"How the FBI and DOJ Undermined Themselves"

 I am a contributor on Quora and also follow several people, one is a guy named "Anthony Cady", Well I shamelessly cut and pasted his answer to some leftie that wanted examples of how biased the DOJ was to the people on the right side of the political aisle.  I thought it was "Nickworthy"

    The meme came from my "stash" on my computer.

The DOJ and FBI have undermined themselves.

 

 

 

The Mueller report found no collusion. The FBI knew there was no collusion before Mueller was appointed but continued to investigate and got a Mueller appointment anyway because Comey and the gang didn’t like Trump.

The Durham report states that the Mueller investigation never should have taken place and the Crossfire Hurricane investigation had no legal foundation for it to have continued.

An FBI lawyer plead guilty to altering an e-mail from the CIA to say the opposite of what the CIA actually said in order to justify continuing warrants on a Trump campaign staffer. Something that impacted an election and hampered a Presidency and the guy didn’t even lose his law license.

The Obama White House was briefed by the CIA that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was going to try and tie Trump to Russia to distract from her e-mails, yet, the FBI still pursued the false allegations.

The FBI cancelled an investigation of Russian money being poured into the Clinton foundation, and gave Clinton and her campaign defensive briefings, yet never did the same for Trump showing a clear double standard.

James Comey, FBI director leaked classified material to a friend which later showed up in the press.

The FBI was found to have violated the FISA process several times in the Trump Russia investigation.

The FBI ignored warnings from British intel that collusion was nonsense to the point British Intel flat out refuse to help the FBI, and the FBI ignored attempts by British intel to completely distance themselves from Christopher Steele who was basically persona non grata in British intel circles. MI-6 were incredulous when the FBI opened an investigation based on the Papadapoulos-Downer bar conversation as there was evidence of nothing in that meeting, and they were equally baffled by the so-called evidence that the FBI paid Stephan Halpar for which the British said was a whole lot of resources used to gather nothing incriminating.

The inspector General found the FBI violated the FISA process in far more cases than the Trump Russia investigation. They also found violations where FBI agents have recieved gifts and money from the press in exchange for leaks. Almost all have only benefitted one side of the political aisle.

A US. Attorney has just resigned from the DOJ for attending Biden fundraisers, and participating in an election campaign in which she leaked confidential DOJ information in order to make it appear the opponent of her backed candidate was under investigation. She continued to leak confidential info after the opponent won an election in order to damage that person in the general election. She initially lied to investigators until they found texts that proved her guilt. She faces no charges.

Despite responding to the release of the Durham Report by saying changes have already been made, Just yesterday the FISA court said the FBI conducted illegal warrantless searchs through NSA databases almost 300,000 times including searchs of people involved with Jan 6th, and George Floyd protests.

The DOJ has been caught trying to justify use of terrorism laws to target parents who voice dissenting opinions to school boards.

Despite little effort to hold pro-choice vandals accountable the FBI used a tactical team to raid a pro-life activist’s home who would have simply turned himself in. That guy was acquitted at trial.

Former members of the intel community that signed a letter saying that Hunter’s laptop bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign have admitted they did so to help Biden win an election, but worse, an active member of the CIA helped circulate it and claimed the CIA itself was involved in verifying just that when they did not.

The FBI and DOJ continue to stonewall Congressional requests and subpeonas for information which isn’t even classified.

These are facts that show the FBI, DOJ, and Intel community has continually abused their powers, have shown double standards based on politics, have completely undermined themselves with little to no consequence, and they feel entitled to continue because most of the press has been in on it all.

 

Memorial Day 2023

 I am still in the Gunshine State visiting my Brother and his family and will not return until Tuesday, so I will try to post something for Tuesday morning while we drive back.

This post is scheduled for Sunday afternoon on the Scheduler thingie.  I will not have a Monday Music like I normally do.  To me it would be inappropriate because it is Memorial Day.

    I'm going to explain "Memorial day" compared to the other holidays that involve the Military.

      Armed Forces Day honors those that are serving now.
      Veterans Day honors those of us that are no longer serving but still around to thank us for our    service.
   Memorial Day honors those of us that died in service to our country or those of us that have died since.
     To me Memorial day is a somber Holiday,  It gets worse the older I get because I attribute it to "survivors guilt".  We miss our comrades that will never grow old and one day we will join them.  Like I said, I attribute this to "survivors guilt" or basically why me and not them, why do I grow older and they don't.  What made me special that I lived and they didn't.  This goes through my mind and I just leave it to the guy upstairs because I figure that he still has plans for me. 
     I do what is called "Honor Guard" missions with my employer, where we greet all remains coming off the airplane with a flag line and a prayer.  I am honored to do that, I can still serve in some capacity.
     I don't begrudge the people using the Memorial Day as an excuse for a vacation or the "Start of Summer".  At least they say the words "Memorial Day" in their conversations.  

