"The Deep State" aka the American Intelligence Community

[foreverlax]

So is it ok then? Or you just like pointing out the other side is wrong too? I don’t see an answer from you on that core topic just rather what seems like a “moral relativism” defense of the behavior. Can you clarify your position on these conflict topics? Is it universally wrong or not?

NO.....it's NOT ok. I don't belong to any of your sides, btw.

In other words, pointing out the hypocrisy from both "sides" IS the defense behavior.

Is the issue "conflict of interest" collective, (elected officials) or does it only apply to tRump? Conflicts of Interest are pretty simple...if it's a question, then it's not a question. That rule should apply to anyone who has a "fiduciary" role.

When you say you are going to close Guantamino Bay (Obama) and DO NOT.....is that unethical, or just being a politician? Has nothing to do with conflicts of interest....BHO, likely wanted to close Gitmo, but was unable to politically or practically,

I can NOT answer your question without more clarification as to what YOU think a conflict of interest is and according to which rules/laws.
Does Roberts Rules cover it? House or Senate rules cover it? US law/code/ cover it? I find this hard to comprehend...how do YOU not have your own rules for conflicted behavior?

But, in short, taats is NOT a defense of behavior. Quite the opposite. You wanna mis-remember the newness, and uselessness, of the S.T.O.C.K. act, be my guest. To ignore the long history that political parties get dirty in the conflicts of interest department. Agreed!! Disgusting what pols are able to legislatue for others, but don't need to follow for themselves.

You DO know who Mitch Mckonnell's wife is, correct? Interesting the Mitchie boy and zuckerbook of fecesbook fame BOTH own Vanguard 500 Admiral index fund shares. Who knew? Who cares? Sounds like an appropriate holding in both cases.

It's all right there in front of you........

Solutions? Add MORE US House of Reps (positive for a number reasons, starting with payoffs Adding more members doesn't solve that issue - how about we legislate AND enforce?

[a fan]

AFAN, my memory must stink, because, again, I don't recall you caring one shot glass about conflict of interest from 2009 to 2017. Monsanto execs running the FDA?

So you don't remember where the phrases TAATS comes from? You don't remember where that phrase was introduced?

Yes. Your memory sucks really, really, really, bad if you don't remember discussing these things all the time at the old Water Cooler.

[LandM]

afan,
I am going to assume that a military flight crew member makes about 60% of what a commercial flight crew member makes, based on my personal experience. In 1990, I got out as an O-3 - base pay; jump pay; hazard duty pay; uniform pay; and adjustment for economics - toss it together and I was making about $42,000 a year - I left and went to Citi and my base pay jumped to $75,000 with the same benefits. So here are the resolutions:
1. Pay the soldiers more base pay - equal to their counterparts in the civilian sector, it is your tax dollars;
2. Bump the TDY pay so the free transit to motel; box lunch; free transit to town for booze; free hot breakfast; and free transit back to airport are covered;
3. Rewrite the regulations that defines you cannot stay at a Presidents owned place but bump the TDY pay.
This all seemed to to start with a young airman on social media making noise because he did not know how to budget his personal spending - this may have have been his first trip and blame the crew commander and payload specialist. BTW, you still have not answered my question, how is Trump raping the tax payer and where is the conflict. BY rough math, Turnberry is losing money on each of these stays............they are staying at the cheapest place they find.

BTW your wife analogy is really confounding as that is a conflict of interest.

Forever,
Here is a suggestion, get your cape and red beenie on and cruise to ND and tell them no biting in scrums;
Put your Missionary Hat on and cruise to BYU and tell them no twisting of ankles and knees in the scrum;
Put your rebel (sorry to offend any sally's) hat on and go tell Ole Miss no more more spitting in facemasks of opposing players;
Then go to any D1 football school and lecture them on no calling out sleeping with the opposing players mother, sister, and aunt;
Then put the big robe on and cruise to Indy and tell the NCAA no more cheap shots, late hits, facemask pulling and the other 200 things that happen in a fast paced hard hitting game and that the players should wear flags with no pads - alrighty

You guys are anal about this because you hate the guy. This has nothing to do with a moral compass and conflicts. Stop the hate already and go and vote. Right now he is gonna win again and you all will be sitting with your thumb up your arse trying to figure out why.

