Month: January 2014

The last time I remember writing
something about the long overdue and over-budget F-35 fighter
plane, it was July 2013 and it was
another short bit about how the Department of Defense was going
to buy even more of a plane that is already costing at least 70
percent much as originally advertised but, well, you know, shit
happens…

Last February, The Fiscal Times wrote a daming expose on
“The
Pentagon’s Incredible $1.5 Trillion Mistake“:

Equally impossible to ignore is the $1.5 trillion price tag for
one of the biggest failures in Pentagon history. $1.5 trillion is
the cost of operating the air craft for 55 years, an amount that
has been consistently increased as the program drags on. It’s the
most expensive weapons system the Pentagon has ever commissioned.
And as problems mount, there are growing concerns that the
F-35 will never fly a combat mission.

Now Reuters is reporting that 

The Pentagon repeatedly waived laws banning Chinese-built
components on U.S. weapons in order to keep the $392
billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program on
track in 2012 and 2013, even as U.S. officials were voicing concern
about China’s espionage and military buildup.

According to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters, chief U.S.
arms buyer Frank Kendall allowed two F-35 suppliers, Northrop
Grumman Corp and Honeywell International Inc, to use
Chinese magnets for the new warplane’s radar system, landing gears
and other hardware. Without the waivers, both companies could have
faced sanctions for violating federal law and the F-35 program
could have faced further delays.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) will
release a report on the matter in March.

Read the whole thing.

Another fun fact: If the Pentagon gets all the F-35s it wants,
it will possess
15 times the number of planes that China has. Assuming at least
some of those rustbuckets work (and aren’t carrying Chi-Com
hardware that is beaming info back to Beijing), we should be pretty
safe from that air war over the Pacific everyone is predicting to
commence any minute now.

Oh yeah, and while we wait for the GAO report to hit the
newsstands,
suck on this: The United States already accounts for fully 40
percent of the planet’s spending on military and defense spending
rose by 80 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars between 2001 and
2012. And somewhere in Arizona is a military aircraft graveyard
packe with over $35 billion (with a
b!) in never-used and nearly-new planes.

• The Chinese icebreaker that helped rescue passengers of a ship
  that got stuck in Antarctic ice is now itself
  trapped.
• The architect of New York City’s stop-and-frisk program has
  been
  sworn in again as New York City’s police commissioner.
• Former American Idol runner-up
  Clay Aiken is reportedly considering running for Congress in
  North Carolina.
• The recent winter storm that hit the northeast U.S. is being
  blamed for the deaths of at least 11
  people.  
• According to Ethiopia’s foreign minister, talks between
  representatives from the South Sudanese government and rebels have
  been
  “fruitful.”
• The United Nations says that nearly 1 million people have fled
  their homes in the
  Central African Republic amid ongoing violence.

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Sergio Garcia, an undocumented immigrant, was officially granted
a law license by the California Supreme Court January 1, 2014,
after challenging a federal law that barred undocumented immigrants
from receiving professional licenses, unless state lawmakers passed
a law stating otherwise. While the court was hearing arguments in
the case, lawmakers in California passed a bill that was signed by
Gov. Jerry Brown, allowing undocumented immigrants to receive
licenses.

“With tears in my eyes I’m happy to report I am being
admitted to the bar, thank God!” said Garcia on
his Facebook page, Jan. 2.

The California Supreme Court had to sign off on all new bar
members, and when they found out about Garcia’s status, they asked
the Obama Justice Department to weigh in on the case, to which the
Department said Garcia should not receive a license.
From CNN.com:

The Obama administration originally opposed Garcia’s
admission to the bar, saying that federal law demanded that
legislation be enacted granting an undocumented immigrant the right
to practice, according to a summary published by
lawprofessors.typepad.com.

But the Justice Department
backed off in November after California’s governor signed
a new law that did just that.

The bill, which passed in October and went into effect
this week, allows the bar to admit “an applicant who is not
lawfully present in the United States (who) has fulfilled the
requirements for admission to practice law.”

To see Garcia’s story, watch, “Can an Undocumented Immigrant
Become a U.S. Lawyer?”

Sergio Garcia, an undocumented immigrant, was officially granted
a law license by the California Supreme Court January 1, 2014,
after challenging a federal law that barred undocumented immigrants
from receiving professional licenses, unless state lawmakers passed
a law stating otherwise. While the court was hearing arguments in
the case, lawmakers in California passed a bill that was signed by
Gov. Jerry Brown, allowing undocumented immigrants to receive
licenses.

“With tears in my eyes I’m happy to report I am being
admitted to the bar, thank God!” said Garcia on
his Facebook page, Jan. 2.

The California Supreme Court had to sign off on all new bar
members, and when they found out about Garcia’s status, they asked
the Obama Justice Department to weigh in on the case, to which the
Department said Garcia should not receive a license.
From CNN.com:

The Obama administration originally opposed Garcia’s
admission to the bar, saying that federal law demanded that
legislation be enacted granting an undocumented immigrant the right
to practice, according to a summary published by
lawprofessors.typepad.com.

But the Justice Department
backed off in November after California’s governor signed
a new law that did just that.

The bill, which passed in October and went into effect
this week, allows the bar to admit “an applicant who is not
lawfully present in the United States (who) has fulfilled the
requirements for admission to practice law.”

To see Garcia’s story, watch, “Can an Undocumented Immigrant
Become a U.S. Lawyer?”