Two possibilities come to mind... 1 - The CS rep has been instructed to do this. Scary, but corporate leaders can be assholes and wield lots of power within their orgs, so doesn't seem completely unlikely to me.

2 - The CS was just a dick.

Frankly, given the behavior of various SuperMegaCorps over the past few decades, I'm going with #1.

Your points are valid. And there probably are plenty of Americans who needed the correction. But still.

I think that's almost a universal truth, the must/should/will is all just shades of gray.

How does this work when many/most US hospitals operate as non-profits? Quick search shows the for-profits have operating margins nearly triple your figures. And the non-profits are beholden to the community to provide some level of "freebies" to maintain their status, right? IE, they're aren't really all operating on razor thin margins.

Have to - I know it's the right thing to do, and if I don't, there's a good chance I'll get caught and fined heavily enough that it's not worth the risk.

Need to - rules are to be followed, and the alternative is massive fines and/or jail, plus disobeying might make me a social pariah.

Will - there is no alternative. (but I'm not sure that's actually true for Asia writ large).

The airframes would have be heavier, beefed up to take that load. FWIW, the Navy version of the F-35 weighs ~5000lbs more than the AF version's 29000 dry weight (granted, that's also additional folding wing changes). It also costs about 20% more per unit.

Anyways, it's all certainly possible. Just impractical without a real need.

But catapult launch ballistic passenger gliders would be pretty cool.

But, as a general thing? I don't see it happening. There's a TON of complexity in a catapult system.

Plus, the amount of spilled champagne in first class is going to ruin a lot of suits and blouses. Can't have that. ;)

Not saying a parachute couldn't be designed to work, but there isn't an existing option today.

But a way worse record when compared to the fixed-wing C-130.

Both comparisons are per 100k flight hours.

Some of that risk can possibly be mitigated with a rotating engine, but fixed wing, similar to the Bell Valor. Possibly, because AFAIK, the Valor is the only plane like this and it's just a PoC.

And Nike for the shoes on my feet.

Looking at El Paso, since it was the first city mentioned in the article, the entire city is about 25% immigrants (>200,000 people). And of that, more that 75% is here legally. So, 150,000 give or take, that according to your first comment, shouldn't be allowed to do business because there are illegals nearby?

I'm British by birth (well, UAE, but they don't do jus soli), but been in the US since kindergarten and naturalized since college.

Not remotely the same thing as Ukraine's army being stuck in a war they cannot win. Or whatever other not-quite-apt comparisons you want to make.

Like any other system, the purpose is what the system actually does. Especially a system that's been around for decades.

We let them in, so they can work our fields and process our meat and whatever else. We shouldn't be surprised they want to buy cars, own business, and do other completely normal things.