Posted on by paulz0429

Recent News

This morning my wife and I were watching FoxNews. Sean Duffy, DOT Secretary, was talking about the cut backs in employees. One part of the conversation that hit me was that there were no cuts to Air Traffic Controllers. This has been one of the false statements in the news a lot lately so I thought I’d address it.

Back when I had come to the 10 year mark in my Navy career I decided to get out of the Navy and go to college. The government had changed the rules about the GI Bill and it would effect my use of it. In doing that I also checked on becoming an Air Traffic Controller. I had been a controller in the Navy and enjoyed the work. While what I did was more a tactical control, meaning I controlled aircraft to their missions and not take off and landing, I still had some of the basic education needed to work for the FAA as a controller.

The FAA had some requirements for becoming a Controller:

Be a US citizen (check)

Pass a medical exam (check)

Pass a security investigation (Had a clearance in the Navy)

Pass the FAA air traffic pre-employment test

Speak English clearly (check)

Have three years of relevant work experience, or a bachelor’s degree (check)

Be willing to relocate to an FAA facility (check)

Must be 31 or younger at time of application

Now some people would wonder about that last requirement but I knew the reason why. As we get older our ability to retain certain information starts to dwindle. The job is high stress with long hours in some cases.

Think of the military. The preferred recruit is between the ages of 18 and 30. Why? because our brains are still absorbing information during that time, we are better able to retain it and form muscle memory. Muscle memory is when you learn something by repetition it becomes ingrained in your muscles to a state of automatic response. The military wants you to be able to respond without thought to situations. Anyway, back to the story.

That is sort of what the FAA wants too. They want controllers to be able to respond to situations quickly. While you are young you are better able to form muscle memory then use that throughout your career no matter how old you get in the job.

Sean Duffy also spoke about the training of ATCs. The government has one training Academy in Oklahoma City, OK. There are also some collegiate programs they support. The training period is 2-5 months. Then there is a 2-4 year period of OJT before they are certified. That is a lot of time. When you consider some of the before mentioned requirements it is likely that of a group of applicants about 50% won’t meet all the requirements so won’t be considered. Of the remaining 50% perhaps 10% will fail out at some point and of the remaining 40% some won’t make it to certification. So lets say there are 100 applicants. 50 are gone because they didn’t meet the requirements. Then 10 more fail out of class. Then of the remaining 40 another 10 don’t make it to certification. That leaves 30 applicants to become Air Traffic Controllers. Now, those numbers are my example. The average size of a class in their academy is 20-30 people. They do adjust class sizes depending on need for controllers. Like any other business there are people retiring. Do you think there are enough Controllers being trained to cover those losses? I don’t.

Air Traffic Controller is not a glorious job with prestige. It is a sometimes grueling, stressful and overwhelming job.

Another thing I heard on the report today was that some of the computer systems are so old they’re still using floppy disks. Remember those; 8″ vinyl disk encased in plastic? Hence the name. Imagine the number of those disks needed to back up their systems.

And these deficiencies are happening while billions of dollars are being spent on frivolous, non-sensical and downright stupid pet projects of certain government officials. Then those same officials stand out on the steps of the Capital and criticize the government for the number of airplane crashes and loss of life.

Enough said.

Next Subject: Fraud, Waste and Abuse

This is a time when we, as members of our society, need to stand up for what is right, what is judicious and quit towing the party lines. Our Representatives and Senators need to be made to understand that they represent us and our states to the Federal government. They shouldn’t be towing the party line but towing the line for their districts and states. let’s make them realize that. How many of them are now millionaires after going into office with only 5 or 6 figure incomes?

Isn’t it amazing how many in Congress are up in arms about Elon Musk and what he is doing? I wonder why? Perhaps its because Elon, at the direction of President Trump, is weeding out all the fraud and waste in the government, perhaps fraud and waste some of them are taking advantage of. They don’t want to lose their cash cows.

