Beyond The Horizon

ICYMI: Why Classifying What's Going On In Haiti As Gang Violence Misses The Mark

An aviation whistleblower is an individual within the aviation industry who brings forth information regarding illegal, unethical, or unsafe practices or issues within their organization or the industry as a whole. These individuals may be current or former employees, contractors, or other stakeholders with insider knowledge of the operations, policies, or practices within airlines, aircraft manufacturers, regulatory agencies, or related entities.

Aviation whistleblowers play a crucial role in promoting safety, transparency, and accountability within the aviation sector. They may expose various concerns such as safety violations, maintenance issues, regulatory non-compliance, security breaches, environmental hazards, financial improprieties, discrimination, or other misconduct.

Whistleblowers often face significant risks and challenges when speaking out, including potential retaliation, loss of employment, legal consequences, damage to their reputation, and personal hardships. However, their disclosures can lead to positive changes, such as regulatory reforms, improved safety protocols, corrective actions, accountability for wrongdoing, and ultimately, enhanced safety for passengers, crew members, and the public.

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John Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years as a quality control supervisor and in 2017, he had enough of the nonsense that he says was going on at the company, so he became a whistleblower. Not only that, but the regulators who investigated Boeing, backed up his findings.

This past week Mr. Barnett gave his testimony under oath and was scheduled to finish that testimony a couple of days later. That would never happen as authorities found Mr. Barnett in his hotel parking lot, dead from what they say was a self inflicted gunshot wound.

So, what really happened to Mr. Barnett and is there something more behind the curtain? Let's dive in and try to find some clarity.

(commercial at 9:17)

to contact me:

bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

source:

Boeing whistleblower John Barnett is found dead in his truck outside a South Carolina hotel just days after testifying in lawsuit against the aviation giant | Daily Mail Online

