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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
August 5, 2021
Spirit Airlines, which has canceled more than 1,300 flights since Sunday as it grapples with a series of issues including tech outages and staffing shortages, on Wednesday said cancellations should ease in the days to come as it reboots its operation.
That day doesn't appear to be Thursday.
The Florida-based carrier has already canceled 381 Thursday flights or 48% of its scheduled flights, as of 9:40 a.m. EDT, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
It will be the fifth consecutive day of frustration for passengers on the budget airline and comes as a busy summer travel weekend looms. Last weekend, the Transportation Security Administration reported screening a pandemic-era record number of individuals. .........(more)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/08/05/why-is-spirit-airlines-canceling-flights/5494487001/
Spirit Airlines' new motto: We'll extend your vacation... whether or not you want to.
Spirit Airlines bedlam, day five: Airline cancels nearly half of Thursday flightsSpirit Airlines, which has canceled more than 1,300 flights since Sunday as it grapples with a series of issues including tech outages and staffing shortages, on Wednesday said cancellations should ease in the days to come as it reboots its operation.
That day doesn't appear to be Thursday.
The Florida-based carrier has already canceled 381 Thursday flights or 48% of its scheduled flights, as of 9:40 a.m. EDT, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
It will be the fifth consecutive day of frustration for passengers on the budget airline and comes as a busy summer travel weekend looms. Last weekend, the Transportation Security Administration reported screening a pandemic-era record number of individuals. .........(more)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/08/05/why-is-spirit-airlines-canceling-flights/5494487001/
August 5, 2021
(CNN) — Spirit Airlines apologized on Wednesday for disruptions that have upended its flight schedule for three days and counting.
"The last three days were extremely difficult for our Guests and Team Members, and for that we sincerely apologize," the airline said in a statement. "We continue to work around the clock to get our Guests where they need to be."
As of mid-day Wednesday, more than 50% of the airline's schedule -- nearly 350 flights -- had already been canceled, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware, marking a fourth consecutive day of severe disruptions.
The low-cost carrier canceled 61% of its schedule on Tuesday and another 20% of its schedule was delayed, FlightAware reported. ..............(more)
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/spirit-airlines-flight-disruptions-apology/index.html
Maybe Spirit's passengers will make it home for the holidays.....
(CNN) — Spirit Airlines apologized on Wednesday for disruptions that have upended its flight schedule for three days and counting.
"The last three days were extremely difficult for our Guests and Team Members, and for that we sincerely apologize," the airline said in a statement. "We continue to work around the clock to get our Guests where they need to be."
As of mid-day Wednesday, more than 50% of the airline's schedule -- nearly 350 flights -- had already been canceled, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware, marking a fourth consecutive day of severe disruptions.
The low-cost carrier canceled 61% of its schedule on Tuesday and another 20% of its schedule was delayed, FlightAware reported. ..............(more)
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/spirit-airlines-flight-disruptions-apology/index.html
August 5, 2021
&t=16s
A trip to the bathroom took a terrifying turn for one Florida man after he found a spiny-tailed iguana in his toilet.
Kurt Hilberth told CBS affiliate WFOR that he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth on July 24 when he spotted the disturbing sight out of the corner of his eye.
"It was so big that it was not submerged completely in the water," Hilberth recalled to the outlet. "And it's got that tail that whips back and forth."
The Hollywood resident said he initially decided to take matters into his own hands by dressing in protective gear and attempting to pull the iguana from the toilet bowl by himself, WFOR reported. ...........(more)
https://people.com/pets/florida-man-finds-iguana-in-bathroom-toilet/
Florida Man Goes to Brush Teeth -- And Finds Iguana in His Bathroom Toilet
&t=16s
A trip to the bathroom took a terrifying turn for one Florida man after he found a spiny-tailed iguana in his toilet.
Kurt Hilberth told CBS affiliate WFOR that he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth on July 24 when he spotted the disturbing sight out of the corner of his eye.
"It was so big that it was not submerged completely in the water," Hilberth recalled to the outlet. "And it's got that tail that whips back and forth."
