Mamdani’s Win Is Bigger Than You Think...
PDS Published 11/05/2025
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Democrats absolutely dominated Election Day, but people are already asking if the momentum can be carried through to next year – especially as Donald Trump and Republicans do everything they can to stay in power.
But with that, starting with the results, we’ll first go to New York, where you had Zohran Mamdani winning just over 50 percent of the more than 2 million ballots cast– more than Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa combined.
And in fact, he won more votes than any candidate since 1969 – which was also the last time you had so many people participating according to the New York City Board of Elections. []
And he is also making history as the city's youngest mayor since 1892, as well as its first Muslim, and first mayor of South Asian descent.
And with that, you had Mamdani celebrating his victory but also pushing back against Donald Trump:
“Here we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall,”
“...if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.
“This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.” (13:28-13:55, 16:42-17:27)
Also, with that, you also had progressive politicians and left-wing figures showing up to celebrate – including the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hasan Piker, who you actually had interacting on stream:
Hasan: “Are politicians just like cynical, or are they stupid? Do they not see that these are like very popular policies?”
AOC: “We have to prove that we can overcome all of the special interests and all of the money that will pile in.” (1:23- 1:38)
You also Hasan taking shots at Andrew Cuomo for an ad run by a super PAC supporting him that linked mamdani and Hasan to support for 9/11:
“Yo, what happened? What happened? I thought that 9/11 – Hasan loves 9/11 – what happened? I thought that was a successful campaign strategy. What happened? Bitch. Andrew Cuomo, fuck you. Suck my dick Andrew Cuomo.” (0:00-0:22)
But moving on from there, we gotta talk about California, where voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 50.
Which was the ballot measure that will allow the temporary redrawing of congressional districts in a way that should give Dems five extra seats in the House. []
But of course, that is only expected to offset the five seats Republicans are likely to pick up thanks to Texas’s mid-decade gerrymander.
And with that, several other Republican states, including Missouri and North Carolina, are poised to follow suit as Trump has continued his unprecedented effort to mold Congress to his liking.
And so you had California Governor Gavin Newsom not only celebrating his victory but explicitly calling on other states— including Colorado, Illinois, and Maryland — to follow his lead.
And adding to that, today, you also had the chairman of the Democratic National Committee vowing his party would match Republican redistricting efforts:
“We’ve leveled the playing field and now it’s up to Republicans: if they continue with this nonsense and continue going down this road of trying to redistrict, unconstitutionally redistrict in Republican controlled states, we’re going to meet them state by state.” (9:56-10:10)
But with that, we also gotta talk about Virginia, where Democrats won every statewide contest – flipping 13 seats in the state legislature to win their biggest majority in nearly 40 years.
With former Rep Abigail Spanberger winning the governor’s race by 15 percentage points to become the state’s first female governor. []
And then, even Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, came out on top in his race – despite the scandal involving violent text messages he sent in 2022 about his political opponent. []
And also notably, Ghazala Hashmi (Guh-zal-uh Hazh-me - AUDIO)? She is projected to be Virginia’s lieutenant governor, which will make her the first Muslim woman elected statewide. []
And then, in New Jersey, you also had current Rep Mikie Sherrill (said like “Cheryl”) taking the dub by a roughly 13-point margin– beating out former state assemblymember Jack Ciattarelli (Chit-Uh-Relly).
Who, notably, came within three points of victory in 2021.
But with all that, there’s still the question of where Dems go from here.
Right, Mamdani? His progressive politics got him the win in New York.
But Spanberger and Sherrill? They’re way closer to the center and that obviously worked out just fine for them in their states – and you have some saying this is setting up a battle over who defines the party.
Although, that said, like Mamdani, Spanberger and Sherrill focused on affordability and the cost of living in their campaigns – while also going after Trump.
And either way, Republicans are doing everything they can to make Mamdani the face of the Democratic party – while also blatantly mischaracterizing his views.
