geek tragedy
geek tragedy's JournalUltra rich white male in first class threatened with arrest by United
http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-united-low-priority-passenger-20170412-story.htmlThen, as Fearns tells it, a United employee rushed onto the aircraft and informed him that he had to get off the plane.
“I asked why,” he told me. “They said the flight was overfull.”
Fearns, like the doctor at the center of that viral video from Sunday night, held his ground. He was already on the plane, already seated. He shouldn’t have to disembark.
“That’s when they told me they needed the seat for somebody more important who came at the last minute,” Fearns said. “They said they have a priority list and this other person was higher on the list than me.”
But at least they showed an ultra rich frequent flyer some respect, right?
You couldn’t make this up if you tried.
It shouldn’t make any difference where a passenger is seated or how much he or she paid for their ticket. But you have to admire the sheer chutzpah of United putting the arm on a full-fare, first-class traveler. If there’s anybody whose business you want to safeguard and cultivate, it’s that person.
But at least they tried to make his flight as enjoyable as possible despite the downgrade, right?
A United employee, responding to Fearns’ complaint that he shouldn’t have to miss the flight, compromised by downgrading him to economy class and placing him in the middle seat between a married couple who were in the midst of a nasty fight and refused to be seated next to each other.
Never have I heard of an airline so aggressively contemptuous towards its customers. At least Spirit doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't.
Not racist or classist, just evil in an amazingly stupid way.
United CEO letter to employees: we did nothing wrong!
http://mashable.com/2017/04/10/united-airlines-ceo-staff-memo/#Khl4vou3agqBThis isn't an airline that cares about its customers, and can barely be bothered to pretend to care.
Avoid at all costs.
Steve Bannon Calls Jared Kushner a 'Cuck' and 'Globalist' Behind His Back
Source: The Daily Beast
Donald Trump’s chief strategist Stephen Bannon has called the president’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner a “cuck” and a “globalist” during a time of high tension between the two top aides, several Trump administration officials told The Daily Beast.
The fighting between Kushner and Bannon has been “nonstop” in recent weeks, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s been an “open secret” that Bannon and Kushner often clash “face-to-face,” according to senior officials.
...
"Steve thinks Jared is worse than a Democrat, basically," another official close to Bannon said. "[Steve] has a very specific vision for what he believes, and what he shares [ideologically] with Trump. And he has for a long time now seen [Jared] as a major obstacle to achieving that."
...
The Times also reported that “Bannon’s Svengali-style reputation has chafed on a president who sees himself as the West Wing’s only leading man,” and that “several associates said the president had quietly expressed annoyance over the credit Mr. Bannon had received for setting the agenda—and Mr. Trump was not pleased by the ‘President Bannon’ puppet-master theme promoted by magazines, late-night talk shows and Twitter.”
Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/06/steve-bannon-calls-jared-kushner-a-cuck-and-globalist-behind-his-back.html
We're still in the honeymoon phase of Trump's presidency.
the formula for a transition to single payer is simple: expand Medicare down, expand Medicaid up
Expand Medicare downwards in terms of age eligibility, expand Medicaid up in terms of qualifying income/assets.
That way you get buy in from 55-64 year olds as well as working class voters who resent (fairly or unfairly) poor people getting government healthcare while they don't.
Eventually the two programs will converge.
Trump unhappy Jared Kushner took a powder on the ski slopes as health care bill floundered
Source: CNN
While the rest of his senior staff scrambled all day Thursday and Friday morning to squeeze votes for President Trump's flailing health care package, one person remained notably absent: Jared Kushner.
Along with this wife, Ivanka Trump, another key cog in the president's inner circle, Kushner was on vacation, skiing with family in the posh Colorado town of Aspen. Paparazzi caught Jared and Ivanka taking leisurely strolls, enjoying ice cream cones with their three kids and winding their way down the slopes.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, Trump was fuming. According to a source close to the president, "[Trump] is upset that his son-in-law and senior adviser was not around during this crucial week."
...
Kushner's plan to stay out-of-office this week while the health care package faltered could mean he'll get some of the blame from his father-in-law. Trump is reportedly already pointing fingers at his top staffers for what he considers shoddy support. Or, Kushner could perhaps avoid the entire debacle; the Orthodox Jew typically stays away from work after sundown on Fridays. We've asked the White House if Kushner will be back to work at his office by Monday -- so far, no word.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/24/politics/jared-kushner-aspen-ski-trip-obamacare/index.html
SOMUCHWINNING
Dolt 45 has issued his ultimatum to House Republicans.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-freedom-caucus-health-care-236418Credible threat--his attention span has reached its limits.
I favored Ellison, but if the 'establishment' is a progressive Latino who worked
as a garbage collector to put himself through an Ivy League college, maybe the establishment has been transformed from within.
Netanyahu rejected a regional peace initiative this time last year
Remember when it was the Palestinians who supposedly never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity?
http://theweek.com/speedreads/681229/netanyahu-rejected-regional-peace-initiative-time-last-year
Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that the meeting took place and said in a gathering of Likud ministers that it occurred at his initiation. He did not accept the conditions Kerry proposed because he did not believe he could win approval from his coalition government.
History will "definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity," tweeted Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog in response to the news on Sunday.
Bibi gave the part in bold up so he could keep Herzog out of his coalition.
Top PA negotiator floats single state as US casts doubt on Palestinian independenc
And away we go. Palestinians--the smart ones anyways--have been planning for the post-two-state solution era.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-pa-negotiator-floats-single-state-as-us-casts-doubt-on-palestinian-independence/
“Contrary to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s plan of one state and two systems, apartheid, the only alternative to two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 border is one single secular and democratic state with equal rights for everyone, Christians, Muslims, and Jews, on all of historic Palestine,” Erekat said during a meeting with the speaker of the UK House of Commons, John Bercow, in Ramallah.
Lots of negotiating to be done, starting with what to call the new state.
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