Amusing Explanation through Bureaucratic Citation

I am pleasantly surprised that the press have reported that a middle-eastern airline, Kuwait Airways, has been called out by the Department of Transportation for not servicing Israeli citizens.

However, DOT seems to have been pushed into doing this. In a letter to the airline company it is revealed at first DOT did not seem to see a problem with the discrimination till the complaint was petitioned for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Here is a snippet from the letter:

Mr. Gatt’s complaint alleged that KAC discriminated against him, an Israeli citizen traveling on an Israeli passport, in violation of 49 U.S.C. §40127(a) by preventing him from purchasing a ticket for travel on KAC from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Upon notice of our initial decision finding no unlawful discrimination in this matter, Mr. Gatt filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. We subsequently reopened our investigation and reconsidered the matter anew. As part of our reconsideration, we considered Mr. Gatt’s claim upon an alternative ground, i.e. 49 U.S.C. § 41310, which holds that, “[a]n air carrier or foreign air carrier may not subject a person, place, port, or type of traffic in foreign air transportation to unreasonable discrimination.” After a thorough review of the information provided by the parties, we find that KAC unreasonably discriminated against Mr. Gatt in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41310 by refusing to sell him a ticket on its flight from JFK to LHR.

So... why was 49 U.S.C. § 41310 missed? Let's get really silly because a lot more was missed and cited in the letter. There were so many citations I just could not read the letter and make any sense of it.

Here are all the regulations/laws/court cases/etc. cited in the letter other than the original "49 U.S.C. §40127(a)" that was found to not be violated.

• 49 U.S.C. § 41310
• section 41310, formerly 49 U.S.C. § 1374(b)
• section 404(b) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958
• section 404(b) of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938
• section 3 of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) of 1887
• Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, sec. 3, 24 Stat. 379, 380 (1887)
• Federal Aviation Act of 1958, Pub. L. No. 85-726, sec. 404(b), 72 Stat. 731, 760 (1958)
• Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, Pub. L. No. 75-706, sec 404(b), 52 Stat. 973, 993 (1938)
• Pearson v. Duane, 71 U.S. 605, 615 (1866)
• Pittman v. Grayson, No. 93 Civ. 3974, 1997 WL 370331, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. July 2, 1997) (finding that airlines are common carriers), aff’d, 149 F.3d 111, 123 (2d Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 818 (1999)
• Mitchell v. U.S., 313 U.S. 80 (1941)
• Fitzgerald v. Pan Am. World Airways, 229 F.2d 499 (2d Cir. 1956)
• 49 U.S.C. § 1374(b)
• 49 U.S.C. § 44902
• Williams v. Trans World Airlines, 509 F.2d 942 (2d Cir. 1975)
• 509 F.2d at 948 (holding T.W.A. acted reasonably in refusing passage to passenger who had been subject of F.B.I. warning)
• Cordero v. Cia Mexicana de Aviacion, S.A.
• 681 F.2d 669 (9th Cir.1982)
• Title 49 of the U.S. Code and the orders, rules and regulations of the Department of Transportation - Permit to Foreign Air Carrier, KAC Corporation, Order 2011-3-30, (March 24, 2011) Docket DOT-OST-2010-0246
• U.S. v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co., 333 U.S. 169, 175 (1948)
• Fitzgerald, 229 F.2d 499
• Sec. 3 of the U.S. Export Administration Act of 1979, Pub. L. 96-72, 93 Stat. 503
• 50 App. U.S.C. 2402(5)(A)
• 15 C.F.R. 760 (outlining Department of Commerce’s anti-boycott regulations)
• 15 CFR 760.2 (a) (1)

THAT! All of that was missed upon first review of a complaint that a Kuwaiti airline with operations in the U.S. would not sell any Israeli citizen a ticket. Ignored until the case could have gone to a U.S. Court of Appeals.

The scary thing is that whole mess of citations was missed when they didn't care. What citations can be found to pursue a case against anyone the government wants to go after?

How many B***S*** regulations/laws/etc. are out there waiting for a bureaucrat with nothing to do but looks up B***S*** stuff to mess with the citizenry?

The airlines discriminated. DOT was lazy and didn't do its job until it was almost embarrassed and then it found heaps of reasons to go after the airline.

When an agency isn't lazy, they have heaps of reasons to come after you.

• Department of Transportation 1, 2

Dept. of Education Hispanic Fail

Why is the state of education so bad? Because the Department of Education is run by idiots.

They make this painfully obvious in this blog post. Here is the opening paragraph:

Today, nearly one in four students in our nation’s public elementary and secondary schools is Hispanic. Yet, less than one in 10 teachers—or roughly just 8 percent of America’s teaching force—is Hispanic. As the Hispanic population grows, it’s critically important that our teacher workforce reflects our increasingly diverse nation. Hispanic children can benefit by being taught by educators who share their experiences and culture. But it’s also important for all students to learn from teachers who are diverse, dedicated, and passionate.

