Trump's latest fantasy at $15 billion-plus a copy

The Golden Fleet’s Battleship Will Never Sail 

Commentary by Mark F. Cancian, Center for Strategic and International Studies

US Navy website, the Golden Fleet

On December 22, Donald Trump announced a new class of “battleships” that will be 100 times more powerful than previous battleships and larger than any other surface combatant on the oceans. The ship’s purported characteristics are so extraordinary that the announcement will surely spark immense discussion. However, there is little need for said discussion because this ship will never sail. It will take years to design, cost $9 billion each to build, and contravene the Navy’s new concept of operations, which envisions distributed firepower. A future administration will cancel the program before the first ship hits the water.

Design: The ship’s design will take many years. At the “30,000 to 40,000” tons cited by the president, the ship is much larger than anything the United States has built in the last 80 years, other than aircraft carriers. The truncated DDG-1000 class (only three built) displaced 15,000 tons but still took 11 years from program initiation (2005) to commissioning of the first ship (2016). The battleship will be more than twice as large and more complicated—nuclear-capable with directed-energy weapons. The first ship, USS Defiant (BBG-1), is likely to commission in the early- to mid-2030s, assuming it is built at all.

Cost: The cost will be extremely high. The DDG-51 class flight III (the current version of this destroyer class) displaces 9,000 tons and costs $2.8 billion each. A ship four times as large would not cost four times as much, but would still be much more expensive. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a future destroyer of 14,500 tons would cost $4.4 billion or $300,000 per ton. That would imply a battleship cost of about $9.1 billion, allowing for some economies of scale. Lead ships are typically 50 percent more expensive than the average, so BBG 1 would likely cost $13.5 billion, about as much as an aircraft carrier.

The cost might be even higher because of inflation in the shipbuilding sector. For example, building the battleship will require thousands of experienced shipyard workers, even as there is a labor shortage, and shipyards are bidding against each other for personnel....

Read the entire analysis at The Golden Fleet’s Battleship Will Never Sail

Mark F. Cancian (Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, ret.) is a senior adviser with the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. 

The US Navy has created its own surreal website for this “Golden Fleet” at Golden Fleet

Republican Chas Calenda sworn in as interim U.S. attorney for Rhode Island

"MAGA stooge" will be Rhode Island's top federal cop for the next 3 months

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is not a Calenda fan

For at least the next 120 days, Rhode Island has a freshly appointed federal attorney who will prosecute criminal cases on behalf of the U.S. government and represent it in civil matters.

Charles “Chas” Calenda was sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island on Tuesday morning. Chief U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. presided over the ceremony at the federal courthouse in Providence. 

Calenda, a Republican, will act as Rhode Island’s top federal law enforcement officer, representing the U.S. Department of Justice, and work across the street from the courthouse at the DOJ’s local office. 

Calenda (left) bears quite a resemblance to "Newman,"
played by Wayne Knight on the Jerry Seinfeld Show.
Might be why Trump picked him.

“I am proud to be part of this team so we can keep Rhode Islanders safe from those seeking to do us harm,” Calenda said in a statement Tuesday. “I look forward to the important work ahead and will always remember that I served the people of Rhode Island above all else.”

Calenda did not respond to requests for additional comment. But he told The Boston Globe, which first reported his appointment on Saturday, that the interim term will last 120 days, or until someone is found to permanently fill the role. He also said that he will step down from his role as a West Greenwich town councilor. 

When asked Tuesday about the expected duration of Calenda’s term, Lindsay Lague, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island DOJ office, acknowledged the request but could not immediately confirm a definite timeline. 

Without big changes, this is what the environment will look like in 2050

Self-destructive policies must be turned around

United Nations Environment Programme

Oppressive heat. Species extinctions. Pollution-choked skies.

