Flightright taking Ryanair to court over compensation for passengers affected by the airline's strikes

EU rules [!!] state that passengers can claim monetary compensation of up to 400 euros for flights within the region for cancelled or delayed flights, unless the reason is extraordinary circumstances, such as bad weather.

wut [1], [2], [3]

Strikes have generally fallen under extraordinary circumstances [?] although a ruling by the European Court of Justice in April said that a wildcat strike by staff at German airline TUIfly following a restructuring could not be classed as extraordinary circumstances.

A 'wildcat strike' by flight staff following the surprise announcement of a restructuring does not constitute an 'extraordinary circumstance' releasing the air line from its obligation to pay compensation in the event of cancellation or long delay of flight ... The Court further observes that the fact that the social movement in question should be classified, under the applicable German social legislation, as a 'wildcat strike' because it was not formally initiated by a trade union is irrelevant

Flightright takes Ryanair to court over compensation for passengers affected by recent pilot strikes

Flightright, like other passenger rights groups, helps passengers to claim compensation from airlines under EU261 rules in exchange for a 25 to 30% share of the compensation received.

perverting "class action" advocacy and "market power"

Ryanair, therefore, urges passengers to file claims with them directly. "Ryanair deals with each claim on a case-by-case basis [!] and requires our customers to submit flight disruption claims directly to Ryanair. We do this solely to ensure that all Ryanair customers will receive 100pc [!]of their EU261 compensation."

But what if Ryanair says beforehand that it will not pay compensation?

In Belgium, the consumer union [!!] Test Achats/Aankoop has introduced a claim against Ryanair on behalf of 50 passengers among its members affected by the cabin crew and pilot strikes, with more dossiers to follow.

archived act of god
Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden

D3 - CLOSING

Independent | 'Painstaking' peace talks at Ryanair enter last day

[LAST UPDATE] August 15 2018 2:30 AM
[...]
If the latest talks collapse, the chances of a resolution will be much dimmer as Ryanair is not believed to be in favour of State mediation bodies getting involved.

Times | Ryanair pilot talks continue into the night

[LAST UPDATE] about 6 hours ago
[BACKGROUND]

RTE | Talks between Ryanair and pilots' union continue

[LAST] Updated / Wednesday, 15 Aug 2018 18:57
[...]
Yesterday's talks ended at 11.40pm and resumed at 11.30am today.
[...]
The union negotiating team is made up of representatives of Ryanair pilots who are members of the Irish Airline Pilots' Association (IALPA) and Fórsa officials, assisted by ICTU General Secretary Patricia King.]

Lemmesee: base-cut, two-tier compensation structure? I bet they fell for it.

Inauguration in Columbia
one story, two versions

Gina Haspel CIA Torture Cables Declassified

Haspel described extended sessions of physical violence and waterboarding; CIA cables detail contract psychologists Mitchell and Jessen working for Haspel
[...]
The Archive filed its FOIA request for the Haspel cables on April 16, 2018, after she was nominated by President Trump to be CIA director. Despite the clear public interest in the documents, the CIA denied the Archive's request for expedited processing, and the Archive went to court on April 27. ...David Sobel, FOIA expert and former Archive counsel, drafted and filed the initial Archive complaint in federal court; and the Archive's pro bono counsel Peter Karanjia and Lisa Zycherman of the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine took on the task of negotiating with the U.S. Attorney's office over release of the documents.

In addition to the work of Sobel, Karanjia and Zycherman, Blanton credited two other lawsuits with paving the way for release of the Haspel cables. The civil lawsuit Salim v. Mitchell brought by the ACLU against the CIA contract psychologists who were the architects of the torture program forced the CIA to search and review as many as 24,000 documents from the massive database used by the Senate Intelligence Committee staff in the writing of their report. The FOIA lawsuit by freelance journalist Daniel DeFraia[2] then compelled release of key documents, including five Haspel cables included in this posting, even after the August 2017 settlement in the Salim v. Mitchell case.

recipients known and unknown

The biggest mystery in the released cables is whether Gina Haspel wrote Cable 11359, from December 1, 2002, which uses remarkably vivid language to describe the torture sessions: The interrogators "strode, catlike, into the well-lit confines of the cell at 0902 hrs [redacted], deftly removed the subject's black hood with a swipe, paused, and in a deep, measured voice said that subject - having 'calmed down' after his (staged) run-in with his hulking, heavily muscled guards the previous day - should reveal what subject had done to vex his guards to the point of rage."

archived this
SALIM, et  al. v Mitchell and Jensen | ACLU Settles Lawsuit
gratuitous, editorial qualification of reporting on the ECCHR by Pro Publica stringers
US senators will vote to confirm inadvertent FIFTH WAVE idol Haspel tomorrow.

