Ed Bastian
Ed Bastian

The PR play of the week goes to Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian for “punishing” Congress for failing to do its job, which is authorizing the salaries for Transportation Security Administration agents.

The carrier suspended its airport escort and red coat services for members of Congress, who now must suffer the airport chaos—which they are responsible for—just like the rest of us.

“Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” Delta said in a statement to CNBC.

Bastian is outraged that TSA agents are getting stiffed. It is “inexcusable that our security agents, our frontline agents, that are essential to what we do, are not being paid. And it’s ridiculous to see them being used as political chips,” he said.

The 119th Congress ranks among the least productive sessions in history. It’s all talk, but no action.

As of March, a whopping 14,200 bills were introduced during the first 14.5 months. That’s the highest clip since the 1970s. President Trump signed a paltry 80 bills into law.

The vast majority of the introduced bills were performative nothing-burger measures, such as the gem introduced by Florida’s right-wing nutjob Randy Fine.

On Feb. 20, he introduced the “Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act,” which was in response to remarks made by Nerdeen Kiswani, a 31-year-old advisor to NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani.

She said owning a dog as a pet violates Islamic law and should be banned. Kiswani also noted that she was speaking sarcastically.

Fine, though, is not a man of nuance. His measure would prohibit federal funds from being provided to any state or local government that bans dogs as pets.

“In America, we will not allow anyone to tell us that we cannot have dogs,” said Fine in unveiling his masterpiece. “My bill protects Americans’ right to own a dog and would not allow federal funding to be given to any state or local government that bans them as Haram.”

A venerable confederacy of dunces, which is the name of one of my favorite books, co-sponsored the bill.

They include Texas’ Chip Roy, who said: “We cannot allow Sharia law to continue to infiltrate our communities, undermine our Constitution, and threaten our way of life. Enough is enough.”

And not to be topped is another Texan, Keith Self. “We love our dogs, but this isn't just about pets—it's the opening salvo against our way of life. First, they come for our dogs, then our daughters and wives, then they come for every freedom-loving American. Sharia has no place in America—keep your hands off our dogs and our liberties!”

Who is coming after you, Keith? What Sharia group is going to impose its will on the world’s No. 1 superpower. Do your knees buckle every time you hear the mention of Kiswani’s name.

Andy Harris, Brandon Gill, Eli Crane, Mary Miller, Sheri Biggs, Mark Harris and Andy Ogles round out the dunces confederacy.

The 119th Congress is on track to enact 130 bills by the time it wraps up in January. The 118th Congress, another low-performing session, passed 274 laws.

The American people have an opportunity to follow the footsteps of the Delta chief and vote to throw the bums out in the midterm elections.

AI meets RFP… I read a lot of requests for proposals at O’Dwyer’s, but until today have never come across one that requires saying how AI tools will be used.

The Placer County Air Pollution Control Board District’s RFP includes the following: “Artificial Intelligence tools may be used only as appropriate to enhance efficiency or insight and are not a required component of service delivery.

“If utilized, proposers must describe how AI tool will be used responsibly, including safeguards for accuracy, privacy and compliance.”

You can bet future RFPs will have similar notification requirements.

A total cave… Rather than showing the fight exhibited by Spain’s Iberdrola (Vineyard Wind), Norway’s Equinor (Empire Wind) and Denmark’s Orsted (Sunrise Wind), France’s TotalEnergies threw in the towel and surrendered to Donald Trump’s pathetic war on offshore energy. His majesty thinks wind turbines are ugly.

The Interior Dept has agreed to pay TotalEnergies $924M to abandon its wind projects slated for Carolina’s Long Bay and the New York Bight.

“Considering that the development of wind projects in not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce wind development in the US in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees, said TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné in his despicable statement.

He meant to say wind projects are not in Trump’s interest. They are in America’s interest to diversify its energy base.

The Frenchman also was too hasty in renouncing wind development in the US. Note to Patrick. Trump isn’t going to be around forever.

Pouyanné was singing a different tune in May 2022 when his company won the bidding for the Carolina lease. That victory “demonstrates the strength of our commitment to the country,” he said. The offshore project was to power more than 300K homes when it was supposed to go online in 2030.

Iberdrola, Equinor and Orsted lodged successful campaigns to overturn Trump’s effort to shut them down.

Vineyard Wind, which is 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, is expected to power up any day now. It will serve 400K homes and businesses.

New York’s Empire Wind is 60 percent complete and Sunrise Wind is 50 percent complete. Both are going into commercial operation next year.

TotalEnergies will rue the day that it caved to Trump, who feasts on corporate weakness.