#Mike Whitaker

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nick Anderson

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 30, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Jan 30, 2025

Last night, just before 9:00 Eastern time, an American Airlines jet originating in Wichita, Kansas, carrying 64 people and a U.S. Army helicopter carrying three military personnel collided in the airspace over Washington, D.C. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River. Authorities say there were no survivors.

I’m going to leave that right there, with my best wishes for the victims and their friends and family, and hope that we can give them some breathing room.

It is perfectly legitimate to stop reading right here and pick the world up again tomorrow.

But for people who want to hear more about the larger picture of today’s United States, I’ll turn to what the administration’s reaction to this tragedy says about the ideology of the new Trump administration.

As Claire Moses of the New York Times noted, last night’s event is the most serious air disaster involving a commercial jet since 2009. Last night, more than an hour after news of the crash broke, President Donald Trump posted on his social media network: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

Trump’s impulse to blame other people for the tragedy even before anything was known about its causes reflects his rejection of the concept of the American government in favor of the idea that the world is simply a collection of individuals. Since the early twentieth century, the U.S. government has performed an extensive and remarkably successful role in public safety. But Trump talks about the U.S. government—what he calls the “Deep State”—as if it is the enemy and must be destroyed, while elevating those operating outside of it as society’s true leaders.

This rejection of the U.S. government began as soon as he took office as he purged officials and civil servants with the accusation that they had been poisoned by “Marxism,” or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Transportation safety officials were among those purged, and the loss of the person at the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during former president Joe Biden’s term, Mike Whitaker, after he clashed with Elon Musk captures Trump’s antigovernment worldview. After Whitaker called for Musk’s SpaceX company to be fined $633,009 over safety and environmental violations, Musk endorsed an employee’s complaint that Whitaker required SpaceX “to consult on minor paperwork updates relating to previously approved non-safety issues that have already been determined to have zero environmental impact.” Musk wrote: “He needs to resign.”

Musk appears to believe that humans must colonize Mars in order to become a multiplanetary species as insurance against the end of life on Earth. As Jeffrey Kluger reported for Time magazine today, Musk has complained that the FAA’s environmental and safety requirements were “unreasonable and exasperating” and that they “undercut American industry’s ability to innovate.” Musk publicly complained: “The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!”

Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office. That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Trump administration vacated the positions with an eye to “eliminating the misuse of resources.”

Other vacant positions at the FAA, according to CNN’s Alexandra Skores, are “the deputy administrator, an associate administrator of airports, an associate administrator for security and hazardous materials safety, chief counsel, assistant administrator of communications, assistant administrator of government and industry affairs, and assistant administrator for policy, international affairs, and environment.”

Late this morning, Trump spoke to reporters about the crash, saying “We do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now.” That opinion was that the people responsible for the accident were not of “superior intelligence.” He claimed that his Democratic predecessors had lowered standards for air traffic controllers (although the language he quoted from the FAA website was from his own time in office). “[W]hen I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse."

He continued: “The FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg—a real winner,” apparently forgetting that the former transportation secretary was part of the Biden administration and left office on January 20. “Do you know how badly everything’s run since he's run the Department of Transportation? He's a disaster...he's just got a good line of bullsh*t."

Trump blamed diversity hiring for the collision. When a reporter asked Trump, “I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash,” Trump answered: “Because I have common sense, ok? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.” Trump’s new secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, whom Trump elevated to that position from his role as a weekend host at the Fox News Channel, also spoke, confirming that "We will have the best and brightest in every position possible…. The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department."

Shortly after the press conference, Sydney Ember and Emily Steel of the New York Times reported that staffing at Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., was “not normal” at the time of the crash, with one air traffic controller doing the work usually assigned to two.

In response to Trump’s comments, Buttigieg posted: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”

Tonight, Trump held a televised signing of a new executive order blaming former presidents Barack Obama, who left office in 2017, and Joe Biden for the crash. It says that “problematic and likely illegal decisions” during their administrations “minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).” They implemented “dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics,” it said, and recruited “individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.” The executive order says that his return to “merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion” will “ensure that all Americans fly with peace of mind.”

MeidasTouch posted: “Trump's handling of this situation should be treated as one of the biggest scandals in presidential history.”

