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Indianapolis Star
20-07-2025
- Business
- Indianapolis Star
Critics said Trump would ruin America. Six months in, he's proving them wrong.
Halfway through 2025, I can't help but recall the bevy of lies that progressives and the mainstream media told me about Donald Trump before and after he won a second term as president. I was told Trump would be the end of American democracy, the beginning of American fascism, the ruin of our economy and the best thing ever to happen to Russian President Vladimir Putin. None of that has happened, and I don't know whether to be disappointed or elated. But I must ask: What happened? And why have things gone so right when they were supposed to be so wrong? Progressives have persistently forecast imminent economic doom since Trump was reelected in November. In April, the Associated Press reported: "President Donald Trump has panicked global financial markets, raised the risk of a recession and broken the political and economic alliances that made much of the world stable for business after World War II." That same month, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, declared that "Donald Trump is ruining the economy on purpose." And The American Prospect, in an article headlined, "The Great Trump Crash?," predicted that tariffs would "mean an instant, near-total halt of trade between China and the U.S." None of those dire predictions proved to be true. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recently reached record highs. Employers added more jobs than expected last month. The inflation rate ticked higher in June, but remains far below the 40-year high that Americans suffered under during the Biden administration. Hicks: Trump's tax bill will crush the rural voters who chose him Progressives' scary predictions about international affairs also have proven to be false. Trump was supposed to be the green light Putin needed to pummel Ukraine into submission. Trump's America first stance also was supposed to embolden China and splinter NATO. In reality, Trump has been a peacemaker, pushing for meaningful ceasefires in conflicts from Gaza to Pakistan, Ukraine to Iran. Trump's efforts in the Middle East alone are worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump set back Iran's development of nuclear weapons, then forged a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Diplomatic efforts to broker a lasting peace in Gaza also continue. If there is to be a World War III, it doesn't appear imminent. Once again, progressives' claims about Trump were nothing but fearmongering. Probably the biggest lie the left has told about Trump is that his election would be an "extinction-level threat" for democracy. Six months into Trump's second term, I'm happy to report that democracy is still alive and well. Just look at recent headlines: New York Democrats exercised their right to vote for a socialist to run America's largest city. Millions of Americans marched in "No Kings" protests to criticize the president. Other protestors have taken to the streets to demonstrate against enforcement of our nation's immigration laws. Opinion: Trump's deportation flip-flop reveals America's dirty economic secret Despite liberals' oft-repeated fears, the evidence overwhelmingly points to a healthy democracy, where Americans vote for the candidates of their choice and raise their voices to call out politicians and policies they don't like. Trump isn't a king; he's a duly elected president chosen by a healthy plurality of voters. His election was democracy in action. It's not just that progressives' worst fears turned out to be far from reality. The left tried to gaslight Americans into believing they'd regret voting for Trump. The fearmongering on the left was wrong, then and now. And I won't let liberals forget it.
The Herald Scotland
17-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Trump traps liberals in their own lies about his presidency
None of that has happened, and I don't know whether to be disappointed or elated. But I must ask: What happened? And why have things gone so right when they were supposed to be so wrong? Progressives were wrong about the Trump economy Progressives have persistently forecast imminent economic doom since Trump was reelected in November. In April, the Associated Press reported: "President Donald Trump has panicked global financial markets, raised the risk of a recession and broken the political and economic alliances that made much of the world stable for business after World War II." That same month, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, declared that "Donald Trump is ruining the economy on purpose." And The American Prospect, in an article headlined, "The Great Trump Crash?," predicted that tariffs would "mean an instant, near-total halt of trade between China and the U.S." None of those dire predictions proved to be true. