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I don’t normally do a late column but a couple of things caught my attention.<\/p>\n
First, the only DFAC (Dining Facility) on Ft. Leavenworth is closed due to the shutdown. A) this points to a major flaw in the “let the civilians run it” – unlike soldiers who can be ordered to work with deferred or no pay, civilians tend to work on a “no pay, no work” basis. B) THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! junior troops get no rations pay if they use the DFAC. If there is no DFAC, they have to go off-post to eat… with what money? They are getting screwed both ways. Not to mention the Leavenworth chain of command should never have allowed this to happen without raising hell all the way to Washington.\u00a0 Task & Purpose<\/a><\/p>\n So, a couple of small suggestions:<\/p>\n 1) Congress neatly provided for their OWN pay, I am told. Trump seems to think anything can be done by executive order (just like Biden and Obama did – let’s lay fault where it lies, with all of them.) Rescind their pay. No salary, no medical benefits, no government transport, no aides’ pay (let’s see how long THEY work payless!). Oh, and freeze their assets temporarily.\u00a0 No income of ANY kind as long as the shutdown lasts.<\/p>\n 2) The FAA is grounding 10% of commercial flights, right? Ground all<\/em> private passenger jets. Takes an air traffic controller as long to handle Bill Gates’ or John Travolta’s jets as it does that United flight full of family folks. And according to NewsNation’s Leland Vittert there are about 1000 private jets in the air at any one time. The folks renting or owning private jets aren’t the working folks, they are more likely wealthy and probably political donors. Meaning connected. And not wanting to share a cramped economy row with you or me.<\/p>\n If you look at the list of airports where the FAA wants the flight reductions, 39 of the 40 are public airports and only one is private (Teterboro, if you care.) So the rich and private-jet folks are not really affected by the flight reductions… let’s correct that omission. H\/t to Vittert for the suggestion.\u00a0Mediaite<\/a><\/p>\n We common folks aren’t budging whichever party you blame for the shutdown at this point. Let’s put some pressure on Congress’ <\/p>\n UPDATE<\/p>\n Yesterday, Senator John Kennedy<\/strong> (R-LA) introduced<\/a> the No Shutdown Paychecks to Politicians Act and the Withhold Member Pay During Shutdowns Act, both of which would prevent members of Congress from collecting pay \u2014 including back pay \u2014 during a government shutdown. Kennedy needed unanimous consent, but Paul objected, arguing that federal employees should be paid first.Mediaite II<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rand Paul killed it… remember that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" owners, sponsors, donors<\/del> folks who actually influence the shutdown. Might oughta suggest that in any future shutdown, Congress will be made to hurt starting Day One, not a month later. May be a fantasy… but I like it.<\/p>\n