The Administrative State Is Broken, And The FAA Is A Prime Example

The conventional wisdom holds that an administrative state made up of professional government functionaries will run well in spite of the constant political changes that most free countries expect every four or five or six years. Institutional knowledge, subject-matter expertise, and a non-partisan mindset should make the day-to-day function of government a process, rather than a political minefield.

It very obviously does not work that way. The administrative state in America has morphed into the Deep State^TM, or maybe it was always that way and it took many years for it to destroy even a semblance of competence.

Add in the catastrophically inefficient, labyrinthine process that our modern government does anything, and we have a reasonable explanation for the absolute mess that the FAA has made of our air traffic control system...over 40 years!

FAA Plans to Hire Nearly 9,000 Air Traffic Controllers by 2028 Amid Nationwide Shortage

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Aug. 7 unveiled updated plans to hire thousands of air traffic controllers by the end of the year, and nearly 9,000 by 2028, as the agency looks to dig itself out of a now decades-long shortage of workers who are among the most critical for aviation safety.

The FAA has been beset by a decades-long shortage of air traffic controllers, who are critical for directing and overseeing air traffic in and out of the nation’s busiest and most congested air spaces.
The issue dates to 1981, when then-President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who were on strike, viewing it as an illegal strike. Months later, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) decertified the only existing air traffic controller union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), which was the first time in history that a national union was decertified.

Okay, it was a bit of a mess in 1981. But it is also a mess in 2025, and two generations of so-called professionals made an absolute mess of the entire system, allowing it to become technologically antiquated, poorly staffed, and for four years under the Biden/Obama junta a mess of DEI hiring over competence.

For f*ck's sake...they still use floppy disks and CDs! And I am confident that the rest of the technology in our airport control centers is just as old.

So why did this happen? The short answer is that they just don't give a sh*t, and care more about their pensions than their responsibilities to the people of the United States of America. The longer answer is that the administrative state does not have any market pressures to excel, and no penalties for failure. Congressmen move on, senators get bored, and their high profile hearings about the sorry state of the FAA or the DoD or the department flavor of the month gets subsumed in the next news cycle. So nobody is held accountable over the years, and the institutional rot caused by lack of accountability is built into the process.

How to fix it? Decertify every government union. Employment must be at will. Make the compensation of all managers dependent on the successful and timely completion of capital projects. Do yearly evaluations with the expectation that people will get fired. And every one of us who has ever worked for any sort of large company recognizes that as business-as-usual!

The trick is to get Congress to go along, and that will have to wait until the House of Representatives actually represents Americans, rather than 20,000,000 wetbacks and gerrymandered districts.

Hopefully President Vance's second term will be calm enough that he can focus on the total restructuring of our civil service!

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I'll fetch em

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2025 12:01 PM (+qU29)

2
ESPONJA!!1!11!!1

g'early afternoon, 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at August 10, 2025 12:04 PM (tljrc)

3 Good luck getting the Democrats/ Marxists to go along shutting down their payers

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2025 12:04 PM (+qU29)

4 Invoking PATCO. From 1981. Really???

Someone is trying to deflect the current failures by saddling Reagan with it. Fvck them with a lime green used dildo from a WNBA game.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 12:07 PM (Ui59G)

5 Government should not have any unionization at all.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 10, 2025 12:07 PM (HFcKg)

6 Air traffic control is one of those areas where AI could do a better job than meat sacks.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 10, 2025 12:08 PM (vOjEn)

7 Lloyd Bridges, "I picked the wrong week to get replaced by AI."

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 12:09 PM (Ui59G)

8 I work with the FAA on a daily basis. It's not unlike any other large organization. There are people that are good at their job and find ways to solve problems and there are people that are there just collecting a paycheck. The biggest contributor to the FAA's decline is that they've become box checkers and auditors instead of being engaged (and responsible/accountable for outcomes) in decision making and problems solving.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:09 PM (3Ope8)

9 Having engaged with sundry bureaucracies over the years, public/private/corporate etc., etc. I have adopted the perspective that they always manifest certain qualities:

The larger they become, the less efficient they become.

The larger they become, the less effective they become.

As they grow, just like a biological organisms, they begin to develop self-defense mechanisms.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 10, 2025 12:10 PM (XeU6L)

10 BTW

Why wasn't Reagan/DC airport shut down after the Air Florida crash into the Potomac? Oh yeah, the politicians didn't want to commute from Dulles.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 12:12 PM (Ui59G)

11 What a great application for AI.

Posted by: Rick at August 10, 2025 12:13 PM (/TNAS)

12 How long is the training period to become an air traffic controller?

Posted by: Ben Had at August 10, 2025 12:13 PM (HFcKg)

13 FAA > FBI

https://tinyurl.com/at9djjpt

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 10, 2025 12:15 PM (Y+jbb)

14 Interestingly, Air Traffic.Controller is a military specialty that one can enlist for, but it is also one of the most difficult to get as it has so few openings every year. If you can get it, it is excellent training and prep for the FAA.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 10, 2025 12:17 PM (2WIwB)

15 Hekawi Chief Wild Eagle would have made a fine air traffic controller.

Posted by: It Is Balloon! at August 10, 2025 12:18 PM (G5+As)

16 Government should not have any unionization at all.

Posted by: Ben Had

And as a follow on, should be forced to compete for their jobs every 24 months. There should be ZERO job security in federal job positions.

