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United Airlines Lost a Billion Dollars This Morning

by MeiPoidevin305 Posted on April 11, 2017

Mother Jones

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The most important story of the past 24 hours—by a mile—is the guy who was dragged off an overbooked United flight yesterday by a security team. The details are still a little sketchy, but the YouTube video is awesome and the guy has an actual scratch on his face. The Chicago PD officer who dragged off the passenger has been suspended, and United’s president has apologized. Luckily for social media, he apologized in kind of a ham-handed way that gave the incident a whole new cycle of snark on Twitter. So far President Trump hasn’t weighed in, but give him time. He might get bored and decide later today to nationalize UAL.

In the meantime, Felix Salmon wants us to believe that this hasn’t hurt United’s stock price. Hah! What a corporate shill he is. Behold the chart below:

That’s about $1 billion in market cap right there. This is the power of Twitter and Facebook, my friends.

On the bright side for UAL, this will probably last only a day or so, sort of like Donald Trump’s random taunts at companies he doesn’t like. Tomorrow some other airline will do something outrageous and we’ll all vow never to fly them ever again. I’m pretty sure most of us have vowed never to fly every airline at some point or another, but since they all suck we don’t have much choice, do we? And they all overbook. And they all ferry their crews around on their own planes. And they all call security if a passenger won’t follow crew orders. This particular passenger just fought back a little more intensely than most. And people with cell phones were around.

Bad luck for United. Really, it could have happened to any of the fine holding companies that control the surly skies of America these days.

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United Airlines Lost a Billion Dollars This Morning

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Please Look At The McDonald’s Twitter Person’s Medical Bracelet

by Toni45Zjtw Posted on March 16, 2017

Mother Jones

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The McDonald’s Twitter account normally tweets about Big Macs and McMuffins and various other McDonald’s related thing, but today it decided to change things up and send a humorously blunt tweet to Donald Trump.

Donald Trump loves McDonald’s so lolololol.

The tweet was later deleted. So what happened here? I have run many a brand twitter account and can say with authority, i don’t really know! The tweet was not a mistake. It uses the royal we and was later pinned to the account. BUt whther it was a hack or a social media manager who just landed a new gig and decided to go out in a blaze of glory, I don’t know.

You, person, should have two factor authentication turned on for all your accounts.

You, brand, should REALLY have two-factor authentication turned on.

Good night and good luck.

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Please Look At The McDonald’s Twitter Person’s Medical Bracelet

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TPC Report: Paul Ryan’s Tax Plan Gives 100% of Its Benefits to the Top 1%

by JuanaBostic Posted on September 17, 2016

Mother Jones

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File this one under “too good to check.” Max Ehrenfreund passes along the latest analysis of Paul Ryan’s tax proposal from the Tax Policy Center and notes that by 2025 it gets a wee bit lopsided:

This is like a parody of Republican tax proposals. In its first year, the top 1 percent start off getting a mere 76 percent of the benefit. But as Table 5 shows, within ten years they get nearly 100 percent of the benefit. Ryan and the congressional Republicans manage this by giving the poor and middle class nothing and actually taking money away from the upper middle class. The only people who benefit are the rich and the really rich.

As for the really, really rich, the top 0.1 percent get an average tax break of $1.4 million, while the rest of us get about $3 trillion in extra federal debt and no long-term change in economic growth. What a deal.

POSTSCRIPT: I should note that for some reason TPC’s numbers don’t add up to 100 percent. This might mean there’s an error in the table. But even if there is, it’s a small one.

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TPC Report: Paul Ryan’s Tax Plan Gives 100% of Its Benefits to the Top 1%

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SFMOMA Is Great, But it Could Be Better

by LenoraSalomons Posted on May 29, 2016

Mother Jones

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Michael O’Hare is delighted with the new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, but he does have a couple of complaints:

What’s not so great, so far: while it’s free for anyone under 19, standard admission is $25. This is very bad, and a big deal: if you spend that much to get in, you are under pressure to try to see too much and stay too long.

….There is only one open evening a week, otherwise it’s 10-5, which is as silly as a theater programming nothing but matinees. Museums have a disagreeable tradition of being for tourists and the unemployed wives of wealthy businessmen. A museum is the ideal place for a first date, and even to meet new people (no pressure, and lots of stuff to talk about); why make it so difficult to go there after work?

On the second point, this is a good example of my habit of being wary of obvious complaints. I’m certain that every art museum executive in the country is aware of this issue, so it’s pretty unlikely it’s happening out of ignorance or malice. There’s probably a very good reason for it. We’d just have to ask. At a guess, that reason is that it’s been tried by lots of museums before and it’s a steady money loser because nobody comes. I’ll also guess that oldsters like Mike and me might be wrong about kids thinking that SFMOMA would make a dandy first date. Just saying.

