Someone is thinking outside the box. We have something major coming. Since Dimwit Donnie won’t agree to partial funding for everything, except ICE, and he insists that the voter repression bill be passed (yea no), this could be a disaster. We can’t blame TSA employees for quitting or calling out when they don’t have their paychecks, and there’s no sign of them because of Donnie. He’s not thinking about that. He wants *his* demands met. He doesn’t care about the people. Well, there may be egg on his face very soon. Regards to Politico via Raw Story:
The Transportation Security Administration staffing crisis has hit a point that could impact one of the biggest events in President Donald Trump’s year: the FIFA World Cup. Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting TSA administrator, said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday that more than 480 TSA workers have quit since the DHS shutdown started 39 days ago, Politico reported. She cited workers who sleep in their cars, sell their own blood or plasma, or take on second jobs to try to make ends meet while the government shutdown has left them unpaid.
We can already see where this is going. If we’re having trouble *now*, imagine what it will be like with the millions of people coming to see the games. Don’t forget Noem’s threats about always carrying your papers for spot checks by ICE, if I remember correctly. Even though she’s no longer head of DHS, I can’t see Mullin changing anything. It’s highly likely that we’ve lost a bunch of people just from that crap alone, and we may lose more if this TSA disaster continues.
And with millions of people set to arrive in the U.S. for the major sporting event, he flagged looming chaos. “This is a dire situation. We are facing a potential, perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports in less than 80 days,” McNeill said. Hiring and training new TSA officers generally takes about four to six months, which is approaching the time of the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
“If we see any spikes [in attrition], we’re going to have to pivot and assess how we are going to staff the FIFA locations adequately,” McNeill said. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada , and Mexico, marking a significant international sporting event that Trump has boasted will bring millions of visitors to North American venues during the summer months.
I have no idea how they will be able to handle this with so few people. Getting paid would help, except, of course, Donnie. How many people will get off their plane and be told to turn right around and leave? We know that’s happening, too. That’s more money we lose. They’ll have to cancel their hotels. They won’t be buying food or drink. And so on and so forth. I was excited to have the World Cup come here, even if I’m not crazy enough to go to a game. Our country is seriously screwed up with all the crap going on. We could use that money. But if we don’t have enough TSA agents? Ooof.
“McNeill warned that any officers the agency hires in the coming months won’t be ready to work checkpoint lanes during the FIFA World Cup this summer,” according to Politico. More officers have called out during the stalemate, especially at major airports, which has prompted security screening lanes to consolidate, resulting in longer lines and wait times. Smaller airports have considered closing if they can’t have enough staff, she explained.
That’s going to hurt, too. If they have to close, that’s a bunch of people who don’t know where their next paycheck is coming from. They might not be able to reopen. This Donnie disaster is hurting everyone, just because he’s temperamental, whining, and crying like a baby. He’s not thinking about logistics. He’s just boasting that it’s coming to the US. He leaves the hard part to other people. It’s going to be a challenge. Most venues have been setting up for this for at least a year. Can we or can’t we pull this off?
See you soon!
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CANCEL IT IN THE U.S. I’ve been looking forward to the World Cup for 4 years. But not now. Iran isn’t coming – they’re supposed to play 3 games in Los Angeles – 47 told them pretty much to not come.
Wow, that’s petty. Soccer is not a war. And I would guess they have nothing to do with the war. What a bunch of bullshizzle.
Normally a Visa to visit the U.S. including for a purpose of say watching World Cup games would be around $450. Well, Trump has designated over fifty countries as one’s where their citizens including the PLAYERS as well as coaches and staff would have to pay a minimum of $5 THOUSAND bucks! Some would have to pay $10k and some as much as FIFTEEN THOUSAND. For some poorer countries who have qualified that means they won’t be able to send their teams to compete and FIFA is already scrambling because the draw for pool play has already been conducted. So much for sucking up to Trump with that bogus (cough cough) first FIFA Peace Prize they gave Trump.
He was so fucking crass and eager he couldn’t contain himself. Ok, he managed NOT to rip it out of the FIFA heads hands as the dumbass stood there offering the kind of fluffing that would normally be seen on porn sets. So he GRABBED the accompanying medal off that decorative presentation pillow and hung it around his own neck!
I wonder if at that point FIFA realized it was a BAD idea to have the U.S. be a ‘tri-host’ of this summer’s World Cup. I’ll bet they’ve worried ever since the draw ceremony that Trump would cause so much trouble they’d have to move games (in soccer I think the preferred term is matches) to Canada or Mexico. They might not have a choice.
We are close to crunch time when it comes to ticket sales and FIFA can only get away with so many being bought up by rich Trump fluffers who will just give them away to try and have butts in seats. Stadiums are full of enthusiastic fans for every damned game/match during a World Cup. Even if FIFA gets it ticket sale money all the other money from the selling of licensed merchandise, concessions, deals they cut with hotels for kickbacks (their corruption is both rampant and well known) won’t come in anywhere close to what they count on. Add in half empty U.S. stadiums being shown on TV screens around the world and the World Cup will never recover its status as the world’s biggest sporting event.
THAT would lead to a lot of heads being lopped off. FIFA would be crippled if not finished. A new entity would have to be established to give the World Cup credibility moving forward. Well, ETTD is a well established thing and the top folks at FIFA are getting hit with the realization they and the World Cup aren’t immune.
Might FIFA come to its senses and shift everything to Canada and Mexico? Ten bucks says they’re taking a hard look at doing exactly that.
Ouch. Just … ouch. They’ll be able to put a lot of the blame on us. Fifteen thousand. What a bunch of horsesh!t. I feel bad for the teams that won’t be able to play. I feel bad for the fans that won’t be able to come, too. Trump is not their fault.
This is really damn upsetting!!!!!!!!!!!!