#american airlines outage

[usa-news2424]

American Airlines ‘technical issue’-

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[vaspider]

IT outages are hitting airlines, banks and media across the world, with many flights grounded American Airlines says none of its flights are taking off and the problems are due to an issue with Crowdstrike cybersecurity software Microsoft says it is taking mitigation action, but the cause of the outage hasn't been confirmed In the UK, train companies report delays and say they're experiencing "widespread IT issues" Some GP surgeries in England are having issues with booking appointments Sky News has not been able to broadcast live, its executive chairman says

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Matt Wuerker. Politico

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 11, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 12, 2025

The stock market continued to fall today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 478 points, or 1.14%; the S&P 500 fell almost 0.8%; and the Nasdaq Composite fell almost 0.2%. The S&P 500 briefly held its own in trading today, but then Trump announced on his social media platform that he was going to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum from the new 25% rates to a 50% rate on Canada and might increase tariffs to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

Stocks fell again.

Unable to admit that he might be wrong, President Donald Trump is doubling down on the policies that are crashing the economy. In addition to his tariff threats, he also reiterated that “the only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” an outrageous position that he suddenly began to advance after the 2024 presidential election and which has Canadians so furious they are boycotting U.S. goods and booing the Star-Spangled Banner.

More than 100 top business leaders met with Trump today to urge him to stop destabilizing what had been a booming economy with his on-again-off-again tariffs. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told Jeff Stein and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post that in private, “[b]usiness leaders, CEOs and COOs are nervous, bordering on unnerved, by the policies that are being implemented, how they’re being implemented and what the fallout is. There’s overwhelming uncertainty and increasing discomfort with how policy is being implemented.”

The extreme unpredictability means that no one knows where or how to invest. Market strategist Art Hogan told CNN’s Matt Egan, “This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back and forth on trade policy.” Yesterday, Delta Air Lines cut its forecasts for its first-quarter revenue and profits by half, a sign of weakening corporate and consumer confidence and concerns about the safety of air travel. Today, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines cut their forecasts, and American Airlines forecast a first-quarter loss.

When he talked to reporters, Trump reasserted that he intends to do what he wants regardless of the business leaders’ input. “Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but you know what, we have to rebuild our country. Long-term what I’m doing is making our country strong again.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised, “If people are looking for certainty, they should look at the record of this president.”

Not everyone will find that suggestion comforting.

Trump backed off on his threat to raise the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, but went ahead with his threat to place 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum products. Those tariffs took effect at midnight.

In the face of his own troubles, Trump’s sidekick billionaire Elon Musk is also escalating his destructive behavior. Yesterday Musk’s social media platform X underwent three separate outages that spanned more than six hours. Lily Jamali and Liv McMahon of the BBC reported that Oxford professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Center, said that the outages appear to have been an attack called a “distributed denial of service,” or DDoS, attack. This is an old technique in which hackers flood a server to prevent authentic users from reaching a website.

"I can't think of a company of the size and standing internationally of X that's fallen over to a DDoS attack for a very long time," Martin said. The outage "doesn't reflect well on their cyber security." Without any evidence, Musk blamed hackers in Ukraine for the outages, an accusation Martin called “pretty much garbage.”

Four days ago, another of Musk’s SpaceX rockets exploded after takeoff, and now SpaceX’s Starlink internet service is facing headwinds. In February, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim canceled his collaborations with Starlink after growing tensions with Musk culminated with Musk alleging on X that Slim is tied to organized crime. The loss of that deal cost Musk about $7 billion in the short term, but more in the long term as Slim will work with European and Chinese companies in 25 Latin American countries rather than Starlink. Slim has said he would invest $22 billion in those projects over the next three years.

Also in February, after U.S. negotiators threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to the 42,000 Starlink terminals that supply information to the front lines, the European Commission began to look for either government or commercial alternatives. The European Commission is made up of a college of commissioners from each of the 27 European Union countries. It acts as the main executive branch of the European Union.

On Sunday, Musk posted: “[M]y Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” Poland pays for about half the Starlink terminals in Ukraine, about $50 million a year. Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, Radosław Sikorski, responded that “if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.” “Be quiet, small man,” Musk replied. “You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

After all the tariff drama with Canada, last week Ontario also cancelled a deal it had with Starlink.

But perhaps the biggest hit Musk has taken lately is over his Tesla car brand. On February 6, Musk’s younger brother Kimbal, who sits on Tesla’s board, sold more than $27 million worth of shares in the company. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm sold about $43 million worth of Tesla stock in February and recently sold another $33 million. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja has sold $8 million worth over the past 90 days. Yesterday, board member James Murdoch sold just over $13 million worth of stock.

Fred Lambert of Electrek, which follows the news about electric vehicles and Tesla, noted that Tesla stock dropped 15% yesterday, “down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.” “Tesla insiders are unloading,” he concluded.

Tesla sales are dropping across the globe owing to the unpopularity of Musk’s antics, along with the cuts and data breaches from his “Department of Government Efficiency.” Protesters have been gathering at Tesla dealerships to express their dismay. While the protests have been peaceful, as Chris Isidore of CNN reports, there have also been reports of vandalism. Tesla owners are facing ridicule as protesters take out their anger toward Musk on his customers, and at least one competitor is working to lure consumers away from Musk’s brand by offering a discount to Tesla owners.

