▪️When I saw this meme I instantly knew it was false. But was curious how the dazzling minds at Feminist News came to this conclusion. Turns out they actually linked to a news story in the comments, which quoted an FAA report saying, “one air traffic controller was doing the work normally assigned to two people”
▪️Feminist News misunderstood this to mean there was only one controller in the tower, which was most certainly not the case.
▪️Anyone familiar with aviation knows that controllers frequently take on multiple frequencies or jobs. Often clearance delivery will also be ground control, sometimes one controller will even handle everything; tower, ground and clearance, depending on workload. This is nothing new or remarkable, and it does NOT mean there’s only one person in the tower, certainly not in an airport like Reagan.
▪️Whether or not this was a factor in the accident remains to be seen. From this report it’s not even clear which controller they were referring to (was it tower or ground?) Generally, controllers are quite competent and can handle working two jobs. Listening to the ATC audio before the crash they didn’t sound particularly overwhelmed or rushed.
▪️From what I can tell, the controller asked if the helicopter had the CRJ in sight, they said yes, and were told to maintain visual separation with the CRJ. It’s likely they confused it with another aircraft, or lost visual, and that lead to the tragedy. So many (who know nothing) are trying to come up with alternate theories that align with their politics.
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
▪️This is a proposal that pertains only to graduate level nursing degrees, not undergraduate ones (which were never considered professional degrees). The proposal will have a 30-60 day public comment period next year, where groups can object, before the DoE will decide on it.
▪️This is about how much federal student loans someone can take out for a particular degree. The cap on graduate degrees is $100k ($20,500/yr), while a “professional degree” limit is $200k ($50k/yr).
▪️Under the new rule proposal, professional degrees include:
🔹Pharmacy
🔹Dentistry
🔹Veterinary medicine
🔹Chiropractic
🔹Law
🔹Medicine (including osteopathic medicine & podiatry)
🔹Optometry
🔹Theology
▪️The nursing degrees excluded are ones like master of science in nursing (MSN), doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and PhD in nursing. These degrees would be limited to $100k in federal student loans, like all other graduate degrees.
▪️These changes came from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s...
