#swa

[gil-estel]

absence makes the heart grow fonder forget how annoying Ezra can be

(drawtober 2023 day 2 - hyperspace/spiders)

#ezra bridger #ahsoka tano #star wars ahsoka #sw ahsoka #star wars #star wars rebels #sw rebels #swr #swa #ahsoka series #purrgil #esteldraws #drawtober

[qualitystart]

a useful reminder

#palestine #current #*misc #iran #SWA

[and-loth-cat]

oh my GOD (PART SIX!!)

THREEPIO

MY SON

LEIA WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES AS THE BADASS SHE IS

CHOPPERS FUCKING SASS DURING THE DROID THING

xiono can go fuck himself <333

THE FORCE IS MY ALLY,,,EZRA IM SO PROUD OF YOU

ZEB NAMEDROP!! FUCKING FINALLY FILONI REMEMBERED HE EXISTED

OH AND

HAYDEN!!!!

THE CLIP FROM THE TEASER!!!!

#ahsoka #ahsoka series #ahsoka show #star wars #star wars rebels #rebels #zeb #gara #zeb orrelios #swa #sw ahsoka #hayden christensen #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #ahsoka spoilers #sw rebels #ezra bridger #sabine wren #threepio #c3po #leia organa #chopper #c1 10p #senator xiono #star wars ahsoka

[cintakaz]

idk steven maybe you should kill yourself about it

#ahsoka #swa #sabine wren

[mostlysignssomeportents]

1,000,000 stranded Southwest passengers deserved better from Pete Buttigieg

The catastrophic failure of Southwest Air over Christmas 2022 was the worst single-airline aviation failure in American history, stranding over 1,000,000 passengers. But while it was exceptional, it was also foreseeable: 2022 saw Southwest and the other carriers rack up record numbers of cancellations, leaving crews and fliers stranded.

It’s not like the carriers can’t afford to improve things. After pulling in $54 billion in covid relief, the airlines are swimming in cash, showering executives with record bonuses and paying titanic dividends to shareholders. Southwest has announced a $428m dividend.

This isn’t a new problem. Trump’s Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was a paragon of inaction and neglect, refusing even to meet with consumer advocacy groups. This is bad, because under US law, state attorneys general are not allowed to punish misbehaving airlines — that power vests solely and entirely with the Secretary of Transport.

It’s been two years since Biden appointed Pete Buttigieg to be the human race’s most powerful aviation regulator. Buttigieg started his tenure on a promising note, meeting with the same consumer groups that Chao had snubbed, but after that hopeful beginning, things ground to a halt.

As Corporate Crime Reporter details, William McGee of the American Economic Liberties Project was impressed by the Secretary: “He was intelligent, articulate, he had good questions for us, he was taking notes, he seemed concerned.” But 18 months later, McGee describes Buttigieg’s leadership as “lax.”

https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/pete-buttigieg-and-the-southwest-airlines-meltdown/

Buttigieg likes to tout a single enforcement action as his signature achievement: fining six airlines and ordering them to issue refunds to US passengers. But only one of those airlines was a US carrier: Frontier, which only accounts for 2% of all US flights. The US monopoly carriers have gone unscathed.

The US carriers are in sore need of regulatory discipline. In 2020 alone, United racked up 10,000 consumer complaints, twice as many as any other carrier. Under Buttigieg, the DOT investigated these airlines and closed every one of these complaints without taking any against them.

This is part of a wider pattern. In Buttigieg’s 18 month tenure, not a single airline has been ordered to pay any fines as a result of cancellations. In the absence of oversight and accountability, the airlines have made a habit out of scheduling flights they know they don’t have the crew to fly (they used public covid funds to buy out senior crew contracts, retiring much of their workforce).

This gives the airlines the flexibility to offer many flights they know they can’t service, and to allocate crew to whichever runs will generate the most profit, stranding US passengers and holding onto their money for months or years before paying refunds — if they ever do.

Consumer groups weren’t alone in sounding the alarm over the deteriorating conditions in the airline sector. In 2022, dozens of state attorneys general — Democrats and Republicans — sent open letters to Buttigieg begging him to use his broad powers as Secretary of Transport to hold the airlines accountable.

What are those powers? Well, the big one is USC40 Section 41712(a), the “unfair and deceptive” authority modeled on Section 5 of the FTC Act. This authority allows the Secretary to act without further Congressional action, to order airlines to end practices that are “unfair and deceptive,” and to extract massive fines from companies that don’t comply.

As McGee told CCR, “the scheduling and canceling of flights is both unfair and deceptive.” In order to force the airlines to end this practice, Buttigieg would have to initiate an investigation into the practice. The American Economic Liberties Project called on Buttigieg to open an investigation months ago. There has not been such an investigation.

