Putin Rejects Immediate Cease-Fire in Ukraine - WSJ

Any pause in fighting at this point would be in Ukraine’s interests, he said, adding that Russia wanted a truce that led “to a lasting peace and the elimination of the root causes” of the war, which he described as a crisis.

That didn’t take long. Good work, everyone! Now we know what Putin wants as a price for peace, the elimination of root causes, like Ukrainian sovereignty. Shouldn’t be too hard to appease that little demand.

Ukraine Turns Table on Russia With Cease-Fire Proposal, but Putin Has Little Incentive to Sign - WSJ

“If Russia says ‘yes’, that’s very good news, and we’ll begin that process and do everything we can to move that process forward,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday. “If they say ‘no,’ it’ll tell us a lot about what their goals are and…what their mindset is.”

This is so naive. Bludgeon your ally, the victim, then hope the aggressor signs on? And when they don’t, what was the point?

Jeanne Shaheen Says She Won’t Run for Re-election, Complicating Democrats’ Path to a Senate Majority - WSJ

In a mid-February poll by Blueprint, a firm affiliated with Democrats, 65% of voters agreed with the statement, “No one has any idea what the Democratic Party stands for anymore, other than opposing Donald Trump.”

It was a winning strategy for 10 years; it worked until it didn’t.

Should be a flashing yellow light for GOP because they’re courting the same problem when DJT leaves the stage.

Misinformation - Indie Microblogging

Perhaps we lose something when everything is moderated at the same level. When everything is sanitized and politically correct.

This is at the heart of Micro.blog’s effort to combine both blog hosting and a social timeline. Each half of the platform has its own purpose and its own requirements for moderation. On the social side, there’s less tolerance for being a jerk or harassing others. On the open web hosting side, there’s more freedom to yell into the void.

My knife collection blogging isn’t going super well. Mostly because I tend to reach for the same sub-set of knives everyday.

New challenge: I’m going to go in sequential order. I’ve already covered #1 and #2, so on to the next!

Southwest CEO: Employees ‘Want’ Assigned Seating, Paid Bags - AirlineGeeks.com

“A lot of the policy changes that we’re making, it’s very clear that our employees want them,” Jordan said.

The excitement was palpable when we laid off all those folks!

“Our employees wanted to move to assigned seating because it clears up the job in the gate of policing boarding and policing pre-boards and those kinds of things,” he stated.

Because Delta, United, and American never have any trouble with people boarding outside of their assigned boarding groups or abusing the pre-boarding system.

Interview with Om Malik - Indie Microblogging

I wrote a piece pointing out that Twitter now is the Fox News of social and Bluesky is probably gonna become MSNBC because like all those people who were on Twitter are gonna go there.

Where do the rest of us go?

There is beauty in order.

Perfect! Nearly 3:00pm and I’ve just finished my tasks to start my work day.

What will I accomplish now?

👨🏻‍💻

Southwest Airlines self-immolated this morning with its press release announcing additional changes coming to their product offering.

The Wall Street Journal reported out the details,

Southwest Airlines plans to start charging for checked bags, a seismic shift that will boost revenue but potentially give its fiercely loyal passengers a reason to shop around.

The cracks at Southwest started to emerge soon after its merger with AirTran. It’s once fun, customer-centric culture fragmented as the cost-conscious AirTran employees were folded into the company without the benefit of years steeping in its culture. They didn’t understand the Southwest mindset, and it showed. Customer service declined, and overall quality started the long slide that brings us to today.

In business, you can either have the best product or the most engaged fans. You can make a lot of money with a small, but reliable customer base. And Southwest did throughout its history except for recent years.

Southwest will never be a big 3 airline, especially with its all-737 fleet and its inability to get to far-flung destinations in a single, cohesive network. They’re largely a domestic player and, as a result, has to differentiate and excel in its core business. Their irreverent culture of fun stood out among airlines; they sought a relationship with their customers, not just a transaction.

The new leadership at Southwest folded to activist investor pressure last year, prioritizing short-term financial gain over long-term company health. The corporate raiders will benefit from the increased economics and will sell out when they hit their profit target, while destroying value and obliterating the brand.

Every sacred cow, in a span of months, has been slaughtered:

The airline has already been whittling away at some of its most distinctive features, last year saying it would ditch open seating and redesign plane cabins to sell some with extra legroom. Its vaunted employee-first culture suffered a body blow last month when the carrier slashed 1,750 corporate jobs in its first mass layoff.

What’s left? Another middling airline, indistinguishable from its competition, with really wacky scheduling, an inconvenient point-to-point network, and mediocre management:

“You cannot be stubborn about change,” Jordan said last summer. “At the same time, we’re going to stick to our values.”

What, exactly, are those values again? Not the best, not the cheapest, not the most fun, not really much of anything.

RIP, LUV.

The Rise and Fall of the ‘Napa Valley of Cannabis’ - WSJ

Every day, patients arrive at the emergency department of the UCHealth’s Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo with conditions brought on by cannabis, said Dr. Karen Randall, who works in the ER. Some are psychotic, a more common condition nationwide since legalization has spread. 

Heartwarming: When This Farmer’s Land Was Repossessed By The Bank, He Started Growing His Crops Inside His Imagination, Where They Could Never Be Taken Away From Him - Clickhole

Daryl now spends his days envisioning waking up at the rooster’s crow and stepping outside into the morning’s brisk spring air to plant perfect row after perfect row of restaurant-grade produce. From there, he goes on to milk his cows and collect giant eggs from his flock of blue ribbon hens, all of them completely safe from the threat of repossession thanks to their secure location inside his mind’s eye.

Reading on the back porch while the sun takes its sweet time setting.

Search And Rescue Team Responds To Call From Injured Hiker Lost Inside Local IKEA - Babylon Bee

“Dave is in great shape, but IKEA is known for being one of the hardest places to get out of. I know he’s ok, but I’m just worried about him.”

Windows open; welcome, spring!

☀️

Oof, noon already.

Entering His A-List Socialite Era: Joe Biden Just Renamed Hunter ‘Parfait' - Clickhole

Biden went to the courthouse and legally changed his son’s name to “Parfait,” a name that reportedly came to him “while eating a parfait.”

How Was I Supposed To Know ‘Business Casual’ Didn’t Include An Authentic 101st Airborne Paratrooper’s Uniform? - Babylon Bee

They say “dress for the job you want,” and you do that just one time, and all of a sudden security is tackling you and yelling, “That guy has a grenade!”

Husband Holds Up ‘False’ Paddle During Argument With Wife - Babylon Bee

As his wife continued nagging him about all his faults, the solitary paddle bobbed up and down at specific moments during her tirade to speak for the silent man who couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Stormy meadow.

U.S. Pauses All Military Aid to Ukraine, White House Says - WSJ

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official said in a statement.

Strong agree. The Ukrainians need to learn a lesson from their peace-loving counterparties who serve mostly peacefully with their North Korean-augmented infantry and Iranian drones striking hospitals and civilian infrastructure.

A senior administration official said all of Trump’s top national security advisers agreed with the decision to pause the aid after several meetings on the issue.

The smartest guys in the room.