News and notes from around the interweb:
- Miami warns Airbnb hosts they may be guilty of tax fraud
- Halfway there: A kickstarter to create a secure tablet and smartphone mounting for airplane seatbacks. And here I thought this was cool on a recent Qantas domestic flight:
- The Fidelity 50,000 mile signup bonuses may be going away. That would be sad if true, though so far we only have one report of an employee claiming this.
- While the worst thing that can happen to you as an unruly passenger might be rendition to a CIA black site or diverting to Istanbul and having the crew tell authorities you’re a Gülenist, certainly up there has to be this Ethiopian Addis Ababa – Beijing flight deciding to divert to Lahore, Pakistan to have a passenger arrested. (HT: @goodlotz)
Since the unruly passenger could not stop his disturbance, it was decided to offload him in the nearest station in the interest of flight safety and the comfort of the other passengers and in accordance with international regulation. The flight landed in Lahore and the unruly passenger was taken to custody by Pakistani law enforcement forces and paramedical unit. The flight resumed its normal journey and landed in its destination Beijing, China.
- Chelsea Clinton was appointed to the board of Expedia, and I don’t know what all the fuss is about. She’ll be paid $45,000 a year and received a $250,000 restricted stock grant. Little-known fact: Clinton is an expert on hotel distribution agreements and IATA’s BSP #notreally. Bear in mind she needs the money, her husband had to shut down his hedge fund, no one wanted to give him money anymore once they learned her mother wasn’t going to be President.
- Are too many Americans visiting New Zealand? (HT: Alan H.)
i am not a frequent user of expedia to begin with but with this news, expedia or orbitz will never make even a penny from me.
Ms. Chelsea decide many things for me now she decide my motel 6 discount!
THIS is the exact moment I fully decided to leave the US and never return. When you Gary an obvious Democrat still peddles hate for the Clintons, when we have the absolute mess of a shitshow from hell in the WH.
Let me guess, you’re so intelligent that you can see through both parties, you’re so smart you’re an independent (even though that is ridiculous) you hate the Clintons for the bizarre reasons that perhaps are spread and perpetuated by stupidity/ Russian meddling. Ummmm….. Trump?
You could actually be worse than Trump supporters. Unbelievable.
Now that the Clinton foundation donors are all demanding their money back for services not rendered, I get why Chelsea needs a real job. Unfortunately for the Clinton family I’ve purchased my last travel on Expedia.
@Andy I’m ‘an obvious Democrat’? I have a fondness for certain elements of the first Clinton administration, but in general I don’t think most would call me a Democrat. Heck some readers decry this website as ‘View from the Right Wing’ – hah! I despise cronyism though.
@Andy, I would characterize @Gary as more libertarian than dem/rep.
Libertarians can be divided into these groups:
–Kochbirtarians, who are just massively pro-business Republicans
–Ayn Rand acolytes whose thought process were arrested at pubescence
–Egotists who wanna bitch about politics, both Dem and Rep, but have no workable answers
I’d say @Gary is probably in the last group
@Andy. Why the hate? While I understand it is trendy to elevate politicians to savior or royalty status, personification of a party into a single politician (much less their family) explains much of our current problems and turmoil. Gary’s coverage of Clinton was meant as nothing more than a humorous link to a larger article concerning an appointment within the travel industry, not a political viewpoint. Overreacting and getting defensive because the Clinton name was mentioned in an editorial bullet point is the type of blind partisanism that dilutes any serious political conversation (which is not the intent here) and obfuscates any relevant conversations. Please leave your political outbursts on your personal, social media. Gary, thank you for your work. I enjoy seeing your wit and personal style in your News and Notes of the day and in each article.
I think @Gadly pretty clearly fails the ideological turing test
Time to short Expedia if this is an example of current management decisions.
Being sentenced to Pakistan? Reminds me of this scene from the Kentucky Fried Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVDDYQlmq0w