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recently reached record highs. Employers added more jobs than expected last month. The inflation rate ticked higher in June, but remains far below the 40-year high that Americans suffered under during the Biden administration. Opinion: Liberals call Trump a clown. But he's winning where it matters most. Progressives' scary predictions about international affairs also have proven to be false. Trump was supposed to be the green light Putin needed to pummel Ukraine into submission. Trump's America first stance also was supposed to embolden China and splinter NATO. In reality, Trump has been a peacemaker, pushing for meaningful ceasefires in conflicts from Gaza to Pakistan, Ukraine to Iran. Trump's efforts in the Middle East alone are worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump set back Iran's development of nuclear weapons, then forged a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Diplomatic efforts to broker a lasting peace in Gaza also continue. Opinion: Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize. He's achieved more than those who've won before. If there is to be a World War III, it doesn't appear imminent. Once again, progressives' claims about Trump were nothing but fearmongering. Democracy remains strong with Trump in the White House Probably the biggest lie the left has told about Trump is that his election would be an "extinction-level threat" for democracy. Six months into Trump's second term, I'm happy to report that democracy is still alive and well. Just look at recent headlines: New York Democrats exercised their right to vote for a socialist to run America's largest city. Millions of Americans marched in "No Kings" protests to criticize the president. Other protestors have taken to the streets to demonstrate against enforcement of our nation's immigration laws. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. Despite liberals' oft-repeated fears, the evidence overwhelmingly points to a healthy democracy, where Americans vote for the candidates of their choice and raise their voices to call out politicians and policies they don't like. Trump isn't a king; he's a duly elected president chosen by a healthy plurality of voters. His election was democracy in action. It's not just that progressives' worst fears turned out to be far from reality. The left tried to gaslight Americans into believing they'd regret voting for Trump. The fearmongering on the left was wrong, then and now. And I won't let liberals forget it. Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
USA Today
16-07-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Liberals claimed Trump would end democracy. They were wrong again.
I was told Donald Trump would be the end of American democracy, the beginning of American fascism, the ruin of our economy and the best thing ever to happen to Vladimir Putin. What happened? Halfway through 2025, I can't help but recall the bevy of lies that progressives and the mainstream media told me about Donald Trump before and after he won a second term as president. I was told Trump would be the end of American democracy, the beginning of American fascism, the ruin of our economy and the best thing ever to happen to Russian President Vladimir Putin. None of that has happened, and I don't know whether to be disappointed or elated. But I must ask: What happened? And why have things gone so right when they were supposed to be so wrong? Progressives were wrong about the Trump economy Progressives have persistently forecast imminent economic doom since Trump was reelected in November. In April, the Associated Press reported: "President Donald Trump has panicked global financial markets, raised the risk of a recession and broken the political and economic alliances that made much of the world stable for business after World War II." That same month, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, declared that "Donald Trump is ruining the economy on purpose." And The American Prospect, in an article headlined, "The Great Trump Crash?," predicted that tariffs would "mean an instant, near-total halt of trade between China and the U.S." None of those dire predictions proved to be true. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recently reached record highs. Employers added more jobs than expected last month. The inflation rate ticked higher in June, but remains far below the 40-year high that Americans suffered under during the Biden administration. Opinion: Liberals call Trump a clown. But he's winning where it matters most. Progressives' scary predictions about international affairs also have proven to be false. Trump was supposed to be the green light Putin needed to pummel Ukraine into submission. Trump's America first stance also was supposed to embolden China and splinter NATO. In reality, Trump has been a peacemaker, pushing for meaningful ceasefires in conflicts from Gaza to Pakistan, Ukraine to Iran. Trump's efforts in the Middle East alone are worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump set back Iran's development of nuclear weapons, then forged a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Diplomatic efforts to broker a lasting peace in Gaza also continue. Opinion: Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize. He's achieved more than those who've won before. If there is to be a World War III, it doesn't appear imminent. Once again, progressives' claims about Trump were nothing but fearmongering. Democracy remains strong with Trump in the White House Probably the biggest lie the left has told about Trump is that his election would be an "extinction-level threat" for democracy. Six months into Trump's second term, I'm happy to report that democracy is still alive and well. Just look at recent headlines: New York Democrats exercised their right to vote for a socialist to run America's largest city. Millions of Americans marched in "No Kings" protests to criticize the president. Other protestors have taken to the streets to demonstrate against enforcement of our nation's immigration laws. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. Despite liberals' oft-repeated fears, the evidence overwhelmingly points to a healthy democracy, where Americans vote for the candidates of their choice and raise their voices to call out politicians and policies they don't like. Trump isn't a king; he's a duly elected president chosen by a healthy plurality of voters. His election was democracy in action. It's not just that progressives' worst fears turned out to be far from reality. The left tried to gaslight Americans into believing they'd regret voting for Trump. The fearmongering on the left was wrong, then and now. And I won't let liberals forget it. Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
