In a move that signaled an about-face on the issue of gay rights, the Navy on Friday began to construct the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler that will provide fuel to ships and aircraft. The Navy announced in 2016 that Milk’s name would appear on a ship, along with other civil rights leaders, including abolitionist Sojourner Truth and suffragist Lucy Stone...The article doesn't mention Trump, but the comments do:
“When Harvey Milk served in the military, he couldn’t tell anyone who he truly was,” Scott Wiener, then a San Francisco supervisor, wrote in 2016 when the Navy announced the ship’s name. “Now our country is telling the men and women who serve, and the entire world, that we honor and support people for who they are.”
"Cue the Bible-humpers' outrage. Trump will intervene after seeing the hysteria on Fox."
"Let's just hope Trump doesn't find out about this. (Since the white house has cancelled all newspaper subscriptions and FOX is unlikely to mention it, we may be safe)."
"Good thing the Navy decided to honor Harvey Milk in 2016. Since Trump is in office, gays in the military are being treated like it's 1972 all over again. SHAME ON TRUMP, THE BIGOT."
What was ever anti-gay about Trump?
"Cool! Way to go Navy. If Trump and his reactionary supporters hadn't decided to try to set the nation back 70 years, maybe a courageous transgender activist could have a ship name too."
I guess that's the answer. Failure to embrace a strong conception of transgender rights is conceptualized as anti-gay.
Posts
157 comments:
Trump is not homophobic, nor is he anti gay, but because he is a republican he is automatically anti gay, homophobic etc etc ad infinitum.
WaPo commenters make YouTube commenters look well educated. The virtue signalling for that article is off the charts!
It started going downhill with Tailhook. Career admirals in charge.
Ships are typically named for heroes [or states]. Being murdered does not a hero make. This tells us more about the Navy than it does about Harvey Milk.
The USS Queeg ought to come first.
Leaving out teh gay shit, who would want to serve on an oiler named Milk?
When I was born, my father was XO (second in command) of the USS Shasta, named for a volcano. It was an ammunition ship.
Jesus. This guy is just another in a long line of Libs who get foisted up as heros, not because they are heros, but because of who they screw or how they dress.
If interested, please purchase through the Althouse portal: Cult City
The USS Klinger.
The same reason why the military relies on civilian contractors for base security, is why they are naming a ship after Harvey Milk, and named one after Gabriel Giffords. The Pentagon is filled with politicians in uniform. The Navy brass is especially politically correct. The Navy used to having naming procedures for ships. Now, we have ships being named to curry favor with Congress.
HMS Redundant was always a favorite.
"Oilers (AO and AOR) were named for rivers with Native American names, and colliers named for mythical figures."
"Dry cargo ships (T-AKE) are named for American explorers, pioneers, activists and U.S. Naval officers."
How about women. The USS Enola Gay. Base in Japan.
When I was a Pentagon contractor in the 80's, there was a saying "Army dumb, Air Force devious, Navy defiant." Those days are gone.
"Good thing the Navy decided to honor Harvey Milk in 2016. Since Trump is in office, gays in the military are being treated like it's 1972 all over again. SHAME ON TRUMP, THE BIGOT."
What does that even mean?
"Cool! Way to go Navy. If Trump and his reactionary supporters hadn't decided to try to set the nation back 70 years, maybe a courageous transgender activist could have a ship name too."
That number is only off by a factor of 10. Transmania did not get started until 2012, when apparently trannies peeing became a pressing national issue.
"Fleet oiler"
That's so rich it's wealthy.
Far be it for the wapo hoi-poloi to pick up on that backhanded move.
Im lucid-ideas
I am not Laslo
At least they didn't name it "Twinkie". Which is what I think about when I hear the name Harvey Milk. Who was portrayed brilliantly by Sean Penn in the movie "Milk".
Given what Winston Churchill said about the Navy perhaps naming a ship after Harvey is kind of appropriate.
Sailors. A port in every woman.
I fail to understand how a person, Harvey Milk, is satisfied to have his existence defined by the manner he seeks to sate his sexual needs.
"Cue the Bible-humpers' outrage. Trump will intervene after seeing the hysteria on Fox."
Folks can't even do vitriol right any more. It's "thumpers," not "humpers," for Pete's sake! Thumpers as in holding up the Bible during a sermon, and thumping on it for emphasis. Not humpers, as in humping ... whatever floats your boat. So to speak.
By the way, does anyone else see a problem in naming an "oiler" after a sodomist? Just asking for a friend.