*waves*
Hi Ben Had!

No promises, but I may be able to swindle my boss into sending me to Grand Prairie for two weeks in October.

Posted by: BifBewalski - at August 10, 2025 12:20 PM (QcUc+)

17 So, the roman system was a bit more chaotic. Yearly elections (intended to make sure no one person ever amassed enough power or popularity in an office to become a threat.) So every year the entire system would turn over. All well and good.

The problem was that they changed so often there was a valid criticism that just as someone was learning their area of responsibility, they were then being replaced.

So Augustus used freed slaves to populate his bureaucracy and it worked wonderfully. For a while. Then it started to become a power unto itself.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 10, 2025 12:21 PM (bss/y)

18 Bif, how great that would be.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 10, 2025 12:21 PM (HFcKg)

19 AI. Yeah, the thing that makes up Citations in legal filings? That one?
That'll work great. Until it hallucinates a landing strip at Times Square.

Posted by: buddhaha at August 10, 2025 12:21 PM (ha888)

20 And as a follow on, should be forced to compete for their jobs every 24 months. There should be ZERO job security in federal job positions.
-Bif

This.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 10, 2025 12:21 PM (bss/y)

21 It used to be that you'd work in industry as a mechanic or an engineer, developed a good working relationship over several years with your local office and then the FAA would recruit you. Now they recruit inspectors straight out of the military and engineers straight out of college and the 'academy' teaches these nuggets that everyone in industry will screw them at the first opportunity.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:21 PM (3Ope8)

22 "The trick is to get Congress to go along, and that will have to wait until the House of Representatives actually represents Americans, rather than 20,000,000 wetbacks and gerrymandered districts"

"Hopefully President Vance's second term will be calm enough that he can focus on the total restructuring of our civil service!"

From your lips to God's ears!

Posted by: redridinghood at August 10, 2025 12:22 PM (NpAcC)

23 This why I don’t take unemployment numbers seriously and the economic doom and gloom the Left is always whining about when it’s a Republican administration.

Without fail in every Republican admin I can remember there are sectors where employers are looking for thousands of workers and can’t fill the positions.

Think about that in relation to some of the really bad economic times.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2025 12:23 PM (VofaG)

24 Pushing Tin was a decent movie.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2025 12:25 PM (VofaG)

25 Thx CBD. The left pushes all power to the government and then government is overfunded and incompetent. It's never about the issue always about power

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 10, 2025 12:26 PM (e/yD6)

26 And as a follow on, should be forced to compete for their jobs every 24 months. There should be ZERO job security in federal job positions.
-Bif

This.
Posted by: Aetius451AD
________

Squid game style for federal judges.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at August 10, 2025 12:26 PM (XvL8K)

27 There should absolutely be no unions in the Federal government.

Can't do your job? Fired

Posted by: Scuba_Dude at August 10, 2025 12:27 PM (Jm6kM)

28 'The trick is to get Congress to go along,'

I thought unions for federal employees were from a JFK executive order.
If yes, then an executive order should be able to reverse it.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 10, 2025 12:28 PM (3wi/L)

29 "they still use floppy disks and CDs! And I am confident that the rest of the technology in our airport control centers is just as old.

So why did this happen? The short answer is that they just don't give a sh*t"

Oh no, they care. The FAA is about safety in the extreme. I've worked on several FAA contracts and they're very serious about it. Their systems have multiple redundancies, and require less than a minute of downtime a year (or there abouts).

I was on the project to replace the voice switch (VCS21, part of the Next Gen series of contracts, to replace the current ATC comm. sys.) a decade ago and it was a disaster. Mostly due to requirements swirl, some of it due to project & tech. incompetence from our side.

They do care, they're just bad at it.

Posted by: wat at August 10, 2025 12:28 PM (Dk542)

30 Do Air Traffic Controllers get paid double-time on Juneteenth?

Posted by: Crash Corrigan at August 10, 2025 12:29 PM (G5+As)

31 >>The issue dates to 1981, when then-President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who were on strike, viewing it as an illegal strike. Months later, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) decertified the only existing air traffic controller union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), which was the first time in history that a national union was decertified.

Oh, B*** Sh*t!!
The reason there's a shortage of air traffic controllers *24* years after Reagan is they went full DEI, chasing after candidates who were unqualified but presented the right demographics, while refusing to hire qualified candidates who put the time and training (at great expense).

Posted by: Lizzy at August 10, 2025 12:29 PM (GbwPZ)

32 Ever look at the requirements to be a successful air traffic controller? You need to have a near idiot savant ability to keep track of multiple moving items in a three dimensional space. This is something you need to be born with, and no amount of training will magically give it to you. Hoping to hire thousands of people off the street for these jobs is delusional.

There are air traffic controller schools for candidates. I assume the washout rate is significant.

