The calls took twenty minutes and not ten. When I saw that I was going to run late getting back, I sent more donuts and coffee out to the media group to keep them pacified.

            I walked back to the fancy podium with a handful of notes that I read while waiting for the coffee was heating up on the plate warmer that was out of view of the media.

            One note left me angry was about the USS Nevada that had collided with the North Korean sub was undergoing repairs in Japan so it could make the trip back to the US. The Nevada’s crew had been removed when it docked and returned to California for advanced debriefing and interrogation.

            NCIS was conducting those interrogations in California. A temporary crew was sent to the Nevada along with another large group of investigators.

            Experts from the Navy’s nuclear propulsion division, Electric Boat Company – a division of Huntington Ingalls – were all sending investigators. The Nevada was having too many electrical glitches on too many systems. Sabotage was suspected.

The question was where did it happen? The Nevada had a five-year maintenance drydocking before departing to Japan and was immediately sent on this mission. It was docked in Japan for only three days taking on provisions, medical supplies and several test kits (they were called).

I learned that test kits were a cover name for secret projects that were to be completed while submerged. They could have been health related – about effects of long voyages. They could have been new equipment to be field tested in actual conditions. They could have been top secret eavesdropping modules that were to be deposited near some country’s coast.

I needed to get a detailed description of the test kits and if they had been completed. Were they something that could have been interfering with the Nevada systems? Another question, was there a saboteur in the Nevada’s crew – or in the shipyard?

‘’OK, ladies and gentleman, let’s get started. Who wants to go first?’’ I asked.

‘’Tiffany, you’re first, what’s the question?’’ I asked.

‘’In your tax returns, it looks like you sold all or part of your family business and then donated the money. The recipients of the donations were blacked out. Why?’’ She said.

‘’The tax return is pretty much self-explanatory. Who I donated the money to was a personal decision and no one really needs to know. The ones that got the money know who they are. There was a nondisclosure requirement in order to receive the funds,’’ I said.

‘’That’s the only question and statement I’m going to make about my tax return. You have them because I was required by law to release them. I am not required to discuss and explain it line item by line item,’’ I said.

‘’Becky,’’ I said.

‘’There is a lot of discussion on the tax changes, there are a lot of people really concerned, social security recipients, and many agencies and of course most states along with some senators and representatives,’’ she said.

‘’As I said there was a lot of yelling and screaming along with a lot of four-letter words; mostly from people and agencies with their hand out and some congress persons afraid they would not have money to give away for bribes to vote,’’ I said.

‘’Social security was protected and slightly enhanced. Small business and large were protected by limiting their tax burden to the ten percent. Some large and small business were, are upset because it limits their ability to use creative accounting to pay miniscule amounts of taxes, they will pay ten percent. Tax fraud under the new rules will be tough and there are heavy penalties for doing so,’’ I said.

‘’The agencies that are still in effect are angry because of the new accountability measures. In the past all they had to do was go before Congress and cry “We need more money to do the job” and twenty percent was the magic number, knowing they would end up with ten, year after year it was the same thing,’’ I said.

‘’Now the GSA will have new tools to check the numbers. Before, an employee of an agency was never removed from the budget formula for several years. A replacement employee was added as a new position. The agency gained every year in extra money with that scheme. That is why agencies had plenty of money to give away, and use for special pet projects without needing Congressional approval. That was how they funded all the weapons and ammunition, and also acquired the manpower for the SWAT equipment and for the SWAT teams. There wasn’t any in-depth accountability,’’ I said.

‘’The new rules and new systems will flag retiring employees, fired employees and those funds will be withdrawn from the agency budget authority immediately. An employee wanting to retire must pick a date and give the agency a one-year notice. That retirement date will be written in stone; there will be no changing it,’’ I said.

‘’The agency will not be able to request a replacement employee be hired until the retiring employee is physically gone. They will have to go through the complete process and approvals and an employee cannot be hired until the next year’s budget was fully funded and approved,’’ I said.