Even on refunds, Buttigieg’s much-touted signature achievement, the Secretary has left Americans in the cold. US law requires airlines to give cash refunds to passengers on cancelled flights. But to this day, passengers are sent unfair and deceptive messages by airlines offering them credit for cancellations, and fliers must fight their way through a bureaucratic quagmire to get cash refunds.

McGee and other advocates met with Buttigieg twelve times sking him to address this. When he finally took action, he ignored the domestic airlines — which racked up 5,700% more complaints in his first year on the job than in the previous year — except for tiny, largely irrelevant Frontier. If you are an American whose journey on an American airline was cancelled, there’s a 98% chance that Buttigieg let them off without a single dollar in fines.

McGee isn’t an armchair quarterback. He is an industry veteran, an FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher: “I canceled flights. I rescheduled flights. I diverted flights. I delayed flights. I did that every day.”

Apologists for Buttigieg claim that he’s doing all he can: “Pete isn’t in charge of airline IT!” But while USC 40 doesn’t mention computer systems or staffing levels directly, it doesn’t have to: the “unfair and deceptive” standard is deliberately broad, to give regulators the powers they need to protect the American people.

In understanding whether the million fliers that Southwest stranded on the way to their Christmas vacations could have expected more from their DOT, it’s worth looking at how other regulators have used similar authority to protect the American people.

Exhibit A here has to be FTC Chair Lina Khan, whose powers under FTCA5 are nearly identical to Buttigieg’s power under 41712(a) (the DOT language was copied nearly verbatim from the FTCA). Two years ago, Khan began an in-depth investigation into the use of nonompete agreements in the US labor market.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2020/01/non-competes-workplace-examining-antitrust-consumer-protection-issues

This investigation created an extensive evidentiary record on the ways that workers are harmed by these agreements, and collected empirical observations about whether industries really needed noncompetes to thrive (for example, noncompetes are banned in California, home to the most profitable, most knowledge-intensive businesses in the world, undermining claims that these businesses need noncompetes to survive).

Then, right as Southwest was stranding a million Americans, Khan unveiled a rulemaking to ban noncompetes for every American worker, using her Section 5 powers. Khan’s rule is retroactive, undoing every existing noncompete as well as banning them into the future.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

This is what a fully operational battle-station looks like! Khan and Buttigieg are among the most powerful people who have ever lived, with more and farther-reaching regulatory authority, more power to alter the lives of millions of people, than almost anyone who every drew breath.

And yet, when Secretary Buttigieg jawbones about the airlines, it’s all pleading, not threats. As McGee says, “If you have a Secretary of Transportation who does not punish the airlines when they act terribly, then we should not be surprised when they continue to behave terribly.”

State AGs from both parties are desperate for Buttigieg to back legislation that would return their right to punish airlines. So far, he has not voiced his support for this regulation. When the Secretary of Transport won’t act, and when he won’t support the right of other officials to act, the American traveler is truly stranded.

Image: Tomás Del Coro (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomasdelcoro/24575277589

Japanexperterna.se (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/japanexperterna/15251188384/

CC BY-SA 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

 — 

Tarcil (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Brea_Tar_Pits_Elephant_Statues_1990_right.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: The La Brea tar-pits. A Southwest jet is nose-down in the tar, next to a stranded mastodon. In the foreground are the three wise monkeys, their faces replaced with that of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.]

#pluralistic #inaction #regulation #swa #southwest air #corporate crime reporter #pete buttigieg #Section 41712(a)

[misswoozi]

Stooop!

I’m entering my in Mingyu mood, now, thanks to you 🥲 (yes 2 posts were enough 😂) -SWA

I'M HERE TO MAKE IT WORSE

#mingyu smut #swa

[afro-hispwriter]

i hate mullets… but I have an expectation for Tom🧎🏾‍♀️

#tom glynn carney #sleeping walking animals #swa #tom glynn carney x reader #tom glynn carney smut #my husband🙏🏾😫

[ace-of-d1am0nds]

currently reading since we’re alone by @buffymilkovich and @lethargicmick and HOLY FUCKING SHIT IM SO NFSKBFKGB

this fic is so fucking good. like genuinely a novel in its own right. i’m only on chapter 23 rn but holy fucking fuck

i feel like a lot of ppl don’t always write from mickeys pov and this fic does it so fucking well and adds so many fun things going through his head that make him say and do the things he does. also the fun references to canon are so so good

#i’m not a hockey bitch #but i love love love this fic so far #shameless #gallavich #ian gallagher #mickey milkovich #swa

[nocternalrandomness]

Tennessee One in Houston

#Boeing #737 #Tennessee One #airliner #livery #commercial aircraft #jet #passenger jet #SWA #airplane #aviation photography #plane #state flag livery

[gtzel]

So I learned to Crochet recently and uhm….I made a borrower bag with little to no experience! It took me 12 grueling hours but it was worth the lack of sleep! So uhm yeah, I think it turned out good for a no-pattern project.