It didn't help that the pipeline for controllers was broken when DEI infected it, with qualified people refused jobs because they were the wrong gender and color.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 10, 2025 12:32 PM (vOjEn)

33 Step one: simplify the process for firing a government worker. It is almost impossible.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 10, 2025 12:32 PM (2WIwB)

34 I'd say the FAA already has a means to solve this. Delegated authority. Air traffic control is just one tiny piece of what the FAA does. A lot of the work is the process of granting certificates of type and airworthiness and manufacturing. I'm terribly familiar with that aspect. That's done by reviewing documentation and finding compliance to regulation. The applicant, i.e. manufacturer shows compliance, the FAA finds compliance.

The FAA could never have enough employees to do all that. It's impossible. They would need millions and millions. All aviation in the country probably the world would grind to a halt. Because everyone uses US/FAA, even EASA harmonizes. So to allow things to work they delegate a good bit of the authority to the manufactures along with a lot of oversight and auditing.

It works well outside company "B" who have always had lose shit and been sneaky. They just need to treat "B" DERs/ARs like they do in the smaller bizz jet companies, as loyal dogs that need severe correction time to time. But, I've seen it work very well everywhere else.

ATC could work the same, private contractors with stringent oversight.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 12:33 PM (cduTK)

35 ATC staffing is just a symptom. It extends into the engineering and airworthiness sides as well. DEI is a big contributor.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:35 PM (3Ope8)

36 It didn't help that the pipeline for controllers was broken when DEI infected it, with qualified people refused jobs because they were the wrong gender and color.
Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at August 10, 2025 12:32 PM (vOjEn)

And those hired in the Obama years are now hitting the supervisor levels. Do you think they will hire any new personnel smarter than they are?

Posted by: Diogenes at August 10, 2025 12:36 PM (2WIwB)

37 Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 12:33 PM (cduTK)

The ODA is singularly the worst thing the FAA has ever implemented.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:36 PM (3Ope8)

38 Former AOC Organizer Busted After Calling for Attack on "Israel-Loving Zionists" at Public School

-
I'm old enough to remember when attacking school kids was bad.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:39 PM (L/fGl)

39 Government should not have any unionization at all.
Posted by: Ben Had at August 10, 2025 12:07 PM

^^^ This. Even FDR (piss be upon him) understood this.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at August 10, 2025 12:39 PM (wDRCg)

40 >>> The ODA is singularly the worst thing the FAA has ever implemented.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:36 PM (3Ope

I disagree. I've seen it work very well everywhere outside "B". And there is no way it could work without it. There are not enough FAA employees to do the job and there never will be.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 12:40 PM (cduTK)

41 I hope the FAA modernized soon-- AOL is discontinuing its dial-up service at the end of September, then we'll all be truly screwed at the airports.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 10, 2025 12:41 PM (k/soh)

42 I thought unions for federal employees were from a JFK executive order.
Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 10, 2025 12:28 PM (3wi/L)

JFK signed the EO in 1962 but...

A Democrat Congress and Jimmy Fucking Carter enacted the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute in 1978.

This statute grants federal employees the right to organize, form unions, and engage in collective bargaining through representatives of their choosing, with the purpose of improving the conduct of public business and resolving employment disputes amicably. -- wiki

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 10, 2025 12:42 PM (ExV1e)

43 Islam means peace.

2,000 Iranian Clerics Endorse Assassination of Trump

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:42 PM (L/fGl)

44 >>There are air traffic controller schools for candidates. I assume the washout rate is significant.

You have to score 100% on every test. iirc. Had a relative who dropped out of school in 1981 and applied because of the opportunities thanks to the strike (his father was an air traffic controller who didn't strike and said "Do it now!"). He made it, his brother who also applied didn't make it - one wrong answer on one test.
Makes sense, when you consider one wrong decision = potentially a crash with many dead.

Read recently that the FAA was accepting applicants who were getting 30% on their exams to meet DEI requirements

30% error rate is acceptable? Really?

Posted by: Lizzy at August 10, 2025 12:43 PM (GbwPZ)

45 Smartest woman in the world.

Pelosi Beat Every Single Hedge Fund in 2024

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:44 PM (L/fGl)

46 "Do yearly evaluations with the expectation that people will get fired."

Mandatory firing or demotion for those in the bottom 5%.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 10, 2025 12:44 PM (k/soh)

47 Those of us who have worked with/against the FAA have an aphorism.

"Aviation is safe, in spite of the FAA"

Posted by: These fish sticks are hard as tits at August 10, 2025 12:45 PM (mRX+9)

48 The federal government is simply a welfare pretending to be work program.

Other than securing the border and providing for the common defense and making sure the States don't war with each other, everything else the feds do is a boondoggle wrapped in a clusterfuck inside a Big Green Dildo.

Posted by: Big Green Dildo at August 10, 2025 12:46 PM (R/m4+)

49 At least the sumbitch doesn't wear jeans.

George Will Wants Mamdani to Win for Some Reason

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:47 PM (L/fGl)

50 We can agree to disagree, Banana. I'm completely on board with individual delegation. I've worked with and in a number of ODAs, and in every single one of them the OMT is nothing but a bunch of box checkers. The grunt work in compliance data and inspection, and the consequential decision making is always done at the individual level.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:47 PM (3Ope8)

51 >>George Will Wants Mamdani to Win for Some Reason

He's still alive?