In fact, just last week, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent around a memo claiming Hakeem Jeffries’ last-minute endorsement of Mamdani was evidence that the Democratic Party has been “hijacked” by leftist radicals – adding:
“Mamdani is a socialist hostile to America, supports an agenda ripped directly from the pages of the Communist Manifesto, is openly anti-police, and is funded by groups with ties to terrorist organizations.” []
But of course to what extent the Mamdani factor is a factor in the midterms may depend on how New York fares over the next year – so that’ll be something to watch.
And in the meantime, there are still even more results we should talk about.
Right, I mentioned yesterday there was a special election in Texas to fill a seat previously held by a Democrat who died back in March – and now two Democrats have advanced to a runoff for that seat.
In Pennsylvania, three Democrats up for reelection on the State Supreme Court kept their positions. []
Which is huge because it could actually play a role in the next presidential election if certain voting and redistricting questions end up on their docket.
In Maine, voters approved a new “red flag” law giving families the option to petition a judge to order weapons be temporarily taken away from a troubled relative.
With this coming two years after a gunman killed 18 people at a bar and a bowling alley in the worst shooting in the state’s history.
And finally, Democrats flipped two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission – which is not only the first time the party has won a statewide constitutional office since 2006, it’s also a huge deal for reasons we’ve talked about before.
It’s basically all about keeping big energy companies from running the show and potentially locking in higher rates for years to come.
But with all that, you’ve had Trump trying to downplay Republican losses – blaming the ongoing government shutdown as well as the absence of his own name on the ballot.
He then repeated his call for Republicans to get rid of the filibuster to, quote:
“...GET BACK TO PASSING LEGISLATION AND VOTER REFORM!”
WIth him following that up by writing:
“Pass Voter Reform, Voter ID, No Mail-In Ballots. Save our Supreme Court from ‘Packing,’ No Two State addition, etc. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!!!”
And then, finally, as Mamdami delivered his speech you had him cryptically writing:
“… AND SO IT BEGINS!”
With him today hosting a breakfast at the White House with Republican senators and continuing to spread baseless claims about election fraud – accusing Dems of cheating, claiming mail-in ballots are “automatically corrupt”, and saying:
“We should pass voter ID. We should pass no mail in voting. We should pass all the things that we want to pass [to] make our election secure and safe.” (8:04-8:13)
And adding to all that, you’ve also had White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claiming that preparations for another executive order on elections were underway.
And with that, while it remains to be seen whether Dems can keep this energy up for the midterms, it also remains to be seen how far Trump will go this time to keep them from winning.
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With a complaint saying that the three have acted in concert to wrongfully accuse Mizkif of:
“serious criminal activity for no purpose other than to harm him, his reputation, and his business—and wrest from him control of the companies that he helped build.”[]
Right, last month we talked about how Emiru, who used to date Mizkif, went on stream and accused him of sexual assault, abuse, and more.
Mizkif did his own stream denying her allegations, but by and large, most people took her side and did not think Mizkif made a great case for himself.
So she ended up getting the support of major creators like Asmongold.
And now, in a lawsuit filed in Texas, Mizkif is suing both of those creators, OTK, and two other companies.[]
And there are a lot of allegations at play, so let’s break it all down, starting with Emiru.
Because the complaint alleges that she:
“lied and baselessly accused [Mizkif] of ‘psychological and domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, sexual assault, and threats of blackmail.’ These slanderous accusations were made live before an audience of tens of thousands and have since been viewed millions of times across various platforms.”[]
And the suit goes on to push against those claims, claming her allegation of sexual assault does not even meet the definition of the act.
But it notes that on the same day Emiru made her allegations, OTK, a media collective that Mizkif co-founded, sent him a letter to terminate his interest in the company,
With that letter also claiming that he owed $600,000 to Mythic Talent Management and that he violated an agreement he had with King Gaming Labs.
Regarding Asmongold, the complaint notes that he is also a part owner of OTK and then alleges that since Emiru made her allegations, he has:
“continuously defamed [Mizkif] on a near daily basis.”
Right, saying that Asmongold has been painting Mizkif as “the aggressor and abuser” in his relationship with Emiru, and claiming that even though Asmongold will sometimes couch his statements with an “allegedly,” he notes he is only giving that disclaimer for legal reasons.
With the complaint adding that Asmongold has “enriched himself” from this smear campaign by “dramabaiting for views.”