#crochet #crochet anime #bag #the secret world of arrietty #swa #gt #arrietty #artbook #artists on tumblr #original art #art #my art #artwork #oc art #traditional art #digital art #giant tiny

[bestmothertournament]

#female tournaments #best mother figure #best mother tournament #sci fi #alison hendrix #orphan black #allison hargreeves #umbrella acedmy #ua #beverly crusher #star trek next generation season 1 #star trek #star trek picard #carol freeman #star trek lower decks #lower decks #ellie reed #the adam project #evelyn wang #everything everywhere all at once #grace hargreeves #kirigaya midori #sword art online #swa #lucille krunklehorn #meet the robinsons #disney #munda turanga #futurama #sarah connor

[raventrigonsdaughter]

Back to Rosario talking about how Ezra and Ahsoka will have a deeper conection and relationship that will be important to the show, we can all agree that this is most likely a Daughter and Son of Mortis thing right? Everyone can agree on that right? Or at very least they will be parallels to Baylan and Shin

#the leaks say there will be a scene where Ahsoka is running side by side with a male character on top of loth wolves #im starting to think Ahsoka and Ezra will either be the new ones of mortis #or a straught up dyad #NOT IN A ROMANTIC WAY TAKE YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE GUTTER #but addimit its so on brand for filoni to make his favorite children spiritual twins that are embodiments of the force #ahsoka tano #ezra bridger #it also makes sense when you think about it #ezra and ahsoka are deeply conected to the world between worlds now as well as the mortis gods #and if Ezra is loki and Ahsoka is Odin... yeah #siblings #star wars rebels #star wars clone wars #swa #AHSOKA #possible ahsoka spoilers #ahsoka and ezra are basically galen marek divided into 2 characters at this point again that would be a very filoni thing to do #and maybe this time the daughter and the son can be in balance with each other instead of needing the father to balance them out of a fight

[and-loth-cat]

AHSOKA NIGHT!!

Manifesting 🕯🙏

#ahsoka #ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #ahsoka day #ahsoka show #sw ahsoka #star wars ahsoka #star wars #kallus #zeb #kalluzeb #jacen syndulla #loth cat #sabine wren #ahsoka tano #ahsoka tv #ahsoka 2023 #agent kallus #swa #wr #star wars rebels #rebels #garazeb orrelios

[cintakaz]

what if i was named hati after the wolf fated to chase and eat the moon to signal the start of ragnorok and i was assigned to assassinate you 3 seperate times and we were both girls 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

#and lothal has twin moons and we represent unresolved potential in each other (im the force user but you're the jedi) and #swa #wolfwren

[monsterhospital]

i'm really enjoying the level of nuance the empire is given in andor which is something star wars as a whole has been trending towards recently. the whole Mindless Goon Bad Guy thing isn't strong writing imo. but these are people who take a day off of work to watch an astronomical phenomenon and who laugh with their friends and make mistakes. some of them are in it for the Cause (either the glory of the empire itself or their own personal desire for power) but others are just in it because it's the career that was available to them. some of them are going to valiantly rebel, some of them are going to rise thru the ranks and become a Big Bad, but most of them are just people.

dehumanizing the bad guys is ultimately unproductive because it draws a clear line between the viewer and villainy. no viewer is going to identify with a stormtrooper, not even the ones who are irl corporate pencil pushers for a company with abhorrent practices. but its a lot harder to separate yourself from the ramen-munching, card-game-playing imperials in andor, who are very much human and often not even horrible people despite their gross complacency in fascism.

#its a lot more uncomfortable and that's what makes it better #no more faceless goons because irl empires are not built of faceless goons #they are built out of people who often aren't even thinking about the wider consequences of what they're a part of #star wars andor #andor spoilers #andor #swa

[buffymilkovich]

since we're alone chapter twenty-six: take my hand

#college au #hockey player mickey #tutor ian #slow burn #enemies to friends to idiots to lovers

chapters: 26/27

chapter word count: 7.2k // total word count: 246.4k

click here to read chapter twenty-six; click here to read from the beginning

@lethargicmick ♥️

#I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START #i have truly been a phantom #life has turned upside down for me in all sorts of exciting ways #but once im back on solid land i have every intention of reentering this wonderful community that means the world to me #ive missed everyone so damn much #hi hello it us #since we're alone #swa #gallavich #gallavich fanfic #fanfic