Posted by: Lizzy at August 10, 2025 12:50 PM (GbwPZ)

52 Also authority delegation has been around since before most of the people here including my old self. The ODA is just an expansion of previous delegation. Formalizing some rules and standards. Delegation has been the case since the 50s, lots of the rules were standardized in the 60s changing only slightly until the ODA process came in the middle of the '00s.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 12:51 PM (cduTK)

53 >>> We can agree to disagree, Banana. I'm completely on board with individual delegation. I've worked with and in a number of ODAs, and in every single one of them the OMT is nothing but a bunch of box checkers. The grunt work in compliance data and inspection, and the consequential decision making is always done at the individual level.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 12:47 PM (3Ope

I've seen variations, true. Most of my experience has been in companies with mature ODAs and hardline FAA field offices.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 12:53 PM (cduTK)

54 It's nonpartisan!

Eric Daugherty@EricLDaugh
UPDATE: Former deep state officials send an open letter, dubbed as “nonpartisan,” warning that President Trump, Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard’s efforts to purge the agencies are trampling the Constitution and undoing their work.
All the right people are scared right now…

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:54 PM (L/fGl)

55 49 At least the sumbitch doesn't wear jeans.

George Will Wants Mamdani to Win for Some Reason
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:47 PM (L/fGl)

He thinks that a Mamdani lead New York will become such a disaster that it will be a couple of generations before anybody tries that socialist idiocy again.

Posted by: tankdemon at August 10, 2025 12:54 PM (k/soh)

56 Is I probably will never get to fly again on a airplane a answer?

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2025 12:57 PM (+qU29)

57 Imagine flying a jet in a holding pattern over a major city. You have to have a lot of trust in others.

Posted by: Grounded For Life at August 10, 2025 12:58 PM (G5+As)

58 >>He thinks that a Mamdani lead New York will become such a disaster that it will be a couple of generations before anybody tries that socialist idiocy again.

Ah, let it burn.

Who would have imagined that less than 25 years after 9/11, our elite(ist) talking heads would be OK with handing over NYC to a foreigner (his mom says he's and African first, and Indian second; he does not see himself as an American) to teach those darn kids a lesson?

Posted by: Lizzy at August 10, 2025 01:00 PM (GbwPZ)

59 51 >>George Will Wants Mamdani to Win for Some Reason

He's still alive?
Posted by: Lizzy at August 10, 2025 12:50 PM (GbwPZ)

Yeah, his theory seems to be 'give them what they want- good and hard.'

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 10, 2025 01:00 PM (bss/y)

60 Jazzy has her They Live glasses on.

Western Lensman@WesternLensman
Jasmine Crockett compares Republicans to the KKK: "Once Trump won the second time, the hoods were off."
"I’m perfectly fine with it because I want to know that you’re a despicable human being who lacks all morality.”
Bold messaging plan for 2026, Democrats.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 01:01 PM (L/fGl)

61 I'd imagine the passengers of the jet flipped by the lady pilot on landing in Toronto weren't to eager to fly again. Hanging upside-down from your seat belt would do that. Most people who are in an air crash don't get to fly/not fly again.

Posted by: Wheels Up! at August 10, 2025 01:04 PM (G5+As)

62 Do you realize that more people have been arrested for throwing dildoes onto WNBA courts than people who are on the Epstein list(s)?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:05 PM (0sNs1)

63 Pride goeth before a fall.

This NASCAR driver KO'd himself by falling out of his car while celebrating in Victory Lane

https://is.gd/mIPNWf

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 01:06 PM (L/fGl)

64 his theory seems to be 'give them what they want- good and hard.'
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 10, 2025 01:00 PM

It has, how you say, worked for me.

Posted by: Paolo at August 10, 2025 01:07 PM (0sNs1)

65 58
'Who would have imagined that less than 25 years after 9/11, our elite(ist) talking heads would be OK with handing over NYC to a foreigner'

When you understand that everything the left does has its origin in giving the finger to people like you and me...

them handing NYC to a muzzie communist becomes very easy to imagine.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 10, 2025 01:07 PM (3wi/L)

66
CBD,

Great topic. Hubby and I were talking about all this nonsense yesterday.

Thanks.

Posted by: fourseasons at August 10, 2025 01:08 PM (3ek7K)

67 Good news, everyone!

NY Gov Kathy Hochul: "Democrats always follow the rules"

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 01:11 PM (L/fGl)

68 Fvck them with a lime green used dildo from a WNBA game.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 12:07 PM

Is it autographed by the usee? Can it be authenticated?

Asking for some friends.

Posted by: WNBA Memorabilia Collector's Association at August 10, 2025 01:11 PM (0sNs1)

69 No one really knows how many people live under New York City. Most likely a few thousand. It's time for someone to step up as The Mole People's choice for Mayor!