Qatar Comes to [$15B] Rescue as Turkey Moves to Avert Financial Crisis
re: "synergies," wind down, BONUS: commercial paper notes

It total, companies have $217 billion in net foreign-exchange debt, equal to about a quarter [25% of 52%] of gross domestic product, according to central bank data. While officially the bad debt [NONPERFORMING LOAN] ratio at Turkey's banks is just 3 percent, lenders are in the process of renegotiating upwards of $20 billion of loans to try to prevent them from going into default.

Against this backdrop, the nation's banking regulator said late Tuesday that lenders can now extend maturities on or refinance loans, issue new debt to help troubled companies, and seek new collateral [BWAH!] to protect themselves. They can also demand debtors sell assets to repay loans.

familiar territory

uh oh. In 2014, political spending at Trump properties was $35K. In 2018, it's $3.5M
re: foreign gifts, domestic subplot, conspiracy to defraud the USA, An Economic Interpretation of the US Constitution

archived g-men
Donald Trump falls 200 places on Forbes rich list after $400m drop in wealth
Judge dismisses suits claiming Trump violated emoluments clause
The event which has not occurred.

White House Spox Sanders says U.S. won't remove tariffs on Turkey even if Ankara releases Pastor Brunson, claiming that is a different issue related to national security.

But US would consider removing sanctions against Turkish officials that were imposed b/c of Brunson

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) August 15, 2018

Burns night

CHAPATIS and naan breads might not be traditional Burns Night fare, but this year they are replacing neeps and tatties as the ideal accompaniment to a new healthy haggis dish.
By using an exotic blend of fresh tomatoes, green chilli and garam masala, the women of an Edinburgh community group believe their dish will appeal to Scots looking for a healthy alternative this Burns Night.

Punjabi Haggis is the brainchild of two members of Sikh Sanjog, a community organisation working with the Sikh population in Edinburgh.

They hit upon the idea of curried haggis while trying to come up with ways of making the traditionally high-fat Sikh diet healthier.

And their recipe has impressed bosses at an Edinburgh hotel so much that they have decided to put it on their restaurant menu to tempt diners in the run-up to Burns Night.

Will they have to change any of the poem?

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye worthy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect scunner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis

Related: An article on how to preserve haggis stocks in the wild.

a day of mourning aka thoughts and prayers

il presidente Giuseppe Conte declares state of emergency in Genoa for 12 months ...

○ Crollo Ponte Morandi, il premier Conte: "Revocata la concessione alla società Autostrade"

○ Genova, Conte: decretato stato d'emergenza per 12 mesi

The premier announced that the government has allocated € 5 million for the first urgent interventions. He also confirmed the proclamation of a day of national mourning.

sublime simile, at length

Syrian Revolution Facebook page was started on 18 January 2011 - 2 months before the Deraa uprising. Organization's administrator, who headed Sweden's Muslim Bro branch, called for a "day of rage," at Deraa uprising in March 2015. Interesting thread by @EHSANI22 & @Qoppa999 https://t.co/x8XobP8hzr

— Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) 15. August 2018

USD:TRY:RMB

Bloomberg rallies FX speculators, "Turkey Just a Test Case as Quantitative Tightening Era Nears"

uh huh.

That's new.

NEXT WEEK: Trump [SANCTIONS VANUATU CURRENCY MANIPULATION]

Well, it certainly seems like the coup did have NATO involvement.

Let's examine only a US state-approved fact authority (as if historical US rules of hegemony, of which the institution of NATO hierarchy and its concerted objective, destabilization of political and economic rivals worldwide do not apply) to identify:

I. means (US manufactured armament including but not limited to aircraft sales, chain of command, military and political intelligence);
II. motive (including but not limited to methods of organizational hygiene such as "discipline" within NATO ranks); and
III. opportunity (perennial real and imagined "insubordination" of US command --passive-aggressive behavior-- by Turkey gov)

Premises
Greece and Turkey, NATO members since 1952, of which FUCKUS designated trash cans since 1952. Indeed "the coup did have NATO involvement."

Argument

1. 2005. US *asylum to Fethullah Gülen, confirmed "leader" of an insurgent "movement" in Turkey.

   The Gülen movement has some infiltration at the least in the military that I am aware of. They of course had extreme infiltration into the police and judiciary earlier. I saw that when I was in Turkey previously, particularly in the Sledgehammer case, Hakan Fidan case, and the corruption cases in 2013. ...

   
   
2. 2016. July 2016 Turkish military asylum incident in Greece
   

eight Turkish military personnel claimed asylum in Greece. ...  This was one of multiple similar incidents during the coup attempt.

3. NATO "plausible deniability" instantiated by a third-party tweet and

The United Nations Security Council [of which NATO member veto privilege] however, did not denounce the coup after disagreements over the phrasing of a statement.[70]

Conclusion
Yes, NATO members involvement in the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt is factually incontrovertible.

Thanks. I've been pumping my fist to youtube documentaries. On occasion.

