Boeing workers fight for fair pay … on beach vacation

“When Boeing fails…. BET ON SPORTS! #STRIKE #IAM751 #NFL #MLB,” a striking Boeing employee recently posted on Facebook, geotagging a three-star hotel and casino in Washington State.

Posts in a private Facebook group purporting to belong to the striking workers of Boeing reveal that, amid the first Boeing employee strike in almost two decades, the workers of the world are uniting on vacation.

The group, called “Boeing Employees (Lazy B),” contains a multitude of posts from striking members on vacation in Mexico, gambling in casinos and on fishing trips.

“On strike in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Mexico. #iam751 #boeing,” another post reads. A third reads, “strike fishing again.” The posts, unreported until now, were sent by a member of the group to The Spectator, and threaten to undermine an otherwise sympathetic audience to a group of striking employees who have no shortage of leverage as their management suffers PR blow after blow. 

It’s no secret that Boeing has had its fair share of PR nightmares recently, between its spacecraft’s malfunctioning thrusters, its 737 Max 9 jets losing parts mid-flight and the strange saga of its now-dead whistleblower. 

While gambling on sports while on strike is far from unheard of, the optics of the striking employees skipping out on fixing the precise Boeing products that are giving travelers pause aren’t great — beyond that, the strike has the potential to jeopardize both the American military and those of our allies.

A prolonged strike could threaten planned shipments of P-8 Poseidons aircrafts to the Royal Australian Air Force and the US Navy; additionally, Israel is waiting for KC-46 aerial refueling tankers, which will almost surely be late, threatening a key US ally as adversaries like Iran probe for any possible weaknesses. 

If the temporary resolution of the International Longshoremen’s Association strike tells us anything, it’s that the public has minimal patience for striking workers who threaten their holiday travel and gift-buying schedule.

Nancy Mace’s technical difficulties

On the surface, Hurricane Helene and child genital mutilation have absolutely nothing to do with each other. If you’re Congresswoman Nancy Mace, however, that’s not necessarily the case.

This week, the South Carolina Republican’s office blasted out an email with the subject line “Rep. Nancy Mace Statement on Hurricane Helene,” but ended up sending the email with information about how “CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY MACE INTRODUCES THE ‘CHILDHOOD GENITAL MUTILATION PREVENTION ACT.’”

It appears that Mace’s predilection for using unapproved software didn’t help her or her team catch the error; it also appears that her sky-high staff turnover hasn’t done wonders for her comms operation. Her entire office has turned over since last year — which is rare, even by Capitol Hill standards.

Fortunately for the congresswoman, she can continue leaking suggestive texts sent to her by CNN panelists.

So: how does one reconcile Hurricane Helene with child genital mutilation? Maybe Mace was simply trying to swap the storm’s gender.

Reliable divorces

Taylor Lorenz — a journalist known for questions about her age, her unrelenting belief in the existence of “long-Covid,” and her strange habit of messaging teenagers — announced with much fanfare that she is quitting “legacy media” to spend more time engaging with Gen-Z influencers and writing about them on her Substack.

The New York Times and Daily Beast alumna’s departure from the Washington Post comes after the outlet launched an internal probe into a post from Lorenz in which she appeared to call President Joe Biden a “war criminal.” Lorenz, who frequently covers the dangers of so-called misinformation, claimed the screenshot was doctored before claiming that she never “denied it was real.”

Despite lamenting that the legacy media won’t allow her to be buddy-buddy with her subjects, Lorenz announced her move in a lengthy interview with the Hollywood Reporter, an outlet founded almost 100 years ago. Paid subscriptions start at as little as $7 a month, roughly one-third the price she paid for a now-infamous avocado toast in 2018, but interested parties can offer to pay up to $1,000 a month. 

Current titles on her site include, with no sense of irony, “Stop letting right wing influencers cosplay as ‘independent’ media,” “The panic over kids and smartphones has gone too far,” and “Why are kids crying to AI-generated cat videos?”

It is not immediately clear how Lorenz’s Substack coverage will differ from what the Post allowed her to print. The forty-something journalist infamously doxxed Chaya Raichik, the creator of the @LibsofTikTok account, in the pages of the Post. 

Doxxing her subjects has been a passion for Lorenz, who outed the girls who ran a popular Instagram account as being the kids of right-wing commentator Pamela Geller. Her reporting immediately got a planned show for the girls canceled, which she gleefully reported on as well.

Lorenz’s exit from legacy media isn’t giving too many in that esteemed realm pause. “It all finally caught up with her,” a fellow journalist noted to Cockburn.

Hurricane victims offered abortion assistance

Fear not, victims of Hurricane Helene. Even though FEMA is only offering affected families $750 per household — far below the weekly $350 received by “newcomers” in New York City — you can get your needs met elsewhere. Specifically, those of you who are dying to kill your unborn child amid the turmoil of losing your friends and family members, your house and your entire community, are in luck.

The 19th, a nonprofit news organization focused on women’s and LGBTQ+ stories, put together a “list of resources for those looking to donate” in response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction. 

“We focused on mutual aid groups and organizations on the ground that are helping LGBTQ+ people and people seeking an abortion,” Jessica Kutz, a “gender and climate reporter” for the outlet, wrote on X.

Incredulous reactions to the tweet poured in. 

“Because in the midst of a natural disaster, protections for trans people and the murder of infants in the womb is always of primary import!” one user snarked. 

“You fucking ghoul,” another asserted. 

One response with nearly 5,000 likes said, “So, hol’ up… People are homeless and without food, but your big priority is … keeping the Planned Parenthood clinic open? What the hell is actually wrong with you?” 

Finally, another wondered, “Yo I’m pro choice but what in the actual fuck is wrong with you?” 

Overheard at Axios

It’s another edition of Cockburn’s “Overheard at Axios” series, where well-placed spies report from everyone’s love-to-hate-it DC rag!

Last week, two female Axios employees were overheard discussing a friend’s recent birth and the uproar that ensued when one of the ladies told the new mother that the baby was ugly.

The other female staffer congratulated her pal on her bravery in telling the truth about the unattractive newborn: “Never lose that sense of honesty; it’s just so important.”