And according to Mizkif, all of these combined actions have “caused serious and lasting damage to [his] personal reputation.”
Right, saying he has lost followers and subscribers, and anticipates losing sponsorship opportunities, too.
So he is seeking a declaratory judgement against the companies OTK, Mythic, and King.
He is also accusing OTK and King of contract breaches, and then accusing Emiru and Asmongold of defamation.
The story was first reported by KXAN News in Austin, which reached out to all parties, but has yet to hear back.[]
But online, the response has mostly been people shocked that Mizkif is taking legal action, doubting his chances of winning. [][][]
But of course, that is the court of public opinion, we will have to see where this case actually goes.
And I would love to know your thoughts in the meantime.
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We are now officially in the longest government shutdown in American history.
With it entering its 36th day today, breaking the previous record of 35 days that was also set under Donald Trump during his first term.
And since Congress introduced the modern budget process in 1976, there had been 20 shutdowns, not including this one, but only four lasted more than two weeks. [Quote, find “1976”]
With those being in 1978 under Carter, 1996 under Clinton, 2013 under Obama, and 2018 under Trump.
But not only is this historically rare, it’s also economically bad and getting worse by the day.
Right, just because the government’s not spending money, that doesn’t mean they’re not losing it.
Because it turns out that shutdowns are really expensive, with the last one that went on for this long costing the U.S. an estimated three billion dollars in GDP, for example. [Quote, find “$3”]
And if this one goes on for another month, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it’ll cost 14 billion. [Quote, find “14 billion”]
But arguably that pales in comparison to the pain felt by federal workers and the millions of Americans who depend on their services.
Because over a million federal employees are continuing to work without pay, and another 600,000 have been furloughed.
Museums are closed, national parks have reduced operations, IRS services are delayed, Social Security phone lines are backed up.
And over the weekend, food stamps, also known as SNAP, stopped going out to families.
Which was crazy because there’s a roughly five billion dollar emergency fund that can pay for the benefits, but Trump refused to use it until Democrats ended the shutdown.
So then federal courts ordered him to, and after posting on Truth Social that he still wouldn’t, his White House this week said they would, but that they only have about half the money they need to send out full benefits.
So as the shutdown’s dragged on, Democrats have latched onto SNAP as the core issue alongside healthcare in their narrative battle.
[Clip, 00:10 - 00:19] Caption: “I know of no faith that teaches that we should take food away from hungry children.”
[Clip, 01:15 - 01:18] Caption: “Veterans, elderly, children.”
[Clip, 01:11 - 01:15] Caption: “Taking food out of children’s mouths. That is what they’re doing.”
[Clip, 02:10 - 02:15] Caption: “To force 42 million Americans to go hungry.”
[Clip, 04:41 - 04:44] Caption: “As people are scared that they’re not gonna feed their families.”
[Clip, 02:16 - 02:22] Caption: “Kids are pawns in this political game.”
[Clip, 01:41 - 01:42] Caption: “Trump’s hunger games.”
[Clip, 00:15 - 00:19] Caption: “It is now the make America hungry agenda.”
[Clip, 03:13 - 03:16] Caption: “It’s outrageous. It’s out of touch.”
But SNAp’s not the only issue; right, there’s also the threat of health insurance premiums doubling or tripling if Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year, which Democrats are trying to prevent.
And now, air travel is slowly unravelling as air traffic controllers stop showing up to work.
Because while they are required to keep working without pay, many have left to find other sources of income during this crisis.
Which is real bad news because the FAA was already struggling to fill a severe staffing shortage before, but now things are even worse.
With controllers only getting a partial paycheck last month, no paycheck last week, and no paycheck next week either unless something changes.
And yesterday you had Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning that if that happens …
[Clip, 33:36 - 33:53] Caption: “If you bring us to a week from today Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays. You will see mass cancellations. And you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it because we do not have the air traffic controllers.”
With experts warning that closing even a small part of U.S. airspace could cause serious complications nationwide.
This as travel’s already been pretty severely disrupted, with NBC News reporting that on Sunday alone, more than 5,000 flights in and out of the U.S. were delayed. [Quote, find “5,000”]
And then of course, the holiday season is coming up, and that’s the worst possible time to have a transit system in chaos.
