There is war in the streets of America tonight

[ex-khobar Andy]

The Times actually covered this quite well and it's clear from the comments that many of their readers felt that Ms Weiss had a point. I too think that she did although it might have been overstated. Bret Stephens survives and he came from WSJ and has made no secret of his relative conservatism. I read him because he writes well and I want to know what and how he thinks.

You can disagree with how NYT chooses and pitches its opeds. Do they make mistakes? Absolutely. So too does Dr Fauci, for example: but I far rather trust him with policy decisions that affect my health that I would some vainglorious thin skinned nepotistic braggart who is incapable of understanding his own shortcomings let alone ameliorating them. But that's just me.

[Darren]

"After years marked by the Fat Leonard graft and corruption scandal, the 2017 grounding and collisions that resulted in the deaths of sailors, and most recently the turmoil surrounding the relief, recommendation to reappoint, and then final conclusion that relief of the captain of the COVID-19-riven USS Theodore Roosevelt was justified, the Navy had hoped to step out on the right foot with the announcement that two carrier strike groups were operating together in the South China Sea, confronting China’s excessive territorial claims and bullying attitude there. But now the fire onboard the Bonhomme Richard has cast a pall not only over San Diego that can be seen from space but also over the Navy.

How did this fire happen? The answer will emerge from the investigation that will surely follow, but the events onboard the Bonhomme Richard will raise questions in the minds of our Navy’s sailors, our allies, and our competitors as to whether the U.S. Navy is still fit to fight a war if a major capital vessel can catch fire and gut itself while tied to a pier at a major naval base in one of the nation’s largest modern cities. The Navy appears broken in ways that the nation’s leaders are only now beginning to understand."

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/ ... y/#slide-1

[ex-khobar Andy]

Interesting link, Darren - albeit to the National Review which is not normally on my reading list. I don't doubt the reporting, but the comments are worth looking at. The general consensus is that it's all due to political correctness in the Navy - you know, women sailors (would that be sailoresses? - enquiring minds want to know) and stuff - and probably the fault of civilian contractors who have (gasp! horror! let me grab my pearls!) unions.

The proscription about women on ships dates back centuries so it's amazing that those who pride themselves on modern thinking (the BR was in dock for modifications necessitated by, among other things, the need to be able to carry the F35B, the Marine version of the F35) still think like their Elizabethan counterparts. And the 'unions' comments is because the union shops at these civilian contractors are likely to bypass requirements such as having appropriate and required fire suppression procedures in place. Funny: my experience of unions is that they are likely to be the opposite and to demand that proper safety procedures are followed.

But that wouldn't fit with the story arc preferred by the commenters. They didn't say - or at least if they did, I did not notice it - that it's all Obama's fault. But there were several which pointed out that if we want to avoid such things in the future we'd better re-elect 45.

[Darren]

Ships are complicated internally by cables routed throughout and the paint. A fire in one compartment can ignite paint in compartments surrounding the original source compartment by the heat conducted by the steel. Union workers aren't necessarily more safety conscious.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

I'm not convinced women on small ships like destroyers are a good thing. Larger ships like the Bonhomme Richard and aircraft carriers have much more room for accommodations. In the past the priorities for ship design were the engineering systems, the weapons systems and last, crew berthing and support.

To the extent berthing is added exclusively for women it may require compromises.

Life aboard a small ship is very close. On the destroyers there was one passageway that ran the length of the ship. When the crew was not allowed on the weather decks (outside) which was frequently, you're constantly bumping into each other. There never was any social distance. It was nuts to butts virtually all of the time.

There was no personal space. Enlisted men slept in racks 3 or 4 high on a destroyer.





"By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press
July 23, 2012
1:43 PM

PORTLAND, Maine —

Navy investigators have determined that a civilian laborer set a fire that caused $400 million in damage to a nuclear-powered submarine because he had anxiety and wanted to get out of work early."

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sd ... story.html

[datsunaholic]

The photo of the 4-high racks is a WWII destroyer. Modern destroyers are significantly larger and have 3-high "coffin" racks. OK, not much more space but then again, comparing a Fletcher-class destroyer (from which your photo comes from) with a Arleigh Burke class destroyer would find that while both carry the same size crew (around 300-330) the Burke is 3 times the size as far as displacement.

