Recent Comments

Currently living in NYS means I have to file a NYS tax return and on it is a section dedicated to additional taxes levied on people who live in NYC, not to mention the added bureaucratic red tape in filing a return. I'm immediately glad I don't live in NYC. Add on what's going on there makes me even more glad that it's about 400 miles away. My first experience in NYC (ca 1990) was to witness a mugging in broad daylight where some members of the gang were acting as crowd control saying, "Stay back people! Can't you see there's a mugging going on here?". My wife and I were not only fearful, we were nonplussed at the cheekiness of the whole affair and the fact that so many people were just walking by like it was any other day. It was a rude awakening to say the least. We were being ushered by railroad personnel above ground between Penn Central and NY Central to catch a connecting train to Florida (don't have to do that anymore, thankfully). I have NO desire to ever go to NYC other than connecting train or plane. I know folks who go to NYC and have a good time, but I'd rather go salmon fishing on Lake Ontario - thank you very much.

I thought I explained how BBG-47 isn't a defenseless target. Did you miss it, or disagree?

Per congressional reports 95% of traffic through the Red Sea is Asia to Europe, not to the US.
Per industry statistics about 10% of shipments to the US went through the Red Sea and therefore affected.
As I stated above, Europe is the primary beneficiary of anti-piracy efforts there and US taxpayers bear the costs.
BBG47 is an overpriced sitting duck target. Perhaps Trump can put his golden name on some attack subs or
cyber systems instead.

Somali pirates absolutely affect US goods, and require longer force projection. However, shutting down pirates does not require BBG-47. That is for China.

I agree on the shipping consumption issue, but the location of the piracy (Houthis) currently
has little affect on US goods which cross the pacific unthreatened while Europe is the
destination of the shipping being threatened by Houthi pirates.

We agree on 90%
Except the USA consumes more than Europe.
We were/are always a primary beneficiary.
This is why China struggles when we stop buying as much.

But I've learned to let Trump be Trump. These are long term projects.
The Carrot. And I am watching him threaten their bonuses (the stick).
And that 50% "planned increase" may shrink once things change.
(Whatever they promise us ALWAYS shrinks before it gets to us).

Besides the 50% increase is 1/2 due to inflation :-)

But I would not be surprised to see Trump snatch that stuff away AFTER the midterms.
He cannot afford ENDLESS more attacks and still carry the house and senate.

Once he does, things will LIKELY shift back, but he needs the win to keep the wolves at bay.

As stated in a reply to Thor, https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
I have no issue with some ships being built, but the type of ships that were effective in WW2
are sitting ducks today, and those are the ones that Trump appears to be promoting.
(Trump's ego shouldn't be a deciding factor in naval construction decisions.)
Dealing with piracy (which is a valid goal for naval power) does not require a CVN today.
Must American taxpayers always pay for such anti-piracy efforts when the benefits are often
primarily for European countries?
I agree, Trump has started to move the spending on defense toward actual defense of
American interests. Building an expensive navy of sitting duck naval war machines is
going in the wrong direction.
Increasing military spending by 50% as proposed today is utter foolishness.
(Sorry this has gone off topic.;^)

Me dino was a bit shorter when I first heard that.
It popped out of my memory banks while reading about Iran's stupid self-imposed water shortage.

Right! Voluntary, not forcing me to support it!!!!!!!!!!

There has never been a world economic leader without a dominant navy.

Too bad your cousin's husband didn't know Marxists make greedy coporatists look like amateurs when it comes to legalized theft. He went into a world where his labors coming from his talent don't belong to him because it belongs to "the people".

Yeah, it is nice to stick to the subject, but I look at these Gulch threads like conversations in my parlor where sidetracking is just part of the family dialog.

We were talking about the CPB and suddenly all sorts of bullship pops up. Can anyone stick to one subject? This is the problem with all social media debates - Endless distractions and losing focus.

Public broadcasting , like propaganda is not about the public or its benefit,. It is about the political rulers and their bread and circuses pacification. My cousin's husband wrote songs for the CPB - Sesame Street and Barney. Did he reap any royalties or benefit for the songs they played every day for decades? Nothing, except his name on the credits and no further employment. Where did the money go? Miss Piggie?

Whoa, dino! Needed a wayback machine for that one. I haven't heard that in a looooog time, LOL!

I'm thinking my dad had that on 78rpm record!

If the public wants it to continue, all they have to do is fund it. We shouldn’t be forced to fund public indoctrination.

Oh, goodness gracious!
We can't be indoctrinated anymore?
The horror! Oh. the horror!
What can all the poor sheeple do?
Hey, but don't worry. Baa-baa still got its heehaws.
The Jackass Party still choo-choos along,
Hopefully to its own train wreck and not ours.

FFA, the big ships get into a TON of details that everyone overlooks.
Our Navy protects the shipping lanes from Pirates.
Somali and otherwise.

This protection has guaranteed that ships could become HUGE and COSTS go way down per unit sold. The HUGE ships must move slower, but become far more cost effective.

When that Navy goes away. Shipping will have to start utilizing ships that move FASTER to be a target for a smaller amount of time. Those ships will have to charge more to protect themselves. All Prices go up. Availability of things drops.