Now as of today, there doesn’t seem to be an end to this in sight, at least not yet, but some politicians are more optimistic than others.
Like Ted Cruz, who told Fox News: [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 02:26 - 02:31] Caption: “My prediction: it will end either the end of this week or early next week.”
With his reasoning being that now that elections are over, Democrats won’t feel as much pressure to keep up the appearance that they’re fighting Trump, so they’ll soften their stance. [Continue B roll]
But Trump disagrees, with him giving a speech to his party in the Senate this morning in which he likened Democrats to suicide bombers. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 01:47 - 01:56] Caption: “I think they’re kamikaze pilots. I just got back from Japan. I talked about the kamikaze pilots. I think these guys are kamikaze. They’ll take down the country if they have to.”
But of course, Trump himself has so far shown no indication that he’s willing to compromise either. [Continue B roll]
In fact, he would rather do the nuclear option than negotiate with Schumer, as he reiterated to his party again today. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 04:36 - 04:41, 05:12 - 05:26] Caption: “It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that’s terminate the filibuster. It’s the only way you can do it. … We should start tonight with ‘the country’s opened, congratulations.’ Then we should pass voter ID. We should pass no mail-in voting. We should pass all the things that we want to pass to make our elections secure and safe.”
But as we’ve talked about before, the GOP leadership so far hasn’t budged on its commitment to keeping the filibuster in place, so for now everything’s just deadlocked.
Though at least one Republican’s been touring the media circuit with a surprising message for her own party: let’s join the Democrats.
[Clip, 31:27 - 31:38] Caption: [MTG:] “When I talk about weak Republican men, I’m pretty much talking often times about the leadership in the House and the Senate, and they’re not getting our agenda done.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene went on The View yesterday, which is a bold move for someone like her because conservatives hate The View with a passion that’s frankly disproportionate.
But more and more since the summer, she’s clashed with her own party and sometimes even daddy Trump on one issue after another.
Right, first, she criticized Trump’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, accusing him of a “bait and switch.” [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 00:45 - 00:51] Caption: “What we campaigned on was no more foreign wars, not being involved in regime change.”
Then, she made herself the first Republican in Congress to call what was happening in Gaza a genocide. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 01:56 - 02:02] Caption: “Children that have been blown to pieces, and they’re finding them dead in the rubble.”
Then, she joined Democrats and just a few Republicans in demanding that the White House release the Epstein files. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 02:58 - 03:03] Caption: “The truth needs to come out, and the government holds the truth.”
And most recently, she’s accused her Republican colleagues of doing nothing to prevent Americans’ health insurance premiums from doubling or tripling when Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 03:22 - 03:28] Caption: “I’m getting phone calls from people that are saying if the ACA tax credits expire, they aren’t gonna be able to have health insurance.”
And during her appearance on The View, she hit that same note again with much more force, calling out her own leadership by name. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 15:41 - 15:48, 15:56 - 16:08] Caption: [MTG:] “I yelled at Mike Johnson yesterday on our GOP conference call. By the way, I’m missing the call today. It’s going on right now. … I shouldn’t have to go into a skiff to find the Republican healthcare plan, honestly.” [Sunny Hostin:] “Maybe there is no healthcare plan.” [MTG:] “You know what, you wanna know something? That I believe is the truth.”
With Sara Haines later asking why she thinks Republicans won’t release the Epstein files, and this was Greene’s answer. [Lead B roll into clip]
[Clip, 21:53 - 21:58] Caption: “I have no idea, but it seems like very rich and powerful men are being protected.”
Now after those clips went online, you had a lot of reactions, especially from furious right-wingers.
With one typical response coming from Laura Loomer, who wrote on X:
“I told you MTG was flirting with the idea of becoming a Democrat. The women on The View even planted the seed for her: ‘Maybe you should become a Democrat Marjorie.’” [Post]
[Clip, 18:12 - 18:16] Caption: [Whoopi Goldberg:] “Maybe you should become a Democrat, Marjorie.” [Audience:] *Cheers and laughs*
[Phil: this continues Loomer’s tweet:] “Never seen a more opportunistic woman before.” [Post]
But if you ask Greene, she’s not moving to the left or anything like that; she’s just sticking to her America-first principles.