There is a phrase I saw in the Movie "Gardens of Stone" that came out in 1987, and we started using it because it resonated with us. Here is  the trailer of the movie "Gardens of Stone".  I really like the movie partly it ties in with my Dads experiences because he was a member of the "Old Guard", although for him it was 1963-1964 for him.  He had told me that the things that the "Old Guard" did was accurately portrayed.

I hoist a glass of whatever beverage I drink on Memorial Day and say "Here's to us ...and those like us.....Damm few of us left."   I honor my friends that got killed during war and my friends that died after war from accidents, disease or suicide.

.

 

Why China can't dump Boeing despite the dreams of Airbus.

 I am presently in Florida visiting my brother and his family for the memorial day weekend. So yes I threw another aviation themed post against the wall, LOL.  This one also came from my work email from a 3rd party source.   I used this one because it did mention some demographic issues that the Chinese have and I thought that was interesting.

A China Eastern Airlines Airbus A320-200 (foreground) and Boeing 737-800.

Credit: Rob Finlayson

Manufacturing mainline aircraft is a natural monopoly that governments and airlines prevent from becoming an actual monopoly by sustaining at least two major OEMs. This approach preserves competition as well as most of the scale economics that a monopoly would bring. The result has been a roughly even Airbus-Boeing contest, now complemented at the low end by Embraer E2s, and has generally served airlines well.

But markets shift. The 737 MAX agony left Boeing well behind Airbus in narrowbody prospects, and a cutback in orders from China’s huge market has further worsened the prospect of US OEM sales. In scale industries, size matters because fixed costs can be spread across more units, giving leaders a further advantage.

But observers are also questioning how long China will continue its rapid economic and aviation growth with a declining and aging population. Combine this question with Boeing’s slippage, and the aircraft purchasing landscape airlines will face in the future is looking increasingly blurry.

Boeing’s problems in China started with the MAX in 2018, well before COVID, with the first of two fatal crashes. In 2019, after the second crash, the aircraft was grounded, dramatically slowing new orders. The pandemic and subsequent design and delivery problems at Boeing further affected orders, although demand for the MAX has returned.

Chinese carriers had taken 125 Boeing aircraft in 2018, but took only 35 in 2019, three in COVID-hit 2020, four in 2021 and 11 in 2022. Airbus’ Chinese business was also hit by the pandemic but has recovered much more strongly than Boeing’s.

Source: International Monetary Fund

In an Aviation Week Check 6 podcast, Sash Tusa, an analyst at the UK’s Agency Partners, attributed much of Airbus’ strength in China to the opening of its final assembly line (FAL) in Tianjin country in 2009. The European airframe OEM had only 10%-15% of the market in 2009.

“Boeing owned the market,” Tusa noted. Airbus’ share has risen steadily since.

Aerodynamic Advisory’s Richard Aboulafia traces Boeing’s slippage to different causes: The US-China trade conflict begun under President Trump has continued and intensified under the Biden Administration. “Boeing is a hostage to that,” Aboulafia argues. And tensions over Taiwan could lead to much more disrupted trade or worse.

In any case, there are limited prospects for a turnaround. “Assuming that the current geopolitical environment doesn’t radically improve soon, then I doubt you’ll see many Chinese orders for Boeing,” Teal Group senior analyst Bruce McClelland said. “It may be that China quietly lets undisclosed orders get delivered, but don’t expect any big public announcements.”

McClelland too sees China using Boeing as way to show its displeasure at US policies. “Favoring Airbus helps China pursue its aim of getting Europe to hew to a more Chinese-friendly path,” he said.

Opportunties

How much does this matter to Boeing? It’s significant, but maybe not as drastic as it appears, especially in light of other fast-growing markets. For example, India’s economy was only one-sixth the size of China’s in 2021 but averaged 7% annual growth before COVID. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that India will account for 13% of global economic growth in the next five years, more than half the 23% share expected from China. US civil aviation exports to the Middle East were growing 7% annually before COVID, a pace that should roughly resume as the virus passes. South American economies are also expected to grow significantly.

Source: World Bank, China Civil Aviation Administration

These other opportunities have a hopeful implication.

“China’s not a big problem for Boeing,” Aboulafia insists. He judges that Airbus’ backlog now has about two-thirds of the high-volume, low-margin narrowbody global market, while Boeing has two-thirds of the low-volume, high-margin widebody market.

Even Boeing’s reduced share of narrowbodies should translate eventually into 40-50 737s produced per month, which the Aerodynamic analyst says does not drive unit costs up too much. “They produced 30 per month with respectable margins,” Aboulafia said, adding that he thinks Boeing will still recover at least some share of the China market as growth resumes.

McClelland essentially agrees, seeing China as a “long but still moderate challenge for Boeing.”

Teal Group estimates that China, including Hong Kong and some undisclosed orders, represents only 13%-14% of the global backlog of aircraft orders. And it estimates that Airbus and Boeing have similar portions of their own backlogs dedicated to China, although, “Boeing’s China backlog is probably shakier than Airbus’.”

