Headlines, 1-30-25: Tower Understaffed; Tulsi Gabbard; Bobby Kennedy; Kash Patel FBI

1-30-25, ​President Trump was challenged after suggesting that DEI [Diversity, Equity & Inclusion hiring] for the DC plane crash "using common sense!" Here’s what he said: “It just could have been. We have a high standard. We’ve had a much higher standard than anybody else. And there are things where you have to go by brainpower. You have to go by psychological quality, and psychological quality is a very important element of it. These are various, very powerful tests that we put to use. And they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that seeks the exact opposite. So we don’t know. But we do know that you had two planes at the same level. You had a helicopter and a plane. That shouldn’t have happened. And, we’ll see. We’re going to look into that, and we’re going to see. But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that’s psychologically superior. And that’s what we’re going to have.”

Staffing at air control tower when plane & helicopter collided was ‘not normal,'  [here]
1-30-25, FoxNews -- FAA according to a report, the controller in the Reagan Airport tower was handling helicopter, and also instructing planes that were landing and departing from runways - this is unusual.

The Associated Press obtained a report which showed one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time of the crash. 

​FAA PANEL WARNS THAT CURRENT SAFETY LEVELS ARE ‘UNSUNSTAINABLE’ 
The air control tower at Reagan airport has been understaffed for years with 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023. However, staffing targets set by the FAA and the controllers’ union call for 30.

1-30-25, DailyMail -- The 43-year-old former Hawaii Democrat and current Lt Colonel in the Army Reserves, Ms Tulsi Gabbard questioned by Republican and Democrat Senators in her confirmation hearing to become Dir of National Intelligence. In the 3 hour session she was asked about her allegiances and about supporting a bill that would have pardoned former NSA analyst Edward Snowden, who has fled to Russia. An astonishing moment when Senator from Colorado Dem Michael Bennet began yelling in an ear-bursting tone at Gabbard over her refusal to call Snowden a turncoat and 'traitor.'

She ultimately responded: 'Those who oppose my nomination imply that I am loyal to something or someone other than God, my own conscience and the Constitution of the United States, accusing me of being Trump's puppet, Putin's puppet, Assad's puppet, a guru's puppet, [or] Modi's puppet, not recognizing the absurdity of simultaneously being the puppet of five different puppet masters. What truly unsettles them is I refuse to be their puppet." https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14343359/tulsi-gabbard-confirmation-hearing-democrat-screams.html

1-30-25, A Midwestern Doctor, @MidwesternDoc, x.com -- A left wing group created to hide pharmaceutical money [going to Senators] publicly announced a campaign to take Robert Kennedy Jr down, after they concocted a [false] narrative that flooded every news publication. x.com/MidwesternDoc/status/188

1-30-25, Today many Democrat USA Senators are endeavoring to disqualify Mr Kash Patel as President Trump's FBI director ... They've been wringing their hands at the prospect. They're questioning comments Patel has made in media expressing concerns that he has a supposed “enemies list” he'll target if he becomes Director. Are they afraid? Perhaps they should be. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/01/16/democrats-are-terrified-of-kash-patel-leading-the-fbi-n2650640