Who has seen the documentary on Jaco Pastorius (bassist)

It's available on Netflix.

It really broke my heart to see how tormented he was... And despite his genius he had trouble getting gigs later in life. It also gave an insight into the competitive nature of artists ( whom I, in general, idolize as being more advanced humans ) and how they too can act out of jealousy and fear.

Highly recommend watching if you are fan of Jaco, Weather Report or good improvisational music in general.

In hindsight - United could have done so many different things to have been in a better place

Yes - The Officers very rough in handling , and United was heavy handed in how it approached the problem of getting its employees to the destination. United must pay for its misdeeds and I hope it will, by settling big with the passenger.

Yet most of the solutions that have been bandied about , as to how United Airlines could have handled it - overlook one bigger problem - Most corporations, government agencies have "Policies" that limit solutions rather than allow 'real humans' to creatively troubleshoot problems that only a human with common sense can.

While I understand cost/risks can be a concern, policies force 'intelligent' humans to behave like a predictable Automaton. Human are not Rule-based-Systems and it pains me when someone in my own company IT Compliance/ Audit/HR throw such idiotic rules around for us to follow. Unwitting violation of the "POLICY" even when it helps the organization, is met with disproportionate response and you are made to feel like a criminal/idiot. (If you are human reading this , then you can tell that I am speaking from experience).

Policies are important - but there should be room for creative action that allows for humans to operate within its confines. Else we just need robots. And increasingly, I feel corporations value Automatons/Robots over humans. They value predictability over creativity.

I hope enough of us boycott United Airlines and it goes bankrupt

Nothing else will serve up a lesson to corporate overlords.

Not a lawsuit or having to pay millions upon losing - it's just cost of doing business for them.

Going bankrupt will hurt the executives personally by rendering their millions in stock options and RSUs worthless. And that it what they deserve.

Bwahahahaha

Weren't the chemical weapons from Syria taken away by Russia?

I remember this being a deal that averted military action.

So assad/ Russians were hiding them?

What should be done with Automation taking more and more human jobs

You heard that right - it's not Mexicans or H1-B visas .. but Automation is going to change things in a big way ..

I have seen demos AI can now listen in on phone conversations and dynamically refresh sales script /offers between phone rep and customers .. and we are probably a decade away where all customer service will be replaced by robots.

Robots will drive our cars .. heck it will be the car .. which will be a subscription service . My daughter will most likely never need to take a driving test.

Even creative endeavors like music composition could be automated.

For most of the time since the dawn of industrialization​ - people have been fretting about loss of jobs .. but this time the shit maybe getting real ..

There is no industry on the horizon that will require massive labor..

To survive in the future you need to own/operate in the realm of one or more of

1) Capital
2) Data
4) Algorithms that get to operate on valuable data.

What should the rest do? Should Government simply provide a salary to all the citizens that will cover basic needs through a tax on the Uber Wealthy?

Trust me , in the not so distant future - this will not be a hypothetical question.

What can the courts do if the congress won't do its job ?

Say a court has determined that Rump was guilty of inciting violence during his campaign rally. It is not that they can send him to jail for it - can they?

Let's take the argument to its logical extreme .. Let's say Trump does shoot someone on 5th ave and a plaint congress refuses to do anything about it.. What can/will the courts do?

Installing family members to powerful positions is a trait of tinpot dictators

Why in the world does Trump do it.?? How are Republicans tolerating such nonsense??

Jared K knows nothing about Government and neither does Ivanka.

Is it that Donald Trump doesn't trust anyone else ..Or he is abusing his position to reward his family?

If Obama did anything close to this along with the Russian scandal.. Republicans would have taken a flame thrower through the white house.

We Democrats are too friggin docile for our nation's good.

My first Original Post

I am a part of the Berkeley Heights Democratic Committee in NJ .. we are actively working to make Linda Webber the next congresswoman for the 7th District ( and send Leonard Lance into retirement) and also getting behind a range of (D) candidates.

I hate to use the phrase - but we need to take our country back !