Trump has jumped to Musk’s defense, posting just after midnight this morning that “Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for. They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

Indeed, today Trump used the office of the presidency to bolster Musk’s business. Teslas were lined up at the White House, where Trump read from a Tesla sales pitch—photographer Andrew Harnik caught an image of his notes. And then the same man who gave a blanket pardon to those convicted of violent crimes related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol called those protesting at Tesla dealerships “domestic terrorists” and promised that the government would make sure they “go through hell.”

Trump and Musk appear to have taken the downturn in their fortunes by becoming more aggressive. Martin Pengelly of The Guardian noted that in the middle of Monday’s stock market plunge, Trump posted or reposted more than 100 messages on his social media channel. All of them showed him in a positive light, including reminders of the 2004 first season of the television show The Apprentice, in which Trump starred: a golden moment in Trump’s past when his ratings were high and the audience seemed to believe he was a brilliant and powerful businessman.

Today, egged on by Musk, Trump pushed again to take over other countries. He told reporters: "When you take away that artificial line that looks like it was done with a ruler…and you look at that beautiful formation of Canada and the United States, there is no place anywhere in the world that looks like that…. And then if you add Greenland…that's pretty good."

The Trump administration also announced today it was cutting about half the employees in the Department of Education. The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon, who has little experience with education, to head the department on March 3 by a party-line vote. Shutting down the department "was the president's mandate—his directive to me," McMahon told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham. McMahon assured Ingraham that existing grants and programs would not “fall through the cracks.”

But when Ingraham asked her what IDEA stood for—the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—she wasn’t sure, although she knew it was “the programs for disabled and needs.” Ingraham knew what the acronym meant but assured McMahon that after 30 years on the job, she still didn’t know all the acronyms. McMahon replied: “This is my fifth day on the job and I’m really trying to learn them very quickly.”

Musk lashed out at Arizona senator Mark Kelly on social media yesterday, after Kelly posted pictures of his recent trip to Ukraine and discussed the history of Russia’s invasion, concluding “it’s important we stand with Ukraine.” Musk responded: “You are a traitor.”

Kelly, who was in the Navy for 25 years and flew 39 combat missions in the Gulf War before becoming an astronaut, responded: “Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[kaijuno]

Airline traffic from American, Delta, and United from last night to this morning after what could be the biggest IT outage in U.S. history.

[darkeagleruins]

Breaking: Allegiant, American, Delta, United Airlines, and many more airlines have issued a "ground stop" for all of their flights - including international.

No current updates as to when the ground stop will be lifted on most of these airlines.

The impact of the IT issues on media/internet and banks is unknown at this time.

Both Microsoft and CrowdStrike have experienced "outages."

The MS Azure status page now says that the issues have been resolved.

U.K.: the National Health Service's appointment system is disrupted, broadcaster Sky News went off air, and railway firms reported delays due to "widespread" technology issues, per the BBC.

Clearly, this is a developing story.

[tocitynews]

A Widespread Microsoft Outage Disrupted Flights, Banks, Media Outlets And Companies Around The World On Friday And Highlighted Dependence On Software From A Handful Of Providers – New York City reporting

The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing it.

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”

Major disruptions reported by airlines and airports grew. Flight tracking website Flightaware reports more nearly 1,000 flights canceled and over 12,000 more are delayed. Chicago O'Hare, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Newark , La Guardia and Boston Logan International Airport lead Flightaware's "misery map" with the most delays and cancellations.

In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded. American Airlines lifted its ground stop just after 5 a.m ET, saying they were able to "safely re-establish operations."

An earlier ground stop for Frontier Airlines was lifted just after midnight, and the carrier said they had resumed normal operations, for now.

Travelers at Los Angeles International Airport slept on a jetway floor, using backpacks and other luggage for pillows, due to a delayed United flight to Dulles International Airport early on Friday.

Across the pond, Edinburgh Airport said the system outage meant waiting times were longer than usual. London’s Stansted Airport said some airline check-in services were being completed manually, but flights were still operating.

The budget airline Ryanair said they are "experiencing disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control. We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time.”

Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where lines grew and some passengers were stranded as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled. Passengers in Melbourne queued for more than an hour to check in, although flights were still operating. Airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas were severely affected by the outage.

News outlets in Australia — including the ABC and Sky News — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers. Some news anchors broadcast live online from dark offices, in front of computers showing “blue screens of death.” Telecommunications providers, banks and media broadcasters were also disrupted as they lost access to computer systems. Outages reported on the site DownDetector included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra. The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were down.

Television stations in the United Kingdom were being disrupted by the computer issues.

Hospitals in Britain and Germany also reported problems.

Israel’s Cyber Directorate said that it was among the places affected by the global outages, attributing them to a problem with the cybersecurity platform Crowdstrike. The outage also hit the country’s post offices and hospitals, according to the ministries of communication and health.

In South Africa, at least one major bank said it was experiencing “nationwide service disruptions” as customers reported they were unable to make payments using their bank cards at grocery stores and gas stations.

Numerous European airlines are using manual check-in.

[trendingallworldnews]

Microsoft Outage: CrowdStrike and the 'Blue Screen of Death' Affecting Users Worldwide

photo microsoft

Global Impact

Microsoft Windows users across the globe, including those in India, Australia, Germany, the United States, and the UK, are experiencing a critical issue leading to the infamous 'Blue Screen of Death' (BSOD). This problem causes systems to restart or shut down automatically. Notably, companies like Dell Technologies have attributed this crash to a recent update from CrowdStrike, although Microsoft has yet to confirm this as the root cause of the outage.

