The Most Active Threads Since My Last Post

I had a doctor's appointment Friday morning (just routine), and by the time I got back, DCUM required so much of my attention that I skipped the blog post. I wasn't sure whether I should discuss the most active threads since Friday as I would normally do or the most active threads since Thursday. But, as it turns out, there really isn't much difference. So, I'll do Thursday. Regardless of whether it is a three- or four-day timespan, the most active thread was the one about the mid-air crash over the Potomac River. I've discussed that thread previously, and, frankly, not much has changed. Most of the thread is simply posters repeating the same things. The next most active thread was closely related to that one. Titled, "Trump blaming minorities for the crash." and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum, the original poster quoted Vice President J. D. Vance as saying air traffic controller candidates were turned away due to the color of their skin and cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump saying that he has "some very strong opinions" about what caused the crash. In Trump's press conference following the crash, he suggested that the collision had been caused by air traffic controllers who were not up to the job because they had been hired due to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies rather than their abilities. He went on to criticize Federal Aviation Administration policies that encouraged hiring those with disabilities. The FAA did until recently have a policy to attract disabled candidates to apply for jobs. However, that program was launched during the first Trump administration. Trump's targeting DEI as the cause of the crash fed directly into MAGA ideology, which holds that qualified White men have been denied opportunities in favor of lesser-qualified minorities. When air traffic control transcripts suggested that the controllers actually seemed to have done a pretty good job — despite being understaffed at the time — and the pilots of the American Airlines flight were identified as two White men, focus shifted to the crew of the Army Blackhawk helicopter. The the crew chief and instructional pilot were quickly identified by their families and also were revealed to be White men. Attention then focused on the pilot who was known to be a woman. Posters repeatedly posted the name of an individual who they said was a transgender woman and claimed that she was the pilot. I think we removed close to 100 posts making this allegation. The poster most responsible for those posts claimed that I was trying to "hide the truth". When the woman in question posted a "proof of life" video, the poster who had made so many false posts fell strangely silent. The truth doesn't appear to have been his priority. While the pilot was eventually identified and turned out to be a cis-gendered White woman, attention has continued to focus on her as a possible DEI hire. Trump has a large number of flaws, but one of the most frustrating is his tendency to jump to conclusions and then refuse to adjust to reality as facts are revealed. His MAGA cult members happily join him in trying to make the facts fit his conclusions, rather than the other way around. Whether it involves using a Sharpie to change the course of a hurricane or placing blame on the sole non-White male participant, Trump and his supporters will shape their own realities.

The next most active thread was the Blake Lively thread that I've already discussed and will therefore skip today. Next was a thread posted in the "Political Discussion" forum and titled, "Musk trying to access US Treasury". The original poster linked to an article in the Washington Post reporting that the highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of the Treasury is leaving after a clash with staffers working for Shadow President Elon Musk. Musk’s surrogates wanted access to the Treasury Department's payment system, which disburses trillions of dollars every year. It is really amazing that Musk has not received more attention, especially from elected representatives. Musk holds no official position in the government. He has not been confirmed by the Senate. He has not passed a background check nor received a security clearance. Yet he single-handedly seems to be running the government. Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump gives press conferences and plays golf, but Musk is the one actually running things. Musk, in turn, is relying on a group of young 19-24-year-olds. Nothing that Musk is doing is legal. He and his team of recent high school graduates have access to the most sensitive systems that our government possesses. Musk has already been using the system to cut off payments with which he disagrees, despite the Treasury legally being required to make the payments. Even more troubling, conspiracy theorist and QAnon promoter Mike Flynn appears to have had access to the payments system. This is a four-alarm fire, calling for all hands on deck. Instead, the Democratic leadership (if you can even call it that) is paralyzed and has no apparent clue about what to do. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for instance, spent the weekend tweeting about the cost of tomatoes. I don't think that it is an exaggeration to say that developments such as this really herald the end of U.S. democracy, at least the end of the rule of law. Our system has existed on a balance of powers between three branches of government. Now, all three of those branches are beholden to a single individual, and that individual has ceded power to a drug-addled, illegal immigrant billionaire. We have ceased being a government of, by, and for the people and become one of, by, and for billionaire oligarchs. With no legal authority whatsoever, Musk has seized the power of the purse from Congress. He has taken over the very branch of government that should have prevented this sort of thing from happening. Moreover, the other two branches seem unwilling or incapable of doing anything about it. Even if either of those branches decided to oppose Trump and Musk, it is not at all clear that they would acknowledge their authority. This is a very dangerous time in American history, and it seems that many are not even aware of it.