The Hollywood resident said he initially decided to take matters into his own hands by dressing in protective gear and attempting to pull the iguana from the toilet bowl by himself, WFOR reported. ...........(more)
https://people.com/pets/florida-man-finds-iguana-in-bathroom-toilet/
August 4, 2021
A toxic invasive species that can be deadly if eaten is spreading, wrecking havoc across parks, flower beds and backyard gardens.
Poison hemlock, which resembles Queen Anne’s Lace, can be spotted in highway right-of-ways, along fences and on the edges of farm fields. In just the last year, however, the plant that was originally brought to the U.S. from Europe has migrated near more populated areas, which has experts concerned.
“That movement is a bit scary to me because this plant is very toxic and it’s more of an opportunity for kids to play with it and pets to eat it,” said Dan Shaver with Indiana's Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It is not a plant you want around your home or in your local park.”
The toxic biennial can be found in nearly every state in the U.S., according to the National Park Service.
This is the time of year that poison hemlock spreads and grows its footprint. Each plant produces a lot of seeds — up to 30,000 — that ripen between late June and August after it flowers. Those seeds are easily scattered during late summer mowing, Shaver said. ....................(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/03/poison-hemlock-us-parks-gardens-beware-toxic-plant/5465780001/
Toxic invasive poison hemlock is spreading into US parks and backyard gardens
A toxic invasive species that can be deadly if eaten is spreading, wrecking havoc across parks, flower beds and backyard gardens.
Poison hemlock, which resembles Queen Anne’s Lace, can be spotted in highway right-of-ways, along fences and on the edges of farm fields. In just the last year, however, the plant that was originally brought to the U.S. from Europe has migrated near more populated areas, which has experts concerned.
“That movement is a bit scary to me because this plant is very toxic and it’s more of an opportunity for kids to play with it and pets to eat it,” said Dan Shaver with Indiana's Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It is not a plant you want around your home or in your local park.”
The toxic biennial can be found in nearly every state in the U.S., according to the National Park Service.
This is the time of year that poison hemlock spreads and grows its footprint. Each plant produces a lot of seeds — up to 30,000 — that ripen between late June and August after it flowers. Those seeds are easily scattered during late summer mowing, Shaver said. ....................(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/03/poison-hemlock-us-parks-gardens-beware-toxic-plant/5465780001/
August 3, 2021
Republicans are increasingly ready for violence: We look away at our peril
In the wake of Jan. 6, public opinion surveys suggest the threat is real — and the time for blithe denial is over
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED AUGUST 3, 2021 9:36AM
(Salon) Today's Republicans appear to have a bottomless appetite for violence and destruction. It's important to understand that Donald Trump did not create that appetite — although he fed it, encouraged it and shares it.
In his capacity as political cult leader, Trump exemplifies what psychologists describe as "the dark triad" of human behavior: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. His followers idolize and worship him, and all too often seek to imitate his antisocial and pathological behavior.
Ultimately, the relationship between Trumpism, the Republican Party and the American body politic as a whole is akin to a parasitic infection. The infection feeds off the host. The host spreads the infection. Other organisms are infected. The cycle continues, and the parasite lives on. In that sense, today's Republican Party, with its embrace of neofascism, constitutes a public health emergency.
A new nationwide public opinion survey shows just how deeply Republican voters now accept political violence as a legitimate option. Business Insider offers these details:
....(snip)....
These findings about Republicans and political violence are consistent with the warnings of many leading mental health experts, who have said since Donald Trump first emerged as a presidential candidate that he and his movement represent a dire threat to American democracy. This is true both because of Trump's obvious mental pathologies — in this case the repeated encouragement of violence — and because of his proven ability to sway members of the public to share his worldview. ...........(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/08/03/republicans-are-increasingly-ready-for-violence-we-look-away-at-our-peril/
Republicans are increasingly ready for violence: We look away at our peril
Republicans are increasingly ready for violence: We look away at our peril
In the wake of Jan. 6, public opinion surveys suggest the threat is real — and the time for blithe denial is over
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED AUGUST 3, 2021 9:36AM
(Salon) Today's Republicans appear to have a bottomless appetite for violence and destruction. It's important to understand that Donald Trump did not create that appetite — although he fed it, encouraged it and shares it.