Affected Sectors

The outage, which began Thursday evening, primarily impacted Microsoft's Central US region. Essential systems for numerous airlines were crippled, affecting American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Allegiant, and Sun Country in the US, as well as IndiGo and other airlines in India. Additionally, the disruption extended to banks, supermarkets, media outlets, and other businesses, highlighting the significant reliance on cloud services for critical infrastructure.

CrowdStrike: An Overview

CrowdStrike is a prominent cybersecurity platform that offers security solutions to both users and businesses. It employs a single sensor and a unified threat interface with attack correlation across endpoints, workloads, and identity. One of its key products, Falcon Identity Threat Protection, is designed to prevent identity-driven breaches in real time.

The Issue with CrowdStrike's Update

Reports indicate that a buggy update caused CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor to malfunction and conflict with the Windows operating system. This has led to widespread BSOD errors. CrowdStrike has acknowledged the problem, stating, “Our Engineers are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.” The company has promised to update users once the issue is resolved.

Microsoft's Response

Microsoft confirmed that the Azure outage was resolved early Friday. However, this incident serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences when critical infrastructure heavily relies on cloud services. The outage underscores the need for robust and reliable cybersecurity measures to prevent such widespread disruptions in the future.

Understanding the Blue Screen of Death

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is a critical error screen on Windows operating systems that appears when the system crashes due to a severe issue, preventing it from operating safely. When a BSOD occurs, the computer restarts unexpectedly, often resulting in the loss of unsaved data. The error message typically states, “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We are just collecting some error info, then we will restart for you.”

This type of error is not exclusive to Windows; similar issues can be seen across Mac and Linux operating systems as well.

While the exact cause of the widespread BSOD errors remains unclear, the incident highlights the interconnectedness and vulnerability of modern digital infrastructure. Both Microsoft and CrowdStrike are working to resolve the issues and restore normalcy to affected users and businesses worldwide.

[politicalfeed]

5 Things to Know for July 19: GOP Convention, Cyber Outages, Ukraine Aid, Olympics Security, Climate Protests

1. Republican Convention

Former President Donald Trump accepted his third GOP nomination for president at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night. In his first public address since an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally last week, Trump called for unity and reiterated key campaign promises on the economy and border security, while also repeating false election claims. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, isolating in Delaware due to Covid-19, faces increasing pressure from Democratic Party leaders to abandon his re-election campaign.

2. Cyber Outages

A global computer outage has grounded flights around the world, affecting major US carriers such as Delta, United, and American Airlines, resulting in widespread delays and cancellations. The issue stems from a software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which assured that it was “not a security incident or cyberattack” and that a fix has been deployed. Banks and telecom companies in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Israel’s hospitals and health services, have also reported computer malfunctions.

3. Ukraine Aid

Germany plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine next year, amid concerns that US support might diminish if Donald Trump returns to the White House. Germany’s military resources have been strained by decades of underinvestment and recent arms supplies to Kyiv. Germany hopes Ukraine can meet its needs with $50 billion in loans from frozen Russian assets approved by the Group of Seven. Anxiety grows in Europe as Trump’s VP pick, Sen. JD Vance, opposes military aid for Ukraine and signals a potential decrease in US defense support for Europe.

4. Olympics Security

Final preparations are underway for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with heightened security measures in place as the Olympic Village begins to welcome athletes. A police officer was recently attacked in central Paris, raising concerns ahead of the Games. This follows another violent incident involving a soldier earlier in the week. French officials are committed to strengthening security as the Games are expected to attract around 15 million visitors.

5. Climate Protests

Five activists from the Just Stop Oil environmental campaign have been sentenced to prison for blocking a major London highway in 2022. The group demands an international treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil and coal by 2030. Their high-profile protests have included spray painting cultural heritage sites, targeting artworks, and disrupting sporting events. The sentences have drawn criticism from environmental agencies and scientists, with Just Stop Oil calling the decision “an obscene perversion of justice.”

[albonium]

(it's crowdstrike, a merc sponsor)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.29 (after 1950)

1953 – BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 crashes near San Francisco. 1955 – The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol. 1956 – Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal. 1957 – Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when Moshe Dwek throws a grenade into the Knesset. 1960 – An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashes on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio. 1964 – The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed to the United Republic of Tanzania. 1964 – Biggest jewel heist; involving the Star of India (gem) in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City by Murph the Surf and gang. 1967 – Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors. 1969 – The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. 1972 – The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615. 1980 – Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in a crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida, leading to the cancellation of Operation Credible Sport. 1985 – Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced as the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia. 1986 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway. 1991 – The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid. 1994 – Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton. 1998 – In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities. 1998 – Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time. 1998 – ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission. 1998 – While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of six and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel. 1998 – Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras. 1998 – The Gothenburg discothèque fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures 200. 1999 – A large cyclone devastates Odisha, India. 2002 – A fire destroys a luxurious department store in Ho Chi Minh City, where 1,500 people are shopping. More than 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for in the deadliest peacetime disaster in Vietnam. 2004 – The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election. 2005 – Bombings in Delhi, India kill more than 60. 2008 – Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five. 2008 – A pair of deadly earthquakes hits Baluchistan, Pakistan, killing 215. 2012 – Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing 148 directly and 138 indirectly, while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages. 2014 – A mud slide; the 2014 Badulla landslide, in south-central Sri Lanka, kills at least 16 people, and leaves hundreds of people missing. 2015 – China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years. 2018 – A Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board.

[thechembow]

United Airlines issues nationwide ground stop on all flights

Sept. 5, 2023 - Fox News

American Airlines pilot Dennis Tajer discusses the ground stop which was requested until 2 p.m. ET due to 'equipment outages.'

