Speaking of news related to this thread, the US Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, decided to "lead by example" (or something like that) and fly on an AA 737 Max.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/13/us-t...737-max-8.html
Elaine Chao and her staff flew on a Southwest Airlines 737 Max 8 from Austin, Texas to Washington, D.C. hours after the Transportation Secretary was emphatic in saying her department will ground Max planes if it’s determined they are not safe to fly.
I heard of this on the radio about an hour ago. Both American and Southwest are content to keep flying the MAX (for the time being). I will guess that they have provided some form of formal reasoning to the FAA
et al ... I'd be interested to see what was in those memos.