In his capacity as political cult leader, Trump exemplifies what psychologists describe as "the dark triad" of human behavior: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. His followers idolize and worship him, and all too often seek to imitate his antisocial and pathological behavior.
Ultimately, the relationship between Trumpism, the Republican Party and the American body politic as a whole is akin to a parasitic infection. The infection feeds off the host. The host spreads the infection. Other organisms are infected. The cycle continues, and the parasite lives on. In that sense, today's Republican Party, with its embrace of neofascism, constitutes a public health emergency.
A new nationwide public opinion survey shows just how deeply Republican voters now accept political violence as a legitimate option. Business Insider offers these details:
Less than a year after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol, nearly half of Republican voters (47%) say that "a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands," per a new nationwide survey by George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.
Only about 29% of Americans agreed with this statement on some level, the poll found, including just 9% of Democrats. And 49% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
The poll also found that a majority of Republicans (55%) say "the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast we may have to use force to save it." About 15% of Democrats agreed with this statement, but more Americans disagreed (46%) than agreed (34%).
More Republicans (27%) than Democrats (18%) said that "strong leaders sometimes have to bend the rules in order to get things done."
....(snip)....
These findings about Republicans and political violence are consistent with the warnings of many leading mental health experts, who have said since Donald Trump first emerged as a presidential candidate that he and his movement represent a dire threat to American democracy. This is true both because of Trump's obvious mental pathologies — in this case the repeated encouragement of violence — and because of his proven ability to sway members of the public to share his worldview. ...........(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/08/03/republicans-are-increasingly-ready-for-violence-we-look-away-at-our-peril/
August 2, 2021
(HuffPost). Donald Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is almost broke and Trump doesn’t seem to care all that much, sources have told The New York Times.
Giuliani is currently struggling under a mountain of legal fees as he attempts to fend off a major federal investigation and answer a $1.3 billion lawsuit. Trump, meanwhile, isn’t pitching in a dime of the millions he has raised in his ongoing battle against a legitimate election, according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman. ........(more)
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_61074e92e4b0d3b5897efc5c
Rudy Giuliani Is Reportedly Almost Broke And Trump's Shutting Him Out
(HuffPost). Donald Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is almost broke and Trump doesn’t seem to care all that much, sources have told The New York Times.
Giuliani is currently struggling under a mountain of legal fees as he attempts to fend off a major federal investigation and answer a $1.3 billion lawsuit. Trump, meanwhile, isn’t pitching in a dime of the millions he has raised in his ongoing battle against a legitimate election, according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman. ........(more)
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_61074e92e4b0d3b5897efc5c
August 2, 2021
A brown bear attacked a group of campers, eating one and forcing the others to flee barefoot into the mountains
As a group of hikers on a camping trip unpacked their belongings, one was attacked and killed by a brown bear in Russia.
The group was hiking in the popular Ergaki national park in southern central Russia when the tragedy occurred on July 27.
Krasnoyarsk regional news service reports that the men scaled a wall of rocks once they saw the "drooling" bear - but one man, Yevenggny Starkov, 42, lagged behind.
One of the survivors told the local news that they watched their friend get devoured before fleeing further into the forest after the bear caught sight of them. ...........(more)
https://news.yahoo.com/brown-bear-attacked-group-campers-085357536.html
A brown bear attacked a group of campers, eating one and forcing the others to flee barefoot.....
A brown bear attacked a group of campers, eating one and forcing the others to flee barefoot into the mountains
As a group of hikers on a camping trip unpacked their belongings, one was attacked and killed by a brown bear in Russia.
The group was hiking in the popular Ergaki national park in southern central Russia when the tragedy occurred on July 27.
Krasnoyarsk regional news service reports that the men scaled a wall of rocks once they saw the "drooling" bear - but one man, Yevenggny Starkov, 42, lagged behind.
One of the survivors told the local news that they watched their friend get devoured before fleeing further into the forest after the bear caught sight of them. ...........(more)
https://news.yahoo.com/brown-bear-attacked-group-campers-085357536.html
August 1, 2021
(Guardian UK) Rudy Giuliani, under federal investigation over his dealings in Ukraine, has insisted he committed no crime while working as Donald Trump’s personal attorney.