Having women on board has nothing to do with the ability to fight fires. The ship I was on transitioned from male-only to mixed crew while I was aboard. While there were a lot of guys that complained, there really wasn't a big issue.

Darren, you claim to have been in the Navy. Unless you never went through a yard period, you would know that yard periods are the easiest times to have a shipboard fire, and the absolutely worst scenario. Fire suppression systems may be offline, there are hoses and cables running through doors and hatches so you can't close them, cardboard everywhere as new equipment is being unpacked, welding, old equipment is being staged for removal, and to make it worse the crew is usually reduced significantly either by transfers or sailors off doing training. All you need is some lax safety procedures and you have a conflagration. While it probably will point out a major safety breach during the yard work, this is not a situation that likely would have happened at sea.

[Darren]

I was on a DDG in the 70's which still had the racks as shown in my previous post with the exception there was no locker under the bottom rack. The lockers were as shown below. I went aboard immediately before a yard period that involved drydock in Portsmouth. I know what you're talking about,

The Navy is now considering capping the carrier fleet and moving to more smaller ships as possibly shown by the recent frigate competition in which the new frigate class will be smaller than the Burkes. The question, is the Navy is still thinking BIG when it comes to weapon systems as in directed energy which was a priority with the Zumwalts.

If you're familiar with the Zumwalts and the blow up in costs, the Navy can't afford the ammunition for the 8" guns because the out of control costs resulted in only three ships built. The ammunition costs runs about $800,000 per round. So now the Navy will have three Zumwalts with two 8" guns each and no ammo.

The Navy continues to blue sky and minimize the lessons of the past. Maybe some LCDR did a cost study and pointed out where ammunition costs would end up and had his career shit canned.

"WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy selected Fincantieri’s FREMM design for its next-generation frigate, but as with most new platforms it will be a long time before the first ship hits the fleet.

The contract, awarded April 30, is for up to 10 hulls constructed at Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin. The Navy intends to buy at least 20 frigates.

Here’s what we know about what the years ahead will hold:

1) The price tag. According to Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts, the first hull will cost $1.281 billion, which includes the design money for both the ship and for the work needed at the shipyard to set up a production line. It also includes all the government-furnished equipment, including things such as Raytheon’s AN/SPY-6-derivative radar and Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Combat System.

Of that $1.281 billion, $795 million will go to the shipyard.

The next hulls in the buy should cost significantly less. The Navy is aiming for a price tag of $800 million in 2018 dollars, with the threshold at $950 million. But Geurts thinks he can beat both numbers. An independent cost estimate found the follow-on hulls should cost about $781 million if all 20 are built.

“The study shows this ship as selected and the program as designed delivering underneath our objective cost per platform,” Geurts said on a April 30 phone call with reporters."

[Darren]

I was on a DDG in the 70's which still had the racks as shown in my previous post with the exception there was no locker under the bottom rack. The lockers were as shown below. I went aboard immediately before a yard period that involved drydock in Portsmouth. I know what you're talking about,

The Navy is now considering capping the carrier fleet and moving to more smaller ships as possibly shown by the recent frigate competition in which the new frigate class will be smaller than the Burkes. The question, is the Navy still thinking BIG when it comes to weapon systems as in directed energy which was a priority with the Zumwalts.

If you're familiar with the Zumwalts and the blow up in costs, the Navy can't afford the ammunition for the 8" guns because the out of control costs resulted in only three ships built. The ammunition costs runs about $800,000 per round. So now the Navy will have three Zumwalts with two 8" guns each and no ammo.

The Navy continues to blue sky and minimize the lessons of the past. Maybe some LCDR did a cost study and pointed out where ammunition costs would end up and had his career shit canned.

"WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy selected Fincantieri’s FREMM design for its next-generation frigate, but as with most new platforms it will be a long time before the first ship hits the fleet.

The contract, awarded April 30, is for up to 10 hulls constructed at Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin. The Navy intends to buy at least 20 frigates.