But there is a larger story than that of Trump’s attempt to blame Democrats for a disaster that happened on his watch. His administration seems to be trying to replace the government Americans have created through their representatives over centuries to promote the interests of all Americans with a group of white men who can operate as they see best, without restraint.

Ashley Parker of The Atlantic reported last night that the Office of Management and Budget sent out the memo that froze all federal grants and loans—and thus prompted a constitutional crisis—without getting approval from the White House. Trump has nominated right-wing religious extremist Russell Vought, who was a key author of Project 2025, to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget, although he has not yet been confirmed.

Emily Davies, Jeff Stein, and Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post reported yesterday that the proposal emailed to many of the 2.3 million people who work for the federal government offering them an inducement to resign was also a surprise to the White House. The memo came from the Office of Personnel Management, now run by Elon Musk’s team, and the email had the same title as one Musk sent to Twitter employees when he took over the company.

Rather than cowing employees, though, the unauthorized and unclear offer prompted federal employees to flood Reddit with vows to “make these goons as frustrated as possible.” One wrote, “It took me 10 years of applying and 20 years experience in my field to get here. I will not be pushed out by two billionaire trust funds babies. I'M NOT LEAVING!"

Annie Linskey and Rebecca Ballhaus of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Meta has settled a lawsuit Trump brought against the company after it suspended him because of his participation in the January 6, 2021, attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Meta will pay $25 million. The reporters explained that Trump demanded the settlement from Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg after the 2024 election, saying the case had to be dealt with before Zuckerberg could be “brought into the tent.” As Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said: “It looks like a bribe and a signal to every company that corruption is the name of the game.”

It seems that Musk and the technology billionaires want to smash the government to enable their futuristic visions, and Christian Nationalists like Russell Vought want to smash it to replace it with religious rule. Trump wants to smash it for money and power. But in the first two weeks of the new administration, their enthusiasm for breaking things has produced what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo—even before today’s frantic attempt to blame Democrats for the air tragedy—called “a fairly epic face plant.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[all-action-all-picture]

The Daleks (or The Darleks as everyone I knew called them). A 2020 collection from Panini of the 1960's comic strip that appeared in TV Century 21. The strip was written by Angus Allen, Terry Nation, Alan Fennell and David Whitaker and drawn by Richard Jennings, Eric Eden and Ron Turner. The cover art is by Mike Collins.

[nerds-yearbook]

The last episode of Larryboy the Cartoon Adventures aired on May 6th, 2003 (according to IMDB). The cartoons were first produced as stand alone videos, with this episode originally released on video on June 10, 2003 (according to wikipidia). Unlike the original VeggieTales and Larryboy shorts, the animated adventures used 2-D animation and was helmed by ex-Disney animator Tom Bancroft. The videos ended after only 4 videos as part of the fallout of Big Idea's bankruptcy. ("The Good, The Bad, and the Eggly!", Larryboy the Cartoon Adventures, Animation Event)

[rassilonwatchathon]

It's the 9 year anniversary of The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon, so this month we're sharing our older episodes!

SEVENTH DOCTOR SEASON TWENTY-FIVE (January 5th, 2022-March 2, 2022) Episode 152- Remembrance of the Daleks (Yes All Mikes) w/ Nathan Laws Episode 153- The Happiness Patrol (Topple the Government and Leave) w/ Adam Clegg & Vincent E.L. Episode 154- Silver Nemesis (We Gotta Cancel the Doctor) w/ Mike Gordon & Ashley Raburn Episode 155- The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (IN THE GALAXY!) w/ @truestoriesaboutme & Hallie Larsson Seventh Anniversary Special #2 - Flux: The Vanquishers (The Doctor Fucked That Dog) w/ @truestoriesaboutme & Hallie Larsson

[celebclippinz]

Magazine clippings

[vague-humanoid]

If you're having an issue with communications, Stephanie Whitaker, Communications Director, has an email here stephanie.whitaker@governor.mo.gov. Jonathan Shifletts Deputy Comms/Press Sec, johnathan.shiflett@governor.mo.gov · Phone, work cell: 573-508-4323

Tammy Allee, Executive Assistant, and Evan Rodriguez, General Counsel, for Gov. Mike Parson’s office have disconnected their lines. Kelli Jones, DCS has not. Call 573-751-3222, Press 4 once prompted and key in 56637 53554 to urge them to not execute Marcellus Williams.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Eric Hananoki at MMFA: 

The Trump National Doral resort will host two antisemites who have promoted pro-Adolf Hitler propaganda and spread virulently antisemitic conspiracy theories. They will be speaking at an event in Miami alongside numerous Team Trump personalities, including Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Devin Nunes.