Duration:: 13m
Broadcast on:: 25 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. Recently we've been discussing what's going on in Haiti, and I'll tell you what, things aren't getting any better. And in fact it looks like what we're gonna see is a civil war, a rebellion here in Haiti. And it's going to end up being the criminal organizations lined up against whatever semblance of a government is still remaining. And I use that term loosely, because what's going on down here is a lot based on the fact that there's not a real government that's been in paneled. So you have a caretaker government who is not taking care of the government and not doing anything in fact to make anyone's life better. So there is an element of a civil uprising to all of this as well. The unfortunate part is that the people who are leading this new civil rebellion happen to be criminals who are in charge of these large gangs that aren't even really your traditional gang as this article is going to state. When we talk about gangs down in Haiti, I'm not talking about your local street gang. We're talking about a group that has some power, right? Like the cartels down in Mexico, maybe not that kind of projection of power, but certainly all the same rules apply. And that goes for intimidation and trying to get your point across with violence. So those are the people that are in charge of this. And for me, what it reminds me of is a rebellion that you see happening in Africa. This is the sort of thing that you see. I mean, we had a guy named what General Buck naked. Now we're talking about a guy named General barbecue over here in Haiti. Very similar to me. So let's get to this article from ABC News and let's see what they have to say about the violence that's cracking off down in Haiti and the headline. It's not just gang violence surging in Haiti. It's a rebellion. This article was authored by Matt Rivers. Haiti is in the middle of a crisis that has seen the explosion of gang violence in the last week, attacks on the international airport and Port-au-Prince generated headlines worldwide, coordinated assaults on multiple prisons, free thousands of prisoners over the weekend. But all that could be just the beginning of what an increasing number of Haiti experts are openly referring to as a full blown rebellion against the country's sitting government. So again, there's a lot to be said about that. And unfortunately, even if that's the case, the people that are going to come out on top, if you will, if they win, are criminals. Guys named General barbecue are really not the kind of people that I would think that you'd want running your country. I was speaking to a senior diplomatic official in Haiti on Monday, a very sober and calculated person, not prone to hyperbole in discussing the situation. I used the words gangs and he cut me off. I would stop using that term if I were you, he said, arguing that gangs are what you find in American cities. In Haiti, there are multiple large criminal groups with enormous firepower, now unified with the stated goal of toppling the sitting government. So that's really where it's at, right? When you have a big group of people like this that get together, it's not just a gang anymore. Not dudes just hanging out on the stoop, selling some rock maybe or something like that. This is a armed rebellion at this point. And according to the people that are leading this group, General barbecue and the rest of the knuckleheads, these dudes want complete change as in the government to go get fucked. That's basically what they're saying that we're going to keep it up until we have a new government in place. But even if there was an election and they, you know, had people run for office and the whole thing, do you think these people would respect whatever those results are, meaning these gang members and criminal organizations? The answer is no, most certainly not. So unfortunately for Haiti, their only hope is going to be somebody stepping up to the plate and leading a resistance against the resistance. And the only way to do that, unfortunately, is through a ton of bloodshed. That's how you settle these kinds of differences, right? You have two different factions that are warring or many different factions that are warring and one of them is going to come out on top when all is said and done. You just hope that the person who wins or the group that wins isn't even worse than the last group that was in charge. These are armed rebel groups and this is civil war. The source said very, very powerful, heavy words and I'm sure that the source isn't saying that lightly. His point is striking. This isn't just more gang violence. This is an attempted rebellion. We'd all be forgiven for thinking this was just more of the same. I did at first too. We've all watched gang warfare consume this capital city of several million people for years now and we've covered it on the ground extensively. The Haitian government declared a 72 hour state of emergency on Sunday amid a surge of violence. So that's going to, you know, go over well. That's going to do a lot to curb the violence. I'm sure that people are just going to, you know, go home and listen to what the government has to say. Meanwhile, the prime minister is not even in the country. Some 80% of the capital is under gang control. If not more, according to the UN, those groups have fought each other and the government for years in an insatiable quest for power, money and political influence and territory. But things have fundamentally changed in the last month. We will get to the why in a moment, but consider the following. Hades, dozens of gangs, largely grouped into two competing alliances, have seemingly set aside their differences and rather than attack each other are working together to attack the government. So you know that for now, that's going to be big problems for the government. But later on down the road, do you really think that these two groups and whatever their beef is is just going to be cooked and that's going to be the end of it? Or are they going to start scrapping and we're going to have more fractional warfare? You all know the story already. I mean, this story was all when Biden was young. The gangs are not hiding their goal. It is a change in government. Housing leadership, most notably a man, called Jimmy Barbecue, has said the fighting won't stop until the unelected Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry is no longer in power. And he's calling for Henry's arrest. The gangs have launched a series of well-planned, massive attacks against key targets around the city. Nearly 30 police precincts have come under fire. Many completely taken over or destroyed. What is this, Oregon? And buildings have also been attacked, including one, just 500 meters from the U.S. Embassy. There is random, sporadic violence constantly around the city, but these attacks are strategic and targeted. So again, it shows you and it points you in the direction of these groups getting together and coordinating their attacks. And once that happens and you have all of these criminal elements banned together, how is a government like the one in Haiti, especially supposed to handle it? How are they supposed to deal with this kind of violence? They're not going to deal with it. That's how. And I'm terrified of the slaughterhouse that Haiti will be come. I mean, it's already terrible there, but we're talking about levels of violence that are maybe unheard of even. And that's saying a lot for the region and what we have seen previously down in Haiti. As to the why, the gangs have sought to fill a power vacuum left behind when President Jabanel Moisei was assassinated in July of 2021, but an inflection point came last month. Henry, in charge since just a few weeks after Moise's death, had said he would step down by early February, but then he changed course. The U.S. back Henry said the security situation needed to improve before he could leave and new elections could take place. This week, he committed only to holding elections in August of 2025, a full 18 months away. That appeared to be the final straw. And look, I completely get the frustration of the common people in Haiti, the people that just want to live their lives, their government doesn't do shit for them, not even functioning, not even an elected government. Then you have all this violence. What are people supposed to do? Again, it's just like down in Mexico. What do you want people to do? And then you wonder why people are leaving Haiti in droves. In a way, this gang-fueled violence is the armed manifestation of widespread popular anger against Henry and his government. Ordinary Haitians are furious over the ever-worsening poverty, hunger, and violence we've seen under Henry. He is a near universally loathed public figure. Sounds like just about every other politician we talk about. It's not hard to find people in Port-au-Prince who fully support the actions taken by the gangs, even if they're terrified that they themselves or their families could be collateral damage. And that shows you the anger. So the government that's here, this caretaker government, they need to be pushed out. And obviously, we don't want Mr. BBQ as the man at the switch, but they're gonna have to figure it out down here in Haiti. And if that means that the do-nothing-ass UN needs to step in and help out a little bit, well then so be it. But then we have to remember, the terrible history the UN has when it comes to Haiti, sexual assaults, taking advantage of people, so of course there is apprehension. The best possible outcome here would be if the Dominican Republic would step in and help out, but they have their own problems, right? You can't expect a little country like that to step up to the plate, unless of course they're being backed by, you know, the United States or the UN or something like that. I mean, the United States has already said that they're gonna fund the whole entire mission basically, offering up like $225 million. So there's some money there, the problem is, nobody wants to step into this buzzsaw. It's not that most in Haiti support the gangs or the chaos that they cause, far from it. Most despise the death and destruction that they've wrought in the country, but for now some feel the gangs are the only group capable of forcing Henry out. Henry right now can't even return to the country, he nominally runs. He left last week for a trip to Kenya to secure the deployment of 1000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti in a mission authorized by the UN last year. Though an agreement was signed with Kenya, there is no date as to when those officers will show up or what the scope of their mission will be. And there's a lot of blowback in Kenya from this. I have some articles and we'll dive into those maybe tomorrow to give us a little more context here. The ever present question in Haiti is, what happens next? What if Henry is forced to step down? He has appointed a largely powerless electoral transition council, nearly as unpopular as him. But it's unclear who would lead the country. And I think that's the rub, right? The thing that's most terrifying is nobody knows who will step into this power vacuum. Only that someone will. Remember this staggering fact, in this democratic country, there is not one elected leader serving at any level of government anywhere in the country. No elections have been held since 2016. Think about that for a minute and then think about how lucky we are. Everybody complaining about America all the time, how shitty you have it, how bad it is. Wake up and smell the beans, homie. Or maybe do some traveling around the world and maybe you'll have more of an appreciation for your own home. Meanwhile, the violence has brought life and basic services to a halt in the city. All flights into the airport, cancelled, the Dominican Republic has closed its airspace to flights bound to, or from Haiti, and many hospitals have curtailed services or shut their doors altogether. Trash piles up, petty crime goes unsolved, and hunger abounds. And who do you think is getting the worst end of all of it? That's right, the poorest people in the country, like usual. In a world where there is no road map to security, no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, there is only this depressing reality. Things in Haiti will almost certainly get worse before they get better. So the rebellion, the attempted revolution, has begun, alongside the seemingly never-ending suffering of millions of innocents. And that's why we're talking about Haiti right now, and why we're going to continue to talk about the topic, until there's some sort of resolution. And hopefully that soon, because the way that things are spinning out of control, there is about to be a lot of violence and a lot of bloodshed, even for Haiti. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.