Impossible. Luigi and I were white water rafting in Idaho on the day of the murder. Luigi and I love white water rafting.

30 years guys.

That would require humility and talent. Neither of which they possess.

…The Capitalist attitude… FTFY. This isn’t an exclusively American problem.

True. It’s going to be bad. But it’s hard to pin the blame on trumpmfor the past incidents. The firings just happened

Yes. There are thousands of aviation incidents and accidents every year in the US. None of those have been scheduled carriers. General aviation, crop dustets, flight training, etc… The DC crash was notable because it’s the first fatalities due to mishap on a US SCHEDULED air carrier (called part 121 in the industry) since 2009. Emphasis on scheduled. Because of the notability Since then there has been increased scrutiny on aviation which is why you’ve heard about 2 of the other 3 at all. So 4 since trump took office isn’t remarkable. In fact, I’d wager there’s been a lot more.

Now does firing 100s of controllers make the ATC system more safe? No. That’s gonna be a disaster.

The Helo pilot said the words “traffic in sight…” In the world of aviation that is you saying “I am taking responsibility for traffic separation”. The controller isn’t in the cockpit, the controller has no choice but to take the pilot at their word. The pilot then followed that up with “…request visual separation.” Which is an even more assertive way of saying “I know what I’m doing, I am responsible for separation”. He said it twice. The ATC system is built on multual trust in eachother and professionalism.

The question “did the controller give clear guidance” is moot. The pilot took responsibility for traffic separation. At that point ATC is not responsible for traffic separation. If I want ATC to take responsibility for my safety I say “(Plane call sign) is looking for traffic” then ATC tells me desend, turn, speed up, slow down, etc…

As an aviator with a degree in aviation I can honestly say this. It’s a miracle it’s taken this long for something this bad to happen. No administration, from Regan onwards, has done anything about the ATC shortage (nothing effective anyway). I’m friends with controllers, I’ve been to several ATC facilities, what they do everyday is a fucking miracle. While it’s easy to point at the DC crash and the other subsequent crashes and say “see, Trump did it” the truth is far more nuanced and systemic than that. Also, in my opinion, the DC crash is 100% on the helicopter pilots.

Is what Trump doing now going to help the situation? Fuck no. We need more controllers. Better pay, better benefits, and more slots at the ATC academy.

Let me preface this by saying I don’t like trump, at all. But his powerlessness was nothing in comparison to whoever that democratic congresswoman outside the treasury building when DOGE was in there doing god knows what. Dems take the cake on appearing powerless, and that needs to change.

I had a colleague who had been a nurse and I’d show my prescriptions and ask “BS or actual medicine” and she’d tell me. I just started asking her first and she’d type out what I need before I went to the doctor.

It was on my thumb… But that is quite the visual.

Not a single hospital I went to in that country had hand soap in the bathrooms, to give you an idea about the level of hygiene. But going for my yearly sinus infection was a breeze and I got antibiotics. Not a zpack but it cleared up the infection. And no appointments necessary. Breeze in and breeze out an hour later with what you need. And dirt dirt cheap, and on my visa I didn’t pay into the national health care system, so my cost was 100% out of pocket.

Wart fertilizer perhaps

Eh, there’s truth and lies on both sides. Coming from someone that lived in china for 4 years and was able to engage with Chinese primary news sources. But basic healthcare in china is faster and cheaper, but then again I went to get a wart removed and they prescribed me acorn paste that accelerated the growth of the wart. So win some lose some.

Or, you know, tackle climate change. But both are equally unlikely.

He’s closer to you in class and status than Brian Thompson ever was. How fine a comb do you want to use to divide us? Where’s the line?

I managed to convince my brother in law by using the wrongful death case of Kanokporn Tangsuan as an example. Framed it as his moral responsibility to never sign up for any digital media ever again since he has a family. I pointed him to a few resources to sail the high seas and he’s got his high seas pc hooked up to his TV and cancelled all his subscriptions. I’m so proud.