This is the future that awaits the world unless humanity takes dramatic steps to end a series of mushrooming environmental crises, finds a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) offers a stark vision of the decades to come. But its authors say the worst forecasts can still be avoided if countries quickly take meaningful steps to address climate change, nature, land and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

“With a whole-of-government, whole-of-society effort humanity can still turn the ship around,” says Maarten Kappelle, Chief of Service in UNEP’s Office of Science. “But if countries continue to drag their collective feet, billions of people will face an uncertain future, especially those in the developing world.”

GEO-7, the work of nearly 300 scientists, created a model of what the planet would look like in 2050 if nations continued to do three environmentally destructive things: pollute, pump out greenhouse gasses and destroy natural spaces. In the first of three stories about the report, here are some of the key findings of that modelling. 

Planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions are expected to rise to 75 billion tonnes a year by 2050 – a nearly 50 per cent jump from today. This will destabilize the climate and lead to a surge in heatwaves, which are expected to affect nearly everyone on Earth – some 9.2 billion people – by 2050. Almost no corner of the planet will remain untouched by extreme heat. 

Hope 2026 will be better (but I doubt it)

Trump’s Cruel Immigration Policy Is Devastating Children

Trump brutality against children rivals his first term

Rachel Rutter for Common Dreams

(Photo by Charly Triballeau/ AFP via Getty Images)

“Ms. Rachel, can ICE take me?”

“What about my dad? Can they take my dad away?”

“I feel so angry about how ICE is grabbing people out of my neighborhood.”

“I feel traumatized ever since ICE stole my sister.”

“I’m afraid to walk to school. I’m afraid to leave my house.”

“I want my mom back.” 

These are real questions and comments I’ve heard from the kids I work with at Project Libertad in recent days, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terrorizes their communities daily. While newcomers have always faced higher rates of anxiety, depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and other mental health challenges than their US-born peers, the divide is becoming more apparent each day. 

These conversations with my kids represent a stark increase in fear and anxiety among immigrant children—and it’s not just an anecdotal shift. The data are clear: The Trump administration’s increasingly hostile immigration policies are irreversibly harming children.

Pediatricians Susan Kressly and Michelle Barnes warn of the lifelong impact these policies have on children’s development and health into adulthood:

Witnessing harm to others and living in constant fear is traumatic to all children in the community. These stressors disrupt brain development and have long-term negative effects on the health and well-being of impacted children. Ultimately, the cumulative effects make these communities less healthy.

The only end-of-year summary of 2025 you need

 

Another stupid Donald post

Wrong bird, wrong country, wrong year

Plus Kid Rock and Ted Nugent

Join in!

RI’s 2025 Climate Action Strategy released

Warns Federal Rollbacks Threaten Climate Commitments

The Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4), chaired by Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Director Terry Gray, approved the 2025 Climate Action Strategy. The Strategy is intended to guide implementation of the Act on Climate and provides a comprehensive assessment of Rhode Island’s emissions trajectory, programmatic tools, and the feasibility of achieving statutory greenhouse gas reduction mandates under current conditions. Developed in collaboration with the Office of Energy Resources (OER) including significant public input, the strategy outlines a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2030. 

What Anti-Vaccine Policies Could Mean for Autoimmune Diseases

Will Bobby Jr.'s anti-vaxxer views block development of new vaccine?

By Giamila Fantuzzi

Autoimmune diseases disproportionately affect women. This is especially true for lupus (formally known as systemic lupus erythematosus), as about nine in 10 people with the condition are female. Lupus can cause inflammation and pain and commonly affects the skin, joints, and organs including the heart and kidneys.

Scientists have long observed an association between infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV, and several autoimmune diseases, including lupus. Now, the authors of a study published last month in Science Translational Medicine have dissected that link, shedding light on mechanisms that have remained obscure for too long.

It’s a finding that can lead to a solution. If we can prevent infection with EBV we can potentially prevent lupus. But, as a scientist who studies chronic diseases and an educator who teaches about it, I worry that anti-vaccine policies will hinder the search for a cure.

Most people know EBV as the cause of mononucleosis, or mono, the kissing disease of adolescence. But EBV is a jack-of-all-trades.