At time stamp 3:40 we get a vague explanation that this nationwide ground stop had something to do with a "computer problem." They are losing the ability to "fly" and can't say the reason, which is what this blog is all about... the disabling of the DOR grid and restoration of the earth's natural orgone.

[newstfionline]

Monday, July 17, 2023

Canadian Politicians Who Criticize China Become Its Targets (NYT) The polls predicted a re-election victory, maybe even a landslide. But a couple of weeks before the vote, Kenny Chiu, a member of Canada’s Parliament and a critic of China’s human rights record, was panicking. Something had flipped among the ethnic Chinese voters in his British Columbia district. Longtime supporters originally from mainland China were not returning his calls. Volunteers reported icy greetings at formerly friendly homes. Chinese-language news outlets stopped covering him. And he was facing an onslaught of attacks—from untraceable sources—on the local community’s most popular social networking app, the Chinese-owned WeChat. Mr. Chiu and several other elected officials critical of Beijing were targets of a Chinese state that has increasingly exerted its influence over Chinese diaspora communities worldwide as part of an aggressive campaign to expand its global reach, according to current and former elected officials, Canadian intelligence officials and experts on Chinese state disinformation campaigns. Canada recently expelled a Chinese diplomat accused of conspiring to intimidate a lawmaker from the Toronto area, Michael Chong, after he successfully led efforts in Parliament to label China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim community a genocide. Canada’s intelligence agency has warned at least a half-dozen current and former elected officials that they have been targeted by Beijing, including Jenny Kwan, a lawmaker from Vancouver and a critic of Beijing’s policies in Hong Kong.

Heavy rains swamp Northeast again as flash flooding claims at least 5 lives in Pennsylvania (AP) Heavy rains pounded an already saturated Northeast on Sunday for the second time in a week, spurring another round of flash flooding, cancelled airline flights and power outages. In Pennsylvania, a sudden flash flood late Saturday afternoon claimed at least five lives. Other parts of the East Coast were experiencing heavy rain, including Vermont. Authorities there said landslides could become a problem Sunday as the state copes with more rain following days of flooding.

San Francisco’s downtown is a wake-up call for other cities (AP) Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam’s Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air. He’s had to drastically curtail those hours because of diminished foot traffic, and business is down 30%. Empty storefronts dot the streets. Large “going out of business” signs hang in windows. Shampoo, toothpaste and other toiletries are locked up at downtown pharmacies. And armed robbers recently hit a Gucci store in broad daylight. San Francisco has become the prime example of what downtowns shouldn’t look like: vacant, crime-ridden and in various stages of decay. But in truth, it’s just one of many cities across the U.S. whose downtowns are reckoning with a post-pandemic wake-up call: diversify or die. As the pandemic bore down in early 2020, it drove people out of city centers and boosted shopping and dining in residential neighborhoods and nearby suburbs as workers stayed closer to home. Those habits seem poised to stay. Data bears out that San Francisco’s downtown is having a harder time than most. A study of 63 North American downtowns by the University of Toronto ranked the city dead last in a return to pre-pandemic activity, garnering only 32% of its 2019 traffic.

Europe sizzles under heat wave (AP) Scorching temperatures across Europe forced the closure of the Acropolis in Athens for a second day as officials warned Saturday of even hotter weather next week, when the mercury is forecast to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several popular Mediterranean tourist destinations. In cities, those venturing out at all drenched themselves in fountains while others sought out pools, the sea or shade in hopes of relief from the heat wave caused by Cerberus. The high-pressure anticyclone coming from the south was named after the three-headed dog in ancient Greek mythology who guarded the gates to the underworld. Fifteen cities in Italy, most of them in the country’s center and south, were under heat advisories signaling a high level of risk for older adults, the infirm, infants and other vulnerable people. In Greece’s capital, where the temperature was forecast to reach 41 C (105.8 F), officials decided to keep the sun-baked Acropolis monument closed from noon to 5:30 p.m. as they did Friday. In Turkey, coastal cities in the south and southwest reached the high 30s (about 97-102 F) and low 40s (104-109 F).

La Palma wildfire (AP) More than 4,000 people were evacuated as a wildfire rages “out of control” on La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday, destroying around a dozen homes, authorities said. The blaze has affected an area of about 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres) and officials warned residents that the situation could worsen because a heat wave has made the terrain tinder-dry. “The fire has spread very fast,” Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo said. “The fire is out of control.” Spain saw record high temperatures in 2022 and this spring as it endures a prolonged drought. Authorities and forestry experts are concerned that the conditions are ripe for a difficult wildfire campaign after seeing virulent fires as early as March.

Small, Hidden and Deadly: Mines Stymie Ukraine’s Counteroffensive (NYT) It was a grisly scene of bloody limbs and crumpled vehicles as a series of Russian mines exploded across a field in southern Ukraine. One Ukrainian soldier stepped on a mine and tumbled onto the grass in the buffer zone between the two armies. Nearby lay other Ukrainian troops, their legs in tourniquets, waiting for medical evacuation, according to videos posted online and the accounts of several soldiers involved. Soon, an armored vehicle arrived to rescue them. A medic jumped out to treat the wounded and knelt on ground he deemed safe—only to trigger another mine with his knee. Five weeks into a counteroffensive that even Ukrainian officials say is off to a halting start, interviews with commanders and soldiers fighting along the front indicate the slow progress comes down to one major problem: land mines. The fields Ukrainian forces must cross are littered with dozens of types of mines—made of plastic and metal, shaped like tins of chewing tobacco or soda cans, and with colorful names like “the witch” and “the leaf.” Ukraine’s army is also hindered by a lack of air support and the deep network of defensive structures the Russians have built. But it is the vast array of mines, trip wires, booby traps and improvised explosive devices that has Ukrainian forces bogged down only a few miles from where they started.

