I think a lot of ships are already registered in US/NATO protectorates for precisely that reason.

Here we definitely both agree! Maybe one way to fix this is to have the companies that own/operate the ships pay a security fee to the United Nations, then the United Nations adds that fee into the pool of money used to finance a coalition of Navies with interests in the region to provide transit security in that…

But it’s in our national interest to enable our world partners and allies unrestricted access to trade, especially in Southeast Asia, where we are competing for influence with China (The Straits Of Hormuz connects Southeast Asia to Europe).

So? The marshall plan was not guaranteed to directly help the US Taxpayer. Do you think we should have left Europe a burning husk? Thats the whole point of aid, economic or otherwise in the realm of international relations, to further US interests via less direct means.

Well... One way to think about it is that unrestricted trade aids our economy, that then aids you with cheaper products to buy. My counter argument also has inherent problems, but this is the main argument the US has been using to keep a large Navy sense the USSR collapsed.

VW in Europe has a good lineup, though the Mazda lineup should qualify for being the best when the ND Miata and an AWD Mazdaspeed3 get into showrooms. Also not bringing over their Skyactiv diesel to the US hurts their standing.

Yeah, I don’t really understand why Mitsubishi is letting their lineup die of old age. Come on! If Mazda can products one of the best lineups on the market on a shoestring budget you would think the huge conglomerate of Mitsubishi would be able produce a better car.

Yup, Anti-roll bars back and front and multi-link suspension in the back (when most other compacts go with torsion bar) really help to push it to the front of the pack.

That is true only for the 1st and 2nd generation Mazda 3s. After Ford and Mazda broke up during the 2008 recession Mazda developed the Mazda 6 platform and has since used chopped down versions of that platform for the 3, 2, CX-5, and CX-3.

There may be hope, there was a time in the US when you were discriminated against if you were of Irish, Italian, or Polish descent or if you publicly subscribed to the Catholic religion.

I think most of the large universities at the time had fairly fast (fast enough to stream 144i video) direct connections to each other...

Small note to help with context: The NASA insignia on the side of the ship is the NASA “worm” logotype that was used from 1975–1992.

Well Apple did literally fight a clone war in the 1990s, so I think the comparison is valid.

I think the Jedi are the least interesting things in the Star Wars universe.

I did not know they made a sequel to Man on Wire...

So.... Back to truck grills on passenger cars for Ford?

Very interesting! In the news you only hear about subs being damaged and repaired when they hit the big things like undersea mounts, each other, and Japanese fishing boats. What were some of the everyday repairs that subs needed in the 70s?

Daredevil comes out and is darker and grittier than anything DC ever did. Fans respond: “Best ever! See DC, this is how it’s done!”

Yes, I understand that any one of those corvettes would blow a cutter out of the water, but if you look at the real world effectiveness of any smaller ship class in a conflict zone you may start to get worried. I think that may be how the US Navy is looking at the situation, at least until better (laser) point-defense…

Yeah, I just found it odd because I thought that the subs would use the same replenishment ships as the rest of the navy. Though looking at the two graphics again I can think of two reasons why the subs would need special replenishment ships. 1) unlike most other blue water ships in the navy helicopters can’t land on…