He was a Republican, right? Anyway, it's nice.
People keep forgetting that the lgbtqflavor-o-month+÷/? community is an extremist community. Everything must go exactly their way every time all the time and must expect 100% complete support or it is anti-them. This includes others who don't tow the line in their own community.
I really don't know why this is. Psych101 hat on I think it stems from the same rebelliousness against daddy and mommy that made adopt the lifestyle in the first place. The no I won't eat my peas attitude. This is probably a massive oversimplification but hey, since we're dealing with extremists, why the hell not.
The Left only has two operative adjectives: Good and Ungood.
President Trump is Ungood, Doubleplusungood in fact.
Therefore, all of the other Badthink-signifiers apply to him, regardless of any evidence or facts.
Trans tributes should be reserved for stealth machines.
Later, my dad controlled the Agile, Aggressive, Bulwark, & Bold. They were wooden-hulled minesweepers, the Navy's poorest armed, slowest, and most vulnerable warships. During the Six Day War, he was told to keep an eye on the Soviet Mediterranean Fleet near Crete. He then replied "Have Russian fleet surrounded. Awaiting instructions."
Cost: $640,206,756
Even worse, they're naming two of 'em after lawyers.
Imagine the requested postings to serve aboard the Harvey Milk. The mind boggles. I predict wild swings in shipboard morale.
Maybe they could name a destroyer escort after Caitlyn Jenner and send it out on Operation Petticoat.
"Cool! Way to go Navy. If Trump and his reactionary supporters hadn't decided to try to set the nation back 70 years, maybe a courageous transgender activist could have a ship name too."
The HMCS Jessica Yaniv
How about tom dooley he was the navy medic in vietnam but he was anticommunist i see the problem
Should be an electronic countermeasures ship armed with gaydar.
Trump is not homophobic but his loyal cadre of deplorables are... unexpectedly
In the navy
You can serve aboard the Milk
In the navy
Serving among and with your ilk
In the navy
You can serve your fellow mens!
In the navy
The next one named will be a trans
It's fun to stay on the
Uuuuu
Ess
Ess
MILK
Serve aboard the US Navy fleet oiler USS Milk and lube the fleet!
Explain how Trump supporters are homophobic. Gays have turned less clever and more amusing, is all. More like leftists.
happy new year 2020 images
USS Carl Vinson—a Senator in charge of naval appropriations. ‘Nuff said.
Does nobody else notice that it will be the USNS Milk? Not the USS Milk.
Usns means us naval ship. It is not commissioned the way a Navy ship is. Uss=united states ship. Lots of legal distinctions.
It is a civilian ship, with civilian crew, owned by the Navy and operated by the military sealift command which is sort of navy and sort of not.
I worry about using usns ships for underway oiling and replenishment. Can a civilian ship and crew be ordered into a combat zone? Refuel a carrier under attack by kamikazes? Rearm a destroyer at night in a hassle? Uss ships and sailors can be and do.
John Henry
Howard--let each of us walk his/her/its own walk.
As sunsong might say, mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning, born of the one light Eden saw play. Praise with elation, praise every morning, God's recreation of the new day.
Howard: "Trump is not homophobic but his loyal cadre of deplorables are... unexpectedly"
Voters routinely vote for candidates who hold views those voters vehemently oppose.
#HowardNon-Wisdom
Gee, hard to believe candidates aren't beating a path to Howards door for his "unique" electoral "insight".
An old dad/uncle joke I remember my avuncular neighbor (army guy) telling long before I could understand it: Who are the two happiest men in the Navy? John Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitzjohn.
I never served in the navy but some of my friends have. And my sense of it is that a posting aboard the Milk is going to become the basis for the biggest inside joke in the Navy. It'll be the kind of posting that no one wants because of the ridicule they'll receive offline from other navy personnel the same way submariners are called 'fart-sniffers' and the like.
I anticipate two things: it will be a ship heavily crewed with female sailors (aka a dykestroyer), and the bin at the base store with the USS Milk hats - I served aboarx the Milk - will remain suspiciously full all the time.
...
If you are correct, I should just stop wasting my time taking the GOP seriously. I put up with a lot of social conservative stuff I think should not be part of decent politics because overall I might think the GOP candidate will do a better job on the issues that he'll actually be dealing with.
To me, the anti-gay stuff from Pence is beyond the normal traditional-morals positioning. It's aggressive and stupid. The media will kill him with it and it will merge with the way they're already trying to kill Trump.
