YES: The Navy Needs a Strategic Industrial Plan to Realize the Golden Fleet.

The details of Golden Fleet have become more visible recently with the release of the Navy’s shipbuilding plan and associated fiscal year 2027 budget. Realizing the fleet as envisioned will take more than the $65.8 billion (a 39% increase over the FY26 budget) that’s been earmarked. It will take a long-term industrial plan that builds and delivers warships on a meaningful timeline to deal with today’s chief threats – most notably, China.

Hung Cao, the acting Navy Secretary, understands this. In recent testimony to Congress, he detailed how he has challenged his department to “change how we do business” and “revitalize our industrial base.” The Golden Fleet provides a target in ship orders, and Congress appears on track to provide the resources.

But institutional discipline to stay the course for many years on the shipbuilding plan is less assured. Winning early successes can build momentum and set the direction for critical infrastructure investments, thereby sustaining congressional support… for a time. Focusing early actions that lead to an enduring naval buildup requires a roadmap.

The Navy’s problem — aside from decades-long, criminally bipartisan Congressional neglect of our shipyards — is that it couldn’t even build somebody else’s well-respected frigate without screwing things up so badly that the whole project got scrapped. It’s replacement? The still-under-development FF(X) frigate whose existence is also in doubt.

It seems almost insane to conclude this, but we need a Navy that’s serious about ships.

LIGHTNING DEAL: CHAOREN Tactical Belt Men – 1.5″ Stretch Work Belt. #CommissionEarned

THE LEFT IS CORRUPTION: Former Scottish Tiny Tyrant’s Husband Admits to Fingers in Party Cookie Jar.

THE FLAG IS ONLY ‘COMPLICATED’ IF YOU’RE A DEMOCRAT:

James Talarico: “The American flag is such a complicated symbol for most of us.” pic.twitter.com/zcMowHvZeL

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) May 25, 2026

“I often think, when reclaiming symbols, I think about the American flag,” Talarico said. “The American flag is such a complicated symbol for most of us. In many ways like Jesus, like the cross, it’s been co-opted and, in some ways, its true meaning has been betrayed.”

The flag stands for freedom, individual liberty, and the rule of law. All things that are antithetical to Democrats like Talarico. But they’re the very things that allow the Democrats to live well, speak freely, and get rich off the backs of their fellow Americans. It’s only been ‘co-opted’ if you don’t like those things, and Democrats do not.

Instead, Talarico wants the flag to represent his radical, anti-freedom agenda — the one that believes there are multiple genders, that God is nonbinary, that freedom of religion and speech are only for Leftists, and that we can magically control the weather if we all eat grass and tofu. He’s only proud of the flag when it represents what he likes.

Yes, it could be a far more complicated symbol:

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Bye-bye, HR — Let’s hope Bolt Financial CEO Ryan Breslow starts a trend.

AARON HANSCOM: Is It Time for Jewish Patients in America to Start Worrying? “With anti-Israel sentiment rising in virtually every American institution — from academia to Congress to … Sesame Street — must Jewish Americans soon start worrying about the medical treatment they’ll receive at doctor’s offices and hospitals across the country? A Jewish doctor in recent testimony to Congress and in an interview with the Jerusalem Post is warning that such a moment may already have arrived.”

APPARENTLY I CAN’T LEAVE THE CLANKERS ALONE. THE SOUND TRACK FOR NO MAN’S LAND RESUMES:  Clanker Song.

At least I’m at the end of volume 2 now!

THEY TAKE LONG ENOUGH, ELON’S  COLONISTS WILL ORGANIZE EXPEDITIONS TO WATCH THEM LAND, FROM THE MOON:  NASA outlines new program of unmanned missions to Moon.

I’M STARTING TO SUSPECT ALL OF THEM ARE:  Peter Murrell, another ideological puritan with his fingers in the till.

AND VOTERS SHOULD OBLIGE:  By Sabotaging Redistricting, South Carolina Republicans Beg Voters To Hand Them The Pink Slip.