Trump Doral speaker Scott McKay, who has a streaming show on Rumble, has claimed that Jewish people orchestrated 9/11 and were responsible for the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and William McKinley. He has also said that Jewish people routinely torture children and eat their hearts.

He has praised Hitler for supposedly trying to take down a Jewish banking system and said, “Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today.”

Trump Doral speaker Charlie Ward, who also streams a show on Rumble, has shared posts praising Hitler for supposedly “warning us” about Judaism; claiming that “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made”; and attacking the alleged Jewish media for supposedly lying about the Holocaust.

The two are featured speakers in the “ReAwaken America” tour, which is set to stop at  Trump’s Miami hotel on May 12 and 13. Scheduled to speak alongside McKay and Ward are numerous members of Trump’s orbit, including: Eric Trump, Lara Trump, former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former senior Department of Defense official Kash Patel, former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, and Trump ally Roger Stone.

Numerous other far-right conspiracy theorists will be speaking, including Stella Immanuel, Mel K, Liz Crokin, Ann Vandersteel, Mike Lindell, and Patrick Byrne.

Media outlets have previously noted that the tour, which has been holding events across the country, has also featured QAnon supporters, conspiracy theories, and Christian nationalist rhetoric.

The husband and wife duo of Eric and Lara Trump will be at the Christian Nationalist convention ReAwaken America Tour at the Trump National Doral in Doral, FL this weekend, joining alongside a coterie of far-right extremists such as QAnon influencers like Liz Crokin, antisemites like Charlie Ward, and far-right conspiracy theorists like Mike Lindell, Kash Patel, and Peter Navarro.

[tomorrowusa]

Trump's response to the air disaster over the Potomac River which he indirectly contributed to is typical. He evades responsibility while spewing outright lies to distract attention.

Trump’s Racist Rants Conceal the Right’s Air Safety Failures

The number of air traffic controllers declined in each year of Trump’s first presidency. Then Trump plunged air traffic controllers (and other federal workers) into uncertainty during the 2018–19 government shutdown, which forced controllers to work without pay—a major blow to their already battered morale. That shutdown only ended, it should be remembered, when enough New York area controllers called in sick to ground flights on the East Coast. The Biden years saw a slow rebuild of controller ranks. But warning signs of a systemic crisis were growing. Training of new controllers was disrupted by the Covid pandemic, and staffing shortages continued. A spate of near-misses led the FAA to convene a unusual “safety summit” on March 23, 2023, to discuss solutions, and the office of Department of Transportation Inspector General Eric J. Soskin completed a 2023 audit that found that 20 of the FAA most critical facilities 26 (77 percent) were below the 85 percent minimum staffing levels and supervisors were mandating overtime and six-day work weeks to cover staff shortages. Biden’s FAA hired 1,811 controllers in 2024, and his 2025 budget sought funding to hire 2,000 more. Trump’s return to the presidency has already been a setback for air safety. He fired DOT Inspector General Soskin, who illuminated the extent of the FAA’s staffing problems. Trump’s White House alter ego Elon Musk succeeded in driving Biden’s FAA administrator, Mike Whitaker, from office even before Trump was sworn in, because Whitaker’s FAA had the temerity to fine SpaceX for safety violations. Musk even went so far as to claim that “humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!” That Trump’s FAA intends radical changes seems clear. Astonishingly, his letter encouraging federal workers to resign their positions and find private sector jobs went to air traffic controllers despite the continued staffing crisis at the nation’s airports. [ ... ] Trump’s “deep state” conspiracy theories and obsession with DEI are doing far graver harm, reducing the right’s anti-government discourse to authoritarian theater and farce. Make no mistake, these recent events are a harbinger of what is to come. Trump’s effort to deflect attention to DEI should not avert our eyes from the larger collision that threatens the very functioning of our government unless we make a course correction.

If you can avoid flying during the next few years, please wait.

A reminder of the true DEI...

^^^ Copy and use frequently!

