Weekly World News. Next week they find Amelia Earhart in New Jersey (again)
Just wanna know how Bat Boy is doing these days
Amid Unprecedented Demand, Delays and Downgrades Are Now Private Aviation’s New Normal
Clients are paying $5,000 to $25,000 per hour for private jets, and, in turn, are seeing delays and downgrades. What gives?
by Michael Verdon
A chief executive recently shared an email about a jet charter his company had arranged for important clients. Scheduled for on-time departure from Austin, the pilots noticed a blinking light in the cockpit and called in the mechanics. Several hours later, the issue was resolved but the crew had exceeded FAA-mandated hours for the day. Unable to secure a replacement aircraft, the clients completed the flight to Phoenix the next day. The CEO, an experienced private flier, was incensed: “One of the most incredible sh*t shows ever by a charter company.”
That sentiment is becoming all too common. “Nearly 20 percent of respondents say they’ve experienced service letdowns in the past several months,” says Doug Gollan, president of Private Jet Card Comparisons, pointing to a survey of his clients, many of them new to business aviation. Eighty-three percent paid average deposits of $240,000 for jet cards, so the financial investments are significant.
An industry that prides itself on white-glove, clockwork service is struggling in the Covid era with a sizable influx of newcomers from the commercial airlines. “We’re seeing 25 to 40 percent more volume than previous years,” said Michael Silvestro, CEO of Flexjet, a fractional and jet-card provider, on a recent webinar. “Our companies are all trying to get supply up to these levels of demand. We’re in the ultimate famine-to-feast moment—and are in for a new normal.”
NetJets, the largest fractional provider, suspended all jet-card sales to ensure it could keep its fractional owners flying on time. “NetJets’ flight demand is currently exceeding all other highs in our 57-year history,” wrote NetJets’ president Patrick Gallagher in June, noting that some fractional owners had experienced delays. “The vast number of flights is taxing the air-travel infrastructure in ways we haven’t seen in years.”
“We’re even seeing some companies change the terms of service in mid-contract by lengthening the amount of lead time clients must give them,” says Jay Mesinger, CEO of Mesinger Jet Sales, who has been in the business for 45 years. He has never seen a situation like this. “We haven’t come to grips with this yet. I think there will be a lot of disappointment.”
Delays and downgrades—swapping the client’s jet of choice for an older, smaller model—are the two main complaints. “We’re in a perfect storm,” notes Anthony Tivnan, president of Magellan Jets, whose company logged a 240-percent increase in jet-card sales from January through August.
A shortage of pre-owned aircraft and higher fleet-utilization rates mean fewer replacement jets are available, while maintenance delays take airplanes out of service longer. Air-traffic control delays and parts, fuel and labor shortages are also exacerbating the situation.
“Passengers are also scheduling flights in a much shorter window,” adds Tivnan, who doesn’t foresee much changing through the end of the year. “Every weekend last summer was comparable to peak periods like Christmas and July Fourth. We’re forecasting record traffic for November, December and January.”
Compared to tens of thousands of aircraft in the US commercial fleet, only 3,314 jets from 549 operators in the US are available for charter. The limited availability of pre-owned aircraft and fractured makeup of the charter world—only 66 operators have ten or more jets on their Part 135 certificates, and 149 operators have just a single jet—are creating a wild-west dynamic where demand continues to push up pricing, while service issues continue.
Magellan is spending “significantly more” on customer outreach, says Tivnan, by trying to educate clients on how to minimize delays—avoiding flying from Thursday to Sunday, booking earlier, and flying around peak periods.
Others are investing in fleet expansion. “We’ve recently taken delivery of six new aircraft,” says Nicholas Correnti, founder and CEO of Nicholas Air. “I think companies like ours who own and operate their own fleets are in a much better position than charter operators beholden to their suppliers. If they can’t deliver the flights, they’ll erode trust among their clients.”
Smaller, boutique firms, adds Peder Von Harten, Nicholas’ vice president of sales and marketing, will fare better in the new normal than firms aspiring to be the “800-pound gorilla” of business aviation. “Some companies keep selling cards when they know supply is limited,” he says.
More:
https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/private-aviation-new-normal-delays-downgrades-1234642123/
General Research #18956 >>>/qresearch/14983238
Austrian Chancellor Schallenberg: “I Don’t See Why Two-Thirds Should Lose Their Freedom Because One-Third Is Dithering” – Moves to Place MILLIONS of the Unvaccinated On Lockdown
Austria will impose new infringements on the unvaccinated 35% of the population, as infections soar to record highs.
65% of the country is already vaccinated.
Vaccinated individuals can still get sick, spread the virus, and even die.
The Gateway Pundit reported that Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg recently said, “We are about to stumble into a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” as he warned of the coming segregation.
The Chancellor has chosen to act on his discriminatory arrangement.
The Guardian reports,
The country’s worst-affected province of Upper Austria plans to introduce a lockdown for the unvaccinated from Monday next week following recommendations from medical experts.
