Horizon cutting-room links: Monday, 30 December 2024

Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are Open. Employees are expected to begin the workday on time. Normal operating procedures are in effect. Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. West wind 7 to 12 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

“Anger and Agony in South Korea After Plane Crash-Lands, Killing 179,” New York Times

“Two crew members were rescued alive from the tail of the burning plane, but over the ensuing hours on Sunday, grim news trickled out to anxious relatives at Muan International Airport, in southwestern South Korea. By late Sunday, all of the remaining 179 people onboard were confirmed dead, making the crash of the plane — flown by the popular low-cost carrier Jeju Air — the worst aviation disaster involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades and the worst ever on South Korean soil.”

“Azerbaijan Blames Russia for Plane Crash and Rebukes Kremlin,” New York Times

“The Embraer 190 airliner was traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny in southern Russia on Wednesday, but was diverted from its path after encountering interference with its navigation systems and impact with external objects, according to Azerbaijan’s government. The plane crashed in Kazakhstan soon after, resulting in the deaths of 38 of the 67 people on board, more than half of them Azerbaijani citizens.

“Azerbaijani and U.S. officials, as well as international aviation experts, had said they believed that the plane was most likely shot down by a Russian air defense missile. Moscow, however, has not admitted responsibility.”

“Some Justice Department Lawyers Look for Protection—and the Exits,” Wall Street Journal

“Dozens of prosecutors and agents have worked on cases that potentially make them vulnerable, such as special counsel investigations of Trump, prosecutions of hundreds of his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and contempt-of-Congress cases that sent top Trump associates Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro to prison this year.

“Their concerns are part of a broader wave of uncertainty that has swept through the Justice Department since Trump’s re-election, as he and his appointees openly float plans to fire career employees and bring the department more closely under presidential control.”

“How a Telecom Bureaucrat Learned to Speak Trump,” the Journal

“Carr espouses a combative vision for how the FCC, long known for mundane functions such as auctioning radio spectrum, should use its power. He wrote the conservative policy agenda Project 2025’s chapter on the agency, and his approach is infused with a sense that tech and media companies have been unduly harsh toward conservatives.”

…

“Carr has also said the commission should combat what he says is censorship of conservative views by tech platforms and rethink how it interprets a telecom-law provision commonly known as Section 230 that gives platforms legal protection to carry content posted by users.”

“Cybersecurity firm's Chrome extension hijacked to steal users' data,” the Verge

“At least five Chrome extensions were compromised in a coordinated attack where a threat actor injected code that steals sensitive information from users. One attack was disclosed by Cyberhaven, a data loss prevention company that alerted its customers of a breach on December 24 after a successful phishing attack on an administrator account for the Google Chrome store.”

“China’s C919 jet faces key test as it spreads its wings to 10 major cities,” South China Morning Post

“The aircraft, seen as a symbol of China’s achievements in tech and advanced manufacturing, also hit a new milestone on Thursday, carrying a total of 1 million passengers since its maiden commercial flight in May 2023. The rapid roll-out will be a key test for the C919 as it strives to prove itself a reliable alternative to Boeing and Airbus’ single-aisle models, with more frequent flights posing challenges from deployment to maintenance.”

“Air Canada Tosses its Max Plan,” Cranky Flier

“Seven years ago, Air Canada’s then-president Ben Smith promised investors a new plan for the airline’s narrowbody fleet focusing on just two aircraft types: the Boeing 737 Max, and what was then called the Bombardier CS300. Smith wanted older narrowbodies out of mainline, promising that the new aircraft (with snazzy interiors and in-seat screens) would have considerably lower CASM and make the airline competitive on trunk routes from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

“But Air Canada reversed half of that decision last week at its 2024 investor day, pledging to send all mainline Maxes to Rouge, which soon will have an all-737 fleet. The new commercial team is betting that Rouge can do more with the aircraft’s range and efficiency than the core airline. Meanwhile, Air Canada will take some of Rouge’s A320s (as a stop-gap measure) and A321s (for the long term), while heavily investing in the the Airbus A220-300.”

“Andy Cohen Gets His Face (and the Rest of Him) in Wax,” New Yorker

“There’s no rigid formula for who gets a wax replica in one of the twenty-three Tussauds around the world. (Kylie Jenner has two; Margot Robbie, none.) Tussaud herself used attendance as the metric, a value system that has endured. Last year, around ten million people visited a Madame Tussauds location. Only the very, very busy—or the dead—don’t come in for a formal sitting. Jimmy Fallon and Beyoncé sat. The Queen sat nine times.”