Monthly Archives: December 2018

Year End Thoughts.

Common Sense, Ethical Behavior, World Politics

Some observations as we face another year of turmoil and strife, both at home and abroad.  Many are castigating President Trump for his continued shakeups in the White House hierarchy.  Here are my thoughts on all of this.

I was delighted when Trump brought General Kelly into the administration.  Doubly so with “Mad Dog” Mattis.  However, I wish he would have left Kelly as the head of Homeland Security instead of making him Chief of Staff.  We need a military mind to finally figure out how to secure the Southern border. 

Now, about Mattis.  I am a student of history, and have been so since junior high, when I had a teacher who made history come alive to the class.  He showed us that it wasn’t about memorizing a bunch of places and dates, but instead about what HAPPENED at those places and dates, and how it affected the people at the time and future generations.

I am not in awe of generals or admirals simply because of the stars on their collars or stripes on their sleeves.  History shows that many of those officers clawed their way to the top over the backs of better men and women, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.  They are the “go take that hill” officers, rather than the “follow me!” type of leader, and historically the military has had too many of the former, and too few of the latter.  I suspect, however, that both Kelly and Mattis fall in the second category. Continue reading Year End Thoughts. →

Winter Is Coming!

Common Sense, Ethical Behavior

Over the last ten years I have tried to wrap my arms around a phenomena which I can only describe as collective insanity.

The election of Barack Obama opened a new phase of American politics when he declared that he intended to “Fundamentally Transform America”.  Without asking “Into what?”, this slogan was touted as a new beginning for our country, where racism, sexism and nationalism would end.  He declared that there were no Hyphenated Americans, but only Americans.  Sounded good, but the first thing that Eric Holder, his first Attorney General did, was tell us that where race relations were concerned, we were basically a nation of cowards.

It soon became ALL about race.  According to many in the Obama administration, most whites were evil, racist, xenophobic people.  The police were enemies of minorities, not their protectors.  New groups like Black Lives Matter sprung up to join others like the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Urban League and the New Black Panthers in fomenting protests and violence.  Riots occurred and neighborhoods burned.

The white population who didn’t consider themselves to be evil or racist began to push back, but any attempt to do so was labeled as…..You guessed it….RACIST! 

We watched our nation be invaded by hordes of illegal aliens from south of our border, but weren’t permitted to complain about it without being labeled as….RACIST, of course, and xenophobes as well. Continue reading Winter Is Coming! →

The Grinch, Ver. 2018

Ethical Behavior

As Christmas of 2016 approached, I was feeling very positive. Unbelievably, the Clinton Machine had ground to a halt, and a most unlikely individual had been elected to our highest office.  Donald Trump had struck a chord which resonated throughout Middle America.  Incredibly, he had garnered enough votes from formerly solid working class Democrats to fight off inevitable defeat.  These voters were mainly blue collar white men, who had watched their hopes and dreams come crashing down after decades of racial preferences and uncontrolled immigration, mainly from south of our border.

The sad thing was that in the main, the black minority community had not been able to take advantage of the opportunities they were given in the civil rights legislation because the welfare state had already destroyed the cohesion of the black family unit, which was necessary for any real progress.  At the same time, the massive influx of low skilled workers that flooded across our border with Mexico just took the low end entry level jobs away from American citizens and legal aliens, and at the same time flooded the skilled trades with poorly trained workers, who were willing to work for lower wages, frequently paid off the books.  These skilled trades, such as plumbers, electricians and carpenters, were typically where hard working Americans had been able to rise into the middle class on their own.

