Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Ethical Dilemmas Running This Blog

by Gary Leff

gary leff
Mar 31 2019

There are any number of ethical choices we all make on a daily basis. I don’t have a staff to bounce things off of, no editor, I’m just me and I do the best that I can to write content that interests me (the only way I could possibly still be doing this after 17 years) and hopefully engaging content and do it in a way that let’s me sleep well at night.

That doesn’t make me any more ethical than anyone else, and I’m sure readers will find fault with plenty of things I write, but here’s how I generally think about the blog.

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Here’s What ‘Suspicious Behavior’ Can Get You Stopped at the Airport

by Gary Leff

Mar 30 2019

The city you’re flying from (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York), your clothing (a hoodie), and even eagerness to get your bags at baggage claim are suspicious and can get you stopped. So can looking like someone with those characteristics that the police notice while following someone else. You’d be surprised how often you’re being watched at the airport, and that the government can stop you — and take your stuff.

Last year it was revealed that the TSA was assigning agents to follow ordinary Americans and record their behavior. That behavior was exposed and shamed, both because it was creepy and for no legitimate purpose. But creepy violations of civil liberties don’t just stem from the war on terror, they’re still a feature of the war on drugs as well.

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Warren Buffett Accidentally Bought Too Much Delta Stock

by Gary Leff

depressed businessman leaning his head below a bad stock market chart
Mar 29 2019

Buffett got back into airline investing two years ago, not quite convinced that major carriers had become ‘high quality industrials’ as Delta likes to argue just that the business is better than it used to be. Berkshire Hathaway promptly lost over a billion dollars on these investments.

Nonetheless a month ago there were rumors he was going to buy Southwest Airlines in its entirety and that drove up the airline’s share price.

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Naked Passenger Detained at Chicago O’Hare

by Gary Leff

naked man
Mar 28 2019

Right on the heels of a passenger claiming he needed to fly naked because clothes affect his ‘agility’ and thus his ability to fly, a naked male passenger was detained at Chicago O’Hare after running around outside on the tarmac.

For reasons I’ve never quite been able to fathom there’s a long history of naked passengers in airports. And yet Naked-Air somehow didn’t succeed.

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Would You Notice – and Intervene – If a Guy Was Creeping on a Teenage Girl Inflight?

by Gary Leff

people sitting on plane
Mar 27 2019

There’s something about a plane, or maybe it’s being away from home, that gives people license to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do in semi-public. And they can escape their usual inhibitions and talk up strangers thinking something might come of it.

However in the air, just like on the ground, giving attention to fellow passengers may be unwanted. I remember talking to a co-worker years ago about the number of times she noticed married men on planes taking off their wedding rings when they sat down next to her. She avoided Southwest Airlines because of their open seating policy, a virtual invitation for men to choose the seat beside her and make unwanted advances.

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Naked Man Tries to Board Flight Because Clothes Affect His ‘Agility’

by Gary Leff

naked man at airport
Mar 26 2019

This past Saturday a 38-year-old man tried to travel to Simferopol International Airport in Crimea on Ural Airlines flight 525 from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport wearing nothing at all.

The man argued he had a perfectly valid reason for flying naked: he yelled that “clothing impairs the aerodynamics of the body” and that he flies “with more agility when undressed.”

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