[Clip, 17:23 - 17:33] Caption: “Everybody’s like, ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene has changed,’ and I”m like, oh no, nothing has changed about me. I am staying absolutely 100% true to the people that voted for me.
But there’s a clip now going viral from someone with a different idea about why Greene’s doing what she’s doing, and that’s AOC.
[Clip, 00:03 - 00:18, 00:31 - 00:55] Caption: “MTG, people are like, ‘Oh my God, she’s saying all these things, like, what’s gotten into her lately?’ ‘Oh, like, she’s bucking against Trump, she’s bucking against the administration.’ Marjorie Taylor Greene wanted to run for Senate in Georgia. … She was gearing up for that statewide race, and Trump told her no. Trump said no. And the White House and Trump Land shut down Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal ambitions to run for Senate, and she has been on a revenge tour ever since.”
Right, for context, Greene declared back in May that she would not run to unseat Georgia’s incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.
But in response to AOC’s claim, today she told The Hill:
“I have already explained in a lengthy post that I have no interest in serving in the U.S. Senate. Look at the Senate right now, it’s a total mess.” [Quote]
And as for the “revenge tour” thing, while she’s acknowledged breaking from him on a few issues, she’s repeatedly said that she still loves and supports daddy Trump.
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Today the Supreme Court is hearing arguments that could not only dictate our economic future, but also the scale of the President’s power.
At the center of this are two challenges to President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on virtually every good.
The two cases technically have different facts, but across broad strokes deal with the same things -- arguments that the tariffs would dramatically raise prices and that the President doesn’t have the power to do this.
In particular the cases are arguing that Article 1 of the Constitution clearly says that only Congress can “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,” and that “Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”
In the case of these tariffs, none of that happened.
However, Congress does have the power to delegate some of its power to the presidency and the Trump administration is arguing that’s exactly what happened when it invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Power Act.
And the short version of that law is that the administration claims it can declare an emergency and then impose tariffs.
But there’s a real question whether his law is overly broad, because the Supreme Court has ruled in the past that while Congress can hand its power over to the President, it can only do so if the conditions for it to happen are VERY specific.
For that guidance, the 1975 decision of United States v. Yoshida International will definitely be looked at.
Technically that case doesn’t deal with the International Emergency Power Act, but instead a similar law with VERY similar wording.
In that case, President Nixon had imposed a 10% tariff that went back and forth in various courts for a long time.
But in the end, the now-defunct Court of Customs and Patent Appeals allowed it to stay - despite Nixon not consulting Congress -- because it was “limited” tariff and
“‘a temporary measure’ calculated to help meet a particular national emergency, which is quite different from ‘imposing whatever tariff rates he deems desirable.’”[]
However, the current Supreme Court seems to love bucking precedent, and we saw some hints of that in today’s debates.
Like when Chief Justice John Roberts showed some skepticism that Trump didn’t have the power to tariff.
Right, normally Congress has the power to tax through things like tariffs, but Roberts felt that “It implicates, very directly, the president’s foreign affairs power.”
And the position that tariffs are a foreign affairs tool is almost identical to what the Trump administration is trying to argue.
Not every justice was so clearly on board though.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned why the reciprocal tariffs were so broad and asked: [read as we hunt down quotes]
“Is it your contention that every country needed to be tariffed because of threats to the defense and industrial base? I mean, Spain, France? I could see it with some countries, but explain to me why as many countries needed to be subject to the reciprocal tariff policy as are.” @3:07:46-3:08:06
Lawyers for the administration argued that it was necessary “because the emergency is so broad.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch also pressed the administration about Congress delegating its powers.
As we talked about earlier, Congress can do this in some limited circumstances, but Gorsuch is a BIG proponent of the clear separation of powers, leading him to ask the administration if Congress could delegate its war-making authority to the President.[]
To be clear, it was more of a rhetorical question and showed that Gorsuch was skeptical about the administration's claims that the power was clearly delegated.
