By Jon Bauer / Herald Opinion Editor
Democrats were in a celebratory mood following Tuesday’s general election with resounding wins of governors’ offices in New Jersey and Virginia, California’s Proposition 50 to allow redistricting of House seats and the New York City mayoral race, perhaps a harbinger for next year’s midterm congressional elections.
Then it was Wednesday.
In other returns to reality this week:
Pilots, look both ways before using the runway: With the federal government shutdown extending into record territory for length and most federal employees, including air traffic controllers, going unpaid, the FAA announced out of safety concerns it was restricting operations at 40 major airports, asking airlines to cut their flights by 10 percent in response to potential labor shortages.
One stopgap measure the government hasn’t tried: All those House members — who are being paid but haven’t been in session since before the shutdown thanks to Speaker Mike Johnson — put them to work. Hand them orange safety vests and marshalling wands and stage them along the length of runways, guiding departing and arriving flights.
It’s settled law; right Neil, Brett and Amy? After a Supreme Court decision 10 years ago that established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to reconsider the 2015 Obergefell ruling, regarding a petition from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who defied a court order and refused to issue a same-sex marriage license because it violated her religious beliefs. She wants the court to reverse an order that requires her to pay more than $300,000 to the couple she denied a license to, while also overturning the court precedent. Not to worry, said the attorney who represented James Obergefell before the high court, noting that several justices have previously discussed the importance of maintaining precedents that people have long relied on.
You know, long-respected precedents like Roe v. Wade.
Revenge is a dish best served toasted: A man who hurled a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol agent in body armor during a protest in Washington, D.C., was found not guilty of misdemeanor assault by a jury after seven hours of deliberation. This after federal grand juries earlier refused to indict the man on felony assault charges stemming from the same incident. The jury rejected the government’s case that the lunch item was thrown at “point-blank range” and “exploded” on the agent’s chest, finding it was not an attempt to cause bodily injury.
The jury would have reached a verdict sooner, but they ordered in for lunch and their Subway order was delayed as antifa agents in D.C. stocked up on six-inch and footlong grilled chicken, club, B.M.T., spicy Italian and meatball sandwiches.
Has anyone asked Grok if this is a good idea? Tesla shareholders approved a compensation package that could make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire if Musk delivers on ambitious financial and operational goals over the next decade. Along with increasing the company’s stock valuation to $8.5 trillion, Musk must sell one million humanlike robots and sell 10 million subscriptions to Tesla’s self-driving software.
And really, why should Americans be concerned that the world’s richest man — backed by an army of 1 million humanlike robots and operational control over 10 million self-driving cars — might still be harboring a grudge against his former employer?
We did not-see that coming: The staff of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, was in open revolt regarding its president, Kevin Roberts, after his defense of podcaster Tucker Carlson for a softball interview with white nationalist, Nazi sympathizer and antisemite Nick Fuentes. Roberts posted a video that attacked his and Carlson’s critics as a “venomous coalition” that includes “the globalist class,” a dog-whistle often used to disparage Jews. Five members of the foundation’s antisemitism task force have resigned. Following a staff meeting, Roberts said the foundation was “wordsmithing and workshopping” language over how to distance itself from Carlson and Fuentes.
How about this for a statement: “We should have known Tucker Carlson was a weird and bigoted creep, based solely on his maniacal laugh.”
Speaking of some area-in messaging: The federal Department of Labor has launched a social media campaign intended to celebrate American workers with slogans such as “Make America Skilled Again,” “Build Your Homeland’s Future” and “American Workers First.” But each of the posters almost exclusively features AI-generated — thanks, Labor Department — illustrations of white men, many blond and blue-eyed, resembling posters from New Deal-era America but also Nazi Germany. Previous messaging from the department showed a more diverse workforce in gender and race.
Asked for comment, Labor Department spokesman Sgt. Schultz said, “I know nothing. Nnnnothing!”
Email Jon Bauer at jbauer@heraldnet.com.
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