EPTPresident Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/trump-orders-navy-to-restore-old-technology-in-aircraft-carriers-costing-billions-0055ec1b
US Politics Mega-thread - Page 5910
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LightSpectra
United States3425 Posts
President Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/trump-orders-navy-to-restore-old-technology-in-aircraft-carriers-costing-billions-0055ec1b | ||
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CuddlyCuteKitten
Sweden2909 Posts
On August 14 2026 23:30 LightSpectra wrote: People here who know a lot about naval ships, what's your opinion on this? President Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/trump-orders-navy-to-restore-old-technology-in-aircraft-carriers-costing-billions-0055ec1b It's extremely retarded. | ||
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LightSpectra
United States3425 Posts
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ZerOCoolSC2
9070 Posts
Also seems suspiciously borderline treasonous in someway. I doubt it'll happen because that will take longer than he'll be president, and I'm sure Congress has to authorize that, no? | ||
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oBlade
United States6638 Posts
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GreenHorizons
United States24436 Posts
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx Armed with that information, establishment/third way Democrats are going to fight hard to overcome that. You see, Democrats can fight for unpopular policy, but only when their Epstein class donors tell them to. | ||
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Jankisa
Croatia1853 Posts
On August 15 2026 01:01 GreenHorizons wrote: People don't like data centers. https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx Armed with that information, establishment/third way Democrats are going to fight hard to overcome that. https://twitter.com/TomTiffanyWI/status/2088265519812022731 You see, Democrats can fight for unpopular policy, but only when their Epstein class donors tell them too. Haven't really looked into this guy but from what I can remember, in the primary he beat the lady who hated holidays, which seems like a pretty unique way to shoot yourself in the foot. I actually agree that the Democratic party at large is once again missing a chance to capitalize on a genuine popular movement, with the usual suspects being the notable exceptions. The stupid thing is that it's not like they (Bernie and AOC) are completely aggressively anti-AI, no where near as vitriolic as the reddit brigade accusing anyone even casually using local versions of "burning down the planet and stealing intellectual property", but that doesn't stop the Neo-liberal crowd from painting them as Luddites who just want America to lose to China. I think that in an alternative universe where Kamala won there would be an actual AI tzar who is not a shill for the industry who would sit down with a team of very smart people, invited the big players to the table and figured out a reasonable way of doing this, because there is very little indication that if all of this infrastructure gets built it will be used, since the demand is simply not there, and then you end up with megaprojects that don't get finished benefiting no one like the Foxcon factory. That plus the very likely financial meltdown when the bubble bursts. | ||
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LightSpectra
United States3425 Posts
"Okay, that’s only for future data centers, but what about the data centers that are currently already built? And we have numerous data centers that are already being built, because even if you put a moratorium in place, it’s not gonna stop the data center that’s going up in Port Washington. It’s not gonna stop the data center that’s going on in Racine, right? And so we have to regulate what we currently have on the books. That means that they need to pay 100% for their energy. They need to pay 100% for the infrastructure upgrades or grid upgrades." Now tell me how many anti-data center Republicans there are. | ||
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Gorsameth
Netherlands22675 Posts
This is the natural consequence of letting people buy politicians. | ||
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GreenHorizons
United States24436 Posts
On August 15 2026 01:22 Gorsameth wrote: Politicians bought by the companies behind datacenters advocate for datacenters. I'm shocked... This is the natural consequence of letting people buy politicians. Yeah the bipartisan consensus support among the lackeys for the Epstein class around something people overwhelmingly reject is pretty naked. Meanwhile, when politics about helping people are gaining traction in the Democrats' party, they're ready fight back against it: “We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” said Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, a leading centrist Democratic group, revealing to The New York Times a new $15 million effort between now and 2028 to discredit democratic socialism. Mr. Cowan said the $15 million his group would spend through 2028 was not directed at individual candidates. Instead, the group plans to target the Democratic Socialists of America movement, which he believes poses a “mortal danger” for Democrats. He said the effort would include opposition research into D.S.A., polling, social media programs and educating Democratic activists and leaders. It would target both proud democratic socialists and those such as Dr. El-Sayed, whom he derided as performing the “D.S.A. dodge” — flirting with democratic socialists enough to get their organizing manpower and support while remaining distant enough to avoid the explicit label. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/us/politics/democratic-party-socialists-moderates.html | ||