For Ukrainians isolated by war, English lessons offer a lifeline (Washington Post) The Ukrainians logged on in the dizzying days after Russian troops surged across the border. They logged on by candlelight after rocket attacks knocked electricity offline. They logged on as air raid sirens warned of danger. And so it was again one recent day, that 15-year-old Jane Gerasimchuk logged on to Zoom from her home in Dnipro, about 60 miles from the front lines of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, so she could practice speaking English with a volunteer in Maryland. The call is part of a program called Speaking English Language Overseas or SELO—which sounds similar to the Ukrainian word for village—that pairs English tutors with groups of Ukrainians in the countryside who might not otherwise have a chance to hone their language skills with a native speaker. But what started as online language classes have become much more amid the deprivations and depravities of war—an escape, a lifeline to the outside world, a therapy session and an unusual window into the lives of ordinary Ukrainians at a time when simply carrying on with day-to-day activities has become an act of bravery. “When the bombs started, it was really hard to deal with what was going on,” Jane said in an interview. “I decided even if there was war, I would get better and I will grow.”

India’s favorite girl never grows up. But her wit is less welcome. (Washington Post) Nearly two decades after India’s independence, a little-known cooperative of small town dairy farmers in 1966 launched what became the most successful advertising campaign in the country’s history and helped transform India into the world’s largest producer of dairy and dairy products. The economic business model developed by Amul, the dairy cooperative, spread throughout India as did its cartoon advertising mascot: a young girl with blue hair, a polka dot dress and an endless stream of witty one-liners commenting on the events of the day. The girl quickly became India’s most recognizable cartoon character, a cultural icon that spared no public figure. But more than 8,000 ads later, she has had to tread carefully in a new India, within the shrinking space to poke—even in jest—at politics. “From then to now is a story of how India has changed—in terms of tolerance, humor, in terms of regime, in terms of what we can do,” said Rahul daCunha, who took over his father’s advertising agency and the Amul butter portfolio in 1993. “My dad was courageous. He never stayed away from a topic. Today, I don’t have that luxury.”

Antarctic ice levels undergo ‘massive decrease’, data shows (Reuters) Antarctic sea ice levels reached record lows last month, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday, a development climate change experts described as worrisome. WMO said that Antarctic sea ice levels last month—the hottest June ever recorded—were at their lowest since satellite observations began, at 17% below average. “We’re used to seeing these big reductions in sea ice in the Arctic, but not in the Antarctic. This is a massive decrease,” Michael Sparrow, Chief of World Climate Research Programme, told reporters in Geneva.

[worldmediathewhowhatwhen]

US Stock Performance

As the U.S. economy continues to evolve, companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia have been at the forefront, shaping the future of key industries. These innovators have accelerated advancements that rippled through the economy, influencing job markets, technological progress and long-term market growth.

The 20 largest U.S. stocks represent $24 trillion in market cap1 — close to the total of the 480 other stocks in the S&P 500 ($29.8T) as well as the entire U.S. economy, measured at $27T in GDP in 2023.

 Crypto’s EOY holiday card is packed. The launch of spot bitcoin ETFs helped cryptocurrency gain Wall Street acceptance and hit fresh records. And while April’s “halving” brought growing pains, most miners overcame ’em: MARA, Riot Platforms, and Hut 8 all reported soaring Q3 revenues. Bitcoin soared past the $100K milestone this month, and companies like MicroStrategy have scooped up billions in coins. Meantime, Trump has talked about creating a strategic bitcoin reserve.

But this year wasn’t just BTC’s show. Solana, XRP, and dogecoin all saw mega gains, and 4M+ meme coins were launched on Pump.fun. Elsewhere, traders wagered $3.6B+ on the US presidential election on blockchain-based Polymarket as prediction markets hit the mainstream. With an incoming industry-friendly White House and turnover at the SEC, 2024 has teed up the crypto industry for what it hopes will be another banner year.

The US economy has spent the year finding its sea legs. In July, price-weary consumers celebrated inflation falling below 3% for the first time since March 2021. In September, they cheered the Fed’s first rate cut in four years. Rates were cut again in November, and an expected final trim for the year is due Wednesday. As the cuts came, inflation closed in on the Fed’s 2% target, dropping to as low as 2.4% in September before climbing to 2.7% last month. Unemployment ticked up — though still historically low — and November marked the sixth straight month in which unemployment eclipsed 4%.

The US has added about 186K jobs/month, on average, and hourly wages have risen an average of 4% for the year. While a lot of metrics pointed to a strong economy (growing GDP, jobs, and household wealth), Americans’ vibes stayed pretty bleak. Consumer sentiment started the year at 79 points (below the historical average) and dropped in July to 66. Since then, it’s gone up for five straight months, ending the year at 74.

Prescription fills for weight-loss drugs more than doubled in 2024 as folks splurged to shed lbs. Novo Nordisk is expected to rake in $65B this year from its Ozempic and Wegovy injectables, while Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound are forecast to earn $15B. Meanwhile, telehealth cos like Hims and Ro have capitalized on weight-loss-drug shortages with copycats.

