Patterico's Pontifications

9/22/2017

Yes, Betsy DeVos Is Leaving On A Jet Plane – But It’s One That She Owns And Pays For Herself

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:13 am



[guest post by Dana]

Just your periodic reminder of how Big Media intentionally misleads readers in order to provoke an instantaneous kind of sneering outrage:

Untitled

Untitled

You would need to cick on either of the links to find out that yes, DeVos does indeed travel on a private plane, however, it is her own personal plane, and she flies it at her own expense:

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos flies on her personal plane at her own expense when she visits schools around the country, according to her office, as other Cabinet secretaries’ flying habits at taxpayers’ cost have drawn scrutiny.

Education Department Press Secretary Liz Hill said in a statement to The Associated Press that DeVos travels “on personally-owned aircraft” at zero cost to taxpayers. Speaking with the AP on Thursday, Hill would not disclose details about the model or any other characteristics of the aircraft.

“The secretary neither seeks, nor accepts, any reimbursement for her flights, nor for any additional official travel-related expenses, such as lodging and per diem, even though she is entitled to such reimbursement under government travel regulations,” Hill said. “Secretary DeVos accepted her position to serve the public and is fully committed to being a faithful steward of taxpayer dollars.”

But why waste time being clear from the get-go, when ginning up outrage is so much more effective!

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

99 Responses to “Yes, Betsy DeVos Is Leaving On A Jet Plane – But It’s One That She Owns And Pays For Herself”

  1. Good morning. I’m commuting to work on my own dime, just like DeVos.

    Dana (023079)

  2. do you recall any of the Associated Press fake news propaganda sluts showing any interest in the travel habits of Food Stamp’s cabinet?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. Same here, Dana. Who knew we were such good stewards?

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  4. Of course, the operative word in those headlines is “private,” as in exclusive. The outrage is supposed to be about not using public transportation, maybe?

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  5. The AP likes to lie a lot.

    nk (dbc370)

  6. I think any kind of outrage they can get is what it’s about, Felipe. But yes, “exclusive,” far away from the hoi polloi.

    Dana (023079)

  7. If they don’t like her use of personal aircraft for business use wait till she writes it off on her taxes.

    crazy (d99a88)

  8. Liberal media implying that a Republican administration is spending tax money when it isn’t. Ho-hum, business as usual.

    And then, in 2018 or 2020 they media will be loudly baffled that they can’t get their message across to the voters!

    Dear Liberal Left Media Nitwits,

    We don’t listen to you anymore because anyone with the intelligence of a cherrystone clam has been able to predict what you would say on any occasion these last thirty years. You’ve used up any benefit of the doubt to which you might have been entitled. We know you shill for the Democrats, for the Far Left activists, and for whatever causes they may take up. And you aren’t even entertaining about it.

    Now, please go away.

    C. S. P. Schofield (99bd37)

  9. Stop the hammering, goddammit!

    Colonel Haiku (169911)

  10. What you have to ask yourself csp is what information did they leave out in order to put out this bit of fake news, well the awan clan reign of terror is memoryholed as is the menendez trial (maybe if he had killed someone:
    dailycaller.com/2017/09/21/tucker-smacks-down-rob-reiner-and-hollywoods-war-with-russia

    narciso (d1f714)

  11. Mnuchin and his cow should milk themselves like Betsy.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  12. lol Mnuchin and his wife are just kinda nasty – there’s just no coming back from her too-revealing tweeters

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  13. Dana, thank you for another example of Teh Narrative™.

    Many, many people on all sides of all the political divides do it. They shade, shape, and lie like Persian rugs to advance their narratives.

    Why, we even see it in the comments section from time to time.

    Me, I am delighted when a rich person spends their own money on their own airplane to do government work.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  14. There’s only one thing you marry a woman like that for. And it’s not her “tweeters”.

    nk (dbc370)

  15. She was a minor cast member in mostly forgettable films, you forget the import of this fake news Simon, its everywhere thanks to ap, and like Ababa’s greatest hits impossible to dislodge from the ear canal.

    narciso (d1f714)

  16. yes but it’s not opposed to be so nakedly evident

    there are time-honored conventions and stratagems what can lend these arrangements a patina of dignity for both parties

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  17. Good morning, Dana.

    This is part of the argument as to why Twitter sucks. So many people will see only the Tweet, not read the article, and just assume that the taxpayer is paying for Secretary DeVos’s private plane. Twitter has become the Cliff’s Notes for the politically lazy. On a related note, I am please to see that you do not follow @AP_Politics or @thehill.