Posted by: Mole Person at August 10, 2025 01:12 PM (R/m4+)

70 NASCAR? Pshaw.

Shobert's Grand Prix career was cut short at the third race of the season, where he was involved in a terrible crash with Kevin Magee on the cool off lap after the race, wherein Shobert drove into the back of Magee's motorcycle. Magee had stopped in the middle of the track and was performing a rear-wheel "burnout".[2] Eddie Lawson narrowly missed hitting Magee's bike after he and Shobert had just finished congratulating each other moments earlier and were not looking forward.[3][4] Shobert suffered severe head injuries but was able to recover after months of rehabilitation.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:12 PM (gg4h4)

71 Pelosi Beat Every Single Hedge Fund in 2024
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:44 PM (L/fGl)

She can't hold a candle to Cankles

Posted by: MAC V SOG at August 10, 2025 01:12 PM (P4Pk9)

72 Rebuilding the ATC system has been a "holy grail" project since, well, forever it seems. When I worked for IBM back in the 1980s there were some mainframe based chat boards (forums, we called them), one devoted to what was the Federal Systems Division. Lots of talk about the FAA and how the projects constantly kept changing. It seems we've totally lost the ability to build anything complex. I'm not sure that's a deep state thing as it seems to go into the private sector as well.

The other thing I think affecting the FAA is the same thing that affects airlines. At the end of the cold war the gummint shut down the farm system, aka the military. Lots of guys working in military air traffic control would move to the FAA when their enlistments were up.

Posted by: George V at August 10, 2025 01:13 PM (HUbHH)

73 Islam means peace.

2,000 Iranian Clerics Endorse Assassination of Trump

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:42 PM (L/fGl)

100 million Americans endorse making your country glow bright enough to be seen 3 galaxies over.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 10, 2025 01:13 PM (snZF9)

74 Yeah, I was at Laguna Seca that year and saw it.
(Shivers)

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:14 PM (gg4h4)

75 The sidebar..."War of the Worlds." You HAVE to watch it. It's, absolutely, hilarious. There is a scene where the sh*t starts going down, and the protagonist is in the Homeland Security offices. He wants to leave the office, but the door automatically locks him in. BUT...(this is absolute retarded gold)...the door and the entire wall leading to the common area of the office is made of glass.

Gosh, how am I going to get out of here. I couldn't stop laughing through the entire movie. It was worse than half-assed, thrown together skit from an elementary school drama class. I LOVED IT from a purely, "this is SO bad, it's funny" point of view.

Posted by: Orson at August 10, 2025 01:16 PM (dIske)

76 I've seen variations, true. Most of my experience has been in companies with mature ODAs and hardline FAA field offices.

I'd just say that pushing responsibility and accountability to the individual level instead of the organizational level is a much better system.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 01:17 PM (3Ope8)

77 100 million Americans endorse festive little hats.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:19 PM (dCtRx)

78 2,000 Iranian Clerics Endorse Assassination of Trump

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:42 PM (L/fGl)
-

Look closer to home:

https://tinyurl.com/5ha99p8c

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 10, 2025 01:20 PM (Y+jbb)

79 2,000 Iranian Clerics Endorse Assassination of Trump
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 12:42 PM (L/fGl)

Trump needs to EO the gassing of 20000 iranian "clerics".

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:20 PM (Ufl/X)

80 Did I miss the thread on Trump's EO outlawing debanking?

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 01:21 PM (Ui59G)

81 43 Islam means peace.

2,000 Iranian Clerics Endorse Assassination of Trump
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here

They want him to Rest In Peace.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 01:22 PM (ZVgZ4)

82 Trump needs to EO the gassing of 20000 iranian "clerics".

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:20 PM (Ufl/X)
-

America needs to revise the Constitution.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 10, 2025 01:22 PM (Y+jbb)

83 Trump needs to EO the gassing of 20000 iranian "clerics".
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:20 PM

I'm good, but not that good.

Posted by: Eric Swalwell (D-CA & Cuck-CCP) at August 10, 2025 01:24 PM (0sNs1)

84 Islam actually means submission: as in submission to the will of Allah. Unfortunately, Allah is not God but his adversary.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 01:25 PM (ZVgZ4)

85 Barney's girlfriend. Actress Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou, at 18 was with the USO in the CBI theater in WWII. Scroll down for picture of her strapped. (And they let her have more than one bullet.)

https://is.gd/FHCG24

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 01:25 PM (L/fGl)

86 NY Gov Kathy Hochul: "Democrats always follow the rules"
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 01:11 PM

Those they make up out of whole cloth

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2025 01:28 PM (+qU29)

87 AI could probably do air traffic just as well, if not better than humans.

Just have some controllers for the tough calls and to monitor the AI.

They could at least try it out at a few smaller airports and see how the experiment goes.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at August 10, 2025 01:29 PM (6ydKt)

88 Those they make up out of whole cloth

Rules they don't like, they just wipe.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 01:29 PM (Ui59G)

89 Apologizes for 'Ableism' After Using the Word 'Midget'

Gidget hardest hit.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:30 PM (madDJ)

90 America needs to revise the Constitution.

The problem with that, my friend, is finding the likes of Madison et al. to do the job, and not the likes of Schiff, or AOC, or Sanders.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 01:30 PM (ZVgZ4)

91 Former deep state officials send an open letter, dubbed as “nonpartisan,” warning that President Trump, Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard’s efforts to purge the agencies are trampling the Constitution and undoing their work.

Since 95% of what the Federal Government does has no Constitutional authority, what part of the Constitution is being trampled in the purging of Deep State conspirators, saboteurs and traitors?

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 10, 2025 01:30 PM (a4flb)

92 Every time I read about a FedGov old technology replacement program failure, I think of this quote by Dick Jones, in Robocop:

"I had a guaranteed military sale with ED209! Renovation program! Spare parts for 25 years! Who cares if it worked or not!"

