Canada shows privatizing air traffic control works

Canada’s privatized air traffic control system should be model for U.S., analyst says - Transportation Today:

September 20, 2017 - "A proposal to privatize air traffic control in the United States would help facilitate modernization of the decades-old air traffic control system, a model that has seen success in Canada, argues an analyst at the independent, non-profit American Action Forum (AAF).

""Brianna Fernandez, a data analyst with AAF, says that because the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding is uncertain and enmeshed in political gridlock, upgrading the World War II-era, ground-based radar technology to GPS-based technology is close to impossible. But privatization would correct that, she said....

"Fernandez says it works in other countries, and should be a model for how it works in the United States.... Fernandez pointed to Canada as an example.

"Canada moved to a privatized ATC system, Nav Canada, nearly 20 years ago and was able to quickly modernize its air traffic technology in 2009 to an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system, Fernandez noted. This ATC system determines an aircraft’s position via satellite navigation and then broadcasts its location for tracking purposes....

"In contrast, since 2007, Fernandez wrote, the FAA has invested $3 billion in a satellite-based GPS tracking technology, included in a program known as NextGen, but has not either identified the total costs of NextGen, or set schedules for implementing it. Current estimates put the total cost at $160 billion by 2030.

"'Since it privatized its ATC services, Canada has implemented GPS technology, which has helped to lower costs to aviation users,' Fernandez wrote.... 'Nav Canada is also one of the safest systems in the world, and has won three International Air Transport Association Eagle Awards for the best ATC provider'....

"Similar systems exist in Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Fernandez wrote. 'Removing air traffic control from governmental constraints has allowed other countries to modernize their technologies at rates faster than the United States, while maintaining a safe system with lower costs,' she says in her paper."

Read more: https://transportationtodaynews.com/news/5604-canadas-privatized-air-traffic-control-system-model-u-s-analyst-says/
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Shutdown renews call for air traffic control reform

Airline industry may renew calls for privatizing air traffic control - Business Insider - Rachel Premack:

January 27, 2019 - "The longest-ever government shutdown ended Friday, totaling 35 days. And for airlines, the effects of the shutdown can be quantified in tens of millions. Southwest Airlines said the government shutdown cost it more than $10 million. Delta said it lost $25 million in revenue during the month of January.... Federal airport workers were hit particularly hard by the shutdown, as they were forced to work without pay and missed two paychecks....

"Cowen analysts wrote in a note to investors on Friday that the myriad issues that the government shutdown foisted upon the airline industry would strengthen arguments in favor of privatizing. '[I]n our view, this is another major factor in airlines' support of setting up a private company to manage the country's air space,' Cowen analysts Helane Becker, Conor Cunningham, and Tyler Seidman wrote.

"Trade organization Airlines For America (A4A) is a major champion for the privatization cause. A4A's members include UPS, FedEx, United, Southwest, and ... six major airlines.

"In June 2017, President Donald Trump outlined a plan to 'modernize' America's skies. One of the more controversial components of that plan was to privatize the air traffic control system, which he said would help quickly update outdated technology and cut costs for consumers.

"A4A agreed with Trump's plan. 'Flight delays cost the economy $25 billion last year, and our antiquated ATC system is responsible for almost half of those delays,' the organization wrote.

"'If you look at service between the Eastern US and the West Coast, flight times today are much longer than they were 20 or 30 years ago ...' Hawaiian Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Peter Ingram told Business Insider's Benjamin Zhang in 2017 ... 'because we confine ourselves to a fraction of the available airspace because we simply don't have the ATC infrastructure to be able to support taking full advantage of that'....

"No part of Trump's modernization bill has gone through yet, but Cowen analysts said that the shutdown could certainly bolster the need for the privatization component. 'To date, bills in Congress to set up a separate corporation to manage air traffic control have gone nowhere,' they added. 'This issue could be a turning point for change.'"

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/airline-industry-may-renew-calls-for-privatizing-air-traffic-control-2019-1

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The crimes of Santa Claus

Will the Feds Bust Santa Claus? | Libertarian Party blog - George Getz:

December 25, 2008 - "When Santa Claus comes to town this week, he'd better watch out – because the federal government may be making a list of his crimes (and checking it twice), the Libertarian Party warned....

"Does Santa belong in the slammer? Instead of stuffing stockings, should he be making license plates?

