Grounded

 So, when I learned that the FAA put in an AI program to help optimize routes two days before the entire air traffic control system crashed, I figured that this had to be a case where they tried to graft a 2026 technology on a 1990 system and crashed the damned thing. It wasn't rogue AI, it was just thinking they could strap rocket engines on a 1977 AMC Gremlin and then act surprised when the thing blows up.

The AI company said it was not it's fault, which...could technically be true. They seem pretty emphatic in saying it's not a cyber attack, so they seem to know what caused it.

Secretary of Transportation Sean "I Am Wearing A Quarterzip to a White House Briefing" Duffy spent all his time blaming Congress (which is still controlled by Republicans), even though Congress has routinely given the Transportation Department every penny that it's asked for. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne "I Can't Believe I'm The Smart One Up Here" Mullin pretty much admitted that the older system crashed because it was overloaded. Why was it overloaded? I think it's pretty clear that the AI was too fast for it and it burned out.

In moments where the entire country freezes because of a technical problem, you have a reality TV star and a plumber up there trying to reassure a country by...blaming Congress and praising Trump's leadership. Because all this administration does is lie, you can't possibly believe that they will say anything truthful, except by accident - which is what I imagine Mullin did by more or less admitting the AI crashed the old system.

I think we are all grateful that no one appears to have been physically harmed. However, we are about a week away from the beginning of the busiest travel week of the year. These fucking morons decided to unleash their AI on a creaky old system right before that? 

Having the dumbest fucking people in America running America is sub-fucking-optimal.