Starting and dragging-out a replacement FedGov computer or computer-reliant system is money in the pockets of two groups of Congresscritters and contractors - or maybe the same group.

Spend money to sustain and patch the existing, decrepit system, while spending money to write requirements, design, develop, test, and maybe install the replacement system. If you can drag-out development of the new system long enough, you can justify starting-over because of new/better technology, new requirements, and so on.

Quite a racket if you can get away with it. It seems they always do get away with it.

Posted by: Gref at August 10, 2025 01:31 PM (aBgBM)

93 They could at least try it out at a few smaller airports and see how the experiment goes.

It's just flyover country anyway.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:31 PM (madDJ)

94 Rules they don't like, they just wipe.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 01:29 PM

Like, with a cloth?

Posted by: Hillary! 2028! 2032! at August 10, 2025 01:32 PM (0sNs1)

95
NY Gov Kathy Hochul: "Democrats always follow the rules"
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Those they make up out of whole cloth
Posted by: Skip

Their rules. Their truth.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2025 01:33 PM (63Dwl)

96 "NY Gov Kathy Hochul: "Democrats always follow the rules"

Yoda voice-

Yeeuuus, much shit is this one full of.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 10, 2025 01:33 PM (snZF9)

97 I should go work on my 1WP, a new microwave

Posted by: Skip at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM (+qU29)

98 [i[]The problem with that, my friend, is finding the likes of Madison et al. to do the job, and not the likes of Schiff, or AOC, or Sanders.

This is what happens when people don't realize that the US Constitution required Divine Intervention.

Any "Constitution" made today would run thousands of pages and look like the Manifesto of your average school-shooting tranny off xer meds - complete with institutionalizing every demonic wish-list item that the most sociopathic sadist could ever dream up.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM (a4flb)

99 Apologizes for 'Ableism' After Using the Word 'Midget'

Gidget hardest hit.
Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:30 PM (madDJ)

The worst part of being 3' 6" tall is not the "demeaning" names, but having to go through life smelling other peoples' crotches.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM (Ufl/X)

100 KTLA5 giving free publicity to obese tranny troon hamburger stand. Go KTLA.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM (madDJ)

101 Mostly peacefull rule following.

Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM (jxs9b)

102 The worst part of being 3' 6" tall is not the "demeaning" names, but having to go through life smelling other peoples' crotches.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM

It's a good thing AtC doesn't hang here much these days.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:36 PM (0sNs1)

103 NY Gov Kathy Hochul: "Democrats always follow the rules"
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Those they make up out of whole cloth
Posted by: Skip

Calvinball Rules

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 10, 2025 01:36 PM (a4flb)

104 Why don't they have midget basketball?

Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:37 PM (jxs9b)

105 go through life smelling other peoples' crotches.

Guy recently arrested here for being "serial buttsniffer".

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:38 PM (madDJ)

106 >>> I'd just say that pushing responsibility and accountability to the individual level instead of the organizational level is a much better system.
Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 01:17 PM (3Ope

I completely agree with that statement, it should be the model for delegated authority. The administrator level always gets lost in the weeds and needs to be kept to a small level. Top heavy bureaucracies are the problem throughout.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 01:38 PM (cduTK)

107 Do you want AI to “hallucinate” planes that aren’t there? Or to “hallucinate” that planes that are there aren’t, or or heading in another direction than they are, or are at a different altitude than they are? Will you be happy when the AI tells two planes to fly into each other? You can’t even get current so-called AI to admit to a logical contradiction they have made, and you want this to run air traffic control?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 01:38 PM (ZVgZ4)

108 104 Why don't they have midget basketball?
Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:37 PM (jxs9b)

The wrasslin ring gets in the way.

Posted by: Reforger at August 10, 2025 01:38 PM (h5TUr)

109 Why don't they have midget basketball?

Their little arms and legs get stuck in the net.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:39 PM (madDJ)

110 Why don't they have midget basketball?
Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:37 PM (jxs9b)

I always figured basketball would be vastly improved as a spectator sport by putting little platforms around the basket, and having midgets as goal tenders. Cut down on the ridiculous scoring, and provide a role for short-statured people as sports heroes.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:40 PM (Ufl/X)

111 Trump needs to EO the gassing of 20000 iranian "clerics".

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:20 PM (Ufl/X)

He need make an EO labeling islam as a terrorist organization,a blight on mankind, and outlaw it in the country. Then he needs to built a colosseum, a big beautiful colosseum, better than anywhere, the best in the galaxy, with big beautiful seating and lighting never seen before, and then stock it with big beautiful lions.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 10, 2025 01:40 PM (snZF9)

112 Clerics are only good for turning undead.

Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:42 PM (jxs9b)

113 Invoking PATCO. From 1981. Really???

Someone is trying to deflect the current failures by saddling Reagan with it. Fvck them with a lime green used dildo from a WNBA game.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 12:07 PM

The author was barely born in 1981.

Posted by: toby928 at August 10, 2025 01:42 PM (jc0TO)

114 >>> This is what happens when people don't realize that the US Constitution required Divine Intervention.