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Sermokala
United States14220 Posts
On August 14 2026 23:49 LightSpectra wrote: Like how extremely? Is it the dumbest thing of his presidency so far or is "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any" still the king? I mean thats always going to be the king. This is like Tesla having a cast aluminum frame and useing glue instead of bolts and screws for a shocking ammount of the cybertruck. Its surpriseingly just as dumb I'd say as the "trump class battleship" idea that was floated around. No one makes the old steam powered launchers, and the whole process just to get those back building would be a farce. We're talking Trump will be out of office long before they can start building a steam powered launch system. Theres also no justification for this at all. This is the same as the navy moving from a steam-powered train to a diesel-electric train. Its a much simpiler, cheaper, more reliable technology that has preformed incredibly well already in the field. Edit: for those that don't know, CNN and others are reporting that there is a memo that was sent to the Department of Defence stating that, in 60 days, Hagseth needs to have a plan to replace the railgun launchers with steam launchers. | ||
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EnDeR_
Spain2952 Posts
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CuddlyCuteKitten
Sweden2909 Posts
On August 14 2026 23:49 LightSpectra wrote: Like how extremely? Is it the dumbest thing of his presidency so far or is "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any" still the king? It's not dumber than that at face value. But if you think about it a bit it might be. The comment about testing could be interpreted as him rambling about comparisons to other countries that tested less. It's kind of a valid point during Covid and his communication line his hardly direct. There are really no ways to twist this to any less than it is. The new tech had some teething problems but now it's proven and reliable. It's better for the ships, it's more efficient when it comes to manpower, it's better for the airframes and other systems in the planes and it's already installed. It's not like gluing steel plates to an aluminium body because while that is a dumb implementation in this case you already have the next gen tech installed and working. But you want to go back from a better design to gluing steel to aluminium. Why? Probably because Trump got briefed on some aircraft carrier problems and he has a hangup on steam catapults. There is no reason to do this. There is also absolutely no reason to say this. It shows he's out of touch, a bit dumb and extremely stubborn at best, or in so much cognitive decline that he is just lashing out at things he doesn't like at worse. | ||
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CuddlyCuteKitten
Sweden2909 Posts
On August 15 2026 05:25 EnDeR_ wrote: So... It sounds dumb but what's the argument 'for' steam launchers? More thrust. Proven system (decades). Saltwater resistant. Easy repairs. Low tech. Less electrical peak load. | ||
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Billyboy
2622 Posts
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micronesia
United States24805 Posts
This morning, I had to resist teasing the guy at the urinal next to me about how he's going to have to figure out how to slow roll this ridiculous mandate for two years. He's the guy who would likely oversee most of the most critical re-design work, but it seemed utterly cruel for me to actually do it, and one of my programs is currently at risk of equally stupid sabotage from above, so I'm avoiding earning karmic retribution right now. | ||
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LightSpectra
United States3425 Posts
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Billyboy
2622 Posts
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Sermokala
United States14220 Posts
On August 15 2026 05:31 CuddlyCuteKitten wrote: More thrust. Proven system (decades). Saltwater resistant. Easy repairs. Low tech. Less electrical peak load. These are not true, the new launchers can be dialed in for more weight than any plane they'd have land on a carrier. The system that it uses is identical to high speed rail. You can protect the rails very easily from salt water, and simply clean them. Steam power has a lot more moving parts and various things that need to be maintained while useing mag rails There are almost no moving parts in comparison and the ones that are can be easily machined on a super carrier. At this point they would have to effectively design a new system from a white page, have factories build up from scratch to make these parts because no one makes large steam-powered launches, redesign the carrier to fit this new system, and surprise it takes up more space, test it to make sure that it works, then install it into the in-process carrier. Meanwhile getting mag rail lines is very easy as high speed rail tech as well as parts can be found across the globe. It would be like a railroad company wanting to bring back a steam-powered train when they all run on Diesel-Electric ones now. | ||
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dyhb
United States832 Posts
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