Hi.
Coffee: Cafe Pajaro Extra Dark, Trader Joe’s Brand
It’s a certified fact that I live in a country that spent $320,000 on coffee mugs for the Air Force at $1200 a piece, just since 2016. Chew on that for a second.
It was too windy to be comfortable outside and too bright-hot in the car to be comfortable with the air off so I took lunch in the office today. I read news. I got caught by budget articles. There was a Senate review led by Grassley on unnecessary expenditures. When they were interviewing the Air Force rep about the mugs, the initial estimate coming out of Grassley’s mouth was $56K. It was the rep who had to correct the figure to six times that much. There was no conclusion to the story, only a lot of talk on how the mugs were self heating and had secret military tech to plug into the jets. Grassley told him to fix it and he said they’d started 3D printing the handles for repairs. Turns out – like thick fudge icing on the gooiest cake – these cups have their handles break at alarming rates.
Meanwhile, Trump’s upped the military force at our Southern border to 5200. They’ve got vests and guns and camo and presumably a lot of hours teaching them the right ways to shoot a man. Meanwhile, the migrant migration is down to 3500. That’s one-and-a-half armed soldiers to every scared, starved, landless mother or father or three-year-old with a bit of freedom stuck in their eye, and that’s 5200 self-heating, highly classified coffee mugs to keep the soldiers’ drinks warm. If you’re only counting dollars, that’s a maximum of $6,240,000 on mugs alone (and really, we might as well give each of them a mug, right? Fair is fair). Meanwhile, the cost in our collective American conscience is much higher.
I have that afternoon daydream of $320,000 of opportunity wrapped in white beds and red cooked food and blue immigration Visas, but like daylight in the winter, it quickly fades.
Currently Reading: Autumn, Ali Smith; Cherry, Nico Walker
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“Grassley: The 60th Aerial Port Squadron at Travis Air Force Base has reportedly spent $56,000 on replacing hot cups since 2016. How many cups have been purchased by the Air Force during this timeframe, and what is the total cost of these purchases?
Wilson: The item in question is a specially manufactured electronic water-heater that plugs into aircraft systems. Because it connects to the aircraft, replacements require FAA airworthiness certification. The Air Force has purchased 391 of these items since 2016 at a total cost of $326,785 …” – taken from a Business Insider article by ; Article
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