Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[lineygoblue]

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttygig is upset today that his flight from NY to Washington was cancelled the other day, and now he wants to meet with the CEO's of the airlines to address the problems with flight cancellations.

Hey Pete: Weren't you one nodding in agreement as airline employees were fired for refusing to be vaxed? Could this be part of the problem why they are under staffed?

Maybe he should have asked Debbie Stupidnow if he could borrow her electric car.

[Obi-Jon]

The answer to your questions are no. Its a pilot shortage among the major carriers. Airlines refused to replace pilots that retired or took leaves of absence during the height of the pandemic. Most of the pilots flying the 'big boy' aircraft moved directly from a military cockpit to a civilian one. Most of the new commercial pilots certified in the past year have commuter aircraft certification, they have neither the hours or the certificates for the larger aircraft. The rapid increase of demand has left the airlines short handed, by their own doing. If you're flying in the juice cans, you'll probably make it without interruption. You want long distance or non-stops, you're rolling the dice.

[lineygoblue]

So Buttygig opposed the firing of airline employees who refused the vax mandates? That was one of my questions. He actually opposed one of The Chairman's policies?

I never read a thing about that.

Flight cancellations can happen for more than just a pilot shortage. There are ground maintenance, cabin crew, baggage handlers, air controllers, and others that are responsible for each flight that hits the runway. Many of those people lost their jobs because of vax mandates. None of this has any effect on current flight cancellations.

[lineygoblue]

cartoon-061122-copy.jpg?ve=1&tl=1.jpg

[Hannibal]

Pete Buttigieg doesn’t have tiime for trivial matters like supply chain issues and flight cancellations when there are the truly important issues to tackle like making America more Woke and extolling the virtues of buttsex.

[AlabamAlum]

Weather much better today. Went deep sea fishing. Caught a couple of reds. They are cleaning it and putting it on dry ice and shipping it to my house.

[Jeff Buchanan]

As is usually the case with most chaos, there are multiple causal factors. That circumstance is clearly present in the US airline industry. Linesman acknowledged this. Pete Buttigieg is an easy target for the right, especially on the extreme, white supremist right. He's a minor player and taking aim at him doesn't really deal with the issues behind the chaos.

Something worth noting is that European flagged major airlines are more highly regulated and have much better "on time" performance than their American counterpart majors. A lot of that has to do with the EU's stringent labor regulations. Top airlines within the EU typically have 90% "on time arrivals" or higher. Few US majors reach that level. You can compare stats here:

https://www.transtats.bts.gov/homedrillchart.asp

https://www.statista.com/statistics/382386/on-time-arrival-performance-of-regional-airlines-in-europe/

I don't fly a lot within Europe but I fly there from the US and back frequently. If I can get the right price and times, I'll book KLM (Royal Dutch) or TAP (The Portuguese National Airline) both of which receive government subsidies unlike American counterparts such as American, United or Delta. In the last three years I've flown to and from Europe maybe 5X acidulously avoiding US carriers. I had one ..... ONE flight cancelation and that was a TAP flight from Miami to Lisbon shortly after the pandemic started closing shit down .... understandable. Transatlantic and Transpacific routes admittedly run more smoothly than national flights but still ..... we're not seeing headlines of national carriers within the EU about how fucked-up their scheduling is. Sure, it's there but as to scope, there's no comparison.

That is not so say EU airlines don't have similar staff shortages, don't try to balance profits with passenger convivence and customer service. I can guarantee you they do but I don't follow European airline travel that closely. What I do know is that it is pretty well established US national airlines laid a shit ton of people off when the pandemic hit. They parked 90% of their operational aircraft for an extended period. They were slow to rebuild capacity - a lot of that having to do with the US government's COVID fear monkey crap that inappropriately delayed economic recovery in multiple sectors, travel and leisure bring one of them to take major staffing and profit hits. But, it seems to me, its taking a bit longer than it should to get back up to speed.

Pete Buttigieg is a bit player in this but he's the US Secretary of Transportation. He has a responsibility to determine the causes of the unprecedented chaos in the US airline industry. I don't see shitting on him as particularly useful, especially when facts get in the way of assertions that are politically motivated to fit one's viewpoint.

