So much weirdness. The box fans inserted into the walls. On Pic 38, the shower faucets are outside of the shower itself. All the ceiling fans. The "conference room" or perhaps church space. In Pic 28, using the carpet as "wallpaper," and similarly in 29, the carpet for the top surface of the half wall. Using PVC pipes as handrails on stairs or in the closets and hanger bars. And it looks like the vehicle in the garage might actually be a hearse!
Good find!
When I was a high school, I had a friend who lived in a very similar house, sans siding mania. My friends and I were there to pick up our friend, but we ended up going inside for like 10min. The house was super long and just had so many room and doors. Didn't get the grand tour or anything. As far as I knew, there were only like 5 or 6 in their family: 2 parents and 3 or 4 kids. But I think other family members lived there, too. It'd be too big for one family, and there was enough stuff that made it look like relatives lived there as well.
I remember thinking, "How do you not get lost in here?" And, "Was this always a house, or was it like a converted apartment or boarding house, like for assisted living?" I never asked because I didn't want to embarrass my friend. The rest of us lived in SFHs or duplexes. Didn't want to put them on the spot or anything.
I suspect Flash Mob is saying that as DOT Secy, Pete could do more. I'll leave it at that; I'm not making any calls on Pete as DOT head.
But Flash also isn't wrong that Pete has got the chops. Personally, I say just make him the spokesperson for everything. Anytime the GOP wants to say something stupid, let Pete respond and rebuke them.
Safe travels!
Still waiting on the reimbursement. It ended up being over $1700. I've been following developments on the Delta subreddit and some people had even higher, eyewatering amounts of expenses, due to traveling with families or being stuck abroad. There was one person who said they were stuck in Scotland and maxed out a credit card for $7500 on last minute airline tickets on another carrier and was of course livid. But a lot of others are reporting being made whole, plus getting compensatory SkyMiles and/or flight credits.
What I would love to come out of this whole thing, now that it's happened twice in 2yrs, is better regulations on the airline industry, particularly with consumer protections. So much of the stress and anxiety was because no one knew if Delta was going to reimburse. Just require it in cases of delays of over 3hrs. If people knew that the airline was going to reimburse ahead of time, they probably wouldn't have spent days in crowded airports, running out of food and diapers for their kids and all that. They can at least be frustrated in basic comfort, with the ability to shower, sleep in a decent bed; a bed, at all! Which helps A LOT. I was a lot more chill about things because I was able to get a hotel. And even if Delta wouldn't pay for it, I could afford it. Not everyone has that privilege.
We'll see.
EDIT: OK so this is actually more complicated than I thought. Parts of what I said originally are wrong. Sorry; let me see if I can correct this.
So that's why these billionaires are asking for this now. Because Khan will probably remain in her chair role beyond the election, until she's replaced. If Harris wins, Hoffman and Diller are expecting Harris and Dems to "make good on their purchase" and to select a new chair. Still ridiculous.
How easy is it for a president to remove a chair of the FTC? Decided to look into this.
FTC commissioners serve 7yr terms. Khan was only appointed and confirmed by the Senate in 2021. So she should be there until 2028, unless she resigns.
Additionally, the FTC is an independent regulatory agency (versus an independent executive agency). So it sorta exists "outside" of the executive branch. In terms of firing commissioners (chair or not), independent regulatory agencies commissioners can't be fired at will:
Presidential attempts to remove independent agency officials have generated most of the important Supreme Court legal opinions in this area.[9] In 1935, the Supreme Court in the case of Humphrey's Executor v. United States decided that although the president had the power to remove officials from agencies that were "an arm or an eye of the executive", it upheld statutory limitations on the president's power to remove officers of administrative bodies that performed quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial functions, such as the Federal Trade Commission.[1]: 142 Presidents normally do have the authority to remove regular executive agency heads at will, but they must meet the statutory requirements for removal of commissioners of independent agencies, such as demonstrating incapacity, neglect of duty, malfeasance, or other good cause.[10]
Source: Wikipedia.
So there is some due process there. The president can't just demand a commissioner of these kinds of agencies, like the FTC, to resign. I guess, a president could technically demand it (as it happened in this case that got to SCOTUS), but the commissioner is under no obligation to follow through. I'm sure there are legal ways to pressure a commissioner into resigning, and a presidential administration could lie and claim one of those reasons for dismissal. But again, there's at least due process. As far as resigning, Khan doesn't strike me as a kind of person who'd just roll over, especially given who and what the FTC has been going after lately.
All that to say...it seems really stupid for Diller and Hoffman to demand this. Especially so publicly. Aside from the anti-consumer angles, it's not even a slam dunk for a president to dismiss a sitting commissioner of an independent regulatory agency. Plus, this at a time when even Republicans seem to be turning on big business at times (though it's hard to say what Republicans are for or against these days and with whom). Obviously, liberals and many Democrats have been shouting for more business regulation and consumer protections for years, decades, now. So the public is definitely on the side of, well, the public. So why do this so publicly?