By Christmas of 2017, it was already apparent that the Democrats, led by Barack Obama in their announced “Resistance” effort to the incoming administration, were being aided by the “Never Trump” faction of the Republican Party to prevent the reforms that President Trump and the Republican Party had been promising since his election.  They hadn’t replaced “Obamacare”, and more importantly they hadn’t provided the funding to build the “Wall”.   What would 2018 bring? It didn’t look good. Continue reading The Grinch, Ver. 2018 →

Rotten Apples

Aviation Safety, Ethical Behavior, TWA 800

Until the events which transpired after the crash of TWA 800, I generally had faith in my government.  Although I was fully aware that various non-elected bureaucrats were having a greater and greater influence on my day to day life, I felt that my elected representatives were keeping those agencies under control through their constitutionally mandated roll of oversight.  I was quickly disabused of that fantasy by the actions taken by the FBI, CIA, FAA and NTSB during the investigation which commenced within hours of the aircraft hitting the water.

In the years that followed, I was much more alert to the lack of proper procedures and methods which were being allowed to creep into these time honored institutions.  I could give many examples of these occurrences, but in the interest of brevity, I will list only two.

In January of 2002, after I retired from TWA, I was hired as a pilot for an air ambulance operation based out of Albuquerque, NM.  That company had experienced a very unusual incident shortly after 9/11 which involved an attempted hijacking of one of their aircraft by persons unknown.  It occurred late at night at an unattended airport close to the Mexico – New Mexico border.

It was standard procedure for the pilot to remain with the aircraft while the medical team went to the hospital to access and accept the patient for air transport, generally back to Albuquerque.  On this particular night, the female pilot suddenly felt a knife point at her throat as she sat dozing in the pilots seat.  A heavily accented voice (and not in Spanish, which she was very familiar with) said: “Start the engines.  I will give you the destination when we are airborne”.   It was apparent that there were at least two hijackers, since she heard the cabin door being shut while the knife was still pressed against her throat. Continue reading Rotten Apples →

Why Is She Cheering?

Common Sense, Ethical Behavior

Look at the picture at the left.  Why is this young Irish woman cheering?  Answer, for the first time in history, the Irish Parliament is about to pass a law legalizing abortions in that country!

With a fertility rate of 1.92 births per woman, Ireland ranks second only to France, which has a fertility rate of 1.96.  That rate is a bit skewed, however, since France has a large Muslim and Sub-Saharan population, where families have much higher birth rates, in some cases exceeding 6 live births per woman, and in the case of Muslims, with multiple wives per family unit.

The average fertility rate among EU countries is 1.58, with Portugal being the lowest at 1.31 live births per woman.  Another troubling factor is the fact that European women are waiting far longer to start a family.   The average age in Ireland is 29.6, older than most other EU countries.

Why is this important?  With the influx of “migrants” from Middle East and Sub-Saharan countries, the Europeans are gradually losing the “Battle of the Wombs”.  In the words of Jihadist Imam Anjem Chouda: “We will conquer you through the wombs of our women”.

It is generally accepted that a minimum fertility rate of 2.11 live births per female is required to sustain an indigenous population for more than 25 years, and virtually all European countries are well below that level.  Unless European family units can be induced to start families at an earlier age, and have more than two children per family, the face of Europe will be unrecognizable in a very few years.  So I ask again. Considering the fact that legalizing abortion on demand in Ireland will surely lower the Irish fertility rate, why is she cheering?

Minefields or Moats?

Common Sense, Ethical Behavior, World Politics

The Democrats under Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were “Hoist by their own petard” during the public discussion with President Trump earlier this week.  The two of them, particularly Pelosi, were expecting a private meeting, where they could discuss the matter of funding the “Wall” with Trump, and then come out and give their version of the meeting, which would instantly be validated and trumpeted as factual by the mainstream media.  However, unfortunately for them, Trump invited the pool television camera into the room for a live broadcast of the meeting.  That’s called transparency.  Something that the Democrats give lip service to, but studiously avoid.