Overall, “Boeing is just going to have to work harder than Airbus to make itself successful in the rest of the world, McClelland said.

Not that China will cease playing a major role in aviation as in the rest of the global economy. GDP drives aviation, especially in less-mature markets. China’s official real GDP, sometimes questioned, grew an average of 8% annually in the decade before COVID, slowing only to 7% annual growth in the last five years before the virus hit. The latest estimates are that the nation will achieve 6% real growth in 2023.

This growth has been achieved despite slowing population growth and, from around 2014, a flat labor force. Real GDP per worker was rising 8% annually in the decade before the virus. Chinese brains, hard work and high savings, not more Chinese, have chiefly been responsible for the country’s growth.

Now the country is headed for a long decline in population. The United Nation’s mid-case estimate puts China’s 2050 population at 1.317 billion, while another private forecaster puts it even lower, at 1.312 billion. Both figures are well down from 2022’s 1.426 billion. These estimates imply a decline of about 0.3% annually in the population.

By itself, that would not slow growth down much, but other factors will. First, when a country loses population because of declining fertility rates, it also means the population is aging, and that means fewer workers. This has already happened to some degree. China’s labor force participation rate was near 60% early in the 21st century but decreased to 55% on the eve of COVID.

Chinese airlines began returning the Boeing 737 MAX to commercial operations in January, and Boeing has more than 130 China-bound MAXs in storage. Credit: Christopher Wong/S3studio/Getty Images

By 2050, only 55% of China’s population is expected to even be in the prime working age group of 20 to 64, according to forecasters at PopulationPyramid.net. By way of contrast, India’s expected population of 1.67 billion is predicted to still be growing and to have 61% of its people in the prime working ages by 2050.

Second, of course, the richer a country gets, the harder it is to maintain rapid growth. After China shed Marxist economics, annual growth rates were often in double digits in the early 1980s and 1990s. More recently, they have been about half that rate. A gradual slowing of the growth per highly industrious Chinese worker is therefore likely.

It is therefore not surprising that forecasters differ widely on China’s future economic growth. Many still see 3.5%-5% average annual growth continuing until mid-century. But skeptics like researchers at the Lowy Institute see an average of 2%-3%. Small differences in compounding growth rates imply big differences in the ultimate size of the market.

Bounce-Back

But short-term, there is no doubt of a strong bounce-back in Chinese aviation. China’s air traffic was growing even more rapidly than its economy pre-COVID and took a much sharper dive during the pandemic.

Air travel should therefore recover very strongly as restrictions are lifted in China and across Asia-Pacific nations, as has been the case this year. China’s February 2023 total traffic, passenger plus cargo, was up 29% over same month of 2022.

That favors the environment for at least some progress in China by Boeing.

“If Chinese traffic starts to surge ... then you could see a softening of China’s stance toward Boeing,” McClelland argues. One early sign may be Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Airlines’ recent order for 15 MAXs and five 787s. And in late April, Chinese regulators published a report viewed as easing deliveries of new MAXs to China. Boeing has stored more than 130 MAXs destined for China. Finally, McClelland believes that Airbus and Boeing each have a significant number of undisclosed Chinese orders.

Even under trade and political tensions, the US is not without leverage on China’s aircraft purchasing policies. Wolfe Research analyst Myles Walton points out that half the systems on China’s COMAC C919, intended to compete in the narrowbody market, come from US suppliers.

“Abandonment by China of Boeing planes would be an untenable outcome for US policymakers to allow technology sharing to continue,” he said.

So a disadvantage in, but not an exclusion from, the Chinese market looks most likely for Boeing. And this market will still be huge, albeit probably declining in relative importance in the future.

And, like China, the US OEM is recovering, with first-quarter revenue up 28%, year-over-year, expecting to produce 38 737s later this year and a backlog of more than 4,500 commercial aircraft.

In Boeing’s first-quarter earnings call, CEO Dave Calhoun noted that China’s domestic travel was at pre-pandemic levels and would continue to grow.

“So, they need airplanes,” he noted.

The company also said all MAX operators in China had returned to flying their aircraft and 45 of the 95 737 MAXs in China were back in service.

 

 

Gun Control Groups look to Dry up Legal Talent for Gun Industry

 Sorry for not posting for a few days, was very busy, I like blogging, but I like sleeping more.

     It has been a while since I used material from "JPFO", This is a big deal to me, especially since the donks and other lefties are using Lawfare to achieve their goals, and even if you are doing a constitutionally protected activity, but if you can't find a lawyer, then you have a problem when you go against the system because a good lawyer is worth their weight in gold especially in keeping your a$$ out of prison because the local corrupt Soros supported DA wants to use you as an example to appease the mob.

By Larry Keane. May 23, 2023
Article Source

'Gun control' groups are foisting 'gun control' on the American public by taking to university campuses to convince law students to pledge to never represent the firearm industry, or its interests, in court.

'Gun control' groups are big Shakespeare fans, apparently. They’re taking a page from the famed Elizabethan-era bard’s Henry VI as the next play on foisting 'gun control' on the American public.