[Obi-Jon]

Best airline (imho) is KLM. Timely, comfortable, clean, accommodating, and top notch food. Plus they give you those nice Netherlands row house bottles with booze. Haven't seen a domestic airline that even comes close.

Worst, hands down, is Air France. I believe former Vichy bureaucrats still run that abomination. If you put wings on a nearly out of service bus from the worst inner city and man it with hormonal OTR zombies, you have Air France. They make the worst US domestic airline look gold standard.

US airlines suck unless you're in 1st/Biz class. Over the years, I have been platinum class frequent flyer in United, American, USAir, Northwest and Delta. I can honestly say I have given away more than half my free tickets to friends and family. Mostly gifts but several for people to attend funerals. I have nearly half a million miles in my Delta account that I'll use on code shared KLM flights for the next family vacation to Europe.

One opinion above all others - it sucks to travel that much to accumulate that many miles. There is no glamour in biz travel, only an occasional adventure.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ukraine: News from the battle space continues to reflect "incremental" gains for the Russian Army in the Donbas. Tactical gains? Yes. Strategic gains? ONly Putin thinks he's getting them. They are achieving these gains by winning the artillery duel - they pulverize strategically yet symbolic targets with land and air delivered bombardment then send what few soldiers on the front lines they actually are operating with to "occupy" it - that term being generously applied.

Good read in today's news feeds I follow that it seems that the Zelenski administration is publicly complaining about "not enough stuff" but privately pretty happy with what arms and money they are getting from western countries. Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense, said today that commanders in battle never get enough and always want more. Fact of warfare. In defense of the west, he recounts Ukrainian requests for specific arms, for example armored vehicles, where they asked for 200 and got 237. There were more similar examples.

Still, the question remains, is it enough? .... and importantly, for what end?

Trump, at a rally in Texas, I think it was, said (paraphrased), the US ought to be spending $40B on fixing what's wrong in the US not spending it frivolously on Ukraine. To me, that shows a stunning lack of understanding what's at stake - nothing new for him. He goes on, we've (the US) spent similar billions in Iraq and Afghanistan and what did we get? I could attack that line but, why bother. The point is that there is waning interest in the west concerning events in Ukraine and what is at stake. I get it. I'm not in that cohort. I'm in the fuck Putin group and do what it takes to kick his Army out of Ukrainian territory they've destroyed and then claim they've "occupied." I'm also in the cohort that demands that after the Russians are out of the legally established boarder of Ukraine, they pay for the destruction they've wrought in that country with their oil and gas billions. Until they do that, sanctions remain.

Most pundits, military and civilian, think that achieving a suitable outcome, such outcome subject to change, is going to take "a long time." I don't see Putin backing down any time soon. He's got some leverage but I also think his bluster and claims of success that he's making are going to fade over the summer and into the fall. That will depend on how effective the "heavy" weapons the west is sending to Ukraine are in blunting the current Russian army's advantage in what is coming down to an artillery war of attrition. It is modern WWI trench warfare that is much more lethal than anything that went down in 1914 to 1917...... And there were 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians over the nearly 4y history of that war.

There's no telling how many military and civilian deaths have occurred since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. That is because the well established network of counting civilian and military deaths in Ukraine due to the hostilities in the contested Donbas region from 2014 has fragmented to the point that it is non-existent today. We'll know at some time the horrible human cost of Putin's war after it is settled but it's pretty certain that the current rate of killing will outstrip any previous war and produce a horrendous final toll. That's why sane people are calling for both sides to start talking about stopping said killing. It will take Putin seeing he's not going to succeed in absorbing Ukraine into the Russian Federation to get him to talk. So, right now, and until he sees the west isn't going to back down either, political and military pressure is required.

I think it extremely important for western democracies that Putin be held accountable for the death and destruction his self serving, autocratic, imperialist grand strategy is producing. Keep the political pressure on him, not to dangerously humiliate him, but to get him to come to grips with his failed undertaking defined in terms and under specific circumstances that he and the Russian people are going to have to deal with. That is going to take western resolve and I may or may not be able to convince all of you here that it is worth it when you're 401Ks have cratered, your paying 6 bucks for a gallon of gas and your grocery basket is costing you 3X what it did before the shit-storm Putin created in Ukraine in an already bad global, post pandemic circumstance.

