The Evening Blues - 1-29-25
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features delta blues guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. Enjoy!
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup - My Baby Left Me
"What is really amazing, and frustrating, is mankind's habit of refusing to see the obvious and inevitable until it is there, and then muttering about unforeseen catastrophes."
-- Isaac Asimov
News and Opinion
Doomsday Clock set closer to midnight than ever to stress global catastrophe risks
A panel of international scientists has moved their symbolic “Doomsday Clock” closer to midnight than ever before, citing Russian nuclear threats amid its invasion of Ukraine, tensions in other world hotspots, military applications of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis as factors underlying the risks of global catastrophe.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 89 seconds before midnight – the theoretical point of annihilation. That is one second closer than it was set last year. The Chicago-based non-profit created the clock in 1947 during the cold war tensions that followed the second world war to warn the public about how close humankind was to destroying the world.
“The factors shaping this year’s decision – nuclear risk, climate change, the potential misuse of advances in biological science and a variety of other emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence – were not new in 2024. But we have seen insufficient progress in addressing the key challenges, and in many cases this is leading to increasingly negative and worrisome effects,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the Bulletin’s science and security board.
“Setting the Doomsday Clock at 89 seconds to midnight is a warning to all world leaders,” Holz added.
Only Pathetic Bootlickers Spend Their Energy Criticizing China
The buzz around Xiaohongshu and then DeepSeek has had an unusually high volume of westerners speaking positively about China for the last couple of weeks, which of course means we’re also seeing many westerners falling all over themselves to say “Well actually China is actually quite bad actually” in response.
Western liberals who fancy themselves enlightened and critical of power tend to get very squirmy and uncomfortable in their skin when they hear people saying positive things about the PRC, and love nothing more than to tell you that China is just as evil and tyrannical as the western power alliance, if not worse.
This is objectively, measurably false. China hasn’t spent the 21st century killing people by the millions in wars of aggression. China isn’t circling the planet with hundreds of military bases while working to destroy any nation or group anywhere in the world who disobeys it. China isn’t strangling nations around the globe with starvation sanctions for refusing to bow to its dictates. China didn’t just spend 15 months lighting the middle east on fire and backing a live-streamed genocide. China hasn’t spent the last three years endangering the world in frequently terrifying acts of nuclear brinkmanship with a rival nuclear superpower. Only the US-centralized empire has done this.
Whenever I point this out I get empire apologists going “Well yeah, SO FAR! We haven’t seen China doing all that evil foreign policy shit YET because they’re still not powerful enough!” Which is just silly. China absolutely is powerful enough to be a whole lot more abusive and murderous abroad, and it simply isn’t. Westerners love to claim that China has secret agendas to conquer the world someday (hilariously implying that these hypothetical future abuses make China morally comparable to the US empire’s current known abuses), but if you actually dig into the evidence for these claims what you’ll find every time is that all they provide evidence for is China’s openly stated goal of a multi-polar world that isn’t ruled by Washington.
Our ancestors set sail to conquer the world; their ancestors built a wall. This notion that China has an interest in ruling over a bunch of white foreigners has as much rational basis as old racist superstitions that black and brown people wanted equal rights so that they could come and steal white men’s wives and have sex with their daughters.
They’re just a better civilization than ours — not because theirs is miraculous or perfect, but because ours is just that murderous and dystopian. They simply do the normal thing while we do the freakish thing: they make the lives of their citizens better and better and avoid unnecessary wars, while western governments make the lives of their citizens worse and worse while plunging into new acts of mass military slaughter every few years.
Any criticisms you could level at China — that their domestic policy is more authoritarian than ours, that their culture is more conservative, etc — are eclipsed in moral terms by the depravity of our own western governments by orders of magnitude. And why would you even level such criticisms while living under the single most bloodthirsty and tyrannical power structure on earth? That would be like a German living under the Third Reich looking overseas and bitching about Brazil.
I find nothing more pathetic than a westerner who lives under the shadow of the US empire spending their time and energy criticizing the abuses of nations who lie outside that power structure. It’s an embarrassing, bootlicking way to live. Focus on criticizing the far greater abuses of the far greater evil that you actually live under, loser.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Trump and Palestinian Freedom
Heh, the Guardian writes as if having war criminals in the White House is a rare or unusual thing ...
