Howdy All, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –
In this issue –
1. AF-1
2. Drug Price
3. Refugees
4. Start/Stop
5. Grift
6. Green Tape
7. Adamiak
1. AF-1. Last week’s media / democrat attempt to stir up the grounds for the next Trump impeachment, scheduled 15 minutes or so after they swear in a House majority was the offer by Qatar to gift Trump with a 747-8. Trump graciously accepted the gift leading to a noisy round of arm waving, chair throwing and name calling. Before I begin, I fully acknowledge that the Qataris have been known Bad Actors on the world stage for decades, mostly in support of the Wahhabi flavor of Islam (terrorism, jihadis, Iran, etc). They have spent just enough money in the west, particularly at US colleges and universities, to obscure their intentions at least a little bit. The big question is how do we encourage them to adopt a less hostile approach to dealing with the western world? Is it even possible? Should we even try? Trump thinks we ought to try. His critics, not so much, meaning they do not even consider the possibility of a change in direction by anyone involved. Trump views the world as entirely transactional, with transactions between nations being the foundation for their interests and actions. Basic outcome? When you are trading, you are usually not shooting.
- The $400 million jet is a newer model than either of the two 747s in the Air Force 1 fleet. Air Force 1 – AF-1 – is the callsign of any USAF airframe carrying the president, just like Marine 1 is the callsign of any Marine helo carrying him. Current jets are pushing 40 years old and need to be replaced. The 747-production line was shut down Dec 2022, so any replacement needs to be a newer used airframe or a different one entirely. Transfer is going to be military to military, something the US has done for half a century or more. The Trump deal will end up with one of the AF-1 747s in his Presidential Library after its classified systems have been removed.
- I noted that there have been military to military equipment transfers for half a century. One example of this has been a squadron Soviet / Russian MIGs operating north of Nellis since the late 1970. The program was called Constant Peg and has since been declassified. The US acquired its first MIGs in the late 1960. It started training against them a decade later. Up to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the Soviets / Russians didn’t sell its high-end military equipment to the west. But it did sell to allies. A lot of those allies played both sides against one another. Most of them were at best authoritarian and just as nasty to deal with as Qatar is thought to be today. This transfer is nothing new.
- Final point on this gift is that it is an attention getting step aimed at Boeing. Boeing managed to bungle a $3.9 billion AF-1 replacement contract for two 747-8’s to the point where prices are nearly double (fixed price contract) and delivery is well into 2027. Boeing reportedly has lost over $2 billion so far on the contract. Note that the new jet still needs to be prepped and outfitted with the defensive and communications suite of avionics necessary to carry the president anywhere in the world and probably won’t be ready until late into his second term.
2. Drug price. One of the most interesting Trump actions last week was his signature on an Executive Order (EO) that limits what pharmaceutical companies can charge for their products. The catch on this one is that under the new EO, they can’t charge any more for drugs here in the US than they are charging for sales of the same drugs in other nations. For far too long, manufacturers have sold drugs overseas for prices below, and in many cases far below, what they are charging for the same drugs from the same factory here in the US. I normally am highly skeptical about mucking around in the marketplace via EO but think this one may very well be nicely targeted. I have no idea why overseas sales of an identical product would be for lower costs than here in the US, though I suspect it is an artifact of past governmental meddling in the marketplace. Alternately, it may be an outcome of whatever back-room arrangement the pharmaceutical companies made with the Clintons following their initial attack on them after taking office in 1993. The WH fact sheet on the action ties the EO firmly to Medicare Drug Price negotiations, cutting medicine costs for seniors, and standardizing Medicare payments for prescriptions drugs / cancer treatments, things democrats have been yammering about for decades. Of course, democrats immediately came out in vocal opposition, claiming the action would instantly result in shortages. If this works as expected, it could be really positive action.
3. Refugees. What better way to demonstrate that the pro-illegal crowd is the very definition of racist than to grant 59 or so South African farming families refugee status for entry into the US? Such was the case last week, when the Trump administration announced refugee status of the first small group of white South African farming families being chased out of the country because they are white. Another 70,000 have applied for refugee status since the first of the year. Things in South Africa are quickly becoming dire for whites, with passage of the Expropriations Law, signed in Jan. The new law allows seizure of property without compensation. It joins at least 140 other South African laws aimed specifically at turning whites into second (and third class) citizens. The government is giving whites a choice, either leave with a suitcase or in a casket. Either way works for them. Additionally, “Kill the Boer,” originally an anti-Apartheid song around since at least 1985 has become one of the popular little ditties at Alaska National Congress (ANC) gatherings. Lessee, we have a political party that wants to murder you based on your race busily passing laws that allow them to steal your property without compensation, while having already passed 140 similar laws over the years. Maybe it is time to find somewhere else to live. The left, who sees all manner of genocide and racism behind every corner, is completely oblivious to very real black on white genocide going on in front of them. The Episcopal Migration Ministries, which has been in the middle of enabling the Biden migrant invasion was so outraged by the notion that whites would be granted refugee status that they dropped out of the refugee business completely. The ANC is busily turning South Africa into a third world cesspool not unlike what Robert Mugabe and his gang of thieves and murderers did to Rhodesia in 1978.
