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JFC, America. What the hell?
Jan. 31st, 2025 06:08 pm I said on BlueSky that it feels like I'm watching the USA hurtle at top speed into a volcano, and there's nothing I can do about it. Every time I blink, Trump or someone in his administration is doing something else that is either batshit insane, incredibly detrimental to the country, or both. Both seems to be the preferred method these days.
I didn't post about this earlier, but there was a really tragic mid-air crash on Wednesday night when a Blackhawk helicopter collided with a passenger plane carrying about 64 people, resulting in a total of 67 deaths. Even more tragically, the plane was carrying an entire team of young figure skaters, children by the looks of the photographs, maybe in their mid-teens. There were some more famous figure skaters who performed in the 1990s, but the number of kids on board that airplane is heartbreaking.
There's no explanation yet for the crash. They've recovered 41 bodies and expect to recover the rest, but are being hindered by the weather. I was working that evening, and even though no Canadian aircraft was involved, it was a Bombardier jet (made in Canada), and of course we expected there to be ripple effects from the airport shutting down, so we were very busy for the last hour of my shift.
So of course, given the political climate, things are metaphorically blowing up about this crash. Trump immediately came out and blamed it on DEI (for future me, in case you're confused about acronyms when you read back: it stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), because he's a racist POS and can't keep his mouth shut for five fucking minutes. He also refused to go to the crash site. I believe the quote was: "I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because you tell me, what’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?" So, you know, full of empathy, as usual.
Conversely, his opponents are already losing their minds and engaging in the worst kind of conspiracy theory nonsense. Some are pointing at Trumps (definitely disastrous) decision last week to fire the head of the TSA and to dismantle the Aviation Security Advisory Group as the reason this happened. While I think that this will absolutely lead to *more* accidents like this in the future, it's literally only been a week. There just hasn't been enough time for new, laxer, security measures to be implemented. Others are saying it was deliberate, because Blackhawk helicopters don't fly at that altitude, the pilots are highly trained, aircraft are equipped with TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance Collision System) and that should have prevented the crash, all of which is mostly nonsense. Blackhawk helicopters can fly at any altitude (they are helicopters, after all), and yeah, this one shouldn't have been where it was, but shit happens. TCAS is not great at short range and is often turned off when in the airspace above an airport. Also, anyone who thinks the US military has suicide pilots on standby is out of their minds.
And NO, this isn't a "diversion" to distract people from the nomination hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (whom I've affectionately nicknamed Brainworms McGee), which are an absolute dumpster fire so far. This is just a horrific accident, and supposing the investigation isn't botched or sabotaged, the explanation will come out eventually, likely long after this tragedy has stopped making headlines.
Actually, someone wrote a laugh-so-you-don't-cry report of the two day nomination hearings, and I may post the transcript in another entry for my own amusement because it's on Facebook, and God only knows how long Facebook content will still be accessible if it doesn't kowtow to the fascists south of the border.
In the meantime, the administration is continuing its unchecked rampage in dismantling/tearing down every government body and regulatory agency it can get its stubby little hands on. Just today there are reports that Elon Musk--or more specifically, some of his minions--have restricted government employees' access to computer systems (high-level employees, that is, career civil servants who perform crucial functions), and also tried to access the government's payroll system, where in theory he and his newly named department have no business poking their noses. This seems to be another attempt to stop government spending after the last aborted attempt via executive order (which was thankfully rescinded within 24 hours), meaning they could "turn off the spigots," aka just stop sending money to people receiving government benefits for all sorts of reasons.
Trump also announced that, starting tomorrow, there will be a 25% tariff imposed on goods from Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tariff on goods from China. Experts have already warned that this will have a devastating effect on the US economy, because neither industry nor individual consumers can absorb that much of a price increase. This means demand will plummet, and several key industries are likely to grind to a halt. This will of course have a terrible impact on Canada too, because we rely a lot on the buying power of the USA, but it's going to be much, much worse for the USA, at least in the short term. I really hope Canadian businesses can find a way to pivot to other markets, or that the government may step in to help small and medium businesses not go under while they figure out the next steps.
The fact that a tech billionaire is sticking his fingers in the pie of the treasury is wild. Either he's doing this with Trump's blessing (terrifying) or he's gone rogue (even more terrifying). Either way, things seem to be snowballing, or maybe spiraling, much faster than I ever imagined they could. I remember learning about how fast the Nazis took over once they got enough momentum in the lead-up to World War II, but it's a very different feeling to be watching something eerily similar unfold right under our noses.