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” Shakespeare wrote in the play.

Two 'gun control' groups are putting a 21st Century twist on the line and taking to university campuses to convince law students to pledge to never represent the firearm industry, or its interests, in court.

Call it the long game. 'gun control' isn’t satisfied with attacking Second Amendment rights, or even First Amendment rights. Now, they’re targeting Sixth Amendment rights too. That’s the amendment that guarantees the right to be represented by legal counsel.

Giffords Courage to Fight Gun Violence and March for Our Lives, 'gun control' groups headed by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and antigun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, respectively, are canvassing campuses to convince law students to sign a pledge they won’t represent the firearm industry or firearm owners when it comes to protecting and preserving Second Amendment rights. The 'gun control' groups’ pledge peddles verifiably false claims to convince the aspiring lawyers that the firearm industry is responsible for violent crime in America.

Not criminals. Not gang violence. Not the illicit drug trade. They’re blaming the industry for crimes committed by violent offenders and ignoring basic legal foundations to sway law students to deny legal services to companies and individuals that follow the law.

Do You Swear?

David Pucino, Giffords’ deputy chief counsel, makes some dubious claims to convince law students that after they earn their juris doctorate, they should sign the 'gun control' group’s nonbinding pledge to never represent the legal interests of a Constitutionally-protected industry. First among these misleading claims is that firearms are the leading cause of death for American children.

This is a favorite false talking point among 'gun control' groups and antigun politicians, including President Joe Biden. The problem is that it is demonstrably false. The University of Michigan manipulated data sets to include 18 and 19-year-old adults as “children” to boost the figure of childhood deaths to surpass those caused by motor vehicle accidents. When 18 and 19-year-olds are backed out because they’re not children, but in fact adults, that claim falls apart. NSSF demonstrated that here.

Giffords’ pledge website also claims the firearm industry actively opposes “any effort to pass gun safety laws.” Again, this is demonstrably false. NSSF backed the FIX NICS Act, named for the firearm industry’s FixNICS® initiative to get all states to submit disqualifying records into the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). NSSF changed the laws in 16 states and in Congress to get the background check system to work as intended. In fact, NSSF helped create the instant point-of-sale background check system that would instantly inform a firearm retailer if a customer is prohibited from purchasing a firearm.

Pucino urges law student to never work for firms that represent the firearm industry because, in his estimation, the firearm industry “represent some really reprehensible companies that have done some horrible things.”

Never mind that the firearm industry administers the Real Solutions. Safer Communities® campaign that includes FixNICS and Project ChildSafe®, which partners with over 15,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states and five U.S. territories to distribute over 40 million free firearm safety kits including locking devices. Real Solutions also includes the partner programs with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prevent illegal “straw” purchases of firearms through Don’t Lie for the Other Guy™ and Operation Secure Store® to help firearm retailers voluntarily increase security to deter and prevent firearm burglaries and robberies. The firearm industry also partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to provide firearm retailers and ranges kits to encourage a “brave conversation” to prevent suicide tragedies.

Persona Non Grata

Giffords and March for Our Lives think these programs are “reprehensible” enough to demand the ATF not work with the firearm industry on these campaigns that have been proven to save lives. Giffords was among 43 other 'gun control' groups that demanded the ATF stop working with the industry it regulates.

“Stop funding, partnering, or co-branding programs with the National Sports Shooting Foundation via the Department of Justice and other Federal Agencies,” the letter said, according to The Reload. “No longer should the ATF hold private briefing and training sessions at NSSF’s annual SHOT SHOW without making their remarks available to the public online.”

NSSF pointed out how “unserious” 'gun control' groups are with their demands then. They continue to prove that unseriousness now. These 'gun control' groups put special-interest political agendas ahead of real answers to keep the public safe. Their answer isn’t to “do something” as they demand. It is to “do something” to ban guns. And now, apparently, it is also to ban legal representation.

Giffords and March for Our Lives rolled out their “pledge” drive at the University of California – Berkeley School of Law, Cardozo School of Law, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, Vanderbilt Law School and Yale Law School. Pucino said the drive isn’t limited to those schools. Plans are to make it “broad and national.”

The goal is to encourage the aspiring lawyers to flex their legal muscle, putting pressure on law firms that they’ll miss out on talent because these law school graduates will refuse to assist in any cases defending the firearm industry or Second Amendment rights. It’s a tall order.

“There’s certainly the case that the legal system allows for and encourages for everyone to have representation, of course,” Pucino conceded in an interview with The American Independent.

These 'gun control' groups might want to read Shakespeare’s Hamlet and flip forward to the line that reads, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

 

"Airbus A380's That sit for Extended Time are Susceptible To WingBox Issues" According To The EUSA

 Some more information to accompany my post from Friday,  Like I said, I am not a fan of this particular aircraft, but some people are.  

    This came from a 3rd party email from my work email.

