Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
This will be the last forum before the vote for DNC Chair on Saturday.
The candidates:
This is a chance to focus on something positive rather than the latest evil.
So it’s possible that I will be watching this alone! :-)
Yes, I am petty enough to have scratched out Williamson.
Watch the Final DNC Forum Tonight (LIVE)Post + Comments (46)
Trump is a pathetic coward and a bully. Pass it on.
Pete Buttigieg sets the record straight.
— Molly Ploofkins™ (@mollyploofkins.bsky.social) January 30, 2025 at 11:26 AM
h/t sixthdoctor
This is the energy, right here. Opposition rhetoric at its finest. Anger not measured response. Spitting facts without boring recitation. Talking like a real human being (“bullshit” “not one damn person thought this through”). Calling out Tom Emmer for saying that people voted for Trump so this is what they wanted, saying that Emmer cares more about a seat on Air Force One than his constituents.
Via Steve M’s piece on the Democratic governors, including Walz, begging Schumer to be more aggressive.
Open thread.
In the paragraph below, Joyce White Vance takes a generous view of some of the people who voted for the First Felon, in what I think is a pretty fair description of the people who voted for him that are potentially reachable.
If all of this is starting to make you feel hopeful, you’re not alone. It’s been difficult to watch the absence of effective opposition to Trump’s first week in office, as he ignored and openly violated the law as only someone who thinks he’s immune from all consequences can. If the people who believe in our government, our democracy, are willing to come together and hold the line, what can’t we do together?
Americans, it turns out, love their democracy. They may have voted for lower egg prices. They may have regrettaby fallen for the blather of a man who said he cared about them. They may have tuned out and ignored this last election.
Do I think that some of the people who said they voted the way they did because of the cost of eggs are actually racist or misogynist or just plain hateful, but didn’t exactly want to admit that out loud? Yes, I do! But I think there were also people who actually think the president can control a whole bunch of stuff they have no control over. And for some, the cost of eggs might have been shorthand for my rent is too fucking high and I don’t have enough money to live.
I’m sure that some of those people really love their country and either weren’t paying attention or thought concerns about fascism were overblown. Hell, some of them probably couldn’t even define fascism, so how could they see it blooming right in from of their eyes?
Joyce goes on to write:
But the federal workforce now understands the assignment and the importance of the moment. And they’re going to educate their friends, families, and neighbors in the process.
The Marxist cry, “Workers of the World, Unite,” is more than a slogan. It’s an assessment of the power workers have together in community. It was echoed in the union movement in this country at the turn of the last century and beyond, as workers understood they could improve their conditions by standing together. Last week’s now-rescinded OMB order (we discussed it last night) freezing spending directed federal agencies to abandon programs that supported “Marxism.” That part of the memo tossed political red meat to the GOP base, but it also revealed that Donald Trump is afraid of the power we wield together as citizens; he’s concerned about what might happen if Americans mobilize for democracy.
In reality, what Trump targeted with the “Marxist” label, along with “woke” and “Green New Deal,” expresses a fear of basic grassroots support for the fundamentals of democracy. Pay attention to what Trump 2.0 demonizes—if they’re afraid of Americans working together and afraid of the federal workforce, let that be a beacon that lights the way.
We’re in this together,
We truly are in this together, even though some of us are more at risk than others.
If you’re one of the folks who are most at risk, no one expects you to take a generous view. You’ve got to take care of yourselves and your peeps. But the rest of us can’t afford not to.
Here’s a word problem for you. I am one of those people who always loved math word problems, but if you weren’t, don’t worry, this one’s not too complicated.
There are 100 marbles. We have to get 52 of them in order for the world to not burn down. We have 35 already in our pocket, and they aren’t going anywhere. 35 are already safe in the pocket of the other side. 5 marbles are going to be taken off the table by evil bureaucrats removing voting rights.
Hint: We need 17 more marbles of the 30 marbles that aren’t in the pocket of either side. But 5 will be removed by the evil bureaucrats, so we really need 17 of the remaining 25.