It is a FAR more nuanced situation than you are giving it. Also, we've all but lost the ability to make these ships. We get to re-engineer the process, and the educations required as we become more self-sufficient. Welding jobs pay well, and there are a TON of welding jobs on ships. Yes machine welding will do a lot, AND SHOULD. But there are some places that only a guy might fit.

The world is NOT a safe place. Most countries are a LOT LIKE Democrat Cities. They talk nice, but will kill you without a second thought.

The solution. Reduce our sphere of influence (Monroe), Build Better tools for the future (being done now). And acquire Greenland already (Preferably with a check).

But I like building some of the new ships because the world has changed, but we will still need to be able to project force to protect what is important to us.

Oh, shah! Ayatollah done lost his rock 'n rolla!
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview...

"...they are nearly impossible to sweep out." Indeed, but they can be pressed into remission (or is that submission?) by what's left of Free America should it take a strong stand. The power of the Jihadies in the US right now, IMHO, rides on the unwritten alliance they have with the Marxists in the Democrat party. If they succeed in bringing down Free America I expect they will try to annihilate each other. America would look like the progeny of a North Korea and Gaza parentage. I'll put in my two cents when I can, but I just hope what's left of Free America lasts until I'm gone.

I disagree with the writer about NYC in the 80's, at least in the early 80's NYC had not
succumbed completely to the corrupt perverts who have run the city for the past 40 years.
The entertainment on Broadway was still mostly wholesome with some realism added.
By the late 80's it had turned away from traditional family oriented fare to multiple
perversions headed for the utter removal of historic accuracy replaced by perverted
racist/sexist propaganda, e.g., Hamilton and the accurately named Wicked.
Economically, the thieves of Wall St have been destroying NYC for at least a century.
Mamdani can finish the job they started.

Unfortunately, once the vermin have embedded themselves they are nearly impossible to sweep
out. They already have control of many powerful government positions in the UK and across the
EU (not to mention MN, NY, CA, IL, and Maine.) If a rebellion of Europeans takes place they will
hide under rocks and continue to sting honest people to death for generations. Honest people must
pass laws that prevent any immigrants from gaining positions in the government and prevent any
from having any ability to gain any political power. Killing off the EU as a political entity (except as
a toothless trade organization) is a requirement.

Spain showed us how to end the incursions a few centuries ago, but modern Western Civilization hasn't been thrashed enough yet to take that road. I suppose when the scorpions really start to sting you'll know it's time to sweep them out of the house.

Have but will allow others to decide.
After Williams words: "when Government policy chooses [?] over Heritage, we do not just lose land, we lose ourselves". It started to go off the rails (seems to be video disease of late)(perhaps AI, as you suggest).
This was seen as a rebuke of the act of taking property to build housing for more immigrants, (Presumably muslims).
As Maccannon (Craig) suggest, it's probably too late, I would add, too weak to start a movement; but, it does echo the silent thoughts of the British People.
Where I live and work there have been a increasing influx of people from Britain and the quietly tell me so.

Agreed. Get the government out of the welfare business.

Well, what you need is radar and missile coverage. How do you get enough radar there, and float enough missiles. A big ship is cheaper per missile than a small ship.
Then there is the issue of protecting the big ship. This is possible, but they need a paradigm shift for the lasers they have. They have 300kW lasers (going to 500kW). They need ~2MW. This is a physics problem. However, we can point 10x 300kW lasers on the same target without issue. This is not a problem, and with such a system, we can defeat hypersonics and drone swarms.

The last issue is cost vs size. If you look at shipbuilding costs, the cost of a surface ship is proportional to the tonnage, with high-correlation. That is why old-timers in government don't believe anything about lower cost shipbuilding. However, the cost of a cruise ship or other navy's ships do NOT follow this same trend. We need to get the RIDICULOUS NAVSEA organization and SUPSHIPS organizations the phuck out of the way. They are worse than dinosaurs.

For example, the Navy has it's own welding requirements and certification. If you want to make equipment for the Navy you MUST weld and braze to these requirements. Every welder and weld type has a separate certification. This means that the 1,000's of American Welding Society (AWS) fully-certified companies can NOT supply for any equipment going to the Navy. Who do you think knows more about welding, the thousands of people in AWS, who like IEEE or ASME study and improve welding year over year OR the 40 people in the NAVSEA welding code in 05? My brother eliminated NASA welding requirements and switched to AWS 14000 (flight safety) requirements. You can add an inspection on the weld, but not a unique weld requirement. This increased NASA's supply base over 10x! Just one stupid thing, but a perfect example of why we can lower the cost of our ships. It is NOT greedy shipbuilders, it is incompetent Navy specifiers and requirements.

If the prior Philly Shipyard, now acquired by Hanwah (Korean conglomerate and shipbuilder), gets engaged and we get NAVSEA out of the way, you will see some real affordability transitioning.

Certainly you could have superior knowledge. ;^)
Is the 'protection' cost and the construction costs of such ships the most economic use of scarce resources? Can the so-called projection of power that those ships arguably provide be done using more economic advanced technology?