F-18

Another day, another market-moving tweet from Donald Trump.

Moments ago, the president-elect, following up on his recent spat with Lockheed over the F-35, which one week ago Trump said its "program and cost is out of control”, continued his crusade on over-budget government programs, when he tweeted that "based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!"

President Obama had a close encounter today.

Shortly after the president delivered his commencement address at the Air Force Academy's graduation ceremony in Colorado, a Thunderbirds fighter jet crashed south of Colorado Springs just after the team had performed at the Air Force Academy’s graduation. The pilot safely ejected. According to the Denver Post, the crash happened minutes after the Thunderbirds’ F-16 jets flew over President Obama and others at the ceremony. Photos from the scene showed the white jet upright and seemingly intact in a field.

Now you see it, now you don’t. Think of it as the Department of Defense’s version of the street con game, three-card monte, or maybe simply as the Pentagon shuffle. In any case, the Pentagon’s budget is as close to a work of art as you’re likely to find in the U.S. government—if, that is, by work of art you mean scam.