The $465 Story

  I sat and read over the Air Force food allowance granted for 2025....monthly rate is now around $465.77 per month for enlisted members....meaning you get $15.50 a day now.

I pondered upon this....back-in-the-day....1990s...it was in the $180 range (per month).

Does the $465 really cover the food you might consume as a E-1/E-2?  Well....maybe if you were dining chow-hall, but if you ate out (off-base) at least once a day....NO.

Economic constraints?  I would imagine if I were in the Air Force today....as a 'newbie'....I'd be looking at cash-flow and shaking my head.  Just buying a marginally acceptable new car ($30k range)...would be an issue....assuming insurance costs of $2k minimum a year.

The only way it'd make sense?  You'd have to assign me to Turkey or some fairly cheap location....where the standard of living was less. 

This $400k Graham Hotel Story

 The more I look at this U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham trip to Ukraine (Kiev) and this $411,634 hotel bill....the less I believe the story.

So, the  facts laid out....there's only two hotel possibilities for this stay...the Hilton Kyiv or the 11 Mirrors Design Hotel.

The 11 Mirrors Design Hotel in Kyiv, Ukraine, has a ultra-nice Signature Premium Room....which would run around $320 per night,  The Presidential suite?  The cost is rated at around $1,500 per night....meaning the two night stay would amount to $3k roughly (plus taxes).

The Kiev Hilton rate, for the Presidential suite?  Roughly $2,500 a night.  So for  2 nights....figure $5k to $6k.

So the story makes no sense....unless Graham brought a entourage of forty-odd people along, with all of them drinking expensive booze, eating caviar/Japanese steaks, and served by Kurva-women (Ukrainian word for trampy gals).

Then it occurred to me....normally, you (as a Senator) would  request the Ambassador to arrange your stay.  Some junior gov't guy would be given the task....arranging the hotel stay and security.

The question would be....did the junior guy 'rig' this up, or the Ambassador, and had the 'tab' inflated 1,000-percent? 

The other question I have....why am I  the only one asking the question?  

Three Observations

 1.  Dave Chapple (the black comedian) got interviewed this week....assessing 2016's appearance on Saturday Night Live....election week.

Entire writer's group collapsed in grief as Hillary lost.  Dave is settled down in Ohio, and kinda expected Trump to win.....but he couldn't believe the loss situation and behavior.

I would refer to this as the 'Santa-is-dead' syndrome.  You are led to believe in Santa, and that news  journalists have conditioned you to accept Santa....so when it comes up that either that Santa is non-existent or 'dead'....it's a huge loss in your life.

Since 2016....we've doubled the amount of grief.

2.  Weird interview with Ukraine's Zelensky....he can't understand why Russia won't approach the peace-talks table and give in.

3. At the rate that ICE is showing up at construction sites....there's going to be a construction crisis in major urban areas by mid-summer.  Oddly, we don't have enough American  construction workers.