[foreverlax]

Forever,
Here is a suggestion, get your cape and red beenie on and cruise to ND and tell them no biting in scrums;
Put your Missionary Hat on and cruise to BYU and tell them no twisting of ankles and knees in the scrum;
Put your rebel (sorry to offend any sally's) hat on and go tell Ole Miss no more more spitting in facemasks of opposing players;
Then go to any D1 football school and lecture them on no calling out sleeping with the opposing players mother, sister, and aunt;
Then put the big robe on and cruise to Indy and tell the NCAA no more cheap shots, late hits, facemask pulling and the other 200 things that happen in a fast paced hard hitting game and that the players should wear flags with no pads - alrighty

You guys are anal about this because you hate the guy. This has nothing to do with a moral compass and conflicts. Stop the hate already and go and vote. Right now he is gonna win again and you all will be sitting with your thumb up your arse trying to figure out why.

You suggestion, again, makes zero sense in the context of this conversation.

I know exactly why Trump could win again....has everything to do with lacking a moral compass and ignoring the obvious conflicts inherent with Trump.

[LandM]

Forever,
Are you the state police? People like you is who I worry about - black/white no grey. Here is a great example. We travel from NY to CO and back. We bring our two hairy four legged kids as we stayed at our house in CO for three months (a first). She sounds allot like you. My wife goes into each motel, gets the military discount - she was always asked did we have pets - NOPE. I always existed right as I would have said YEP. She finally gets busted on the last motel night. Some teenage kid leaves her a vm the next day which is hilarious to listen to - miss ethics; black and white got totally busted. People like you make people like me and the mainstream nervous, your anal about this and it comes down to you hate the guy.......keep hating as you will have another 4 more years.

[foreverlax]

Forever,
Are you the state police? People like you is who I worry about - black/white no grey. Here is a great example. We travel from NY to CO and back. We bring our two hairy four legged kids as we stayed at our house in CO for three months (a first). She sounds allot like you. My wife goes into each motel, gets the military discount - she was always asked did we have pets - NOPE. I always existed right as I would have said YEP. She finally gets busted on the last motel night. Some teenage kid leaves her a vm the next day which is hilarious to listen to - miss ethics; black and white got totally busted. People like you make people like me and the mainstream nervous, your anal about this and it comes down to you hate the guy.......keep hating as you will have another 4 more years.

No.

Interesting story....speaks volumes.

I see plenty of gray, or in your vernacular, grey....just not when it comes to black and white issues.

"Hate". No I don't "hate" Trump...I just have zero respect for anyone who lies and cheats the way he does. Daily.

[old salt]

You have no appreciation for how insulated military promotion boards are from that sort of influence,
or how much Congressional scrutiny officer promotion lists receive before they're approved.

No, I admittedly don't. Happy to be corrected. You're telling me that all promotions in the military are straight pool? 100% merit based?

IMHO, Yes -- based on my limited participation in the process & my observation of the results.
It's the closest thing to a meritocratic process that can be crafted.

[a fan]

Then please accept my apologies for thinking otherwise, and speaking out of turn.

[a fan]

afan,
I am going to assume that a military flight crew member makes about 60% of what a commercial flight crew member makes, based on my personal experience. In 1990, I got out as an O-3 - base pay; jump pay; hazard duty pay; uniform pay; and adjustment for economics - toss it together and I was making about $42,000 a year - I left and went to Citi and my base pay jumped to $75,000 with the same benefits. So here are the resolutions:
1. Pay the soldiers more base pay - equal to their counterparts in the civilian sector, it is your tax dollars;
2. Bump the TDY pay so the free transit to motel; box lunch; free transit to town for booze; free hot breakfast; and free transit back to airport are covered;
3. Rewrite the regulations that defines you cannot stay at a Presidents owned place but bump the TDY pay.
This all seemed to to start with a young airman on social media making noise because he did not know how to budget his personal spending - this may have have been his first trip and blame the crew commander and payload specialist. BTW, you still have not answered my question, how is Trump raping the tax payer and where is the conflict. BY rough math, Turnberry is losing money on each of these stays............they are staying at the cheapest place they find.

What are you talking about?

Here's the solution: "effective immediately, US Military and Federal personnel may not stay at Trump properties".

Boom. Done. The USAF gets their base. Military personnel can stay at any of the dozen or so hotels right near the base. Everyone's happy.

BTW your wife analogy is really confounding as that is a conflict of interest.

