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Pigs will fly : The Case against flag flying airlines
Sabina : A ghost of National Airlines passed
Malaysia Airlines is cutting 30% of it’s staff in an attempt to be viable business. It is getting a $2B bailout from the Malaysian Government and will de-list itself from the stock exchange. It will focus on becoming a regional routes which sounds like a smart business move: There is no need to fly everywhere and travelers accept changing at hubs.
The two disasaters were a factor in that it led to reduced number of passengers booking on them.
Khazanah [the investment arm of the Malaysian government]said there would be “significant changes to leadership” at Malaysia Airlines and that it would consider “global aviation industry executives” in its search for new talent. The current chief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, will remain as chief until July.
The government said it would carry out the restructuring by creating a new company with a “right-sized work force and work practices and contracts.” Malaysia Airlines has been burdened in recent years by contracts with politically connected suppliers.
The burden — and the risk — of the restructuring plan appears to fall heavily on the airline’s creditors. They will be offered a swap of the airline’s debt for shares of the new company, according to the plan. Among the airline’s largest bondholders is the government employee pension fund, known as Kumpulan Wang Persaraan, which, according to Friday’s announcement, agreed to swap 750 million ringgit, or about $240 million, for ordinary shares. The move is likely to be controversial because investors have long assumed that the debts of the state-controlled airline were guaranteed by the government.
Affirmative Distraction: Police need to watch the road just like the rest of us
Roads-2-Roam is appalled at the literal ‘get out of jail’ laws that allow US police officers to kill civilians by distracted driving and face no prosecution to the same laws of the road that apply to the rest of us.
We advocate Police need a clear policy to ‘Protect and Serve’ instead of ‘Text and Swerve’
The recent case which got our attention was a Los Angeles County Deputy, Andrew Wood, who was texting into his “Mobile Digital Computer” while driving. This caused Deputy Wood to drift into a bike lane and rear end cyclist Milton Olin Jr, a former A&M Records and Napster executive. [See DailyNew article] “Peace” Officer Wood was apparently responding back to a colleague who was asking if a fire investigation at a high school had been completed. Investigation into the incident showed that “Peace” officer Woods had been recently texting his wife from his private phone but supposedly, it had not contributed to any of Wood’s inattention. What is worse is Wood’s statement where he claimed “Olin had drifted out of the bike lane” which later was found out to be untrue. Per the DailyNews, this is how one of LA County’s finest got off: Continue reading..
ABSOLUT beginners : 2 girls going wild get a fighter escort
Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone
Dahlings, two young women caused so much mayhem with their drunken antics aboard a Sunwig flight to Cuba, that it returned back to its origin of Toronto. It was viewed as being so serious, that NORAD requested fighter escorts.
Milana Muzikante, 26, and Lilia Ratmanski, 25, allegedly drank a “significant quantity” of alcohol in the airplane bathroom and lit a cigarette, which triggered the on-board smoke detector, said Sunwing spokeswoman Janine Champson.
The two women then allegedly got into a physical fight with each other and threatened the aircraft.
Muzikante and Ratmanski are charged with smoking on an aircraft, endangering the safety of an aircraft, mischief over $5,000, mischief endangering life and uttering threats. Endangering the safety of an aircraft, the most severe of the charges, carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Their arrest marks the third time in just over two years the airline has needed a fighter jet escort.
As for the fighter planes bravely patrolling the skies against these chain smoking, duty free swilling ladettes:
Canada’s NORAD sector in Winnipeg put in a call to the Royal Canadian Air Force base in Bagotville, Quebec and ordered them to scramble two CF-18 fighter jets, according to NORAD spokesperson Wright Erubie.
“Just out of an abundance of caution, the NORAD jets were launched and monitored the situation from the air,” said NORAD spokesperson U.S. army Capt. Ruth Castro.
The CF-18s met the Sunwing jet at the Canadian border and did not enter American air space. The escort lasted just four minutes.
A friend in KNEED : flight rage after knee defender used
The Knee Defender
Dahlings, two passengers got into a pretty big kerfuffle aboard a United flight from Newark to Denver.
What is the cause of the war? A drunken brawl by lovers – no. A heated discussion about politics or religion – nope. It was something more horrific: The male passenger in row 12 prevented the woman passenger in row 11 reclining her seat.
The man from 12 fought dirty from the outset, where he used a gadget called a “Knee Defender” that clipped onto the meal tray of the airline seat in front, preventing the seat from reclining.
After row 11 appealed this breach of travel protocol to the United Nations Flight Attendant, Mr Knee defender refused orders to withdraw by the FA. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Miss Recliner blew it by dealing a counter dirty blow by throwing her water over Mr Knee Defender. Continue reading..
