I generally avoid from any political discussion here, as that is just a recipe for trouble, as often people get heated, take discussion as personal attacks, etc. so I am gonna try to be as objective and clear here.
It is a fact that the current US administration has started dismantling and undermining several authorities responsible for implementing safety regulations and enforcing them.
Before replying, hear me out very clearly: I don’t want to hear if you agree or don’t with these actions, I don’t want to hear about your opinion on how this makes other people feel, and I especially I don’t want to see anyone questioning or ignoring the boundaries set by other folks in the thread. If someone says, for eg, that they feel unsafe flying for whatever reason, they feel unsafe, period. Any discussion should part from this starting point and provide constructive suggestions, etc.
If you don’t think can follow this request, close this post, please just close it.
Sorry for being a bit annoying with this, but from how out of hand other topics on this forum have gotten, I felt like I should preface the thread by saying this. I don’t expect it to be a big issue with the post being in the Committers category, and primarily focusing on the core team — though other users are free to join the discussion.
Facing the current situation in the US, I don’t feel traveling within the US, especially flying, putting into question making my previously very strong intention of attending PyCon US. From talking with other community members, there seems to be a significant amount of people either planning to skip the conference this year, and/or at least heavily considering it.
Prompt by this situation, I’d like to try to find an alternative to flying directly to US, especially since for international travelers that usually requires one or more layovers.
The most reasonable alternative seems to be to fly to Toronto and drive down to Pittsburgh, but that can be a bit expensive, and tiring if done just by myself.
So, my questions to you are:
- Is anyone in the same position as me?
- Is anyone based in CA planning to drive to Pittsburgh for the conference?
If there’s someone already planning to make this trip, or something similar, and would be willing to take a +1, feel free to let me know, either here or privately.
If there are more people on the same boat as me, perhaps we could try to organize a group to do the trip. If, by some chance, the quantity of people in this situation is large enough, we could even maybe try to organize transportation directly with the PSF?
That said, does anyone have other suggestions? Are there any other reasonable alternatives you think I am missing to consider?
If some folks prefer discussing privately, feel free to reach out via email (lains@riseup.net), discord (@FFY00), or BlueSky (MissingClara.bsky.social).