Free Republic

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia Airlines will cut 6,000 workers as part of a $1.9 billion overhaul announced Friday to revive its damaged brand after being hit by double passenger jet disasters. The staff reduction represents about 30 percent of its current workforce of 20,000. A search for a new CEO is underway, but there is no move to change the airline's name, which some branding experts had said was necessary for a successful makeover....

So the wife & I are thinking on taking the plunge. I commute about 75 miles a day round trip to work & back. Based on that, I pay over $410 in gas/month on a paid car that is just getting more expensive to maintain. Any other FReepers who are owners care to give your experiences? Is it worth it?

In the Donbass units of the right sector fight in the army. They are the preferential opponents not less right Russian national unities. BERLIN taz | The threat of Dmitri Jarosch, the boss of the right sector, had worked. Either the government will meet in Kiev the demands of the right sector, according to Jarosch last week, or one will draw off the forces fighting in the Don's bass of the right sector and they allow to march directly to Kiev. Contently Jarosch called off after a little while threatened march to Kiev. The government has followed to his demands...

The emails reveal Lai's links to right-wing US politicians.Media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has maintained close ties with right-wing politicians in the United States, according to documents leaked to the media. The documents, mostly email exchanges between Lai's top aide Mark Simon and others, were sent to major news outlets yesterday by the same person who last month leaked information about Lai's donations to Hong Kong politicians. The documents suggest Lai had regular contacts with US politicians. In one case, Simon acted as a go-between to set up a meeting between former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and a group of...

Could rocket scientists be an endangered species? You're probably betting "no," given the contemporary efforts to hurl hardware to the moon, to Mars, and to a passel of other unearthly locales. The rocket biz is busy, and it's diversifying. An enthusiastic troupe of private companies is also getting into the act, hoping to cash in by lifting off. It seems that "rocket scientist" is a job category that's here for the long haul, like "mortician." But all this activity masks an important point: rockets are not a terribly efficient way to lift things into space. For every pound of payload,...

Until yesterday, every physicist was laughing at this engine and its inventor, Roger Shawyer. It's called the EmDrive and everyone said it was impossible because it goes against classical mechanics. But the fact is that the quantum vacuum plasma thruster works and scientists can't explain why. Shawyer's engine is extremely light and simple. It provides a thrust by "bouncing microwaves around in a closed container." The microwaves are generated using electricity that can be provided by solar energy. No propellant is necessary, which means that this thrusters can work forever unless a hardware failure occurs. If real, this would be...

While New Yorkers like to think of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as the epicenter of the American hipster, it's hardly the only place in the country where vegan, handlebar-mustachioed trustafarians ride their single-speeds to nanobreweries inside organic farm-to-table restaurants inside abandoned artist lofts tricked out with rooftop gardens where they grow only kale. Pretty much any US city, short of maybe Birmingham, AL, has some elements/neighborhoods of hipster culture at this point (you really just need a fixed-gear bike shop, right?), but these 10 cities are vying for the title of hipster-est. Behind Williamsburg, of course....

This looks fun! ======================= Bahamas Lobster Season: Lobster season in The Bahamas opens August 1 and runs through March 31st, and there are some very specific rules you must abide by as a visitor. Here are some of the rules: Taking lobster out of season is an obvious no-no. Nothing more needs to be stated on that. You must obtain a fishing permit when you clear customs. In Florida the permits are required for each person, however in the Bahamas the permits are obtained for the boat. If you’re on a chartered yacht, chances are they carry a legal fishing...

If you’ve turned on the TV, radio, looked at a newspaper, or used the internet in these past few weeks, you have heard of Kendall Jones. Kendall Jones is a 19 year old cheerleader studying at Texas Tech who has stirred up some recent controversy. She is a seasoned hunter that has been lucky enough to travel to Africa to hunt the big five; work alongside organizations to provide meat to local communities and help treat wounded animals. Recently, she has been targeted on social media sites and attacked by news agencies for having pictures of her hunts published on...

Perhaps sensing a leadership vacuum with Mayor de Blasio enjoying la dolce vita overseas, former Mayor Bloomberg is back in the news. With an international message: He's traveling to Israel to blast the FAA's decision to ban flights to Israel. Earlier today, the FAA announced that flights to and from Tel Aviv would be prohibited for up to 24 hours after reports of a rocket strike landing about a mile from Ben Gurion this morning. Which prompted Bloomberg to plan a trip. He wrote on his website: This evening I will be flying on El Al to Tel Aviv to...

