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Articles Posted by Lower Deck

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  • Herschel Walker Says People Worried About High Insulin Costs Should Just 'Eat Right'

    10/15/2022 6:46:35 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 202 replies
    Huff Po ^ | 10/15/22 | Igor Bobic
    Herschel Walker, the GOP nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, said people who are worried about the high cost of insulin should “eat right” in his only debate against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Friday. During an exchange about the economy and the high cost of living, Warnock touted his work passing legislation lowering prescription drug prices, including a $35 cap on monthly insulin costs. He noted that Walker had opposed the law, which is called the Inflation Reduction Act. Walker responded by saying the Inflation Reduction Act had not reduced inflation. Then he argued that people who...
  • As missiles strike Ukraine, Israel won’t sell its vaunted air defense

    10/12/2022 6:52:17 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 23 replies
    Washington Post via MSN ^ | 10/12/22 | Steve Hendrix
    Moscow’s deadly air assault on Ukrainian cities has ramped up pressure on Western nations to rush air defense systems to the embattled country, but it is still unlikely to receive one of the world’s most effective tools against incoming projectiles. Israel’s Iron Dome air defense, which boasts a 90 percent success rate against rockets fired against it, will stay out of Ukraine’s reach, said experts, as Jerusalem seeks to maintain strategic relations with Russia in Syria and other hot spots.
  • GOP planning 'catastrophic default' if Democrats refuse to cut Social Security and Medicare

    10/11/2022 1:22:35 PM PDT · by Lower Deck · 106 replies
    Alternet via MSN ^ | 10/11/22 | David Badash
    Top House Republicans are planning to threaten to shut down the U.S. Government by refusing to raise the debt ceiling next year in a scheme to force Democrats to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, should they win the House in November critics warn, pointing to a Bloomberg report. “Social Security and Medicare eligibility changes, spending caps, and safety-net work requirements are among the top priorities for key House Republicans who want to use next year’s debt-limit deadline to extract concessions from Democrats,” Bloomberg Law reports. “The four Republicans interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next...
  • Donald Trump says he wouldn't have sat 'back there' at Queen's funeral like Joe Biden

    09/19/2022 5:29:16 PM PDT · by Lower Deck · 163 replies
    Metro via MSN ^ | 9/19/22 | Jessica Kwong
    Donald Trump mocked his successor Joe Biden for sitting 14 rows from the front at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral – and claimed he would not be seated so far ‘back there’ if he were still president. Trump sounded off on his Truth Social platform on Monday evening, shortly after the Queen was laid to rest in the UK. Trump posted an image highlighting Biden’s position behind more than a dozen rows. ‘This is what’s happened to America in just two short years. No respect! However, a good time for our President to get to know the leaders of certain Third...
  • Trump loved the Queen, but it may be up to Biden to decide whether or not he gets invited to her funeral

    09/11/2022 2:08:52 PM PDT · by Lower Deck · 125 replies
    Business Insider via MSN ^ | 9/11/22 | Kelsey Vlamis
    The Royal Family announced on Saturday that the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will take place on September 19, but who exactly will make the guest list is still up in the air.
  • GOP Rep. James Comer says Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert have shown interest in being on Oversight Committee in a Republican-controlled House

    08/13/2022 3:22:00 PM PDT · by Lower Deck · 38 replies
    MSN Business Insider ^ | 8/13/22 | John Dorman
    GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who could potentially lead the powerful House Oversight Committee if Republicans take control of the lower chamber after the 2022 midterms, said high-profile conservative congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado have shown interest in becoming members of the panel. In a recent interview with Politico, Comer — who is currently the Oversight ranking member — said that if he led the panel, it would not devolve into "a dog-and-pony show." "This isn't a committee where everybody's gonna scream and be outraged and try to make the witnesses look like...
  • China is fixated on a mysterious US submarine incident in the South China Sea and keeps accusing the US of a cover-up

    10/26/2021 12:16:55 PM PDT · by Lower Deck · 24 replies
    Business Insider via MSN ^ | 10/26/21 | Ryan Pickrell
    Beijing keeps demanding answers about a mysterious US submarine incident that happened in the South China Sea earlier this month, accusing the US of being "cagey" and of trying to cover it up. The US insists that is not the case. The Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Connecticut collided with an object in early October, and Chinese officials have asked about it repeatedly since then. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday that China has "grave concerns" and accused the US of being "irresponsible" and "cagey" by not providing details about the incident. He said the lack...
  • A New Northern Alliance Against The Taliban Is Forming In Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley

    08/20/2021 6:50:42 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 9 replies
    The Drive ^ | 8/18/21 | Joseph Trevithick
    hile the Taliban now controls virtually all of Afghanistan, including the country's capital, Kabul, one region, the Panjshir Valley, remains outside of the group's tightening grip. Now, a resistance movement is forming there, led by, among others, Amrullah Saleh, who had been First Vice President of Afghanistan until the collapse of the internationally-recognized government this past weekend, and now claims to be the legitimate leader of the country. Yesterday, in a post on Twitter, Saleh declared himself "the legitimate care taker [sic] President," citing the constitution of the now all-but-defunct Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which says the First Vice President...
  • Navy to scrap USS Bonhomme Richard after days-long fire

    11/30/2020 2:13:44 PM PST · by Lower Deck · 91 replies
    The Hill ^ | 11/30/20 | Ellen Mitchell
    The Navy will scrap the USS Bonhomme Richard after a fire burned aboard the amphibious assault ship for nearly five days in July and rendered it unsalvageable, the service announced Monday. After “thorough consideration,” the Navy has decided to decommission the ship “due to the extensive damage” from the blaze, the service said in a statement. “We did not come to this decision lightly,” Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite said in the release. “Following an extensive material assessment in which various courses of action were considered and evaluated, we came to the conclusion that it is not fiscally responsible to restore...
  • Trump Says He's Working To Get 10 More Icebreakers For The Coast Guard From "A Certain Place"

    07/13/2020 5:37:05 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 26 replies
    The War Zone ^ | 7/10/20 | Joseph Trevithick
    President Donald Trump says his Administration is working to secure 10 icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard. He also claimed that these ships would be cheaper to acquire than that service's future Polar Security Cutters, a new class of heavy icebreakers, the first of which is now under construction. This comes just over a month after Trump ordered the Coast Guard to review its existing icebreaker plans and to look into the possibility of buying or leasing additional ice-capable ships, including nuclear-powered types.
  • Trump wants South Korea to pay more to keep U.S. troops there

    08/12/2019 6:19:42 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 31 replies
    War Is Boring ^ | 8/12/19 | Jesse Johnson
    In a move likely to have implications for Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that discussions have begun with South Korea to get the Asian ally to pay more for the cost of maintaining U.S. troops there. “South Korea has agreed to pay substantially more money to the United States in order to defend itself from North Korea,” Trump wrote in a Twitter post, saying that Seoul had paid the U.S. “very little” over the “past many decades.” “Talks have begun to further increase payments to the United States,” he wrote. “South Korea is a very wealthy nation that...
  • Here Is How The Pentagon Comes Up With Code Words And Secret Project Nicknames

    08/12/2019 6:14:53 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 15 replies
    The Drive ^ | 8/12/19 | Tim McMillan
    If there’s one place one can find plenty of nicknames, it’s within the sprawling landscape of the armed forces. When it comes to the greater civilian world, there’s no historical precedent or agreed upon social norm for how someone or something gains a substitute informal title. However, given the Department of Defense’s fondness of rigid structure, it should be no surprise that when it comes to nicknames, there’s a policy for them, too.
  • Japanese F-35A Has Gone Missing Over The Pacific Ocean (Updated)

    04/09/2019 7:29:45 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 29 replies
    The Drive ^ | 4/9/19 | Tyler Rogoway
    Details remain extremely limited at this time, but there are reports from Japanese media outlets stating that one of the Japan Air Self Defense Force's F-35As has gone missing during an evening training mission off Northern Japan. A search effort is supposedly now underway. Reports state that the F-35 went missing at around 7:30pm local time on the 9th of April, 2019. The aircraft had taken off from Misawa Air Base and was around 85 miles east of that location, over the Pacific Ocean, when it disappeared from Japan's tracking systems.
  • Water entered missing Argentine sub's snorkel, causing short circuit

    11/28/2017 3:23:24 AM PST · by Lower Deck · 36 replies
    Reuters ^ | 11/28/17 | Hugh Bronstein
    Water entered the snorkel of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan, causing its battery to short-circuit before it went missing on Nov. 15, a navy spokesman said on Monday as hope dwindled among some families of the 44-member crew. The San Juan had only a seven-day oxygen supply when it lost contact, and a sudden noise was detected that the navy says could have been the implosion of the vessel. Ships with rescue equipment from countries including the United States and Russia were nonetheless rushing to join the search. Before its disappearance, the submarine had been ordered back to its...
  • Russian government owned news agency claims a British mine caused the sinking of the ARA San Juan

