Morning Doc Sarvis
You said it. CODEL is the term. The DCANG has a comfortable Boeing passenger jet just for Congressmen. These wastrels probably flew on it to Scotland.
Last century I flew on this Boeing which sortied out of Maryland.
Once the plane was at one with the clouds, a Senior Airman served the passengers and I delicious box lunches: Little cartons of milk and fruit juice, bottle of water, choice of ham and cheese or tuna fish sandwich on white bread, lots of mustard, mayo, and ketchup packets, little bag of Frito Lays potato chips, shiny red apple, and a chocolate candy bar.
But alas and alack, no Lucky Strikes cigarettes. The US Army used to put packs of four in the C-rations.
This CODEL-- like many things-- should have been self-aborted.
The US is at war, many federal employees are not getting paid, and the cost of food and fuel is going through the roof.
Poor optics. I hope they all lose on Tuesday 3 Nov 2026.
BTW: About the film you noted with the WWI soldier unknowingly coming across escaped lunatics running the town, Robert Bloch wrote a crisp short story about a young woman doing sort of the same thing. Right now I'm reading Mammoth by John Varley. I was choosing something more serious to read, but decided to go with something light.