Michael Anthony Epstein, Yvonne Barr, and Bert Achong discovered the virus in 1964 as the cause of an aggressive type of cancer seen mostly in African children. Scientists later found that EBV infects almost everybody in the world, though in most cases it does not generate any symptoms, and so the infection goes unnoticed.

CDC awards $1.6 million for hepatitis B vaccine study by controversial Danish researchers

First, decide the conclusion you want and then pay bogus scientists $1.6 million to make up the proof

Liz Szabo, MA

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded an unsolicited $1.6 million grant for vaccine research to Danish researchers whose studies have been challenged by mainstream scientists but championed by anti-vaccine activists, including Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

According to a notice in the Federal Register posted yesterday, the CDC is paying the University of Southern Denmark to conduct a single-blind clinical trial of the hepatitis B vaccine in newborns in Guinea-Bissau, a small country in West Africa with exceptionally high rates of maternal and infant mortality, where nearly one in five people are infected with the hepatitis B virus.

The CDC is an agency within HHS. The study aims to assess the optimal timing and delivery of hepatitis B vaccinations, according to the notice.

‘Appearance of blatant cronyism’

The new study was awarded without any competition from any other scientists, giving it “the appearance of blatant cronyism,” said Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist and professor at the University of Saskatchewan.

Although the federal announcement did not include the names of the researchers, the Danish university’s Bandim Health Project, which has conducted vaccine research in the developing African country for decades, has acknowledged being awarded the CDC grant.

The Bandim project leaders have claimed to find “non-specific effects” from vaccines—some good and some bad—that they say should change how vaccine safety studies are conducted.

Their message has resonated with Kennedy, a long-time anti-vaccine activist.

In June, Kennedy used a single study by the Bandim group to justify canceling more than $1 billion in funding for childhood vaccinations in developing countries. The observational study found an increased risk of death in children who received a combined vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DPT) that hasn’t been used in the United States in three decades. 

Scientists say people shouldn’t put too much faith in that study, which is an outlier and conflicts with hundreds of studies showing that vaccines are safe and save lives. Researchers and policy makers normally consider the totality of scientific evidence on vaccines, rather than a single study, which may be flawed. 

Are you on Donald Trump's "enemies list?"

You Could Be on Trump’s Enemies List, But the Mainstream Media Won’t Warn You

Jim Naureckas

The Trump FBI is drawing up an enemies list that could encompass well over half the US public:

• Do you “advance… opposition to law and immigration enforcement”?
• Do you have “extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders”?
• Show an “adherence to radical gender ideology,” meaning you think trans people exist?
• Do you exhibit (what the Trump administration would interpret as) “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” or “anti-Christianity”?
• Do you display “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality”?

Congratulations—you may be headed for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism.” “Terrorism,” of course, is the magic word that strips you of all sorts of legal protections, especially in the post-9/11 era.

This is from a Justice Department memo obtained by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein (12/6/25)—which goes on to instruct the FBI to set up “a cash reward system” for people who turn in those promoting such thoughtcrime, and “establish cooperators to provide information and eventually testify against other members” of groups with these dangerous ideas.

This is the implementation of the Trump administration’s avowed policy of criminalizing dissent—in the words of the NSPM-7 decree, outlawing “organized campaigns of… radicalization… designed to… change or direct policy outcomes” (FAIR.org, 10/3/25; CounterSpin, 10/17/25)—and as such is another giant step towards authoritarianism. Establishment media didn’t see it that way, however.

As Klippenstein (12/9/25) pointed out, virtually no corporate media outlets covered this catastrophic memo, and those who did report on it did a generally poor job. The Guardian headline (12/5/25) was “Pam Bondi Tells Law Enforcement Agencies to Investigate Antifa Groups for ‘Tax Crimes,’” and Bloomberg Law (12/5/25) had “Bondi Orders FBI Extremism Intelligence Review with Antifa Focus”—completely misleading framing that suggests that if you’re not “Antifa,” the memo isn’t about you.

The physics of Donald Trump's brain

Catch pneumonia for charity