The first point is a little different. Sure, high admission prices are also an obvious problem, but I’m surprised museums don’t try a theme park solution that was pioneered by, of all companies, Blockbuster. (Well, that’s the first place I encountered it, anyway.) Keep the price at $25, but make every ticket automatically good for three days. My guess is that this would have a minimal effect on revenue, but for those few who’d like to wander back in a day or two instead of conducting a one-day death march, it would be great. There might be issues with people giving away or selling their tickets after visiting for a day, but I’ll bet there’s a tech solution for that. Silicon Valley is only a few miles away, guys. Maybe every ticket includes a photo. If you don’t want your photo taken, then it reverts to a one-day ticket. This might well be worth giving some more thought to.

And if you’ve made it this far, here’s your reward: San Jose Teen’s Glasses Prank at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Goes Viral. Really, you need to click on this. It’s hilarious. A Sokal hoax for the modern art biz.

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SFMOMA Is Great, But it Could Be Better

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Bobby Jindal Really, Really, Really Hates Gay Marriage

by NoelZtvpprmvv Posted on July 3, 2015

Mother Jones

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From The Advocate:

After three courts told him he had to, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal will finally allow his administration to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples today.

….Jindal’s administration argued it’s possible the Supreme Court’s ruling didn’t apply to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where Louisiana had been defending its statewide ban….On Wednesday, the circuit court actually went through the motion of confirming the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over it.

….But Jindal’s administration jumped on that as reason to delay even further. The Fifth Circuit technically sent the case back to the lower, district court where its earlier ruling in favor of the state had to be corrected. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Jindal’s spokesman said no same-sex couple would be recognized until the district court formally reversed itself. And so it did that today.”

I’ve seen several people wondering why Jindal wasted time with this, since he knew perfectly well what the outcome would be. The answer is obvious: He’s trying to position himself as the most tea-partyish, most anti-Obama, most combative conservative in the Republican field. So this is basically brand marketing. Republican voters now know that no one will stand up for traditional values as strongly as Bobby Jindal. Message sent and received.

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Bobby Jindal Really, Really, Really Hates Gay Marriage

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Climate change ruins everything — and now it’s coming for your tea

by MarlaTranter Posted on June 12, 2015

spoiler alert

Climate change ruins everything — and now it’s coming for your tea

By on 12 Jun 2015commentsShare

Have you ever noticed that climate change is ruining everything you love? It seems like every week a new study reveals untold threats to another one of our favorite things. Beer? Drink up while you still can. Wine? It’s getting weirder, not to mention greasier. Coffee? Might want to start cutting back now. If drinks are out, how about a nice walk in the woods? Uh, sure — you have fun being devoured by ticks.

Whatever you’re into — sportsball events, fresh guac, priceless historical sites, steamers, Venice, ice, any of these animals — I’m afraid I have bad news on all counts. And I really, really, REALLY hope you weren’t that into chocolate.

Welcome, friends, to Spoiler Alerts — your source for the latest (heart)breaking climate news. There may be no use crying over spilt milk chocolate, but at least we can cry about it together.

This week, we’re all about to get thirstier, as climate change levels its sights on the world’s second-most popular beverage: tea (water is first, duh). I may live in a coffee town, but in my secret British heart I always yearn for tea time — and now that time is running out. Here’s the story from Quartz:

Early research indicates that tea growing regions could decline in some parts of the world by up to 40-55% in the coming decades and the qualities, particularly for high-end teas, could also change.

…

Planting a tea bush is a decades-long investment—one not easily moved or replaced. That means, to prepare for future changes, farmers and companies need to act—if not now, then soon—if the tea in your mug is going to be there in the future.

And it’s not just the availability of tea that’s in danger — it’s the flavor, too:

In a preview of what’s to come, recent wet monsoon conditions led to a 50% increase in the quantity of tea produced, but a 50% decrease in some of the compounds that give Yunnan teas their distinct flavor, in essence diluting the tea.

You can read the rest of the story here, but I recommend taking it with a stiff upper lip and a nice, hot cuppa … while you still can.

Source:
Tea lovers beware, climate change is threatening your favorite beverage

, Quartz.

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Climate change ruins everything — and now it’s coming for your tea

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Road Funding Isn’t Broken. Why Fix It?

by JarrodLNFcyejkz Posted on January 6, 2015

Mother Jones

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James Pethokoukis is skeptical that even with gasoline prices plunging toward the two-dollar mark, Congress will consider raising the gasoline tax. Me too. But then there’s this:

Of course, another idea — as transportation experts Matthew Kahn and David Levinson wrote in a 2011 report — is to just freeze the gas tax as is and use revenue solely to bolster existing roads and bridges, including the addition of new pricing schemes to reduce congestion. Funding for new capacity would come from a new federal highway bank, which would loan money to states contingent on meeting stringent performance tests and demonstrating ability to repay the loans. Other options include axing the tax completely and letting states fund their own projects or public-private partnerships. How about some fresh, innovative thinking on infrastructure rather than defaulting to the status quo?