Here’s what we know about what the years ahead will hold:

1) The price tag. According to Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts, the first hull will cost $1.281 billion, which includes the design money for both the ship and for the work needed at the shipyard to set up a production line. It also includes all the government-furnished equipment, including things such as Raytheon’s AN/SPY-6-derivative radar and Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Combat System.

Of that $1.281 billion, $795 million will go to the shipyard.

The next hulls in the buy should cost significantly less. The Navy is aiming for a price tag of $800 million in 2018 dollars, with the threshold at $950 million. But Geurts thinks he can beat both numbers. An independent cost estimate found the follow-on hulls should cost about $781 million if all 20 are built.

“The study shows this ship as selected and the program as designed delivering underneath our objective cost per platform,” Geurts said on a April 30 phone call with reporters."

[datsunaholic]

The hanging racks had been done away with by the 80s, a friend of mine served on the Lynde McCormick and they had coffin racks (somewhat different in design and not much better than the hanging racks). I know the Forrest Shermans had been upgraded.

The problem with the Zumwalts, much like the Seawolf-class subs, is at only 3 units built there's no savings in bulk. Plus like the Seawolfs the mission they were designed for pretty much went away in the decades it took to design and build them.

A bigger fiasco is the LCS. Designed to be modular and operate close in to shore, the lack of mission modules due to budget cuts and a ship that really has no place in the Navy (it's mission is really something that should be undertaken by local Coast Guards) made it a boondoggle. The Burkes are too big and expensive to use on a Frigate's mission, the LCS is useless in a Blue-Water role. So a new frigate makes sense.

[Darren]

The hanging racks had been done away with by the 80s, a friend of mine served on the Lynde McCormick and they had coffin racks (somewhat different in design and not much better than the hanging racks). I know the Forrest Shermans had been upgraded.

The problem with the Zumwalts, much like the Seawolf-class subs, is at only 3 units built there's no savings in bulk. Plus like the Seawolfs the mission they were designed for pretty much went away in the decades it took to design and build them.

A bigger fiasco is the LCS. Designed to be modular and operate close in to shore, the lack of mission modules due to budget cuts and a ship that really has no place in the Navy (it's mission is really something that should be undertaken by local Coast Guards) made it a boondoggle. The Burkes are too big and expensive to use on a Frigate's mission, the LCS is useless in a Blue-Water role. So a new frigate makes sense.

The LCS program is a stellar example of incompetence in the Navy.

Four of them have already been retired with ages ranging from 6 years to twelve years. An investigation should be made to determine which retired flag officers comfortably ensconced with a "defense" contractor along with their active duty colleagues sold the Navy that bill of goods. There's far too much of that.

The Zumwalts were designed with future directed energy weapon systems in mind. Those will require power far beyond the capabilities of current turbine generators. The new frigate design contains the statement that changing the ships propulsion system out won't be difficult.

We had the ship's laundry dryer go on the blink repeatedly. One was airlifted to Naples. Someone forgot installing it would require cutting a hole/s into the ship for access. I've wondered who screwed that pooch. It didn't matter anyway, when we docked we found the Navy had sent a washing machine.

Those tricky federal stock numbers (FSN) were so difficult to get right when you filled out the IBM card.

The review process was taken away from our chief and kicked up to the division officer who always smiled and signed. Our chief always hit us with questions. We had the bright idea of using the FSN for a pickup truck with the title of electron transporter and ordering one. A pickup truck was $2,000+. Components for one of our radios ran as much as $5,000. The division officer would have never seen it coming.

I'm curious if the Navy knew the F35 aircraft would require changes to the decks of the amphibs. Was that factored into the cost of the program? Why did the Navy accept an aircraft with less range than Chinese missiles? The military loves one size fits all to gather more support.

With enough support any naysayers can be easily sidelined. With that much support it must be something the military really, really needs thinks those who sign the checks. Add in a facility in a Congress person's district and it's a sure fire done deal.

The military has shot hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars if not trillions in the ass with that tactic.

These are a few examples out of a multitude for those that think the government is the best thing since sliced bread. The war in the streets (for a piece of the pie) continues mostly unseen and unrecognized.

[Darren]

duplicate

[Darren]

"Federal prosecutors implicated Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on Friday in a brazen, Chicago-style bribery scheme involving ComEd that allegedly went on for years and involved payments to Madigan associates exceeding $1.3 million.