Possibly one of the best bytes came from Justice Elena Kagan, who showed some frustration over the administration's stance that it can unilaterally declare anything an “emergency” and that it can’t be reviewed, leading her to say:
“And in fact, you know, we’ve had cases recently which deal with the president’s emergency powers. And it turns out we’re in emergencies - everything all the time, about, like, half the world.” @2:46:06-2:46:15
Another factor that may help decide the case is that the administration has admitted that they have many ways to levy these tariffs, even if the Supreme Court rules against them.
Even before arguing before the court, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that:
“There are lots of other authorities that can be used, but [the law in front of the court] is by far the cleanest, and it gives the U.S. and the president the most negotiating authority.” @0:28-0:42
“The others are more cumbersome, but they can be effective.” @0:55-1:00
The “others” are things like the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the Trade Act of 1974, both of which could let the President enact tariffs just as broad as he already has.
Without getting bogged down in the specifics, the reason the administration doesn’t like to use those is because they have a longer turnaround time, arguably making them less effective as negotiating tools with other nations.
With all that said, what type of fallout can we expect if the court goes against Trump?
Well, for sure we’ll see an angry Truth Social post. I’d bet my life on it.
But beyond that there’s expected to be some widespread economic chaos.
For starters, the US has gathered $90 billion in tax revenue from the tariffs.
But even Justices like Barrett are wondering what will happen to that cash if the court rules against Trump and asked: [read]
“If you win, tell me how the reimbursement process would work. Would it be a complete mess?” @4:04:24-4:04:29
And the plaintiffs kinda just admit they don’t have a plan and that it’d be a clusterfuck.
On top of that there’s a lot of confusion about what will happen to trade agreements the US has made with foreign countries.
Right, a lot of these have involved tariffs explicitly -- which actually feeds into the administration’s argument that these tariffs are part of its power to negotiate with other countries.
This was something that Justices Samuel ALito and Clarence Thomas even mentioned today, with Alito presenting a hypothetical of what if a country was holding an American hostage?
Could the President enact a tariff “for the purposes of leveraging his position?”
All that being said, many still feel that removing the tariffs would be an economic boon in the long run.
Right, they have an inflationary effect because they LITERALLY RAISE PRICES, which is the definition of inflation.[]
For the average consumer that already feels prices are getting out of hand it’s even worse.
Not to mention that for businesses the tariffs have been a nightmare: not only because they are expensive but also because they are arbitrary and random.
All of which makes it really hard to plan things out into the future.
It’ll probably be awhile before we hear a final decision but in general it seemed that even the conservative justices seemed a little skeptical with the administration’s arguments.[]
Who knows though, maybe they’re trying to get Trump’s opponents a bit hopeful before crushing their dreams.
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A devastating crash in Kentucky has left at least 9 dead.
Right, yesterday afternoon in Louisville, UPS Flight 2976 heading to Honolulu took off from the Muhammed Ali International airport and climbed about 175 feet before very quickly coming down and exploding. [B Roll 0:00-0:15]
With video showing flames on one of the wings as the plane is taking off and a huge fireball and pillar of smoke when it hit the ground again. [B Roll 0:00-0:23]
As of this morning, the casualty list includes at least those 9 people killed, 11 more injured, and 16 unaccounted for.
With some of that last number coming from at least one of the two local businesses the plane hit on the way down.
One of those being Grade A Auto Parts - with the store’s chief operating officer saying he was in his office when the power went out and the entire building shook.
After hearing a bunch of explosions, he ran outside and saw flames and smoke engulfing the company’s scrap metal department. []
Which has several buildings and is where the plane actually made contact.
He said a bunch of people came running out of the buildings, climbing through windows to escape, but there are still two employees unaccounted for.
And because the shop gets some 200 to 250 customers a day, there’s no telling how many were on site at the time of the crash.
The other business that got hit was a waste management company and they said that, thankfully, no one was there when the plane came down.
As for the other victims, we know that there was a crew of 3 people on the plane - though their condition specifically isn’t known. []
But 4 of the people killed weren’t on the plane itself and some of the other victims reportedly have been hospitalized with, quote, “very significant” injuries.
