"It’s essential to normalize 'no' and understand that no one should be forced to justify something they simply don’t want to do."

"We live in a society where 'no' is often seen as rude or selfish, but this needs to change. Each person has their own reasons, preferences, and limits, and all of this must be respected without judgment."

Said Jeniffer Castro, who has filed a lawsuit, quoted in "Flyer who went viral after refusing to give seat to crying child sues airline, passenger who filmed her" (NY Post).

It's important to remember that you do not need to articulate your reasons or even understand that you have any reasons. You can say "no" and nothing more. 

"Mr. Guo, who obtained his pilot’s license at 17, was aiming to become the first person to fly solo in a small aircraft to all seven continents...."

"Antarctica was the only continent where he had yet to land, he said. On Saturday at about 5:30 a.m., he took off from Punta Arenas, a city near the southern tip of Chile, with a flight plan indicating that he was going to fly over the city and land again in Punta Arenas, prosecutors said. But without notifying aviation authorities, Mr. Guo flew his Cessna 182Q across the Southern Ocean and landed at a Chilean airstrip on King George Island at about 11:30 a.m., prosecutors said. Prosecutors said that Mr. Guo had submitted 'false flight plan data' and that when he deviated from that plan, aviation officials declared that his Cessna had been 'lost.'..."

From "Teenage Aviator Detained After Landing in Antarctica, Chile Says/Ethan Guo, 19, had been documenting his attempt to fly solo to all seven continents on social media. He is no longer in custody but has no easy way to leave an island off Antarctica’s coast" (NYT).

"This is our last night, so we thought we would brave the city and brave it is."

Fiongal and Jamie on their "last night" — in Ahmedabad, India:

"For at least two decades political leaders from both parties have dragged our military into missions — it was never meant to be— it wasn't meant to be."

"People would say 'Why are we doing this why are we wasting our time money and souls?' In some case they sent our warriors on nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us, led by leaders that didn't have a clue, in distant lands, while abusing our soldiers with absurd ideological experiments, here and at home. All of that's ended. You know that. All of it's ended. It's ended. Strongly ended. They're not even allowed to think about it anymore. They subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries' wars.... The job of the US armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, [or] to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun. The military's job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America anywhere anytime and any place...."

Said Donald Trump, addressing the graduating class at West Point.

"The scandal here is not Trump’s willingness to accept the gift of a plane, but Boeing’s utter failure to deliver the planes it promised Trump in his first term."

Writes Marc A. Thiessen, in "Yes, Trump can accept an airplane from Qatar. Here’s why he shouldn’t. Just because Donald Trump can take Qatar’s largesse doesn’t mean he should. Qatar is a nasty regime" (WaPo).

Legally, the U.S. government is in the clear to accept the donation of an aircraft from a foreign government. The precedent was set by Congress in the 1990s, when it authorized the president to accept from any person, foreign government or international organization financial and in-kind contributions related to operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The United States took in more than $50 billion from Germany, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. Current law authorizes the defense secretary to “accept from any person, foreign government, or international organization any contribution of money or real or personal property… for use by the Department of Defense.”....

About that free jet, let me tell you about Sam Snead.... He was a great golfer....

REPORTER: What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?

TRUMP: You're ABC fake news, right? Let me tell you -- you should be embarrassed asking that question. They're giving us a free jet ... when they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk… pic.twitter.com/dP2EJHYkcy

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 12, 2025

For the Annals of Bad Analogies.

AND: Speaking of bad analogies, remember when France gave us the Statue of Liberty?

"I’ve seen a plane taxiing down the runway and the people looking out and seeing me with a bird. They’re like, ‘What’s that? What are you doing?"

Said Norman Smith, quoted in "The 'owl man' is busy at Boston Logan airport/Norman Smith has trapped and released more than 900 Arctic raptors for the safety of the birds and the planes" (WaPo)(free-access link, because of all the owl pics).

With the congested airspace and constant rumble of jets, the airport is hardly a tranquil bird sanctuary. But Smith said the terrain resembles the Arctic tundra. It’s open, flat and barren, with water on three sides and plenty to eat, including waterfowl and small mammals....