Boeing’s bumps… The beleaguered jet maker has lost a third of its value since a door plug yeeted off a 737 during a flight in January, which led to federal investigations. In October, Boeing had its lowest deliveries since 2020 after a seven-week workers’ strike. It just restarted 737 Max production, but this year has lost ~$8B.

CrowdStrike outage… The cybersecurity provider sent a faulty update in July that blued out 8.5M screens and rocked the airline industry. Delta alone canceled 7K flights and lost $380M in biz that quarter.

The Caitlin Clark effect… Basketball stars like Clark attracted millions of viewers to women’s college and WNBA games. As attention heats up, women’s elite sports are estimated to have earned $1B+ in global revenue for the first time. 

Bowl-spiracy… Chipotle found itself in the limelight as TikTokers went viral complaining about skimpy bowls, which led one investor to sue the chain. 

Dead lobster… Months after Red Lobster ended its costly “endless shrimp” promo, the Cheddar Bay Biscuit chain declared bankruptcy.

Paul vs. Tyson… 65M Netflixers watched Jake Paul beat Mike Tyson in a live but glitchy boxing match. Netflix is punching into live content (next up: holiday NFL games). 

Chief exits… CEOs private-jetted to new jobs at rival companies, with Starbucks nabbing Chipotle’s chief and Victoria’s Secret scooping up Savage x Fenty’s top exec.

[reddanceragain]

Heather Cox Richardson

March 11, 2025

Mar 12

The stock market continued to fall today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 478 points, or 1.14%; the S&P 500 fell almost 0.8%; and the Nasdaq Composite fell almost 0.2%. The S&P 500 briefly held its own in trading today, but then Trump announced on his social media platform that he was going to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum from the new 25% rates to a 50% rate on Canada and might increase tariffs to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

Stocks fell again.

Unable to admit that he might be wrong, President Donald Trump is doubling down on the policies that are crashing the economy. In addition to his tariff threats, he also reiterated that “the only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” an outrageous position that he suddenly began to advance after the 2024 presidential election and which has Canadians so furious they are boycotting U.S. goods and booing the Star-Spangled Banner.

More than 100 top business leaders met with Trump today to urge him to stop destabilizing what had been a booming economy with his on-again-off-again tariffs. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told Jeff Stein and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post that in private, “[b]usiness leaders, CEOs and COOs are nervous, bordering on unnerved, by the policies that are being implemented, how they’re being implemented and what the fallout is. There’s overwhelming uncertainty and increasing discomfort with how policy is being implemented.”

The extreme unpredictability means that no one knows where or how to invest. Market strategist Art Hogan told CNN’s Matt Egan, “This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back and forth on trade policy.” Yesterday, Delta Air Lines cut its forecasts for its first-quarter revenue and profits by half, a sign of weakening corporate and consumer confidence and concerns about the safety of air travel. Today, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines cut their forecasts, and American Airlines forecast a first-quarter loss.

When he talked to reporters, Trump reasserted that he intends to do what he wants regardless of the business leaders’ input. “Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but you know what, we have to rebuild our country. Long-term what I’m doing is making our country strong again.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised, “If people are looking for certainty, they should look at the record of this president.”

Not everyone will find that suggestion comforting.

(THE NARCISSISTIC SOCIOPATHY ON FULL DISPLAY!)

Trump backed off on his threat to raise the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, but went ahead with his threat to place 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum products. Those tariffs took effect at midnight.

In the face of his own troubles, Trump’s sidekick billionaire Elon Musk is also escalating his destructive behavior. Yesterday Musk’s social media platform X underwent three separate outages that spanned more than six hours. Lily Jamali and Liv McMahon of the BBC reported that Oxford professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Center, said that the outages appear to have been an attack called a “distributed denial of service,” or DDoS, attack. This is an old technique in which hackers flood a server to prevent authentic users from reaching a website.

"I can't think of a company of the size and standing internationally of X that's fallen over to a DDoS attack for a very long time," Martin said. The outage "doesn't reflect well on their cyber security." Without any evidence, Musk blamed hackers in Ukraine for the outages, an accusation Martin called “pretty much garbage.”

Four days ago, another of Musk’s SpaceX rockets exploded after takeoff, and now SpaceX’s Starlink internet service is facing headwinds. In February, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim canceled his collaborations with Starlink after growing tensions with Musk culminated with Musk alleging on X that Slim is tied to organized crime. The loss of that deal cost Musk about $7 billion in the short term, but more in the long term as Slim will work with European and Chinese companies in 25 Latin American countries rather than Starlink. Slim has said he would invest $22 billion in those projects over the next three years.

Also in February, after U.S. negotiators threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to the 42,000 Starlink terminals that supply information to the front lines, the European Commission began to look for either government or commercial alternatives. The European Commission is made up of a college of commissioners from each of the 27 European Union countries. It acts as the main executive branch of the European Union.

On Sunday, Musk posted: “[M]y Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” Poland pays for about half the Starlink terminals in Ukraine, about $50 million a year. Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, Radosław Sikorski, responded that “if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.” “Be quiet, small man,” Musk replied. “You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

(NOTE: EMO MUSKRAT IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER! LET'S GET HIM ON A STARLINK ROCKET PRONTO!)

After all the tariff drama with Canada, last week Ontario also cancelled a deal it had with Starlink.

But perhaps the biggest hit Musk has taken lately is over his Tesla car brand. On February 6, Musk’s younger brother Kimbal, who sits on Tesla’s board, sold more than $27 million worth of shares in the company. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm sold about $43 million worth of Tesla stock in February and recently sold another $33 million. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja has sold $8 million worth over the past 90 days. Yesterday, board member James Murdoch sold just over $13 million worth of stock.