I guess just typical billionaires thinking they can throw money around and expect things will happen how they want.
Like HobbitFoot said, she was actually popular at first. I think people liked that folksy charm that she brought ("you betcha!") She has some charisma. Not saying it worked on everybody; I was not a fan, to say the least. But I can see it. And people here always like the idea of their leaders being someone you can have a beer with. Not saying someone couldn't have had a beer with John McCain, but I think with Palin, it was easier to envision.
The idea is that people will be willing to pay a recurring fee to use Alexa if it can do more advanced things, like perform multiple commands without the user having to say "Alexa" repeatedly, be more conversational, and manage smart homes more intuitively. Amazon is considering charging $5 to $10 per month for generative AI Alexa,
I don't know if that's worth $5-10/mo. I use Google Nest products at home, mainly to control lights. And yeah it sometimes annoying to be like, "Hey Google do this...Hey Google, do that...Hey Google, do whatever..." But at that point, I usually just use the Google Home app or a specific IoT app. And that's free.
First off...I'm home! I made it! \o/
Anyway, Public Enemy No.1 this weekend has been Delta. I know several other airlines also suffered from Crowdstrike-induced outages, like United, American, Spirit, and Alaskan (along with probably other airlines across the world). But by Monday, everyone but Delta, seemed to have their shit together. Delta and its subsidiary Endeavor Air were leading cancellations and delays around the world and domestically, by far. You can see on this page cancellations and delays for Tuesday and a few days back. It's crazy for Delta. Though I just realized American had high delays still, too.
My understanding is that Delta -- and probably other airlines...except maybe Spirit because, well, it's Spirit -- will reimburse for "reasonable expenses" for hotel, meals, and ground transportation. Which is great. Because I have at least $1000 of all that. Two Uber rides from the airport on Sunday to a hotel and back to the airport on Tuesday was almost $200 total! However, it gets real dicey with booking a ticket on another carrier, like I and many others ended up doing. That was almost $500 since it was last minute. Delta's policy is to not reimburse for that. Though we'll see how they respond. The US DOT has already opened investigations into Delta.
And while the DOT may not be able to legally require to Delta to pay for customers' tickets from other airlines/busses/trains, the DOT can probably exert a lot of pressure to do the right thing. Maybe the fines will be less if Delta does reimburse. And of course, Delta has a lost a lot, lot, lot of goodwill and reputation in this. In the US, Delta is considered the top, most premium airline. I started using them some after the Southwest meltdown in 2022. "Voting with my wallet" and all that. Yet when it comes down to it, in an emergency, they're no better than Southwest it turns out. Shameful.
I was able to get my unused portion of my Delta ticket refunded back to my credit card. But now we'll see with everything else. Wish me luck.
And good luck and safe travels to anyone else who's still trying to get home or wherever. Things with Delta are looking better for Wednesday, so looks like they should be back to regular operations soon.
Well the extra time on Saturday and Sunday morning was fine. But then it turned into a rolling delay fest for about 10hrs. I was at the airport at like 10am on Sunday, flight was supposed to leave a 1:30p, and it was finally cancelled around 11pm. So I've been here for an extra two days, without much other than my laptop, phone, and 1 extra pair of clothes that I always bring on my carry-on (my checked baggage made it home Sunday night/Monday morning, go figure).
But at least I was able to find a reasonably priced hotel. And a ticket out on another airline, which I'm boarding in about 10min.
Delta is going to be paying me back a lot of money...I'm up to about $1500 in unexpected travel expenses.
OK, I'm back at the airport in Seattle. I should be boarding my flight in like 10min. That'll get me to Denver, then one more flight and I'll be home!
A 3 day trip has turned into 6 days. And that's cost me an additional $1500. I didn't have it as bad as some, who were stuck in airports for days, or stranded abroad, as I at least got out to hotels. But it's still not great. Since Sunday, I had one extra change of clothes in my carry-on (my checked bag made it home before I did). It's Tuesday now.
Even though I ended up buying a ticket on a different airline, I was still constantly checking the website and FlightAware to make sure it wouldn't get cancelled/delayed. After 10hrs, on Sunday, of rolling 30/60min delays on my flight, before they finally cancelled the flight at like 11pm, this feels a little like PTSD. Like I'm anxious to just get on the plane get the hell out of this airport.
Seattle is awesome, but I just wanna go home.
Thanks for that! I'm definitely hoping to take the Metro in most of the time. The first time I drove in DC back in 2010, I vowed, "never again." I've driven in many cities, even in Puerto Rico once, but I thought DC was the worst.
Obviously moving there, there will be times I have to drive around, but to the extent I can avoid doing so, I will.
OK, but what's the neutral news?