Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. It's National Siblings Day and by toto 100% coincidence today's pheatured guest is my sister. I swear it's a coincidence. Hey, my Jewish friends, Happy Passover. May your Passover not be ruined by politicians awkwardly tweeting about Passover. It could happen.
A law student from Southern California, Dyne Suh, booked an Airbnb so her fiancé and two friends could enjoy a ski trip in her rare time off from studying. But as the crew made their way through heavy rain on their drive up to the mountains, their would-be host abruptly reneged on her agreement to lodge them. Her reason was anything but ambiguous. "I wouldn't rent it to u if u were the last person on earth," she texted Suh. "One word says it all. Asian." Suh shared the racist text exchange on Facebook at the time of the incident, with the caption: "Just had an Airbnb cancel on me spewing racism." Dyne Suh, 23, also shared her reaction in an emotional video from the night of the incident with Los Angeles based journalist Steve Kuzj. Now it's going viral for the sheer, shocking racism it exposes. "It stings. It stings that after living in the U.S. for 23 years, this is what happens." "She said that to me. I'm an American citizen. This is my home." According to NBC LA, Airbnb banned the racist host, who claimed the election of Donald Trump gave her the right to discriminate. Airbnb rightfully called her abhorrent and unacceptable behavior "abhorrent and unacceptable." "We have worked to provide the guest with our full support and in line with our non discrimination policy, this host has been permanently removed from the Airbnb platform," said a spokesperson. The Trump-supporting host, meanwhile, had "no comment."
Another day, another fucked up story about an airline mishandling a tense situation. Footage posted to social media depicts a man being forcibly dragged from a United aircraft after the airline accidently overbooked the flight. The video is pretty disturbing but these screen shots say it all...
According to NJ.com, United needed four passengers to forfeit their seats on the overbooked flight from Chicago to Louisville. Two passengers left the aircraft voluntarily, but the other two were randomly selected via computer. The man in the video above was selected but refused to leave the plane, telling security that he is a doctor and needed to see patients first thing in the morning. Law enforcement was called and the man was violently dragged from the aircraft as horrified passengers looked on. NJ.com claims that the man was eventually allowed to re-board and the flight took off over two hours behind schedule. United released this statement following the disturbing incident, "Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologize for the overbook situation." In March, United caused controversy by refusing to allow three young girls who held vouchers to board a flight because they were wearing leggings, an article of clothing that violates the company's dress code. I have a feeling that this particular situation is going to be a bit harder to explain.
Britney Spears popularity is big enough that it gets in the way of major elections. At least, that's the Israeli Labor Party's thinking, so they've postponed their primary election in July by one day so it won't coincide with a Britney Spears concert in Tel Aviv. According to Jerusalem Online, the concern is that the traffic from people attending Britney's show would make it difficult to attend polling stations to vote. Security was apparently another concern. Although they didn't mention Britney by name, the election committee referred to a "major event" at the venue where she'll be performing on July 3rd (the day the election was scheduled to take place). So now the election will take place on July 4th. And as Elite Daily explained, this isn't a small election... it's the election in which the Israeli Labor Party will determine its new leaders, one that's reportedly filled with bitterness and discord. Who knows, maybe Britney Spears will act as some kind of unifying force and bring the people together in harmony. Buuuut probably not.
Terry Peck, an aspiring Australian rapper known as 2Pec, didn't want to pay for the expensive seafood dinner he'd just eaten on Sunday, so he pulled a dine and dash and ran straight into the ocean. So more of a dine and swim, really. According to Queensland Police, Peck ordered a "substantial amount of seafood and alcohol" ("The Courier Mail" is reporting his meal was two lobsters, a baby octopus and 21 vodka oyster shots and "a number of Coronas," which came to over $600) at Omeros Bros Restaurant in Main Beach. But when it came time to pay, Peck instead ran onto the beach. He was reportedly chased by staff members, until he jumped into the ocean at Surfers Paradise's Main Beach. The wannabe rapper told "The Courier Mail" that he left before paying because his friend went into labor and was having a baby on the beach. He also said that the restaurant should be apologizing to him, because the lobster was "overcooked" and there was oyster shell in one of the oysters. He then claimed he couldn't find his friend, and "I was going to pay the bill if I found my wallet but I lost everything.” When he wouldn't come back onto land, police were called. The police had allegedly had lifeguards tow them on the back of jet skis out to where Peck was swimming. He was taken to jail, but got out on bail, with the conditions that he remain at a property in Labrador, and that he not go back to Omeros Bros Seafood Restaurant while still on bail. Really looking forward to his Yelp review of the establishment.