But some of you conservatives are so bent on getting back to traditional morality and using political power to do it that you're ready to leap into the risk that is Pence. I think Trump is smarter than that. I see Trump as pro-gay and being cagey about it.
~ Ann Althouse, July 12, 2016, 9:36 am, following the news of the announcement of Pence for VP.
For the record, I agreed with the particular Althouse judgment that Trump was being cagey. And I have agreed ever since.
The only hesitation that I have now is that I may have presumed too much of an actual Trump ideology about anything. I wonder now how “pro-gay” and “cagey” Trump really is. I do think that social conservatives could push Trump on this (on the Fox News Channel as was suggested), and Trump might well reverse it. He has no loyalty to anyone or anything, and he is utterly transactional. He no more really cares about gay rights than he does about the group he has referred to privately as “the fucking evangelicals.”
The real key is what any interest group can get Hannity, Limbaugh or Fox & Friends to say. That’s a fact. Not “Derangement.” Yeah, it sure is deranged. But it’s Trump’s own derangement. Not any Syndrome on the part of his critics.
Mockturtle, fernandistan and ralph l.
There used to be a fairly rigid system of naming uss ships. Amphibs for marine battles (uss tarawa) ammo ships for volcanos (uss mt shasta ae-6 and ae-33. Uss great sitkin ae-17,on which I served. Say hi to my shipmate, ralph) boomers after presidents, cvas after, mainly revolutionary war battles (Ticonderoga) or ships (enterprise, wasp)
Sadly that went by the boards in the 90s and now they seem to be named all higgledy-piggledy.
John Henry
USS Carl Vinson—a Senator in charge of naval appropriations.
He wasn't a Senator but a retired Rep (from '14 to '65). His great nephew was Sam Nunn, who was. Stennis of MS was another one who got one named for him when alive.
Lucid,
No navy person will serve on the milk. Civilian crew.
I wonder if it is even technically a "Fleet Oiler" not being a commissioned ship?
John Henry
@Lucid-Ideas:
People keep forgetting that the lgbtqflavor-o-month+÷/? community is an extremist community. Everything must go exactly their way every time all the time and must expect 100% complete support or it is anti-them. This includes others who don't tow the line in their own community.
I take your point, but you're really talking about gay activists, not the gay community. They do not represent gays writ large anymore than feminist activists represent women.
boomers after presidents
In the 60's. More recent Boomers after states, as the battleships were, and attack subs after cities.
It's true Drago. Trump is solidly pro choice, but plays a pro-lifer on TV for the punters and fanbois of Eric Rudolph.
There is a fundamental difference between naming a ship after, or putting on currency, someone who battled their country and someone who battled on behalf of their country. Even if the civil battle was considered noble.
J Farmer--Yup.
Meanwhile a minister has been persecuted by local prosecutors in seattle for challenging the drag queen shows at libraries.
There must be a garbage scow we can name "Chuck."
No they serve a purpose, he just ahows up for abuse.
Pardon me for having some fun with the concept. Acknowledged.
Farmer notes: I take your point, but you're really talking about gay activists, not the gay community. They do not represent gays writ large anymore than feminist activists represent women.
Or Black Lives Matter represents blacks.
I am neither a fan of the military, nor down with the gay worship.
I can't make any sense out of the prof's gay worship. It's her kink.
Everybody's got a kink. #meToo. I think I'm being much more sensible than the prof in not making a political issue out of my kink, and not trying to paint myself as a civil rights martyr because of my kink.
Hell, I won't even tell you my kink...
Since 1920 the dollar has declined in calue by 90%
Lucid-Ideas, re extremists: I really don't know why this is. Psych101 hat on I think it stems from the same rebelliousness against daddy and mommy that made adopt the lifestyle in the first place. The no I won't eat my peas attitude. This is probably a massive oversimplification but hey, since we're dealing with extremists, why the hell not.
I go with some of them being like being miserable spoiled toddlers, and some of them being just plain miserable. The spoiled toddler throws tantrums to "test his limits", as they say, but of course the parents set no limits (which is how he got to be a spoiled pain in the ass in the first place), and the toddler just keeps getting more demanding and more miserable, instead of calming down and re-directing his attention away from himself to more interesting and satisfying aspects of existence.
The latter condition is similar. The unhappy person is told all his life that all his problems, and all his unhappiness, arise from the outside, and if the outside causes were removed, he'd be happy and life wonderful. This obvious falsehood, by being enshrined as an unquestioned axiom in a fanatical ideology, guarantees that there can be no endpoint for the extremist's demands.