Trump invites Netanyahu to be first foreign leader to visit White House
Donald Trump has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House, in a major concession to a US ally who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes.
The invitation was made in a letter from the US president, which invited the Israeli prime minister to come to the White House on 4 February to “discuss how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries”.
“It will be my honor to host you as my first foreign leader during my second term,” the letter read.
Trump has said he is “not confident” that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel and Hamas should soon commence negotiating a longer-term peace that many fear will fail and lead to a return to bloodshed following more than 15 months of fighting.
Trump and Netanyahu have had a difficult personal relationship, but Israel remains the US’s closest ally in the region. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, is said to have had a tense conversation with Netanyahu in the days before a hostages-for-ceasefire deal was negotiated between Hamas and Israel, on the day before Trump’s inauguration.
Phil Giraldi : A Ceasefire or a Fraud?
Trump repeats suggestion Palestinians should leave Gaza for Egypt and Jordan
Donald Trump has repeated his suggestion that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza for Egypt or Jordan, despite widespread opposition to the proposal from Palestinian leadership, the UN and US allies in the region.
Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Monday night, the US president was asked about his comments over the weekend about “cleaning out” the Gaza Strip either “temporarily or long-term”. Trump reiterated he would “like to get [Palestinians from Gaza] living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much”.
The remarks, apparently at odds with existing US policy and international law, have been widely rejected by the Arab world as a potentially fatal blow to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but were embraced by Israel’s right wing. ...
Trump said he had spoken to the Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah on Sunday, and insisted that both leaders would agree to the plan. Abdullah also spoke on Monday with Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, but the issue was not mentioned in a state department statement on the call.
“I wish [Sisi] would take some. We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. He’s in … a rough neighbourhood. But I think he would do it, and I think the king of Jordan would do it too,” Trump said.
Israel FURIOUS As Trump Envoy SHOCK Gaza Visit
Gaza Aid Survey Details Israel's 'Disregard of International Law'
A survey published Tuesday of 35 organizations working in Gaza found that Israel has failed to improve access to lifesaving humanitarian aid in the embattled Palestinian enclave—despite three separate orders from the International Court of Justice to do so over the past year.
The first of those ICJ directives, issued on January 26, 2024, ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and provide basic services and humanitarian assistance to its approximately 2.3 million people. The overwhelming majority of Gazans have been forcibly displaced—often multiple times—sickened, or starved, their suffering exacerbated by Israel's "complete siege." According to Gaza officials, Israel's 15-month assault has left around 170,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing.
Groups participating in the survey—including Oxfam, Islamic Relief, Médecins du Monde, ActionAid, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council—found that Israel has "systematically denied and restricted aid, supplies, and services both into and within Gaza" since the ICJ's January 2024 order. This tracks with previous reporting from human rights groups warning that Israel has flouted all three ICJ directives, which were also issued in March and May.
Among the survey's findings:
89% of respondents said that Israeli actions regarding the provision of aid had worsened since the ICJ's ruling; 93% said the humanitarian situation for the people receiving their aid and services had deteriorated; 100% of surveyed agencies importing humanitarian supplies into Gaza said Israeli procedures for aid entry were either ineffective, had systematically impeded the humanitarian response, or were insufficient to meet the huge needs; 95% of agencies who imported aid supplies inside the Gaza Strip said they regularly encountered delays, some of them lasting two months or longer; and Agencies reported essential items like personal protective equipment (PPE), tarpaulins, winterization supplies, mobile kitchens, hygiene kits, food, and educational materials being denied due to the "dual use" procedure—because Israel deemed there was potential for them to be utilized for military use. The survey results came a week into a fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel—which has already been accused of breaking the truce, including by killing civilians, a 5-year-old girl among them, and firing on medical workers.
"Given the volume of aid now entering Gaza, it is clear how much Israel has been obstructing the humanitarian response for the last 15 months," Oxfam policy lead Bushra Khalidi said in a statement. "As the survey shows, Israel completely failed to improve humanitarian conditions, in disregard of international law, while systematically preventing lifesaving aid from getting in."