“I committed no crime,” the former New York mayor told NBC, apparently unprompted during an interview about the forthcoming 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, conducted at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in downtown Manhattan.
“And if you think I did commit a crime, you’re probably really stupid because you don’t know who I am.”
Giuliani’s attempts to mine dirt on Joe Biden saw Trump impeached – and acquitted – for a first time.
Now under investigation himself, Giuliani has also seen his law licenses suspended in New York and Washington DC, for his part in propagating Trump’s lies about electoral fraud. ........(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/31/rudy-giuliani-donald-trump-attorney
Rudy Giuliani says 'I committed no crime' while working for Trump
(Guardian UK) Rudy Giuliani, under federal investigation over his dealings in Ukraine, has insisted he committed no crime while working as Donald Trump’s personal attorney.
“I committed no crime,” the former New York mayor told NBC, apparently unprompted during an interview about the forthcoming 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, conducted at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in downtown Manhattan.
“And if you think I did commit a crime, you’re probably really stupid because you don’t know who I am.”
Giuliani’s attempts to mine dirt on Joe Biden saw Trump impeached – and acquitted – for a first time.
Now under investigation himself, Giuliani has also seen his law licenses suspended in New York and Washington DC, for his part in propagating Trump’s lies about electoral fraud. ........(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/31/rudy-giuliani-donald-trump-attorney
August 1, 2021
Why Are We Expected to Love Our Jobs?
For decades, Americans have been told they should love their jobs. But is this a healthy relationship?
ALEX GALLO-BROWN
(YES! Magazine) The first job I ever had was peddling $2.50 slices of pepperoni pizza to rowdy concertgoers and other summer festival attendees. I was 14, and it was fun: Pop songs clamored from a distant stage; free slices were endless; my hand occasionally brushed against the fingers of teenage girls. When customers tossed their quarters into the can near the register, we’d yell, “Tip in the jar!” and everybody in the booth would cheer. I loved those moments in a way that I did not fully understand. I love the memory of them still.
My boss was a brusque Italian American (on both sides, not just half, like me), originally from Queens, and a neighbor in the residential area of Seattle where I grew up. He was funny and sarcastic and tough and seemed to genuinely like me. I felt that it was a privilege to ride around with him in his rickety green truck, the two of us weaving through the inclines of Capitol Hill or South Lake Union, a cardboard box of cold cheese pizza on the dashboard between us, a wad of dollar bills stuffed into the front pocket of my tomato sauce-stained jeans.
I don’t quite remember when the relationship between us began to change. It might have been when I showed up to work one gray morning and there were hardly any customers at all. Rather than pay me my hourly wage of $7.75 to stand behind an empty counter, he told me to “bop around for a little while” and come back when there were more customers. When I received a paycheck that paid me for several hours less than the hours I had actually worked, he explained, “You weren’t working hard enough.” Another time, he quoted me one hourly wage but paid me a lesser rate. These are classic examples of wage theft, but at the time the only thing I understood was that if I wanted to keep working in the pizza booth, I had to play by his rules.
....(snip)....
This attitude toward work, I understood, placed me out of the mainstream, in part because, as Jaffe’s Work Won’t Love You Back (Bold Type Books, 2021) demonstrates, it contradicted the cultural messaging that Americans had been fed for the past 40 years. That you should not only do but also love your job is an idea so ubiquitous as to seem incontrovertible. But its genesis, Jaffe shows us, is actually quite new, and its dissemination has been destructive for workers and the working class as a whole.
Jaffe’s history goes something like this: Capitalism of every era requires a spiritual or material ethic to justify its existence both to the people whose labor it exploits and to anyone else who might object to the inequalities that it produces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Protestant ethic of work equated labor with Christian virtue. “One worked to be good,” Jaffe writes, “not to be happy.” As capitalism plunged into crisis, however, and more and more workers organized, the Protestant work ethic gave way to what Jaffe calls the “Fordist bargain.” While work might have been unpleasant, the better wages and benefits made the deal worth taking. You might have even been able to afford to purchase the products you’d spent all day assembling. .............(more)
https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/solving-plastic/2021/05/10/why-are-we-expected-to-love-our-jobs
Why Are We Expected to Love Our Jobs?
Why Are We Expected to Love Our Jobs?
For decades, Americans have been told they should love their jobs. But is this a healthy relationship?
ALEX GALLO-BROWN
(YES! Magazine) The first job I ever had was peddling $2.50 slices of pepperoni pizza to rowdy concertgoers and other summer festival attendees. I was 14, and it was fun: Pop songs clamored from a distant stage; free slices were endless; my hand occasionally brushed against the fingers of teenage girls. When customers tossed their quarters into the can near the register, we’d yell, “Tip in the jar!” and everybody in the booth would cheer. I loved those moments in a way that I did not fully understand. I love the memory of them still.
My boss was a brusque Italian American (on both sides, not just half, like me), originally from Queens, and a neighbor in the residential area of Seattle where I grew up. He was funny and sarcastic and tough and seemed to genuinely like me. I felt that it was a privilege to ride around with him in his rickety green truck, the two of us weaving through the inclines of Capitol Hill or South Lake Union, a cardboard box of cold cheese pizza on the dashboard between us, a wad of dollar bills stuffed into the front pocket of my tomato sauce-stained jeans.
I don’t quite remember when the relationship between us began to change. It might have been when I showed up to work one gray morning and there were hardly any customers at all. Rather than pay me my hourly wage of $7.75 to stand behind an empty counter, he told me to “bop around for a little while” and come back when there were more customers. When I received a paycheck that paid me for several hours less than the hours I had actually worked, he explained, “You weren’t working hard enough.” Another time, he quoted me one hourly wage but paid me a lesser rate. These are classic examples of wage theft, but at the time the only thing I understood was that if I wanted to keep working in the pizza booth, I had to play by his rules.
....(snip)....
This attitude toward work, I understood, placed me out of the mainstream, in part because, as Jaffe’s Work Won’t Love You Back (Bold Type Books, 2021) demonstrates, it contradicted the cultural messaging that Americans had been fed for the past 40 years. That you should not only do but also love your job is an idea so ubiquitous as to seem incontrovertible. But its genesis, Jaffe shows us, is actually quite new, and its dissemination has been destructive for workers and the working class as a whole.
Jaffe’s history goes something like this: Capitalism of every era requires a spiritual or material ethic to justify its existence both to the people whose labor it exploits and to anyone else who might object to the inequalities that it produces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Protestant ethic of work equated labor with Christian virtue. “One worked to be good,” Jaffe writes, “not to be happy.” As capitalism plunged into crisis, however, and more and more workers organized, the Protestant work ethic gave way to what Jaffe calls the “Fordist bargain.” While work might have been unpleasant, the better wages and benefits made the deal worth taking. You might have even been able to afford to purchase the products you’d spent all day assembling. .............(more)
https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/solving-plastic/2021/05/10/why-are-we-expected-to-love-our-jobs
August 1, 2021
"Kraken" lawyer Sidney Powell blasted Fox News on Saturday during an interview on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's media venture.
Powell lashed out at the network on "Lindell TV" after MyPillow yanked its ads from Fox News in a dispute over the network refusing to run ads pushing the debunked conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. In reality, the contest was decisively won by Joe Biden.
Powell, who is facing legal sanctions for her efforts to overturn the election, raised the level of the rhetoric during her appearance on Lindell's podcast.
"Fox has become part of the propaganda arm of the Democrat Socialist Communist Party, just like all the other mainstream media outlets are," Powell argued. .......(more)
https://www.rawstory.com/democrat-socialist-communist-party/
Sidney Powell, mental health hazmat site
"Kraken" lawyer Sidney Powell blasted Fox News on Saturday during an interview on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's media venture.
Powell lashed out at the network on "Lindell TV" after MyPillow yanked its ads from Fox News in a dispute over the network refusing to run ads pushing the debunked conspiracy theory that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. In reality, the contest was decisively won by Joe Biden.
Powell, who is facing legal sanctions for her efforts to overturn the election, raised the level of the rhetoric during her appearance on Lindell's podcast.
"Fox has become part of the propaganda arm of the Democrat Socialist Communist Party, just like all the other mainstream media outlets are," Powell argued. .......(more)
https://www.rawstory.com/democrat-socialist-communist-party/
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