"Yes ... if he's held to the same standards as a typical American. For example:

• Every December 25, the illegal immigrant known as Santa Claus crosses the border into the United States without a passport. He carries concealed contraband, which he sneaks into the country in order to avoid inspection by the U.S. Customs Service. And just what's in all those brightly colored packages tied up with ribbons, anyway? The Drug Czar and Homeland Security want to know. 
• Look at how this international fugitive gets around: Santa flies in a custom-built sleigh that hasn't been approved by the FAA. He never files a flight plan. He has no pilot's license. In the dark of night, he rides the skies with just a tiny bioluminescent red light to guide him – a clear violation of traffic safety regulations. 
• Pulling Santa's sleigh: Eight tiny reindeer, a federally protected species being put to hard labor. None of these reindeer have their required shots, and Santa's never bothered to get these genetically-engineered animals registered and licensed. It's no wonder: He keeps them penned outside his workplace in a clear violation of zoning laws. 
• But Crooked Claus the Conniving Capitalist harms more than just animals – he's hurting hard-working American laborers, too. Isn't Santa's Workshop really Santa's Sweatshop, where his non-union employees don't make minimum wage and get no holiday pay? Add the fact that OSHA has never inspected the place, and you have a Third-World elf-exploitation operation that only Kathy Lee Gifford could love. 
• No wonder Santa is able to maintain his monopoly over the toy distribution industry: He's cornered the Christmas gift market. Santa dares to give away his products for free in a sinister attempt to crush all competition – just like Microsoft's Internet Explorer.... 

"It might be tough sledding for Jolly St. Nick this Christmas if the government decides to prosecute him."

Read more: http://www.lp.org/blogs/andrew-davis/will-the-feds-bust-santa-claus
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Ron Paul family detained by TSA. Again

Ron Paul Family Detained by TSA Again - Raven Clabough, New American:

August 30, 2012 - "Ron Paul, his wife, and granddaughter were stopped by eight TSA [Transportation Security Agency] workers at a small airport in Clearwater, Florida, and told they must be screened. According to the agents, the screening was necessary because Mitt Romney 'might be nearby'.... The agents inspected Paul’s credentials and demanded to check the airplane for explosives.

"The entire incident came to an end once Ron Paul’s wife, Carol, refused to be screened by TSA personnel, asserting that she wore a pacemaker, and a Paul aide began taking video of the ordeal on his cell phone....

Earlier this year, Ron Paul’s son, Rand, was detained by the TSA in Nashville, causing him to miss his appearance at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C."

Read more: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/12663-ron-paul-family-detained-by-tsa-again
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Privatize the FAA

Cato @ Liberty; "Privatize the FAA" - Chris Edwards, Dec. 27, 2010:

"Bloomberg is reporting more bad news for the nation’s air traffic control system, which is run by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is $500 million overbudget and six years behind schedule on a $2.1 billion technology upgrade project....

"There is a better way to run air traffic control — a private sector way, as Canada has been demonstrating. In 1996, Canada converted its government air traffic control system to a private nonprofit corporation. Nav Canada has been a smashing success, providing an excellent model for possible U.S. reforms.

" A December 24 story in the Financial Post describes how Nav Canada is a world leader in efficiency, safety, and technology under private management. 'A once troubled government asset, the country’s civil air traffic controller was privatized 14 years ago and is now a shining example of how to create a global technology leader out of a hulking government bureaucracy.' It really is an impressive story of pro-market reform."

Ron Paul-like anti-TSA bills in NJ Senate

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Paul-like anti-TSA bills in NJ Senate - Newark Essex County Conservative | Examiner.com: "Senator Doherty's bills actually amend New Jersey's current statutes specifically to bring the actions of individual Transportation Security Administration agents under those statutes, and also create a brand-new statute. Specifically:

• Bill TSA-1 provides that touching the genitals or the breasts (the 'junk') during a body search is a third-degree sexual assault unless the subject of the search is under arrest or in prison, or the actor has a lawful warrant....
• Bill TSA-2 is a brand-new statute that directly forbids the TSA to use any sort of body-image scanner, including the terahertz ('millimeter-wave') scanner(s) in use at Newark Liberty International, to screen any passenger, flight officer, or flight attendant.... The fine for operating such a scanner would be $1000 each instance.
• Bill TSA-3 provides that creating or viewing a body-scan image that includes the "junk" will be a pornography offense, unless the person involved is under arrest, or an inmate, or the TSA has a warrant, or the subject (or the parent or guardian if the subject is a minor) has provided written permission....

"Andrew L. Schlafly, a local attorney who has lately argued several constitutional cases, told this Examiner very briefly that these statutes could precipitate a constitutional crisis on the basis of federal supremacy."