Two weeks ago, Bill O'Reilly had it made. He had the top-rated show on the top-rated cable news network in the U.S. He was the golden boy of Fox News. Also, his BFF was the president. It seemed like nothing could bring down this red-faced, potato-headed juggernaut. But then it turned out he was a perf. On April 1st, "The New York Times" published an article detailing the $13 million Fox News and O'Reilly have paid to silence sexual harassment allegations against the anchor. The money was paid to five different women, all of whom worked with O'Reilly during his years at the network. The allegations all follow a similar pattern... he would take young, ambitious women under his wing, promising to help their careers. Then he would try to have sex with them. They would say no, because of their ethics and his personality/face, and then he would abandon them. Also, sometimes he would call them and breathe heavily into the phone. Yuck. When the "Times" article first dropped, it seemed like these allegations wouldn't hurt him... the cases were closed, and his fans stood by him. Everyone thought he would pull a Trump and get away with it, effectively grabbing this controversy by the pussy. But then major advertisers started dropping his show one by one: BMW, LegalZoom, Lexus, Invisalign, Mercedes Benz, even Jenny Craig. JENNY CRAIG! All in all, more than 35 companies have pulled their ads on "The O'Reilly Factor." And now that their pocketbooks are hurting, Fox News is finally taking notice. On Sunday, the network released said it will investigate a brand-new sexual harassment claim against O'Reilly. Could he be on the outs at the network he helped build? If so, let's just hope he handles it with his trademark grace and calm.
Alright, so, I mentioned that President Trump authorized missile strikes against Syria from his Mar-A-Lago resort. Well, here is an exclusive oil from the meeting in the situation room...
Ha. That's so stupid. That's as stupid as...
Hahahaha. Disney (the greatest company to work for ever) once in awhile likes to change the look of their characters to keep up with the modern times. This new change I kinda like but have no idea who she is...
Wait... isn't it Jane from Tarzan? I think so. A lot of people are on Spring Break right now and like some people it cold end in disaster. Like this girl who's got a blind love for booze...
This is what beer googles are for. So, do you guys watch porn? Just in case you are thinking about watching porn instead of reading the Phile this s for you...
Hey, you might be at work and I didn't wanna get you in trouble. Alright, let's see who bought a pine condo.
Don Rickles
May 8th, 1926 — April 6th, 2017
Who's the hockey puck now?
Hahaha. If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Okay, as you know, I live in Florida... and here in Florida there's things that happen that happen no where else in the Universe. Trust me. So, once again here's a pheature called...
Oh, Florida, you've done it again. A couple of people in Florida made a truly horrifying discovery when they opened a bag of salad greens and began eating before noticing that the bag contained the remains of a decomposing bat. Mmmm…protein! According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the bat was in a "deteriorated condition" (not even fresh bat!) and was sent to a CDC lab to test for rabies. But as of now, luckily both people seem to be fine, and the CDC issued a statement saying, "Both people report being in good health and neither has any signs of rabies." Meanwhile, Fresh Express has issued a recall for the rest of the batch of salads, which were shipped to Walmart stores throughout the southeastern U.S. So if you've got a Fresh Express Organic Marketside Spring Mix salad in your fridge, with a production code of G089B19 and a best-by date of April 14th, you're going to want to throw that bad boy out. If you find that you've already eaten a salad from that batch, and you've found "animal material" in your salad, you should contact your local health department immediately. On the other hand, if you've eaten a salad from that batch and not found any "animal material" (as in decomposing winged mammals), there's no need to contact the health department.
And now from the home office in Port Jefferson, New York here is this week's...
Top Phive Ways Neil Gorsuch Is Celebrating His Surpreme Court Appointment
5. Joining Samuel Alito in a spirited game if Gavel Keep-away from Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
4. Sending thank-you flowers to his mentor, Judge Judy.
3. Urging his friends to get abortions now, before he makes them illegal in a few weeks.
2. Updating his LinkedIn profile.
And the number one way Gorsuch is celebrating his Supreme Court appointment is...
1. Brushing up on the Constitution, so that he can better misinterpret it.
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday celebrating the climax of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments.
Leila: Good, thanks!
Me: Okay, so, last time you were here in 2009 you were promoting your website Andasmalldog.com... is that still a thing?
Leila: Yes... even though I don't update it I get emails all the time.
Me: You specialized in traveling with pets, right?
Leila: Yes... still one of my side niches since we have a lot of experience with traveling with Bodie (our dog).
Me: How long have you been a travel agent now, Leila?
Leila: Since 2001... so, 16 years!
Me: You love to travel yourself... and have been all over the world. Where was your favorite place you ever went to?