“The importance of Norm coming in is that he helps us take out a significant threat to aviation safety, which is a large, dense-bodied bird on the airfield,” said Jeff Turner, the airport facilities supervisor....

I liked that phrase "dense-bodied bird." Googled it and found only one other iteration: "Think Turkeys Aren't Tough?" on Archery Forum ("i've had more broadhead damage caused and no pass through situations on turkeys than deer or bear. I've had 95 ke setups not pass through. They are a dense bodied bird).

"Mr. Musk, who wore a suit and tie to Thursday’s meeting instead of his usual T-shirt after Mr. Trump publicly ribbed him about his sloppy appearance..."

"... defended himself by saying that he had three companies with a market cap of tens of billions of dollars, and that his results spoke for themselves. But he was soon clashing with members of the cabinet. ... Mr. Musk and the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, went back and forth about the state of the Federal Aviation Administration’s equipment for tracking airplanes and what kind of fix was needed.... Mr. Duffy said the young staff of Mr. Musk’s team was trying to lay off air traffic controllers. What am I supposed to do? Mr. Duffy said. I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers? Mr. Musk told Mr. Duffy that his assertion was a 'lie.' Mr. Duffy insisted it was not; he had heard it from them directly. Mr. Musk, asking who had been fired, said: Give me their names. Tell me their names. Mr. Duffy said there were not any names, because he had stopped them from being fired.... In a post on X on Friday, Mr. Duffy praised Mr. Trump and the work Mr. Musk’s team is doing and said it was an effective cabinet meeting.... Mr. Musk, who later claimed on X that the cabinet meeting was 'very productive,' seemed far less enthused inside the room...."

I'm reading "Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk/Simmering anger at the billionaire’s unchecked power spilled out in a remarkable Cabinet Room meeting. The president quickly moved to rein in Mr. Musk" (NYT).

"That was a bad bump."

How to react to turbulence, Trump-style:

A livestream of Fort Knox would be 🔥🔥
pic.twitter.com/hFJXMnEjvy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025

And, yes, please check on the gold in Fort Knox. A walk-though, live-streamed, would be so reassuring. Let's all grimace playfully. It's the new whistle a happy tune. 

ADDED: What if they went into Fort Knox and all they found were empty bottles of Prohibition Era hootch?

"It was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass."

"Then we were going sideways. I'm not even sure how many times we tumbled, but we ended upside down."

Said passenger John Nelson, quoted in "'Hanging...like bats': Toronto plane crash survivor speaks out after aircraft flips on runway" (ABC News). 

When the plane finally came to a stop, Nelson recounted[,]... the cabin was suddenly quiet before the 80 people onboard -- most of whom were hanging upside down [like] bats in the cabin – attempted to “make a sense of what just had happened. We released the seat belts. I kind of fell to the floor, which is now the ceiling...."

I would have said "I fell to the ceiling, which was now the floor," but I get it and he was there. Do we have video of the scene with 80 people silent, but hanging like bats? 

Here's another view from the outside:

This is INSANE

pic.twitter.com/qegJ1P3wCa

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 18, 2025

Citizen journalism.

PASSENGER STARTS FILMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER UPSIDE DOWN DELTA JET CRASH AT TORONTO AIRPORT.

80 people on board, minor injuries reported, no deaths.pic.twitter.com/BCxA6yblU3

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 17, 2025

"At the request of and in coordination with the family, the Army is releasing the name of the third Soldier who died while performing a training mission near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29."

"Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, served as an aviation officer (15A) in the regular Army from July 2019 to January 2025. She has no deployments. She was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, Ft Belvoir, Va. Her awards include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon. Our deepest condolences go out to her family, and all the families who are mourning the loss of their loved ones impacted by this devastating accident...."

Reads the statement from the Army.

"'I was so distraught when I heard this news last night,' said Senator Tim Kaine... who for years has opposed adding flights at Reagan..."

"... and warned of the dangers posed by overcrowding the D.C. airspace. 'I will not be able to rewatch the speech I gave on the Senate floor about it because it would make me too upset,' he added. Last year, as the Senate debated the latest round of additional flights, Mr. Kaine said he feared the prospect of people sticking a microphone in lawmakers’ faces after a tragedy and saying 'you were warned and you voted for it anyway.'"