"It is vital to assess past failures, even amid a cease-fire," Khalidi added. "Without accountability and a commitment to protecting humanitarian operations, we risk repeating the same cycles of impunity and neglect, leaving millions without hope of a better future."
The survey also coincides with hundreds of thousands of Gazans trying to return to their obliterated neighborhoods. Returning refugees report being blocked by both rubble and Israeli troops, who are sometimes using deadly force. More—but nowhere near enough—aid is finally reaching Gazans following the cease-fire.
"Now that aid is getting into Gaza, the next weeks will be critical but challenging, given the level of destruction Israel has rained down upon Gaza and its near-total decimation of the humanitarian infrastructure and operational capacity," Médecins du Monde president Dr. Jean-François Corty said on Tuesday.
The agencies that produced the survey are calling for continued and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid in Gaza, as well as for Israel to be held accountable for alleged war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The ICJ is currently weighing a South Africa-led genocide case against Israel. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
"The international community must abide by its obligations under international law and ensure that the cease-fire becomes permanent, so Palestinians in Gaza have access to everything they need to survive without conditions and rebuild their lives equally as every human being deserves," AFSC Palestine/Israel country representative Hanady Muhiar stressed.
The communication and advocacy coordinator at ActionAid, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Riham Jafari, asserted that "it is essential that humanitarian access is not only immediate but sustained and unimpeded."
"The rights of Palestinians in Gaza must be protected from acts of genocide, and Israel must be held to account for its continued violations of international law," Jafari added. "Without meaningful accountability, the suffering will only deepen, and the path to justice and peace will remain blocked."
IS fighters in Syria could break free amid Trump aid cut, terrorism expert warns
Donald Trump has thrown into doubt the security and administration of the main two detention facilities in north-east Syria that hold thousands of Islamic State fighters, the former counter-terrorism director of M16 Richard Barrett says.
The state of limbo has been caused in the short term by the US president unexpectedly suspending all USAid funding for 90 days, and by long-term uncertainty over his willingness to retain troops in Syria.
It emerged that all security and administration around al-Hol and al-Roj, the main two detention facilities, was withdrawn for the several days after funding of the camp’s humanitarian and security work was suddenly cut. It appears funding as a stopgap has been transferred from the frozen US aid budget to the Global Coalition to Defeat Isis, a military alliance of dozens of countries including the US.
But Barrett cautioned that the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), responsible for guarding Islamic State (IS) fighters, was under long-term threat. He said it had not been able to reach an agreement with the de facto government in Damascus about any future role in the Syrian national army. This meant IS saw an opportunity to engineer the escape of as many as 9,000 of its fighters held in north-east Syria, he said.
Barrett, speaking to the UK foreign affairs select committee, said a 2,000-strong group of IS fighters had already had a resurgence in the past 18 months, but now saw an opportunity to launch a “Breaking the Walls” campaign, similar to one they launched in Iraq. He questioned whether Trump, owing to his isolationist policies, would continue to fund US forces remaining in north-east Syria or security around the camps.
Sheinbaum vs. Trump: How Mexico's Popular First Woman President Is Navigating Hostile U.S. Policy
New opinion poll shows 85% of Greenlanders do not want to join US
A new opinion poll shows 85% of Greenlanders do not want their island to become a part of the United States, after Donald Trump called for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Since his re-election, Trump has reiterated his interest in acquiring the Arctic island, which is controlled by Denmark but has a large degree of autonomy.
Speaking onboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said: “I think we’re going to have it,” and claimed that the Arctic island’s 57,000 residents “want to be with us”.
But a new survey by pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske, showed only 6% of Greenlanders are in favour of becoming part of the US, with 9% undecided.
The new poll came as Denmark’s prime minister said Europe must “stand together” in the face of changing relations with the US during a whistle-stop tour of Berlin, Paris and Brussels.
US, NATO CAUGHT In Romania COUP As Election CANCELLED
Trump fires senior labor board official in ‘unprecedented and illegal’ move
Donald Trump has fired a senior official at the top US labor watchdog, triggering a chorus of criticism from unions and in effect paralyzing the body until a replacement is confirmed.
