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| Ritchie Torres |
Are America's airlines boycotting Israel. New York Congressman Ritchie Torres seems to think so. He fired off letters on August 28 to the CEOs of American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines to express concern about their suspension of service to Israel since shortly after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. They imposed that ban independently of any order from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Torres said it's one thing to suspend air travel to Israel on security grounds as defined by the FAA, but to unilaterally suspend air travel to the country indefinitely until mid-2025 as American Airlines has done, has the practical effect of a boycott.
“Given the arbitrary length of the suspension, one could be forgiven for thinking that the BDS movement has taken over the American aviation industry without anyone noticing, much less crying foul,” wrote Torres.
El Al is the sole carrier offering direct flights from America to Israel. “By what logic and in in what universe is it safe for El Al to travel to Israel, but too dangerous for American Airlines, Delta and United to do so,” wrote the Bronx Democrat.
He also pointed out that UAE carriers like FlyDubai, Etihad and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi continue to fly to Israel without incident.
Torres wants the US carriers to restore service to Israel and to operate based on FAA guidance “to prevent the appearance and the substance of discrimination against the Jewish State.”
American, Delta and United have some explaining to do. Torres awaits their response.
Our oily future... ExxonMobil doesn’t buy the argument put forward by environmentalists that oil and gas are “transitional” energies leading to a bright future powered by renewables.
Fossil fuels aren’t going to disappear any time soon.
The oil giant released its “Global Outlook: Our View to 2050” report projecting that the world will increase its use of energy by 15 percent over the next 26 years.
Hydro, wind, solar and geothermal power show the biggest jump, accounting for 15 percent of the 2050 power mix, up from the current six percent level.
Much of that gain comes at the expense of coal, which will supply 13 percent of the world’s power in 2050, down from 25 percent today.
Oil and natural gas will dip slightly from 56 percent to 54 percent.
The Outlook notes that the demand for gasoline for passenger cars will drop by 25 percent due to greater fuel efficiency and electric vehicles.
But gasoline is just a small portion of oil use. The vast majority of oil is used for manufacturing, chemical production and heavy-duty transportation like shipping, trucking and aviation.
ExxonMobil warns that the biggest threat to the world’s energy future comes from paring back funds for new oil and gas investment.
Without new investment, global oil supplies would fall by 15M barrels a day in the first year, and by 2030 supplies would tumble from 100M barrels per day to 30M.
Drill, baby, drill is ExxonMobil’s strategy because “access to energy drives human development and quality of life.”
AI reporting for duty… Klarna expects widespread use of artificial intelligence will allow it to slice its staff in half, mainly in the areas of marketing and customer service.
“Not only can we do more with less but we can do much more with a lot less,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told the Financial Times. “Internally, we speak directionally about 2,000 employees.”
Klarna, which is in the buy now, pay later business, has about 3,800 workers. That’s down from 5,000 a year ago.
Siemiatkowski says job cuts and more AI has boosted revenue from $400K per employee to $700K.
Klarna plans to go public during the first-half of 2025. Wall Street may reward Klarna for Siemikatkowski’s AI headcount-reducing strategy.
AI also will wreak havoc among the ranks of PR people.
A huge PR opportunity looms for a firm that is willing to take some heat by promoting Immigration & Customs Enforcement... Disgraced New York mayor Eric Adams couldn't wait to make another pilgrimage to Israel to stick it to his successor Zohran Mamdani... Hats off to Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett for writing his always engaging and witty annual reports over the years.
The ADL plans a Mamdani Monitor to track down any whiff of antisemitism from the policies and appointments made by his administration. It should have given him a chance to live up to Election Night promise... Brendan Carr, Alden Global Capital, Alphabet, Meta and Elon Musk make Reporters Without Borders' roster of Press Freedom Predators.
Andrew Cuomo's political career is not dead yet... Steve Bannon says Republicans should learn from Zohran Mamdani and his Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America, instead of mocking them... Internet advertising model is on the way out, says Tim Berners-Lee... Gannet rebrands as USA Today Inc. What about its other 200 papers?
Thomas Jefferson warned about the dangers of an imperial president who would deny an election loss in a bid to cling to power. Sound familiar?... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says reporters don't need his permisson to take a photo of the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial, as long as they are not on the job... Kirkland and Ellison lawyers need some negotiating tips. 
Shareholder activitism is poised to hit an all-time high for 2025... Kamala Harris’ “107 Days” reads like an autospsy of her failed presidential run. Democrats need to look forward, not backward... The Reagan Foundation dishonored The Gipper by providing PR cover to tariff-loving Trump.
