- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Summary
The FAA is reportedly set to cancel a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon to modernize air traffic control communications and instead award it to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Musk has publicly criticized Verizon’s system as failing, though without evidence. SpaceX employees have been embedded within the FAA, and some now have agency email addresses.
The move raises concerns about favoritism and conflicts of interest, especially as Musk’s companies have received $38 billion in government funding.
The contract transfer has not followed standard procedures, prompting resistance from senior FAA officials.
You must log in or register to comment.
Today thousands of planes lost critical communications while in the US airspace after a SpaceX test flight exploded in low earth orbit. The explosion destroyed a significant portion of the Starlink satellite constellation, and international space tracking organizations are monitoring the situation closely. They are reporting a Kessler Syndrome cascade has not been ruled out.
Aha! Trump uncovers corruption within DOGE itself!
removed by mod
Whoosh…
Also, the org was corrupt on the face of it from the start, so there’s not much more to be added now.
So
- replace wires with satellite
- which can fail or be slow
- just so musk can shut it off at a whim
This gonna be great, you guys.
Sorry, all flights grounded because solar flares. At least we only lost 20 planes this time.
Sorry, all flights grounded because some fuckwit decided to use satellites for a network instead of fiber underground and a bad actor jammed the radio spectrum.
Sorry, all flights are grounded because Elmo Muskrat got in a pissy fit on Twitter with a 15 year old kid, and he showed him by shutting off the satellite network over the US. (Variation on your last bullet.)
Lets not forget delay issues. Something that could be very deadly in ATC.
I came here to say this. This doesn’t look like replacing the air controller work, it’s about the comm network. And it’s making it dependent on fucking micro satellites, holy dumb shovel buckets.
Yeah, it is in fact a terrible idea.
Im in my 30s and often wonder, has the world always been this infuriating? Were we going apeshit watching representatives openly steal our future in 2005? 1995?
Were dudes in 1955 Paris tearing their hair our how the president’s third cousin is getting a contract to rebuild the entire railway system on the merit of fuck all?
I’m old enough to say it was exactly like this back in 2005. That was a couple years after the Bush administration told blatant lies to start the Iraq War, ignoring the largest protests in the world up to the time. There was open corruption as they gave out massive no-bid contracts to Republican cronies like KBR. There was rank incompetence like the FEMA response to hurricane Katrina, led by a guy whose sole qualifications were running a horse breeding association (and raising a bunch of money for Republicans).
Bush threw no bid contracts for new work at Halliburton, and it was a sketchy scandal that congress wasn’t willing to prosecute, because republicans. Musk is outright stealing a contract from another vendor, while slandering them in the media.
I hope Verizon sues Musk, Starlink, and the DOGE into oblivion. Even if they don’t have a chance of winning, they should be able to make it more difficult to do anything. Airlines should sue too due to the preventable crashes that occurred recently. In fact, I hope every company affected by DOGE’s policies sues.
They might not be able to get a fair trial, but they could potentially bog the system down in red tape.
Give ‘em Hell!
deleted by creator
Sadly you’re probably spot on. 😞
Hoisted by their own petard, it seems. I’m with you. I hope they fight, but they also helped create this situation (like many corporations).
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/verizon-communications/summary?id=D000000079
I don’t doubt it at all, but as the passage goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Or as I like to say: baby steps.
Nah, the enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy, nothing more, nothing less.
But as a great man once said, “Let them fight.”
Yeah, triangular politics. I’m on board. I regret that getting into this discussion any further will require reading from the works of Kissinger. Maybe this time we can fix the problem without bombing a fourth party like Cambodia. Who knows. All bets are of at this point.
Musk doesn’t care anymore if he tanks Tesla, as long as he’s getting government handouts.
Tesla’s shareholders might though.
Good. Then the shareholders can sue and make things more difficult for everyone involved.
Then don’t be a Tesla shareholder, fucking duh. Sell that shit, fuck this guy.
I’d have to buy shares before I could sell them.
So no need to worry then
What if my shares lose value then?
Just buy the dip
Short Tesla, got it.
He doesn’t need the shares to be sky high if he can get the board to give him his giant payout.
Tesla’s law firm drafts Delaware bill that could salvage Musk pay package
The proposed legislation, drafted by Richards, Layton & Finger, or RLF, would amend Delaware General Corporation Law, and if adopted, could pave the way for the reinstatement of Musk’s 2018 CEO pay package at Tesla, worth tens of billions of dollars in options.
Creating problems to justify enriching themselves with private contracts… America, to the highest bidder
An overhaul from the man who sells “full self driving”. What could possibly go wrong? 🙄
I’m about to start demanding hazard pay from work when they need me to travel.
Oh, THERE it is. This is why Elump has allowed so many air traffic control issues recently. To set the stage for this bullshit.
Sorry, I’m kinda slow sometimes.
“Allowed”? In what sense? Are you seriously suggesting Trump or Musk are responsible for a Delta crash in Canada, and helicopter collision and a Southwest go around?
In the sense that the issue isn’t being addressed as quickly or as seriously as it should be. Cancelling a contract and awarding it to a company with zero experience is not the answer.
Aaaannddd there it is… Certainly no conflicts of interest /s
The concept of a conflict of interest only matters if American voters care , and they don’t.
The attempt to sell Teslas to the military was definitely a conflict of interests as well.
I’m sure that will end well.
I think he’s still salty over the ElonJet account that still posts the publicly available ADS-B flight plans for his plane on Bluesky and Mastodon.
Hats off to the people that still care enough to document this corruption. Hopefully someday (while Musk is still alive) the general public will care enough as well, so that there will be consequences.
Oh, they definitely do… Both republican and Democrat representatives have basically stopped doing town hall meetings with their constituents because people just scream at them to stop Musk. There’s frequent protests, fox news anchors are questioning what’s going on with Musk - if there’s anything almost everyone can agree on right now, it’s “fuck Elon Musk”
Time to start shorting US airline stocks