We either haven't learned from history, or some people learned *too well*, and now we are doomed to repeat it.
I didn't post about this earlier, but there was a really tragic mid-air crash on Wednesday night when a Blackhawk helicopter collided with a passenger plane carrying about 64 people, resulting in a total of 67 deaths. Even more tragically, the plane was carrying an entire team of young figure skaters, children by the looks of the photographs, maybe in their mid-teens. There were some more famous figure skaters who performed in the 1990s, but the number of kids on board that airplane is heartbreaking.
There's no explanation yet for the crash. They've recovered 41 bodies and expect to recover the rest, but are being hindered by the weather. I was working that evening, and even though no Canadian aircraft was involved, it was a Bombardier jet (made in Canada), and of course we expected there to be ripple effects from the airport shutting down, so we were very busy for the last hour of my shift.
So of course, given the political climate, things are metaphorically blowing up about this crash. Trump immediately came out and blamed it on DEI (for future me, in case you're confused about acronyms when you read back: it stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), because he's a racist POS and can't keep his mouth shut for five fucking minutes. He also refused to go to the crash site. I believe the quote was: "I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because you tell me, what’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?" So, you know, full of empathy, as usual.
Conversely, his opponents are already losing their minds and engaging in the worst kind of conspiracy theory nonsense. Some are pointing at Trumps (definitely disastrous) decision last week to fire the head of the TSA and to dismantle the Aviation Security Advisory Group as the reason this happened. While I think that this will absolutely lead to *more* accidents like this in the future, it's literally only been a week. There just hasn't been enough time for new, laxer, security measures to be implemented. Others are saying it was deliberate, because Blackhawk helicopters don't fly at that altitude, the pilots are highly trained, aircraft are equipped with TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance Collision System) and that should have prevented the crash, all of which is mostly nonsense. Blackhawk helicopters can fly at any altitude (they are helicopters, after all), and yeah, this one shouldn't have been where it was, but shit happens. TCAS is not great at short range and is often turned off when in the airspace above an airport. Also, anyone who thinks the US military has suicide pilots on standby is out of their minds.
And NO, this isn't a "diversion" to distract people from the nomination hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (whom I've affectionately nicknamed Brainworms McGee), which are an absolute dumpster fire so far. This is just a horrific accident, and supposing the investigation isn't botched or sabotaged, the explanation will come out eventually, likely long after this tragedy has stopped making headlines.
Actually, someone wrote a laugh-so-you-don't-cry report of the two day nomination hearings, and I may post the transcript in another entry for my own amusement because it's on Facebook, and God only knows how long Facebook content will still be accessible if it doesn't kowtow to the fascists south of the border.
In the meantime, the administration is continuing its unchecked rampage in dismantling/tearing down every government body and regulatory agency it can get its stubby little hands on. Just today there are reports that Elon Musk--or more specifically, some of his minions--have restricted government employees' access to computer systems (high-level employees, that is, career civil servants who perform crucial functions), and also tried to access the government's payroll system, where in theory he and his newly named department have no business poking their noses. This seems to be another attempt to stop government spending after the last aborted attempt via executive order (which was thankfully rescinded within 24 hours), meaning they could "turn off the spigots," aka just stop sending money to people receiving government benefits for all sorts of reasons.
Trump also announced that, starting tomorrow, there will be a 25% tariff imposed on goods from Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tariff on goods from China. Experts have already warned that this will have a devastating effect on the US economy, because neither industry nor individual consumers can absorb that much of a price increase. This means demand will plummet, and several key industries are likely to grind to a halt. This will of course have a terrible impact on Canada too, because we rely a lot on the buying power of the USA, but it's going to be much, much worse for the USA, at least in the short term. I really hope Canadian businesses can find a way to pivot to other markets, or that the government may step in to help small and medium businesses not go under while they figure out the next steps.
The fact that a tech billionaire is sticking his fingers in the pie of the treasury is wild. Either he's doing this with Trump's blessing (terrifying) or he's gone rogue (even more terrifying). Either way, things seem to be snowballing, or maybe spiraling, much faster than I ever imagined they could. I remember learning about how fast the Nazis took over once they got enough momentum in the lead-up to World War II, but it's a very different feeling to be watching something eerily similar unfold right under our noses.
We either haven't learned from history, or some people learned *too well*, and now we are doomed to repeat it.
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