There are plenty of places where we could use fresh thinking. But is this really one of them? It’s infrastructure development. The simplest and most straightforward way of doing it is to raise money via taxes and then spend it. Loans aren’t innovative. Dumping it all on the states isn’t innovative. Public-private partnerships aren’t innovative.

In fact, all of this is the opposite of innovative. They’re just Rube Goldberg mechanisms to avoid transparent taxation and spending, something that we already do way too much of via subsidies and tax expenditures. Here’s my idea of innovative:

  1. We figure out how much we want to spend on transportation infrastructure.
  2. We decide which taxes are the fairest, most efficient funding source.
  3. We set tax rates to match (1) and (2).
  4. We spend the money.

That’s clear and transparent. It’s reasonably efficient. It’s an appropriate way to fund public goods. What’s not to like?

Generally speaking, my point here is that just because something is traditional doesn’t mean it’s a dinosaur. We should pick and choose our targets for reform and innovation, not use them merely as buzzwords. If you want to build a road, nothing much has changed over the past century. You just need to raise the money and then break ground. You might want to do more or less of it, or build different kinds of roads, or build roads to different places. But funding them? We already know how to do that. Why muck it up?

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Road Funding Isn’t Broken. Why Fix It?

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Quote of the Day: Obama’s Clean Record Is Evidence of How Corrupt He Really Is

by RosalynNewdegat Posted on December 31, 2014

Mother Jones

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From Jonah Goldberg, explaining the “culture” that causes Hillary Clinton’s supporters to attack 2016 primary opponent Jim Webb even if she hasn’t asked them to:

She’s created an infrastructure. The incentives are in place. The culture exists. It’s a bit analogous to Lois Lerner at the IRS. She didn’t need to be told by the White House to target conservative groups. She simply knew what she had to do.

I guess this is where we are. Even Darrell Issa’s committee report—Darrell Issa’s!—was forced to concede that whatever the IRS did or didn’t do in its targeting of nonprofit political groups, there’s no evidence the White House was involved in any way. This creates a real pickle. What’s a good conservative to do?

Answer: simply declare that the White House was involved—in fact, so deeply involved that there was no need for actual marching orders. The very lack of evidence is the best evidence we have of massive, deep-seated corruption in Obama’s inner circle. Case closed!

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Quote of the Day: Obama’s Clean Record Is Evidence of How Corrupt He Really Is

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Quote of the Day: Hooray For Nerdy Details!

by Elyse Corder Posted on December 27, 2014

Mother Jones

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From Ben Goldacre, author of I Think You’ll Find it’s a Bit More Complicated Than That, a physician and author who debunks health fads and can be thought of as sort of an anti-Dr. Oz:

I think the public want nerdy details more than many in the media realize.

Preach it brother! Interviewer Julia Belluz asked Goldacre if he’d seen any progress over the past decade, and I found his answer pretty interesting:

I think the really big change has been the Internet. What was really frustrating when I first started writing in the Guardian in 2003 was you would see mainstream media journalists and dodgy doctors and scientists speaking with great authority and hopelessly distorting research in a way that was dangerous and scaremongering. There was no way to talk back.

When I started writing the column I felt like I was talking back on behalf of this enormous crowd of disenfranchised nerds and nerdy doctors. Now with blogs, Twitter, and comments under articles, what you can see is everybody can talk back. On top of that, not only can people more easily find a platform to put things right when they’re wrong and also explain how they’re wrong and how to understand science better, but also anybody who is interested in something, who is sufficiently motivated and clueful, can go out and find out about it online. That’s an amazing thing. It wasn’t the case ten to 15 years ago. People now are now much more empowered to fight back against stupid stuff, and to read about interesting stuff.

Given that Dr. Oz and his ilk seem to be at least as popular as ever, I guess I’m not quite as optimistic as Goldacre. The problem is that the internet does help people who are “sufficiently motivated and clueful,” but that’s never been a big part of the population. And sadly, the internet is probably as bad or worse than Dr. Oz for all the people who don’t know how to do even basic searches and don’t have either the background or the savvy to distinguish between good advice and hogwash. Regular readers will recognize this as a version of my theory that “the internet is now a major driver of the growth of cognitive inequality.” Or in simpler terms, “the internet makes dumb people dumber and smart people smarter.”

In fairness, the rest of the interview suggests that Goldacre is pretty well aware that the impact of his writing is fairly limited (“I don’t think you can reason people out of positions they didn’t reason themselves into”), and he shows a nuanced appreciation of exactly when his writing might influence a conversation here and there. The whole thing is a good read.

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Quote of the Day: Hooray For Nerdy Details!

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Republicans Really, Really Want to Send Ground Troops Into Iraq

by 85138uz Posted on September 19, 2014

Mother Jones

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I missed this NYT/CBS poll when it came out a couple of days ago, but a friend pointed it out to me this morning. I don’t think much comment is necessary. It’s pretty easy to see how the fight against ISIS is going to turn into a massive game of Munich-mongering and appeasement-baiting in short order. Yikes.

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Republicans Really, Really Want to Send Ground Troops Into Iraq

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