    Secretary DeVos is rapidly turning into my favorite cabinet member (along with, of course, Ambassador Haley at the UN. The more the left whines about her, the more I’m starting to think she’s the real deal.

    JVW (42615e)

  18. They’re newlyweds, happyfeet. Give them a couple of years.

    nk (dbc370)

  19. Its like pena nieto, of zeta infested quintana too, sought out ‘the swan’
    for his consort, after his two failed marriages.

    Now tucker calling out an alpha strike on meathead seems extreme but needs must. Frum and boot, have been extremely silly, re graham chapman

    narciso (d1f714)

  20. Tom Price has opened this door, unfortunately, by using private charter flights inappropriately.

    Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers’ expense since early May, according to people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents.

    The frequency of the trips underscores how private travel has become the norm — rather than the exception — for the Georgia Republican during his tenure atop the federal health agency, which began in February. The cost of the trips identified by POLITICO exceeds $300,000, according to a review of federal contracts and similar trip itineraries.

    Price’s use of private jets represents a sharp departure from his two immediate predecessors, Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially in the continental United States. HHS officials have said Price uses private jets only when commercial travel is not feasible.

    Somebody should have clued him in but he seems to have swamp instincts.

    Mike K (b3dd19)

  21. She has the right enemies, even though her doctrine might not be entirely sound.

    narciso (d1f714)

  22. Ryan Zinke’s my favorite so far and he’s one of the only ex-military senior appointees what’s not a sleazy boofter

    still rooting for Scott Pruitt to get his act together and reverse the endangerment finding

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  23. They are all driving Matt taibbi to the point where he might just prof Arnold in kingsman, which painted agw supporters as rank idiots nearing psychosis.

    narciso (d1f714)

  24. Well, if she jaunts to London, the attaches would be out of luck: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-41358640

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  25. Perfect example of what I think of as #fakenews. These media outlets did not retail false facts to you; everything they told you is 100% factual. It is their narrative that is false, and is known to be so because of facts they did not bother to present.

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  26. Price could take over the entire first class section of flights and it would cost less.

    I can see doing this if going to some small or obscure place without good connections, but that seems not to be the case.

    Mike K (b3dd19)

  27. Kim and Trump tweeting insults, ceaselessly testing one another’s hormonal reserves. Better than nukes…

    Ben burn (515793)

  28. Price coveting OPM.

    Ben burn (515793)

  29. It does seem excessive, we would have to break down the numbers

    narciso (d1f714)

  30. it’s kinda telling that Dr. Price hasn’t had the grace to apologize and re-pay what he bilked from the taxpayers

    In the wake of the revelations, CNBC reported that Price had, as congressman in 2009, criticized the use of private jets by government officials as “fiscal irresponsibility run amok.”

    this is not a person of good character

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  31. There should not even be a Health and Human Services Secretary. Or a Secretary of Education. But if Betsy deVos manages to cut off federal tuition grants and scholarships and federal guarantees of student loans for colleges and universities, I will buy her a pair of fuzzy dice for the rear view mirror of plane.

    nk (dbc370)

  32. Yes like abba, they never go away, and graham Cassidy does grant some authority
    to do the right thing

    narciso (d1f714)

  33. It’s bash Sweden’s pop culture contributions week.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  34. Sorry to be ot, but this is important.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/weird/857461/END-OF-THE-WORLD-October-21-nibiru-planet-x-2017-apocalypse-tribulation/amp
    series of earthquakes around the globe as well as catastrophic storms which have rocked the US has led some Christians to say that these are the “signs” pointed out in the Bible, and in October there will be a “seven-year Tribulation period, to be followed by a Millennium of peace”.

    Numerologist David Meade, who has been the main cheerleader of the September 23 prophecy, now claims that his “most recent astronomical cryptography of the imminent judgments approaching begins in the week of October 21, 2017”.

    “The End of Days, in my opinion (and remember we see ‘through a glass darkly’), will begin in the latter part of October of 2017.”

    Serious End Times stuffing.