Fred Lambert of Electrek, which follows the news about electric vehicles and Tesla, noted that Tesla stock dropped 15% yesterday, “down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.” “Tesla insiders are unloading,” he concluded.

Tesla sales are dropping across the globe owing to the unpopularity of Musk’s antics, along with the cuts and data breaches from his “Department of Government Efficiency.” Protesters have been gathering at Tesla dealerships to express their dismay. While the protests have been peaceful, as Chris Isidore of CNN reports, there have also been reports of vandalism. Tesla owners are facing ridicule as protesters take out their anger toward Musk on his customers, and at least one competitor is working to lure consumers away from Musk’s brand by offering a discount to Tesla owners.

Trump has jumped to Musk’s defense, posting just after midnight this morning that “Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for. They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

(NOTE: ILLEGAL TO DO THIS ON GOVT GROUNDS - THEY'RE NOT EVEN HIDING THE CORRUPTION ANYMORE)

Indeed, today Trump used the office of the presidency to bolster Musk’s business. Teslas were lined up at the White House, where Trump read from a Tesla sales pitch—photographer Andrew Harnik caught an image of his notes. And then the same man who gave a blanket pardon to those convicted of violent crimes related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol called those protesting at Tesla dealerships “domestic terrorists” and promised that the government would make sure they “go through hell.”

Trump and Musk appear to have taken the downturn in their fortunes by becoming more aggressive. Martin Pengelly of The Guardian noted that in the middle of Monday’s stock market plunge, Trump posted or reposted more than 100 messages on his social media channel. All of them showed him in a positive light, including reminders of the 2004 first season of the television show The Apprentice, in which Trump starred: a golden moment in Trump’s past when his ratings were high and the audience seemed to believe he was a brilliant and powerful businessman.

Today, egged on by Musk, Trump pushed again to take over other countries. He told reporters: "When you take away that artificial line that looks like it was done with a ruler…and you look at that beautiful formation of Canada and the United States, there is no place anywhere in the world that looks like that…. And then if you add Greenland…that's pretty good."

(NOTE:  FUCKING DELUSIONAL MORONS!!!)

The Trump administration also announced today it was cutting about half the employees in the Department of Education. The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon, who has little experience with education, to head the department on March 3 by a party-line vote. Shutting down the department "was the president's mandate—his directive to me," McMahon told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham. McMahon assured Ingraham that existing grants and programs would not “fall through the cracks.”

But when Ingraham asked her what IDEA stood for—the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—she wasn’t sure, although she knew it was “the programs for disabled and needs.” Ingraham knew what the acronym meant but assured McMahon that after 30 years on the job, she still didn’t know all the acronyms. McMahon replied: “This is my fifth day on the job and I’m really trying to learn them very quickly.”

Musk lashed out at Arizona senator Mark Kelly on social media yesterday, after Kelly posted pictures of his recent trip to Ukraine and discussed the history of Russia’s invasion, concluding “it’s important we stand with Ukraine.” Musk responded: “You are a traitor.”

Kelly, who was in the Navy for 25 years and flew 39 combat missions in the Gulf War before becoming an astronaut, responded: “Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”

[misfitwashere]

March 11, 2025

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 12

The stock market continued to fall today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 478 points, or 1.14%; the S&P 500 fell almost 0.8%; and the Nasdaq Composite fell almost 0.2%. The S&P 500 briefly held its own in trading today, but then Trump announced on his social media platform that he was going to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum from the new 25% rates to a 50% rate on Canada and might increase tariffs to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

Stocks fell again.

Unable to admit that he might be wrong, President Donald Trump is doubling down on the policies that are crashing the economy. In addition to his tariff threats, he also reiterated that “the only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” an outrageous position that he suddenly began to advance after the 2024 presidential election and which has Canadians so furious they are boycotting U.S. goods and booing the Star-Spangled Banner.

More than 100 top business leaders met with Trump today to urge him to stop destabilizing what had been a booming economy with his on-again-off-again tariffs. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told Jeff Stein and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post that in private, “[b]usiness leaders, CEOs and COOs are nervous, bordering on unnerved, by the policies that are being implemented, how they’re being implemented and what the fallout is. There’s overwhelming uncertainty and increasing discomfort with how policy is being implemented.”

The extreme unpredictability means that no one knows where or how to invest. Market strategist Art Hogan told CNN’s Matt Egan, “This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back and forth on trade policy.” Yesterday, Delta Air Lines cut its forecasts for its first-quarter revenue and profits by half, a sign of weakening corporate and consumer confidence and concerns about the safety of air travel. Today, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines cut their forecasts, and American Airlines forecast a first-quarter loss.

When he talked to reporters, Trump reasserted that he intends to do what he wants regardless of the business leaders’ input. “Markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but you know what, we have to rebuild our country. Long-term what I’m doing is making our country strong again.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised, “If people are looking for certainty, they should look at the record of this president.”

Not everyone will find that suggestion comforting.

Trump backed off on his threat to raise the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, but went ahead with his threat to place 25% tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum products. Those tariffs took effect at midnight.

In the face of his own troubles, Trump’s sidekick billionaire Elon Musk is also escalating his destructive behavior. Yesterday Musk’s social media platform X underwent three separate outages that spanned more than six hours. Lily Jamali and Liv McMahon of the BBC reported that Oxford professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Center, said that the outages appear to have been an attack called a “distributed denial of service,” or DDoS, attack. This is an old technique in which hackers flood a server to prevent authentic users from reaching a website.

