"You picked a bad weekend to fly. Over 1,500 flights in the US were cancelled yesterday, and over 1,200 over them have already been cancelled this morning. One of those may have been yours. You're stuck at airport right now, staring up at the Departures board and seeing nothing but red letters. You'd ask the gate agent for help, but that line stretches out the door and all the way to the rental car counter, which itself is now paralyzed by mass crowding."
"You'd call customer service for answers but ... [automated voice] due to unusually high call volume ... the next available agent will be with you in ... eight ... hours. There's a very good chance that your only way home will be in the back of a container truck, sitting alongside Gus Polinski and the Kenosha Kickers for 17 hours as you ride out this unending nightmare. What the fuck is going on? Why isn't our air travel system working at all?"
"The background: the US is currently in the midst of its longest-ever federal government shutdown. Trump and the Republican Party will only agree to a deal to reopen the place if Democrats agree to drastic, inhumane budget cuts to Obamacare. Democrats said no, and so Trump said, OK, well we'll just fuck everyone until you say yes. Hence, Republicans are still fighting the courts to let SNAP payments lapse, forcing millions of Americans to go hungry."
The US is experiencing its longest-ever federal government shutdown, producing widespread travel disruptions and thousands of cancelled flights. Airports are crowded, gate lines and rental counters are paralyzed, and customer-service wait times extend for hours due to high call volumes. Unpaid air-traffic controllers are being required to work without pay while the FAA has ordered a 10 percent reduction of flights across 40 major airports. Republicans conditioned reopening on large Medicaid/Obamacare cuts, and fights over SNAP payments risk further hardship. The flight reductions and understaffed operations are worsening cancellations and delays, leaving travelers stranded.
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