Ya think? Why do I think I gave you that analogy?

Trump is in charge of our military. What it does, where it's deployed. All of it. Having him in charge of it, while allowing Troops to stay at his properties around the world is a conflict of interest. Trump can DIRECT the Air Force to use that base. Just as, using my analogy, if my wife is in put in charge of all hard alcohol purchases in the State of Virginia. You can't allow that. For what are obvious reasons when we're talking about booze, but not when we're talking about the military, apparently.

[LandM]

afan,
last post on this subject - THEN PAY AN UNDERPAID GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE A BIGGER SALARY OR MORE FOR TDY - WHY THF IS THAT SO HARD FOR YOU AND OTHERS TO UNDERSTAND - PAY MORE WHETHER IN SALARY OR PER DIEM - JESUS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[foreverlax]

Pay more to the military so they can spend more on rent, which goes to Trump.

That is your position? How about we change the name to Clinton or Obama...

[LandM]

Forever,
Nope - let them have other options with their increased per diem - most people are sniffing for the cheapest rate - you lived on per diem are you going to seriously tell me that you did not try to find the cheapest digs, food, and booze around - as Omar says - maximize the Benjamin's?

Second question afan, everyone in the D race is all about free college; free healthcare; free student debt pay-off - what is the difference between that
and a guy losing money on his room rates? Is it vote buying? Man get over it already. Those freebies are having a field day with millennials - guess who is gonna get their vote or let's talk about the Clinton pay to play - man dude your talking about chump change in the overall DOD budget and votes and buying favors in another. This is a chump change issue - move on and for the 20th time, create an act of congress and change the regulations.

[foreverlax]

Forever,
Nope - let them have other options with their increased per diem - most people are sniffing for the cheapest rate - you lived on per diem are you going to seriously tell me that you did not try to find the cheapest digs, food, and booze around - as Omar says - maximize the Benjamin's?

I would look to stretch my dollars.

Fair enough, how about a compromise? I don't care if you give them 100x more or give it to them for free....they just can't patronize a POTUS business, certainly not when working.

[a fan]

You are lost at sea, and I don't know how many more times I can explain it. Every other poster understands the point. Foreverlax explained it fine..

No one cares how much the per diem is. They can stay at the Four Seasons for all I care. No one is griping about the money in this conversation.

The guy in charge of our military can't own a hotel where the troops stay. It's not that complicated.

[LandM]

Forever,
That is a great compromise, as I have been saying 20 times over and over, change the regulations - just as an FYI - when a Congressperson or reporter finds that a flight crew is not paying the cheapest rate, are you gonna be the person coming to the defense of that airman? My guess is it will take two overnights and then another article will come out about the waste of taxpayer funding - dog wagging a tail - been through this, shooting yourself in the foot but go for it and see what happens. Good luck.

[a fan]

Forever,
That is a great compromise, as I have been saying 20 times over and over, change the regulations

You've arrived at another problem. Who is in charge of those regulations?

Trump.

[LandM]

NOPE
I am pretty sure that my friend General Goldfein can change that one - I will ask him. BTW as to your questioning OS on promotions - spend an hour please and look up Admiral Brian Losey - he got shafted and many of the posters war hero, John McCain shafted him. It will tell you the process to get to that level - happy to discuss as I know the story very well.

[a fan]

And General Goldfine's boss' name is......


(you'll get there. I'm patient)

[LandM]

afan,
Well it is usually the Sec of AF and then of course his chief of staff buddies. A few more rounds and you will get to the big boy.
So what - he leads probably 700,000 troops - do you honestly believe that DT digs in the weeds that far - seriously? He digs that far into how many flight crews stay at Turnberry - I will take whatever you guys are smoking. So if their is a directive for these guys to stay there - show it - you are firing blanks. You are just pi$$ed at the guy and for some reason you cannot get over it. Move on as 2020 is right around the corner. Change the regulations - this is silly and you are making a big nothing burger out of nothing and looking silly in the process.

[CU88]

afan,
last post on this subject - THEN PAY AN UNDERPAID GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE A BIGGER SALARY OR MORE FOR TDY - WHY THF IS THAT SO HARD FOR YOU AND OTHERS TO UNDERSTAND - PAY MORE WHETHER IN SALARY OR PER DIEM - JESUS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No offense, but all of those on the federal dole get way too many perks, no way they should get any sort of pay increase.