Coronavirus deaths rose by 10% across the continent over the past week, making it the only world region where both Covid-19 cases and deaths are steadily increasing, according to a WHO report.
Austrian regional governor Thomas Stelzer described the situation as “dramatic” and said a lockdown would be introduced “provided there is a legal green light from the federal government or the federal government creates the legal basis”, the Austria Press Agency reports.
Those who are not vaccinated will have restrictions placed on their daily movements, including bans from restaurants, hotels, hairdressing salons and large public events.
The region will be the first to move into level five of Austria’s five-stage incremental government plan agreed in September that stipulates once 30% of intensive-care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients, people not vaccinated against the coronavirus will be placed under lockdown. The current level is 20% and rising fast.
“According to the incremental plan we actually have just days until we have to introduce the lockdown for unvaccinated people,” chancellor Alexander Schallenberg told a news conference on Thursday, adding that Austria’s vaccination rate was “shamefully low”.
Around 65% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, national statistics show. Upper Austria records just under 60% of the total population vaccinated.
The Gateway Pundit reported, that the Austrian government plans to impose restrictions on unvaccinated people that would allow them to only leave their homes for specific reasons.
When the lockdowns are in place and another spike occurs, will they continue to blame the unvaccinated?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/austrian-chancellor-schallenberg-dont-see-two-thirds-lose-freedom-one-third-dithering-moves-place-millions-unvaccinated-lockdown/
General Research #18956 >>>/qresearch/14983363
US Firms Splurge On Chinese Semi Deals, Aiding Beijing's Bid For Chip Dominance Despite Security Risks
All those back-door China "sponsored" deals meant to buy favors with one Hunter Biden are finally starting to pay dividends.
U.S. venture capital firms have been "ramping up investments" in Chinese semiconductor companies despite the obvious security conflicts, a new report from the Wall Street Journal says. Cumulatively, U.S. firms have helped raise "billions" for Chinese chip startups. There's been no word as to whether or not Chinese VC investors are buying any of Hunter Biden's art in return…
There has been more than 58 deals in China's semiconductor industry from 2017 to 2020, the report says. Among the "active investors" is Intel, who has invested in a Chinese company called Primarius Technologies Co., which makes chip-design tools that the U.S. currently holds the lead in making.
Intel told the WSJ its China investments "are less than 10% of the deals in a global portfolio designed to support its business and generate return".
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-firms-are-piling-investments-china-based-semiconductor-names
{Seqouia Capital, we know that name}
General Research #18956 >>>/qresearch/14983457
Buttigieg: ‘Surest Way’ to Solve Supply Chain Issue Is Vaccination
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Friday continued to emphasize the importance of ending the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to fix the supply chain issues around the United States.
Earlier this week, Buttigieg stressed that the “only way” to solve the supply chain issues the nation has been experiencing was “to end the pandemic.”
The transportation secretary doubled down on that remark, telling CBS’s “Mornings” that was why the White House has been pushing its vaccination campaign.
“I break it down into three parts,” Buttigieg said when asked what the Biden administration was doing to solve the issue. “First of all, we’ve got to deal with the pandemic. This is largely a pandemic-driven set of issues, so the surest way to deal with it is to end the pandemic, which is why we have this vaccination campaign and everything else we’re doing. That’s the first part.”
“The second part, of course, is that we can’t wait,” he continued. “So, there are immediate actions like what’s in the president’s port action plan. We’re seeing sweeper ships going around to pick up empty containers that are getting in the way — really creative ideas like pop-up ports that are actually inland in Georgia so you can move the containers out of where they might be blocking the path for more ships to unload and sorting them out further inland. Even fines and fees for those shippers who are leaving their containers out, which is contributing to the slowdowns and the issues. Then, we’ve got the long-term picture. We’ve got to invest in a big way in American ports and infrastructure, which is why this bipartisan infrastructure deal that just passed Congress is such a big deal. So, that’s how I would think about it, the immediate and the long term, and we’re working on both.”
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2021/11/12/buttigieg-surest-way-to-solve-supply-chain-issue-is-vaccination/
{there it is: "take the jb and give us money"}
The CIA Is Trying to Recruit Gen Z—and Doesn’t Care If They’re All Over Social Media
You’d think a generation of folks raised on making look-at-me posts on social media could never go work at the Agency. You’d be wrong.
Written by Jessica M. Goldstein Published Novemeber 9, 2021
When you pull up to the CIA headquarters in Langley, you have to shout your Social Security number out the window into a speaker, like when you’re ordering fries at a drive-through. Much like the Union that the Agency was formed to protect, the system, it seems, could be more perfect. But I am willing to do what it takes to get the inside story of how the CIA is recruiting and working with the next generation of spies.
