I consider myself pretty well informed at “working the angles”, but this is masterful.
{{ … the two grew up in a single room behind the Sanitary Cafe — a bar, pool hall and liquor store their parents ran in Central, South Carolina.
After their parents died within 15 months of each other, Darline became orphaned at age 13 in 1976. Graham — the first in his family to attend college, and a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps — became Darline’s legal guardian. That enabled Darline to access her brother’s military benefits, she told CNN in 2015. }}
Is that a common thing in the military? I assume that’s preferable to turning your kin over to the foster care system.
I also note that dear Lindsey spent most of his political career pulling up the social safety net ladder behind him.
intercst
8 Likes
Not sure what the nature of your question is. How is this the well-connected profiting from the social safety net? He was hardly well-connected as an ROTC student and recent reserve officer. She was a minor. Yes, you could say “here’s your new foster home" and split or you could become her legal guardian to allow closer supervision and yes, that would allow her to use whatever it is he gets from his military association. Not sure that’s exactly the same as “adopting” (She’s my sister/my daughter/my sister/my daughter”).
No, this isn’t “a thing” in the military. I never saw it and besides you need a reason to do that. You can’t go around just becoming legal guardian to whoever you think can benefit from Tricare or use of the AFB golf course
2 Likes
I don’t know how common it is but I can say that I had first hand experience with it in my platoon - and in my case, the guy didn’t really have custody but he claimed such (and the Army accepted the claim) for the enhanced benefits.
It allowed him to get paid to live off base and get a room and board allowance - all without his sibling living with him (though that was probably a requirement).
Hawkwin
Who will note the irony of our socialistic military that will dump benefits on a person based on their family status.
3 Likes
Ha!, Yes, you get paid more money if you’re married even if your wife makes more money than you do. What’s that apple pie and “freedom” crap I was supposed to die for?
3 Likes
Lindsey’s family ran the bar down the street from the factory. Of course, we’re talking South Carolina here, but I suspect the family had an above median income. Kind of tough to lose money selling alcohol.
Every politician claims he grew up poor and pulled himself up by his bootstaps – and you should be able to do it, too.
intercst
The phrase was originally used sarcastically to describe an impossible task, as it is physically impossible to lift oneself by the straps of one’s boots.
No one can do it, yet some are quick to claim they did and disavow any help or benefits they got along the way. Worse, they act to deny that help and benefits to others.
Sometimes, I think we’re living a big fat fiction.
7 Likes
I heard of a guy who did it. Bankrupt a couple times, at least. Booze and a casino, in which you take a slice of the action and can never actually lose yourself because you’re not in the gambling part of the equation, you just get the skim. Still lost his shirt. Amazing, really.
9 Likes
In the book “The Black Swan” Taleb discussed how the risk to the casino losing money on gambling is zero. They know exactly what the expected returns are. He was infuriated that the publisher proposed a pair of dice for the cover. Dice are predictable. There are no black swans with dice.
The Black Swan for casinos are unexpected events. For example, the Mirage was insured for one of Siegfried and Roy’s tigers attacking an audience member. They weren’t insured for one of the tigers attacking Roy, which cost the Mirage an estimated 100 million dollars.
In the incident you’re talking about, the black swan was the casino owner couldn’t do math. On second thought, maybe not a black swan. Lots of people can’t do math. On the other hand, owning a casino and not being able to do math is an unexpected event. That’s the thing about black swans, they are hard to see in hindsight.
7 Likes