Correlation is not causation.
The navy has always been the most politically correct and political branch of the service. They named a ship after Gabby Giffords for instance.
No thats been a recent bout of stupidity.
Since 1920 the dollar has declined in calue by 90%
And the standard of living of most Americans has risen dramatically.
Does grace hopper have a designation. For example?
Has it really, look at the fixed costs of essential services not luxuries, rent insurance et al.
Wasn't Milk a pedophile? Trump should revoke the name on that basis alone (if he has that authority).
Trump is so racist he hires blacks and Asians... he is so homophobic he hires gays. He is bigoted his daughter married a Jew (and became Jewish.)
No matter what Trump does the real bigots will find a way to make snide remarks about him.. true, false, and anywhere in between.
But some of you progressives are so bent on destroying traditional morality and using political power to do it that you're ready to leap into the risk that is impeachment.
ftfy
I can't make any sense out of the prof's gay worship. It's her kink.
No,it's her son.
USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler that will provide fuel to ships and aircraft
Maybe its payload will be KY Jelly?
Has it really, look at the fixed costs of essential services not luxuries, rent insurance et al.
Access to a wide variety of nourishing food.
electricity
hot and cold running water
indoor toilets
air conditioning
refrigerators
Television
computers
internet
cell phones
40 hour work week/five day work week
no child labor
welfare/social security/unemployment
no polio
and on and on...….
The navy has always been
No, just post-Tailhook. The CDR I worked for in the late 80's had several boob joke items on his desk in the Pentagon that would be totally verbotten now. I came up with RUMPS and DILDO acronyms for him.
Paul perfectly describes the cover Trump provides as he enables his racist homophobic sexist nativist deplorables. That makes you people Trump's Cucks, by definition.
The LGB community made a mistake when they let T join their alphabet soup. A lot of women are OK with LGB, but object to the T community invading their privacy and usurping their sports teams. When the LGBT community attacks them for being anti-T, those women have no reason to continue to support the LGB community. If they have to "pick a side to be on", the LGBT group is losing them. Since the T community insists they aren't homosexual, there's really no reason for them to be included.
"Howard said...
Paul perfectly describes the cover Trump provides as he enables his racist homophobic sexist nativist deplorables. That makes you people Trump's Cucks, by definition."
Keep dreaming your wet dreams. They may come true.
Sigh. I remember when Navy ships were named after military heroes.
Harvey Milk was notable for being the first openly-gay politician in the U.S.; he was also notable for his passionate affairs with under-aged boys. He's famous but I suspect the Navy could do better.
What's next? A base named for Jim Jones?
The LGB community made a mistake when they let T join their alphabet soup.
They, trans/neos, didn't join. They were always there: transgender spectrum. Where gender is physiological and mental (e.g. sexual orientation) sex-correlated attributes.
Samanatha's mom is correct. If the upcoming Olympic games are going to allow men to compete in women's sports then the testosterone-ingesting Russian women of yore should have their medals returned. The world has gone mad. Utterly.
I wonder how many of the WaPo commenters are gay? Very few, I would bet. With Trumpsteria reaching a fever pitch, there’s undoubtedly a coterie of WaPo commenters that are frantic to insert Trump’s name into any conversation. Can you imagine how tiresome these people must be in person?
fanbois of Eric Rudolph.
Howard hasn't seen "Richard Jewell " yet.
Rum, buggery and the lash, Howard.
AA, via Chuck: I put up with a lot of social conservative stuff I think should not be part of decent politics...
Ha, missed that one. "Have you no decency, you social conservatives!"
But yeah, it's a shame, the attacks on their freedoms, livelihoods, etc., that progs have to "put up with" from social conservatives these days.
"Put up with". Very funny.
Milk admitted that he was not dishonorably discharged for being gay but the symbolism of such a lie would serve him well politically. Seems to be true to this day. Nobody ever lauds any substantive achievements of his other than having sex with other men and getting murdered. Most biographical accounts paint a picture of a petty, vindictive, self-serving asshole with a penchant for underage guys.
Also, Howard, why do you even try? You are one painfully unclever, miserable dick.
He might just like that, dr. K.
But eric rudolph was a pot growing nazi, so they are probably conflicted progs will throw women and gays under the bus, see pulse massacre for the latter instance at a moments notice.
So the US Navy is putting the name of a SF political bureaucrat, famous only because he was gay and murdered, on a ship.
That bar is getting mighty low.