Full Article:
https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/11/09/how-gen-z-and-the-tiktok-generation-are-becoming-spies/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
General Research #18961 >>>/qresearch/14987990
Black Americans Sue U.S. Farms for Replacing Them with Foreign Workers: ‘It’s Like Being Robbed of Your Heritage’
Black Americans who spent most of their lives working on Mississippi farms are suing their former employer after they were replaced by foreign workers on the H-2A visa program.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, accuses Pitts Farms of laying off a number of black Americans, only to replace them with foreign visa workers from South Africa.
The H-2A visa program allows U.S. farms to annually outsource an unlimited number of American jobs to foreign workers who can extend their stay for up to three years. The foreign families of H-2A visa workers can also come to the U.S. on H-4 visas.
In 1997, a little more than 16,000 foreign visa workers were imported to take American jobs on U.S. farms. By 2020, that number has ballooned to a record 213,400 foreign visa workers — an increase in the H-2A visa program of more than 1,200 percent in less than 25 years.
Data shows U.S. farms use the H-2A visa program to import cheaper, foreign visa workers.
In interviews with the New York Times, black Americans said they had spent most of their lives earning a living as farm workers at Pitts Farms. The work is part of a long history wherein black Americans along the Mississippi Delta have spent grueling hours on farms doing intense physical labor.
One of the black Americans suing Pitts Farms, 50-year-old Richard Strong, told the Times that he has worked on farms for more than 25 years. His father and grandfather did so as well, as well as his enslaved ancestors.
Strong said about 10 years ago is when he noticed farms along the Mississippi Delta began importing foreign visa workers, almost entirely from South Africa. When the first groups arrived, Strong said he helped train them. Now, more than 100 U.S. farms along the Delta employ foreign visa workers from South Africa over Americans.
An expert on the H-2A visa program told the Times that “virtually all new workers entering the agriculture workforce these days are H-2A workers.” A recruiter for the H-2A visa program called the imported South Africans are “the preferred group” over Americans.
“Sunflower County, where [Pitts Farms] is located, is predominantly black; as of 2019, blacks made up an estimated 73 percent of the county’s population,” the lawsuit notes:
For many years, [Pitts Farms] employed a majority Black workforce. As of 2014, however, this number has steadily dwindled, as [Pitts Farms] began applying for and hiring white South Africans for the same work. And since 2014, PFP has used the H-2A program to hire only white South Africans – no black South Africans – although that country too is majority black by a wide margin: estimates stand at around 80% Black compared to less than 8% white. [Emphasis added]
By 2020, Strong said he was fired by Pitt Farms, as were the other American workers, including his brother Gregory, who had also spent most of his life working at the farm.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/12/black-americans-sue-u-s-farms-for-replacing-them-with-foreign-workers-its-like-being-robbed-of-your-heritage/
>>105714 (me)
Goes with the pic
General Research #18961 >>>/qresearch/1498812
Glen de Vries Dig
Glen de Vries
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Blue Origin astronaut
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Co-founder of Medidata Solutions
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Vice Chair Life Sciences & Healthcare at Dassault Systèmes.
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Trustee of Carnegie Mellon University
On October 13, 2021, de Vries accompanied William Shatner along with two other astronauts on a New Shepard rocket as part of the Blue Origin NS-18 mission into space.
Medidata Solutions
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The company was founded in June 1999 by Tarek Sherif, Glen de Vries and Ed Ikeguchi.
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$10M initial investment from Insight Venture Partners in 2004
General Research #18961 >>>/qresearch/14988373
Gateway Pundit, [11/12/2021 11:16 PM]
Potential Witness Tampering as Gaige Grosskreutz, the Felon Who Aimed His Gun at Kyle Rittenhouse, Had Two Prior Charges Dismissed by Prosecutors Only Days Before Trial
Suspected witness tampering is uncovered in the Kyle Rittenhouse case as star witness Gaige Grosskreutz, who aimed his gun at Rittenhouse, had charges dropped by the prosecutor only days before being a witness in the case.
We reported on Gaige Grosskreutz multiple times since last August when he had his arm nearly blown off by Kyle Rittenhouse after he pointed his gun at Kyle. For some reason, Grosskreutz has not been charged as a felon in possession of a firearm and attempting to kill Kyle Rittenhouse, even though at the time of the event, Grosskreutz was a felon.
But what we have found is that in his long list of violations, Grosskreutz was arrested with his second OWI (operating while intoxicated) and a case was filed on January 21, 2021. This was only a couple of months after he attempted to kill Kyle Rittenhouse.
The unusual coincidence is that this case was dismissed only a couple of days before Grosskreutz gave his testimony in the Rittenhouse case on October 28, 2021. See case data below:
Along with the above charge, another charge for refusing to take a blood-alcohol test was also dismissed on October 28, 2021. Again, this was only a couple of days before Grosskreutz testified in the Rittenhouse case.
Here is some more on these dismissals.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/breaking-exclusive-potential-witness-tampering-gaige-grosskreutz-felon-aimed-gun-kyle-rittenhouse-two-prior-charges-dismissed-prosecutors-days-trial/
https://t.me/gatewaypunditofficial/8018