It is painfully obvious that the Democrats don’t want ANY sort of barrier along our southern border, let alone a virtually unscalable permanent wall which will effectively keep illegals out, and force them to enter only through well staffed and guarded checkpoints.  It is interesting that neither Schumer or Pelosi was able to deflect the statements by Trump except to claim that they too were for strict border enforcement.  However, here’s the dirty little secret the left doesn’t want the public to know. Continue reading Minefields or Moats? →

Ghosts Of Christmas Past

Aviation Safety, Common Sense

Lost in the coverage of the death President George H.W. Bush last week is another event which is near and dear to the hearts of the former employees of Trans World Airlines.  On December 1, 2001, the last flight under the TWA logo was flown after the airlines assets had been acquired by American Airlines earlier that year.

When TWA ceased operations it was, at 76 years, 4 months, and 18 days, the oldest continuously operating airline in our country.  It was not the first airline to lose its identity by merger or outright failure, and sadly it wasn’t the last.

When the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, there were 31 Part 121 Airlines in business in our country.  Today, there are 10 which fly 737s or larger, and only 7 of those can be considered major airlines.

Among the spectacular flops of the Carter administration, deregulating the airline industry must rate very near, if not at the top of the list.  For a very short period of time, Americans enjoyed lower fares from the so-called “New Entrant” carriers like New York Air and Peoples Express.  However, people who lived in smaller towns and cities which had previously been served by the bigger airlines using DC-9s or 737s, found that the “Equivalent Service” promised by the law was not “equivalent” at all.  Continue reading Ghosts Of Christmas Past →

Flying West.

Ethical Behavior

On November 30th, 2018 former President George H.W. Bush “Flew West”.  To my non-pilot readers, this term comes from a poem written by an unknown author during World War One.  The line reads:

“To fly West, my friend, is a flight we must all take for a final check.”

Flying west, from the meat grinder of the “Western Front” in France symbolized returning home, to the pilots of the American, British and Canadian Air Forces, whose life span was measured in hours, not days, for newly arrived aviators at the end of that brutal conflict. At least in spirit, if not physically, they would once again be with their friends and loved ones.

It was touching to hear the final words given by George W. Bush when he eulogized his father at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.  Paraphrasing, he said that his father was once again holding the hand of Barbara, his beloved wife of 73 years standing, who preceded him in death a few months ago. Continue reading Flying West. →

The “Wall” Imperative.

Common Sense, World Politics

The latest news about the crisis on our southern border, and yes, it is a crisis, is that the United States and Mexico will work together to improve the conditions in Central America, which “threaten both countries”.  Hidden in the language of that proposal is the stated necessity for the United States to provide the major portion of the funding for a program to improve economic conditions and restore the rule of law in the countries of that region.

 WHAT?

Might I point out that the United States has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into those countries over the last 50 years.  For all the good that has done the average Central American citizen, we might as well have dumped the money in the ocean.  Government corruption is the norm in those countries, and in Mexico as well.  To think that we can somehow wave a monetary magic wand and fix the problem is farcical.  Continue reading The “Wall” Imperative. →

Is It Really Safe?

Aviation Safety

Several years ago I wrote a post entitled “Is Airline Flying Safe?”.  My conclusion at that time was, generally yes.  However, there was a trend, particularly related to Airbus Industries airliners, of improper use of the auto-flight systems, which led to fatal crashes.

A new look at the question brings reason to doubt that these issues have been sufficiently addressed, either by the airlines or the aircraft manufacturer.  Now, the recent fatal crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737-Max, which killed all 189 people onboard, begs the question of whether the witches brew of automatic systems designed to “pilot proof” modern airliners is actually fatally flawed.

Both the crash of Air France 447 in 2009 and Air Asia 8501 in 2014 were caused by pilot inputs which induced a “deep stall” condition which was virtually impossible to recover from.  Both aircraft were completely airworthy, and could have been saved if the pilots had sufficient skills to fly them in a manual mode.

Instead of working together to solve this extremely dangerous situation, the airlines involved and the aircraft manufacturer instead chose to engage in finger pointing, trying to absolve themselves of liability for the deaths of crew and passengers. Continue reading Is It Really Safe? →