330 Comments
User's avatar
Erisian's avatar

"Well, Donald J. Trump [sic] is president, and so no longer will America’s armed forces labor under the constraints of new and more efficient technology."

* Efficiency is for girly-men and wusses. The more complicated and time consuming something takes makes the end result so much sweeter; ya know, "no pain, no gain."

* Not only efficiency is for pussies, so is safety:

> "it also improves landing safety by reducing the chance for turbulence when planes come back to land"

("At some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything." Stockton Rush [NB: Mr Rush discovered the hard way that this is not always true when his design for a submersible when the Titan imploded during a tourist dive to the Titanic.])

-----

"the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems, or EMALS — is cheaper, partly because it takes fewer technicians to maintain than are needed with the steam-powered system"

Wait... what? Does the General Atomics contract not include the standard money-grubbing clause known as the right to repair? Having to use factory technicians to repair military materiel is a serious income producer for the manufacturer; a clause most have been hesitant to remove from their contracts/bid packages. An easy way to understand this dilemma is

> “picture Captain Kirk calling down to engineering to ask Scotty how quickly he’s going to repair something. Now keep imagining if Scotty’s answer was: ‘Well it will take three weeks for the contractor to get here at Warp 4. Until then, we can’t touch it.’” Greg Williams (POGO)

-----

"Q: Has the deployment gone on too long? TRUMP [sic]: No no no. Not nearly long enough."

This coming from an asshole who used his privileges as a rich white dude to avoid the draft and deployment to Vietnam, or deployment anywhere for that matter. Besides, since he personally is not suffering any from the overly-extended deployment it don't mean shit to a tree.

fnord

Shocktreatment's avatar

𝗙𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: 𝗧𝗮𝘅𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗮 $𝟱𝟯𝟯 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴

Reporting Highlights

Ready, Fire, Aim: In a rushed process exempted from normal rules, the Army hired General Dynamics, which brought on a Turkish subcontractor with little vetting, to make artillery shells.

Money for Nothing: Despite being paid $533 million, General Dynamics did not produce a single usable shell at its new factory — and has not been held publicly accountable.

Wages of Failure: Since the Army halted two production lines at the factory, the General Dynamics unit responsible for the debacle has received contract awards totaling $2.5 billion.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

https://www.propublica.org/article/general-dynamics-artillery-factory-failed

It's a club and we ain't in it...

Oy!'s avatar

There's a whole lot of really expensive nothing in the Trump regime (but someone is getting paid)

•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•

"Homeland Security paid $464M for airplanes, then it parked them

The agency bought 10 used airplanes but has barely used them. The former and present heads of Homeland Security blame each other."

https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/homeland-security-planes-unused-no-bid-contract-deportations-fbi-noem-mullin-20260814.html

Lionel “8647” Hutz's avatar

Since Trump thinks the conditions on the USS Lincoln are just hunky-dory and it should be staying out even longer …

Does that mean the conditions in his ballroom would be the same with mold and overflowing sewers and unclean water and only serving protein bars and corndogs?

YaJagoff's avatar

Those conditions already exist in all of his trash palaces.

CzechJournalists's avatar

i'm confident in djt's ability to overflow any toilet, no matter how well designed. 'Merica.

Fender Deluxe's avatar

From the White House statement:

"The Memorandum directs the Secretary of War to replace the Advanced Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems and the Advanced Weapons Elevators with traditional steam and hydraulic systems during the construction of CVN-81.'

HAH, there is no such United States of America office as "Secretary of War."

"The Memorandum directs the Department of War to pursue more direct investments in the American shipbuilding industrial base based off of the successful “Finland model,” which was first employed with the Coast Guard’s medium icebreaker program."

HAH, there is no such United States of America government department called the "Department of War." Also, did I detect a note of concession that foreign entities can do something better than the good ol' USA?

Rags's avatar

"The country where I'd like to be

Pony trekking and camping

Or just watching TV "

CzechJournalists's avatar

we didna win WWII by making slack jawed yokels in every congressional district get a piece of the action to build everything. good at securing votes for appropriations, good for burning money, bad for building shit.

Aquaman, Real Estate Investor.'s avatar

Wasn't the "Finland Model" Trump just calling up Finland and ordering a bunch of ice breakers for the Coast Guard, despite the Coast Guard not actually asking for any?

William Donnell's avatar

"Finland Model" was actually a dude named Sven in drag.

Dudley Didwrong's avatar

The model's real name was Juhani but the Orange Oaf couldn't pronounce it. He thinks all guys in Northern Europe are named Sven because someone once told him a Sven and Ole joke.

SterWonk's avatar

> ... in possession of 70 or so attack planes and plenty of bombs and ammunition.

Are they though? Because who knows how much of our offensive capacity TFG and <Hic!>seth have wasted making Iranian rubble bounce?

Kid 'n Nipple-Play's avatar

There are some simple solutions to both of his issues with the new ships. To satisfy his desire for a return to steam, just install some fog machines strategically around the deck and fire those puppies up whenever an aircraft is launched. And to deal with the tower location, leave them where they should be and just sail the ships backwards into the dumb bastard is out of office. There, I just saved billions of ameros and years of redesign time.

