It's a bird. It's a plane ...

 

 

On occasion, it is both.

 

Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III (born January 23, 1951) is an American retired aviator, diplomat and aviation safety expert. He is best known for his actions as captain of US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15, 2009, when he ditched the plane, landing on the Hudson River after both engines were disabled by a bird strike. All 155 people aboard survived. After the Hudson landing, Sullenberger became an outspoken advocate for aviation safety and helped develop new protocols for flight safety. He served as the co-chairman, along with his co-pilot on Flight 1549, Jeffrey Skiles, of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)'s Young Eagles youth introduction-to-aviation program from 2009 to 2013.

Sullenberger retired from US Airways in 2010, after 30 years as a commercial pilot. In 2011, he was hired by CBS News as an aviation and safety expert.

Sullenberger is the co-author, with Jeffrey Zaslow, of the New York Times bestseller Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, a memoir of his life and of the events surrounding Flight 1549. His second book, Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America's Leaders, was published in 2012. He was ranked second in Time's Top 100 Most Influential Heroes and Icons of 2009, after Michelle Obama.

In 2021, President Joe Biden announced he would nominate Sullenberger as U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) with the rank of ambassador. He was confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate and served in that role from February 3 to July 1, 2022.

Because of his actions on January 15, 2009, he could legitimately be called SUPERMAN

 

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On January 15, 2009, Sullenberger was the captain of US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York Cit^] Shortly after takeoff, the plane struck a flock of Canada geese and lost power in both engines. Quickly determining he would be unable to reach either LaGuardia or Teterboro Airports, Sullenberger flew the plane to an emergency water landing on the Hudson River. All 155 people on board survived and were rescued.

Sullenberger said later: "It was very quiet as we worked, my copilot Jeff Skiles and I. We were a team. But to have zero thrust coming out of those engines was shocking - the silence." Sullenberger was the last to leave the aircraft, after twice making sweeps through the cabin to make sure all passengers and crew had evacuated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sully_Sullenberger

Sullenberger, described by friends as "shy and reticent", was noted for his poise and calm during the crisis; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg dubbed him "Captain Cool"^[Nonetheless, Sullenberger suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in subsequent weeks, including sleeplessness and flashbacks. He said that the moments before the landing were "the worst sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling" that he had ever experienced. He also said, "One way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I've been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15, the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal."

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that landing on the river was the correct decision instead of attempting a return to LaGuardia Airport because the normal procedures for engine loss are designed for cruising altitudes, not immediately after takeoff. Simulations performed at the Airbus Training Centre Europe in Toulouse showed that Flight 1549 could have made it back to LaGuardia had that maneuver begun immediately after the bird strike. However, such scenarios both neglected the time necessary for the pilots to understand and assess the situation, and risked the possibility of a crash within a densely populated area.

On February 24, 2009, Sullenberger testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Aviation of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that his salary had been cut by 40 percent, and that his pension, like most airline pensions, was terminated and replaced by a PBGC guarantee worth only pennies on the dollar. He cautioned that airlines were "under pressure to hire people with less experience. Their salaries are so low that people with greater experience will not take those jobs. We have some carriers that have hired some pilots with only a few hundred hours of experience. ... There's simply no substitute for experience in terms of aviation safety."

The Sullenberger Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina is named for him. It houses a Miracle on the Hudson exhibit.

Tom Hanks portrayed Sullenberger in the 2016 movie, "Sully".

 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_commercial_aircraft

 

In the last 25 years, domestic passenger deaths have been astonishingly low.

 

Prior to this week's collision between American Eagle Flight 5342 and a military helicopter, there have only been 6 days when domestic passengers were killed.

 

Here they are:

 

1/31/2000 - Alaska Airlines 261 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing 83 passengers and 5 crew members

 

2/16/2000 - Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 crashed near Sacramento, killing three crew members

 

9/11/2001 - 4 airliners were hijacked by terrorists. In addition to the airline passengers, hundreds of people on the ground were also killed. Total death toll was over 3,000 people.

 

 

1/8/2003 - Air Midwest 5481 crashed in Charlotte, killing all 19 passengers and 2 pilots

 

7/31/2008 - East Coast Jets Flight 81 crashed in Minnesota. All 8 on board were killed.