Howard: "It's true Drago. Trump is solidly pro choice, but plays a pro-lifer on TV for the punters and fanbois of Eric Rudolph."
I consider it a very positive omen for 2020 conservatives that leftists like Howard and LLR-lefty Chuck have learned nothing over the last 4 years.
Very positive indeed.
LLR Chuck is STILL very angry Trump is delivering on the conservative agenda that Chuck pretends to support.
Very positive continuing development.
Doug said...
USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler that will provide fuel to ships and aircraft
Maybe its payload will be KY Jelly?
Woke fuel:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy formally deployed its “Great Green Fleet” on Wednesday, sending warships powered by alternative energy to conduct operations in the Pacific three years after controversy over the price of developing new fuels provoked a fight in Congress.
Mabus said deployment of the Great Green Fleet was the next step in a service-wide energy conservation effort that had seen the Navy cut its oil consumption by 15 percent since he took charge in 2009 and the Marine Corps curb its use by 60 percent.
Mark Cancian, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former White House budget official, said the Great Green Fleet was more about showing symbolic support for alternative fuels than actual military need.
To boost production of alternative fuels, the Navy has awarded $210 million to help three firms build refineries to make biofuels using woody biomass, municipal waste and used cooking grease and oil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing an additional $161 million in crop supports.
The refineries are expected to begin operations this year, with full production not likely until 2017.
Reuters January 20, 2016
Trump is not homophobic, nor is he anti gay, but because he is a republican he is automatically anti gay, homophobic etc etc ad infinitum.
And don't forget racist! (Be sure to pronounce with a drawn out, sibilant 'S'.) Not to mention anti-Semitic. 'Cause Republican.
That last one got tried on me by some Jewish friends. I pointed out that he has more Jewish grandchildren than they do, which about ruined the friendship. (I may have snuck in some snark about Orthodox Jews being real Jews, as opposed to Reform Jews who eat ham sandwiches.)
Wasn't Milk a pedophile? Trump should revoke the name on that basis alone (if he has that authority).
Oh! cabin boy, Oh! cabin boy,
You dirty little nipper.
You lined your ass With broken glass
And circumcised the skipper.
Sounds like President Trump needs to do some high level housecleaning at the Navy. It is a killing machine, not a feelz good, social justice vehicle
We have destroyers -- supposedly the most nimble fighting ships in the fleet -- unable to get out of the way of lumbering cargo ships, and the best the Navy can do is ... name a fleet oiler after Harvey Milk.
Big Mike,
LOL - reformed Jews are fake Jews just like "catholics" who vote Dem are fake catholics.
Trump can be socially liberal on every issue, but he can never be recognised as a true liberal while he still associates with Christian believers. That is the bridge too far.
They can name the ship after Liberace as far as I'm concerned.
How laughable! Shouldn't Navy ships be named after our states, cities, Presdients, Congressmen, and former officers and seaman who did great things or were brave in battle?
Now we're naming ships for Gay Mayors and Suffragettes who disliked the Military. What's next the USS Paul Lynde? THe USS Tennessee Williams?, USS Micheal Jackson?
For the longest time I’ve had a very strong suspicion that our president is bisexual, so I doubt anyone is going to be changing the name of this ship anytime soon.
I guess in a Navy with incompetent Female Officer, and transgenders who are "vital to the USS Navy", having the USS Harvey Milk is somehow appropriate.
What are the traditions of the Navy?
Rum, the Lash, and Sodomy - Winston Churchill.
THis will win Republicans vote in the bay area - Two, to be exact.
The interior decor is going to be "fierce".
THe Navy has been the most anti-trump and most PC service. Probably because, except for a few Seals and pilots/aircrew it hasn't done any fighting since Vietnam. And even then it had guys like Kerry and McCain.
Whenever I hear of a Navy ship ramming into a freighter, i think:
USS Mitt Romney
No. Trump is bad. Anti-gay is bad. Therefore, Trump is anti-gay. Trump embodies all that is evil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmeADBKm8_c
"rocean said...
This will win Republicans vote in the bay area - Two, to be exact.
12/16/19, 9:09 AM"
Because they will have marked their ballots incorrectly.
People who claim to be the “wrong” sex and wish to change sexes we mentally ill. How sad for gay activists that thrust actually achieved a change to the definition of marriage and gain mainstream acceptance only to see stupid transactivists take over the movement and ruin it. Trans issues have nothing to do with being gay. But the crazies are driving the messaging. No deviation from the Party Line comrades!
The Navy's ignoring Harvey's role in the Peoples Temple cult in order to look progressive.