    Ben burn (515793)

  35. The Trump Administration needs to step it up a notch.

    AZ Bob (8784fc)

  36. That’s just reparations AZbob.

    Ben burn (515793)

  37. Mr. burn did a funnie!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  38. I think I just found the reason for the AP fakenews: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/22/devos-rescinds-obama-era-rules-on-campus-sexual-assault-cases.html

    Look for more attacks on her.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. Mr. burn is a funnie. Not as in funnie ha-ha — funnie as in weird.

    nk (dbc370)

  40. it was still Tom Price’s crass piggishness what gave the AP fake news propaganda sluts their news hook

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  41. Mr. burn did a funnie!
    happyfeet (28a91b) — 9/22/2017 @ 8:46 am

    Yeah, I didn’t think he had it in him.

    AZ Bob (8784fc)

  42. Tough crowd lacks humor gene..fails to notice when kicked in groin.

    Ben burn (515793)

  43. I’m here for the lurkers. They get it.

    Ben burn (515793)

  44. Like the Three Stooges.

    AZ Bob (8784fc)

  45. Now get back on topic:

    Demise of new Whigs.

    Ben burn (515793)

  46. Well ace of base is acceptable, yes this is why they loose the squirrels

    narciso (d1f714)

  47. @ nk (#33): I’ll pitch in for the genuine (not faux) mink toilet-seat cover for the lavatory in the jet.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  48. Snow on teh ground here in Lake Tahoe… perfect end to Summer.

    Colonel Haiku (b4e26d)

  49. I dunno about that one Nars, there’s a strain of right-dom that believes the Jedi were a stand-in for the Viet Cong.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  50. The lurkers know how to block trolls too… made easier when the trolls confess they have no desire to engage with anyone, but are simply performing for an audience.

    Frederick (64d4e1)

  51. You don’t engage Frederick. You instruct.

    Ben burn (515793)

  52. Here, teh ground squirrels are apolitical… you wouldn’t fit in benburnt

    Colonel Haiku (d82f96)

  53. Anyway, you’re a numbers guy right?

    41.343% of my posts are responses to disputed comments.

    Ben burn (515793)

  54. @54. “This is Radio Moscow. It never snows in East Berlin.”

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  55. *Owning* a private plane and flying it, to me, suggest a potential for being out of touch with the needs and concerns of working-class people; it’s expensive, and it suggests a huge amount of money being spent in ways that are beyond the imagination of most of the people in my life.

    That said, owning a private plane and flying it and *paying for it herself* are ethically responsible actions, taking responsibility herself for her lifestyle, and while they make me skeptical of her ability to understand the average person, they don’t strike me as being contemptible in the way that Sec. Price’s choices do.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  56. Ding. Sincere applause, aphrael.

    urbanleftbehind (b7e902)

  57. While they are clueless, I don’t find Price’s actions contemptible.

    However, I do find the city of San Francisco, with its streets filled with homeless, doorways reeking of urine, human feces dotting the sidewalks, perverted street fairs, and behaviors that do not inspire, but only confuse our youth, to be fully worthy of contempt.

    Colonel Haiku (169911)

  58. what price did is every bit as contemptible as sleazy John McCain’s corrupt and stinky military frittering away defense funds on tranny ointment

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  59. You don’t find it contemptible to charge the public treasury more than 10 times as much as you need to to accomplish the travel required by your job, using that money to allow you to travel in luxury, while lying about your reasons for doing it?

    That’s an amazing fact to me.

    —–

    I’d be interested to know what you think we should do to solve our homeless problem. We’re *not* going to throw the homeless in jail; what are our other choices?

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  60. I suppose Price indulging his momentary interests — his comfort and convenience — at the expense of the people, is personal, petite bourgeois and self-indulgent, and he perhaps should be questioned at the next meeting of the Politburo.

    Betsy DeVos, however, is acting entirely sensibly. There is no virtue in suffering and it may even be said that it is immoral to suffer unnecessarily. Commercial air travel these days is an ordeal and anyone who can afford to avoid it should avoid it.

    nk (dbc370)

  61. Price indulging his momentary interests on his own dime would be about as disinteresting as DeVos indulging her momentary interests on her own dime is — not worth spending time talking about.

    Price indulging his momentary interests and billing the taxpayer for it, though, is indicative of a pretty serious moral failing: he talks a lot about government fiscal responsibility, but he thinks it doesn’t need to apply to him, and he seems unconcerned with the fact that DHS’ limited resources could be put to more productive ends, which an *honorable* man would seek to do.

