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Sean Duffy, the new transportation secretary, is facing his first major crisis just hours after his swearing-in. Duffy, who was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday, quickly emerged as a public face of the federal government’s response to the deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, the closest airport to Washington, D.C. An Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members Wednesday night while the plane was landing, sending it careening into the frigid Potomac River. All onboard are feared dead in what is shaping up to be the deadliest U.S. air crash in decades. Our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy his second day on the job when that happened. Thats a rough one, Trump said as they appeared together during a White House briefing Thursday. Great gentleman. Just started. Its not your fault,” he later said. Here are some things to know about Duffy: He was on scene at the airport and by Trump’s side at the White House Duffy appeared alongside Washington, D.C.’s mayor and other local officials at airport briefings overnight and early Thursday, representing the administration. And he joined Trump in the White House briefing room Thursday, where the new president offered prayers to the victims and lamented the tragedy, but also made a series of politically charged accusations that he acknowledged were not based on fact. Duffy began his remarks by complimenting Trump, saying his leadership has been remarkable during this crisis.” And he assured victims’ loved ones that he was committed to getting to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible. While Duffy did not explicitly echo Trumps claims that diversity hiring and lower standards were somehow to blame for the tragedy it is still unclear exactly what happened to cause the crash – he also did not refute them. When we deal with safety, we can only accept the best and the brightest in positions of safety that impact the lives of our loved ones, our family members, Duffy said. We are going to take responsibility at the Department of Transportation and the FAA, to make sure we have the reforms that have been dictated by President Trump in place to make sure that these mistakes do not happen again.” He’s a former reality TV star, lumberjack and congressman from Wisconsin A former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, Duffy’s résumé includes stints as a lumberjack athlete, reality TV star, prosecutor and Fox News host. He was featured on MTVs The Real World: Boston in 1997 and met his his wife, Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of MTVs Road Rules: All Stars in 1998. Duffy later worked as a special prosecutor and the district attorney of Ashland County in northern Wisconsin. He won election to Congress as part of the tea party wave in 2010. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who succeeded Duffy in Congress, said he first knew of Duffy when he was a lumberjack in the 1990s before either of them entered politics. Hes got a big job ahead of him here, Tiffany said. Its jumping right into the frying pan with a situation like this. An underdog who served nine years When he first ran for Congress, Duffy was considered an underdog. But he attracted national attention with his campaign ads, which featured him dramatically chopping wood while donning a red flannel shirt. He told voters he came from a long line of lumberjacks and would bring his axe to Washington. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years. He was member of the Financial Services Committee and chair of the subcommittee on insurance and housing. Fox News defender After leaving Congress in 2019, citing the need to care for his growing family, Duffy became a contributor to Fox News and one of Trumps most visible defenders on cable television. He served as co-host of The Bottom Line on Fox Business before being picked for the new administration. He was one of several Fox personalities that Trump chose to fill his Cabinet, including Pete Hegseth, the new defense secretary. A father to nine Duffy has nine children, the youngest of whom was born with a heart condition. In announcing his pick, Trump noted that Sean knows how important it is for families to be able to travel safely, and with peace of mind. Because of his large family, Duffy will have empathy with the relatives of crash victims, said Mark Graul, a longtime Republican operative in Wisconsin who has known Duffy for more than 25 years. When you have the size of family he has, empathy is part of the process there, Graul said. Hes going to want to bring certainty to everyone who is hurting from this. Graul said Duffy is an incredibly decent person and very approachable, which will aid him as he navigates this crash. His family is the center of his universe and more than most politicians he cares a great deal about being successful, Graul said. He doesnt want to just do things to get attention. He likes having success. A sprawling agency The Transportation Department oversees the nations complex and aging transportation system, including its highways, railroads and airspace. It sets safety standards for trains, cars and trucks. The department regulates the airline industry through the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been grappling with a shortage of air traffic controllers. The agency also includes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates automakers and sets fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. In his statement announcing the pick, Trump had said Duffy would prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding Americas highways, tunnels, bridges and