CainFortea posted:

Biden is gonna veto it since the republicans went against their leadership. Now is not the time to play partisan politics jack!

Vincent Van Goatse posted:

Oh with this white noise nothing matters poo poo

CainFortea posted:

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

Where do african airlines fall on that scale? Assuming above soviet era?

quote:

Blindsided veterans erupted in anger and indignation Thursday after Senate Republicans suddenly tanked a widely supported bipartisan measure that would have expanded medical coverage for millions of combatants exposed to toxic burn pits during their service.

Supporters of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — or PACT Act — overwhelmingly expected the House-passed bill to sail through to the president's desk for signature.

But in a move that shocked and confused veteran groups Wednesday night, 41 Senate Republicans blocked the bill's passage, including 25 who had supported it a month ago.

"We really expected yesterday to be a procedural vote that would go with easy passage," said Jeremy Butler, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit veterans’ organization. "That was the absolute expectation."

Burt posted:

Also from someone who used to commute monthly to Australia from the UK for a living, airlines ranking;

Any Far Eastern > Any Middle Eastern >>>> Any European National >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Any US >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Any Euro budget >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Any ex-sov bloc >>>>>>>> RyanAir

mlmp08 posted:

I know a guy whose sole RyanAir flight was actually a full day bus ride from Scotland to London when either maintenance or crew issues caused them to deplane on the tarmac.

Sacrist65 posted:

Totally not sponsored buzzfeed article:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rebeccakhera/spirit-airlines-review

Notice to you closet bringers and soda sippers, your days are numbered.

People just celebrating our race to the bottom. I can't wait for this type of article on a future healthcare system run out of an old pizza hut where a "Nurse" who got certified in Florida after a 40 hour course zoom calls you to prescribe antibiotics.

"Forcing workers to see you in person is low key ableist, remote healthcare is inclusive, pay extra to have a COLD stethoscope on my chest? NO THANKS."

Arcella posted:

What counts as "Far Eastern" JAL, Korean Air, etc?

Arcella posted:

I think it was on here someone told an anecdote about a friend who flew Spirit, somehow wasn't counted as present, so her return ticket was cancelled. Customer service basically told her to kick rocks and she was stranded. That was enough to keep me away from them for good.

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

Watch the old 9/11 firefighter speeches he gave. Anger was kind of his thing after satire.

mlmp08 posted:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blindsided-veterans-erupt-fury-senate-republicans-suddenly-tank-pact-a-rcna40516

Senate Republicans strike again.

Nick Soapdish posted:

Fry shocked not shocked dot gif

Dead veterans cost no money

facialimpediment posted:

GOOGLE TOWER SEVEN

JET FUEL CAN'T MELT STEEL BEAMS

THEY STOLE THE ELECTION

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1552716060687847425?t=Jmd9hmz7dHD5eMOukzrsYQ&s=19

this is what peak performance looks like (poo poo)

mlmp08 posted:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blindsided-veterans-erupt-fury-senate-republicans-suddenly-tank-pact-a-rcna40516

Senate Republicans strike again.

CBO posted:

The bill would
• Increase disability compensation and expand health care services for a larger group of veterans who were exposed to toxic substances or served in certain locations during their military service
• Increase the number of veterans without service-connected disabilities who can receive health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs
• Require several studies and reports on veterans’ toxic exposures during military service
• Establish a new mandatory appropriation to pay for the costs of health care associated with environmental exposures, expenses incidental to the delivery of that health care, disability claims processing, medical research, information technology programs, and other services associated with environmental exposure
• Reclassify of some discretionary spending under current law as direct spending

Estimated budgetary effects would mainly stem from
• Increased disability compensation and increased health care costs for certain veterans
• Operating costs and administrative costs for processing disability compensation claims and implementing the bill’s other provisions
• Reclassifying some discretionary spending under current law as direct spending

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

Maybe RyanAir really is that bad compared to the others, but I'm not sure y'all are using the Euro budget airlines right. They're not good for long flights, traveling with family, or really doing anything serious. But if you want to gently caress off to somewhere for a long weekend that's within a couple hours on a plane, it's nice to be able to do that for ~$100 - it's a party bus. Don't take a big bag, drop any expectations, you'll still (probably) get there.

Last time I took a Saturday evening EasyJet flight from Barcelona to Nice, most of the plane was pregaming for that evening while the flight attendants were leading party games. Carry-on size limits or limited seat pitch did not come up.

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

Maybe RyanAir really is that bad compared to the others, but I'm not sure y'all are using the Euro budget airlines right. They're not good for long flights, traveling with family, or really doing anything serious. But if you want to gently caress off to somewhere for a long weekend that's within a couple hours on a plane, it's nice to be able to do that for ~$100 - it's a party bus. Don't take a big bag, drop any expectations, you'll still (probably) get there.

Last time I took a Saturday evening EasyJet flight from Barcelona to Nice, most of the plane was pregaming for that evening while the flight attendants were leading party games. Carry-on size limits or limited seat pitch did not come up.

mlmp08 posted:

I know a guy whose sole RyanAir flight was actually a full day bus ride from Scotland to London when either maintenance or crew issues caused them to deplane on the tarmac.

A.o.D. posted:

Depending on the bus, I could find a way to enjoy that.

facialimpediment posted:

Make all jokes here:

https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1552603013663047682?t=6-xniJuy4BKy2mB0doi3-A&s=19

because I've never felt more like cattle when I needed to pay $7 twice just to know my drat seat, can't imagine what it's like in the pandemic-era and now a merged cost-cutting discount megacarrier

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

Maybe RyanAir really is that bad compared to the others, but I'm not sure y'all are using the Euro budget airlines right. They're not good for long flights, traveling with family, or really doing anything serious. But if you want to gently caress off to somewhere for a long weekend that's within a couple hours on a plane, it's nice to be able to do that for ~$100 - it's a party bus. Don't take a big bag, drop any expectations, you'll still (probably) get there.

Last time I took a Saturday evening EasyJet flight from Barcelona to Nice, most of the plane was pregaming for that evening while the flight attendants were leading party games. Carry-on size limits or limited seat pitch did not come up.

SlowBloke posted:

If you fly rather than using trains in continental Europe, you are doing it wrong. Even if you add a few hours of running time, you will spare yourself the airport circus and the business-class equivalents are far cheaper.

Scuffy_1989 posted:

A few years ago we took a flight from Venice to Naples, was really painless, though the security seemed really weak compared to the US, and the announcement that the flight was leaving was very vague.

Was a quick flight though, we took the train up the west coast back to Rome after that.

CainFortea posted:

Holy poo poo they literally called their trap the TRAP.

Scuffy_1989 posted:

A few years ago we took a flight from Venice to Naples, was really painless, though the security seemed really weak compared to the US, and the announcement that the flight was leaving was very vague.

Was a quick flight though, we took the train up the west coast back to Rome after that.

quote:

Atlanta group implicated in Russian influence scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice has connected the Black Hammer Party, a Black-led radical group based in Atlanta, to an alleged Russian plot to sow discord in the United States, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment.

The department announced Friday that Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Russian national with Kremlin connections, was secretly funding fringe political groups in Georgia, Florida and California, directing them to “publish pro-Russian propaganda, as well as other information designed to cause dissention in the United States and to promote secessionist ideologies.”

“Secret foreign government efforts to influence American elections and political groups threaten our democracy by spreading misinformation, distrust and mayhem,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said in a statement. “The department is committed to ensuring U.S. laws protecting transparency in the electoral process and the political system are not undermined through foreign malign influence.”

According to the indictment, Ionov, who lives in Moscow, paid for members of the Black Hammer Party to travel to San Francisco in March to protest Facebook’s censorship of posts supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The influence went so far as to direct Black Hammer members on the designs of signs for the protest.

The group livestreamed the protest on its social media channels and accounts of the protest were carried in Russian media. Ionov even posted his appreciation of the Facebook protest on his own Facebook page.

Ionov is president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) and describes himself as a “human rights activist.” But federal authorities claim he was working with unnamed members of the FSB, the Russian security service that is the successor of the Soviet-era KGB.

The indictment claims Ionov used his organization to recruit dissident groups from the U.S. and encourage them to advocate for secession and to promote Russian talking points.

“Thereafter, Ionov exercised direction and control over these groups on behalf of the FSB,” the indictment claims. “Ionov also monitored and regularly reported on their activities to the FSB.”

Whether independently or under Ionov’s direction, much of the Black Hammer Party’s activities have leaned toward a Russian worldview.

The group and its erratic leader Gazi Kodzo have made criticism of America’s foreign policy regarding the Russian invasion a centerpiece of their recent social media campaigns, calling Ukraine a white supremacist country and backing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for starting the war. The group regularly advocates for the creation of separate homelands for Black and indigenous peoples, and in 2021, the group made a failed attempt to establish a compound in the Colorado Rockies called “Hammer City.”

In addition, Kodzo and the Black Hammer Party have protested against the COVID-19 vaccine, announced an alliance with the far-right Proud Boys, and promoted misinformation about the 2020 presidential election.

The indictment does not name the Black Hammer Party, referring to it as “U.S. Political Group 2.” The Black Hammer group has not been charged in the federal case. However, details included in the indictment, including the March protest at Facebook and the career path of Kodzo, identified in the indictment as “Unindicted Co-Conspirator 5,” reveal the controversial group as the one allegedly under Ionov’s influence.

Another group implicated in the alleged conspiracy is Uhuru Movement, a socialist group based in Tampa, Fla. According to the Tampa Bay Times, federal agents raided several locations there Friday including the movement’s headquarters. Prior to the founding of the Black Hammer Party, Kodzo was secretary general of the Florida-based group until 2018 when he either left or was expelled.

According to the federal authorities, in 2015 Ionov paid for members of the Florida group to travel to Moscow, “and for at least the next seven years, Ionov exercised direction and control over senior members of” the group. The indictment claims that emails sent by senior leaders in the Uhuru Movement acknowledged that Ionov’s organization, AGMR, was “an instrument of (the) Russian government” and that it was “more than likely” that the Kremlin was using AGMR “to utilize forces inside of the U.S. to sew (sic) division inside the United States.” A senior member of Uhuru allegedly wrote that the connection between Ionov and the Russian government did not “disturb us.”

In addition, the indictment claims Ionov used these connections to interfere in local elections in Florida by supporting and consulting in two Uhuru members’ campaigns for local office in 2017 and 2019. Ionov’s involvement in the campaigns allegedly impressed members of the FSB, and one agent of the security force wrote to Ionov that “our election campaign is kind of unique ... are we the first in history?”

Uhuru leaders held a press conference Friday in Florida defending their actions.

“We can have relationships with whoever we want to make this revolution possible,” Eritha “Akile” Cainion said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “We are in support of Russia.”

According to WTSP-TV, Cainion claimed the indictment was part of a “propaganda war being waged against Russia.”

“The U.S. has a hold on what is being propagated about the war on — the defensive war — Russia’s defensive war against Ukraine, against world colonial powers because that’s what’s happening right now,” she said.

The Black Hammer Party has made similar defenses of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last month, the group held a protest at the State Capitol in Atlanta over continued U.S. military aid to Ukraine, linking the money spent to federal efforts to mitigate a national shortage of baby formula and the rising cost of gasoline.

“It’s Biden and his demoncrat party stooges that are doing the damage,” the group wrote on its website following the protest. “So why should we be upset with Russia or side against Russia in this war? We should be upset with how amerikkka is treating its own people instead!”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution attempted to contact members of the Black Hammer Party regarding the indictment but did not receive a reply Friday.

Ionov is accused of influencing a third group in California that promoted secession from the United States. He has been charged with conspiring to have U.S. citizens act as illegal agents for the Russian government and would face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Ionov denied the charges on his Facebook page Friday, accusing the Justice Department of using the indictment to distract from domestic issues.

“Stop looking for enemies everywhere, no one threatens democracy in your country, except those people who infringe on women’s reproductive rights, create unbearable conditions for migrants, and also oppress people on racial grounds!” he wrote. “You are now supplying weapons to Ukraine and other countries, you are interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.”

The connections with Moscow are just the latest troubles for the Black Hammer group.

Last week, Kodzo, whose real name is Augustus Claudius Romain Jr., was arrested and charged with 11 felony counts, including party to the crime of false imprisonment, party to the crime of kidnapping, party to the crime of aggravated assault, criminal street gang activity, criminal conspiracy to commit a felony and aggravated sodomy, following a SWAT standoff outside the group’s communal home in Fayetteville. The standoff ended after police sent a robot into the home and found an 18-year-old man dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Another alleged member of the group, Xavier H. Rushin, 21, was charged in the incident with a misdemeanor and 10 felonies, including kidnapping, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal street gang activity.

Police said they responded to the house after they received an emergency call from inside from someone claiming to be kidnapped. Kodzo and Rushin are in jail in Fayette County on those charges awaiting a bond hearing in Superior Court.

The group routinely has had members arrested, although never for charges this serious. The Black Hammer Party holds regular “church” meetings in Woodruff Park on Sunday where Kodzo and other members proselytize to homeless people, some of whom are recruited to raise money for the group. These loud and usually profane meetings often draw the attention of the Atlanta Police and members of the group have been arrested for minor charges, including violation of the city’s noise ordinance.

facialimpediment posted:

$50B in incentives inbound to make more semiconductors in-country.

Burt posted:

Also from someone who used to commute monthly to Australia from the UK for a living, airlines ranking;

Any Far Eastern > Any Middle Eastern >>>> Any European National >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Any US >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Any Euro budget >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Any ex-sov bloc >>>>>>>> RyanAir