I don’t usually let my anger or political views seep into gCaptain editorials but his near complete and utter apathy for US Merchant Mariners risking their lives in the Red Sea, Black Sea, and in Gaza has upset me royally.
Yes the bar for secretary of DOT is very low, has been for decades, but he has managed to glide right under it IMHO
If memory serves, most of the WW II Merchant Marine were dead from old age before they got official recognition of the extraordinarily dangerous and vital job they did 
It’s no cakewalk for any mariner in that Middle East theater,. WW2 was uboats. Now missles and other rotten shit. Mariners delivering product and supplies in harms way are again not as high priority.as they should be and should have been many decades ago…
This has been going on WAY before Buttigieg. Civilian mariners have been disposable for a long time. My Dad thought he’d get the same benefits as GIs during WW II. Was promised but he and his ship mates that survived got nothing even though Merchant Marine Service suffered the highest casualty rate in WW II of any service. Buttigieg is just following the tradition of all those that proceeded him who were appointed by the presidents the voters in the USA elected over the last 100 years.
There is a great book titled: “Woody, Cisco and Me,” that gives a real good account of what it was like to be a Merchant Seaman on the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. The Woody is Woody Guthrie, Cisco is the singer Cisco Houston, and the me is the author of this non-fiction story Jim Longhi. He was an attorney and writer after the war. He was a friend of Houston’s and met Guthrie in an NMU hall in New York City in 1943. These guys shipped the Galley together and were torpedoed in the Mediterranean and hit a mine off Normandy D-Day + 3.
For British seamen the day the ship sunk their wages stopped. The real low point was when a shipping company tried to get a day’s pay back from a widow when they found a ship had been torpedoed a day earlier than first thought.
A quote from Mr. Conrads article:
"Yesterday, on an episode of The Daily Show, Secretary Pete Buttigieg mercilessly harassed and mocked JD Vance, calling Trump’s running mate odd and weird, affirming Jon Stewart’s crass remark that Vance “dropped a turd on launch.”
Mr. Conrad is offended by Mr. Buttiegieg’s mocking JD Vance? Are you kidding me? The Trump/Vance duo have insulted Navy Veterans (remember John McCain?) and just about every other group ad nauseam that doesn’t fit in to their Mega cult. #Snowflake?
Johnny is just doing his part as a good Trump soldier.
And he ALWAYS lets politics into his editorials. Guy is full of more crap than a waste treatment plant.
Well you two wasted no time in taking this thread right off the rails.
If you only sailed with some of the WW2 survivor deckies and pilots, the light may come on. I was lucky to have shared the awesome stories told. A few torpedo survivors that went back to sail, and a couple of highly respected mariners that survived the Murmansk run and became pilots. I have the most gratitude and respect for those fellows who passed on to others their skills and experience.
You mean this guy? Huh, imagine someone noting the irony of secretary Bootyjuice calling weird a successful, interracially married father of 3, who came from abject poverty. If that's weird, what is normal in his eyes?
So, you have no problem trashing a Marine vet? Doesn’t speak well of you.
I feel certain a former mayor of a landlocked city knows all there is to know all about oceanic shipping. 
I sailed with many war sailors, both from the Merchant Marines, Norwegian Navy.
Even one that served on the “Shetland bus”, bringing people across from occupied Norway, saboteurs, radio operator and weapons the other way:
The most amazing thing about his story is that he lived on his home island of Vigra (near Ålesund) throughout the war, but was enrolled in the Norwegian Navy and made several trips to/from Shetland.
When asked how he could do that he said; “there were no Nazi sympathizers on Vigra”.
Another one I sailed with had been part of a resistance group in Oslo that had tried to kill Quisling in early 1945. They got caught and sentenced to death, but was saved by the war ending.
Unfortunately the contribution of the thousands of Norwegian merchant seamen that sailed in allied service all over the world during WWII was not given much recognition after the war.
Many of the war sailors ended up staying abroad, many suffering nerve and alcohol problems.
This website tell their story: http://www.warsailors.com/
I can’t remember the last time a transportation secretary gave even the lowest flying F about the USMM, Buttigieg is nothing new. There were no governmental attaboys for the guys on the SS Badger State or USNS Card other than what their company and unions provided, the only thing the Fed has done is walk a drunkards path on regulations and support depending on which side is in power.
Hell even after El Faro there are still ships flying the US Flag with ancient open-top lifeboats.
Just like everyone else that ever had that job, he may not even KNOW he has anything to do with ships. He is no better or worse than all that came before him sadly
War Sailor - Wikipedia
This movie is well worth watching. One aspect I never considered was the Norwegian sailors were shipping bombs to England that could possibly be dropped on their own houses back in Norway.
Maga Hats, they like to dish it out, but can’t take it. #Snowflakes.
I can’t help but feel like he was just one more “check a box” politicians. Ability doesn’t count as much as long as you are a check in a box.
Did the last one do better? The one before that?