[keenenthusiastinfluencer]

Since I’m in the spirit of the season I thought I’d gift some of my audios from this year feel free to trade and gift as normal

Evita Leicester Curve January 11 2024

Martha Kirby (Eva Peron) Harry Chandler (u/s Che) Gary Milner (Peron) Dan Partridge (Magaldi) Chumisa Dornford-May (Perons Mistress)

Harry’s only performance as Che

Evita Leicester Curve January 13 2024

Martha Kirby (Eva Peron) Tyrone Huntley (Che) Gary Milner (Peron) Dan Partridge (Magaldi) Chumisa Dornford-May (Perons mistress)

A Chorus Line UK tour July 13 2024

Adam Cooper (Zach) Carly Mercedes Dyer (Cassie) Jocasta Almgill (Diana) Lydia Bannister (Bebe) Bradley Delarosbel (Greg) Archie Durant (Mark) Joshua Lay (Al) Katie Lee (Kristine) Mireia Mambo (Richie) Kanako Nakano (Judy) Manuel Pacific (Paul) Ashley Jordan Packer (Paul) Kate Parr (Maggie) Rachel Jayne Picar (Connie) Chloe Saunders ((Val Clarke) Toby Seddon (Bobby) Amy Thornton (Sheila) Louie Wood (Don)

Zach calls on Bobby first instead of Mike leading to the song that I can do being cut

Phantom of the opera West End July 20 2024

Jon Robyns (the Phantom of the opera) Chumisa Dornford-May (alt.Christine daae) Joe Griffiths-Brown (Raoul vicomte de chagny) Kelly Glyptis (Carlotta) Samuel Haughton (u/sAndre) Matt Harrop (Firmin) Simon Whitaker (u/s Piangi) Francesca Ellks(Madame Giry) Maiya Hikasa (Meg Giry)

les Miserables West end August 2 2024

Chris Jacobsen (alt. Jean Valjean) Jordan Simon Pollard (u/s Javert) Katie Hall (Fantine) Amena El-Kindy(Eponine’) Luke Kempner (thernardier) Bonnie Langford (t/r Madame thernardier) Jac Yarrow (t/r Marius) Lulu Mae Pears (Cosette) Djavan Van de Fliert (enjolras)

Les Miserables west end November 2 2024

Ian Mcintosh (Jean Valjean) Stewart Clarke (Javert) Anouk van Laake (Fantine) Amena El Kindy (Eponine) Luke Kempner (thernardier) Clare Machin (Madame thernardier) Jacob Dachtler (Marius) Annabelle Aquino (Cosette) Robson Broad (Enjolras)

Phantom of the opera West End November 2 2024

Dean Chisnall (The Phantom of the opera) Colleen Rose Curran ((u/s Christine Daae) Joe Griffiths-Brown (Raoul Vicomte de Changy) Joanna Ampill (Carlotta) Samuel Haughton (u/s Andre) Martin Ball (Firmin) Hywel Dowsell (u/s Piangi) Helen Hobson (Madame Giry) Millie Lyon (Meg Giry)

My Fair Lady Leicester Curve November 23 2024

Molly Lynch (Eliza Doolittle) David Seddon-Young (Henry Higgins) Minal Patel (Colonel Pickering) Steve Furst (Alfre P. Doolittle) Djavan van de Fliert (Freddy Eynsford-Hill) Cathy Tyson (Mrs Higgins) Sarah Moyle (Mrs Eynsford-Hill Mrs Pearce) Jonathan Dryden-Taylor (Harry) Ying ue Li (Jamie) Damian Buhagiar (Zoltan Kaparthy)

During get me to the church on time cast members run down the front row which is caught on the audio causing some disruption

)

[witchwood]

highest muse starter call! like this post for a starter from one of my high priority muses listed below. feel free to specify who you'd like or it'll be dealer's choice!

highest priority muses at the moment : donna daggit, ruth fleming, ethan green, mary santos, avery adams, josie chapman, gina macnamara, kashton quinn, staci pearson, bailey whitaker, scarlett whitaker, steve harrington, grace le domas, mike newton, anne tarry

[novemberhush]

Tag game for people I’d like to get to know better/catch up with.

Thanks for tagging me, @littleblackraincloudofcourse !❤️

Five ships I love - Ooh, let me see…

1) Leo Hölzer x Adam Schürk from Tatort Saarbrücken (because it’s nearly that time of year again! 🎉🎉🎉)

2) Benton Fraser x Ray Vecchio from Due South

3) Sherlock Holmes x John Watson (be it in the original ACD stories, the Granada television version, the BBC version, etc.)

