5 responses to “Saturday’s Forum”

1. 

   Kathy

   August 15, 2026 at 7:43 am

   This has to be one of the strangest commercial aviation incidents.

   Two aircraft with the same callsign heading straight to each other.

   Callsigns in commercial aviation are usually the airline’s generic callsign plus the flight number. The generic callsign can be the airline’s name or part of it, in this case “American”, or it can be some made up name for some reason. For instance the generic callsign for British Airways is “Speedbird“.

   The piece notes the outgoing and incoming flights from Chicago to Phoenix have the same number, and that this isn’t uncommon. I didn’t know that. I’ve sometimes taken the same flight to and from one destination, and the flight numbers tend to be different. For instance, Interjet from Toluca to Vegas was flight 950, while the return flight was 951.
2. 

   Scott

   August 15, 2026 at 8:21 am

   Trump corruption of the day.

   Trump-appointed regulator OKs banking license for Trump-linked crypto firm

   The Trump administration has granted preliminary approval for a cryptocurrency venture backed by President Donald Trump’s family to operate a federally chartered trust bank, over the protests of Democrats who decried the decision as riddled with conflicts of interest.

   The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the bank regulatory arm of the Treasury Department, said in a letter on Friday that it was conditionally approving World Liberty Trust Co.’s application for a trust bank charter. The company must still meet additional requirements before it receives final approval, the regulator said.

   The decision stands to give new powers and federal credibility to a venture in which Trump and his family retain a substantial financial interest. It’s also among the most direct official actions that the administration has taken involving the president’s private finances.
   1. 

      gVOR10

      August 15, 2026 at 9:54 am

      And this is even worse, as reported by Scott Lemieux at LGM quoting the Atlantic.

      Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration has taken a sledgehammer to anti-corruption efforts, destroying policy after policy dedicated to preventing bribery and money laundering in the country. But this week brought the biggest blow yet: The Treasury has obliterated a recent rule to deter devious shell companies, handily reopening the American economy to anyone looking to hide their illicit wealth.

      On Tuesday, the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that businesses formed in the United States would no longer need to disclose their actual owners, and that nearly all the data already gathered on such companies would be destroyed. This move, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called “a victory for common sense and American small businesses,” effectively undoes years of progress in curbing devious financial networks, both domestic and foreign. It also delivers a new shelter for wealthy Americans who wish to dodge taxes and move money around undetected.

      Somehow I doubt this will generate headlines like Hunter Biden’s art sales. And I like the small business excuse, gotta love the classics.

      1
3. 

   Scott

   August 15, 2026 at 10:51 am

   The anti-Islamic fever is going full steam in Texas.

   Greg Abbott threatens Dallas, Houston airports’ grant funds over Islamic washing facilities

   Dallas Fort Worth International Airport canceled plans to install a facility commonly used for Islamic prayer after Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday threatened to withdraw state and federal funding.

   Abbott sent a letter to the North Texas airport’s CEO Christopher McLaughlin, as well as the mayors of Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth, stating his office was in the process of reviewing all grant funds over facilities in their cities’ airports. He also sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to refer the airports for federal investigations.

   “These ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. That is illegal,” Abbott said in a news release announcing the grant reviews. “Both airports are government-owned facilities. The federal and state constitutions prohibit government from facilitating this sort of discrimination. Just as the government cannot favor the secular over the sacred, it also cannot favor one religious view over all others.”

   I suppose the airports are going to have to close the chapels also.
4. 

   dazedandconfused

   August 15, 2026 at 3:33 pm

   WaPo story about some of the Equatorian boats we sunk as part of our narco-terrorism program, a CIA clandestine op.

   While it certainly does appear Heggie killed some fisherman there, the big question: For busting narcos, why the need for secrecy?