I wrote and published this post about the trials and tribulations (ok - not trials - YET) of Uber yesterday. It was a rapid summary of the fronts that they are fighting that came through my feeds just last week.

(It is worth a click through just to get a quick summary of the breadth of problems hitting the company.)

These posts came out yesterday - Monday 27th February.

Uber’s SVP of engineering is out after he did not disclose he left Google in a dispute over a sexual harassment allegation : Recode.

Seriously? We are meant to believe that. Oh, that’s right - they demonstrate over and over again that they do not believe in background checks. (And anyway it was known who he was BTW - this is a very small valley).

And, in light of that, this becomes even more believable.

Another Tale of Rampant Sexual Harassment at Uber - Medium, another ex-staffer writing about the toxic Uber culture. This quote stood out to me from one manager to a subordinate, a woman and the writer of the article.

There is no place for ethics in this business sweetheart. We are not a charity.

Uber dismissed warnings about its illegal self-driving test for months, emails show - The Verge. (I wrote at the time, there was more to this and I still don’t understand why they weren’t prosecuted at the time. But I guess that is a different story.)

Oh … and the so often repeated story of how some Uber drivers are either totally ignorant of where places are, definitely lacking in ‘smarts’ and possibly just corrupt.

It Could Only Happen In An Uber, Passenger Taken To Croydon Via Bristol…Then Charged four hundred and forty POUNDS STERLING.

Private Eye Reports ...

According to her attack-dog attorney, Charles Harder, the Mail’s allegations harmed her “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to cash in on the Trump presidency by selling Melania-branded “apparel, accessories, shoes, jewellery, cosmetics, hair care, skin care, and fragrance”. 

As they Eye says ....

No need for the Mail to trash her reputation: her lawyer seems quite capable of doing it all by himself.

[For my American readers - for Private Eye - think 'Spy Magazine' - except edgier, unafraid, wittier and first published in 1961 - a full 27 years before Spy Magazine got going and hasn't stopped since - which Spy did in 1998.]

Virginia man gets 11 years in prison for trying to join Islamic State

... not actually joining, and had he joined, not actually done anything ...

Meanwhile in 1931:

Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.

Meanwhile - a quick Google search reveals that 11 years is what you get for 

• A hit and run driver killing a little girl
• A meth dealer in Eugene
• Fraud
• Pimping
• Drug Trafficking

#JustSayin

Absolutely brilliant. Back in England - in the middle ages - people would occasionally get ‘hoist by their own petard’ …. I believe Chick-Fil-A have just experienced that delight.

Yes, she is aware that Chick-Fil-A is a famously conservative, Christian-run company that has advocated against same-sex marriage and donated to anti-LGBTQ-rights causes through their charitable wing, The WinShape Foundation. Slick revealed that she explicitly decided to accept the company's offer to use the song so she could donate the proceeds to a charity that works against Chick-Fil-A's convictions: Lambda Legal, a non-profit legal organization working on behalf of LGBTQ community and HIV patients.

Oh c'mon!

And for heavens sake grow up.

Conway says she gets 'different set of questions' on TV

Oh and honey, when you say ...

"It's a 'build you up to tear you down' kind of town."

Nobody - repeat NOBODY - 'built you up' - you did that all by your little old self.

And ...

"I'm focused on why we're here."

Can you tell us. Please. WHY are you here? Because I certainly don't see any added value.

British MPs lined up on Monday to pour scorn on a “racist and sexist” Donald Trump, who they said should not be allowed to come to Britain for a state visit because of the risk it would embarrass the Queen.

... aah yes - your democracy at work ... 1.8 million people in the UK sign a petition that wants the state visit invite to the UK to be revoked - and 

the conclusion was ...

... those close to ministers made clear that there would be no rowing back on the invitation to Trump and hit out at MPs. 

I found this the most interesting

Labour’s Paul Flynn said that only two US presidents had been accorded a state visit to Britain in more than half a century and it was “completely unprecedented” that Trump had been issued his within seven days of his presidency.

Read All About It ...

... before you read this

... where a British Maths teacher who is Muslim was escorted off a plane in Iceland bound for New York - despite having all the valid papers and visas necessary for the school trip.

This was on the same day that the TSA let 11 people through screening at the same airport.

Tell me again about National Security Donald ...

After I wrote this at the beginning of the year, where ..

The Chicago Review of Books (had) made the decision to not review any books produced by Simon & Schuster during 2017.

The article asked the question 'Where is the line to be drawn?'

Now we know.

The Guardian today ...

Milo Yiannopoulos book deal cancelled after outrage over child abuse comments.

So actually as usual .. he self-destructed. But I am not sure that we can rely on this - eventually, even a douche like Milo will learn. (^^^ Yes - that is him up there. ^^^)

First - there was this.

Then on reading about who actually built Mar-a-Lago, it is revealed to be Marjorie Merriweather Post - who had some interesting ties back to Russia.

During the 1930s, the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin began selling art treasures and other valuables seized from the Romanov family and former Russian aristocrats after the Russian revolution to earn hard currency for its industrialization and military armament programs. Critics have claimed that these items were expropriated; however, Post and Davies's transactions were from the recognized governmental authority.

Read All About It.

#JustSaying

Now that is an interesting piece of history - given where we are today ..

Mar-a-Lago is an estate and National Historic Landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, built from 1924 to 1927 by heiress and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post. Post envisioned the house as a future winter retreat for American presidents and foreign dignitaries, and following her death in 1973 it was bequeathed to the nation. However, successive presidents declined to use the mansion, which was returned to Post's estate in 1980 and in 1985 was purchased by Donald Trump, later 45th President of the United States.