 

Credit: Emirates Airline

Airbus A380s that sit idle in severe environmental conditions may be susceptible to wing-spar cracking previously linked to the wing’s age, prompting the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to adopt broader inspection criteria recommended by the manufacturer.

A May 11 airworthiness directive (AD) requires A380 operators to calculate “factored time on ground” (FTOG) and conduct inspections based on Airbus’ revised criteria. The AD is based on a May 11 Airbus operators’ telex.

The AD builds on existing inspection criteria for the A380 wing box areas: the top and bottom flanges of the outer rear spar (ORS) between Ribs 33 and 49, the outer inner front spar (OIFS) between Ribs 8 and 14 and the outer front spar (OFS) between Ribs 38 and 49. The original AD was issued in 2019, covering only part of the affected area and setting inspection thresholds starting 15 years after the wing box assembly date. Feedback from operators and additional work by Airbus prompted subsequent ADs that expanded the areas that needed checks and shortened the inspection thresholds. The most recent AD, issued in 2022, mandated starting ORS inspections 11.5 years after the wing box assembly date.

The new criteria affect only the ORS area.

“Since that [2022] AD was issued, prompted by analysis of further inspection results, it was determined that the threshold for ORS inspection must depend on more criteria than only the wing age,” EASA said. “The severity of ORS findings showed a relationship with the amount of time an airplane spends on ground (e.g., parked, stored) in severe environmental conditions. This new criterion introduces the need to calculate FTOG as defined [in the Airbus telex].”

Among the new triggers for ORS inspections is an aircraft returning to service after 12 or more months in service. The most recent, previously mandated checks are still in place.

Wing inspections take about one week. The non-destructive checks are typically performed by airlines in-house.

Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery shows 140 A380s in regular service. Another 75 are listed as parked or stored. Emirates Airline has 121 of them, including 88 in service.

 

Airbus has Identified a Possible cause for the Wingbox cracks on the Older A380 Aircraft.

 I have blogged quite a bit about the "A380 And The WingBox Issues"  and the A380 in general.  I wasn't a fan of the airplane, I work on Airbuses and they are good airplanes, but for some reason, I never got the warm and fuzzies for that plane and my employer and other American Carrier won't touch the A380 despite the plane being a Technological marvel for several reasons, first off, the plane is maintenance intensive and the airlines that do use the plane are subsidized by their host Country and American Carriers are not, We are required to make a profit to survive and make cost. Another reason is "Tenerife", having an A380 full of passengers turn into a lawndart is really rough on the company stock.

   I got this from 3rd party in my work email

Credit: Ovidiu Dugulan/Alamy

FRANKFURT—A phenomenon called hydrogen assisted cracking or hydrogen embrittlement has been identified as the cause of accelerated crack development in certain wing spars of Airbus A380s that have been stored for extended periods of time.

“The biggest driver is temperature; the second is moisture,” Pierre-Henri Brousse, head of the A380 program, told Aviation Week. When aircraft are on the ground and exposed to extreme weather conditions, hydrogen is diffused into the materials and causes embrittlement of the aluminum alloy, which in turn makes the propagation of cracks easier.

The findings are behind a May 11 airworthiness directive (AD) issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) that introduced the concept of “factored time on ground” (FTOG) and required inspections and potentially repairs at intervals also linked to actual aircraft age and a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) threshold of 510 tons.

The affected areas are the top and bottom flanges of the outer rear spar (ORS) between ribs 33 and 49. Previous ADs also included instructions for other parts in which defects had been found—the outer inner front spar (OIFS) between ribs 8 and 14 and the outer front spar between ribs 38 and 49.

EASA and Airbus had determined as early as 2019 that aircraft have to be inspected 15 years after the date of the wingbox assembly.

Following the findings, the maintenance limit was pulled forward twice. EASA published an AD on Aug. 31, 2022, expanding on a 2019 directive. In the AD, EASA said: “Occurrences have been reported of finding cracks in the affected areas of the wing ORS on in-service A380 aeroplanes. This condition, if not detected and corrected, could reduce the structural integrity of the wing.” The 2019 AD, based on Airbus’ service bulletin A380-57-8263, had initially set the 15-year limit. However, “since that AD was issued, it has been determined that additional areas may be affected by the same unsafe condition, and that all MSN (manufacturer serial numbers) must be inspected.” EASA added in December 2022 that “recent inspection results have indicated the need for ORS inspection from 15 years to 12.5 years.” That was later revised to 11.5 years—with the initial date of wing box assembly as the reference point.

But that remained insufficient. “We inspected some aircraft that were younger than the threshold described by the regulator,” Brousse said. “And we had some findings.”

Airbus then launched a deep dive into the data to try to understand why aircraft as young as 10 years (after wing box assembly and therefore with sometimes significantly fewer years in revenue service) were developing the cracks. “We accumulated a sample that became statistically relevant,” Brousse said. Eventually, the research yielded results—namely that storage conditions have an effect on how fast the cracking develops.