The next most active thread over the past four days was titled, "UVA OUT THIS FRIDAY" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. Just as the college application season has several rounds including early decision, early action, regular admissions, and a few others,  universities also have many of those rounds. The University of Virginia, for instance, has already announced early decision results. This thread was started in anticipation of early action results being announced. Regular admissions results will come later. Because this thread was started three days before the decisions would be released, posters had to spin their tires discussing other topics. The most prominent of those topics was the cost of out-of-state tuition. In my opinion, UVA is expensive even for in-state students but, as posters in this thread point out, it is extremely expensive for out-of-state students, especially those in specific majors. A number of posters argued that the cost simply is not worth it for out-of-state students, though others disagreed. There were ten pages of discussion before any results came out. Once admissions decisions were announced, posters started reporting their results. The first to post was an out-of-state parent whose daughter was not accepted. The poster didn't seem too upset about it, however. The next posts were the usual mixture of acceptances, deferrals, and even a few rejections that normally characterize these types of threads. For some reason, an argument broke out comparing Virginia and Maryland universities. Similar discussion concerned the University of Michigan. It appears that many students applied to both UM and UVA. A third dispute broke out about the importance of four years of high school foreign language classes. As can be expected in any thread of this type, the poster or posters obsessed with yield protection showed up to make all sorts of pronouncements. Yield then became a topic of discussion throughout the rest of the thread, with some posters getting fairly heated on the subject. Then there was a multipage page dispute about data from something called SCHEV, that I couldn't be bothered to identify. Apparently, it has admissions data that is different than data produced by individual universities themselves and, depending on who you believe, is either a mistake or one of the greatest scandals in the history of scandals. The key point seems to be that, depending on the data you believe, UVA may be either more or less selective. For some posters, the selectivity of a university is really all that matters. But, are they being selective by only choosing the best applicants or are they protecting their yield? This is the eternal question.

Governments have a huge number of important issues to address, including war, poverty, hunger, natural disasters, the economy, and so on. It is natural, therefore, that a new government will be eager to show how it will address the major issues confronting it. Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump is different only to the extent that he has been even more eager than normal to make his mark. As such, he quickly addressed one of the most important issues of our time. Abraham Lincoln led a divided nation. Franklin Roosevelt faced the Great Depression and then World War II. Even Barack Obama came to power in the midst of a financial collapse. But Trump, as the next most active thread documents, surely faced challenges unequaled by them. Taking the reins of history in his hands, Trump directly confronted one of the most consequential issues ever faced by a U.S. President. Posted in the "Political Discussion" forum and titled "Federal employees told to remove pronouns from email signatures by end of day", the original poster linked to a story reporting that federal employees had been given just a few hours’ notice that they should remove pronouns from their email signatures. Thankfully, our great national nightmare is over. Sure, Trump and Shadow President Elon Musk are destroying our democracy and thumbing their noses at the rule of law, but does that really matter if we no longer have to see "he/him" at the bottom of someone's email? The number of posters who appear to have been offended by pronouns in signatures is remarkable. As far as I am aware, government workers were never required to put pronouns in their signatures. Certainly, there was not a government-wide policy with such a requirement. Employees were simply allowed to do so if they wanted. Now they are prohibited. This is an interesting suppression of free expression from an administration that never shuts up about freedom of speech. I am not sure what harm is caused by an individual who may have a gender-neutral name clarifying her gender in an email signature, but now she will have to accept being called "Mr.” Of course, she will be expected to accept such slights because doing otherwise would risk hurting MAGAs' feelings. They are a sensitive bunch, after all. But now we can all sleep peacefully while Trump and Musk rob us blind.