airports” and said he would “make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers. DEI refers to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which Trump has worked to bar through federal action since returning to office. In his first act after his swearing-in, Duffy rolled back fuel mileage standards put in place by the Biden administration. His confirmation hearing During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Duffy had promised to scrutinize Boeing s safety issues and restore global confidence in the beleaguered company, as well as to hire more air traffic controllers amid a national shortage. (The plane involved in Wednesday night’s collision was a CRJ-700 manufactured by Canada-based Bombadier.) Duffy also said he would cut DEI programs at the agency and create federal rules for self-driving cars instead of leaving that to a patchwork of state regulations, a key priority of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is running Trump’s government efficiency effort. Duffy assured lawmakers that he would not interfere in ongoing agency investigations into Musks electric car company over the safety of Tesla vehicles. He was approved by a bipartisan 77-22 vote. Jill Colvin, Associated Press Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
Has anyone checked in on Hawk Tuah girl? When are we getting a new Talk Tuah episode? Were starving for more Talk Tuah, one X user posted yesterday. Where is hawk tuah girl. Is she safe. Is she alright, wrote another. Hailey Welch, better known as the “hawk tuah” girl, has been radio silent online since the end of 2024. That was when her cryptocurrency bombed, leaving her with a lawsuit and a lot of angry fans. Welchs last post on Instagram, where she has 2.6 million followers, was five weeks ago, her last X post was December 20, and the last episode of the Talk Tuah Podcast aired December 3. Ironically enough, it was titled How To Avoid Getting Cancelled. Welch shot to viral fame when she was interviewed by TimmandDeeTV in Nashville, Tennessee, last year, and responded to one of their questions with the now iconic “hawk tuah” catchphrase. The 22-year-old then parlayed her 15 minutes of fame into a business empire, launching her own merchandise, a successful podcast, and a Gen Z targeted dating app called Pookie Tools. She was everywhere. Then she got involved with cryptocurrency. In early December, Welch announced she would be releasing her own cryptocurrency memecoin called $HAWK, telling Fortune that the effort wasnt just a cash grab. $HAWK token was publicized heavily and quickly rose to a $490 million market cap when launched on December 4. It tanked just as quickly, and its value plunged $440 million in just 20 minutes. Due to how quickly the Hawk Tuah memecoin plummeted in value, some investors claimed Haliey Welch carried out a rug pull (wherein the creator will hype and pump a new token through social media and just when it reaches an all time high in value theyll abandon the project, with all the investors’ funds). This is one of the most miserable, horrible launches Ive ever seen in my life. Ive been tracing it on chain for a while. You guys generated over $1M in fees while yall fans got rug-pulled, said YouTube investigator CoffeeZilla. This is the worst tokenomics Ive ever seen and it is a scam. Last month, Newsweek reported that investors have filed a lawsuit against the people behind the project. Welch’s last post addressing the controversy, posted December 20, said: “I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected and the broader community. She continued, “I am fully co-operating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted, as well as to help uncover the truth, hold the responsible parties accountable and resolve this matter.” Underneath the post, one X user wrote, Talk tuah lawyer.
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E-Commerce
American Honda issued a major recall over engine concerns this week. On Wednesday, the company recalled 295,000 vehicles, including Honda and Acura models. In the announcement, Honda said owners of the recalled vehicles need to update the field injection control unit (FI-ECU) software due to the fact that the system could cause the engine to spontaneously malfunction.Honda explained in a news release, “Due to improper programming of the FI-ECU, sudden changes in the throttle could illuminate the check engine light and cause the engine to lose drive power, hesitate and/or stall, increasing the risk of a crash or injury. American Honda self-diagnosed this issue by monitoring telematics information and determined the need to perform the software update of the supplier part.” The company also said that owners of the affected models will receive notice of the issue in the mail by March. They should immediately take their vehicle to an authorized dealership to have the issue remedied, free of charge. The company listed three models impacted by the recall in the release. Those models are: 2023-2025 Honda Pilot, 2022-2025 Acura MDX Type S, and 2021-2025 Acura TLX Type S. “Owners of these vehicles can also determine if their vehicles require repair by visiting www.recalls.honda.com or www.recalls.acura.com, or by calling (888) 234-2138,” the notice said. Last year, Honda recalled more than 750,000 vehicles in the U.S. due to an airbag issue. At the time, the company said a faulty sensor could cause the airbags to inflate even when there is not a crash. In this weeks release, Honda said that, at present, it has “not received any confirmed reports of crashes or injuries related to this issue.”
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E-Commerce
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