Gwynne Wilcox, a member and former chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), described her dismissal as “unprecedented and illegal” and pledged to challenge the move.
Her removal leaves the board with only two members, and leaves it without a quorum of three members required to issue decisions, per a 2010 supreme court ruling.
Wilcox was confirmed by the Senate, and her term was due to continue until August 2028. She had been appointed chair of the NLRB by Biden last month, before Trump appointed Marvin Kaplan, a Republican-appointed member, as chair last week.
“It’s been an honor to serve as a Board Member and Chair of the National Labor Relations Board,” Wilcox said in a statement. “As the first Black woman Board Member, I brought a unique perspective that I believe will be lost upon my unprecedented and illegal removal. Throughout my time at the NLRB, I’ve worked well with my colleagues and the dedicated career staff who uphold the mission of the Agency. I will be pursuing all legal avenues to challenge my removal, which violates long-standing Supreme Court precedent.”
Immigrants Completely Abandon Job Sites As Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Begins
Trump offers federal workers buyouts worth more than seven months’ salary
The Trump administration offered federal workers buyouts worth more than seven months’ salary if they would leave their jobs by 6 February as the White House attempts to slash the civil service in an unprecedented overhaul of US government.
The office of personnel management, the government’s human resources agency, sent a memo to the federal workforce on Tuesday evening with four directives that it says Trump is mandating, including a full-time return to the office for most employees. It also said that the federal workforce would be subjected to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and warned that most agencies would be downsized.
“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program,” the email reads. “This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6.”
The email includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees who want to participate. Under the offer, they will retain all pay and benefits “regardless of daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30”.
Trump has pledged to radically remake government, including significantly shrinking the federal workforce and cutting trillions of dollars of spending – an agenda his administration is attempting to implement at breakneck speed.
Special counsel prosecutors were fired on instructions of White House
The justice department fired more than a dozen federal prosecutors involved in the two criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump after receiving instructions to do so from the White House, indicating the late-night purge was a political directive that deputized the justice department.
The termination of the career prosecutors were ostensibly at the direction of the acting attorney general, James McHenry, according to the notices sent to anyone remaining on the trial team of 18 who had worked for former special counsel Jack Smith.
But in a remark during her first briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked whether the president had authorized the firings, said the firings were tied to a memo issued by the White House personnel office.
“This was a memo that went out by the presidential personnel office and the president is the leader of this White House, so yes,” Leavitt said in response.
The White House’s involvement in the firings undercut the pretense of the justice department acting independently over its own affairs, and deepened fears that the move was a precursor to the department ultimately becoming an extension of the West Wing.
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s halt of federal grants and loans
A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration freeze of all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government, a decision that upended programs relied upon by millions of Americans .
US district judge Loren AliKhan ordered an administrative stay on the funding pause on Tuesday afternoon, moments before it was set to take effect. The stay, issued in response to a lawsuit brought by a group of non-profits and small businesses, pauses the administration’s action until Monday.
In a two-page internal memo on Monday, Matthew Vaeth, Trump’s acting head of the office of management and budget (OMB), instructed all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance”. Vaeth said that the pause did not include social security or Medicare , and that the assistance put on hold “does not include assistance provided directly to individuals”.
If allowed to take effect, the order could have far-reaching consequences that touch nearly every corner of American society, including universities, the non-profit sector, cancer research, food assistance, suicide hotlines, hospitals, community health centers, non-profits that help disabled veterans and many more. ...
The freeze in federal funding, set to take place on Tuesday afternoon, has thrown the future of a vast array of programs into uncertainty. The memo said it should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law”. There was no explanation as to whether the pause would affect food stamps, disaster assistance and other programs, but on Tuesday afternoon, before the judge’s stay, several lawmakers and state officials reported that payment portals for Medicaid were down.
Michigan Democratic senator will not seek re-election in key swing state
The Michigan Democratic senator Gary Peters said he would not seek re-election in 2026, a decision that could reshape the political battlefield in a state where Republican fortunes are rising.
Peters, 66, told the Detroit News he planned to retire when his second term ends in January 2027, just as Michigan marks a dramatic political shift. His announcement comes as Democrats grapple with the state’s return to swing status, highlighted by Donald Trump’s recent presidential victory there – his second win in Michigan in three attempts.