Let us examine this for a moment. "As the Hispanic population grows" it grows illegally. This has consequences. And the consequence is more students than teachers because:

• There has been an influx of illegal immigrant children only
• Illegals can go to school
• Illegals can not (should not) work in the U.S. because they are supposed to have permits to work
• Illegals tend to be unskilled

Do you want your kid's teacher to be an illegal unskilled immigrant?

There is also the blanket statement that the teaching force needs to reflect the ethnic makeup of the country. This idea of equal outcome instead of equal opportunity is detrimental. If someone wants to be a teacher they will become a teacher. If they don't, they won't. Filling a job needs to be determined by the quality of the worker, not an ethnicity quota.

Then we get that Hispanics benefit from being taught by Hispanics because they share a culture. Then they say any student benefits from teachers that are diverse from them. What is it? Should the teacher share the student's culture or be diverse to benefit the student? Both claims are made.

And a note about culture. We need to promote the American culture and grow based on our common interests more so than our differences. Promoting Americans to hold onto cultures of other countries more so than the American culture is what is dividing the people.

Then there is an accompanying video. At 27 seconds we get "teachers can inspire and impact students regardless of their background." Then at 57 seconds we get "as our nation's Hispanic student population grows there is an increasing need for more teachers who are Hispanic." Once again we get culture doesn't matter and then it does.

These are the people controlling education. They make policies based on pathetic double-think.

• Department of Education
• YouTube

Lack of Standards Example

The progressive redefining of morality and the feminization of men is going to be devastating. The constant ignoring of the obvious to redefine standards to hide the truth from people so that they are not uncomfortable is making people stupid.

A twenty-something couple talk to Stefan Molyneux asking "what's wrong with polyamory?" The guy in the conversation is a perfect example of how men are being crushed by today's media message for men not be men and how over-intellectualizing makes you stupid.

• YouTube

Syrian Refugee Petitions

The Middle East is a hot bed of Islamic terrorists and people that chant "Death to America!" Does this sound like a pool of people we want coming to America?

MoveOn.org thinks so.

MoveOn.org has a petition to accept more "refugees" from Syria and elsewhere. This is what the petition states:

There is a refugee crisis happening right now and the U.S. needs to show leadership and kindness by accepting these refugees from Syria and elsewhere. Germany is accepting 800,000 refugees while we are only accepting in the few thousands. We have the wealth to do it, so let's do it!

That last line gets me. We have the wealth? Is MoveOn not aware of our debt, deficiet, and unemployment rate? Do they not know how many people are already on food stamps?

The crazy thing is they almost have the 75,000 signatures needed! But that is MoveOn's threshold.

So let us look at the White House's petition board.

Yup. There is a petition there too, but it needs a total of 100,000 signatures by Sept 30^th and is about 12,000 away from the goal. It calls to resettle 65,000 refugees. This will only get a response from the White House, not legislation.

Could be worse, and it is! This petition wants to let in 140,000 refugees! It has an October 3^rd deadline and is 99,000 signatures away.

This petition wants to allow the refugees to apply for citizenship after 1,000 days instead of 5 years.

Does anyone believe in protecting our interests?

YES!

This petition calls for blocking refugees from Syria and other Gulf states. It only has 365 of the needed 100,000 signatures with a deadline of October 12^th.

Sign it now!

• MoveOn.org
• White House Petition Board 1, 2, 3, 4

Government Propaganda at Comic Con?

I do not care about Comic Cons but I worry about government propaganda. The Department of Energy, which has an agenda and makes policies based on that agenda, is holding a panel at the Baltimore Comic Con to "discuss the interplay between science and cinema."

You do realize this means that tax dollars are being used to send government employees to Comic Con? If the government needs a presence anywhere it is Comic Con. If the IRS can make a Star Trek video why not the Department of Energy at Comic Con?

So who is going to be on this panel? A Minorities in Energy Champion, two employees from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and an employee from the Office of Environmental Management. The Office of Environmental Management is quite legit since it is for the cleanup up of the "nuclear legacy" from government nuclear research. The others try to force the world into the agency's world view.

There is another member on the panel not listed on the DoE's announcement and that is Marius Stan. You can find this at the Comic Con site. He is listed as a DoE Senior advisor and actor from Breaking Bad; he is also a scientist.

Maybe I'm making something out of nothing. It is not like they are handing out propaganda, unless you consider handing out a children's coloring book, Get Current, that promotes only renewable energy. You know. Teach kids it's a good idea to turn food into fuel when people are starving in other countries or even at home.

No chance of propaganda here.

• Department of Energy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Baltimore Comic Con
• IMDB
• YouTube

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

The Secret Service is between a rock and a hard place. After too many mistakes that received quite a bit of press coverage it is not surprising that there was this poor judgement to shut down a park for security purposes.

Why was it poor judgement to shut down the park?

The shut down ended up shutting down "CureFest for Childhood Cancer." The rally had a permit and half the attendees were children. Many people ended up not being able to enter the park to just get items left behind.

Did anyone in the Secret Service take a moment and think that this might not be a good idea?

• The Washington Post
• CureFest for Childhood Cancer

Is Capitalism Moral

Of course we need to reiterate this point with the "Money Speech" from "Atlas Shrugged."

• YouTube 1 2