4) Mike Ross x Harvey Specter from Suits

5) Thomas Barrow x Andy Parker from Downton Abbey (you give them the same surnames as Bonnie and Clyde, arguably the most famous criminal couple in history, and then you don’t put them together?? WTF, Julian Fellowes??)

First ship ever - Showing my age here, but I think it’s between David Addison x Maddie Hayes from Moonlighting, Anne Shirley x Gilbert Blythe from the series of Anne of Green Gables television adaptations that were out in the 1980s, and James Dempsey x Harriet ‘Harry’ Makepeace from Dempsey and Makepeace. The shows were all out around roughly the same time so I don’t remember which was first, but there’s not much between any of them, I’d say.

Last song you heard - Sandpaper by Zach Bryan (feat. Bruce Springsteen)

Favourite childhood book - I don’t have any one particular favourite that stands heads and shoulders above the rest, but Red Sky in the Morning by Elizabeth Laird and Children on the Oregon Trail by A. Rutgers Van Der Loeff are two that I remember having an effect on me. I was also a big fan of all the Enid Blyton mystery books, such as the Famous Five and the Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers and Dog, as well as other children’s mysteries like Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators, The Hardy Boys and, of course, Nancy Drew. I also had a Rupert the Bear annual and a Winnie the Pooh book I enjoyed a great deal, as well a big book of fairytales, complete with illustrations, that I loved.

Currently reading - I’m (slowly!) reading a physical copy of All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker, which is very good so far (but also very long!), and on the kindle app I’ve finally got around to reading The Charioteer by Mary Renault, which I’m absolutely flying through.

Currently watching - Mainly Grantchester and reruns of Wire in the Blood (no, I don’t have a thing for Robson Green!) and Law and Order: SVU (although I’m pretty much always watching reruns of SVU.).

Currently consuming - I’m making my way through a packet of Fruit Salad Chewits (chewy sweets, for anyone who doesn’t know what Chewits are).

Currently craving - Some more of the absolutely delicious potato gratin I had for dinner on Friday night. It was sooooooooooo good. My mouth’s watering just thinking about it.

I tag @tkandbuck @smowkie @katries @oneawkwardcookie @dontcallpanic @sofancydancy @chaoticfandomgirly @backgroundnoisewithaview @kinkykinard and anyone else who wants to share. No pressure on anyone who doesn’t!😘

[misfitwashere]

January 30, 2025

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 31

Last night, just before 9:00 Eastern time, an American Airlines jet originating in Wichita, Kansas, carrying 64 people and a U.S. Army helicopter carrying three military personnel collided in the airspace over Washington, D.C. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River. Authorities say there were no survivors.

I’m going to leave that right there, with my best wishes for the victims and their friends and family, and hope that we can give them some breathing room.

It is perfectly legitimate to stop reading right here and pick the world up again tomorrow.

But for people who want to hear more about the larger picture of today’s United States, I’ll turn to what the administration’s reaction to this tragedy says about the ideology of the new Trump administration.

As Claire Moses of the New York Times noted, last night’s event is the most serious air disaster involving a commercial jet since 2009. Last night, more than an hour after news of the crash broke, President Donald Trump posted on his social media network: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

Trump’s impulse to blame other people for the tragedy even before anything was known about its causes reflects his rejection of the concept of the American government in favor of the idea that the world is simply a collection of individuals. Since the early twentieth century, the U.S. government has performed an extensive and remarkably successful role in public safety. But Trump talks about the U.S. government—what he calls the “Deep State”—as if it is the enemy and must be destroyed, while elevating those operating outside of it as society’s true leaders.

This rejection of the U.S. government began as soon as he took office as he purged officials and civil servants with the accusation that they had been poisoned by “Marxism,” or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Transportation safety officials were among those purged, and the loss of the person at the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during former president Joe Biden’s term, Mike Whitaker, after he clashed with Elon Musk captures Trump’s antigovernment worldview. After Whitaker called for Musk’s SpaceX company to be fined $633,009 over safety and environmental violations, Musk endorsed an employee’s complaint that Whitaker required SpaceX “to consult on minor paperwork updates relating to previously approved non-safety issues that have already been determined to have zero environmental impact.” Musk wrote: “He needs to resign.”

