, what’s the temperature in American?”
It may well be Trump has put the USA on the slippery slope into ruin. Yet things like NAFTA started in 1994 yet was put into motion by GHW Bush. The extent the democrats could have undone it I’m unsure of. Was that why small hardware, clothing and other “town shops” closed in favor of Wal-Mart or was that because China was selling stuff cheaper (not many care if a hammer is Stanley or from China if it’s half the price)
The manufacturing jobs, for the most part, are gone for good. Yet the USA still has Hollywood, Disneyland, Manhattan, Broadway and some nice national parks. I dunno how long the “non citizen” line is at JFK yet I’d wager a lot shorter than the last time I flew in (US Citizen) 10 years ago.
I’ve heard a similar saying in the UK: “The British think 100 miles is a long distance - Americans think 100 years is a long time” yet it’s at least 20 years old and I can’t find any particular origin of it. Yet it is indeed true (unless you’re fortunate enough in the UK to be on a Motorway that long, 100 miles will be closer to 3 if not 4 hours) .
Neither. It’s because Wal-Mart used predatory business practices (like selling below cost) to drive their smaller rivals out of business and then raised prices once those rivals were gone.
All of which the Republicans hate. Once they shut down or censor Disney and Hollywood into irrelevance they won’t matter, and once the National Parks are clearcut, strip mined and filled with toxic waste out of sheer spite, no one will want to go there.
Renaming a boat is often viewed as “tempting fate” or “risking the wrath of the sea gods”. Sailors historically believed that mishaps at sea could be attributed to various factors, including renaming a boat without proper rituals.
Yep. How many times have we seen Trump sign an Executive Order and then have his aide explain to him what he just signed? Someone did a mashup video of this but I can’t find it with a quick search.
Not really surperising since he can’t even read the one-page of bullet points that passes for the PDB now. Maybe they’ll start explaining his orders to him in Fox News-type videos.
I’m sure once Hegseth google’s every boat not named for a President (assuming he knows more than 30 of them), he will of course read “Neptune’s guide to Sea Lore” and follow your advice.
Are you sure you don’t mean Europe? Because 600 miles isn’t that big of a deal. Heck, L.A. to Las Vegas is only about 400 km, which is almost half of 1,000 km and people drive it every day.