Read All About It.

.. and not a way to make a quick buck - I offer this as an example.

The U.S. Marshals Service says it is providing security for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after a handful of protesters prevented her from entering a D.C. middle school.

Quite apart from the fact that the country is paying for security for someone in the Education Secretary role - surely that has to be a first - and reveals how reviled/divisive she must be …. but as I wrote here … she is the brother of Erik Prince … founder of Blackwater and the ‘go to’ guy for security in this fine totalitarian state - sorry - country - we live in.

Given that she, her husband, her brother, her father are all individually billionaires - don’t you think she could provide her own security … or at least pay for it.

Read All About It.

Denver-based AIMCO, one of the biggest landlords in the US, owns and manages over 50,000 apartments across the country. Real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors told the WSJ that this is the first time Airbnb has been sued by a major landlord. Other apartment owners might now feel emboldened to follow suit if the service refuses to cooperate with them.

The plaintiff says short-term rentals are against their leases, and Airbnb is helping its tenants break that rule. It also says the practice of renting to transients creates unsafe conditions for other tenants and that it has suffered loss of income, property damage, nuisance and disturbance.

Read All About It.

Personally, have been waiting for something like this to break for a while. I don’t see AirBNB in the same category as UBER - but they are certainly approaching it. (BTW - that is a category that you do NOT want to belong to.)

Snap is going to market, trying to pitch itself as a unique blend of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. And no wonder: It has the losses of a tech startup combined with the anemic growth of a media company.

OUCH!

That quote comes from 'The Information'

Read all about it.

When I wrote this, I hadn't seen this ... so I am going with Blackwater.

Jeremy Scahill, editor of the online news publication The Intercept and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army profiles Erik Prince as a “Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,â€

Scared yet?

How about this ...

Erik Prince is allegedly the new ex-officio foreign policy adviser to Trump today! 

Erik Prince Is Advising Trump from the Shadows should have red flags going up. Lest we forget, he’s the same man who wants to eliminate Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe. 

Scahill spoke with PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) recently. 

He mentioned a man by the name of Joseph Schmitz, who too is President Trump’s top foreign policy adviser. 

Schmitz worked for Erik Prince’s Blackwater.

Oh - that logo at the top ... Academi, according to Wikipedia

Academi is an American private military company founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince as Blackwater, renamed as XE Services in 2009 and now known as Academi since 2011 after the company was acquired by a group of private investors.

Their name changes faster than leaks out of the Whitehouse. Why would they do that?

Old pieces now - but let’s not forget the connections that don’t seem to be too much reported by the ‘dishonest media’ on Betsy.

Betsy DeVos's brother, Erik Prince, the founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater, has been quietly advising Trump's transition team, including helping vet Cabinet picks.

from Here and

She is the daughter of Edgar Prince, who founded the Michigan-based Prince Corporation, an auto parts business that sold for $1.35 billion in 1996; she also married into the massive Amway fortune by marrying Dick DeVos, whose father co-founded that company.

from Here.

Yup, Betsy is married to Amway … bastion of the original pyramid selling scheme and implicated in more global corruption schemes than your average soldier and brother to Blackwater - the private ‘protection company’ that the US government had to extract itself from.

The other common connection?

Both Blackwater and Amway have had to change their names in an attempt to present a more acceptable face to the public after their crimes were unearthed. Betsy - that’s who Trumpette is pointing to in the picture up there … and her connections admitted that as much as $200 million could have been contributed to Trump’s campaign. It’s amazing what money can buy.

Great post from the people at Taxi Leaks on Uber's business model ...

Dragon: So you are going to be a taxi company.
Me: No I am going to create a technology company
Dragon: Sorry... I do not understand? You are going to be offering a taxi service to the public?
Me: No.. I am not offering a taxi service to anyone. I want to 'reach out' by offering the technology to connect the public to taxis around the world.
Dragon: So you are going to be a global taxi company?
Me: No.. I want to offer a platform that people who own taxis can connect with the public.
Dragon: So you want to be a global company offering a taxi service?
Me: No... I want to offer a platform that people who own taxis can connect with the public.
Dragon: Ok.. let me put it another way. You want to offer a service where people use your technology to order a taxi.
Me: Yes
Dragon: So you want to be a global taxi company?
Me: No

Read the whole piece here.

We love what you’ve done so far with Season 1. We think this is shaping up to be a truly unique season of television. Mr. Trump, as always, is an enigmatic yet captivating character. A couple thoughts so far.

We feel like things are progressing a little too fast. Can we find a few more steps? It seems like we’re just burning through plot, and there are far too many storylines to keep track of. Is the mission of the week to build a wall? To ban Muslims? To buy bigger gloves? Please focus one or two to keep the narrative tension building to a roiling boil.

Read On.

... 'BT Wi-Fi with Fon' told to f**k off and die.

I have just returned from the UK - I thought it was just me.

OK, this 'billy-do' is from The Daily Mash - but - just like The Onion, some of their stuff is based on real world issues. Like this one.

THE stupidly-named BT wi-fi thing that overrides your internet connection should burn in hell, it has been confirmed.
‘BT Wi-Fi with Fon’, ‘BT Fon’, ‘BT-Wi-Fi-with-Fon’ or whatever the fuck it is called deliberately antagonises internet users by bullying their home internet into submission.

Read All About It -- the article is titled ... 'BT Wi-Fi with Fon' told to f**k off and die.

As I said. Just back from the UK and I lost count of when I THOUGHT I was on a usable wireless network - only to discover that no network was avaialble - becaause F@@@ing BT had co-opted my connection.

It's a funny article - but a real problem.

How are they allowed to do this?