Brickbat: Holding Up Your End of the Deal


Ten years ago, with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan raging, the Pentagon created special bonuses and other benefits for soldiers with critical skills to re-enlist. Now, the California National Guard says it awarded those bonuses to nearly 10,000 soldiers who should not have gotten them, many of whom not only re-enlisted but did multiple combat tours. The Guard is demanding that money back, with interest. Those who don't agree to pay have had their wages garnished and tax lines placed on them.
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I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
Congrats. You finally found something to cut. Starting with the most egregious examples of govt waste. Just fantastic.
Everyone knows the Pentagon is a bastion of frugality .
...[W}ages garnished and tax lines placed on them.
Lien on me, Charles Oliver, when you're not strong...
Just to pull an Eddie (AKA Fusionist; and no euphies, by the by, perverts):
"What's a real estate agent's favourite song?"
"Lien on me (when you're not strong)."
So Brickbats is HnR's new recycle bin?
New? They've always had repeat items in brickbats. Sometimes, just sometimes the bat scooped the main article. But of late it's been the other way around.
Lost a leg, fuck you pay me. Paralyzed, fuck you pay me. TBI, fuck you pay me.
This kind of thing would make the mob hang their heads in shame.
The government is really just the strongest mob.
The mob we choose to mob together with.
So, totally legit?
[democratic legitimacy is cornerstone of America!]
Sure, if the Bonnano's and the Luchese's let me vote on which family I have to pay my protection money to, that makes it legit.
At least with the mob, when you pay for protection, you usually actually get protection.
Brickbat: Nothing to See Here
An LAPD officer has killed two people within twelve days of each other. Officer Eden Medina killed the second person, 15-year-old Jesse Romero, days after being cleared for street duty.
From the article:
The LAPD have refused comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
If you need an anti-brickbat, the murder trial of that Cincinnati campus cop who shot the guy he'd stopped for no front tag starts today.
Looks like 2nd degree murder to me
JFC. Shot in the head for what, exactly? That sucks.
I'm sitting here among the 250 potential jurors. I'm wondering if I should let them know I'm a libertarian soon so they will let me out!!!!
Multiple comments from (apparently) union reps. OBEY, YOU FUCKING CIVILIANS, WAR ON COPS.
The California ANG article is even worse. It seems they put a senior enlisted Soldier in prison for fraud connected to this whole thing. Her title, as described in the article, was something like "California State Guard Incentive Manager."
Why was ONE person in charge of that entire program, and why did she not have any oversight from an officer commensurate with her rank and position? For an E-8 that would be a senior field grade officer. At least.
They nabbed some Os, too, but they got fines and probation.
Also, I am puzzled by some of the nomenclature in the article. It describes an Army captain as having received a "reenlistment bonus." That is just nonsense. Officers do not "enlist," and they can't "reenlist." The only expiration of an officer's term of service is upon revocation or resignation of commission, an age-related expiration (I think age 62, depends on grade), and failure to be promoted.
Officers are paid accession and retention bonuses in eligible AOCs (AOC = officer MOS), and there may or may not be a term of service stipulation attached to the money. But it's not reenlistment.
I find the Soldiers's claims that they were lined up, assembly line-style, and told en masse to sign on the dotted line credible. The Army does that all the damn time.
Way to go, ANG. There is a four-star in your CoC and you retards could have advocated on behalf of your people, but it sounds like somebody with some stars was afraid to speak up.
From what little I know about the National Guard, the money they used would have come from the federal treasury, and by the Constitution no money shall be drawn from the treasury except through appropriations made by law.
If Congress didn't make an appropriation, then the money shouldn't have been spent, and the government has no choice but to try to get the money back.
UNLESS...Congress steps in and retroactively approves these appropriations.
If Congress finds that these soldiers enlisted or re-enlisted because of these unlawful bonuses, then justice would require writing off these bonuses, except for any soldiers who were deliberately ripping off the Treasury. For those who acted in good faith, Congress should act to let them keep the dough.
"At the end of the day, the soldiers ended up paying the largest price," said Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California Guard. "We'd be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just can't do it. We'd be breaking the law."
Well, just pretend that the soldiers are all named Hillary Clinton.
Seriously though, it's really fucked up. Of course the people at the top who are responsible for this mess won't suffer any significant consequences. Apparently we can pretend that they're named Hillary Clinton. Power without accountability; what a rush!
Its funny, but if you came to the military and said 'hey, you underpaid me ten years ago' they'd tell you it was far too late to claim.
until I looked at the paycheck saying $4730 , I did not believe that...my... brother woz like actualy bringing in money part time from there computar. . there friend brother started doing this for less than 7 months and resently paid for the morgage on there home and bought a new Cadillac .......
........ http://www.jobprofit9.com