Tuesday, April 11, 2017

News I'm Following Today

I'm not much of a newshound at the moment, mostly due to being severely depressed about the state of the world, but here are some things going on that won't leave my mind, so I thought I'd blog about them.

1) Russia. Yeah, I still think Trump and Putin are in bed, and I firmly believe all the bluster about Syria - including the utterly ineffectual bombing - is cover for them making sweetheart deals with each other. Your mileage may vary.

2) North Korea. Trump is provoking them, and I don't know what will happen. All I know is that it isn't good.

3) United Airlines is evil. That's my opinion, of course, but I have no reason to doubt it. I've heard horror story after horror story, and experienced my own horrible trip on one of their planes. It's hard to not see the video of a man being dragged off a United flight - after he'd been seated and even though he had a valid ticket. I'm not a big fan of Jimmy Kimmel, but he gets it right (YouTube link).

3a) The people bringing up the victim's past and making a big deal out of it are scum.

3b) Two industries I know of use "overbooking" as an excuse - the hotel industry and the airline industry. I don't think either industry does enough to compensate customers who are victims of this practice. While I wouldn't go so far as to ban it outright, I think it should really hurt them if they overbook and as a result are unable to deliver what they've sold. And I mean really hurt by 5 to 10 times as much as the cost of the ticket/hotel room, in cash, not some worthless vouchers.

4) Sean Spicer is... really really bad at his job. And that's literally the nicest thing I can say about him. I don't want to say he's a Holocaust denying alt-right moron, because I'm not really sure he is. But anyone who makes this sort of gaffe should NOT be the White House press secretary. Heck, he should probably look for a job that isn't in communications.

5) San Bernardino. I don't have much to say on this one, but it's in my heart and I'm crying inside for the victims and their families.

6) Ardian Syaf, an artist for Marvel Comics, hid hateful anti-Jew and anti-Christian messages in his artwork. He's been fired. It's upsetting that someone would use X-Men, a comic about acceptance and the struggle over hatred, to promote such hatred. But I think Syaf himself, based on comments he's made, does not understand why people would find his messages hateful. Gail Simone graciously laid out her own experiences working with him. I'm sorry for everyone involved - though Syaf really did bring it upon himself.

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