The Wire
19-06-2025
- Business
- The Wire
Quality Concerns in Dreamliners That Boeing Sold to Air India Had Given a Manager Nightmares
This report first appeared on The American Prospect and was republished with permission. Read the original here. Sign up for the Prospect's newsletter here. For 15 years now, engineers and quality control specialists have implored regulators, journalists and airlines to take a closer look at the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's first and only clean-sheet commercial airplane designed from scratch since the company's horrific 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas. The smooth surface of the lightweight composite fibres used to construct the airframe can conceal deadly structural flaws, they warned. The non-union workforce that manufactures the jets in South Carolina is unqualified to stand up to 'good old boy' bosses constantly pressuring them to ignore obvious nonconformities, install malfunctioning parts and cut every corner imaginable to get planes out the door, they asserted. Unsavoury subcontractors have exploited Boeing's lax standards to litter the assembly line with fake parts, they until today, the contrarians could always demand to know: if the Dreamliner is so unsafe, why hasn't it ever crashed?The late John Barnett, who died last March in an apparent suicide two days into a three-day deposition stemming from the insane practices he witnessed and tried vainly to stop as a quality manager at the Dreamliner's final assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, had a ready answer for this question: Just wait a bit. Most planes aren't designed to dive nosefirst into the ground like the 737 Max. It generally takes, he'd say with audible sadness, ten or twelve years for assembly-line sloppiness to culminate in a plane crash. (Barnett personally drove everywhere in the orange truck in which he died.)More from Maureen TkacikIt's too early to know exactly what caused the bizarre crash of Air India 171 in Ahmedabad, a western India city of 5.6 million people, just seconds into what was supposed to be a 10-hour flight to London. The pilot reportedly cried 'engine failure' in a mayday call to air traffic controllers seconds before the crash into a guest house for doctors, and footage of the plane, which slowly sank with its nose upturned in takeoff position, suggests a sudden loss of power. The 787 Dreamliner has been plagued by engine problems partially caused by the abundance of so-called 'foreign object debris' Boeing assembly line workers chronically leave on aircraft components in their haste to move to the next far, Boeing has only said they were 'working to gather more information' on the crash. Air India has confirmed that 241 of the 242 passengers aboard have died, with the lone survivor being treated in a nearby was demoted and ostracised after he attempted to force workers to disassemble and clean wire bundles and electrical boxes that had been littered with metal scraps of floorboard fasteners, scraps he knew could cause the electrical systems to short-circuit. Another former quality manager I know was fired after refusing to sign off on improperly-tied wire bundles littered with foreign object debris that had already begun to fray. FOD was implicated in a massive engine fire aboard a 787 test flight in 2010, and another test flight in Charleston in 2016 that Boeing was so keen to sweep under the rug it appealed to the Supreme Court rather than allow employee-witnesses to be deposed. (That case was settled before the Supreme Court made a decision.)A now-defunct Norwegian airline claimed in a 2020 lawsuit blaming Boeing for its demise that it had been forced to divert flights and cancel whole routes due to engine problems, and replace the engines on its Dreamliner fleet hundreds of times. In 2023 one of the airline's former 787s was dismantled for scrap, a literally unheard-of fate for a 10-year-old plane with a nine-figure list there's something else: two people deeply familiar with the Charleston 787 plant told the Prospect they had particularly acute quality concerns over planes that were delivered to Air Kitchens, a former quality manager who worked at the Charleston plant between 2009 and 2016, has a binder full of notes, documents and photos from her frustrating years at Boeing, one page of which lists the numbers of the eleven planes delivered between early 2012 and late 2013 whose quality defects most kept her awake at night. Six of them went to Air India, whose purchases were bolstered by billions of dollars in Export-Import Bank loan guarantees. The plane that crashed was delivered in January 2014 from Boeing's now-defunct assembly line in Everett, Washington, though its mid- and aft- fuselages were produced in it happens, that particular plane was delivered not long after a camera crew from Al-Jazeera showed up in Charleston to investigate the horror stories its reporters had been hearing about the workmanship and corporate culture of the plant. The channel's journalists had started digging into the plane's quality standards a year earlier, when the FAA grounded the