From "Congress Approved More Flights at Reagan Despite Warnings of Danger/Lawmakers repeatedly added flights despite fears of delays and accidents" (NYT)(Congress has repeatedly voted to increase the number of daily flights at Reagan National Airport, adding departures that made life more convenient for lawmakers...).

"The issue of the female aviator’s identity is particularly sensitive as Mr. Trump has also blamed diversity, without evidence, for the crash."

"In addition, Pete Hegseth, the newly confirmed defense secretary, has said that the military has diminished its standards by welcoming women and racial minorities into its ranks. He has echoed Mr. Trump’s comments on rooting out diversity programs in the government.... Mr. Hegseth said on Thursday that the Black Hawk helicopter was 'doing a required annual night evaluation' flight and was being flown by 'a fairly experienced crew.'..."

From "Army Withholds Identity of Helicopter Pilot Killed in Crash/The names of two male crew members were released, but the family of the third aviator requested privacy" (NYT).

The reason the Army gave for withholding the name, we're told, was "her family’s request for privacy." And "It is unclear what specifically motivated the aviator’s family to make the request."

If we had the name, everyone would be able to research her, to read anything she may have written on social media, to look at photographs of her, and to express all sorts of opinions about her, including — taking a cue from Trump — theories about how she was promoted beyond her merit. Her death — and the death of everyone else in the disaster — would merge with the discussion of DEI and Trump's dramatic effort to snuff it out nationwide.

"[T]he FAA under Trump in 2019 launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference."

"'FAA Provides Aviation Careers to People with Disabilities,' the agency announced on April 11, 2019.... The link under 'targeted disabilities' is now dead, but the Wayback Machine retains links from June 2017 and January 2021 that show the page was unchanged during Trump’s tenure. The list included: Hearing (total deafness in both ears), Vision (Blind), Missing Extremities, Partial Paralysis, Complete Paralysis, Epilepsy, Severe intellectual disability, Psychiatric disability, Dwarfism...."

Writes Glenn Kessler, awarding 4 Pinocchios, in "Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries/At news conference, Trump read a list of disabilities he calls disqualifying, but his administration started such hiring in 2019" (WaPo)(free-access link).

Trump press briefing, just now, on the air disaster.

 

Much of this was an attack on the FAA's diversity and inclusion hiring plan, "which says diversity is integral to achieving FAA's mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel":

"The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane..."

"... for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!"

Wrote President Trump on Truth Social last night.

According to The Washington Post: "According to flight surveillance data, the downed Army Black Hawk helicopter was heading south, roughly along the District side of the river, before the collision with the American Airlines regional jet. [Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board] said it appeared the helicopter had been traveling in that corridor, but that he could not be certain...."

It was an Army helicopter (WaPo): "The Army helicopter involved in the collision was a UH-60 Black Hawk on a training flight, military officials said late Wednesday.... Three service members were on board, according to two defense officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the incident. Flight tracker information identified the helicopter as 'PAT25,' the typical call sign for helicopters used for 'priority air transport” missions...."

Russia connection:

Bedbugs on airplanes.

I'm reading "Passengers Say Turkish Airlines Flights Have Unwelcome Guests: Bedbugs/Passengers on several of the carrier’s flights said the biting pests were on seats, blankets and in overhead bins and that the airline did not take action" (NYT).

"The proposal would slash fuel burn by 5 to 7% and would reduce the 4% industry contribution to overall climate change, per the research, which is being presented to the United Nations."

From "Scientists want every flight to take up to an hour longer — they say slower speeds are better for the planet" (NY Post).

How about if people just fly 5 to 7% less often?

Or never.

"A mechanical issue caused former president Donald Trump’s plane to be diverted Friday as he headed to Montana for a rally, according to airport staff at Billings Logan International Airport."

 WaPo reports.

Strange to see that on the same day I'm seeing "That Time Trump Nearly Died in a Helicopter Crash? Didn’t Happen. In a news conference, the former president recounted a brush with death alongside Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor. A few aspects of the story don’t hold up to scrutiny" (NYT).

Imagine all the things that "Didn't Happen."

I'm curious how the NYT established that something didn't happen: