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JT Jag posted:The NPR chief's take is pretty lovely too imo, but fitting for the institution Yeah I thought so too, it really does seem like they've earned that moniker of Nice Polite Republicans. It's insane that it's the Huff Post guy who is right in track.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:10 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 05:51 |
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euphronius posted:The most recent nlrb case for independent contractor status is fedex home delivery 361 NLRB no 55 (2014) Now do the test for professional wrestlers
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:11 |
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The sharing economy should be nationalized.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:11 |
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KomradeX posted:Yeah I thought so too, it really does seem like they've earned that moniker of Nice Polite Republicans. It's insane that it's the Huff Post guy who is right in track. Excuse me but if you aren't giving both sides equal weight or if you are *gasp* expressing an opinion! Then you're just biased and unfit to be called a real reporter. As the Daily Show put it 11 years ago: quote:STEWART: Here’s what puzzles me most, Rob. John Kerry’s record in Vietnam is pretty much right there in the official records of the US military, and haven’t [sic] been disputed for 35 years?
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:27 |
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http://www.vice.com/read/watch-kill...e=vicetwitterus This is pretty loving awesome.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:39 |
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I understand that Uber seems to have major issues, but what's the consensus on Airbnb? I've only used it once in Portland and it was a great experience, and the owner had just expanded to two rentals so it must have been going well for him. There was a line item in the bill for the city's hotel tax, so that wasn't being evaded. I know this is a tiny sample size, but overall is Airbnb reasonably ethical and not screwing anyone over?
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:43 |
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Airbnb depends entirely on local municipalities looking the other way wrt application of rental property codes and taxation on rental income.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:45 |
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The vast majority of Airbnb units in cities are owned by slumlords taking advantage of the total lack of regulation on their unlicensed hotels. They've taken something like 40% of units off the rental market in San Francisco. Most Airbnb owners in New York own more than ten units.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:46 |
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Mojo Threepwood posted:I know this is a tiny sample size, but overall is Airbnb reasonably ethical and not screwing anyone over? AirBnB is wreaking havoc on the rental market in most major cities and in many cases listings are outright illegal. They also have at least as scummy a PR operation as Uber. haveblue fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Dec 15, 2015 |
# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:47 |
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Mojo Threepwood posted:I understand that Uber seems to have major issues, but what's the consensus on Airbnb? I've only used it once in Portland and it was a great experience, and the owner had just expanded to two rentals so it must have been going well for him. There was a line item in the bill for the city's hotel tax, so that wasn't being evaded. At best you can say they are, but only indirectly. Typically the idea of landlords taking property off the market to turn them into Airbnb rentals gets brought up most often in cities where the housing stock is already extremely thin (e.g. San Francisco, New York). There's also legitimate concerns of having a hotel in the neighborhood without notifying your neighbors, since more people coming in and out of a neighborhood can be seen as risky in terms of increasing crime and other ordinance violations (being too loud at night, etc.), not to mention the fact that Airbnb doesn't have to abide by the stricter health and safety regulations of hotels. But none of this is all that new. Regular Bed & Breakfasts often end up doing the same thing (but not to this degree). These issues aren't explicitly Airbnb's fault the way Uber can be directly faulted for how they treat their drivers. Airbnb causes problems, yes, but, so far as I'm aware, it doesn't outright screw people over as much (other than leaving them in the lurch if your guests are lovely and destroy your place and initially ignoring regulations to start "disrupting" business before finding out if it's legal). They aren't great by any stretch, but there's a reason people focus on Uber rather than Airbnb.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:50 |
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KomradeX posted:Yeah I thought so too, it really does seem like they've earned that moniker of Nice Polite Republicans. It's insane that it's the Huff Post guy who is right in track. I'm so glad Huff Post aired that and let us know what is really going on.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:50 |
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Luigi Thirty posted:The vast majority of Airbnb units in cities are owned by slumlords taking advantage of the total lack of regulation on their unlicensed hotels. They've taken something like 40% of units off the rental market in San Francisco. Most Airbnb owners in New York own more than ten units. Which I'm sure is an unintended side effect that Airbnb in no way anticipated because they just want to drive the "sharing economy" and not the intended result of technolibertarians undermining regulation and labor practices via "on the internet!"
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:52 |
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haveblue posted:AirBnB is wreaking havoc on the rental market in most major cities and in many cases listings are outright illegal. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/07/airbnb-fined-illegal-tourist-lets-barcelona-catalonia People buy houses/apartments in what are supposed to be residential zones so they can airbnb them full time, bypassing regulations on hotels. People in the houses next to those houses are often not happy at having a constant stream of random, sometimes sketchy strangers revolving-door next to them in what is supposed to be a house in a residential district not a hotel in a business district.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:52 |
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I am assuming that a lot of people doing AirBnB stuff don't have appropriate insurance, so when a loose railing comes off and you break your leg their homeowner's insurance is going to deny any responsibility based on the commercial nature of the use and they won't have any other coverage, leaving the guest suing the owner to try and recover any damages.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:54 |
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Ashcans posted:I am assuming that a lot of people doing AirBnB stuff don't have appropriate insurance, so when a loose railing comes off and you break your leg their homeowner's insurance is going to deny any responsibility based on the commercial nature of the use and they won't have any other coverage, leaving the guest suing the owner to try and recover any damages. There was an article about that recently. Someone used a rope swing on a rental property, it broke and killed someone, Airbnb said "not our property, not our problem!" after a week-long runaround and the homeowner's insurance didn't cover commercial use. I think they eventually got offered a refund. If it were a licensed hotel, the rope swing would have been inspected and either dismantled or repaired.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 17:59 |
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Bed and breakfasts are usually licensed and conform to rental property codes.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:03 |
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Uber also literally just added a newer arbitration clause to their driver agreements that also bans drivers from participating in class action lawsuits, "past, present, or future." The mayor of Seattle did not sign the unanimously approved Uber unionization bill because collective bargaining is too expensive. The city council can override his veto with a 2/3 majority in a second vote in thirty days. Luigi Thirty fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Dec 15, 2015 |
# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:08 |
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In Flint, Mich., there’s so much lead in children’s blood that a state of emergency is declared (What's up with the passive voice, WaPo?)
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:08 |
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euphronius posted:Bed and breakfasts are usually licensed and conform to rental property codes. Also: taxed as a business. Airbnb has successfully lobbied in San Francisco to make it so that the property owners are responsible for paying the city the hoteling tax. Also, Airbnb has refused to turn over their records to the city so that the tax can be enforced.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:09 |
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Luigi Thirty posted:There was an article about that recently. Someone used a rope swing on a rental property, it broke and killed someone, Airbnb said "not our property, not our problem!" after a week-long runaround and the homeowner's insurance didn't cover commercial use. I think they eventually got offered a refund. If it were a licensed hotel, the rope swing would have been inspected and either dismantled or repaired. https://medium.com/matter/living-and-dying-on-airbnb-6bff8d600c04#.rj1vnixjx It's pretty affecting stuff
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:13 |
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haveblue posted:All of those things should be possible with a traditional taxi company and occupational relationship, though, not the sort of "you're bound to the company but the company doesn't have responsibilities to you" grey zone that Uber established. Of course, but in many cases traditional taxis didn't even start offering these things until long after Uber came along and started to take away their business. The taxis here didn't even accept credit cards until 2012 when the city council forced it on them and they still often refused to take them.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:13 |
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Luigi Thirty posted:There was an article about that recently. Someone used a rope swing on a rental property, it broke and killed someone, Airbnb said "not our property, not our problem!" after a week-long runaround and the homeowner's insurance didn't cover commercial use. I think they eventually got offered a refund. If it were a licensed hotel, the rope swing would have been inspected and either dismantled or repaired. Don't Uber and Lyft drivers have the same issue with their car insurance and vehicle registrations? I doubt they re-register their cars as livery or taxi vehicles at the DMV or with their insurance company unless the ride sharing company forces them to. Which they probably don't, because fewer drivers would sign up and these companies are all about skirting regulations to make a buck and sticking the contractor with the consequences if things go bad.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:19 |
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Joementum posted:Also: taxed as a business. Airbnb has successfully lobbied in San Francisco to make it so that the property owners are responsible for paying the city the hoteling tax. Also, Airbnb has refused to turn over their records to the city so that the tax can be enforced. They did it in the most tone deaf passive aggressive manner I've seen. OJ MIST 2 THE DICK fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Dec 15, 2015 |
# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:21 |
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Rhesus Pieces posted:Don't Uber and Lyft drivers have the same issue with their car insurance and vehicle registrations? I doubt they re-register their cars as livery or taxi vehicles at the DMV or with their insurance company unless the ride sharing company forces them to. Which they probably don't, because fewer drivers would sign up and these companies are all about skirting regulations to make a buck and sticking the contractor with the consequences if things go bad. Yeah, that's also correct. If your insurance company finds out you're driving for Uber or Lyft they'll cancel you. If you get in an accident they won't pay out. Uber claims to have their own policies to cover your accidents but good luck ever getting them to pay out or staying on the driver rolls.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:21 |
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Rhesus Pieces posted:Don't Uber and Lyft drivers have the same issue with their car insurance and vehicle registrations? I doubt they re-register their cars as livery or taxi vehicles at the DMV or with their insurance company unless the ride sharing company forces them to. Which they probably don't, because fewer drivers would sign up and these companies are all about skirting regulations to make a buck and sticking the contractor with the consequences if things go bad. As an insurance guy: Yes. Most auto insurance policies expressly forbid personal vehicles being used for taxi services. If the carrier or agent finds out, the driver's hosed. Most get along off the idea of 'I bet I can just lie to the claims guy and they'll never know'.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:24 |
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Jacobin has good article on whether Trump is a fascist and if it matters anyway https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/12/donald-trump-fascism-islamophobia-nativism/ Jacobin posted:Last week, Donald Trump ratcheted up his nativist rhetoric by proposing a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Trump was widely condemned, but despite Ted Cruz’s new lead in Iowa, the candidate has only reached new heights in national polls. 41 percent of Republicans now support him, with Cruz a distant second at 14 percent.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:30 |
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Tempest_56 posted:As an insurance guy: Yes. Most auto insurance policies expressly forbid personal vehicles being used for taxi services. If the carrier or agent finds out, the driver's hosed. Most get along off the idea of 'I bet I can just lie to the claims guy and they'll never know'. If they're caught doing that, though, welcome to insurance fraud town! We've disrupted your ability to move outside these barbed wires.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:32 |
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Trump = Napoleon would be a master counter to the fascism claims. His brand would go through the roof.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:35 |
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Paul MaudDib posted:In Flint, Mich., there’s so much lead in children’s blood that a state of emergency is declared People began complaining about the water being rusty and smelling/tasting foul and feeling horrid and the city selectively tested a few homes that were on newly-replaced pipes and surprisingly found acceptable levels of lead in the water. Any tests of other homes were jerryrigged to produce acceptable results also (letting the water run for up to a half hour before testing it, stuff like that) or just outright lied about. Combine the corrosive water with already aging and underused infrastructure due to the steep population decline thanks to local industry disappearing and the water was a mess. (Personal anecdote: was staying at my grandmother's house over Xmas last year which is in Flint and took a shower in this water. It did something horrible to my hair to the point where it felt dirtier after the shower than before I got in. Went to my sister's just out of town just to shower again in her well water to get the film off and had to wash it like three times). Concerned citizens had to finally go to an EPA guy in Chicago to test the water instead of just being blown off which is when the Superfund levels of lead in the water were discovered (I think the highest was like 10,000 times the legal limit) and then FOIA and such revealed documents that those in charge knew and were actively taking steps to cover it up. It is a total shitshow and I hope to God everyone involved up to Snyder burns for it.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:37 |
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Oracle posted:Yeah, the emergency manager that Governor Snyder appointed decided to use the Flint River (notorious for the last 100+ years for being heavily polluted due to industrial runoff from the automotive industry) as the source of drinking water for the city instead of Lake Huron from a Detroit water company. Cue businesses in Flint paying extra money to relink to the Detroit water because the Flint River water was so corrosive it was loving up their machinery. As a resident of Michigan who's heard about this nonstop for a while, I can't believe they're just declaring a state of emergency now. This deserves to blow up into something much huger than it has been and, like you said, there's a lot of people who should be blamed in the current administration.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:43 |
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Ashcans posted:I am assuming that a lot of people doing AirBnB stuff don't have appropriate insurance, so when a loose railing comes off and you break your leg their homeowner's insurance is going to deny any responsibility based on the commercial nature of the use and they won't have any other coverage, leaving the guest suing the owner to try and recover any damages. This is the other problem I've seen, besides slum lords using it to dodge taxes/regulations. People have some property and think they're gonna turn renting it out on AirBnB into a business, but because it's a legal grey area, there's no process that might teach them at least a thing or two about how to properly run their business. Legitimate business owners can be dumb too but at least the process of incorporating, getting insurance/loans, applying for permits, etc sort of serves to let them know how things should work. AirBnB and the like basically make it so you end up with people who don't have proper insurance, don't use contracts of any kind beyond what AirBnB provides (which doesn't really protect anybody but AirBnB), and just generally have no business conducting this kind of transaction. I actually had an experience where the owner tried to pin a bunch of bogus nonsense about noise and damage and having too many occupants on us and wanted us to pay her a bunch of money. Not only was she full of poo poo on all counts, but even if she wasn't, it turned out: -Her co op did not allow sub-letting/Air BnB, -Even if they did, she did not actually own the unit, but was herself renting it. -She didn't have us sign any kind of contract or agreement laying out deposits or handling of damages or any of that, which AirBnB/VRBO explicitly suggest you do. So even if she was in the right she basically had no actual legal protection or recourse. Hulk Krogan fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Dec 15, 2015 |
# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:44 |
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nachos posted:Trump = Napoleon would be a master counter to the fascism claims. His brand would go through the roof. Trump's supporters have no understanding of history and hate the French for being foreigners. I don't see how that would help his brand.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:45 |
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Oracle posted:River of Require they only drink water from the river until they fix it or die.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:46 |
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I'm totally adding this story to my arsenal. My cold, black heart goes out to the citizens of Flint.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:48 |
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Paul MaudDib posted:In Flint, Mich., there’s so much lead in children’s blood that a state of emergency is declared Quick, someobody defund tha ACA before we have to pay for any mooching children's treatment! Sorry, that's in pretty bad taste.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:50 |
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Where does Trump stand on Airbnb anyway? Maybe he doesn't care because the people who use it are not likely to be his luxury hotel customers. Or are they?
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:50 |
Oracle posted:Yeah, the emergency manager that Governor Snyder appointed decided to use the Flint River (notorious for the last 100+ years for being heavily polluted due to industrial runoff from the automotive industry) as the source of drinking water for the city instead of Lake Huron from a Detroit water company. Cue businesses in Flint paying extra money to relink to the Detroit water because the Flint River water was so corrosive it was loving up their machinery. "I believed in my heart that the water was fine." Oh well looks like that's that and no one is to blame.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:50 |
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euphronius posted:Under any honest application of common independent contractor law uber drivers are clearly employees. IMHO. There are two lawsuits in San Francisco involving Uber and employee misclassification.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:52 |
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There was also a would be AirBnB person who rented out his apartment to someone who threw an orgy at it, and he has since been blacklisted by NYC landlords and is essentially homeless now, lol.
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:55 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 05:51 |
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Fried Chicken posted:It's gone Now on YouTube. https://youtu.be/hrjs1UXC8rU
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# ? Dec 15, 2015 18:56 |