4. Start/Stop. Governments, particularly democrat infested governments have long enjoyed making “improvements” in our daily lives, all in the hopes of getting a littler closer to their ultimate green nirvana. “Improvements” have included, but are not limited to washing machines that don’t clean, dryers that don’t dry, dish washers that don’t get dishes clean, soaps that don’t remove dirt or grease, shower heads and faucets that don’t allow an appreciable water flow, etc. There are many more, but you get the idea. One of the more obnoxious “improvements” has been the auto start / stop technology. This exquisite little device automagically stops your car at red lights or when you stop too long while driving so as to save the environment from emissions by idling engines. Incredibly frustrating when your vehicle dies right at the point when the light changes. But at least we are saving the planet (/sarc). EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin took to X / Twitter over the weekend with an announcement that this universally despised feature was no longer going to be required by federal regulation. Lee Zeldin is doing some magic at the EPA. We need congress to lock all this into federal law via legislation.
5. Grift. Speaking of all things, green, the Biden regime pushed $100 billion out the front door to their friends, neighbors, political supporters, and assorted strap hangers in the 11 weeks between the day after the November election and Trump’s inauguration. The money came out of Department of Energy in the form of green energy loans and commitments. The $100 billion was more than twice what the DoE Loan Programs Office (LPO) had done in the entire 15 years of its existence up until then, around $42 billion. Not only did the vermin infesting the Biden WH shovel massive amounts of money out the back door, they also changed terms and conditions of the loans to make it more difficult to rescind them. DOGE found that they were spending around $1.3 billion/day during the period, compared with $8 million/day before that. The money came courtesy of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, meaning that any lasting structural change to how the green pork is doled out will need to be made by congress. Every time we see something like this, we are reminded that green energy is little more than taxpayer funded support for democrat elections. Although there is some interest in congress to make the necessary changes, not all the Republicans are supportive. One of these would be Alaska’s Embarrassment, senior US Senator Lisa Murkowski who has glommed onto green energy as her Cause Celebre (along with abortion and all things Planned Parenthood). In a related story, 17 blue states plus the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration for its ban on new wind projects, lawfare in an attempt to declare the ban illegal. These clowns need to be careful as all the Trump administration needs to do to destroy their case completely is revoke the ability of wind turbines to kill birds, specifically raptors and other endangered species, something they ought to do regardless.
6. Green Tape. One of the concerns following the fires in and around LA was how to navigate the green overhead and get permits for rebuilding. The Trump administration responded quickly by waiving all federal permitting requirements. The state of California and LA, not so much. To date, LA has only approved 8 building permits since the fire. They blame it on the lack of federal funding. LA approved 4 of those permits, while paying a consulting firm $10 million for a report. It is important to keep the pork flowing in a corrupt blue city like LA. Note that there were over 16,000 homes and properties destroyed by the Palisades and Eaton Fires. 8 permits in six weeks, around one a week. It’s gonna take a lot of weeks to rebuild, ultimately a shade over 300 years unless something changes. In Malibu, it is not the rebuilding permitting that is the issue. It is the presence of old septic systems. Most of the homes in Malibu are old and using septic systems built to standards that no longer are good enough. Estimated cost for the new style septic system is somewhere in the $2 – 4 million range. The ever-present threat of the state condemning and expropriating property that hasn’t rebuilt is a clear and present threat.
7. Adamiak. One of the uglier stories festering has been predatory action of the BATFE under the Harris – Biden regime. BATFE has long been a problem for gun owners, dealers, and others who participate in the gun culture. The most obvious example is the botched raid on the Branch Davidian compound Feb 1993, 5 weeks after Clinton was sworn into office. 51 days later, the feds with the help of the military from neighboring Fort Hood burned the place to the ground, murdering 76. Why the raid? BATFE was under increased pressure from congressional skeptics and needed a splashy raid to justify their budget. Well, 30 years later, under yet another democrat president, they are back at it again. This time they took down an active-duty military member moonlighting as a firearms dealer for selling parts that could be made into machine guns and operable rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers. None of the charges were true, but with the assistance of a friendly judge and prosecutorial misconduct, they got their conviction, and the kid ended up with a 20-year sentence which he is currently serving. The machine gun charge had to do with MAC flats, pre-cut piece of sheet metal designed to be bent in a jig or welded to form the lower receiver of a MAC-style pistol or carbine. Sales of these are legal. Prosecutors played on the ignorance of the judge and jury and got their conviction. The RPG part is worse. Adamiak had in his possession an inert Russian RPG training device. The BATFE confiscated the device, took it to their shop, and had one of their gunsmiths modify it to be able to fire a single round, turning it into an operable firearm, essentially prosecuting him for what they created. I repeat, both products are common, openly and legally sold nationwide and a lot of people legally own them. I hope Kash Patel cleans this foolishness up and prosecutes those diddling the law.
More later –
- AG