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What has Trump done right so far?

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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by Annachie   » Sat Jul 01, 2017 12:12 am

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What worries me about the US air traffic control is the presidents tendency to direct the work to his own intetests.
Fine for business, shitty for government.

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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by biochem   » Sat Jul 01, 2017 6:27 am

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Annachie wrote:What worries me about the US air traffic control is the presidents tendency to direct the work to his own intetests.
Fine for business, shitty for government.

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In this particular situation, whether it works or not will depend on the details of how it is done. Trump doesn't care how it is fixed just that it is fixed. So it's really up to the department of transportation and congress to come up with a detailed plan. What these guys should do is just to copy what is already proven to work. But I'm not sure their egos will be able to resist to opportunity to make it "better".

If we copy Canada's system (or Australia's), then the government vs business issue that you are concerned about comes pre-solved unless you think Canada's system is bad.
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by Daryl   » Sat Jul 01, 2017 6:38 am

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Reminds me of when I was brought in to sort out problems with our Army Aviation. One minor one was that they had long ago bought some "Mill Spec Robustised" lap tops to manage field maintenance, with both parts inventories and how to guides. Problem was that they were on ancient 286 platforms that had been repaired multiple times. I just bought a stack of latest model laptops and had the software updated and transferred. The warrant officers went ballistic as "this civvi rubbish will break down in the field". I loved proving them wrong, as modern laptops are naturally tough anyway without trebling the price by painting them khaki.

biochem wrote:The proposal to change the airtraffic control to semi-private status. The general idea is to copy Canada's system, which appears to have potential assuming the people in charge of the details (Trump is NOT a detail guy. He's big picture i.e. I want a system like Canada's or other similar systems (New Zealand, U.K., Australia, Germany etc) -> make it so) don't muck it up. Canada's system seems to work well so my personal opinion is to make the new system as much like Canada's as possible. i.e. do not reinvent the wheel.

The current US government run air traffic control system is problematic. The #1 issue is the 40 year old computers that are running the system. They've been trying without success to get new ones for the last 20 years or so. This system does not use GPS.
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by Imaginos1892   » Sun Jul 02, 2017 2:40 am

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Daryl wrote:Reminds me of when I was brought in to sort out problems with our Army Aviation. One minor one was that they had long ago bought some "Mill Spec Robustised" lap tops to manage field maintenance, with both parts inventories and how to guides. Problem was that they were on ancient 286 platforms that had been repaired multiple times. I just bought a stack of latest model laptops and had the software updated and transferred. The warrant officers went ballistic as "this civvi rubbish will break down in the field". I loved proving them wrong, as modern laptops are naturally tough anyway without trebling the price by painting them khaki.

Give them some credit, they did wrap them in rubber, too, didn't they?

Big problem is, getting something approved for government — especially military — use takes so long that three generations of more advanced products have come out before they place the first order. Then, since the procurement process (geez, sounds like they're out trolling the Vegas strip for hookers, don't it?) is so long and tortuous, once some obsolete piece of crap does get approved, they continue to use it for decades as it becomes ever more obsolete.

I worked on a shipboard computer in the 1980's with 128 KBytes of magnetic core memory! It did have one neat feature: if it lost power, it would simply continue from where it stopped when the power was restored. It also cost $500,000. You could get a far more powerful civilian computer for $4,000.
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by ksandgren   » Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:26 pm

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While in most ways it was just another photo op, Trump's words in Las Vegas for the first time showed some compassion and leadership after a disaster. After screwing up FEMAs response to Florida and Houston and being obnoxious to Puerto Rico, it was nice to see the egomaniac actually behave as a human being and appear presidential.
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by biochem   » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:46 am

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After screwing up FEMAs response to Florida and Houston and being obnoxious to Puerto Rico,


FEMA's response in Florida and Texas was actually quite effective. FEMA's response to Puerto Rico wasn't (although it seems to be rapidly improving lately). So what are the differences:

1. Puerto Rico is an island - complicates supply delivery etc. This is something that was known in advance. FEMA should have pre-positioned supplies in an organized fashion for rapid delivery.

It also makes it harder for out of state volunteers to come and help. But FEMA can't do anything about that part. Volunteers were critical to the Texas/Florida response.