His departure also follows the recent retirement of his fellow Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, who this month had her Senate seat filled by Elissa Slotkin.
Climate triple whammy boosted risk of LA fires
A triple whammy of climate impacts boosted the risk of the ferocious fires that recently ravaged Los Angeles, a scientific study has shown. Firstly, the hot, dry and windy conditions that drove the fires were made 35% more likely by the global heating caused by fossil fuel burning. Secondly, the low rainfall seen from October to December is now about 2.4 times more likely than in the preindustrial past, before the climate crisis. Rains during these months have historically brought an end to the wildfire season around LA.
Thirdly, conditions of high fire risk have extended by more than three weeks in today’s heated climate, now reaching into January. This means fires have more chance of breaking out during the peak Santa Ana winds, which can blow small fires into deadly infernos.
The extreme fires began blazing around LA on 7 January. Powerful mountain winds drove the fires through tinder-dry vegetation and into urban areas. At least 28 people were killed and more than 10,000 homes destroyed. The fires are the most destructive in LA’s history and may be the costliest in US history.
The study was carried out by 32 US and European experts working as part of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) collaboration. The demonstration of a clear link to the climate crisis runs counter to the flood of disinformation that followed the fires, which included falsely blaming fish protections, a mass plot related to high-speed rail, and diversity measures. ... The study used weather data and climate models to compare the likelihood of fire conditions in today’s hotter climate with the likelihood in an unheated preindustrial climate. Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have used these methods before.
California officials deny Trump’s claim that US military ‘turned on the water’ in state
California water officials said this week there’s no truth to Donald Trump’s assertion that the US military has entered California and “turned on the water”. Trump’s comments, made on Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, are the latest in a series of remarks he’s made and actions he’s taken related to the state’s water policy following devastating wildfires that ripped through the Los Angeles area this month. He’s often offering an incomplete or incorrect assessment of the state’s water policies or tying together unrelated issues.
“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” the Republican president wrote. “The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”
The California department of water resources said in a post on Twitter/X that the “military did not enter California”.
“The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days,” the agency posted. “State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.”
Most of California’s water comes from the north, where it melts from mountain snow and runs into rivers that connect to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. From there, much of it is sent further south to farmers and cities such as Los Angeles through two large pumping and canal systems. One is run by the federal government and the other by the state. There is no water supply from the Pacific north-west that connects into California’s system.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Make no mistake: Israel’s far right is planning for a Gaza without Palestinians
After “Gulf of America” Rebranding, Will Trump Admin Set Its Sights on Mexico’s Oil and Gas?
Trump’s Doing Everyone A Favor With His Tariffs (Emphasis on Canada)
Cut Flowers, Coffee, and a Geopolitical Shock
‘Super pod’ of more than 1,500 dolphins spotted off California coast
Australian authorities: 'paid actors' spreading antisemitism from abroad
A Little Night Music
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Mean Ol' Frisco Blues
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - So Glad You 're Mine
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup - That’s All Right
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Death Valley Blues
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Worried 'Bout You Baby
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - My Mama Don't Allow Me
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Dirt Road Blues
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - I'm Gonna Dig Myself a Hole
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - Shout Sister Shout
Comments
EB is doing a great job explaining "What Just Happened?"
...to folks who have suppressed their own exposure to, and understanding of, Artificial Intelligence. Over time, the impact of China's Open Source breakthrough will be felt everyday in the US, beginning with the stock market and rippling out across the arts and sciences, corporations and industries.
The true story of 'China 2025' is unfolding right now during China's Lunar New Year Gala — much to the delight of China's citizens and scientists all over the world who can see the unbiased truth. It will remain one step ahead of the Trump administration, whose best option is to do nothing, and try to restrain the corrupt House and Senate, who are loyal only to the Plutocracy.
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.
evening pluto...
heh, yeah, it turns out that the tech bro corporations are little different from the military industrial complex which creates products that are overpriced and underperforming.
maybe trump should spend $500 billion to study why american-style capitalism is such a piece of crap instead of feeding the tech bros egos.