‘’One of the things that were happening was an employee filled out the retirement papers, then a new employee or a contractor was hired. Then the employee withdrew the papers to stay another year or two,” I said.

‘’Because of union rules, the agency could not fire the new employee or contractor. Agencies gain and gained people they didn’t need or want, blowing the budget out the roof,’’ I said.

‘’Harold,’’ I said.

‘’Doesn’t those changes fly in the face of the union rules,’’ he said.

‘’The very first page of the union agreement says and I quote, ‘The government shall in all cases do everything prudent and necessary to protect the government and citizens interests with this labor agreement. This agreement shall not be construed to override those interests. The President and or Congress shall have the authority to cancel or modify this agreement as necessary to that end. Any changes are binding,’ I said.

‘’That paragraph gives the Congress or me the authority to rescind the unions authority to operate. I will use that authority if necessary. Top government individuals and union officials are negotiating the necessary changes. There are only a few in a labor agreement that spans a thousand pages. I see no reason the changes cannot be made,’’ I said.

‘’Amanda,’’ I said.

‘’There are already multiple state and county Boards of Education saying they have no days to set aside to give the testing. What is your response for that?’’ she asked.

‘’The Department of Education had made it mandatory nationwide for the testing. As I said, any school district that does not issue the test and complete the testing in the required time frame will make their state ineligible to receive federal educational funding next year,’’ I said.

‘’Even though local school boards have immense power over curriculum, staffing, transportation and days scheduled, every state Board of Education has an immense power over the local school board,’’ I said.

‘’Practically every school has optional days to work the testing in. They have weather days that didn’t get used, spring break and the like. If necessary, extend the school year by the necessary days,’’ I said.

‘’There was another point I was going to make about education that I am going to make now and that is a return to vocational education as part of high school curriculum. We need machinist, welders, masonry people, mechanics, sheet metal mechanics, electricians, plumbers and above all nurses and practical nurses and other medical fields,’’ I said.

‘’The school boards decided to do away with the vocational school part of the equation because ‘everybody just had to go to college’. Well, everyone does not need or want to go to college.’’

‘’There was a recent report that sixty three percent of the individuals with college degrees were not holding jobs that required a college degree. They wasted four years and have massive college debt when they could have been earning nearly equal to the debt they now have to pay back,’’ I said.

‘’These trades are in high demand and pay reasonably well. A person with these skills can make a great living and not have a tremendous college debt to pay back. The health care field is screaming for ER nurses. Nurses, licensed nurses, nursing assistant, medical technicians – the list of positions goes on and on. Many of these fields only require one or two years of college with the right pre-med courses taken at vocational schools,’’ I said.

‘’Alexander,’ I said.

“The court changes you have laid out are immense, do you have any hope that any of them will make it into law?’’ he asked.

‘’I think everyone agrees that changes to the court are needed. Yes, they are immense and yes, I think under review many parts will be adopted. The judicial review for judges received high praise from the attorney focus groups that helped write the proposal,’’ I said.

‘’Another part of the proposal that was also given high mark was the mandatory retirement age. That one may be the most difficult one to make muster because in covers all federal agencies including Congress; to some of those old fogies it may be a tough sell, but it is desperately needed,’’ I said.

‘’Amber,’’ I said.

‘’The change to how the agencies have to handle new rules looks like it effectively kills the use of the Federal Register, the thought being that it will grind government to a halt,’’ she said.

‘’Government is always slow by design I have learned. Then after all the molasses, to have so many rules thrown out months or years later just makes it worse. The idea being that when it goes finally in to effect it will be right and end all the delays from court challenges,’’ I said.

‘’Mandy,’’ I said.

‘’By making federal officials face civil or criminal penalties for their actions they believed they were right, won’t that put a tremendous chill on the agencies?’’ she said.