    DeVos’ behavior is honorable. Price’s isn’t.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  62. utah figured out the trick to the homeless problem

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  63. @66. So did the Third Reich.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  64. yeah well so did your butt

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  65. Remind me again, how much was spent by the gsa to little purpose how about lerners persecution of the tea party (ah politico made excuses for her) I guess fast and furious was mostly administrative costs.

    narciso (d1f714)

  66. Price indulging his momentary interests and billing the taxpayer for it, though, is indicative of a pretty serious moral failing

    I am inclined to agree. Moreover, I’m always glad to see you commenting here.

    nk (dbc370)

  67. Solve the homeless problem? I think SF should post “welcome homeless” signs on every major thoroughfare at the city limits, provide needles and access to powdered narcotics, free vouchers for alcoholic beverages, in fact free everything except toilet paper, to their homeless by choice population.

    However, they should provide compassionate help to families and those who can prove they are homeless through circumstances beyond their control.

    Colonel Haiku (169911)

  68. Although I would not allocate the HHS resources elsewhere — I would forgo taxing the people for them in the first place.

    nk (dbc370)

  69. That’s not really a serious answer.

    Honestly, a large percentage of the homeless population appears to be mentally ill. I walk by tent encampments somewhat often, as there are certain sets of starting and ending locations where it’s impossible to avoid them, and while there are normal down-on-their-luck types, there are also a lot of people arguing with people that aren’t there or otherwise showing signs of disconnection with reality — and *not* in the way that people on drugs show themselves to be disconnected from reality.

    But it’s illegal to forcibly institutionalize them, and the state’s mental institutions were closed as a cost-cutting measure half a century ago in any event.

    So we’re forced to come up with other options, and there aren’t many good ones.

    Decreasing the cost of housing would probably help some, but it wouldn’t eliminate the problem entirely, and there doesn’t seem to be a politically viable way of decreasing the cost of housing. (I’m an outlier in SF politics in that my answer would be to build more housing anywhere we possibly can, and that makes me look like a wild-eyed conservative reactionary to many).

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  70. I fear there is no cash incentive for those seeking solutions to homelessness and until a business model emerges soon it will be impossible to contain without relocation camps.

    Ben burn (515793)

  71. Honestly, a large percentage of the homeless population appears to be mentally ill.

    That. And there’s no fix. The largest provider of mental health treatment in the U.S. is Cook County jail. They’re brought in, they’re cleaned up, stabilized nutritionally and medically, signed up for Obamacare Medicaid, and let loose after about 30 days. And they go back to not being able to function again including taking their medications, refilling their prescription, or making their way to a shelter to spend the night.

    nk (dbc370)

  72. The homeless themselves are incapable of *paying* for a solution. They don’t have the resources and are unable to obtain them.

    The voters of San Francisco are paralyzed by an inconsistency of desires: they want something to be done about the problem, but they don’t want it to be cruel, and they don’t want to pay more than a small amount for it. So nothing happens, really.

    Ideally we need to provide housing for the homeless, treatment for their mental illnesses, and some sort of structure that helps them get back into the workforce. But that’s expensive, and even if we could pay for everyone who needs it here, doing it well will simply encourage the downtrodden of the rest of the country to move here – and that we couldn’t pay for.

    I think there are things we could do that we aren’t, but I don’t think they would be enough to solve the problem; just to make it a little better.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  73. NK – and yet jailing people for being mentally ill is insanely cruel (pun not intended) AND expensive.

    I think we have a moral obligation as a society to help these people rather than punishing them, but we don’t have a good infrastructure for doing it, nor do most Americans seem to understand mental illness enough to be willing to have society undertake the work.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  74. You certainly have the resources in San Francisco, if anyplace dies but oddly nothing is done, I suppose they would rather have the issue instead. So you end up voting for candidates who set out state to utter insolvency and beyond. Its better to hear the Eloi claxins.

    narciso (d1f714)

  75. Well, no, they’re not jailed for being mentally ill. They’re jailed when they make themselves enough of a nuisance with small crimes. That’s the dark side of mental illness — the mentally ill make their problems other people’s problems. Since there are no institutions to hold them long term, the doctors at Cook County Jail and its medical adjuncts do their best to stabilize and let them loose again.

    nk (dbc370)

  76. We’d have the resources to help the people who are here, I agree. We wouldn’t have the resources if the entire country’s mentally ill homeless decamped for here.

    I don’t agree that *nothing* is done. Nothing *effective* is done. The city spends about 3% of its budget on services for the homeless — $300 million *a year* — but that doesn’t seem to be sufficient to make a noticeable dent in the problem.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  77. In November of 2016, the voters of San Francisco passed this measure:

    > Shall the City prohibit the placement of tents on public sidewalks without a City permit and allow the City to remove unauthorized tents if the City provides 24-hour advance notice, offers shelter for all tent residents and stores the residents’ personal property for up to 90 days?