Fight Club Class
Jet2 Logo: Unfriendly low passengers !
Dahlings, budget airline Jet2.com decided to have a promotion in Derby, England and give out free tickets.
What a marvelous idea.
Except the marvelous idea crashed and burned as it quickly turned into a mass brawl of people “desperately” fighting each other to get such free tickets. From the BBC news:
People in Derby chased young women dressed in full body spandex suits who were giving out the Jet2 tickets.
There were reports of some of the women being rugby tackled to the ground, crying in distress, and members of the public being injured.
The screen capture of the facebook comments in the BBC article are hilarious.
I see that Jet2 even flies to Palma de Mallorca, the airport for Magaluf. Perfect location after that little show in Derby. (see our previous post on Magaluf).
I will tell henceforth tell my scribe to write to Stephem Heapny, the CEO and propose that Jet2 alter their slogan to “Jet2: The Lord of the Flies”.
Ciao for now, Cleo.
Hot Tamales : custom made
Houston Customs captured man smuggling cocaine filled Tamales
A 46 year old man from El Salvator was caught with cocaine filled Tamales in Houston George Bush Airport.
Way to go Amigo: you smuggle something illegal hidden inside something that needs to be declared to customs when you bring inside the US?
From the 200 Tamales he had in his luggage, 9 were filled with Cocaine.
They would have questioned the heck out of you regardless of the Cocaine or not.
FYI: here is link that describes in details foods you can/cannot bring into the country. Any food item made from a meat product is a big red flag.
The Medallion Millionaire Heist: Behind the curtain of the Big Taxi cab racket
Screen capture of Boston Globe‘s Excellent investigation into the problems with Boston’s $1B Taxi industry. A MUST READ.
I wanted to understand a bit more about Taxis and the medallion system. Boston Globe has one of the best pieces of investigative journalism that I have seen. Please take the time out to read it.
Driven to the Edge :
The Globe Spotlight Team spent nine months examining Boston’s $1 billion taxi industry.
My jaw dropped when I read how the Medallion system works in Boston.I have no reason to think it is different for the other large cities in the US.
The owner of Boston Cab – Edward Tutunjian- owns 20% of the 1825 medallions. Boston cab, then leases each cab out on a daily basis where it costs that driver, $120 per day. It is up to that driver to make over $120 or take a loss. The owner of the Medallion gets a steady stream of income regardless and doesn’t even drive the cab.
Barack Ubera
There is something different about President Obama: A new hair style?
Since it was announced the other day that President Obama’s former campaign manager, David Plouffe, has gone to work for Uber, I have wondered what he was going to do exactly.
NPR asked same question today.” Why does Uber need one of the best political strategists in the country?”
It JUST occured to me.
David Plouffe is the ideal man for the job where he has a track record of taking us on one big ride in 2008. A veteran with hands on driving experience for promising one thing but delivering something else.
Pot Heads heading down Interstate, head straight to Jail
Gloomberg Bloomberg reports about the problems of residents of states where it legal to puff ‘Mary Jane’, subsequently get pulled over in states where it is not legal and busted for being in possession.
The American MSM journalistic style is to open an article using the story of a real life person to garner empathy. Personally I find this insulting as if educated people cannot grasp facts without having a touchy freely pre-amble about some soccer mom/ soccer dad/mom and pop/ pop and mom/ an American dream linkage/ an underdog/ someone who was bullied/ someone who died and came back to life etc / to just get to the point.
The Bloomberg report is such an article so let’s find out who is the main ‘character’ that they have written around. Friends, Roam’ns, Countrymen, I would like you to meet Mr. B.J. Patel: Continue reading..
Rome with a view
View of Rome from Janiculum hill, located just over the Tiber river as featured on BBC Travel site: Copyright Amanda Ruggeri.
Salve: My nephew Augustus, showed me some great pictures from BBC Travel of my former stomping ground Rome, taken by Amanda Ruggeri. Love ’em ‘Augie – it brings back memories.
Unfortunately, you can see on the right MY eternal city has been tarnished by a monstrosity of new building from 19th century ‘Altare della Patria’ also known as Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument to that fat turd, Victor Emmanuel II). Before that it was perfectly good Capitoline hill area.
Apparently Queen Vicky claimed the epithet Father of the Fatherland (In Italian: Padre della Patria). That Cheeky bastardo. That is MY – Julius Caesar – heirloom but they didn’t build a modern monument to me did they?
Even though I left my heart in Rome. Literally. With a few holes in it. In the forum to be exact, what did I get? A ruin with some flippin’ flowers every day. There is no pleasing some people.
On the bright side, I have a month, a salad and a Las Vegas casino named after me.