United's CEO apparently approves of his staff's performance:

As you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/te...ceo-defending-employees/ar-BBzGiwF?li=BBnb7Kz


When our country has gotten to the point where large corporations aren't even apologetic for physically abusing a paying customer, one really has to wonder if we'd be any worse off under a Chinese or Russian run government. It seems like we're getting closer and closer to the final chapters of Animal Farm.

 

OTOH, no matter how bad it is here now, it's worse in other places:


"West African migrants are being bought and sold openly in modern-day slave markets in Libya, survivors have told a UN agency helping them return home.

Trafficked people passing through Libya have previously reported violence, extortion and slave labour. But the new testimony from the International Organization for Migration suggests that the trade in human beings has become so normalised that people are being traded in public."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...n-libyan-slave-markets’/ar-BBzH0t4?li=BBnbfcL

 

United told the Feds 2 years ago that every passenger is guaranteed a seat on the plane when they buy a ticket... except of course when they aren't.

“Including advance-seat-assignment charges among the ‘basic ancillary service’ fees that must be disclosed as part of initial fare displays makes no sense,” the airline wrote to the Department of Transportation. “Every ticket, of course, guarantees a passenger a seat on the plane, with no additional mandatory seat-assignment charges."

Later in the filing, United Airlines expanded on its promise to regulators that it guarantees every ticketed passenger a seat.

“Importantly, every passenger who buys a ticket on a United flight or a flight on any of United’s partners or competitors in the United States will be assigned a seat at no additional charge (though in some cases this will still happen at the gate),” the airline wrote. “Therefore, the rule does not need to prescribe how carriers must disclose charges concerning advance seat assignments because passengers need not purchase this service to receive a seat assignment.”

...

Federal rules do not prohibit airlines from overbooking flights. Despite United's assurance to federal regulators in 2014 that it guarantees seats for all ticketed passengers, the fine print of the airline’s “contract of carriage” agreement on its tickets says the company retains a right to bump passengers off flights for myriad reasons.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...rs-are-guaranteed-seats/ar-BBzJLPS?li=BBnb7Kz

 

Below is a quote from one of the most disturbing "news" articles I've seen in a long time. MSN apparently feels that it's "news" that someone in Oregon lied to his friend on his deathbed, with President Trump being the victim of the ghoulish prank.

I wonder if MSN would have thought it newsworthy if Hillary Clinton was elected and someone in Kentucky whispered to their dying friend that she was thrown in prison?

Seriously, with all the problems the world faces, THIS, gets printed rather than a real news story?


"An Oregon man died "peacefully" after a friend falsely told him that President Trump had been impeached.

Michael Garland Elliot died on April 6, according to his obituary in The Oregonian, and the final words he heard were that the president had been impeached.

Elliot's "ex-wife and best friend" Teresa Elliot shared the false news to bring him comfort in his final moments, according to the obit."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/or...eached/ar-BBzXbI6?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=mailsignout

 

Your fancy Bose headphones are sending what music (and other things) you are listening to to data mining companies. Not just what you are listening to now, but *everything* you've listened to.

Somehow, this makes the "your microwave is spying on you" not sound so nutty after all.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bose-headphones-spies-on-listeners-suit/ar-BBA31gf?li=BBnb7Kz
"A new class-action lawsuit claims high-end headphone company Bose has been tracking and distributing customers' data without telling them.

According to the complaint, filed late Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, the headphone company's Bose Connect app does more than just pair wireless headphones with the music in their devices — it also connects the user's entire listening history with third-party data mining companies.

A person's music and podcast listening history can likely reveal personal and identifying details, the lawsuit says. For example, if a user listens to a Muslim prayer service, it is likely the individual is Muslim, the suit notes. Other potentially revealing information such as sexual orientation or health concerns could also be gleaned from the data, the suit says."

 

No, I think this is different. If I buy something from a gardening site, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold that info to other gardening stores, and if I bought music from Apple, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold that to others. If I bought headphones from Bose and they sold that fact to someone, fine.

But if you buy headphones, you don't expect the headphone company to tell other people what you are listening to. That's like if you buy a Chevy having OnStar track what stores parking lots you park in and how long you stay at each place to someone. Or if you buy a t.v., does the company have the right to record what you watch and sell what you watch to other people?

The difference is that with Apple, they are only giving others information on what you actually bought from them. With Bose, they are giving information that has nothing to do with your purchase. That's different and an invasion of your privacy.

 

This at first seems like good health practice, raising the cost of cigarettes, but I find the unanticipated consequence fascinating. Because of high taxes, over half of all cigarettes smoked in NY *now* are bootlegs, what percentage will it be when the price goes even higher? And this doesn't include people buying cigarettes on the Indian reservations (which are about $2-2.5/pack. Is this really the best way to curb smoking?

After all, being flat out ILLEGAL didn't stop people from smoking marijuana. Why would it stop tobacco smokers?


"NEW YORK — It already is the city that never sleeps — and if Mayor Bill de Blasio has his way it will become the city that never smokes.

De Blasio on Wednesday announced a package of proposed bills that would, among other things, raise the base price of a pack of cigarettes from $10.50 to $13, making New York home to the costliest cigarettes in the country. If the legislation passes, it would join an ongoing campaign by the city to get smokers to quit — a campaign that includes a series of jarring public service announcements that show people dealing with amputations, life with no voicebox, or the last stages of life due to cigarette damage..

But the move also drew attention to another issue in the city — sales of bootleg cigarettes from other states that allow smokers in New York to bypass taxes and buy cigarettes for as little as $7 or $8 a pack. New York State leads the nation when it comes to cigarette smuggling and 55.5% of cigarettes smoked in the state in 2014 came from smuggled sources, according to a study published in January by the non-profit Tax Foundation."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ny...ighest/ar-BBA3zyz?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=mailsignout