    The argument against was predicated in part on the following points:

    > Prop Q doesn’t create additional housing or beds—it would simply shuffle people from block to block. San Francisco currently has multiple year waits for public housing, and 800 people are languishing on the shelter waitlist.

    > To comply with Prop Q, the City will likely hold existing shelter beds empty to make temporary space for campers, bypassing elderly and disabled people who were already in line for desperately needed shelter.

    > Prop Q would force City outreach workers to dismantle tents with only 24 hours’ notice, and to offer only a one-night stay in a shelter, after which campers would be right back out on the streets. This is unworkable in a number of ways. For example, shelters require a Tuberculosis clearance before entry, and it takes three days for the test results.

    Unsurprisingly, the tent cities have not been removed, because the SFPD can’t comply with the requirement of offering shelter for the residents.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  78. Even if we did have the institutions to hold them, you know a person cannot be involuntarily committed simply for being mentally ill, right? Or addicted? He has to pose a threat to society?

    nk (dbc370)

  79. Yes, i’m aware.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  80. Do California and Illinois have the equivalent of Florida’s Baker Act
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Mental_Health_Act

    kishnevi (ceb37f)

  81. As a PD intern c.1980 I was routinely sent to represent the patient at the hearing (by a magistrate, not a judge) in which the decision to hold for 30 days or not was made. The hearings often turned into discussions as to what was available to help the patient after release. The patient was usually competent enough to be involved in the discussion. Nine times out of ten the conclusion was nothing was available so best keep the patient confined.

    Was never involved with Baker Act cases since then, so I have no idea what has or has not changed.

    kishnevi (ceb37f)

  82. Yes, but it’s only for 24 hours unless there’s a certification for commitment. Although the “interventionists” often coerce the patient, through various threats, to agreeing to voluntary commitment which makes the whole thing easier and is for a longer period.

    nk (dbc370)

  83. Sorry. That’s Illinois, kishnevi.

    nk (dbc370)

  84. So the system is designed to actively prevent any actual solution thank Geraldo and rd lainb and probably bazelon. One might say It’s what alinsky would have wanted, but ‘i couldn’t possibly say that’

    narciso (d1f714)

  85. Florida is about the same, just a different waiting period.
    Although I will say that the cases in which I was involved forcing the patient to agree to voluntary commitment was often the best option.

    kishnevi (ceb37f)

  86. Send ’em to San Francisco. Most of the rest of the city’s population is mentally ill and they claim to be the most tolerant city in the country, so they shouldn’t have an issue with it.

    Colonel Haiku (169911)

  87. That’s like sending the dribbles to the klingons, a cruel exercise on both sides of the equation.

    narciso (d1f714)

  88. The north shore of Oahu is prime homeless territory. the hiisides overlooking some of the finest surfing breaks anywhere.
    Watch your step # 2’s and toilet paper all around.

    mg (31009b)

  89. hillsides

    mg (31009b)

  90. If we took all the homeless and mentally ill and shipped them to Montana for the winter, their productivity and ability to hold down jobs would rocket.

    I think half the homeless in Manhattan have College Degrees and utter lack of shame.

    KRS One (466f48)

  91. And we should open Govt paid drug distribution centers. 100% free, perfectly pure heroin, as much as you want with medical care a few miles down the road.

    Another problem that would disappear overnight.

    KRS One (466f48)

  92. Ship the homeless to the coasts, leave Big Sky alone. Peeps from cali have trashed Montana enough.

    mg (31009b)

  93. DeVos moves to restore due process, schools and even entire states resist:

    http://thefederalist.com/2017/09/22/devos-ditches-obama-era-campus-assault-rules-problems-lie-ahead/

    Plus she pays her own way as a donation to govt. service……no wonder they hate her.

    harkin (fc9aef)

  94. There is a whole appratchik army in exile beginning with madam Lafarge llamon who proposed these edicts tested in fauxcohantas BFF Sullivan’s uva, just Luke the astroturfed opposition to the travel ban

    narciso (d1f714)

  95. To spite Trump/DeVos and continue the destruction of Chairman Zero, CA decides to take away the constitutional rights of public school children;

    what could go wrong?

    https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/opinion/california-sexual-assault-law-blacks.html?smid=tw-share&referer=https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

    harkin (fc9aef)


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