Leila: That is a very tricky question... Amsterdam is definitely up there but I love love love Italy.
Me: I like to travel, but not overseas. I get worn out just walking around World Showcase at Epcot. Anyway, is there anywhere you'd love to travel to but haven't yet?
Leila: Lots! I think the more you travel, the longer your list becomes of where else you want to go. If I could pick anywhere to go, I think I'd pick Japan. Or Australia. Or South Africa.
Me: Alright, so, you have a company or work for a company called Go Your Own Way Travel, is that right? Explain what that is.
Leila: Actually, that is my website. I am an independent travel consultant for World Class Travel... a small agency based in Gainesville, FL that has had the same owner for 30 plus years. I basically do my own thing so created a website to attract clients to me. I have several niches but Go Your Own Way Travel is my main "hub." I customize vacations for clients based on what they want to see, do, eat, drink, etc. I handpick each element so that no trips are identical... unlike what you would get if you booked online with their "cookie cutter" packages.
Me: So, it's specialized travel... for rich people?
Leila: Not necessarily rich people... but for those that have a realistic budget for what they want to do.
Me: What is the most extravagant trip you booked, Leila?
Leila: Good question! It wasn't necessarily extravagant but I had two clients who did a last minute around-the-world trip last year. They didn't stay in 5-star hotels but they went to some interesting places which was fun to put together. I've had people stay on a private island in the Bahamas (has 6 villas on it and you have to take a seaplane and a boat to get there!), I've had clients do a night on the Orient Express Train between Venice and Paris (not cheap!), month-long trips in Europe that were $40,000 plus...
Me: Wow! I vaguely remember this story about you booked a penthouse for a family in New York City for New Years? Did I get that right? What did they get, and how much was that?
Leila: It wasn't a penthouse but a regular room but they got dinner and drinks across the street in a lounge that had a view of Times Square and the ball drop. Was probably around $5,000 for 3 nights... not terrible.
Me: Was it hard to book?
Leila: I got one of the last rooms since they did it last minute... wasn't necessarily hard as I have a great source for NYC!
Me: Did you ever get a request that was impossible?
Leila: Yes... mostly people who have no idea what things cost... like they want to do a 7-day trip to Tahiti for $1,000 per person or something! Or people who haven't looked at a map... like they ask to do Prague as a day-trip from Paris. Which, essentially, I suppose you could do but it would be a long day!
Me: You must get lots of weird requests, right? What are some of the weirdest you were sent?
Leila: I do see a lot of weird requests on "lead" websites but I don't always respond to them... haha. I've seen people who want to drive to Hawaii (also impossible), who want to go to Russia to bring home a wife, there was one request from someone who was really into Dracula and wanted to go to Romania for just one night...
Me: Okay, let's talk about Hops For Hope, your charity event you put together. First of, I am not surprised coming from you it's a beer related event. Hahahaha. By the way, I can no longer drink beer... unless they make a beer outta rice. Do they, Leila?
Leila: Yes! The Japanese beers are usually made from rice. Hitachino is one of the breweries from Japan and they are one of my favorites. The beer is so smooth!
Me: Nice. Anyway, did you come up with the name and idea for Hops For Hope?
Leila: Yes. Tried to think of something catchy. Afterwards found out there were other Hops for Hope events in other states but that's fine!
Me: It's at World of Beer in Dr Phillips... which is your favorite place... When you approached the WOB people, was it a hard sell to do your event there?
Me: We don't go as much as we used to... but still our "clubhouse." No hard sell... they know me and they already do other charity events so the manager, Mark was quickly on board. We don't have to pay anything to have our fundraiser there which is awesome!
Me: So, the charity you're raising money for is Convenant House. Did I get that right? What is that, Leila?
Leila: Yes... they have locations throughout North America and in a few in other countries. Our fundraiser is for the location in Orlando. They are a center for at-risk youth and their children. Besides being a shelter for homeless youth, they also offer job training, GED testing, assistance with getting scholarships to college, child care assistance, nutritional meals (3 meals a day for their residents), transitional housing (apartments for those who have become more stable while at the shelter) and much more. They aren't just a shelter offering a meal and a bed. They provide all the essentials.
Me: So, what inspired you to do this? How did you chose Convenant House as the charity?
