Politics notwithstanding, Boeing's introduction of MCAS, on the sly with essentially no documentation of a SUBSTANTIAL change in operating characteristics will, I predict, be found to have been deliberate and heads will roll at Boeing and FAA.

This is a VERY big deal, and is, IMO, the single biggest breakdown of aviation safety oversight, internally at an OEM and also at government in my lifetime.

Reminds me of a nascent commercial space tourism operator who told me, to my face, that their vehicle was not fly-by-wire and therefore the electrical system could not be considered safety critical - immediately after I pointed out to them that they had just explained that their system locked out the mechanical flight controls during the transonic boost phase and the only means for controlling the flight path was via the trim hat which was then interpreted by computers that drove trimmable surfaces.

It is beyond disheartening to me see things like this continue to happen given the potential outcomes - while doubtful MCAS would ever result in an accident here in the US we are not the only nation that operates these aircraft and it is unconscjoinable to me that safety guys at Boeing were OK with this, AND that FAA was OK with this as it originally played out or as it has developed.

'Gimp

No surprise and funny they now claim it was always limited run.

Damn pigs always changing the sign.

'Gimp

I think you're on to something, but this will not catch those who are perfectly sane, but angry enough to go on a rampage. The Las Vegas shooter was sane. The kid in New England school was sane, Columbine kids were sane. None of them showed enough issues with mental health to qualify. Unless the standards for mental health issues are lowered to an arbitrary point where anyone who laughs at the wrong time can be committed. Or, someone who sings to themselves in the shower. Or, someone who writes incendiary prose on the internet. Or, a rapper who taunts and threatens LEO in a song. Slippery slope, messing with mental health diagnosis. Also, whats to say someone is suffering from mental defect, and they get better?

This is the slippery slope, because here in CA with INSANELY draconian gun laws we just had a mass shooting that killed 12 - you have to buy AMMO from a FFL now, ammo.  You can't buy, OR POSSESS hig cap magazines, can't buy 'assault weapons', and so on.

If the law is not enough of a disincentive to keep from killing, if the law is not enough of a disincentive to prevent the use of a gun to kill, and we focus on the weapon instead of the deed, and we focus on the weapon instead of the person who commits the act, then 100% confiscation and elimination of the 2nd is the ONLY answer to remove all risk (and all of us here who are intellectually honest should be able to readily admit that this IS the ultimate aim of everyone on the Left as well as more than a couple in the middle).

IF we are to have a free and open society as the Founders intended, it comes with inherent risk that some individuals, as well as social groups, will simply reject the common morays and ethos and behave badly for their own aims be that for personal, religious, political, or mental health reasons.

Life is tough, wear a helmet if you have to.

Randy Jackson says it best...

We need to make this moronic twit the face of the Millenial Left, she will supplant Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee as the gift that keeps on giving.

Her astounding level of historical ignorance and economic illiteracy should be made front and center each and every day - just please giver her a microphone, and then after she stumbles about for 5-10 minutes ask her how to pay for it or where in the Constitution Government is empowered to do whatever pipe dream she gins up that day.

'Gimp

While I am disappointed with the apparent result in the House this has actually been pretty historic.

If we consider the first Midterm to be a referendum on the President, Trump appears to have done substantially better than Clinton or Obama who each lost something like 50-60 seats in the House in their first midterm (looks like this will settle between 25-30), and GAINED I believe 5 seats in the Senate which now makes Collins and Murkowski irrelevant, especially with Flake, Corker and McCain no longer in the way.  And this in an election that by all appearances enjoyed truly historic turnout, by the look of it on both sides.

Because Pelosi and the House Dem's are, I believe, incapable of compromise or good behavior, Trump will, I predict, play them like a fiddle and get them to go apoplectic, on TV, basically every day or two, for the next two years and they will see the same level of punishment for their lack of fairness that ALL of the Democrat Senators who participated in the Kavanaugh assault and who were up for re-election received today (ALL were defeated).

That said, I think it is time to clearly call out the abject failure that Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have been with respect to faithfully executing the President's agenda (although Mr. Turtle has been coming around) - this failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, WHEN THEY HELD ALL THE POWER gave the Dem's the only positive campaign issue they had which resonated for House voters, healthcare - there is a special ring in Hell for people who betray like that (currently occupied by one John McCain).

I also place a substantial amount of the blame at the feet of again Paul Ryan, and the other Republican Congresscritters who let their Never-Trump-Derangement Syndrome drive them to 'retire', this created name-recognition vacuums that the Dem's exploited by running candidates who easily espoused positions that sound middle-of-the-road enough to get elected in red and purple districts - real question is how effective will Trump and the Republicans be at pointing out what I expect to be large discrepancies between their actual voting records vs. campaign positions in 2 years.

Trump too shares some blame - he focused on saving the Senate which was a pragmatic thing to do, but in doing so failed to talk up the economy enough to have that 'how are you doing now vs 2 years ago' moment that I think would have floated more Republican House members.

All in all, looks to be a below average change in terms of Gubernatorial, State Houses, House and Senate - and that should be some cause for celebration.  The Dem's are still at a historically low overall level of power across elected government at all levels - thanks Obama.

I will only be worried if Pelosi reigns in the whackadoodle brigade (Maxine Waters, Gerald Nadler, and the like) and puts apparent 'moderates' or younger Rep's into Chairmanships - Waters is the gift that keeps on giving, I want her front and freakin' center for the next 2 years.  It will suck on a day-to-day basis but will ensure a massive victory in 2020.

In the end, Trump it would appear, is far less a polarizing or damaging element for his party than Obama was - and I can certainly take some comfort in that.

'Gimp

Just read an exit poll headline "56% Say Country is on Wrong Track".....

 So I guess a booming economy, prosperity and putting our country first just doesn't seem to be what some want.  Amazing.

 There are actually people who want to return to the Obama Failure Years.

 Simply amazing.

The foundational issue with this particular issue (right track/wrong track) is that it can be interpreted many ways - could be that half of the 56% think that the country is not heading far enough right - I really don't think this one means what it is commonly interpreted to mean.

'Gimp