Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Bottom feeders and skimmers

Remember "All the King’s Men", from 1949? It starred Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark, an ignorant but cunning and charismatic politician from the backwoods of northern Louisiana. This is patterned after the populist Huey P Long.

He named himself the “Kingfish”, was immensely popular with rural voters and in his speeches referred to the wealthy and their political servants as like the black water spiders that dart across the pond’s surface, never getting their feet wet. He disdained the privileged, calling them skimmers.

Now the pond or swamp has skimmers dancing on the surface but below are consumables for bottom feeders. The swamp remains – a continuing rich ground for foraging.

Today we have another populist and he brings a swarm of feckless people to simulate an organization.

For example, consider the outrageous judgment of the President and several Cabinet Secretaries. They need to get familiar with the Federal Travel Regulations (https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/regulations/federal-travel-regulation-ftr). The FTR implements statutory requirements and Executive branch policies for travel by federal civilian employees. It balances the need for travel with the need to minimize costs

The offer of the HHS Secretary to pay back $50K in travel expense for “his seat” is an utter farce. Similarly for the EPA Director and Secretary of the Treasury. And military lift is many times more expensive than commercial and should be used only when commercial is unavailable or untimely... And why fly a 747 at great expense on short hauls?

John Watson

 

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