01/31/25
Good morning! It’s Friday January 31st.
Brandy Alexander Day
Great. Literally whatever it takes, whatever your thing is, to celebrate getting to the end of the week, end of the month, with at least 1% of sanity. We’ll take it!
And now, the news.
Deadly Plane Crash
-via AP News
We start, of course, with the horrific news that broke Wednesday night when an American Airlines flight out of Wichita Kansas, carrying 64 people (including 60 passengers and four crew members) collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers.
The crash occurred around 9 PM and an investigation is underway but it appears, right now, that before the American Airlines plane landed, they were asked if they could do so on a shorter runway, to which the pilots said yes. A couple minutes later, air traffic control asked the helicopter had the plane in sight. There was no response. They made a second radio call telling the helicopter to wait for the American Airlines flight to pass, but again there was no response, and just seconds later, the crash occurred.
It also appears that there was only one air traffic controller working at the time of the crash, when normally there would be two. It’s currently unclear as to why that happened.
Again, this is still early on in the investigation so keep that in mind.
I mention that because right away there were a ton of conspiracy theories online about what ReAlLy happened.
Don’t feed into it.
Authorities do not believe there are any survivors in this crash.
Among those dead were several figure skaters returning from a developmental camp in Kansas.
This is the deadliest aviation event since 9/11.
It is incredibly sad.
Now, it is news that Donald Trump went out and immediately blamed DEI and the democrats for this crash. It’s news because it’s a lie. However, I’m making the decision to not pull any of his quotes here. Because he blames democrats and DEI for everything he doesn’t like. Dude stubs his toe and blames DEI and democrats.
But it’s not news that this country elected a people with quite literally zero empathy. And that’s what happens when we do that, we get someone that doesn’t care about the people, the human beings, that died.
So, you know, can’t not mention his abhorrent reaction but that’s not where I’m going to put my energy. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives on Wednesday night, as well as the first responders who will work around the clock in what is not a recovery mission.
When we know more, we’ll know more. In the meantime, try not to do the work they want you to do and spread dangerous conspiracy theories.
Federal Worker Buyout
-via NBC News
On Tuesday an email went out to all full-time federal employees, all of them, offering them the chance to take something called a “deferred resignation,” which would basically have them quitting now and getting eight months of severance.
A senior administration official said they believe that about 5-10% of all federal employees will take the office.
This includes military employees, members of the Postal Service, ICE, national security and many others.
Where did this come from?
Well, in a 2021 podcast, Never Trump Guy JD Vance said this in a podcast: “I think that what Trump should—like, if I was giving him one piece of advice—fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state. Replace them with our people. And when the courts—because you will get taken to court—and when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”
And when pressed further, Vance talked about reading some of Curtis Yarvin’s writings. What are those? Well, in one he said this: “If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia.” He’s also written favorably about white nationalists.
But going back to the dictator thing… when asked how Vance would get rid of all these bureaucrats and federal employees – Vance said we needed to listen to the guy who said we need to get over our dictator phobia.
Um… I will not get rid of that phobia, thank you very much. I’m quite literally living through that fear right now, in fact!
The email told employees that they had about a week and a half to make their decision and included this little gem: “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”
Keep your job if you want, but we can’t say for sure that job will actually, you know… exist.
This was also in Project 2025, as well.
Of note, Elon Musk told people the same thing when he took over Twitter. The people who took him up on the offer to resign… are still waiting for their payouts.
Were it me, and what do I know, if I were a federal employee who received this email, the first thing I would do, is get a lawyer.
Take a Break
-via Axios
Okay listen, here’s what we’re all going to do. We’re all going to take a break. We’re exhausted. Do you know why you feel like you’ve experienced 100 days of news in just about a week?
Because you have.
In his first nine days in office, Trump has put our more executive orders than almost every other president did in their first 100 days.
He’s put out 38 (so far), while Trump put out just over 50 and Biden put out just over 40. But again, that’s over 100 days.
I’m writing this on day nine.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
We need you in this.
So guess what—
That’s it. That’s the news.
Drink water.
See the outside.
Get some sleep.
Talk to friends.
We’ll get back into it on Monday.
In the meantime, because there is no greater truth than this… I’m proud of you.