To put it another way, we can only afford to lose 8 of the remaining 25. Those aren’t great odds.
If we aren’t willing to try for the ones who tuned out, the ones who weren’t discerning enough to see the lies, the ones who thought the best choice was turning over the table, then we are all but handing the ultimate win to the other side.
I started following politics in high school.
Even so, there was a time in my life that I read the New York Times because I believed they just stated the facts and didn’t spin the stories. Was that ever true? I have no idea, but I’m a smart person, and that’s what I believed.
Even so, there was a time when I watched all the Sunday shows and thought I was well-informed.
I followed politics for decades, and cared very much about who was elected President without paying attention to which party controlled the House and the Senate.
In 2008 I respected Tim Russert.
There was a time when I danced with a third party candidate because I thought we needed a change. I believe Betty Cracker did, too.
I wasn’t stupid. Or evil. I was young. I was probably better informed than most. But I didn’t see the whole picture.
Are we gong to write off all the future WaterGirls and Betty Crackers? Or do we want them on our side?
If We Only Focus on the Lemons, We Miss OpportunitiesPost + Comments (157)
In 1990, James Reason wrote a book called Human Error, which would be the thickest book on the bookshelf, to repurpose an old joke. In that book, he described the Swiss Cheese Model, which likens an accident to a sliced loaf of Swiss cheese. The holes in each slice of cheese are potential points of failure. When the holes line up, a failure occurs. The diagram above illustrates the concept pretty well.
Last night the holes lined up in the first mass casualty airplane accident since 2009. A CRJ700 regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a training flight collided near Reagan National Airport with the loss of all 64 on board the jet and 3 on the helicopter. When I heard the news my first thought was, well, that finally happened. As someone who reads a lot of accident reports and follows a number of aviation safety YouTubers, it was pretty clear that it was only a matter of time that some sort of serious accident involving two planes colliding would happen, but my guess was that it would be a runway incursion rather than a mid-air collision.
If you’re interested in following updates on this, Juan Browne, a commercial pilot who runs the Blancolirio YouTube channel, already has a good explainer up. As Juan explains, the Traffic Collision Advisory System, TCAS, a safety system that’s prevented untold numbers of midair collisions, would not have provided a “resolution” (i.e., tell one pilot to climb and the other to descend) because the CRJ was at 400 feet, under the 1000 ft minimum for that system to provide a resolution. It might have given a “traffic” alert. Another good channel for just the Air Traffic Control (ATC) traffic is VASAviation and Victor has a video with the radar picture plus the ATC controller / pilot radio traffic, and in the background you can hear the tower controllers reacting to the crash in the National tower as it happened. James Fallows, who is a general aviation pilot as well as a journalist, has his initial reaction here.
National is incredibly busy airspace, and the Blackhawk, which is believed to be a “gold top” VIP transport helicopter, would have been cleared to “zip across the Potomac” in Juan’s words, crossing just behind the regional jet under visual flight “see and avoid” rules at night in a brightly lit cityscape. If this sounds dangerous, well, it is. One regional jet pilot on the flying subreddit said that “this would be the very FIRST place that I would expect this to happen.” Congress flies out of this airport, and they like direct flights, so they keep allowing more landings at National, even though all of the VA and MD delegation opposed them as being unsafe.
Anyway, this is a political blog, not an aviation blog, and I think the politics here are crystal clear. Trump is the guy poking holes in the Swiss cheese. He instituted a hiring freeze on Air Traffic Controllers, yet ATC is terribly understaffed:
From 2011 to 2022, the number of fully certified controllers declined more than 9 percent, even though traffic increased. Based on targets set by the FAA and the union representing the air traffic controllers, 99 percent of the nation’s air traffic control sites are understaffed.
President Musk told the FAA Administrator to resign on the day Trump took office, because he’s upset that the FAA is trying to exercise any oversight over SpaceX, which issued a number of restrictions on his Boca Chica launch facility, and is investigating recent rocket breakup that caused air traffic chaos over the Carribean.
