The Boeing Company has come a long way since 1916, when Bill Boeing began building airplanes in his Seattle barn. Looking to the future, the company is hopeful that its 737 MAX will soon be certified to fly again. The aircraft has been grounded since March 2019, after two crashes killed 346 passengers.
Boeing has been accused of withholding information from the F.A.A. during the 737 MAX certification process and the F.A.A. accused of not carrying out its regulatory duties when it originally okayed the aircraft.
“The devices and platforms that made Silicon Valley famous were created… by entrepreneurs who risked their investors’ capital, not their lives. It’s not really an underdog story…”
Some parts of the country, mostly in the South, are agonizing over monuments erected to honor and celebrate the Confederacy and its treasonous heroes. Some of that some are taking direct action, removing statues, most of which were put up in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Their purpose was to deliver a message to former slaves and their offspring that Reconstruction was over and Jim Crow ruled.
Meanwhile, out west, the San Jose City Council is pondering a proposal to install a monument in a city park celebrating the impact Silicon Valley has had on the world, if not on ethnic nor gender employment diversity. If the proposal passes an international competition will ensue for design of a suitably-grandiose sculpture.
The leader of the drive thinks $150 million is a reasonable amount for Silicon Valley’s monument to itself. Others are less than enthusiastic.
David Horsey, editorial cartoonist and political gadfly does not mince words:
“But the technological revolution has not been completely beneficial to civilized life. Hackers working for foreign powers threaten our security and democracy. Internet scammers and criminals steal our money and our identities. Social media distract us, mislead us and intensify outrage, division and extremism. Online pornography has opened a new frontier of misogyny and exploitation to any child who can log onto a computer.”
Back in the day when major cities had competing daily newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer employed an editorial cartoonist who twice won the Pulitzer Prize for his work. David Horsey was so honored in 1999 and 2003. The P-I, Seattle’s oldest newspaper, quit publishing its print edition in 2009. It has been an on-line publication since.
Horsey headed south and went to work for the Los Angeles Times in 2011. His cartoons are accompanied by his political commentary. His work is syndicated to 200 publications.
As one would expect, our new president is a rich source of material. Here is his latest, editorializing on the cost to taxpayers for golf outings.
