Don't pilots usually train and certify on just one type of aircraft? In other words, Airbus pilots don't fly Boeing, etc. If all the MD11 planes end up permanently mothballed by the two main operators of them (FedEx and UPS), what happens to the pilots who are trained to fly them? Will they have an opportunity to train on another aircraft type, or will they end up without a job? Are there other planes sufficiently similar to the MD11 that their training won't be too lengthy? Wikipedia mentions it last flew for passenger service in 2008, but doesn't mention it having been developed into anything else.

Of course it doesn't seem like this is a great time to be a pilot, given the ATC issues we're facing in this country - but that's a different issue.

That makes two dictionaries that chose two words for the 2025 word of the year. I will say I like this one better than the choice from Merriam-Webster.

You made a rather huge leap there, and I'm not sure why you committed to doing so.

I've never heard of this van. I work in several metropolitan areas on a regular basis and I've never seen one anywhere. I fully acknowledge they exist, but I've never seen one. I could well be unique in having never seen one, but if they aren't in any of the markets where I frequently drive then there are likely a lot of other people who have never seen them in the wild either.

The point I was after is that there are a lot of people who love to dunk on the automotive industry - particularly the American Big Three - any time they can. The Big Three are far from blameless. However, ripping to shreds a discontinued vehicle that you've never seen isn't exactly a fair thing to do.

I'd like to hear if even one person in this discussion had ever heard of it before this was posted here. I follow quite a bit of automotive news myself and had never heard of this van before now. Granted it is a commercial vehicle that would have been difficult to obtain as a regular consumer here (similar to the larger current model Ford econoline (not transitconnect) vans) but I had never heard of this at all. I've seen news on the new USPS delivery vehicles, the new NYC taxis, but never on this.

It's awfully difficult - at least in real space - to claim to be an expert on something you never heard of. I'm sure that won't stop people here but nonetheless it is worth pondering why we had never heard anything of this vehicle. If regular consumers hadn't heard of it, how many potential commercial customers hadn't either? Plenty of commercial customers exist in this country who would do well with an electric van, if only they knew this one existed.

Are you sure you're talking about China there? That sounds like the MAGA party to-do list, especially if you add on corporate extortion and mandatory bribes to the leader of said one party state.

I'm fine with sending Musk to Mars. He can take DOGE and the rest of MAGA with him. Few of them are smart enough to realize there is no return trip, even if the trip there is a success. Musk and Trump can spend the trip trying to convince each other who is the most important person in the history of the universe while those of us here on earth rebuild from the destruction they left behind here.

Making things even worse we now see MAGA flexing another muscle here to exert force on America; they are getting people all over the country fired for daring to express a non-MAGA-endorsed opinion of the matter. Yesterday ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely for stating a few days ago that we didn't know the politics of the shooter. How dare he suggest that the shooter might not be the left-wing devil that MAGA insists him to be!

There are endless counts of other people across the country who are losing their jobs for daring to say something disparaging on social media about Kirk after his death as well. MAGA is very openly celebrating these firings.

We should also consider the non-zero chance that he was shot by someone not for being too far to the right but rather for not being far enough to the right. Remember there are a lot of MAGA folks who are tripping over each other to see who can be the most extreme; years ago the GOP passed a point where they would have thrown out Reagan for being too far left and now the MAGA party is even further yet to the right.

There is a long list of times during this - and the previous - Trump Administration when it seemed clear that would happen. We thought they finally got to the point where they wouldn't be able to stand each other and they would annihilate their own. Never before did it happen; indeed they only rallied harder each time and came out stronger.

Now they have a new martyr. Any time anyone doesn't toe the MAGA line they will be accused of leading towards "another Charlie Kirk". In fact they could have hardly asked for a better event, as they can use it to also brush any other gun violence crime under the rug as well.

Say goodbye to democracy. Charlie Kirk managed to do exactly what he wanted - he killed it. He wasn't wise enough to realize it would take his own blood to take it down, but it is dead and buried now. The new Single Party State rises up now, and by the end of next month it will be illegal to be a democrat.

Right now is a good time to invest in your exit strategy if you don't align yourself 110% with the MAGA party.

Where did I encourage violence? You must have me mistaken with someone else. I have multiple times very plainly advocated against violence in all forms. I don't approve killing anyone by anyone else. Not by or for politics, not by or for the state. Murder is wrong, period.

In the 1960s the assassinations were of people who wanted to improve our country and bring about progress. This decade we're seeing assassinations of people of all stripes. There is no rhyme or reason to the violence any more. The only difference is that one party advocates exclusively for "thoughts and prayers" after any killing, because they are afraid their owners will drive them out of their cushy jobs if they ever propose any kind of legislative reform.

I didn't say anyone would make a new amendment. I said that the MAGA party would ignore the 22nd Amendment, and that the SCOTUS would not stop them from doing so. That's a big difference. Indeed a constitutional amendment is only passed by congress; the SCOTUS cannot make one. Up until now, the POTUS has been expected to follow the constitution, but that is no longer the case. Nobody is willing to apply any laws to Trump.

Again, nobody is looking to pass a new amendment, nor are they looking to repeal one on the books. They have license to simply ignore the constitution, and they will do exactly that. The constitution is no longer worth the paper it was written on.

Indeed strangely enough by killing a liar the MAGA party likely killed truth itself . This just gives them more momentum for squashing dissent and labeling those they don't agree with as undesirable and "UnAmerican". They never let an opportunity like this go by without making political hay from it.