2. Puerto Rico's government is completely incompetent and incapable of holding up their end. FEMA actions are generally a federal-state-local collaboration, which worked decently in Texas and Florida. But Puerto Rico's government (territory and local) is an utter disaster. But again FEMA knew this. There has been an unending stream of news stories about one Puerto Rican governmental disaster after another for years. FEMA should have planned for incompetent local collaboration and factored that into their planning.

The supply distribution problem is a combination of 1 and 2. The supplies are showing up in a disorganized mess and piling up on the docks. First to land should have been things necessary for distribution: trucks, gas, chainsaws. Followed by critical for life supplies: food, water. Then everything else. The locals are supposed to take the lead on distribution once the supplies arrive, but as previously noted they are utterly incompetent, so FEMA should just have planned on making distribution idiot proof (hiring a few retired military quartermasters and following their instructions would have worked wonders).
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by pappilon   » Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:06 pm

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biochem wrote:The locals are supposed to take the lead on distribution once the supplies arrive, but as previously noted they are utterly incompetent, so FEMA should just have planned on making distribution idiot proof (hiring a few retired military quartermasters and following their instructions would have worked wonders).

Nothing like proper planning to prevent piss poor performance. but no plan long survives contact with the forces of nature. On a previous note, I must have missed Trump's trip to Las Vegas where he acted so ... empathetic. Was that the one where Melania showed up in designer jeans and Timberline boots?
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by Annachie   » Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:13 am

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Said it before. Melania more than any other first lady is expected to dress up rather than dress to the occasion. If only by her husband.

Besides, when she wears heels she is taller than him and I think she likes that.. :D
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by gcomeau   » Mon Oct 09, 2017 2:11 pm

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ksandgren wrote:While in most ways it was just another photo op, Trump's words in Las Vegas for the first time showed some compassion and leadership after a disaster. After screwing up FEMAs response to Florida and Houston and being obnoxious to Puerto Rico, it was nice to see the egomaniac actually behave as a human being and appear presidential.


He's capable of behaving like a human being when he stays strictly on script. Which is what he was clearly doing in Vegas...

It's when he starts speaking for himself that everything goes to hell. If his speechwriters just ran the presidency we'd probably be in better shape.
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Re: What has Trump done right so far?
Post by ksandgren   » Mon Oct 09, 2017 2:58 pm

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The excuses for FEMA performance in Puerto Rico are greatly cut down in that FEMA had a presence of the ground in Puerto Rico for Harvey several days before the big one hit. They knew what was already damaged and what to expect when the next one hit. How were the locals supposed to help with distribution with no power, no fuel and limited personnel(if you can't get to the port you can't unload at the port). FEMA knew this a week in advance because they were still on the ground from the last one. White House interference on shipping exasperated the problem, but FEMA knew enough that fuel and portable power should have been on the first loads of supply.

It can be argued, and would be by many southern states if they weren't the major beneficiaries of most of FEMAs responses, that FEMA should be disbanded as an intrusion on states rights. That southern benefit is probably why the navy helped greatly at Houston and somewhat in Florida but not until after the fact in Puerto Rico.


biochem wrote:
After screwing up FEMAs response to Florida and Houston and being obnoxious to Puerto Rico,


FEMA's response in Florida and Texas was actually quite effective. FEMA's response to Puerto Rico wasn't (although it seems to be rapidly improving lately). So what are the differences:

1. Puerto Rico is an island - complicates supply delivery etc. This is something that was known in advance. FEMA should have pre-positioned supplies in an organized fashion for rapid delivery.

It also makes it harder for out of state volunteers to come and help. But FEMA can't do anything about that part. Volunteers were critical to the Texas/Florida response.

2. Puerto Rico's government is completely incompetent and incapable of holding up their end. FEMA actions are generally a federal-state-local collaboration, which worked decently in Texas and Florida. But Puerto Rico's government (territory and local) is an utter disaster. But again FEMA knew this. There has been an unending stream of news stories about one Puerto Rican governmental disaster after another for years. FEMA should have planned for incompetent local collaboration and factored that into their planning.

The supply distribution problem is a combination of 1 and 2. The supplies are showing up in a disorganized mess and piling up on the docks. First to land should have been things necessary for distribution: trucks, gas, chainsaws. Followed by critical for life supplies: food, water. Then everything else. The locals are supposed to take the lead on distribution once the supplies arrive, but as previously noted they are utterly incompetent, so FEMA should just have planned on making distribution idiot proof (hiring a few retired military quartermasters and following their instructions would have worked wonders).
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