Importantly, the findings will not “substantially change” Airbus’ recommendations for storage of the A380 or any other type. The aluminum alloy of the affected spars is no longer used in any other Airbus aircraft and is changed to a different material when parts are replaced during repairs. “We have no concerns for other components,” Brousse said.

Airbus has not disclosed which airlines are most affected by the defects. However, Emirates said in November 2022 that it is dealing with the issue. The airline had parked many of its A380s at the Dubai World Central airport during the coronavirus pandemic, where they were exposed to particularly high temperatures and humidity during summer. Qatar Airways and Etihad are two more Gulf carriers with A380 fleets, though Etihad is only now beginning to return its A380s to service.

According to Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery database, 135 A380s are in active service, with Emirates operating 87 of them. Singapore Airlines and British Airways are flying 11 of the aircraft each. Qatar Airways and Qantas are following with seven and six, respectively. Most current A380 operators are in the process of returning more of the aircraft from storage, given how fast demand has rebounded on long-haul routes.

Emirates has two more aircraft in parked/reserve status, six are parked and 26 are stored.

According to Airbus, wing inspections take about one week. The non-destructive test inspections can typically be performed by airlines in-house. Affected parts can be repaired through local stopholes or reinforcements, or will be replaced. Stopholes can be introduced in one shift, while the more extensive repairs can take one week per area affected.

Finding enough MRO capacity to deal with the repairs is an ongoing issue, Brousse said. However, he described the situation as manageable and now that A380s are being taken out of service because of the cracking, Airbus is trying to find more MRO providers globally that have the needed A380 capability and free capacity. The manufacturer is also helping with repairs of some aircraft that are performed in Toulouse. 

Emirates has returned younger aircraft first to avoid running into inspection intervals early. An Emirates spokesperson said the airline is reviewing the inspection requirements outlined in the May 11 EASA AD. “Currently, we see minimal disruption to our scheduled A380 operations,” the spokesperson told Aviation Week. “We are working on the mid-longer term MRO support requirements for our A380 fleet. We expect a large part of the work will be conducted at Emirates’ Engineering Center, and we are also looking at supplementary support from Airbus and our MRO partners.”

 

Lemme 'splain what is going on.....

 I am sure that y'all are noticing the lack of posting lately,   There are several reasons for this.  First off is my job change, I am still with my employer and rated as a chemtrail Technician but I don't touch the airplanes anymore, it is a physically demanding job and I am a very summer chicken as they say and the demands were brutal on my back and knees so I went to lesser physically demanding job as older mechanics do.  I was on night shift and now I am not, before I keeping on my nightshift schedule only deviating it by a few hours on my off days because trying to flip it was too hard on me.  I would find myself doing nothing on my off days but watching TV because I couldn't do anything else without waking up the spousal unit or my son.   A bit of background.  I had at one time tipped the scales at 373 and being under 6 feet tall that was a big problem, after a health scare for me, and having a good friend that was a health fanatic keel over on the way home from work was a kicker for me and I started losing weight.  I lost 130 pounds and felt much better and looked to my goal of getting to 200 pounds and losing weight for a person over 50 years old is hard lemme tell you.

      Well I had to go to night shift to support the operation, there was an  realignment and my seniority wasn't enough to keep me on days, so I had to go to nights and like I said, all I could do on my off days was watch TV, I couldn't do much else on my off days and this had the effect of adding 20 pounds back.  Needless to say I am not happy, it was hard to lost the 130, but to have 20 creep back despite my being careful was a shock, so my goal of getting under 200 lbs seems much father away so I was bummed.  I had to opportunity to leave the nightshift and become a daywalker again, so I took it, I had been on nights before and it didn't bother me in the past, but this time it bothered me, I felt like I was losing out spending time with the spousal unit because I have to keep my night schedule even when I was off from work, I felt like I was living a half life. so when the opportunity came, I took it.  But this new job is totally different, I no longer touch the airplane, so I will miss that part of it but I am looking forward to the stability.  The new job is totally new, I have no frame of reference to my older experiences so I have to learn a whole new way of doing things and that takes time so I have had to focus on that.

      Meanwhile I have seen what is going on in the world for the past few months and I want to comment..When I see the Electoral branch weaponize the DOJ and prioritize going after the political opponents of the party in power, I am embarrassed, How the impartiality has fallen, er mask stripped away, I guess when they recruit from the same labor pool as where BLM and Antifa get their supporters, I guess one isn't surprised when the predictable results happen.   I remember the backsliding the DOJ did when President Trump was trying to stop Antifa and BLM and the half hearted results, whereas they were all in on anybody that the Democrats and Xiden don't like and I am appalled by this, but I'm too tired to comment...