    11/27/2017 3:57:29 AM PST · by Lower Deck · 12 replies
    ukdefensejournal.com ^ | 11/27/17 | George Allison
    putnik has claimed that the sinking of Argentine submarine ARA San Juan was caused by a British deep-sea mine deployed during the Falklands War. The problem? Britain didn’t lay any mines. Sputnik News is a successor to Russian state-owned RIA Novosti’s international branch which became defunct in 2013. The agency is wholly owned and operated by the Russian Government. The article, which can be found here, suggests that the explosive event registered in the area of ​​operations of the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan was caused by a deep-sea mine “installed at the time of the Falklands War in 1982.”...
  • Argentine submarine goes missing with 44 crew members on board: navy

    11/17/2017 8:47:09 AM PST · by Lower Deck · 40 replies
    Reuters ^ | 11/17/17 | Reuters Staff
    BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An Argentine military submarine with 44 crew members on board was missing at sea on Friday, prompting a massive search to locate the vessel which may have suffered a communication error, a navy spokesman said. The vessel was in the southern Argentine Sea when it gave its last location two days ago.
  • NATO Bombed Soviet Submarines With Tiny, Annoying Magnets

    07/10/2017 9:50:33 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 35 replies
    War Is Boring ^ | 7/9/`7 | Steve Weintz
    At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had so many hundreds of deadly submarines at sea that Western war planners willing to try almost any possible countermeasure, however goofy sounding. Some seemingly crazy ideas proved actually worthwhile, such as the underwater Sound Surveillance System—a vast chain of seafloor microphones that patiently listened for Soviet subs … and remains in use today. Other less elegant anti-submarine tools survive only as anecdotes. In his book Hunter Killers, naval writer Iain Ballantyne recalls one of the zanier ideas — air-dropped “floppy-magnets” meant to foul up Soviet undersea boats, making them...
  • The U.S. Navy Is Short on Submarine Hunters

    08/24/2016 6:58:43 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 45 replies
    War is Boring ^ | 8/24/16 | Dave Majumdar
    The U.S. Navy will need to develop an organic carrier-based fixed-wing anti-submarine warfare capability to counter the resurgent threat from enemy submarines. The Navy simply does not have enough attack submarines, cruisers, destroyers or helicopters to adequately protect the its deployed forces from subsurface threats because its ASW capability has atrophied since the end of the Cold War. “It’s a growing threat that will almost certainly influence the relevance of the carrier,” said retired U.S. Navy Capt. Jerry Hendrix, director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security. “The Navy will need a...
  • America Sets Sail: New Amphib, LHA-6, Leaves Shipyard

    07/12/2014 6:41:37 PM PDT · by Lower Deck · 18 replies
    Breaking Defense Blog ^ | By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on July 11, 2014 at 4:58 PM | Sydney Freedberg
    After five years in the shipyard, the first of a new class of Navy amphibious warship set sail today from its Pascagoula, Miss. birthsite for San Francisco, headed for the fleet. LHA-6 will be commissioned as the USS America this October. America has been controversial in the military and on this website. I’ve argued the LHA-6 is a dead end in naval design, because in order to carry more aircraft — MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, F-35B Joint Strike Fighter jump-jets — it sacrifices the well deck required to launch landing craft and amtracs, which sort of takes the “amphibious” out of...
  • SHINSEKI IS OUT AT THE VA: Here Are 12 People Who Could Replace Him

    05/30/2014 11:48:47 AM PDT · by Lower Deck · 34 replies
    Task & Purpose ^ | 5/30/14 | Brian Adam Jones
    President Barack Obama today accepted the resignation of embattled VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. It was an unfortunate end to a remarkable career of public service that lasted roughly half a century. Shinseki’s departure comes amid widespread charges of corruption and ineptitude at VA hospitals across the country. And it leaves a glaring question — who is next to lead the VA? There’s no doubt the VA needs help, so who could take the reigns from Shinseki and provide the organization with the leadership it needs to serve the nation’s veterans? We compiled a shortlist: 1. Jim Webb The Marine and...