‘’It means they will be more diligent about following the law in everything they do. They will stay away from gray area enforcement and assumptions,’’ I said.

‘’Every agency has plenty of lawyers – in fact, too many lawyers – there simply is no excuse for not getting it right the first time other than it was intentional. If that is the case. they deserve to be penalized,’’ I said.

‘’Larry, I believe this is the first time you have been called on in a while, what is your question?” I said.

‘’Yes, it is, and I have a couple questions. The first one is about the John Moses case. There is no information on the fiasco, what is happening with it?’’ he said.

‘’The Justice Department is handling that and as I’m sure you know, it is very complicated with the tie-in with the SWAT team mess. I’m sure you know there will be a substantial settlement when the dust clears, along with plenty of convictions,’’ I said.

‘’Some of the environmental groups are going to sue the government over so many fossil fueled emergency generators being used to stop the rolling blackouts. Their saying the blackouts should continue and be expanded,’’ he said.

‘’Obviously the people that are suing do not live in the affected area or they would have a different opinion. The inconvenience to the people and business that have to deal with it is massive, not to mention the cost,’’ I said.

‘’Food markets cannot take advantage of making large orders for the discounts of perishables because they require continuous refrigeration at certain temperatures or they spoil faster. They have to repeatedly order only what they can sell in a couple days and not a weeks’ worth,’’ I said.

‘’Charlie,’’ I said.

‘’One of our sister stations picked up a news wire from the state of Wyoming that JBG had purchased a sizeable ranch near Meeteetse, do you know anything about that land purchase?’’ he asked.

‘’No, I do not and should not and I’m sure you know that. If we did, I’m again sure it was for our Farming and Ranch division. My father and father- in law over see that part of the family business,’’ I said.

Just then a text dinged on my phone, it was from Marcy. ‘’Yes, we bought another ranch in Wyoming. Indian Point Ranch with ninety- nine thousand acres,’’ Marcy said.

‘’It has ten thousand cattle with five thousand wild range bison. Two thousand acres in hay. There are five thousand acres of corn, wheat and soybeans with eleven hundred under center pivot irrigation. There are fifty ranch hands to work the operation. There are one hundred trained horses for ranch needs,’’ Marcy said.

“There is the normal bunk house for ranch hands and a dozen houses for the managers. The main house that the owners lived in is fifteen bed rooms with all the normal things and several cooks. It also serves as the office. There are dozens of buildings for hay, straw and equipment storage. They also have a Bell helicopter and there is a runway,” Marcy said.

‘’There is an annual cattle drive to move the herd from the higher elevations for the winter season. It takes about three weeks. I’m trying to get the logistics taken care so we can take part in it. Jason and Dad have been there twice. They both were impressed with the people there,’’ Marcy said.

‘’Plan to take three weeks in the fall. It will be once in a life time vacation for us and the boys. A cattle drive, three weeks in covered wagons and riding horses, and a buffalo hunt off horseback with Winchesters,’’ Marcy said.

‘’Make sure to get with Cowboy for riding lessons for all of us. I know Dad and Jason will be there, find out about Jake and Mindy. Also, don’t forget to have James Clown to get lever action Winchesters for all of us and a dozen or two extras. Don’t forget about revolvers and gun belts or enough horse drawn wagons to make it an authentic western vacation,’’ I replied.

‘’To answer your question, Charlie. Yes, my mates have added another ranch; ninety -nine thousand acres one hundred and fifty – five square miles,’’ I said.

‘’Then thousand cattle, five thousand bison on open range for some of it. It’s a working ranch and all the support operations to go with it. They are planning on a three -week vacation in the fall during the fall cattle drive in covered wagons with a buffalo hunt on horseback. Sounds like a fun vacation that they think I need,’’ I said.

I guess my mates were serious that we were going to spend a lot more time together on vacations.

‘’That’s all the time I have for today, enjoy the donuts,” I said as I turned and started to walk away.

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