Friday, January 31, 2025. Annette’s News Roundup.
Will Trump kill more Americans?
67 people were killed yesterday morning, including lovely young American skaters.
What did Trump do?
Take to his megaphone, blaming Biden, Obama, DEI, blaming everyone but himself and his policies.
By not accepting blame, and placing the blame on others, Trump will do nothing to stop future flight fatalities.
Yesterday was a very sad day. These children and other passengers and crew members died.
The New York Times almost got it right.. kinda.👇
RollingStone did better.
Really American 🇺🇸
@ReallyAmerican1
The first commercial air disaster in 16 years happened shortly after Trump froze hiring air traffic controllers, fired the FAA director, and politicized air safety.
This prescient tweet 👇 dropped 12 hours before the crash, and 24 hours later…
Here's what I want to know... What is considered "fully staffed" in that control tower? What were staffing levels on 1/19? What were staffing levels on 1/29? I have questions about Hawk crew as well, but think this is the place to start.
— Altnoaa 🇺🇸 (@altnoaa.bsky.social) 2025-01-30T17:01:39.654Z
Buttigieg Rebukes Trump for His Comments on the FAA
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to President Trump’s criticism of the FAA and the prior administration, calling it “despicable” at a time of tragedy and disputing his characterization of events.
“We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch,” Buttigieg said. “Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.” (WSJ)
Information about the circumstances leading to the deadly airplane/helicopter crash.
D.C. Plane Crash: Questions About Trump Aviation Staff Change
The Trump Administration is facing its first major test after a passenger jet and Army helicopter collided mid-air in the Washington, D.C. area on Wednesday night, in what officials are calling the most fatal aviation disaster on U.S. soil in more than two decades.
The collision quickly raised concerns about the state of air traffic control and oversight and sparked questions about recent leadership changes within the federal agencies charged with regulating air travel.
Just days before the crash, President Donald Trump enacted a sweeping shake-up of the federal agencies responsible for aviation oversight, removing the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), David Pekoske, and eliminating all the members of a key aviation security advisory group.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates airlines and aircraft manufacturers and manages the nation’s airspace, was also without permanent leadership at the time of the crash, as its top official, Michael Whitaker, stepped down ahead of the new administration’s transition after clashing with Trump ally Elon Musk. Whitaker became the agency’s administrator in October 2023. (Time Mag)
Trump baselessly blames Biden and Obama for lax air traffic control recruitment standards, forgetting that he had a term between them with the same standards in place. The bottom line, trump is in the White House now. This is on his watch.
— Jennifer Bennon (@jennobenno.bsky.social) 2025-01-30T19:19:03.863Z
The Episcopal Church answered Trump.
I had missed the Church’s formal response to his attack on Bishop Budde.
In case you did too, I thought I would post it.
Episcopalian Church's response to Trump:
Hayden Vaughn
"President Trump,
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Much like those who do not want you to be president, you do not get to decide whether a bishop’s office is legitimate. She was chosen by the people of her diocese to be their bishop. Then, she was granted consent to be a bishop by other bishops and standing committees of our church’s dioceses. Beginning by calling her a “so-called” bishop is an obvious low blow to discredit her as a person, rather than what she said that you disagree with. The Episcopal Church was legitimate enough to hold your third wedding, the funeral of Melania’s mother, and the baptism of your son, Barron. Barron also attended an Episcopal day school. Now you have an issue with how we do things when it doesn’t go your way?
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You didn’t have an issue with politics being brought into the church by the ministers who spoke at your inauguration, or by yourself for that matter. They were blatantly partisan, crediting God for your political success: “Mr. President, the last four years there were times I'm sure you thought it was pretty dark, but look what God has done," Graham said.
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She wasn’t nasty in tone, plain and simple. I can’t remember ever hearing a homily given in such a gracious manner and calm tone. If you disagree, listen to her speak. You may disagree with what she said, but her tone was in no way “nasty.” Additionally, insulting her intelligence, rather than quoting what you disagree with, is a very typical narcissistic play.
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The vast majority of people who have committed crimes in the U.S. are U.S. citizens. Defending yourself about being asked to have mercy on immigrants by saying, “A large number of illegal migrants came into our country and killed people,” is a gross misrepresentation and does not make sense. By that logic, we should be locking up or deporting all Americans because the majority of crimes were committed by citizens. We do need to improve our immigration system, but Scripture commands us as Christians to have mercy. Mercy is a central tenet of our faith. Matthew 5:7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Leviticus 19:33-34 says, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” If you take issue with this, take it up with God.
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Saying the service was boring and uninspiring is a move to discredit the event rather than what specifically was said. However, it’s worth mentioning that the purpose of a service is not to be “exciting.” There are several purposes for our services, such as honoring God, bringing us closer to God, and being in community with one another. Being “exciting” is not one of them. As far as inspiration goes, that is in the eye of the beholder. You get as much out of it as you put into it.
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The Bishop does not owe you an apology. Our church does not owe you an apology. All that you were asked to do is what scripture directly asks us to do. If you could quote one thing she asked of you that isn’t asked of us in scripture, we would apologize. Someone recently reminded me of something I often heard growing up in church. If you are offended by a minister’s sermon or feel that it was a personal attack, look to see if you can find anything they said that was out of line with scripture and the teachings of Jesus. If you can’t, that feeling is what we call “being convicted of your sin”. The fact you are offended by what was said shows you know there is truth in it. To your supporters who also feel offended by it, the same goes."
Some (high) points of this week’s Senate confirmation hearings.
Actually, just some samples.
Will the Senators confirm or reject some of the most egregious and inappropriate nominees ever made by an occupant of the White House?
That is the question.
Senator Adam Schiff (CA) exposed lies and traitorous activities by Kash Patel, the Trump lackey seeking to head the FBI.
The subject was a song about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot inmates. that Patel arranged to have recorded and distributed.
One more with Patel.
After claiming he doesn't know who Laura Loomer is and merely took a photo with her at a book event, Kash Patel is asked if he's familiar with Stew Peters, an antisemitic podcast host. Patel: "Not off the top of my head." Durbin: "You made eight separate appearances on his podcast..."
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) 2025-01-30T15:49:04.656Z
Senator Bernie Sanders questioned RFK, Jr., the insane anti-vaxxer who is asking to be in charge of the nation’s Health.
Senators from both sides of the aisle asked Tulsi Gabbard if Edward Snowden is a traitor. She wants to head US Intelligence.
Let’s end the day with encouragement from Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles, himself encouraged by Trump being forced to rescind his unconstitutional and idiotic freeze because of public activism.
Keep making your calls. Be outraged at what Trump is doing to do us. Demand . . .[your elected officials] do everything within their power to block these three outrageous nominees. Our family is waking up to the threat we face. And we need to keep fighting.
Trump may have already set in motion the de-legitimization and destruction of his Presidency.
Keep working hard all. Here we take the wins when they come, celebrate them and build on them for the next set of battles. We had some wins this week, good and important wins, and we just need to keep our head down and keep fighting .
Despair less. Do more.
Yes, make calls.