   We had a Troubled girl that got sucked into the transgender movement that traditionally comprised about 1% to 1.3% of the population but is pushed to the forefront of the progressive movement.  Now as I recall, about 40% of the kids coming up now identify as one of the "Alphabet Squad" and that tells me that this is more about kids crying for attention than actually being one of the "Squad".  But you are having a lot of kids taking mind altering drugs and having their bits lopped off, and I think this is strange because the progs are saying that the kids can make this  permanent life altering decision without parental input and vote, but yet they can't buy any firearms...I guess they have different definitions of adults when it is beneficial for their cause I suppose, then you wonder why they are pissed off, angry and bitter, their life has just begin but it is already ruined as far as they are concerned, then people wonder why the last few mass shooters identified from the squad.but the progs being progs ain't gonna blame their core constituency...but lets hop on the tired tripe and "blame Guns"....but I am too tired to comment.

   Meanwhile the Donks keep trying to indict Former President Trump on more spurious charges, and all it is doing is pointing out to everyone but the hardcore donk supporters that he is being targeted by a partisan Judicial system that will stop at nothing to put him in prison for standing up to the Oligarchy and not playing ball.  Sure President Trump is abrasive, loudmouthed and pushy, but he got results and the people he selected for his cabinet positions were based on pure merit, not checking off as many boxes as possible to appease democratic core constituencies. 

Meanwhile the partisan justice system keeps dragging President Trump back into court in heavily blue areas and stacking the jury.  Sure this makes it popular with the base, but to the moderates and to the right side of the aisle it is obvious that the fix is on and the cards are marked, and this makes him more popular.   But I'm too tired to comment...

     Speaking of democrats, the head democrat President Xiden who is finishing the weaponizing the DOJ started by his boss Former President Obungler and they are using them against everyone that Xiden and the Donks see as a threat to the party and their control so Xiden uses the DOJ to go after parents, politicians like Santos, "You think that was an accident?"  He is being charged in a blue state...chip away at the GOP majority in the house...and don't be surprised if some more GOP congresscritters get picked off on spurious charges,

 Meanwhile speaking of the DOJ and the FBI, the Durham report was released showing the weaponization of the federal agencies and that the FBI ignored the malfeasance of the Clinton campaign but "Tilted The Scales" against the Trump campaign, and the bias continued throughout the entire time President Trump was in Office, and it is my belief that this bias permeates the upper echelons of all the .gov  Federal law enforcement agencies.

but I'm too tired to complain.....

    Now a threat we are having is our southern border and Xiden has flung it wide open, and allowing unfettered access through Texas.  Governor Abbot is sending buses of illegals to "Sanctuary cities " like Chicago and New York that are happy with illegals.....when they are in someone else state...but not in theirs.

  In Chicago, the local denizens have been letting their displeasure known to their local elected donk politicians that this isn't what "They voted for".  My Shadenboner was impressed, "Pal I hate to break it to you, this is what you voted for...you voted for the politicians that wanted sanctuary for illegals... Now you got them..."   My attitude is the same with New York,  The Democrats want the illegals, they send them into the red states and red communities and change them by population shift.  This is by design, if they can get the illegals the right to vote, it will guarantee a permanent majority and the GOP will never hold national office again.  The illegals bring crime, fentenyl and the influence of the Mexican Cartel into Middle America, but Xiden's administration don't care,  They blame all the ills of the country on..

You Betcha....White people are the "boogyman", we will be blamed for everything from high interest rates, high grocery prices, high fuel cost, high medical cost, high housing cost and anything else this administration can blame on us and get away on it.  Meanwhile the invasion from our southern borders continues, and the dilution of our national culture continues.  The people coming from outside the United States want a better life, I get that but their loyalty is to their home country, Not the United States so they send the money outside the country. Truth be told, we can't take the poor from every else in the world, it will drag us down into the poverty level importing people that have no education, and sure they may want to work, but their upkeep will exceed their ability to work and multiply that by millions and there you go.  Plus I have read that there are a lot of military age OTM(Other than Mexicans) also being picked up, so that makes me wonder how many Jihadi Terror cells or Chinese Military Special Forces got smuggled into this country through our porous nonborder with the help of the Mexican Cartels and the coyote's that smuggle people.

          But I'm too tired to comment....

   There have been several mass shootings and shootings in general lately..A lot of them...part of me wonders if this is being "encouraged" by handlers to push unbalanced to "Misbehave" and they supply the guns and watch the nutcases go nuts and they rely on the resulting firestorm to push for "gun restrictions" relying on the friendly media coverage to push an agenda that is supporting of the cause

Because dancing on the blood of the victims is what they specialize in.  All they can do is offer restrictions on law abiding citizens, not the criminals that happen to be a core constituency of the democrats, but the law abiding...because you think .gov treats you like crap now....you wanna see how they treat you once they disarm you and their pet criminals can run rampant and you have to do what the "Cloud People" say in the hopes that you and your family might get some protection from the same gangs that are encouraged to act out by the same government.  The "Cloud People" will have private security and they will have the special permits for guns...and for us...well it will suck to be us.