 

4/17/2018 - Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 experienced engine failure but did not crash. One person was killed

 

1/29/2025 - American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac. A total of 67 people lost their lives.

 

DEI had absolutely nothing to do with this week’s crash.

 

It was caused by the helicopter straying from its flight path, as well as the fact that there not enough air traffic controllers at Reagan International Airport

 

Due to the persistent shortage of air traffic controllers at our nation's airports, the FAA began to hire people with disabilities, and Donald Trump did nothing to stop the process.

 

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/30/faa-dei-trump-fact-checker/

 

For air traffic controllers, the Obama administration in 2013 instituted a new hiring system that introduced a biographical questionnaire to attract minorities, underrepresented in the controller corps. The program was criticized by various outlets, including on FOX “News”, making it harder for more skilled applicants to get hired as controllers.

 

Donald Trump, in his first term, left the policy in place, leading to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 by Mountain States Legal Foundation. The case was due to go to trial this year.

 

Moreover, the FAA under Trump in 2019 launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference.

 

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/is-there-an-air-traffic-controller-shortage-deadly-midair-collision-raises-concerns/3831276/

 

The FAA announced in September 2024 that it had more than 14,000 air traffic controllers.   

The organization said at the time it was working to "reverse a decades-long air traffic controller staffing level decline."

In 2024, the FAA exceeded its goal of hiring 1,800 air traffic controllers with a final total of 1,811, saying it was the largest number of hires in nearly a decade. That figure, however, does not account for air traffic controllers who retired or new hires who do not go on to reach graduation, which impacts the net gain.

Is there a shortage of air traffic controllers?

The New York Times reported in 2023 that nearly all air traffic control sites in the country were understaffed. The shortage, per the report, forced many controllers to work 10-hour days, six days a week, resulting in an exhausted work force susceptible to making dangerous mistakes.

The air traffic control tower at Reagan National Airport, as of September 2023, had 19 fully certified controllers when the targets set by the FAA and controllers' union called for 30, per the Times.

Before the FAA's 2024 hiring totals were announced, its latest workforce plan had said the agency was short 3,000 controllers to fill air traffic control stations and towers across the country as of May, according to Airlines for America.

That understaffing leads to controllers regularly working overtime.

An agreement between the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in July gave controllers 10 hours off between shifts and 12 hours off before and after a midnight shift. They also agreed to limit consecutive overtime assignments.

"The science is clear that controller fatigue is a public safety issue, and it must be addressed," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said at the time.

Did Donald Trump freeze the hiring of air traffic controllers?

Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20 to freeze the hiring of federal civilian employees. Trump's order does not apply to military personnel of the armed forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.

The order did not state if that applies to air traffic controllers, whose roles could fall under public safety.

A Department of Transportation spokesperson told NBC4 that air traffic controllers were exempt from any hiring freeze issued.

"The FAA has been hiring and onboarding air traffic controllers and other safety-critical positions," the statement said.

“FAA Provides Aviation Careers to People with Disabilities,” the agency announced on April 11, 2019. The pilot program, the announcement said, would “identify specific opportunities for people with targeted disabilities, empower them and facilitate their entry into a more diverse and inclusive workforce.”

 

The primary cause of the crash was the fact that the helicopter was flying 100 feet higher than it should have been.

 

If we’re recklessly assigning blame, we might just as easily point out that, before Trump took office, there hadn’t been a major commercial plane crash in the United States in the previous 16 years; that, in the week before the crash, Trump sacked the head of the Transportation Security Administration, disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, failed to name an acting head of the FAA, and imposed a hiring freeze that apparently includes air traffic controllers; and that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last year celebrated his “landmark victory” in expanding the number of flights out of National — over the protest of aviation safety experts and senators from Maryland and Virginia, who warned that Cruz and friends “decided to ignore the flashing red warning light of the recent near-collision of two aircraft at [National] and jam even more flights onto the busiest runway in America.”

 

Opinion| Trump hijacks a tragic plane crash to further his political vendettas - TheWashington Post

 

Remember the phrase, "the buck stops here"?

 

Since Pete Hegseth is now in charge of the Pentagon, he is actually the guy to blame. However, since he only got confirmed last week, it is not fair to blame him for the disaster.

 

The more important fact is that he is totally unqualified for the position he now holds, and there WILL be other disasters in the future - and that is a lead pipe cinch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Wetback

 

 

If you don’t learn from it, history will repeat itself.