That’s just where we are at for now - according to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, those numbers are likely to go up in the coming days.
Now, we know the plane wasn’t carrying any hazardous materials that would create an environmental issue.
And following the crash, the airport was shut down for the night along with the local public schools being closed for today.
And the shelter-in-place orders have gradually shrunk to just a quarter mile radius from the crash site, as of this morning. []
Though UPS has said they’ve halted package sorting operations at their Worldport global air hub in the Louisville airport.
Which is a central part of its global operations - we’re talking hosting 300 flights and processing 2 million packages a day. []
With Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg saying last night,
“UPS is such an important part of our Louisville family. We will come together stronger, we will support those who have lost loved ones and friends, and we will move forward as we have in the past,”
Now, the National Transportation Safety Board will be handling the investigation into what exactly happened here.
In fact, they’re supposed to have 28 people landing in Louisville today to kick things off. []
But we’ve already seen some experts weighing in about what may have gone wrong.
Including Scott Dunham, a retired investigator with the NTSB - who said that the fire on the wing in the videos is a pretty good place to start.
Adding,
“The investigators will likely be looking for evidence of an ‘uncontained engine failure’ — where a high-speed rotating part of an engine fractures, which can result in catastrophic damage to the engine, fuel lines or other parts of the structure.”
“The presence of that much fire suggests significant disruption of the engine fuel supply, a possible consequence of an uncontained failure.” []
Now, one of the biggest questions circulating about this crash is whether or not it’s tied to the government shutdown.
Right, air traffic controllers and aviation in general is definitely feeling the strain as this shutdown stretches onward.
Hell, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy even suggested the Department of Transportation may close some sections of airspace because of it.
But as of now, there isn’t any evidence that this crash was caused because of anything to do with the shutdown.
Right, like Dunham said, this currently looks to be something related to the structure of the plane failing.
Which isn’t outside the realm of possibility considering that this plane is over 30 years old. []
But that lack of evidence hasn’t stopped anyone from speculating - saying things like,
“did the @TheDemocrats government shutdown lead to the airplane crash in Louisville??????” []
Of course, we’re not going to know for sure until the NTSB concludes their investigation.
But while we wait for more answers, I would just like to say that our hearts go out to Louisville and all the families who are going through this horrible tragedy.
And I would love to hear from anyone from Kentucky or Louisville specifically.
Let me know your thoughts in those comments down below.
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But then the final thing today it's actually connected to the first thing we talked about. And today on my brand new weekly podcast, Crashing Out with Alex Pearlman,
the way we talked about it, where the conversation went well, it also went off the rails, very different than how we talked about on the show.
Where we'll hear it was 95% news, 5% opinion. There it was kind of the opposite. I feel like some of you might be in need of that vibe shift today.
So if you want to get the full hour of course link below I have a link. But at the very least, here's just a quick taste.
Phil? Phil? Phil! Phil, no! Yeah. I'm here, I'm here, I'm here for you. Woke is back.
That. Is that the lesson? Die never dies. Okay, 365 days ago, I woke up at four
a am, and I just started puking and shitting everywhere. Here I am a year later, and I'm.
Dick Cheney's dead. I'm alive. There's a lot happening. I feel great, I've never felt my skin is better.
I need you to know, I. I even set up a button just for today. Just for today. Phil.
Because this is how we feel today, okay? It's a good day. We're going to do analysis.
We're going to talk a lot about what happened with the election. All these can I just tell you right now it's a vibe bud.
And it's a good vibe. And is it going to last? Fuck no. No. Trump still president don't get the economy is shut down.
The fucking my health I just look my health care cost is up 21% because the new marketplace just came in.
Vivek Rama Swami's posted on Facebook, there's a lot that's happening. But at the end of the day, right now, right in this fucking moment,
the Dems swept every fucking election at rates not seen since Lyndon Johnson.
But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is where today's video is going to end. But again, you got more. Just a click away. You can crash out with us for an hour right here.
I also got links in the description and or you can watch the newest Philip DeFranco show that you haven't seen yet. But no matter what you do, let me just say thank you for watching.
I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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