So now I guess Trump really is a billionaire?
The art of the deal
Oh look. Another violation of our Constitution.
Hope everyone is well aware that our Constitution is basically toilet paper now.
The collapse of our democracy is imminent.
*ongoing
Is there a list of every time he’s violated the US Constitution?
Points wildly everywhere
Isn’t that part of the problem and his tactic in all this, as you can’t just point to a list and say “all these things here”, as there’s so much dead catting going on, you can’t keep up.
Imminent?
Hmm… I think it has already happened and we are just in there awkward lull as we await the consequences to start rolling in…
This is what the enemies of American democracy want you to think so that you stop voting, stop fighting, stop caring, and just submit.
That American Democracy has failed is debatable.
That it can be revived is not.
I would not advocate surrender to authoritarianism - but I would urge we all take an unflinchingly look at the systemic failures within our existing governmental system that allowed it to take root and (ultimately) to come to power. We are better equipped to resist after assessing our current situation and understanding how it was that we came to be here.
Hey. I thought he was supposed to be cutting costs.
Taxpayers spending billions to accept a bribe that’s a fraction of the cost.
America cant even do bribing right.
This is EXACTLY why we ELIMINATED my Child’s EDUCATION! So we can Afford THIS!
And food and health assistance for the most at-risk Americans.
(You do know our tax dollars still go to this when “the poors” get arrested or die in the streets, right?)
Fuck this country.
And since the plane gets transferred to Trump’s actual ownership after his term, Trump gets a free $2billion plane…
That’s ok because he won’t ever leave office again so technically the people will still own it
/s
The military is already ordered to strip it again when they are don’t with it, meaning he gets all the work done for free.
lol that’s not how value works. If you add $1 million worth of mods to your civic and then remove them for a similar cost, you still have an old civic
I wonder how many better planes could be built for that price.
You are missing the point. They are using these defence contracts to funnel themselves money.
Well considering the current contract for the two 747s Boeing is currently converting for the government is a fixed cost contract that’s already paid for technically infinite I guess?
The Air Force awarded Boeing a $3.9 billion contract in 2018 for two new Air Force One planes, updated VC-25B models based on the newer 747-8I. Delivery originally was slated for 2024 but currently they are looking at 2027.
I guess not quite 1, but at least it isn’t decades old. Though, who knows, government projects like this have a habit of ballooning in cost.
That was a fixed price contract for the new planes. Boeing will have to eat any cost overruns. Their CEO has Already been complaining about it.
The days of cost plus contracting with companies like Boeing are essentially gone luckily. Now that the practice is decently well known by the public, it can’t just be hidden as a cost of private sector business anymore like they used to claim.
A decently large reason for that is SpaceX’s dramatically cheaper space launch costs, even with iterative design principles resulting in a lot of “waste” designs and products being destroyed or never used. Their contracts were fixed prices through NASA commercial programs so they never received contracts cost plus the way companies like Boeing did, so they actually optimized to minimize their costs. They proved in the real world that cost plus wasn’t necessary for those contracts at all, and Boeing has been one of the worst hit by that.
I meant the updating of the Qatari plane could balloon to equal the cost of one of the newer planes.
Oh possibly. Not sure the government has even signed those contracts yet at this point.
The one surprising thing is that the Qatari jet is actually a 747-8 model like the two new contracted planes. So I suppose it could technically be outfitted as a new Air Force One, then only one of the new airframes finished and outfitted, and then gut this to finish the second new airframe, leaving a gutted 747-8 for Trump.
But we know that’s not what will happen.
It will cost more to strip it, verify parts, retrofit and rebuild it and sweep the thing for malicious items/bugs and/or bombs.
Israel is making indiscernible beeper bombs and this retard accepted a 485,000lb potential bomb.
for scale … how much is that in little girl dolls ?
30 dolls ? 100 dolls ?
Ten million
See, that’s what government efficiency looks like!
trump the ever moron, thought he was getting a steal, when in fact that 400million jet had a very expensive upkeep. it was mostly like costing QATARIS to even having sit in an airplane hanger in thier country before “gifting” it to trump.
spend our money. to corporations. for this shit.
Hey, if you can figure out a cheaper way for the president to accept bribes they’ll be happy to ignore it
How I learned to stop worrying and love the grift
Can we please stop all planes that use fossil fuels?
i wish, batteries are still too heavy to replace jet fuel, hydrogen could work weight wise, but too low density and you just don’t have space in an airplane (you could design one but it’ll be too big and have too much drag).
best possibility for now is biofuels. basically plug and play.
better yet, replace all major overland routes with high speed rail, much cheaper than flying anyways.
Sail boats work great.
No.
not realistically with our current technology
Lol we had this tech for centuries
We’ve had batteries with better energy density than fossil fuels for centuries?
Were the Roman’s just sitting on magic batteries but did nothing with them because no one had invented the iPhone yet?
Nope. Sails. They work great for moving people and cargo across oceans.
No fossil fuels required
Sail boats are a bag of shit
Sail boats are amazing. Wtf. Have you never been in one?
Yes I have been, they are wildly impractical for real international travel
Enjoy your block bot
OP, I think you just linked ABC’s home page instead of the article
Well that’s embarrassing, updated now thanks.
Thanks!
Hahaha, haha, American people won’t allow this, they have guns
Removed by mod