They'll come to regret that, I think.
Our history is a mess right about now, with MLK now as a sex fiend, too.
We need some serious re-writes, if you ask me.
Super. If a crazy cult leader in Guyana starts murdering hundreds of poor old ladies and children, we can send the Harvey Milk to rescue them.
Oh, wait...
Anti-gay? In terms of administration policies, reversing interpretation of federal discrimination law on sex discrimination to exclude sexual orientation without at same time seeking legislation to ban such discrimination.
So it's going to deliver lubricants?
I think the Navy is trolling.
Monty Python predicted it...
ROYAL NAY VEE
Crack is completely right, and he has a good post on "Macho Response".
"Season of the Witch", Talbot, available on Amazon, has most of the story and much else.
It does not have a complete picture of H.Milk, who from other sources seems to have been a complete rotter. I used to hang out with friends and colleagues of John Barbagelata.
Welcome aboard the USNS Milk sailor. I'll be you chief petty officer, Xir Bryant (pronouns are xir/xirs/xir yes xir). Please sign for thr following.
Cape
Assless chaps
Glitter ration
Non-arbitration agreement
Consent form
NONconsent form
Daily in-berth house music permit
We hope you'll be a functioning member in our crew. And remember, what happens in Milk stays on Milk!
The Navy can't build a ship, their LLC frigates are a mess. The Zumwalt class destroyers don't have a working cannon. The new Ford class carriers are a disaster, a 13 billion dollar disaster.
They can't drive ships. They run into slow tankers and each other.
The new Ford carriers don't have urinals in an attempt to please the feminists. They don't have working catapults or weapons elevators either. My sympathies to the sailors assigned to the "USS SquatToPee"
But they are all over the various victim lobbies.
Trump is far and away the most LGBT-friendly Republican president ever. He was the first president ever of any party to express support for same-sex marriage prior to being elected (even Obama did not do this, whatever his private thoughts may have been).
Jokah Macpherson: "Trump is far and away the most LGBT-friendly Republican president ever."
Shhhhhhh! You'll upset Howard and LLR-lefty Chuck.
And remember, what happens in Milk stays on Milk!
Except for STDs. So wear those rubbers, girls!
buwaya: "Crack is completely right, and he has a good post on "Macho Response"."
Yep.
Crack is growing on me.
In a move that signaled an about-face on the issue of gay rights, the Navy on Friday began to construct the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet oiler that will provide fuel to ships and aircraft.
Fleet oil, huh? We suppose that includes lubricants, KY Jelly, Crisco, etc.
Fleet oil, huh? We suppose that includes lubricants, KY Jelly, Crisco, etc.
And the ever-popular Fleet enema.
Demonstration of the Undistributed Middle Fallacy:
I hate Trump
I hate homophobes.
Ergo, Trump is a homophobe.
QED
Harvey Milk had his frolics in Balboa Park in San Diego--a favorite spot for cruising gays. I'm okay with a fleet oiler named Harvey Milk (the ship is being constructed in San Diego). But just to keep things square, I think that the Navy's next cruiser should be christened the "USS Balboa Park".
Of course the Navy isn't building cruisers any longer--but after all they seem to be unable to build ships that work--of any class.
It's time to drastically reduce the Navy anyway. Cancel the future supercarriers. (finish the ones currently being built as disaster response ships) Retire the current supercarriers as they finish their operational lives. Start reducing the Navy to a commerce protection role...frigates and destroyers. Keep the Marines and their carriers/landing ships. Retire the sub fleet.
Put the savings into the Space Force. Buy some Falcon 9s and Dreamchasers. Arm the Dreamchasers with rail guns and KEWs.
Paul perfectly describes the cover Trump provides as he enables his racist homophobic sexist nativist deplorables. That makes you people Trump's Cucks, by definition.
Howard is becoming the Jussie Smollet of this blog. He has to make shit up to paint Trump supporters in a negative light.
It's pretty funny, really. Tell the Lefties that the Navy is buying an expensive new ship to transport fossil fuels so they can kill foreigners-- and they're delighted! Who knew it was so easy to get the stupid bastards to support the military?
126 posts ^ and not one joke about seaman! I'm proud of you folks. I mean Harvey Milk being gay and the navy naming a ship after him, the seaman jokes just write themselves, but you didn't go there.
The march through the institutions continues.