One constant in our nation’s history is how it treats immigrants.

Prior to 1892, immigrants were processed by individual states, but that all changed with the opening of Ellis Island in 1892. Until its closure in 1954, nearly 12,000,000 people passed through its gates.

The arrival of that many people caused native born Americans to fear job losses, and our immigration policies gradually got more restrictive.

In 1917, the U.S. Congress enacted the first widely restrictive immigration law. The uncertainty generated over national security during World War I made it possible for Congress to pass this legislation, and it included several important provisions that paved the way for the 1924 Act. The 1917 Act implemented a literacy test that required immigrants over 16 years old to demonstrate basic reading comprehension in any language. It also increased the tax paid by new immigrants upon arrival and allowed immigration officials to exercise more discretion in making decisions over whom to exclude. Finally, the Act excluded from entry anyone born in a geographically defined “Asiatic Barred Zone” except for Japanese and Filipinos. In 1907, the Japanese Government had voluntarily limited Japanese immigration to the United States in the Gentlemen’s Agreement. The Philippines was a U.S. colony, so its citizens were U.S. nationals and could travel freely to the United States. China was not included in the Barred Zone, but the Chinese were already denied immigration visas under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was not repealed until 1943, when China became an ally of American against the Japanese.

Immigration Quotas

The literacy test alone was not enough to prevent most potential immigrants from entering, so members of Congress sought a new way to restrict immigration in the 1920s. Immigration expert and Republican Senator from Vermont William P. Dillingham introduced a measure to create immigration quotas, which he set at three percent of the total population of the foreign-born of each nationality in the United States as recorded in the 1910 census. This put the total number of visas available each year to new immigrants at 350,000. It did not, however, establish quotas of any kind for residents of the Western Hemisphere. President Wilson opposed the restrictive act, preferring a more liberal immigration policy, so he used the pocket veto to prevent its passage. In early 1921, the newly inaugurated President Warren Harding called Congress back to a special session to pass the law. In 1922, the act was renewed for another two years.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act

We have also had a long history of people from Mexico coming into our country, both legally and illegally.

The Bracero Program (from the Spanish term bracero [bɾaˈse.ɾo], meaning "manual laborer" or "one who works using his arms") was a U.S. Government-sponsored program that imported Mexican farm and railroad workers into the United States between the years 1942 and 1964.

The program, which was designed to fill agriculture shortages during World War II, offered employment contracts to 5 million braceros in 24 U.S. states. It was the largest guest worker program in U.S. history.

The program was the result of a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated on August 4, 1942, when the United States signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement with Mexico. For these farmworkers, the agreement guaranteed decent living conditions (sanitation, adequate shelter, and food) and a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour, as well as protections from forced military service, and guaranteed that a part of wages was to be put into a private savings account in Mexico. The program also allowed the importation of contract laborers from Guam as a temporary measure during the early phases of World War II.

The agreement was extended with the Migrant Labor Agreement of 1951 (Pub. L. 82–78), enacted as an amendment to the Agricultural Act of 1949 by the United States Congress, which set the official parameters for the Bracero Program until its termination in 1964.

In studies published in 2018 and 2023, it was found that the Bracero Program did not have an adverse effect on the wages or employment for American-born farm workers, and that termination of the program had adverse impact on American-born farmers and resulted in increased farm mechanization.

Since abolition of the Bracero Program, temporary agricultural workers have been admitted with H-2 and H-2A visas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracero_Program

 Donald Trump’s ill-advised mass deportation plan is not the first time that we have embarked on a mass deportation plan. The first time was a 1954 program that has been labeled “Operation Wetback”.

Operation Wetback was a controversial immigration enforcement initiative launched by the United States in 1954. Aimed at curbing illegal immigration, it primarily targeted Mexican nationals.

What was Operation Wetback? 

It was a large-scale effort by the U.S. government to deport undocumented Mexican laborers. This operation saw the collaboration of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and local law enforcement agencies. Over a million individuals were deported during this period, often under harsh and inhumane conditions. The program was a response to growing concerns about illegal immigration and its impact on American jobs and wages. However, it also sparked significant debate about human rights and the ethics of mass deportation. Understanding Operation Wetback provides insight into the complexities of immigration policy and its long-lasting effects on U.S.-Mexico relations.