Leila: I was listening to Real Radio 104.1 back in December and they had Phil and Kate Rawlins on it talking about their experience with the Covenant House. In case you don't know, Phil Rawlins is one of the owners/founderse of the Orlando City soccer club.. They had participated in a fundraiser at the Convenant House where they invite people to "sleep out" in order to raise money for the charity (sort of like a pledge drive or something). They talked about how they slept outside in the Convenant House's parking lot for one night (and it happened to be a night with near freezing temps). They talked about the charity and what they do, etc. I had never heard of them so I went home and Googled them. I had wanted to do something positive for the community for a while (used to volunteer at local charities in high school but not much since) so I contacted them to see how we can help. We went to their monthly "open house" where we met with the staff, toured the facilities and talked to one of their residents (who had just started college and was getting ready to move to her new Covenant House apartment). Hearing her story and seeing the charity in person pretty much sealed the deal. We told them we were interested in doing a fundraiser for them and they quickly agreed!
Me: Okay, so, what is gonna be happening at this event?
Leila: We will have hourly raffles, a silent auction, Plinko and beer specials. Big Top Brewing Company is our beer sponsor (Sarasota based brewery). They have donated a keg to the event and for $6 you can get one of their beers and proceeds will go to the charity! Not sure which of their brews we will have yet but we hope to sell a lot of it!
Me: Any trivia? Live acts?
Leila: Considered both but decided that for our first fundraiser we will keep it as simple as possible.
Me: For the raffle there's gonna be some cool prizes, right? What are they, Leila?
Leila: We have some awesome prizes! Most exciting raffle/auction items thus far include a $500 gift certificate to use towards a vacation (donated by Globus... a company that does escorted tours, river cruises and city packages), a private tour of the Center for Great Apes (private sanctuary for chimps and orangutans... the Bubbles lives there now!), Star Wars jewelry, fitness classes, restaurant gift cards, Kennedy Space Center tickets, theater tickets (to the Orlando Shakespeare Theater and to The Rep... children's theater), various gift baskets and much more! Something for everyone.
Me: I wish I could raffle something off... maybe someone can advertise their business on the Phile and I would have them on here to talk about their business. That could be worth a few dollars.
Leila: Haha! We could try.
Me: Is it hard getting companies to donate stuff for the raffle?
Leila: Yes and no. Some are willing to donate right away... no problem. Others (usually the larger corporations) require you to submit your request 3-6 months in advance with no guarantee that you'll get anything.
Me: Being at a World of Beer, is this a family event?
Leila: Yes, World of Beer is kid-friendly during the day. and dog-friendly!
Me: Is this gonna be a one off event or will you do this often?
Leila: I'll let you know on April 23rd.
Me: Are you doing a lot of advertising and plugging for Hops For Hope?
Leila: Trying to... radio PSA starting this week, event ads in the local papers and websites, flyers will be going up around town... We don't have a big budget so also relying on word of mouth.
Me: It's on April 22nd... why April, Leila? It's actually a good time to do an event I think.
Leila: We had originally wanted to do it earlier but this was the first date WOB had available. Actually turned out to be better than doing it quickly as I've had more time to seek donations and get organized.
Me: I am planning on being there in the afternoon for it, if I am able.
Leila: Awesome!
Me: So, is there a way if anyone wants to help out, but won't be at the event they can still donate?
Leila: Yes, multiple ways, actually. If they have an item or service they wish to donate, we are still taking donations... can be any value or size. If they want to donate money, we have a Facebook event set-up and I will be posting a link for donations on there once we get closer to April 22nd. They could also drop off items for the shelter (travel sized toiletries, school supplies, baby toys (new), batteries, etc). We will have a donation box set-up for about a week prior to the event. Details on that will also be on the Facebook event as we get closer to April 22nd.
Me: Leila, I think it's so cool you are doing this... you're a better person than I am. Hahahaha. I would be too lazy to plan anything like this.
Leila: Thanks! Felt the need to focus on something positive after Pulse and everything else that is happening in our world.
Me: Is there a website where people can learn more about it?
Leila: Facebook event page is the best source of up-to-date info! facebook.com/events/1825774604342920/. If that is too tricky, then just go to facebook.com/GoYourOwnWayTravel/ and look at Events.
Me: Thanks for being on the Phile again, Leila. Take care, and good luck with it. I'll see you soon.
Leila: Thank you!! I have to give a shout out to Kristin and Scott Dunbar... they do fundraising events at WOB for Kristen's arthritis charity and are lending us all their equipment... tables, Plinko, clipboards, pens, raffle ticket buckets, etc. as well as volunteers!
Me: Cool! I'll be there. Let me know if you want me to donate tike on the Phile for someone as a raffle prize. Good job, Leila.
That about does it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my sister Leila for a great interview. I wish her lots of luck for this event. The Phile will be back on Thursday with Phile Alum Zeeshan Zaidi from The Commuters. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.
Not if it pleases me. No, you can't stop me, not if it pleases me. - Graham Parker
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