[lineygoblue]

AA: Some of the nicest beaches I've ever seen are that stretch from Gulf Shores over to Pensacola. I like that pic.

[THE_WIZARD_]

bootlicker

[Jeff Buchanan]

This is interesting .........

Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Lithuania’s top envoy in Moscow to warn that unless the transit was swiftly restored, Russia would respond to protect its interests. Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, described the situation as “more than serious”, telling reporters: This decision is really unprecedented. It’s a violation of everything.

Lithuanian authorities have banned the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU across its territory, which includes the only rail route between mainland Russia and the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea. Banned goods include coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology.

Kaliningrad’s governor has estimated that the ban could affect up to half of all goods that are brought to the region by rail.

Russia’s foreign ministry demanded Vilnius reverse what it cast as an “openly hostile” move immediately. It said: If cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests.

Lithuania said it was merely implementing EU sanctions. Its foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, told reporters: It’s not Lithuania doing anything: it’s European sanctions that started working from 17 of June.

Your geography lesson of Eastern Europe:

Lithuania.JPG

Lithuania is a NATO member. It doesn't boarder Russia but the potential for Putin to "urge" Lukashenko, President of Belarus, to cause trouble at the Belarus/Lithuanian boarder is real and the spark that could ignite a NATO on Russia engagement. My view is that Putin will bluster in his usual way but he wants to assiduously avoid this as his army and his airforce have taken it in the ass in the last 3+ months. He'll lose a full blown conventional engagement with NATO forces but the specter of a nuclear exchange just rose a couple of notches.

[Da Geezer]

Most pundits, military and civilian, think that achieving a suitable outcome, such outcome subject to change, is going to take "a long time." I don't see Putin backing down any time soon. He's got some leverage but I also think his bluster and claims of success that he's making are going to fade over the summer and into the fall. That will depend on how effective the "heavy" weapons the west is sending to Ukraine are in blunting the current Russian army's advantage in what is coming down to an artillery war of attrition. (1) It is modern WWI trench warfare that is much more lethal than anything that went down in 1914 to 1917...... And there were 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians over the nearly 4y history of that war.

There's no telling how many military and civilian deaths have occurred since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. That is because the well established network of counting civilian and military deaths in Ukraine due to the hostilities in the contested Donbas region from 2014 has fragmented to the point that it is non-existent today. We'll know at some time the horrible human cost of Putin's war after it is settled but it's pretty certain that the current rate of killing will outstrip any previous war and produce a horrendous final toll. That's why sane people are calling for both sides to start talking about stopping said killing. It will take Putin seeing he's not going to succeed in absorbing Ukraine into the Russian Federation to get him to talk. So, right now, and until he sees the west isn't going to back down either, political and military pressure is required.

I think it extremely important for western democracies that Putin be held accountable for the death and destruction his self serving, autocratic, imperialist grand strategy is producing. Keep the political pressure on him, not to dangerously humiliate him, but to get him to come to grips with his failed undertaking defined in terms and under specific circumstances that he and the Russian people are going to have to deal with. (2)That is going to take western resolve and I may or may not be able to convince all of you here that it is worth it when you're 401Ks have cratered, your paying 6 bucks for a gallon of gas and your grocery basket is costing you 3X what it did before the shit-storm Putin created in Ukraine in an already bad global, post pandemic circumstance.

(1) As to casualties. Your numbers regarding WWI are the generally accepted numbers. But your conclusion that it is "pretty certain that the current rate of killing will outstrip any previous war..." is nonsense. The Ukrainians are losing around 200 dead each day. If Russia is losing 300/day, then figure 500/day. To reach the death toll of military personnel in WWI, it will take 19,700 days or 53 years. You specify "at the current rate of killing". You are wildly overstating the potential casualties.

(2) Count me as one who you will "not be able to convince all of you here that it is worth it when your 401(k)....." The war in Ukraine has only a peripheral impact on the economic mess in the US. That mess is primarily because the Biden administration has declared war on fossil fuels and because both the Trump and Biden administrations have grossly overspent.