Musk appears to believe that humans must colonize Mars in order to become a multiplanetary species as insurance against the end of life on Earth. As Jeffrey Kluger reported for Time magazine today, Musk has complained that the FAA’s environmental and safety requirements were “unreasonable and exasperating” and that they “undercut American industry’s ability to innovate.” Musk publicly complained: “The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!”

Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office. That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Trump administration vacated the positions with an eye to “eliminating the misuse of resources.”

Other vacant positions at the FAA, according to CNN’s Alexandra Skores, are “the deputy administrator, an associate administrator of airports, an associate administrator for security and hazardous materials safety, chief counsel, assistant administrator of communications, assistant administrator of government and industry affairs, and assistant administrator for policy, international affairs, and environment.”

Late this morning, Trump spoke to reporters about the crash, saying “We do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now.” That opinion was that the people responsible for the accident were not of “superior intelligence.” He claimed that his Democratic predecessors had lowered standards for air traffic controllers (although the language he quoted from the FAA website was from his own time in office). “[W]hen I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse."

He continued: “The FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg—a real winner,” apparently forgetting that the former transportation secretary was part of the Biden administration and left office on January 20. “Do you know how badly everything’s run since he's run the Department of Transportation? He's a disaster...he's just got a good line of bullsh*t."

Trump blamed diversity hiring for the collision. When a reporter asked Trump, “I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash,” Trump answered: “Because I have common sense, ok? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.” Trump’s new secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, whom Trump elevated to that position from his role as a weekend host at the Fox News Channel, also spoke, confirming that "We will have the best and brightest in every position possible…. The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department."

Shortly after the press conference, Sydney Ember and Emily Steel of the New York Times reported that staffing at Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., was “not normal” at the time of the crash, with one air traffic controller doing the work usually assigned to two.

In response to Trump’s comments, Buttigieg posted: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”

Tonight, Trump held a televised signing of a new executive order blaming former presidents Barack Obama, who left office in 2017, and Joe Biden for the crash. It says that “problematic and likely illegal decisions” during their administrations “minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).” They implemented “dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics,” it said, and recruited “individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.” The executive order says that his return to “merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion” will “ensure that all Americans fly with peace of mind.”

MeidasTouch posted: “Trump's handling of this situation should be treated as one of the biggest scandals in presidential history.”

But there is a larger story than that of Trump’s attempt to blame Democrats for a disaster that happened on his watch. His administration seems to be trying to replace the government Americans have created through their representatives over centuries to promote the interests of all Americans with a group of white men who can operate as they see best, without restraint.

Ashley Parker of The Atlantic reported last night that the Office of Management and Budget sent out the memo that froze all federal grants and loans—and thus prompted a constitutional crisis—without getting approval from the White House. Trump has nominated right-wing religious extremist Russell Vought, who was a key author of Project 2025, to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget, although he has not yet been confirmed.

Emily Davies, Jeff Stein, and Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post reported yesterday that the proposal emailed to many of the 2.3 million people who work for the federal government offering them an inducement to resign was also a surprise to the White House. The memo came from the Office of Personnel Management, now run by Elon Musk’s team, and the email had the same title as one Musk sent to Twitter employees when he took over the company.

Rather than cowing employees, though, the unauthorized and unclear offer prompted federal employees to flood Reddit with vows to “make these goons as frustrated as possible.” One wrote, “It took me 10 years of applying and 20 years experience in my field to get here. I will not be pushed out by two billionaire trust funds babies. I'M NOT LEAVING!"

Annie Linskey and Rebecca Ballhaus of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Meta has settled a lawsuit Trump brought against the company after it suspended him because of his participation in the January 6, 2021, attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Meta will pay $25 million. The reporters explained that Trump demanded the settlement from Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg after the 2024 election, saying the case had to be dealt with before Zuckerberg could be “brought into the tent.” As Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said: “It looks like a bribe and a signal to every company that corruption is the name of the game.”

It seems that Musk and the technology billionaires want to smash the government to enable their futuristic visions, and Christian Nationalists like Russell Vought want to smash it to replace it with religious rule. Trump wants to smash it for money and power. But in the first two weeks of the new administration, their enthusiasm for breaking things has produced what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo—even before today’s frantic attempt to blame Democrats for the air tragedy—called “a fairly epic face plant.”