Though the stunning, lengthy details were revealed in documents that charged only ComEd — and not Madigan — with bribery, they said ComEd has agreed to “fully and truthfully cooperate” with federal prosecutors. The company has agreed to pay a $200 million fine and acknowledged it sought Madigan’s help for legislation that could be worth more than $150 million to the utility company.

And a federal subpoena for records from Madigan’s office issued Friday and obtained by the Sun-Times shows that ComEd isn’t the only company with a relationship with the speaker that the feds are interested in. The feds requested records from the speaker’s office regarding AT&T Services Inc, Walgreens and Rush University Medical Center. They are also asking for records that include a wide swath of Madigan’s political operatives, including one current and two former Chicago aldermen, as well as close Madigan ally and lobbyist Michael McClain.

Walgreens declined to comment, while AT&T Services and Rush offered no immediate comment.

Madigan is not identified by name in the ComEd court documents, but referred to as “Public Official A.” But there is no doubt it is him, as the documents identify that person as Illinois’ house speaker. No one in the country has held that title as long as Madigan.

Madigan denied any wrongdoing in a statement.

U.S. Attorney John Lausch repeatedly declined to say at a news conference Friday if Madigan would be criminally charged.

Lausch described the ongoing investigation as “vibrant.”"


https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2020 ... s-attorney

[Darren]

"John Kelly, Jim Sergent, and Donovan Slack, USA TODAY
Updated 9:16 p.m. EST Feb. 7, 2019

When Navy veteran Phyllis Seleska, 66, arrived at the emergency room at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Loma Linda, California, in August 2017, the waiting room was crowded with dozens of veterans, some in wheelchairs lined up to the entrance.

Seleska suffered throbbing pain after shattering her wrist but received no medication and had to wait more than seven hours to see a doctor, records show. By then, the orthopedics staff had gone home. A nurse strapped a Velcro splint on her wrist and told her to come back in the morning.

“I don’t know why it took so long to get back there to be told, 'We can’t do anything to help you,' ” said Seleska, who worked on the flight deck of aircraft carriers in both Iraq wars.

Her experience wasn’t unusual. At roughly 70 percent of VA hospitals, the median time between arrival in the emergency room and admission was longer than at other hospitals, in some cases by hours, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the department’s data. That included Loma Linda, where the median wait is more than 7½ hours.

The USA TODAY analysis provides the most comprehensive picture of how 146 VA medical centers compare with other health care facilities on an array of factors. The analysis is based on scores of spreadsheets the VA posted online in recent years containing comparisons of its medical centers with non-VA averages on everything from the ER wait times to infection rates and patient-survey results.

The analysis produced some positive findings for the VA. As of June 30, a majority of VA hospitals reported lower death rates than other facilities. Many VA medical centers stacked up better on prevention of post-surgical complications such as blood clots.

At the same time, dozens had higher rates of preventable infections and severe bed sores – a sign of potential neglect. Nearly every VA performed worse than other medical providers on industry-standard patient satisfaction surveys."

[Darren]

"Thirty-two educators were convicted in the scandal that rocked the city years ago.

“This case from the perspective of our office from the beginning to the end was simply about children,” Howard said at a candidate forum in May.

At the forum, he defended his prosecution of dozens of educators after state investigators uncovered widespread cheating on standardized tests.

Howard said recently years of cheating had a lasting, toxic effect on APS.

“Some of the children whose tests were changed now are in high school, and if you look at those high schools, who were once outstanding high schools, they’re now failing high schools because of those same students. So, no, I wouldn’t go back and change anything,” Howard said at that same forum.

But Howard agreed to cut a deal with the seven remaining defendants after meeting with Wise-Smith.

The AJC reported that Howard agreed to approach Judge Jerry Baxter to propose that the defendants drop their appeals. In exchange, their sentences would be, in effect, voided. Baxter said no, at least for now.

In a statement, Howard says, “After speaking with several members of our community, I have decided that reaching an agreement ... is the right thing to do.”"