Any "Constitution" made today would run thousands of pages and look like the Manifesto of your average school-shooting tranny off xer meds - complete with institutionalizing every demonic wish-list item that the most sociopathic sadist could ever dream up.
Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 10, 2025 01:35 PM (a4flb)

You need a large group of like minded individuals going off somewhere to start things on their own. I'm absolutely serious when I say that Mars will be the next opportunity. You already see leftists clamoring to turn the planet into another one of their controlled national parks for there own enjoyment. Some people will have to go there and defend it from the statists with absolutely terrible violence. There's no other way. And it will be a war like no other before. Because people are too stupid to have nice things without violence.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 01:43 PM (cduTK)

115 We demand these unfunny, insulting jokes cease imediately.
You people should be ashamed of yourselves.

Posted by: Little people union local 3 at August 10, 2025 01:43 PM (h5TUr)

116 "How to fix it? Decertify every government union. Employment must be at will. "

Remember GE's Jack Welch writing that companies should cull the bottom rated 10% of their workforce every year?

Not that I thought that was innately fair - performance reviews can be notoriously subjective and reviewers vindictive.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 10, 2025 01:44 PM (QGaXH)

117 He need make an EO labeling islam as a terrorist organization,a blight on mankind, and outlaw it in the country. Then he needs to built a colosseum, a big beautiful colosseum, better than anywhere, the best in the galaxy, with big beautiful seating and lighting never seen before, and then stock it with big beautiful lions.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at August 10, 2025 01:40 PM (snZF9)

Heh. But to be serious for a moment, those 2000 "clerics"? If they can be identified, take them out, one by one, with Hellfire missiles launched from drones. No mercy. And if there's collateral damage? Tough shit.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:45 PM (Hm+HN)

118 The author was barely born in 1981.
Posted by: toby928 at August 10, 2025 01:42 PM (jc0TO)

Most people are barely born. The diaper comes a little later.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:46 PM (Hm+HN)

119 2,000 Hellfire missiles would be expensive.

2,000 cellphones on the other hand.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 01:46 PM (Ui59G)

120 We demand these unfunny, insulting jokes cease imediately.
You people should be ashamed of yourselves.
Posted by: Little people union local 3 at August 10, 2025 01:43 PM

Concur. Making fun of midget sports is small ball.

Posted by: Brotherhood of Little People, Local #269 at August 10, 2025 01:47 PM (0sNs1)

121 Clerics are only good for turning undead.
Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:42 PM (jxs9b)

the can also cure wounds or so I've heard.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at August 10, 2025 01:47 PM (89Sog)

122 "So why did this happen? The short answer is that they just don't give a sh*t, and care more about their pensions than their responsibilities to the people of the United States of America. The longer answer is that the administrative state does not have any market pressures to excel, and no penalties for failure."

AND

Posted by: davidt at August 10, 2025 01:48 PM (i0F8b)

123 2,000 Hellfire missiles would be expensive.

2,000 cellphones on the other hand.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 10, 2025 01:46 PM (Ui59G)

Money well spent, though. And the price would come down, once mass production begins.

And I doubt you would have to whack all 2000. Once a few hundred got blown to bits, I expect the survivors would find a way to retract their previous words, and beg forgiveness.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:50 PM (Hm+HN)

124 performance reviews can be notoriously subjective and reviewers vindictive.
Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK) at August 10, 2025 01:44 PM

Raise your hand if you believe your AoSHQ 2025 6 Month Commenter Performance Review was subjective.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:50 PM (0sNs1)

125 Remember GE's Jack Welch writing that companies should cull the bottom rated 10% of their workforce every year?

Kelly Johnson understood how to get things done.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at August 10, 2025 01:51 PM (3Ope8)

126 Lots of talk about the FAA and how the projects constantly kept changing. It seems we've totally lost the ability to build anything complex.

Except any average cloud service provider (eg. AWS, Azure, Google, etc.) is at least two orders, maybe three of magnitude more complex than the FAA's requirements.

The Feral Government is so profoundly and comprehensively corrupt, that the Obamacare launch website, rather than costing over a billion dollars to develop, could have been done in one or two Hackathons and the usual number boxes of pizza and cases of Bawls. Seriously.

What the FAA is solved science. Sadly, far too many big players like IAI, Motorola, RTX, GenDyn and others would wage war over the contract, then piss away hundreds of billions in fraud and graft.

Our government is so treacherous, they would likely contract out to AVIC or CASIC (CCP AV industry enterprises) just like the Obamacare website went to Big Mike's friends in Canada.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 10, 2025 01:51 PM (a4flb)

127 Clerics are only good for turning undead.
Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:42 PM (jxs9b)

the can also cure wounds or so I've heard.
Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at August 10, 2025 01:47 PM

No love for exhortations on holy days?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:52 PM (0sNs1)

128 Welp. The clock in my system tray says it's time to get on with my day.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:52 PM (Hm+HN)

129 I know for a fact that the FAA has spent billions on 2 failed attempts to build a new ATCS. The failed attempts were from 1990-2010. The reasons they failed are: 1) Incompetent management from the bureaucracy, 2) incompetent management from the project contractors, 3) an absolute failure to drive the projects to completion when the going got tough.