Not that I expect any sort of self-awareness from WaPo journalists or their idiot commenters, but if
1) It is a good or laudable thing to name a ship after Harvey Milk
2) The above thing deviates from standard practice
3) The above thing was done by under President Trump under the auspices of the executive branch
Then Trump should be getting credit.
If you can't be gay in the Navy, you can't be gay at all.
"Maybe its payload will be KY Jelly?"
KY Jelly? I think you mean Astroglide.
Howard said...
Paul perfectly describes the cover Trump provides as he enables his racist homophobic sexist nativist deplorables. That makes you people Trump's Cucks, by definition.
That trope is only useful in misleads idiots like you.
Howard is constantly projecting his insecurities and shortcomings on the "deplorables" that plague his little mind. Straw men are giving him headaches.
If there were no stupid people democrats would have no voters.
And the ever-popular Fleet enema.
LOL tcrosse!
For what it's worth, keeping gays off of ships and submarines was probably thought by the Navy to promote discipline and morale. Policing the conduct of a bunch of lonely and frustrated young men who are forced to be stuck together 24/7 is hard enough. Allow gays on the ship and you have to prevent them from sleeping with each other. It wasn't just hateful, invidious anti-gay discrimination.
Of course, things are different now, and they allow women and men increasingly to spend time around each other in the military. Whether that has been good for discipline and morale is a bit of an open question.
And I agree with those who've pointed out St. Harvey's tarnished and disreputable personal history. It's not even clear his killing had anything to do with anti-gay bigotry, as opposed to just plain old personal animus.
I think this decision on the Harvey Milk was made during the Obama administration,. It is a US Naval Ship (USNS), not a commissioned United States Ship (USS) and is operated by the Military Sealift Command which operates most of the Navy's supply and re-fueling ships. It is not manned by Navy personnel but by civil service, Merchant Marine, or contractors. There may be Navy or Marines on board for certain functions. I shared a table on a cruise back in May with a retired Navy CPO who had just had his second retirement as a contractor on a USNS supply ship and he explained all this to me. He told me a lot of the people manning these ships are retired Navy who take this up as a second career. Probably with better pay, too. Since this is not a commissioned ship it is probably not a big deal but it does not follow normal Navy naming conventions. I think there was also going to be a ship named for retired Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI).
Milk was an incredibly corrupt pedarast who drove a boy to suicide and was buddies with Jim Jones. That the Navy has to name a ship after him seems to show the quality of gays in the military and politics in the USA. There aren’t any quality, decent gays to honor?
It's not even clear his killing had anything to do with anti-gay bigotry, as opposed to just plain old personal animus.
His killer thought Milk had more Twinkies, but he only had twinks.
>>"Maybe its payload will be KY Jelly?"
Kentucky has it's own jelly?
>>maybe a courageous transgender activist could have a ship name too.
Can't we just pick a building, and say it identifies as warship now?
Bleh supposes re H. Milk: It's not even clear his killing had anything to do with anti-gay bigotry, as opposed to just plain old personal animus.
Right. It had nothing to do with Milk's homosexuality. Mayor Moscone was the principal target. IIRC, it was Milk's 'smirk' that enraged White, although both murders were revenge for White not being promoted. Workplace violence not 'hate crime'.
" There aren’t any quality, decent gays to honor? "
You need a military genius like Eugene of Savoy, or possibly even a proconsul like Louis-Hubert Lyautey.
Their private lives were much less than exemplary, but their achievements were obvious.
But I don't think you have any such personages in your military history.
Moscone and Milk were in on the political turfing out of Dan White.
White resented this - in part this was his fault, he did not realize quite how much SF politics had become hardball. Which was silly of him - the Jim Jones-stolen election of 1975 should have instructed everyone.
I suspect he killed Milk simply through happenstance, because he saw the unplanned opportunity to get rid of another personal enemy, having already killed Moscone. Might as well go for two, as he was already going to be hanged for one.
although both murders were revenge for White not being promoted. <
Not quite right. He was tricked into resigning, as I recall. Moscone and Milk saw that as a way to get rid of him. He represented old SF, sort of the Sam Spade SF that was going quickly.
Trump is not a diversitist. Obama was politically congruent. Milk enjoys a character indemnity because of his diversity class. Obama, too, or he voted present for 32 trimesters.
I hope Achilles hasn't been binging on Twinkies.
"He represented old SF, sort of the Sam Spade SF that was going quickly."
Yes, he did represent the old SF, the real SF of square miles of 25x100 tract homes with regularly spaced Catholic churches and schools. The same old SF that Barbagelatas real estate company serviced. The people who literally built that city.