Mr. Knows Nothing, et. al.'s avatar

The frontotemporal dementia is kicking in full steam ahead. His answer towards the press concerning the Lincoln deployment is evidence that his frontal cortex is turning into Swiss cheese. He would not have said that even two years ago, rather he would have deflected as being Biden's fault, e. g.

He's also confabulating the problems with the electromagnetic launch as present day, rather than already remediation. That's yet another sign of the increasing brain damage as a result of FTD.

I heard yesterday 70% of his time in the White House is dedicated to his "monuments". Which tells me he knows his days are numbered as he can't cheat, sue, intimidate, blackmail, kick, punch, bomb, crush...death itself.

It's coming, but just like McConnell, they'll hide it as long as they can.

Hops: grrr mad's avatar

He's not dead, he's dormant.

Schmannity's avatar

He spent two hours on the phone with The Kennedy Center Committee yesterday.

Aquaman, Real Estate Investor.'s avatar

I'm team opportunity cost?

Ok, that feels deeply strange.

Kid 'n Nipple-Play's avatar

They kept asking him if he had Prince Albert in a can.

No Quid Bro Code's avatar

Gee, not voting for Email Lady or the Black lady with the laugh seems like a mistake. Oh well, at least we haven’t learned a thing.

VaselineHabits's avatar

Some people like to learn the HARD WAY.

No Quid Bro Code's avatar

But Al Gore was a nerd. And her emails. And she’s for they/them. And…

aktlib101's avatar

Just saw the following comment worth mentioning:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-navy-2677711866/

★Bad News ★ Frequent Contributor badge

34 minutes ago edited

"Ghislaine Maxwell is eating better and has better living conditions than our sailors.

Let that sink the fvck in."

Some kind of Fred's avatar

Mention that to your Congresspeople especially if you have one on an Armed Services Committee.

No Quid Bro Code's avatar

Republicans: Everyone has to sacrifice and be patriots.

So rich people should have to pay more taxes like in every other American war before 2001?

Republicans: Shut it! Socialist!

clairence's avatar

Trump hates the ElectroMagnetic stuff because these ships are in the ocean. Which means water. Which means magnets don't work. Only stable geniuses (genii?) think that far ahead.

tek's avatar

And electro! You can't have electro and water!

Nancy Naive's avatar

Sharks and batteries.

Kid 'n Nipple-Play's avatar

I’d recharge the ships with all the shark batteries floating around out there.

William Donnell's avatar

Dak teh pettrie!

PoDG follows the 92%'s avatar

America found the dumbest white man they could to make them feel better about the existence of President Obama.

William Donnell's avatar

Blackitty HUSSEIN in the membrane O'Bummah! To you.

Aquaman, Real Estate Investor.'s avatar

This is depressingly plausible.

Innocent_Bystander's avatar

Seeing that Ukrainian drone operators just handed US armored forces a brutal beatdown in combat training, I'd really like to see what those same operators could do to a US carrier group.

aktlib101's avatar

Yeah, I heard all NATO forces got their asses kicked by a few elite Ukrainian drone operators

Sobering reality.

Unfortunately, the Russians are not that far behind.

Lucidamente's avatar

Just to review:

Q: The family members of US service members are concerned about the conditions on the USS Lincoln

TRUMP: No they're not

Q: Has the deployment gone on too long?

TRUMP: No no no. Not nearly long enough.

I don’t think Trump’s answers have anything to do with the USS Lincoln or its crew. I think it’s his psychopathology, which renders him incapable of admitting error. The first question states an unpleasant fact; Trump simply denies its existence. The second question asks him to opine about an unpleasant situation, so he again denies its existence, this time by overturning the premise. In this it resembles his infamous remark about John McCain (“He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured."), in which he denied and doubled down when challenged on a point.

Which is a long way of saying that he’s a giant wad of fuck who should be slapped upside the head repeatedly, as are all the people who find him high-larious and have supported him all these years.

Resource NW's avatar

the convicted felon's yacht is most noted for taking up the mooring space a sailboat was to use so a class full of grade schoolers could go for a free sail. Ivana was aboard, said "sol, ssuckers."

Dirty Work's avatar

- And lest we forget, electromagnetic catapults for launching planes off aircraft carriers.

Try getting a motherfuckin sailor breakfast at a $trillion and ballooning a year.

Gary tuned me in

The Golden Hamster's avatar

I am beginning to understand how this flaming idiot could bankrupt a casino.

No Quid Bro Code's avatar

He’s really stupid but at least he’s very self-confident so that he ignores everyone who does know what they’re doing.

SterWonk's avatar

There is nothing like the un-earned confidence of a rich nepo-baby.

clairence's avatar

siphon all the money out the back door is how. And how he's doing it now as well.

swmnguy's avatar

Indeed. That was the plan all along. With the casinos too.

aktlib101's avatar

He's bankrupting the country.

The world too, also.

VaselineHabits's avatar

Amazing how that happens when we never hold "rich" fuckwads accountable AND then elect them into government