Japan Times is such a tool of US occupation propaganda. Checked out the publisher (the man) a few years ago. Anywhoo ...
State of Play, 2013
After years of protests by locals, the US is moving its Okinawa military base

After 17 years of delays, Okinawa's governor has signed off on a plan to move the US Futenma Marine Corps Air Station to a coastal area in the northern part of Okinawa island, Japan.

Since US servicemen were convicted of raping a Japanese schoolgirl in 1996, the base has long incited controversy on the island. In recent years, residents of the densely-populated city adjacent to Futenma base have continued to push for its closure due to noise and pollution concerns. In 2006, the US and Japan agreed to close the base, as long as Okinawa agreed to move the base elsewhere on the island. ...

archived WWII peace dividends
US Foreign Policy from Crisis to Crisis, scenario model

hi John, nice to see you around

As Monty Python once said

"This here's the wattle,
the symbol of our land,
you an put it in a bottle
or you can hold it in your hand"

I tend to get all my Australia racism news from First Dog on the Moon

"It's hard not to infer that the administration is using the Brunson case to pander to its supporters,

I kinda thought that was a given, all policy, domestic and foreign is about appealing to his base and their prejudices. It's bread and circuses

BWAH!

I presume M5S will now be against wasting public money to replace it.

Genoa Bridge Collapse (The Independent)

This links to a Wayback Machine page very recently pulled by M5S from their website, dated April 2013. It's from NO GRONDA, an anti-public works project movement in Genoa, backed by M5S.

The sweet bit is "la favoletta dell'imminente crollo del Ponte Morandi" (the fairytale of the imminent collapse of the Morandi Bridge).

Well, it did take five years.

To which I add, a "new world order" will arise of his making, as Mr Trump is also turning the proverbial screws on EU gov with all the vim and vigor of Vic Nuland.

The Intercept - Donald Trump and the Coming Fall of American Empire

A new book by the famed historian Alfred McCoy predicts that China is set to surpass the influence of the U.S. globally, both militarily and economically, by the year 2030. At that point, McCoy asserts the United States empire as we know it will be no more. He sees the Trump presidency as one of the clearest byproducts of the erosion of U.S. global dominance, but not its root cause. At the same time, he also believes Trump may accelerate the empire's decline.

h/t Helen

Well, it certainly seems like the coup did have NATO involvement.

[citation needed]

I doubt Trump just thought of picking a fight with Erdogan on his own.

Andrew Brunson case: US takes narrow view in dispute with Turkey over pastor - DW

The implication of the Trump administration's rhetoric is that US pressure on Turkey could be dropped if Brunson were released. That makes the myopic focus on Brunson, whose cause has been picked up by Trump's evangelical base, problematic.

"Brunson's detention is egregious, and the United States should be making every effort to secure the release of American citizens unjustly imprisoned overseas. That said, by justifying human rights-related sanctions only on the grounds of the Turkish government's treatment of Brunson, rather than on that government's abysmal human rights record writ large, the administration has clearly placed a disproportionate emphasis on a single individual," said Rob Berschinski, the Senior Vice President for Policy at Human Rights First.

"It's hard not to infer that the administration is using the Brunson case to pander to its supporters, given Brunson's profession as an evangelical Christian pastor, and the extent to which the administration has been much less aggressive concerning other Americans detained in Turkey," added Berschinski, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights.

(my emphasis)

Saw reports that M5S used campaigns against infrastructure upgrades as part of their buildup, including motorway projects that would have bypassed or replaced this bridge. Anyone know if there's truth in that?

Amazing rescue work under extreme circumstances ... this is why first responders train, hoping never to be working in such a major disaster.

#Genova #14ago, uno dei salvataggi effettuati dalle squadre dei #vigilidelfuoco pic.twitter.com/uPDPiHurr6

— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) August 14, 2018

Steel reinforced concrete design with a lifespan of 50 years. With today's traffic, the wear and tear surpassed to original redundancy calculation, nevertheless the Ponte Morandi was opened in 1967.

Not only in the States is there a lack of funds for necessary replacements of old bridges and investment into infrastructure.

Italy abides by the budgetary rules of Brussels to limit government spending ...

○ Govt must respect rules - Dombrovskis

Narcissism in leadership, also in Italy ...

The interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said that those responsible would "pay, pay everything, and pay dearly".

○ Crollo ponte a Genova, Salvini: 'I responsabili dovranno pagare tutto e caro'

Politicians are seldom responsible ...  

Racist immigrants who settled in Australia? Naah ...

Senator Fraser Anning's maiden speech to parliament has been slammed as "utterly unacceptable" and "deeply disturbing". https://t.co/pKDRZk6TGb pic.twitter.com/lePyqpPo8m

— SBS News (@SBSNews) August 14, 2018

In comments:
"I love it. It reflects what most real Aussies think,
except for the communist inspired Greens
who want us to be a 3rd world shit hole."