(3) I still favor sanctions against Russia if they are actual sanctions, but what we have now is just window dressing. The ruble is higher now than on Feb 24, and the Russians have buyers for all the oil they can produce. My opinion only, but I don't think the sanctions are working. I think it is fair to question them. I also think that as long as we are sending Ukraine war-fighting material we have in stock that is fine. We built that stuff to kill Russians. I'd just want to be sure that when we "vote another $ 40 Billion" for Ukraine that we are seeing that it is well spent and not just sent into some bureaucracy.

And after schooling you regarding Modern Monetary Theory and Claire Booth Raskin's radical views I didn't figure I'd have to once again ask you to stop carrying Democrat water. Try to deal with facts and not the Prog talking points.

[AlabamAlum]

Best airline (imho) is KLM. Timely, comfortable, clean, accommodating, and top notch food. Plus they give you those nice Netherlands row house bottles with booze. Haven't seen a domestic airline that even comes close.

Worst, hands down, is Air France. I believe former Vichy bureaucrats still run that abomination. If you put wings on a nearly out of service bus from the worst inner city and man it with hormonal OTR zombies, you have Air France. They make the worst US domestic airline look gold standard.

US airlines suck unless you're in 1st/Biz class. Over the years, I have been platinum class frequent flyer in United, American, USAir, Northwest and Delta. I can honestly say I have given away more than half my free tickets to friends and family. Mostly gifts but several for people to attend funerals. I have nearly half a million miles in my Delta account that I'll use on code shared KLM flights for the next family vacation to Europe.

One opinion above all others - it sucks to travel that much to accumulate that many miles. There is no glamour in biz travel, only an occasional adventure.

KLM does a great job. I also really like British Airways and Qantas. I hear Emirates and Cathay are great. Never flown either, though.

[Jeff Buchanan]

You are wildly overstating the potential casualties.

I generally liked the entirety of your post. I agree there's room for debate regarding the value of the west's arming the Ukrainians and paying the Zelenski government to keep it from collapsing. My position is pretty clear: I support whatever it takes to fuck Putin and his unlawful aggression that he's been engaged in over the last two decades. The latest, in Ukraine, finally prompting governments that are liberal democracies to recognize the global threat of a successful Russian "special military operation" in Ukraine. Putin's aims are cloaked in that bull-shit. I believe it is pretty clear he wants to recreate the territorial boarders of the USSR under the flag of the Russian Federation.

I base that view on the several articles I've read of late - some of the points made in them posted here - describing the 5 geographic regions through which mother Russia has been attacked and subdued over the centuries. Strategically, Putin wants to bloc all of them and that is possible by "owning" Ukraine as a 4/5 approaches run through that country. There's room for debate on his strategic aims but saying "owning" Ukraine is not his aim seems foolishly irresponsible. So, it's arguably a pay me a little now or a fuck-ton more later situation (IMO).

I believe you correctly read the implications of my post when I claimed that the total of lives lost (military and civilian) in the Russia/Ukraine war is going to exceed that of WWI - that is it will ultimately be worth the price of supporting Ukraine to get Putin to recognize his strategic goals are not going to get past western resistance to them and withdraw his forces. I'd take issue with your calculation which, I think, is just counting deaths of soldiers .Estimates for the total number of casualties in WWII vary because many deaths went unrecorded. Most suggest that some 75 million people died in the war, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians. Many civilians died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation.

Look, stuff like these comparisons admittedly get dicey because of the scope of the two conflicts I'm talking about here. Still, my point is that you looked at military casualties and ignored civilian casualties in Ukraine when in WWII civilian casualties outnumbered military casualties nearly 2:1. The lethality, in terms of casualties, of the present war in Ukraine is likely higher on an engagement to engagement basis than it was in WWII. TBF, no one really knows how may soldiers and civilians are dying each day or per major engagement in Ukraine but it is too many. Extending those kinds of killings out to a Russia/Ukraine conflict that lasts 4y, you get a horrendous human toll that IMO, calls for the strongest steps to bring it to an end ASAP, especially IVO the brutality of the Russian aggression.