Don Mullen: Why don’t America’s hotels provide hair products for black as well as white hair? Is there a way to get them to correct this “micro-aggression”? Jenée Desmond-Harris: Thanks for your question. I thought about the issue of hotel toiletries when I was writing the Race Manners column that answered the question, “Is Using Lotion a Black Thing?” In my opinion, the tiny moisturizer that most hotels provide is very clearly not designed for those who want or need to use it on their entire body (read: most black people). But off the top of my head, I’m not...

Back in March, Radio Sweden reported on the Swedish right-wing extremists, who went to Ukraine in order to support the cause of "nationalist", in their opinion, the revolution. Now, for the head of one of them, the separatists announced a cash award of 80,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (about 5000 euros). Italian war correspondent Fausto Biloslavo / Fausto Biloslavo able to meet with several Swedes fighting in Ukraine against the pro-Russian separatists. German edition of the Swedish Radio, he said that he met with Swedish neo-Nazis during his time with the battalion "Azov" in eastern Ukraine. According to him, the Swedes, whom...

On April 1, the U.S. economy dropped a whopping 2.9 percent for the first three months of the year (no fooling). The American workforce participation rate fell to a 40-year low. One-third of people aged 18-29 have moved back in with their parents. Millions of Americans this summer will enjoy yet another “staycation”: They just can’t afford to go to the beach or the mountains, even for a week — again. Swipe cut to President Obama: He’s eating shave ice in Honolulu; playing golf (some 180 rounds so far); jetting off to Martha’s Vineyard for a 15-day vacation in a...

While the House and the Senate this week issued measures intended to temporarily replenish the Highway Trust Fund before it runs out of money next month, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) ended the week by proposing to hike - then abolish - the federal fuel tax and replace it with a per-mile “fee.” “The policy development that I’m most excited about and that will reinforce the right practices for the future: After we raise the gas tax, we should abolish it,” Blumenauer said on Friday at the liberal Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. “The time is right to replace...

For many Americans the country of Mexico conjures up images of a third world nation. The poverty, lack of basic services, and extreme violence has left the populace so desperate that thousands of people on a daily basis head to the United States for a better life. But according to Future Money Trends, all that could change in the near future as key Mexican financial leaders and politicians have been working to institute sweeping monetary change that, if implemented, could unleash a global power shift of epic proportions. “Take just three or four men out of the ‘anti’ group,” says...

It is so sad to watch Latin American children used as human props for political gain by our government, intent on forcing America into a third world status and more diversification. It is even sadder to see that so many parents were so deluded and so irresponsible that they sent their children in the company of coyotes who, for a fee, dropped them at the border, to be then bused and flown by our government to locations around the country. In transit these children were potentially abused and sexually molested.

Dubai is already home to the tallest tower in the world, so it was just a matter of time until the glitzy emirate planned another record-breaking construction. Its next project involves building the largest shopping mall on the planet, complete with climate-controlled streets, the world's largest indoor theme park and 100 hotels and apartments. In fact, the ambitious emirate has dubbed the project a 'temperature-controlled pedestrian city'. Occupying 48 million square feet, the Mall of the World will also contain health resorts, theatres, a Celebration Steet modelled on the Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona and 'retail streets network' that will stretch...

Photo of Crime Scene It is not often that you read of homicides in Japan that involve firearms.   Firearms are tightly controlled; Japanese are some of the most law abiding people on the planet; and firearms have never been widely available. It is not surprising that when such a homicide occurs, it involves foreigners.  In this case, a Chinese man appears to be the perpetrator and a Chinese woman the victim.   The article assumes that the victim was married to the man, but the police had not identified her.   From japantimes.co: The pair reportedly started to quarrel after entering...

During a meeting with analysts and investors on Wednesday, Advance Auto Parts executives were asked how many stores they expect to close as a result of the company's acquisition of Raleigh-based General Parts International. George Sherman, Advance Auto's president, said the company is consolidating 100 stores as part of a first round of closings. "There will be more going forward," he said. "We have to assess fully 1,200-plus stores across the country. There will be a large group of consolidations, but there will be a lot of conversations where we flip the banner and there will be some relocations." General...

TITAN: rendering of methane lake, view of host planet saturn at night If you haven't been following, the NASA-ESA Cassini space mission has recently passed-by the largest of Saturn's 150 moons/moonlets: Titan is a natural satellite 1.5x the size of our own moon that makes up a full 90% of the orbiting mass around the gas giant.  And while Saturn is a large, windy gas ball, its planet-like moon Titan actually has a solid surface compromised of mostly rocks and water ice, retains an atmosphere (majority nitrogen, same as Earth- yet 2x the pressure), and features massive lakes of methane/ethane -one the size of Lake...