"I can't think of a company of the size and standing internationally of X that's fallen over to a DDoS attack for a very long time," Martin said. The outage "doesn't reflect well on their cyber security." Without any evidence, Musk blamed hackers in Ukraine for the outages, an accusation Martin called “pretty much garbage.”

Four days ago, another of Musk’s SpaceX rockets exploded after takeoff, and now SpaceX’s Starlink internet service is facing headwinds. In February, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim canceled his collaborations with Starlink after growing tensions with Musk culminated with Musk alleging on X that Slim is tied to organized crime. The loss of that deal cost Musk about $7 billion in the short term, but more in the long term as Slim will work with European and Chinese companies in 25 Latin American countries rather than Starlink. Slim has said he would invest $22 billion in those projects over the next three years.

Also in February, after U.S. negotiators threatened to cut Ukraine’s access to the 42,000 Starlink terminals that supply information to the front lines, the European Commission began to look for either government or commercial alternatives. The European Commission is made up of a college of commissioners from each of the 27 European Union countries. It acts as the main executive branch of the European Union.

On Sunday, Musk posted: “[M]y Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” Poland pays for about half the Starlink terminals in Ukraine, about $50 million a year. Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, Radosław Sikorski, responded that “if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.” “Be quiet, small man,” Musk replied. “You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”

After all the tariff drama with Canada, last week Ontario also cancelled a deal it had with Starlink.

But perhaps the biggest hit Musk has taken lately is over his Tesla car brand. On February 6, Musk’s younger brother Kimbal, who sits on Tesla’s board, sold more than $27 million worth of shares in the company. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm sold about $43 million worth of Tesla stock in February and recently sold another $33 million. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja has sold $8 million worth over the past 90 days. Yesterday, board member James Murdoch sold just over $13 million worth of stock.

Fred Lambert of Electrek, which follows the news about electric vehicles and Tesla, noted that Tesla stock dropped 15% yesterday, “down more than 50% from its all-time high just a few months ago.” “Tesla insiders are unloading,” he concluded.

Tesla sales are dropping across the globe owing to the unpopularity of Musk’s antics, along with the cuts and data breaches from his “Department of Government Efficiency.” Protesters have been gathering at Tesla dealerships to express their dismay. While the protests have been peaceful, as Chris Isidore of CNN reports, there have also been reports of vandalism. Tesla owners are facing ridicule as protesters take out their anger toward Musk on his customers, and at least one competitor is working to lure consumers away from Musk’s brand by offering a discount to Tesla owners.

Trump has jumped to Musk’s defense, posting just after midnight this morning that “Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for. They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

Indeed, today Trump used the office of the presidency to bolster Musk’s business. Teslas were lined up at the White House, where Trump read from a Tesla sales pitch—photographer Andrew Harnik caught an image of his notes. And then the same man who gave a blanket pardon to those convicted of violent crimes related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol called those protesting at Tesla dealerships “domestic terrorists” and promised that the government would make sure they “go through hell.”

Trump and Musk appear to have taken the downturn in their fortunes by becoming more aggressive. Martin Pengelly of The Guardian noted that in the middle of Monday’s stock market plunge, Trump posted or reposted more than 100 messages on his social media channel. All of them showed him in a positive light, including reminders of the 2004 first season of the television show The Apprentice, in which Trump starred: a golden moment in Trump’s past when his ratings were high and the audience seemed to believe he was a brilliant and powerful businessman.

Today, egged on by Musk, Trump pushed again to take over other countries. He told reporters: "When you take away that artificial line that looks like it was done with a ruler…and you look at that beautiful formation of Canada and the United States, there is no place anywhere in the world that looks like that…. And then if you add Greenland…that's pretty good."

The Trump administration also announced today it was cutting about half the employees in the Department of Education. The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon, who has little experience with education, to head the department on March 3 by a party-line vote. Shutting down the department "was the president's mandate—his directive to me," McMahon told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham. McMahon assured Ingraham that existing grants and programs would not “fall through the cracks.”

But when Ingraham asked her what IDEA stood for—the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—she wasn’t sure, although she knew it was “the programs for disabled and needs.” Ingraham knew what the acronym meant but assured McMahon that after 30 years on the job, she still didn’t know all the acronyms. McMahon replied: “This is my fifth day on the job and I’m really trying to learn them very quickly.”

Musk lashed out at Arizona senator Mark Kelly on social media yesterday, after Kelly posted pictures of his recent trip to Ukraine and discussed the history of Russia’s invasion, concluding “it’s important we stand with Ukraine.” Musk responded: “You are a traitor.”

Kelly, who was in the Navy for 25 years and flew 39 combat missions in the Gulf War before becoming an astronaut, responded: “Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.”

—

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] American Airlines resumed its operations in the United States on Christmas Eve after a brief disruption caused by an unspecified technical glitch. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the ground stop for the airline following a halt that lasted over an hour, leaving thousands of passengers stranded during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. The disruption struck at one of the busiest travel periods of the year, leaving passengers stranded and airports overwhelmed with confusion. Announcement from American Airlines as we wait at @FLLFlyer @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/zL4137ih4g — Anna McAllister (@annamactv) December 24, 2024 In a statement issued during the outage, American Airlines expressed regret for the inconvenience caused, saying, “Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” the airline said. Click here for Latest Fact Checked News On NewsMobile WhatsApp Channel For viral videos and Latest trends subscribe to NewsMobile YouTube Channel and Follow us on Instagram [ad_2] Source link