News Round-Up: September 8, 2018

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Official 'Summer Ambassador' Joey Hornyak (above) says "Summer is closely coming to an end. The best way to max out the beautiful days that remain is to kick back pool-side with a Grey Goose cocktail in hand." I ain't mad... ;)

• After announcing a new category - "Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film" - the Academy for Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has scrapped the idea, clearly meant to pander to a TV audience.

• NBC has announced a new Law & Order spin-off that will focus entirely on hate crimes.

• Dulles Airport has rolled out a new facial recognition system to check fliers into their flights in an effort to forego paper or phone-based boarding passes.

• A far-right anti-LGBT presidential candidate in Brazil was stabbed during a campaign stop.

• Twitter has finally permanently banned InfoWars nutjob Alex Jones for his off-the-wall, crazy-tunes antics.

• MNEK drops his latest single, "Correct," just days before he releases his debut album, Language.

It’s an imaginative and powerful statement from a man who’s been in the music industry for 10 years.

While “Correct” openly addresses the pressure of delivering his debut, he openly expresses the struggles of being an out, gay, black man in this ever-challenging “Crazy World.”

Check out "Correct" below.

Uber Plans To Launch A Fleet Of Flying Taxis By 2023

Uber has announced plans to launch a fleet of flying taxis by 2023.

The plan is to begin in Dallas and Los Angeles with testing to start in 2020.

Instead of picking you up, the plan would be to build "sky ports" where folks can board and disembark in a ride-sharing program.

Each sky port will be able to handle 200 takeoffs and landings an hour.

The air-cars will be flown by a pilot and hold up to four people.

NASA will be involved in creating a system of industry standards and regulations.

Check out the video report below. Who's up for  an air-taxi?

(h/t JoeMyGod)

Trump Takes Credit For World-Wide Air Travel Safety

This morning Donald Trump found another statistic for which to take credit.

In 2017, there were no commercial air travel-related deaths anywhere in the world.

The Trumpster immediately shouldered the credit tweeting, "Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!"

Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018

There were two crashes on New Year’s Eve but were not officially counted in the report as both aircraft weighed under 5,700kg — the threshold for the report from aviation consultancy firm To70.

In that the report was about world-wide air travel, I'm not sure how much influence Trump has over all that.

But as several smart folks noted, there hasn't been a death related to commercial air flight in the U.S. since 2009.

So - #ThanksObama

Nobody has died in a U.S. airline crash since 2009 https://t.co/JZKOXzpUGF

— Andrew Restuccia (@AndrewRestuccia) January 2, 2018

There hasn't been a death on a commercial flight in the US in 8 years https://t.co/CnwVTXRXuy

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 2, 2018

Air Travel Survey: 19% Feel It's Rude To Move To Unsold Seat

Via Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Twitter feed.

Moving to an unsold seat is considered rude?

Another flight diverted over "recline rage"

I'm sure everyone heard about the big "Knee Defender" story on a United Airlines flight from Newerk, New Jersey to Denver which had to divert to Chicago when two passengers got into such a heated argument about "reclining rights" that one threw a cup of water in the other's face.

Well - a flight has been diverted AGAIN due to "recline rage" and this time someone was arrested.

The flight was going from Miami to Paris. A man on the flight grew very cross with the woman reclining in front of her, and reportedly blew a gasket over it. He got so angry that when a crew member tried to calm him down, he followed him and grabbed his arm.

Two air marshals ended up handcuffing the rowdy man and the flight diverted to Boston. State police arrested him, and he was brought to the hospital immediately for a health evaluation.

I haven't weighed in on the big "reclining rights" debate but I do solidly land in the "if your seat CAN recline, you have the right to do so." I feel like the reclining aspect of the seat I purchase is part of my contract with the airline.

Certainly, if the flight is short and the person behind me is seriously long-legged, I'm not such an ass that I can't deal with being "recline-free" for an hour perhaps.

But, I specifically book only aisle seats, and only seats that recline. I purposefully do not book a seat in the row directly in front of the exit row because experience shows those do not recline (mainly because if there was an emergency a reclining seat would block the exit).

I know there are tall people who are crowded for space. I know there are folks who don't want someone's head in their nose. I know, I know.

But given the odd curve of an airline seat, I can't sit with my back "rounded" for three, four or five hours. Just can't do it.

I do find that by consolidating the majority of my travel on one airline, I at least gain some "status" in a frequent flier program so that when I book travel I can choose the slightly roomier "Economy Plus" seats when I'm traveling in Coach (ugh). I encourage everyone to do the same.

Valium is also a very useful additive to any travel day I find.

And, of course, more wine :)