XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns XPost: misc.immigration.usa
On 2025-02-06, John Smyth <
smythlejon2@hotmail.com> wrote:
'Biden's State Dept. Gave $25K to Ecuadorian Drag Queens'
<https://jimtreacher.substack.com/p/bidens-state-dept-gave-25k-to-ecuadorian?utm=>
'Two of my favorite things in the world are reducing the size of
government and watching leftists cry in thwarted frustration. We almost
never see the former, and there’s not nearly enough of the latter to
suit me.
So I won’t pretend the last couple of weeks haven’t been fun. It’s amazing to watch Democrats wail and gnash their teeth at Elon Musk and
his team of autists ferreting out government waste. A handful of nerds
have lifted up the mossy rock of federal bureaucracy, and now we can see
all the slimy little creatures hiding underneath.
Now, I’m skeptical it’ll do any good in the long run, because a politician has promised it will. As Barack Obama has shown us, promises
are not accomplishments. But it’s a start. Maybe it’ll work. If it does, I won’t pretend otherwise. Less government is good, no matter who gets
it done.
And I absoluteElon Musk has pledged to deploy his "DOGE" cost-cutting squad inside the innards of America's air traffic control system, promising Wednesday to "make rapid safety upgrades" to the complex web of software, hardware, facilities and people
that keep planes from crashing into each other.
"With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the @DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system," Musk posted to his social media platform X. Musk's comment came shortly after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
posted that he'd spoken to DOGE and that the squad plans to "plug in" to the air traffic control system to help make unspecified upgrades to unknown systems.
The rapid-fire set of remarks, following on the heels of a speech Duffy gave before a conference of state DOT officials on Wednesday, comes roughly a week after the worst U.S. airline crash in two decades, with investigators still in the early stages of
their probe. On Wednesday the last of the crash victims were identified, and salvage of the passenger airplane and the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that hit it are ongoing.
Details about what role Musk and his employees might play in changing the air traffic control system — or even what parts of the system are under their microscope — are murky. But Musk's social media post referenced problems the agency has had with a
system of notifying pilots about hazards, called "notice to air missions" (NOTAMs). The system went down over the weekend, though a backup system kicked in to ensure there were no major disruptions.
"Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours!" Musk wrote on X in his earlier post.
Neither the Transportation Department nor the White House answered requests for more details.
Early sentiment on Capitol Hill about Musk rooting through the air traffic control system hewed mostly to partisan lines.
“I haven’t thought about it,” said Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.), who sits on the House Transportation Committee. “We’re probably 15 years behind in technology at [the] FAA in terms of what’s used by air traffic controllers and everything else.
He may be the very perfect person. He’s got experience.”
Added Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.): “I don’t see an issue with it.”
Some Democrats, meanwhile, expressed serious alarm about Musk’s plan.
“I think it’s petrifying to the American people, especially after we just suffered another horrific tragedy here in Washington, D.C.,” Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.) said. “Now is not the time to put someone with zero experience in dealing with our
national air traffic controllers into any position of authority.”
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Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who sits on the Transportation Committee, said he has “great concerns” about the billionaire eyeing air traffic control: “They’re gonna have a lot more plane crashes, and maybe the planes won’t be able to get off the
ground,” he said.
Former New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton groused on social media that the people reportedly involved with DOGE "have no relevant experience. Most of them aren't old enough to rent a car," she said. "And you're going to let them mess with airline
safety that's already deteriorated on your watch?" Duffy swiftly retorted: "'experienced' Washington bureaucrats are the reason our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. You need to sit this one out."
Airlines for America, the trade group that represents major U.S. airlines, said in a statement that they "applaud White House efforts to examine the key role FAA technology infrastructure plays in keeping our national airspace safe.”
What exactly the effort may examine is unclear. But earlier Wednesday Duffy promised to “remake our airspace.”
Duffy said that he’d spoken with Musk on Tuesday, calling him a “pretty remarkable guy” who has “access to the best technological people, the best engineers in the world.”
“We’re gonna remake our airspace,” Duffy continued. “And we’re gonna do it quickly, and we have the support of the Congress, I think right now, to say, you know what, we’re using like 1960s, World War II technology in much of the components
of the airspace. We’re gonna upgrade it.”
Controllers currently use antiquated equipment, including a radar-based system of keeping track of planes. An effort to transition to a satellite-based air traffic control system known as NextGen has been underway for years, but has been beset by cost
overruns and delays.