BECAUSE OTHERWISE EVERYONE IS AT RISK:  The Supreme Court Should Strike Down the E. Jean Carroll Verdict.

IT’S ALL A PSY-OP:  Israel-Hating ‘TrackAIPAC’ Attack Account Used To Be Elizabeth Warren-Boosting ‘California for Warren,’ Raising Money for Her Presidential Bid .

THE PROBLEM WITH EUROPEAN IS THAT THEY KNOW SO MANY THINGS THAT JUST AIN’T SO:  It hit below zero – below zero *Fahrenheit* – for a week straight last winter where I live in Michigan, which is about the same latitude as England. Deeply unserious clowns. These are the people who sneer about Americans not being able to find countries on maps.

X-cancel.

WHAT HE SAID:  Castro’s Cuban Imperialists: As with Nicaragua’s Maduro in 2026, So, in 1973, with Chile’s Allende.

YEAH, THAT:  When Data Disrupts Narratives: Europe’s Heat Deaths in Focus.

AGREED:  Opinion: Treasury is Rightly Focused on Nonprofit Transparency.

SO WAS SHE REALLY FIRED?  Former AG Pam Bondi was diagnosed with cancer shortly after being axed by Trump: report.

TRUMP IS STILL VERY MUCH IN CONTROL:  Ken Paxton’s victory in Texas has, I think, interesting implications for the national political scene. Coming on top of a string of similar events, this is very bad news for anybody who wants to think MAGA is declining in influence or Trump is a spent force.

X-cancel.

YEAH, I KNOW WHAT HE MEANS:  Perspective.

And Tilting At windmills is having a 25% off for life for instapundit readers.

ANYTHING INVOLVING AFRICA IS BURIED IN LAYERS AND LAYERS OF LIES AND CONFUSION, SO I UNDERSTAND PEOPLE TUNING OUT, SORRY:  The Ebola Story You’re Getting Is True. It’s Also Built to Be Forgotten. There is an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo. People are dying. The official account is accurate and incomplete, and the missing parts are the ones that explain everything.

OH, YOU MEAN PEOPLE IN ACTUAL DANGER FOR THEIR LIVES?  Trump to admit 10,000 more white South Africans as ‘emergency’ refugees after racial violence claims. Trump claimed the South African government is inciting ‘racially motivated violence’ against White Afrikaners.

Though I half expect he’s doing it to twist the left’s tail.

YOUR LAST NIGHT FOR THE BASED BOOK SALE: Lots of books at 99c or less.

No Man’s Land vol.1, No Man’s Land vol. 2, No Man’s Land vol 3 go back up tomorrow morning. Also my other books: Done with Mirrors,  Draw One In The Dark and Death of a Musketeer.  Other books — from my posse — you might be interested in include:  Cedar Sanderson’s Possum Creek Massacre: A Paranormal Police Procedural (Witchward Book 2);  Academic Magic by Becky R. Jones; Tell No Tales and Gateway to Fiction by C. Chancy; Joshua and the Battle of Jericho: A Poem in Alliterative Verse and Noah and the Great Flood: A Poem in Alliterative Verse  and The Saving of the City: A poem in Alliterative Verseby Timothy Witchazel; The Princess Seeks Her Fortune; by Mary Catelli; Theophany by Caroline Furolong; Light Up The Night  by Holly Chism; Reflections in Crystal (The Crystal Therapy Chronicles Book 1) by Jay Myanard; I’m The Beautiful But Evil Space Princess Who Rules A Galactic Empire But Really Wants To Leave People Ruthlessly Alone!: Volume 1 by Nathan C. Brindle.
Actually it might be your last few minutes. Mine stay up till tomorrow morning, but I don’t know about the others.

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s Groovy.

DOG DAY AFTERNOON: Dog Accidentally Shoots Woman In Nebraska.

HINT: XI’S GOTTA HAVE IT! Who’s Behind the War on Data Centers?