I added this because I am quite sure none of us could have figured it out for ourselves.
President Barack Obama has spent more time traveling abroad than other U.S. president in history at this point in their presidencies, according to a forthcoming study from the National Taxpayer Union Foundation (NTUF) provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release.
“The most internationally well-traveled President, through five years, is also flying the most expensive-to-operate Air Force One to date,” NTUF wrote.
After five years in the White House, Obama has taken 31 trips for a total of 119 days abroad. At that point in George W. Bush’s presidency, Bush had taken 28 trips for 116 days, while Bill Clinton had taken 27 trips for 113 days. Ronald Reagan, after five years, had taken 14 trips for 73 days while Richard Nixon had taken 12 trips for 60 days after five years in the White House and Lyndon Johnson took 10 trips for 34 days at the half-decade mark. Dwight Eisenhower took 8 trips for 31 days after five years in the White House.
Citing a recent report in the Washington Examiner that found through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that taxpayers are on the hook for about $228,288 per Air Force One flight hour in 2013, a 27 percent increase from the previously confirmed cost of $179,750 per fight hour that NTUF used in its last study, the taxpayer watchdog concludes that Obama’s flights have cost taxpayers more than any other president.
“Taken on its own, the $48,535 jump may not sound all that significant,” NTUF added about the cost increase for Air Force One. “However, when trips are many thousands of miles and span several time zones and continents, the difference can quickly add up.”...
NTUF added that those amounts are just estimates, and the actual cost is likely to be higher. “While these figures are approximations, and do not account for the additional (and likely greater) expenses of transporting the President’s Secret Service and diplomatic entourage, backup aircraft, land vehicles, and advance security teams, it goes to show that higher Air Force One operational costs substantially change the budgetary magnitude of these trips,” NTUF wrote.
As Belgium's capital and host to the EU and Nato, Brussels is used to deploying heavy security when big names pop by. But US President Barack Obama's visit on Tuesday will strain the city like never before with €10m (£8.4m) of Belgian money being spent to cover his 24 hours in the country.
The president will arrive on Tuesday night with a 900-strong entourage, including 45 vehicles and three cargo planes. Advance security teams orchestrating every last detail have combed Brussels already, checking the sewers and the major hospitals, while American military helicopters were last week given the green light for overflights. The city hosts at least four EU summits a year, with each of these gatherings costing €500,000 in extra police, military and transport expenses. "But this time round, you can multiply that figure by 20," said Brussels mayor, Yvan Mayeur...
After landing at Wevelgem aerodrome, a phalanx of 30 armoured cars will take Obama to the cemetery where – accompanied by Belgium's King Philippe and Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo – he will tour the battlefield and lay a wreath.
It's good to be king. And get the arrogance in this statement by some Leftist Belgian apparatchik.
Brussels already has a reputation as a gridlock capital, ahead of the likes of Los Angeles and London. But Brigitte Grouwels, who heads the city's transport policy, said the expected lockdown of key areas during Obama's visit should encourage locals to walk, cycle and take public transport. She said: "Obama's visit gives an excellent opportunity … to experience first hand a city unencumbered by cars."
"She said: "Obama's visit gives an excellent opportunity … to experience first hand a city unencumbered by cars."
OK, ThirstyMan is going into his "the rest of the story" mode...
Here is Ms Brigitte Grouwels sporting her bike:
And here she is a bit earlier in her illustrious career....
In any case, riding the bike in Europe, is in a class of its own. They have these designated paths just for bicycles and a tourist better pay attention to the designations for bicycle/pedestrian. It is best not step over that line!
Here's the bicycle situation in Amsterdam... ************** "Amsterdam has about 740,000 residents and 500,000 bicycles (of which 80,000 will be stolen this year). Bicycles account for 40 percent of all human transport in the city center. Cycling is quiet, healthy and pollution-free, and it cuts downtown traffic congestion. So the Gemeente (city council) is fanatically pro-bike. Today nearly every street has at least one dedicated fietspad (bike lane) running along it. And even more traffic-sculpting measures are planned to keep cyclists happy and safe.
Uh, okay so what about us peds?
One consequence of giving cyclists their own traffic lanes is that they can get a little cocky. If a motorist and cyclist have an accident, of course the motorist is deemed at fault. But the same attitude has casually extended to the relationship between cyclists and pedestrians. People just seem to acknowledge that the bicycle is lord of the street, and that everything else — human being, car, truck, tram, bus or Boeing 747 — must give way to anything on two wheels. True, in pedestrian zones cyclists are required to dismount and walk their bikes. And I've seen that rule strictly enforced, too, whenever the moon is in Sagitarius and today's lottery number begins with 4." http://www.postwar.nl/amsterdam/howams_p...ottogethit.html
******************* "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." Abraham Lincoln
"Either the Republican party will reform itself or its going the way of the wind." Pat Caddell at CPAC