—

[meret118]

Mike Whitaker, the previous FAA administrator, stepped down on Inauguration Day after just over a year on the job. He’d repeatedly clashed with Elon Musk — now in charge of a group tasked with slashing the government’s headcount by President Donald Trump — over safety issues at his space company, SpaceX.

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There is currently no one in charge at the FAA.

The former Wisconsin congressman, Fox Business host and MTV reality show star officially took over Tuesday as head of the Transportation Department, putting him out front for Donald Trump's administration after an American Airlines flight collided Wednesday night with a U.S. Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people on board both aircraft.

"Obviously it is not standard to have aircraft collide," Duffy told reporters Thursday morning. "I want to be clear on that."

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I wonder how all those republicans in congress who regularly fly in and out of DC feel about confirming duffy now?

[space-for-brains]

UPDATE ON FLIGHT 5342/UH-60L BLACK HAWK & Additional Context

Total fatality count is now officially 60 passengers and 4 crew from Flight 5342, and 3 crew from the Black Hawk. Total 67 dead, with no known survivors. It is now the deadliest crash in the US since November 2001.

The black boxes from Flight 5342 have been recovered. The black box and cockpit voice recorder for the Black Hawk have yet to be recovered. The NTSB, FAA, U.S. Dept of Defense, U.S. Army, FBI, and TSB of Canada have all announced they will take part in investigation procedures.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) was in contact with the Black Hawk within 30 seconds of the collision, providing approval to maintain visual separation from the jet. There were multiple jets of the same make/model flying in the area at the time. Despite the airport being known as a difficult place to fly in (with the Pentagon and Potomac river both restricting available airspace/emergency landing areas and the large amount of both military and commercial traffic) the ATC facility was understaffed.

According to a report from the NYT, this is not uncommon for most of the country's ATC towers. The job is stressful, requires a lot of training, and does not pay well. At the time of the collision, the position for helicopter control should have been covered by two controllers, but only had one.

The CEO of American Airlines (AA), Robert Isom, stated in a video on Jan 30th that a hotline has been launched for the families and loved ones of the victims: 1-800-679-8215 . The pilots were Captain Jonathan Campos, with six years experience at AA, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, with two years experience at AA.

The US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, stated that the crew of the Black Hawk was participating in a routine annual retraining and we're all fairly experienced. The crew included the pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, the crew chief Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara, and a yet unnamed crewmember of the rank Captain.

The investigation is still ongoing.

The following is additional context I believe is relevant to aviation as a whole, though not directly about Flight 5342.

As I'm sure many have heard, Trump has stated that the true fault of the accident is the fault of DEI. Of course there have been numerous public statements and backlash against this, plenty of Trump admin people are echoing the same sentiment but under the flavor of "needed the best of the best for safety". It is worth noting that during Trump's previous term, DEI initiatives remained unchallenged and his own admin even had a program to train 20 people with "targeted disabilities" to train for careers in air traffic operation. I don't believe I have to tell anyone that BIPOC and disabled people are not the cause of a horrific air collision.

Additionally, the FAA Administrator position is currently vacant. Former admin Mike Whitaker resigned on January 20th. Elon Musk had publicly called for Whitaker to resign on X in September 2024, as well as stating: "The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform of the FAA!"

This sentiment likely stemmed from fines levied against SpaceX in 2023 for an unapproved launch control room that had been constructed, failure to conduct routine safety poll of flight controllers, and using non FAA approved rocket fuel. While Whitaker was not the admin at the time of these fines, Musk still eagerly announced on X that SpaceX would be filing suit against FAA for regulatory overreach. Later, Whitaker did make the following statement to the House of Reps during his testimony: "[SpaceX has] been around for 20 years, and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety... [Fines are] the one tool we have to get compliance on safety matters." The total amount of fines levied against SpaceX was $633,009.

As Musk is now head of the Dept of Government Efficiency, it's my opinion that this context greatly matters for this accident, and any accidents that may occur moving forward. There is a president who is eager to blame problems on minorities and an oligarch eager to ignore safety protocols in order to further his business ventures.

I fear Flight 5342 may not be the last.

[feraltwinkseb]

March 22, 1995 - Sao Paulo, Brazil Source: Mike Hewitt/ALLSPORT & PAULO WHITAKER/AFP via Getty Images