     But I'm too tired

And finally a quick though on the push for the EV that is going on....If the government controls your electricity, they control you...your heating, your cooking, your travel....something to think about. And also speaking of EV

Some Xiden flunky wants all the Military's vehicles by 2030 to be all Electric....now for some reason I see a crap load of problems with this....for starters, the limited range...and electric vehicles hate the cold and also when it is very hot, they hate the heat....but hey lets go all electric and screw the Military, when they have to go to foreign countries that don't like us to mine the lithium...but hey lets virtue signal...

but I'm too tired...

 

 

Monday Music "Lavender" by Marillion.

 I am working on another post that I will try to get up in a day or 3 depending on time factors.  I am trying to squeeze in blogging when I have been busy.

I am still running my theme "if I could host a segment of "Sirius/XM" and what songs I could hear over and over again.  I haven't decided on a new theme yet...although I though about running a segment on songs that when they come on, I despise them so much I will change the station, or turn it off and hear silence rather than listen to it, LOL  Hmmm...That is an idea....  Y'all BTW are getting Monday Music Sunday Night...

I ran across this song in the mid-late 1980's perhaps 1988-1989,   I thought this was a real neat song.  I heard it on a German radio station where I would surf around for something else to listen to when AFN would start playing country or Rap. I was very interested in this girl, but it was not returned if you know what I mean, I was in "the Friend Zone" Then I started dating another girl and she then rotated to the world and she promised me that we would stay together, because I was expected to rotate to the world soon and instead, she "Dear Johned me within 3 weeks of DEROS. Long Distance Relationships, Yep, they normally don't work.  When I got orders for deployment in 1990 for Desert Shield, I was dating a German girl, wasn't real serious  and yes I broke it off.  I didn't want any entanglements to screw with my game over there, and after seeing some of the stuff I saw happen to other people getting dear Johns letters or divorce notices via VHS tapes and other things, I made the right call.  Remember in the movie "Jarhead" when the guys wife sent a VHS tape, yes we got those...and the recordable birthday cards..Yes we got those also...and nothing like getting one of those with a "Dear John" letter and a performance with the wife and "Jodi"
    Even now I despise Jody...No Honor.  "Jody will take advantage of a service member's girlfriend in the service member's absence. Jody stays at home, drives the soldier's car, and gets the soldier's sweetheart (often called "Susie") while the soldier is in boot camp or in country." 

   I recall when we first went over there for Desert Shield, people were sending "Wing beneath My Wings" By Beth Midler and dedicating to their deployed soldier husband, I was hearing that song soo much over AFDN(Armed Forces Desert Network) I almost went into a diabetic coma because it was so sappy and cloying and a couple of months later, right after Christmas, the same people sent "Dear John" letters"....Even now I have a hatred for that song.
 
"Lavender" is a song by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was released as the second single from their 1985 UK number one concept album Misplaced Childhood. The follow-up to the UK number two hit "Kayleigh", the song was their second Top Five UK hit, entering the chart on 7th September 1985, reaching number five and staying on the chart for nine weeks. None of the group's subsequent songs have reached the Top Five and "Lavender" remains their second highest-charting song. As with all Marillion albums and singles between 1982 and 1988, the cover art was created by Mark Wilkinson.

Misplaced Childhood is the third studio album by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in 1985.

Recorded during the spring of 1985 at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin and produced by Chris Kimsey, who had previously worked with the Rolling Stones, Misplaced Childhood has been the group's most successful album to date, peaking immediately at number one in the UK charts, spending a total of 41 weeks on the chart, and ultimately gaining the Platinum status. It features Marillion's two most successful singles, the guitar-led rock ballad "Kayleigh", which reached number two in the UK, and piano-led "Lavender" which peaked at number five.
The album's positive reception included its selection as one of the best of 1985 by rock publications Sounds and Kerrang!. It was later named one of the best concept albums of all time by Classic Rock. According to John Franck from AllMusic, the album was the band's "most accomplished" and "streamlined" work to date, while Ultimate Classic Rock has called it "the cornerstone of the entire 'neo-prog' movement".

 The song features a number of verses that are reminiscent of the folk song "Lavender's Blue". The song forms part of the concept of the Misplaced Childhood album. Like "Kayleigh" it is a love song, but whereas "Kayleigh" was about the failure of an adult relationship, "Lavender" recalls the innocence of childhood:

The childhood theme also brought up the idea of utilising an old children's song and "Lavender" was an obvious contender as one of the original pop songs of its time.

Going through parks listening to Joni Mitchell, "Lavender" is the little boy's dream about you can walk through the park and bump into the lady of your dreams that you're going to fall instantaneously in love with.

The opening lines "I was walking in the park dreaming of a spark, when I heard the sprinklers whisper, shimmer in the haze of summer lawns" deliberately recall the title track of Mitchell's album The Hissing of Summer Lawns.
Unusually for a rock song from the mid-1980s, "Lavender" features a traditional grand piano rather than an electronic keyboard or electric piano. In the music video, keyboardist Mark Kelly is clearly seen playing a Bechstein but the original sleeve notes of the Misplaced Childhood album state that a Bösendorfer was used for the recording.