planes for a few months after two small battery fires broke out on Japanese planes over the course of three days. Their findings were alarming: the company had outsourced most of the non-conceptual design of the plane to its suppliers, the FAA had fast-tracked the batteries and a host of other novel features aboard the planes without anything approaching the rigorous testing they had required for earlier planes, a major battery supplier's testing lab suffered a massive explosion whose precise cause had never been determined and an engineer had been fired for refusing to 'dumb down' his instructions for repairing flaws in the lightweight composite structures Boeing used to build the plane's most harrowing, however, was the footage filmed by an assembly line worker who wore a hidden camera as went about his day chatting up colleagues, virtually all of whom said they would never allow their family members to fly one of the planes the factory was was on medical leave with cancer when the footage was filmed, but the documentary premiered shortly after she returned, and leadership convened a meeting to encourage managers to snitch on anyone they recognized from the undercover footage.'I raised my hand and said, 'No one who works in this factory wants to fly these planes, I mean, that's just the truth,'' Kitchens said. A woman she didn't know, who was wearing a bomber jacket emblazoned with the FAA logo, shot her a scowl. But it was hardly the first time she'd expressed anxiety over the planes' safety with upper management. Years earlier, she had asked a boss if he would let his children fly on a plane with the litany of flaws and non-conformances he was urging her to 'pencil-whip': 'Cindy, none of these planes are staying in America, they're all going overseas,' he retorted, much to her investigator who worked on the documentary told the Prospect that employees he interviewed were especially anxious about three planes they had worked on that were scheduled to be delivered to Air India during the first months of 2014. The planes all had serious flaws that required them to be flown to the union assembly line in Everett to be re-worked. The Air India Dreamliner that crashed today took off from the Everett airport en route to Delhi for the first time on January 31, Tkacik is investigations editor at the Prospect and a senior fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project.
India Today
14-06-2025
- Business
- India Today
Whistleblower flagged flaws in Boeing 787s sent to Air India a decade ago: Report
The tragic crash of Air India flight AI171 just moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12 has triggered a fresh wave of scrutiny over the safety and quality of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner aircraft. As investigators continue to probe the cause of the accident that killed 270 people, a recent report published by The American Prospect has made serious allegations about the manufacturing practices at Boeing's facility, specifically concerning aircraft delivered to Air India years report cited claims by former Boeing employees about alleged manufacturing lapses at the company's facility in Charleston, South to The Prospect, two individuals with past ties to Boeing's Charleston plant described persistent quality issues dating back more than a decade. One of them, Cynthia Kitchens, who served as a quality manager at the plant between 2009 and 2016, reportedly shared internal notes, photographs, and documents to support her claims. Kitchens alleged that serious manufacturing defects were identified on several 787s produced during that period, with six of those aircraft reportedly delivered to Air India. While these claims are not independently verified, and there is currently no official link between them and the crash of AI171, they have nonetheless raised questions about Boeing's oversight and quality control processes over the has reached out to Boeing for comments but is yet to receive a Dreamliner involved in the Ahmedabad crash was delivered to Air India in January 2014 from Boeing's Everett, Washington facility. However, The American Prospect notes that parts of the fuselage used in that aircraft were produced in Charleston—the same site where Kitchens and others allege quality concerns were report also points to broader concerns raised by engineers and former employees regarding Boeing's use of composite fiber airframes, which some critics say may conceal long-term structural flaws. According to The American Prospect, whistleblowers have claimed that pressure to meet production targets at the Charleston plant sometimes led to overlooking nonconformities and installing substandard one account cited by the publication, Kitchens said she once questioned a superior about safety issues on planes built at the facility. She recalled being told: 'None of these planes are staying in America. They are all going overseas.'The same report references earlier concerns voiced by John Barnett, another former quality manager at Charleston who died last year. Barnett had warned that flaws introduced during the manufacturing process might not reveal themselves until many years later. While there is no official confirmation connecting these claims to the AI171 tragedy, the timeline is drawing renewed attention in light of the the cause of the June 12 crash is still under investigation. Preliminary information indicates that the aircraft climbed only 625 feet before plummeting, with the pilot radioing 'thrust not achieved' in a weak transmission moments before impact, as per InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Air India
