Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Nope Hell didn’t freeze over; Donnie and I agree (plus random thoughts)

OK it’s a bit of a dramatic headline but yep Donnie and I agree on a topic; Defense overspending. OK maybe not Defense overspending as a whole but the thorn in the budget of the F-35 astronomical budget is a great starting point.

Now some have complained that Donnie going after the F-35 contract is a continuation of his earlier attack on Boeing and the Air Force 1 (not so) deal, only problem is that the F-35 is built by Lockheed not Boeing. I truly want to believe this is Donnie listening to his current crop of Administration Generals, some of which also complained about Congress’ spending on materials our military does not need or has an over abundant stock. The M1A1 Abrahams tanks is a prime example of over abundance, but the F-35 program has been a boondoggle for the past 8 years and the contract needs to be renegotiated despite the woes of Congress.

Per aviationweek.org, after Donnie’s tweets about the out of control F-35 spending Lockheed’s Jeff Babione stated “Lockheed has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce the per-unit cost of the airplane more than 60%, he said. The company projects the price tag will be $85 million in the 2019 -2020 timeframe.” That’s all good and well but the current cost per plane, depending on its variant is roughly $200 million per plane with a contract nearing $380 BILLION in cost to date.


Truly I have never understood why the military was in the market for a jet fighter version of the GM J body platform, meaning same vehicle being rebadged per division or in the case of the F-35 being a universal plane for the Air Force, Navy and Marines. Yet Congress was sold on the idea and by doing so it had decided to cut the F-22 jet fighter program in its infancy with a small amount of planes delivered. It’s like the Cleveland Browns drafting a QB in the draft, he turns out to be a good player but there’s a newer shiner QB and they want him so the cut the other guy.

Yes we need to replenish our military with newer equipment, as of right now we’re still using Cold War tech decades after it ended as B-52, C-130, F-16, F-15, F-18 and A-10 are stilling flying and have proved they are still capable of doing the job. But as time passes, parts are becoming harder to get and they can only raid the bone yard so many times to keep the fleet flying.

But can analog tech win in the digital world of warfare?

*****
Get over the Celebrity migration already

Come on folks, you can stop with the Celebrity moving promise memes as it was never gonna happen to begin with. Absolutely for one to make such a bold statement about moving if this or that person becomes president is just plain stupidity. Celebrities have the biggest microphone so whether they were for or against Donnie doesn’t mean they are qualified to sway your vote.

Of course there are people who state they are gonna protest against a celebrity for their political view, but how many turn off Ted Nugent when Stranglehold comes on the radio or change the channel when Matt Damon’s Bourne series is on. I would think not very many do it because they enjoy the product. Actually I believe both are overplayed and would rather listen to Nugent’s Great White Buffalo or watch Damon’s We Bought A Zoo instead.

Then again, there none of the proclaimed moves had a time stamp applied meaning yes Donnie was elected President, so Rosie moving to Canada (if they accept her) could happen years after his first term. Plus how many are waiting since 2010 for Limbaugh to fulfill his promise to move if Obamacare became law?

****
It’s amusing seeing how loyalty doesn’t get one a paycheck afterwards.

Poor Chris Christie and Rudy G, they only wanted one job within the new Admin and got zilch for their puckered lips. Both were offered other cushy seats but wanted none of them and now are seating outside pressed against the glass looking in. It’s not unusual for politicians to attack each other during primaries only to be cozy with each other afterwards, too which some go job hunting at the winner’s office within weeks of victory. So seeing Carly Fiorina’s heels clicking their way to the top floor of Trump Towers like Willard Romney, Ted Cruz and many others who spoke ill is amusing.

So apparently I upset some folks on Social Media the other day by mocking Fiorina’s appearance inside the marbled halls of Trump Tower looking for a job minus crow in hand. Look there’s a difference between flip-flopping and ass kissing but apparently it’s not nice to mock either unless that person is a Liberal trying to garner votes or popularity points. Fiorina got a lot of press after being the topic of a verbal outing by Donnie and she stood stoic but eventually fell of the podium to become Teddy Cruz’s VP selection for about a minute till he fell on the political pen. Now she needs to regain some sort of relevance to stay in the game.

I give Rand Paul a big Gulp size of credit for standing alone and wanting to be a thorn in Donnie’s side for the next four years.

That’s it, slap the political tap and no matter what Social Media tells you Dinosaurs did exist!

CHEERS

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