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlant ... eRzH3OSDm0

[Bicycle Bill]

I looked up "muckraker" in a dictionary earlier today.

muckraker <muhk-reyk-er>:  one who spreads real or alleged scandal about another (usually for political advantage)

     .....and then they had a picture of Darren alongside of it.



-"BB"-

[Darren]

"Portland, Oregon (CNN)Authorities asked protesters near the Portland Police Association office to leave Saturday night or risk arrest.

"This event has been declared a riot. Move to the east now. If you do not move to the east you will be subject to arrest or use of force to include crowd control munitions. Leave the area now," the Portland Police Bureau tweeted. It said protesters broke into the Portland Police Association office and set it on fire.

In a separate protest near the federal building downtown, protesters could be seen dismantling a heavy metal fence set up around the building earlier as a barricade. "

[Darren]

"Astoundingly, nothing – not even a 13-month prison sentence for pleading guilty to soliciting under-age girls in Florida – could impinge this upward trajectory into an elite world of money and power.

Then, out of the blue and after a hiatus of 24 years, Epstein called me in 2013 and invited me to his mansion. He said he wanted to ask me about Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote Lolita, about a precociously seductive girl. I had known the author many decades earlier.

I agreed to go for a different reason: finding out how he made, and continued to make, his fortune.

As a convicted felon, Epstein would not be allowed a licence to manage money. Yet, as he told me with a glistening, know-it-all smile, he was doing better than ever."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... rtune.html

[Darren]

"Christopher Devries, 37, is a proponent of defunding the police.

"Christopher DeVries of Jackson, New Hampshire, an organizer and leader of a Black Lives Matter protest known as “Skate Away the Hate,” has been arrested on six counts of possession of child pornography.

DeVries served on the Municipal Budget Committee for the town of Conway. The images of child abuse found on his cell phone allegedly show underage girls in “lewd exhibition” of their private body parts and engaging in sexual activity. The left-wing activist was also charged for possession of psilocybin mushrooms, which is a class B felony punishable by seven years in prison."

"Devries, who was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Carroll County Jail, is charged with six counts of possession of child sexual abuse images, one count of possession of drugs and one count of falsifying physical evidence, the release said."

[Bicycle Bill]

"Christopher Devries, 37, is a proponent of defunding the police.

"Christopher DeVries of Jackson, New Hampshire, an organizer and leader of a Black Lives Matter protest known as “Skate Away the Hate,” has been arrested on six counts of possession of child pornography.

DeVries served on the Municipal Budget Committee for the town of Conway. The images of child abuse found on his cell phone allegedly show underage girls in “lewd exhibition” of their private body parts and engaging in sexual activity. The left-wing activist was also charged for possession of psilocybin mushrooms, which is a class B felony punishable by seven years in prison."

"Devries, who was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Carroll County Jail, is charged with six counts of possession of child sexual abuse images, one count of possession of drugs and one count of falsifying physical evidence, the release said."

1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.  They made her stand before the group
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?”
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.  “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
......John 8: 1-11 (NIV)

How about it, Darren?  Smoke a little grass in your youth, maybe, or get busted for drunk and disorderly or a DUI?  Leave a job under less-than-amiable terms?  Perhaps as a kid you got caught with a candy bar you hadn't paid for in your pocket?  Or — as long as you're the one who brought up child porn and the crackpot conspiracies about child sex trafficking thru a pizza place — would you be willing to share with us YOUR entire browser history?

Just because I don't know your real name doesn't mean that no one does.  If someone were to do a quick search of public records, or if they wanted to do a really down-and-dirty dive through YOUR past, how would you compare?  Given the right information, a good spin doctor could paint you blacker than Br'er Rabbit's tar baby.

-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

Surprise! Kiddie porn guy wants the police to have fewer powers.

Darren I don't know what your point is. If - and this is just a suspicion based on some of your prior posts - it is that
(a) there is a BLM guy who likes child porn
(b) therefore all BLM guys like child porn
(c) therefore BLM is not to be trusted
(d) therefore we'd better all shut up and listen to Uncle Donald and that nice NYPD Union guy with the QAnon mug
(e) therefore Darren has been right all along
we do need to have a serious talk about logic, statistics, and how the world works.

[Bicycle Bill]

-"BB"-