Why Was Operation Wetback Implemented?

Labor Market Concerns: There was a belief that illegal immigrants were taking jobs from American citizens.

Economic Pressure: The influx of illegal immigrants was seen as a strain on public resources.

Political Pressure: Politicians faced pressure from constituents to address the issue of illegal immigration.

Agricultural Sector: The agricultural sector relied heavily on migrant labor, leading to complex dynamics in labor supply and demand.        

Border Security: Strengthening border security was a priority for the Eisenhower administration.

What Were the Effects of Operation Wetback?

Family Separation: Many families were separated as a result of the deportations.

Labor Shortages: The agricultural sector faced labor shortages due to the mass deportations.

Human Rights Concerns: There were reports of human rights abuses during the operation.

Public Opinion: The operation received mixed reactions from the public and politicians.

Legal Challenges: Some deportations faced legal challenges and scrutiny.

 The concerns of 1957 are still prevalent today, but Donald Trump has also added the fear of crime, even though illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native Americans.

As a result, the House recently passed the Laken Riley bill, named after a George nursing student who was murdered by a Venezuela man.

https://apnews.com/article/congress-immigration-crackdown-laken-riley-act-trump-a3e52af60b6b952f487e4ae03ebfacde

Although it is not possible to determine how much Operation wetback cost the U.S. Economy, the links below provide more complete general information.

https://facts.net/history/historical-events/36-facts-about-operation-wetback/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback

What we CAN determine is how much Trump’s mass deportation plans will cost the economy.

By one estimate from an immigration policy group, GDP could shrink by $1.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion, but in his recent comments Trump has also said his plan will bring more businesses into the country and the U.S. needs more workers to grow.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/money-report/what-trumps-mass-deportation-plan-would-mean-for-immigrant-workers-and-the-economy/5971079/

The pro-immigration American Immigration Council estimates a one-time push to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants would cost $315 billion, while deporting one million people a year would cost $88 million annually. The operation could also have economic impacts, the group notes, including lost tax revenue, less consumer spending and labor shortages—especially in industries like agriculture and construction. Trump has defended the costs, saying there is "no price tag" for his mass deportation plans and "we have no choice.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/01/26/everything-to-know-about-trumps-mass-deportation-plans-deportations-start-but-colombia-rejects-flights/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly&utm_campaign=6180822

Both Mexico and Venezuela have refused to accept people who have been deported, which prompted Trump to impose tariffs on Venezuela in retaliation.

The deportations have already started, and local communities are using various methods to fight them.

It’s difficult to determine how long the deportations last, but it’s clear than we need more people like bishop Mariann Budde to prevent the worst excesses.

On January 21, 2025, the day after Donald Trump's second inauguration as president, Budde delivered the homily at the interfaith prayer service traditionally held at the Washington National Cathedral after each presidential inauguration. Also in attendance were the new vice president, JD Vance; House speaker Mike Johnson; and Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for defense secretary. In the sermon, Budde addressed Trump, who was sitting in the first pew, urging him to show mercy and compassion to vulnerable people, saying: "Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now." Budde specifically cited he LGBTQ+ communities, immigrants, and refugees fleeing from war in their countries.

After the service, Trump disparaged Budde as a "so-called Bishop" and "Radical Left hard line Trump hater" on his social media website Truth Social. Trump called the service "very boring" and demanded an apology from Budde and the Episcopal Church. Trump allies also attacked Budde; evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress condemned the bishop for having "insulted rather than encouraged our great president" while Republican congressman Mike Collins said that Budde (who is a U.S. citizen) "should be added to the deportation list". According to Baptist News Global, Megan Basham and other far-right religious figures used the incident to press their views against the ordination of women as pastors. Budde's remarks were welcomed by civil rights advocate Bernice King, Pope Francis's biographer Austen Ivereigh, and other public figures.

Budde declined to respond to Trump's reaction to her message; in interviews, she described her sermon as fairly mild, with the intended message to the new president that "The country has been entrusted to you. And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy." Budde said that unity requires mercy, humility, and the upholding of human dignity; she warned against America's "culture of contempt" as well as the harms of polarizing narratives.

Not surprisingly, Budde has received death threats from Trump supporters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariann_Budde