Some sectors met the news with enthusiasm. The CEO of air taxi company Archer, Adam Goldstein, responded to Duffy's posting saying that "upgrading the technology that underpins the entire aviation system is WAY overdue."
In his speech, Duffy also said that his agency has a plan to “surge” air traffic controllers to be announced in the “next couple days.”
It’s going to take time to get more controllers into the workforce, Duffy emphasized, noting that it is not like “flippin’ a switch” to train them.
The country has been chronically short of controllers — which have a high wash-out rate during training, and who take years to be fully trained — for many decades, dating back to President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 decision to fire striking controllers.
That shortage was exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the conference, Duffy didn’t offer any specifics about the plan, and DOT could not immediately provide any additional details. But controllers are typically trained in the vagaries of specific airspace and must have separate training to
work in certain kind of facilities.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association in a statement said it welcomes the opportunity to work with Duffy on "improving the recruitment, training, and retention" of controllers to "help address the chronic staffing shortage."
Duffy also noted that, before last week’s catastrophic midair collision between a regional American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over the Potomac River, two controller positions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — one focused on
helicopters and the other on planes — had been consolidated earlier in the day than is typical.
“I’m gonna look at the policies and procedures inside the tower, why that happened,” Duffy said.
He also questioned why military helicopter training flights in D.C., like the one involved in the disaster, are done at hours such as 9 p.m. when passenger air routes are busy, rather than later overnight, like at 1 a.m.
“And if we have generals who are flying in helicopters for convenience through this airspace, that’s unacceptable,” Duffy said. “Get in a damn Suburban and drive.”
The Black Hawk in the crash was conducting a routine training mission. The 12th Aviation Battalion — the same unit involved in the collision — is charged with priority air transport for government officials below the president, including the
secretary of Defense, four-star generals and members of Congress. But the unit has a more important mission: ensuring the continuity of government if the U.S. capital is under attackly love the reaction to all these revelations of
ridiculously wasteful spending. The Biden administration was utterly
corrupt. Grandpa Joe has dementia, so the neighborhood kids were running around the house after nabbing the keys to the liquor cabinet.
Now Americans are finally learning how badly their hard-earned money has
been wasted, and they’re justifiably pissed off at their self-appointed betters. That includes my favorite government agency of all: the State Department.
Ryan King and Josh Christenson, NY Post:
An LGBTQ group in Ecuador tapped into a $25,000 grant from the Biden
State Department to produce a two-day drag workshop intended to promote diversity and inclusion abroad…
Fundacion Dialogo Diverso, a nongovernmental organization that aims to promote democracy and the “LGBTIQ+ population” of the South American country, organized the drag show and published footage of it last July.
The State Department footed some of the bill for the show through its
Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration, for which the nonprofit
thanked the department.
Why did the Biden administration fund a two-day Ecuadorian drag
workshop? Because it wasn’t three days.
And yes, there’s video.
Whew! Just think what might’ve happened to those guys if they didn’t get their drag workshop, huh?
The State Department is the agency that gave me the runaround for four
years after crippling me for life. Turns out, they would’ve paid me a settlement a lot quicker if I dressed up like a woman and shimmied for
‘em.
Look, man, if you want to be an Ecuadorian drag queen, go right ahead.
Live your best life, girlfriend. But why the hell am I paying for it?
If the Trump/Musk crackdown means a few gay guys in South America will
be sad that they can’t dress up like girls without any help from Los Estados Unidos, I can live with that.
Apparently that makes me a Nazi. Because if there’s one thing we know
about those guys, it’s that they hated big government and didn’t want it telling them what to do and say.
I don’t watch ESPN, but a lot of people have complained that it’s gone woke. Which might be bad for sports, but it’s great for comedy.
Here’s my favorite new Orwellianism: “biologically assigned male.”
First they tried “assigned male at birth.” As if the delivery-room
doctor looking at your little dingus was just expressing an opinion.
That rhetoric didn’t work, I guess, so now it’s “biologically assigned.”
Which is more accurate, in the sense that human biology dictates whether you’re male or female.
But isn’t it redundant? Wouldn’t it be simpler and more effective to
just say “male”? Are there any editors left at ESPN
That is some sick stuff.
Advice, don't watch the video on a full stomach as you will puke.
Unless you are Joel Crump in which case you'll probably be.......
...well you get the idea.
--
pothead
Why did Joe Biden pardon his family?
Read below to learn the reason.
The Biden Crime Family Timeline here:
https://oversight.house.gov/the-bidens-influence-peddling-timeline/
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