Oh my
Democrats came across as idiots
Link
Warren asked Kennedy if he would promise not to go through the revolving door after his tenure and not take money from big pharma.
He answered yes, but didn’t think anyone was lining up to give him some.
Bernie is getting ridiculed all over the twit. Good. But not everywhere.
Shitlib:
Hey remember when Shitlibs praised Hunter Biden for kicking his drug addiction? You’d think they’d praise Kennedy for doing the same, but you’d be wrong. They’re mad that no democrat questioned him about it.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Also too
Protecting their donors.
lol….
One dem said that Kennedy wants to do a Tuskegee experiment on our kids.
Wasn’t it the government that did that experiment on black men who had syphilis? Without their consent.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Chances are that they are not democrats.
evening humphrey...
geez these people are insufferable when they think that they have scored a point, even when it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
lol…people rarely disappoint
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Aaron on Tulsi’s Syrian gas attacks
.
Despite smear campaign, Tulsi Gabbard is not at odds with US intel on Syria
Tulsi still holds her security clearance that she has had for 20 years so I think that there is a good chance that she isn’t a Russian asset.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
evening snoopy...
it doesn't matter what the charge is or if it is true or not, what's important is that the spooks are saying "no" emphatically.
frankly, the most damning thing about tulsi is that she caved in on 702, though she is arguably still the best choice for the job that trump is likely to make.
Yeah that’s not a good look for her
Too bad that she dropped her lawsuit against the Hellabitch for slandering her. Maybe the big mouth dems would have shut their mouths and piled on.
I wonder what the statute of limitations is for slander?
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
depends on the state...
in my state it's one year. i don't know what state tulsi filed in.
It can't happen soon enough!
Good for Abby
She’s right. The Israeli narrative has been exposed for what it is and that’s why Israel is leaning on so many governments to criminalize anti Israel speech.
Israel kills journalists in Gaza and the rest of the western governments are arresting them. The dam might break soon.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
yep...
anybody who can't see through this one is either willfully blind or watches mainstream media propaganda exclusively.
USA the bellwether of democracy. HAH!
I called that
Trump and Bondi both promised to do that during the campaign. The judge was livid at both of them and he kept talking about for a week or two.
The free speech Trump also said that he would prosecute anyone who burned the flag.
As for twit’s free speech they let people post whatever, but then they bury it so no one can see it. The CEO admitted that is what happens.
Trumpers are happy with all his executive orders so I remind them of how they bitched about Biden’s executive orders. And they are very happy with all the Saturday night massacres. And they wonder why a judge can put a hold on what the executive does. Duh.
Congress must roll back the imperial presidency because the president isn’t meant to be a king.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Good luck with that!
I had to bail on this thread
The replies to the tweet were some of the most ignorant I’ve seen in some time.
I really should crowd fund 1-800-bitch-slap.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
The public / private meme
.
has a rarely publicized clash ..
US military helicopter collides with regional jet in Washington DC
'splain that one media, in terms that maybe some can understand?
https://www.rt.com/news/611864-plane-helicopter-collide-washington/
question everything
evening qms...
given the large amount of both civilian and military air traffic in the dc region, i'm surprised that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.
Caught on camera
It looks like the helicopter flew right into the plane that was right in front of it for about 4-5 seconds.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
How could this happen?
.
The military operates under a different frequency or some such thing.
A Blackhawk helicopter has reportedly crashed into a 'smaller' regional
passenger jet in Washington DC, causing a mass casualty event with reportedly no survivors.
Down in the Potomac. Perhaps the MIC should lighten their footprints a bit?
question everything
One article I read
said that traffic control asked the helicopter if it saw the plane in front of it.
Planes have lights on the tail, but not in the middle. Maybe the taillights weren’t visible to the helicopter? It had plenty of time to adjust its flight if it saw the plane.
Just very sad for all involved.
The pentagon said that there was no
importantofficers on the helicopter. Yeah that’s what we were worried about. (:3 articles said that the plane crashed into the helicopter. Not from what I see.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
The flight schedule
and airspace allocation for Reagan is controlled by the US Congress- the members want to fly in there, to save them from sitting in all the traffic from Dulles. The last FAA spending bill passed by Congress added several *more* flights to the already incredibly-overcommitted schedule. With that, and the continual parade of military rotorcraft that fly established routes 24/7 directly through their area of control, it is nothing short of astonishing that this hasn't happened before.