Trump also eliminated the Aviation Security Advisory Committee and fired the chief of the TSA. Trump is part of a robust Republican effort to make us all less safe that started with Reagan busting the ATC union.
More important than that, Trump’s assault on career civil servants not only threatens the FAA, but also the National Transportation Safety Board, which will be investigating the crash. The NTSB is the epitome of everything Trump hates: thorough, impartial, analytical and scientific.
Trump is already blabbering about the accident on Truth Social, and he knows goddam well that people are going to connect the last few days of Trump-inflicted chaos with the possibility that an airplane they’re flying on will be blindsided by another one and they’ll fall to a horrific death. Trump, Musk and the right wing media, who would have fallen all over themselves to blame this on Biden, will certainly tell us not to “politicize” the tragedy out of respect for the victims and their families.
That’s nonsense. The only real way to honor the people who died is to make sure what killed them never happens again. The rest is useless hot air, thoughts and prayers. Safety regulations are written in the blood of those who were killed before the regulation was put in place. Because Trump has politicized everything, this will necessarily involve politics. It is good politics and good policy to point out that the way Trump and Musk operate will inevitably lead to more death.
The Swiss Cheese Model Explains Why Trump is So Dangerous to Aviation SafetyPost + Comments (78)
DOGE is recommending the White House Easter Egg Roll be cancelled. pic.twitter.com/3zxZHOTOoy
— ????????????_???????? (@SundaeDivine) January 29, 2025
Counter-proposal: Wrap Elon Musk in a blanket, roll him across that lovely White House lawn, and let the little kids use their wooden spoons on him.
(Yes, it’s a parody account, but the official WH 2025 Egg Roll site hasn’t been updated yet, so who knows?)
Thought(s) for the morning:
In his actions as President, Trump often acts like a guy trying to start a bar fight, with the role of friends holding him back played by Federal courts. The secret is understanding that the guy starting the bar fight really depends on the guys holding him back to not let go.
— Pinboard (@Pinboard) January 30, 2025
TRUMP LOST. WE WON.
Again…
TRUMP LOST. WE WON.— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Another B-list grifter gets her hard-earned reward:
Sinema gets her no-show job. I’m sure she will be richly compensated. This is why she acted the way she did on Democratic proposals in the Senate. It was always about post-office no-show jobs.
— Jim Teeth (@drjamesjteeth.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Miss President Joe yet, MAGA suckers?
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Everybody Wants Their Little CutPost + Comments (106)
The horrible people in charge are doing every horrible thing, everywhere, all at once. The shit tsunami is designed to knock us off balance and make it impossible to focus.
Of the many ongoing atrocities, it’s worth focusing on how the Trump regime is systematically obliterating trans rights. It’s a malicious, mean-spirited, wholly unnecessary and dangerous campaign against a vulnerable group that poses no threat to anyone.
The decision to prioritize the persecution of trans people is transactional for Trump. Recall that Trump was fine with Caitlyn Jenner using any bathroom she wants in Trump’s gauche NYC lair.
But he jumped on the anti-trans bandwagon when he observed how it juiced the degenerates in his base. So now we’re treated to the spectacle of Trump appointing a drunk, incompetent, rapey weekend Fox & Friends host to lead the U.S. military and simultaneously issuing an edict to kick out trans people who are serving their country honorably.
Adam Serwer wrote a good piece about trans rights at The Atlantic. The opening:
The American populism of the late 19th century was a rebellion of working people against financial elites; the American populism of this century is one of financial elites feigning rebellion while crushing the vulnerable.
Just so. Serwer argues that the attack on trans rights won’t end there, and he’s right. But even if it did end there, it’s appalling all by itself.
Those of us who are cis people need to find ways to stand up for our trans neighbors, friends and family, not because erosion of their rights inevitably degrades our own freedom but because persecuting trans people is wrong. Period.
I’ve called my shitty Republican senators to urge them to vote against the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 (US SB9). It feels pointless, but I did it anyway.
Anyone got any other ideas about how we can push back against these vile attacks on our fellow citizens? Please share in comments. Otherwise, open thread.