Posted by: JackWayne at August 10, 2025 01:53 PM (22a00)

130 >>> Raise your hand if you believe your AoSHQ 2025 6 Month Commenter Performance Review was subjective.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:50 PM (0sNs1)

At least we don't all have to do our own performance rating and submit it to Ace. Of all the stupid things in modern corporations, making all your employees review themselves is the stupidest waste of damned time.

Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 01:53 PM (cduTK)

131 The clock in my system tray says it's time to get on with my day.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 10, 2025 01:52 PM

You're letting billg control you?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:53 PM (0sNs1)

132 Beef and bacon are going up. Hearing at the YouTubes that US beef sales to our enemies in China, Japan and South Korea are being messed with. There could be an oversupply of beef soon.

Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:55 PM (jxs9b)

133 At least we don't all have to do our own performance rating and submit it to Ace. Of all the stupid things in modern corporations, making all your employees review themselves is the stupidest waste of damned time.
Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 01:53 PM

Ummmm, you know that the failure to submit that goes in your Permanent Record, right?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at August 10, 2025 01:55 PM (0sNs1)

134 Wait for one of those giant religious rallies in Qom, when all 2000+ are there and hit the city with a non nuclear ICBM. Kinetic energy + High Explosives = Big Hole

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 10, 2025 01:55 PM (GZPAV)

135
Monkey in midget race car:

https://is.gd/MtTy9Y

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 10, 2025 01:56 PM (GkHiK)

136 The Lefty Dems have more newspeak than a warehouse full of 1984 paperbacks .

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2025 01:58 PM (VofaG)

137 At least we don't all have to do our own performance rating and submit it to Ace. Of all the stupid things in modern corporations, making all your employees review themselves is the stupidest waste of damned time.
Posted by: banana Dread Pirate Summer Long Balls Dream at August 10, 2025 01:53 PM (cduTK)

One place I worked your eveluation of yourself was 1/2 of the calculation for your yearly raise.
I held myself in high regard. Gave myself a 5 on everything. We can work on stuff after the math is done.

Posted by: Reforger at August 10, 2025 01:58 PM (h5TUr)

138 Do you want AI to “hallucinate” planes that aren’t there? Or to “hallucinate” that planes that are there aren’t, or or heading in another direction than they are, or are at a different altitude than they are? Will you be happy when the AI tells two planes to fly into each other? You can’t even get current so-called AI to admit to a logical contradiction they have made, and you want this to run air traffic control?

Do not confuse LLMs or generatives like DALL-E with Expert Systems like MYCIN that uses rules-based logic coupled with inference engines.

I could see additions that are sandboxed like Reinforced Learning systems interfacing with Planing Scheduling AI.

The risk would be in the integration of Anomaly Detection and Predictive Analytics. Those systems could shadow actual ATC agents and learn similar to how Tesla is training their self driving cars.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at August 10, 2025 02:00 PM (a4flb)

139 You're all missing a lot of fun upstairs busting on the Frogs.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 10, 2025 02:00 PM (JvZF+)

140 I would well on a self performance review.

Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 02:00 PM (jxs9b)

141

Q: How do you deal with 2,000 clerics?
A: 10,000 maniacs

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 10, 2025 02:01 PM (63Dwl)

142 Why don't they have midget basketball?
Posted by: Boss Moss at August 10, 2025 01:37 PM (jxs9b)

Spud Webb is the greatest basketball player of all time IMO.

Posted by: polynikes at August 10, 2025 02:01 PM (VofaG)

143 The Hellfire missile currently has three major manufacturers in the USA and varies between $100,000 USD and $160,000 USD, depending on options. Even at a bare bones sticker price of $100,000 each, that’s not very cost efficient. We need more bang for the buck!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 02:02 PM (ZVgZ4)

144 If there are performance reviews I won't even be allowed to lurk.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at August 10, 2025 02:07 PM (SXxzC)

145 Beef sales to our enemies in China, Japan, and South Korea…

What?! China, maybe, if you mean the PRC versus Nationalist China, but Japan and South Korea? What kind of stuff you smoking in that hookah?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 02:08 PM (ZVgZ4)

146 Since nobody else has said it: Nood - French emergency numbers

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 10, 2025 02:10 PM (ZVgZ4)

147 Speaking of air safety . . .

https://is.gd/zOLALu

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 10, 2025 02:12 PM (L/fGl)

148 Public sector unions were legalized by JFK via EO 10988. They can be un-legalized by EO by Trump. If we want ANY government service(-ing) to become efficient, from the classroom to the District of Corruption, unionization of public employees (which always was a scam to move R tax dollars to D campaigns) must be outlawed. Even FDR LOL'd over dinner one night at the idiocy of government unions...

Posted by: Alexander Scipio at August 10, 2025 02:50 PM (029Oi)

149 The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS) is a federal law which establishes collective bargaining rights for most employees of the federal government of the United States. It was established under Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. You may now continue.

Posted by: @SOEarpiece at August 10, 2025 02:56 PM (jc0TO)

150 Nah he'll be too busy serving his globalist surveillance state master Peter Thiel

Posted by: Kimo Loka at August 10, 2025 03:12 PM (EjxK5)

151 Mayor Pete fixed the racist highways. Now Trump's administration can take care of the little things.
And any problem with the FAA is Trump's fault, Pete was on 4 year p/m/s leave.

Posted by: PTSD giver at August 10, 2025 06:53 PM (8RDQ+)

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