…in my career as a self-appointed political observer.
There are many candidates for the title of “dumbest thing I’ve ever seen”; the Kenilworth Tunnel, evacuating the Third Precinct, going logarithmic on the national debt, “shrinkflation” – I could go on.
But after the Potato’s State of the Union, really, the polls can close; the contest is over:
A floating pier and causeway that will be used to deliver critical humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza is expected to take at least one month or possibly as long as two for the US military to build and become fully operational, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said on Friday.
We’ll be counting on the Israelis to keep the huge fat juicy target for drones, rockets and suicide bombers…er, I mean the pier secure, on top of actually, y’know, carrying out their mission.
I’d say “I’ll never mock and taunt a government idea quite like this”, but Americans are going to get killed in pursuit of literally no national interest whatsoever.
In other words, it fits right in with the rest of Biden’s foreign policy.
No to worry, this is all part of The Plan.
Most of the money earmarked to Defeat Russia In Ukraine is actually being paid to US defense contractors to buy missiles and bullets to replace the stockpiles we gave to the Ukes. That’s good for American businesses which is good for US citizens. It’s part of the Booming Biden Economy.
Similarly, US soldiers and sailors won’t actually be driving piles and shoveling sand for the pier. The money will be laundered through the military to US Defense Contractors who will do the construction. And if the pier is damaged or destroyed, well then we’ll just have to rebuild it which means More money for the US Defense Contractors, an even Boominger Biden Economy, which will be even better for US citizens!
Of course, all this is funded by borrowed money that US citizens are on the hook to repay. As a matter of economics, it’s not really a boom so much as a modern retelling of Bastiat’s parable of the broken window. But hey, economists aren’t in charge anymore, so there’s nothing to worry about.
In other words, they needed another way to give kick backs to all of their homies and apparatchiks.
Joe needs Michigan, not Israel.
I was isolationist before 9/11. I supported some intervention after that, but I questioned the wisdom of the expansion into Iraq.
These days my view is simple: let’em screw each other as long as it doesn’t screw with us. I’d take our troops out of Europe; the Europeans don’t think defending what they have is worth spending any money on, so why should we do it for them? They’re the freeloading, unemployed inlaws sleeping in your basement because of “unexpected bad luck” who’d rather play video games than work and frankly, I’m tired of it.
And speaking of ill-advised, just why the hell was the CIA overthrowing governments in Ukraine, why did we have sensitive nuclear devices in Ukrainian power plants, and why the bloody hell were we supporting biological weapon development in Ukraine? Is the CIA and “intelligence” community off its f*cking rocker?
We don’t have troops in Israel, so let them fight it out themselves. Israel is one of the few places in the West where there’s any significant defense development, so I don’t mind us spending a few bucks there and getting back some of their technology.
But if the Saudis and the Iranians want a go at each other, hey, their business. We f-ed up and got rid of the main counterbalance to the Iranians with an ill-advised (and I mean that in all contexts) voluntary war.
The thing that boggles my mind is that as the atrocities of, say, the Nazi regime or the Hirohito regime became apparent, German-Americans and Japanese-Americans signed up to fight the nations of their ancestry (and yes, often their own relatives) in droves. What on earth is wrong with Arab-Americans that they cannot figure out that they really don’t want to share this planet with their relatives who decide to gang rape and mutilate their neighbors while still alive, and their other relatives who mass murder innocent children?
And what is wrong with our President that he cannot make this case? It is as if President Roosevelt had felt compelled to provide food aid to Berlin while the Red Army was closing in on destroying the Nazis once and for all.
Get down on your knees and thank the Creator that you aren’t the poor dumb schmuck ordered to command this project.
I would ask if that is really the case.
From my experience, if given the chance, government contractors can suck up the entire GDP of the world just on: methodology, documentation, endless 30 member meetings, DEI and (drum roll please) process – and not a single widget (or bullet) gets made.
Wasn’t it Lou Gerster who discovered in the mid-90’s that it would cost IBM $5 million and 5 years just to produce an empty box at the end of a production line?
Hint….government modeled itself on IBM’s management style.
IBM changed because it had to.
Government has not changed because it does not have to.
Greg,
About two weeks ago, Pedo Pete’s state department clown, Victoria Nuland, said the quiet part out loud. As she was addressing the “need” to send more money to the Ukrainian laundromat, she said, “Remember. That money comes back to buy bullets and weapons”. She resigned three days later.
boss,
I agree that (some) of the money comes back, perhaps even for a few (productive) weapons.
But att least not for 122mm shells, cause we don’t have much in stock and consultants don’t make $billions on tangible things they actually have to deliver.
As for the hardware….. think about this.
Our capacity for advanced weaponry was spoken for years ago, so when you ask for more, you don’t get more, you just get more expensive.
Greg,
If the US is still using Cost Plus contracts (I can’t find a definitive answer in my 60 second googling session), the incentive is for the vendor to pad their costs with bloated administration, above market wages, and increased input costs. Things that Democrats approve of.
As to the humanitarian aid specifically, as long as Hamas keeps hijacking the supplies and Gazans stampede the trucks, no one in their right mind will want to be where those trucks are. That will mean more air drops, probably from a high altitude so Hamas doesn’t shoot at the planes, and we’ve already had casualties when the parachute failed to deploy.
At this rate the best solution may be refugee camps behind Israeli lines that are thoroughly policed. In other words, open air prisons where the women and male children under 15 (12 might be better) are separated from the men, particularly the fighting age men. I can already hear the caterwauling from Hamasistan, Michigan over this suggestion.
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