The helicopter route that crosses the approach to Runway 33 has a specified maximum altitude limit of 200 feet above ground level, since at that point in the approach the aircraft on short final for 33 will be at 300-400 feet AGL. Apparently the helicopter pilot was significantly above his hard ceiling, since the collision occurred at 300-400 feet AGL.
One thing is nearly certain- the civilian airliner traffic will not be reduced as a result of this. The congresscritters are Important People, after all, and can't be bothered with traffic delays.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Also too
There aren’t enough air traffic controllers so many of them are having to work overtime which just causes more stress and mistakes.
Both planes should have seen the other on their radar screens as well as ATC.
Hopefully we will get the truth about what happened. I’m not holding my breath though.
Effing shitlibs are blaming Trump for this because of the hiring freeze. BS. The Biden administration would have known about this problem and it would have been up to them to fix it.
Isn’t this under Mato Pete’s jurisdiction?
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Just read this
Who was president in 2024? How many days has T been in office?
I so hate defending T, but for 4 years there were rarely any diaries about Biden and democrats either critical or praising, but now T is back the wreckage list is full of anti T crap.
Maybe if they had held democrats accountable we wouldn’t have gotten Trump after both Obama and Biden. That’s THEIR legacies.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
There is
no traffic radar in the H-60. The helo was also running pretty dark, as is SOP for military helos- minimal external lighting, and their transponders turned off (so the TCAS system could not provide conflict advisories to the pilots).
ATC directly asked the helo if they had the traffic in sight, and apparently they confirmed that they did have some traffic in sight: the question is "was the pilot looking at the right aircraft?" They were instructed to pass behind the airliner- which clearly did not happen. The rules of the road place the burden on the more maneuverable helo to see and avoid, as the airliner was on short final and was very limited in any maneuver that it could attempt.
The solutions they will eventually come up with here are unlikely to address the actual root causes, because the congresscritters will not tolerate the inconvenience of being driven in from Dulles, and the military will do whatever they damned well please in any case. It is a true quandary, and I mourn for the victims and their families. This won't be the last of these.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Some info
Good thread if you can read it.
Unthinkable that this Army Blackhawk helicopter would cross a restricted area at night without their ADS-B turned on, especially when planes are on final approach. I doubt very much that the air traffic controller knew exactly where this Army Blackhawk helicopter was, since it was too low to be on their radar, and worse the Army Blackhawk helicopter didn’t have their ADS-B on. (Will explain further below what ADS-B is).
It is extremely unlikely that the American Eagle regional jet is at fault here because they were cleared to land by ATC on Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport. The American Eagle regional jet was about 400 feet off the ground and 2,000 feet, give or take, from the threshold of Runway 33.
No helicopter belongs in that area, full stop, when airplanes are on final approach. So the Army Blackhawk helicopter is at fault here, in my opinion.
Reports are that the air traffic controller asked the helicopter pilot to pass in the back of the American Eagle regional jet and by the time the air traffic controller finished that sentence, the mid-air collision occurred.
And to make things exponentially worse, the Army Blackhawk helicopter didn’t have their ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) turned on which would have trigged a T-CAS (traffic collision avoidance system) alert in both aircraft’s cockpits and given a TA (traffic advisory) to both aircraft to avoid the collision. How a helicopter could fly so close to an airport runway in, of all places, Washington, DC at night without their ADS-B turned on is mind-boggling.
Incredibly, T-CAS prevented a mid-air collision two weeks ago near Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport between a Delta Airlines jet carrying 245 passengers and a United Airlines jet carrying 123 passengers as both jets were on final approach to land at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Both aircraft had ADS-B, which triggered a T-CAS alert in their respective cockpits and issued a TA, which saved the day. The FAA requires all passenger jets to have T-CAS.
ADS-B is the reason why you can see and track airplanes on Flight Radar 24 around the world.
The Phoenix near-miss between the Delta Airlines Jet and the United Airlines jet is attached below. Worth watching.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Regrettably, very thinkable.
