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.