Sam Spade was a denizen of the demimonde, not the petit-bourgeois Sunset.
So we should now celebrate a gay man who had sex with boys but vilify a cisheteronormative man who exposed himself to adult women?
Got it. Just trying to figure out what double standard we are expected to adhere to.
Hello. My name is Hombre. My pronouns are “he” and “him.”
Ships in the class. Names selected by former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
1. USNS John Lewis (T-AO-205) - Georgia politician and activist John Lewis.
2. USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) - LGBT activist Harvey Milk.
3. USNS Earl Warren (T-AO-207) - Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren.
4. USNS Robert F. Kennedy (T-AO-208) - U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
5. USNS Lucy Stone (T-AO-209) - Women’s right activist Lucy Stone.
6. USNS Sojourner Truth (T-AO-210) - Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth.
Our Navy is broken. I hope we don't need it for anything important in the near future.
With Mabus as Secretary of the Navy from 2009 - 2017, it's no wonder ships are crashing left and right.
But mostly left.
I don't have any problem with the military honoring people who fought (and gave their lives) for civil rights. But the idea that someone is honored because they check the right boxes in identity politics is absurd.
"Failure to embrace a strong conception of transgender rights is conceptualized as anti-gay." The LGBTQ community is not known for its intellectual honesty or tolerance. Trump is condemned as a homophobe but Trump's most significant ambassador in Europe is US Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grinell. An openly gay man, Grinell is also working to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. But don't tell LGBTQ activists they are intolerant, uninformed, and don't represent all LGBTQ's.
Transgenders do remain in the military. From NPR, 1/2019:
"Under Trump's policy, transgender persons who have a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria and who may require 'substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery' are, with some exceptions, disqualified from military service.
The exceptions fall into four categories:
1. The more than 900 active-duty members of the military who a Pentagon report says were diagnosed with gender dysphoria after June 30, 2016. On that date former Defense Secretary Ash Carter lifted a prior ban on transgender persons serving in the military. This group will be allowed to receive required medical treatment to transition and to serve in their preferred gender, as long as they are not deemed nondeployable for more than 12 months.
2. Those who have been 'stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex' before entering the military.
3. Those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria after beginning their military service but 'do not require a change of gender.'
4. Those whom the Pentagon calls 'transgender persons without a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria' and who serve 'in their biological sex.' "
What was ever anti-gay about Trump?
1) He identifies as a Republican. For a lot of people that's enough.
2) He selected Pence, an Indiana Republican, as his VP. Indiana is where that homophobic pizzeria is, and Pence is a Republican (see #1).
3) Pence allegedly supported state supported conversion therapy. It doesn't matter that it isn't true, it's the seriousness of the allegation.
4) Something about transgenders in the military. Transgenders aren't necessarily gay, but whatever.
To name a US naval vessel after a buggerer disgusts me, as does everything else about buggery.
You see, I know what they do! Glad I'm retired (ETC).
The first few paragraphs of the WaPo story are deceptive.
First, the tale of Milk's service and resignation seemed to be sourced only to his nephew.
Second, if you can believe the WaPo, Milk was not forced to resign because he was homosexual, he was forced to resign because he engaged in homosexual behavior.
Third, being unable or unwilling to control homosexual impulses is probably a marker for being undisciplined. Same thing with heterosexual officers who can't seem to control their libidos.
What happens when a president spends eight years firing all the warriors & promoting the woke flag ranks.
Michael K said...
"Not quite right. He was tricked into resigning, as I recall. Moscone and Milk saw that as a way to get rid of him. He represented old SF, sort of the Sam Spade SF that was going quickly."
For once, Michael K and I are sorta on the same page:
Dan White killed Harvey and Moscone because A) they wrongly double-crossed him B) they used a cult he couldn't fight because he couldn't even identify it's parameters - which is still hard for most C) they were hedonists, representing a new literal "evil" into the hippiefied San Francisco affronting his straight-laced, outer neighborhood, Catholic-raised, Mom-and-Apple-Pie mind.
Having witnessed, and experienced, the ever-growing power of cults in America - I lost my wife to them, and then lived in Utah for 5 years with the Mormons, before watching Whole Foods become a thing (complete with it's own spiritual advisor/sexual predator), HRH Oprah pick a president, ffollowing NXIVM when few others were, and seeing Marianne Williamson also ascend the debate stage for the Democrats - I feel a certain sympathy for Dan White, who ended up killing himself, because who else would ever believe this shit?
Except for me, of course?
Post a Comment