Military helos routinely run with their transponders off, both ADS-B and the multimode transponders used to send identification codes to the secondary surveillance radar sites (e.g., the "squawk" codes). This is especially true in DC when they are hauling VIPs around (the PAT callsign)- they don't want to be found in that case. For example, when the President is aboard the Marine 1 helo from HMX-1, its transponders are completely silent. It is also accompanied by several other identical white-top Marine helos, one of which *does* run its transponders. That one is the one the President is never on.
The other issue is that TCAS is advisory-only at altitudes of less than 1000ft AGL, so even if the helo had had its multimode transponder on, TCAS wouldn't have had the effect of positively preventing the conflict. Below 1000ft AGL, the rules of the road are see-and-avoid.
The right solution is to keep other aircraft out of the area under and around approach paths, where the aircraft committed on short final can only execute a missed approach, go to takeoff/go-around power, and climb out of danger: turning one way or the other at that altitude and with that very low airspeed/flaps down/gear down, ~30 seconds before landing, was absolutely not an option.
I live less than a mile off the end of a very active runway at a very active corporate/regional airport, directly in line with the runway centerline. Had that DC incident happened here where I live, the jet would literally have ended up in my living room. However, the controllers here are rightfully rabid about keeping any and all helos well clear of the approach path, even though there is also a Level 1 trauma hospital within a mile that has a great deal of life-flight traffic inbound from all points of the compass. The civilian helo traffic runs all their lights and transponders full time, or they don't get clearance to enter the area. The controllers here quite often will redirect both the aircraft on final and the helo to discontinue the approach/maneuver away if there is even the slightest chance of a conflict.
The military doesn't typically play by the rules that civilian aircraft must obey. I don't see that changing, even after this. But that is a very good article. It will be interesting to see what conclusions are eventually reached, and what actions are taken- and whether those actions will make any difference.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
This article says that
The Blackhawk was on a training mission
I’m not educated enough about this subject so I have no opinion on whether it’s true or not. Read the comments too.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Comments. A lot of
comments on this topic at other sites are very sadly and horribly misguided. This is a sad day for everyone involved in aviation at any level. I'm glad that folks here at C99 are trying to stay factual, as always. Allow me to discourage anyone from reading the comments on the threads about this at Zerohedge (for example)- their comments threads, as always, are the source of instant nausea.
Another thing that has come to light today (and has been confirmed) is that the tower at Reagan was in fact understaffed during this incident. There are normally two controllers (one dedicated to the commercial fixed-wing aircraft, and one dedicated to the military/commercial helo traffic). However, at the time of the incident only one controller was on duty, handling all traffic simultaneously. That will probably receive increasing scrutiny in the near future.
Time will tell. Until then, my heart goes out to all the victims, their families, and those whose lives will be forever changed by this: the ATC controller and his staff, the ground staff at PSA who operated that flight for American Eagle, and the Army crew for that gold-top H60 from Ft. Belvoir. And with that, I'll out this topic on the shelf, unless and until more concrete information comes up...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Things Chinese
.
During the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, a unique performance took place as a team of humanoid robots joined human dancers in a vibrant display of the Chinese folk dance Yangge.
The robots, outfitted in colorful attire, executed synchronized moves, including the signature "handkerchief spin," a challenging aspect of the dance. The gala, a cornerstone of Chinese New Year celebrations, blended traditional culture with cutting-edge technology, captivating audiences worldwide. The event, recognized by the Guinness World Records for its massive viewership, celebrates the upcoming Year of the Snake and is a symbol of China's cultural heritage.
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.
Sorry, but ugly robots
.
upstaging human dancers doesn't get it
especially at a cultural event.
Perhaps the next super bowl halftime
extravaganza would not be as insulting.
Sheesh, what is entertainment becoming?
Showing off tech brilliance for lack of funding.
question everything
Me, too,
Cap'n. That was disgusting to me.
Fuck robots.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I thought so, too.
I've been spoiled by science fiction and cgi.
But, I think the point here, is that this tech works at all. I'd rather see it in a factory.
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.
heh...
china seems to be showing off technology (ai, robotics) that in the u.s. is intended for use as pressure on labor. i wonder what the chinese will use it for.