Thank you for pointing this out. The Healy is a far better ship design than the decrepit Polar Star.

She’ll never sail again. She’s being cannibalized to keep her sister ship alive. The decision to put her down for good isn’t final, but it’s practically a foregone conclusion at this point.

They will most certainly not be nuclear. There’s honestly no need for a nuclear ice breaker. Yes horsepower is important, but so is the technology that goes with it. Hull shape, propeller design, and hull material together a more important than horsepower.

I’m the same way regarding these sorts of decisions. I’m relatively well aware of the various impacts, but I leave it up to my accountant to advise me on what to payoff fastest. Especially when you’re on the cusp of a new tax bracket.

“En mass walkouts”

You do realize how large the department is, right? Well over 60,000. We have too many people in the Senior Executive Service as it is. It’s well overdue for pruning. Same goes for the military brass.

“Most of them were like, Nah.”

“kiss any Mexican law enforcement cooperation goodbye”

Couldn’t agree more, as a secret service agent (in the Denver office no less), she likely wouldn’t have anything to do with personally taking a bullet for the POTUS. And a FB post isn’t exactly taking a stand. There’s several other things that she could have done that would have sent a stronger message (including a…

What was the net impact now that your mortgage payment tax deduction is no longer available? Or is it essentially a wash?

“I think the people who rely on the UNHCR, UNICEF, people whose land was cleared of land mines by the UN and the people who have been saved from preventable disease by vaccination programs run by the World Health organization, as just a few examples, would disagree with you that the UN has outlived its usefulness.”

“If we are to cap our greenhouse gas emissions, some oil will have to be left in the ground. Tar Sand oil would be the best candaidate for that.”

One rail car is 30,000 gallons. A derailment or crash will lose multiple cars. The most recent pipeline spill (up in Alberta) was 52,000 gallons. Pipelines are not only safer from an incident rate perspective, but they’re also far less damaging when the spills occur.

Even an entire train of oil is nothing compared to a pipeline failure.

“The most environmentally damaging method of extraction.”

Counter-point: The UN building sits on prime real estate. If you’re a NYC developer would rather have a bunch of UN employees on civil servant pay or the equivalent in number of people worth A LOT of money. Not to mention the taxes reaped.

“Or VW is scared one of their cars will become the next Toyota Hilux and every gun runner from Tripoli to Mogadishu will turn these TDI’s into a fleet of DShK technicals. The wagon’s in particular with the roof chopped off would do nicely.”

The existence of a natural resource there is irrelevant. Their claim is absurd regardless.

“Economic growth is as important for them as national security.”

Not a bad article, but I think this is more of a foreign policy take (State Dept) than a defense take (DoD). Of course they work hand in hand, but I would have rather enjoyed a comprehensive defense policy write up from FA.