There is so much more to say about this subject but perhaps what needs to be said the most is that we need to hold the government’s feet to the fire when it comes to how they are spending our money that they take from us every year. These taxes they collect from us are supposed to be used to enhance our lives, communities and states not line their pockets and make the millionaires.

Posted on by paulz0429

Illegal Immigrants and the Law

For the past three years we’ve been flooded with illegal immigrants coming across our southern border. Actually, its been longer than that but has been worse the past three years. At first these people were coming from Central and South America; from poor and oppressive countries. they came to our border in droves and helped along the way by NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) and the countries they were passing through. Their goal being to get to the United States in the hopes of having a better life. I can understand their desire to come here. It is far better in the U.S. than where they were coming from.

Our current President, on his first day in office, rescinded or abolished some of the laws and Executive orders that his predecessor had put into effect. Laws and orders that were slowing the progress of illegal immigration and strengthening our border. He even stopped the construction of the border wall. I’ve heard rumor that these illegals were being given cell phones so they could be reached for their immigration court date. Do you honestly think they are waiting around for a call from the government? I don’t. They were given money to help them afford a living. There are reports that the money is being sent back to their countries of origin to help their families make the trek north or to support their families. All this help being given to people who are here illegally while groups of our own citizens are struggling to get by (homeless people, low income, single parent homes, etc.)

Just last week it was announced that NYC Mayor Adams has authorized giving illegals a prepaid credit card for making purchases at local bodegas and grocery stores. Again, do you think they are using those cards for that purpose? I don’t. The city has this money yet they haven’t done anything like this to help our own citizens.

But the problem has gotten out of hand. In the last year alone we’ve seen people from all over the world clamoring to get into our country. Many of them are single males; fit, wearing good clothing and well fed. On some days there have been hundreds arrive from China, the Middle East and even North Korea. My question is: Why are they coming to this country?

There is speculation that these young, fit, single males are here to infiltrate our country, to cause havoc. Some even believe them to be part of sleeper cells waiting for a designated time to strike out at our way of life. I don’t know about that but it sure makes one wonder.

Our federal government is up in arms about what Governor Abbot is doing in Texas. There are threats of law suites and the use of the National Guard to counter Gov. Abbot. Perhaps if the President and Congress had acted in accordance with the U.S. Constitution this situation wouldn’t be so bad.

U.S. CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE IV; SECTION 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

So instead of working to undermine Gov. Abbot our government is supposed to be supporting him and by not doing so they are in violation of the Constitution. To me, this is grounds for impeachment or removal from office; not only the President and Vice-President but also every member of the House of Representatives and the Senate who do not support one of the states of this country.

U.S. CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE II SECTION 4

The President, Vice-President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

I see the President’s, Vice-President’s and other government officials support of the illegal aliens as treasonous. They are professing support for these people but disregarding the citizens of this country.

Our current government was duly elected by the people of this nation and they are expected to represent us, the people who elected them, not those people here illegally who have no regard or investment in our nation. So many of us forget that WE THE PEOPLE are in charge of this nation, not the politicians. They are elected to represent our needs and desires on what goes on in this country, not to rule over us which is what I see as happening.

We have a unique opportunity in this day and age. For over two centuries we have relied on our officials to do what we sent them to do; govern in our names. We elected them and they went off to local, state or federal offices to perform their duties and the only way we had of tracking what they were doing was the press or official statements sent by mail. After the invention of the radio then later the television we started getting more information but it was still small and controlled. But now we have the internet, email and social media. With these three we can exercise more control over our government. Instead of just accepting what our officials do we can actually tell them what to do; to a point. Instead of them making deals with other officials and passing laws and bills based on those deals they would have to answer more direct questions and requests from their constituents thus doing what we expect of them.

Perhaps it is time we exercised our rights.

TIDBIT: In the Constitution you see one word often; SHALL. Many people believe this word means that what you do is optional. It is the opposite. Shall in the Constitution and of that century was meant as a command. In other words something you will or had to do. Look it up.