First Class Duck

an opinionated and jaded traveler

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@chait76 @antoniogm Honestly, just work hard, save your money, support your friends and family, be a friendly and compassionate person, and avoid being bitter. Just avoid chasing women for sex, and you’ll live a happy and healthy life. Just keep some platonic friends for brownies. :-)

[Matt Beard @matt_beard_]

this is the tweet of the year right?

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@taipan168 In contrast, those were just way less popular in my corner of the US.

That Sentra to the left, OTOH…

[Bender @Benderxxx7]

At 16, Brian Banks was one of the best high school linebackers in America. USC had offered him a full scholarship. Pete Carroll personally called him.

One afternoon at school he made out with a classmate. Consensual. By the end of the day he was in jail, charged with kidnapping and rape.

She said he dragged her into a stairwell. It never happened.

The DNA came back negative. His mother sold her house and her car to pay for a lawyer.

He couldn’t make bail. He spent a year behind bars waiting for trial.

His lawyer told him: plead no contest, or risk 41 years in prison. He was 17. He took the deal.

He did 5 years in prison. Then 5 more on parole. Registered sex offender. GPS monitor on his ankle. Couldn’t go near schools or parks. No one would hire him.

Meanwhile, the girl and her mother sued the school district for not keeping her safe. They won $1.5 million.

In 2011, a Facebook friend request popped up on his screen.

It was her.

She wanted to “let bygones be bygones.”

Brian went to a private investigator. They hid cameras in the office and invited her to talk. She came by bus.

On tape, she admitted it. He never raped her. He never kidnapped her.

Then she said she still wouldn’t tell prosecutors the truth. Because she’d have to give back the money.

In May 2012, a judge cleared his name. The hearing took less than a minute.

10 years of his life. Gone in one lie. Erased in 60 seconds.

A few days later his phone rang. “I’m looking for a linebacker. You know where I can find one?”

It was Pete Carroll. The same coach who recruited him 10 years earlier.

He finally signed with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. At 27. The dream he had at 16.

She was ordered to pay $2.6 million back.

What should happen to someone who steals 10 years of your life with one lie?

[Xager20 @Xager20]

@kleib323 @ZaidJilani Healthcare is the only business that I can think of where nobody actually knows the price until it's done being negotiated by 2 seperate 3rd parties. You wouldn't know a lower price if they gave you one.

[McRib Hard Seltzer @kleib323]

@ZaidJilani I don't mean this as a gotcha question, but why is a large firm like UnitedHealthGroup so utterly ineffective at lowering prices for patients?

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@Msamalam Atami is my happy place.

Primarily because it’s beautiful, and it’s where the Shinkansen drivers really start pushing it *hard* toward Osaka.

[Vonn @itsthewealth4me]

When you get your win, don't be typical

A big part of success is luck, but you still have to execute on the luck

Don't be the person who doesn't understand that, and wastes the opportunity

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@keegan_tweets To think, I assumed those were manually cranked like the rollsigns on the subway in NYC.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@nobodyknows2322 I think they were hoping that they’d be a bit more loyal given the DNC’s tendency to believe in regulations.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

Store manager just feels like a weird carrot that that dangle that’s impossible to reach for most employees because they never last long enough. They’re either not capable, or they leave to find a better paying job because they can’t subsist on what little retail pays.

It’s almost the perfect job for somebody that’s married and can ride it out on their spouse’s salary until the promotion comes.

[StripMallGuy @realEstateTrent]

❤️

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@uckema @upstatefederlst …but what are your chances of staying and becoming said manager?

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@CivicNatalist Remember, it’s AID for the poor, CARE for the old. :-)

[Minervas Muse @minervas_muse]

My favorite episodes, in no particular order:

"Firing Line"-When one of Texas Democrat Rangers own is gunned down, Abdul will stop at nothing to bring the killers to justice

"Prophet"-Clarice must go undercover to investigate a cult that is harming LGBTQ+ youth

[stseanspicer @stseanspicer]

@PuckFupett69 Most “NYC natives” are just working class ethnics who rarely leave their neighborhoods. They usually move out to the burbs after a few generations of schlepping it. Transplants and Manhattanites are the only people who actually like the city.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@DeviIadv0cate @BSBO887 @PuckFupett69 > Still though, thats kinda strange that driving into the city was the preferred method of getting there.

FWIW, my dad drove, my mom didn’t so if she wanted to go to Manhattan with us, she took the bus and train, but if my dad was available, he would drive her there.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@DeviIadv0cate @BSBO887 @PuckFupett69 FWIW, I didn’t go to the city on my own until I graduated HS.

My mom was ultra overprotective, and my older brother’s difficult teen years reinforced their preference to keep me close to home.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

If you grew up in say Eastern Queens, Southern Brooklyn, or Staten Island, it’s actually possible.

I was driven to Catholic elementary and high school for example. My mom could take the bus to Jamaica to do some of her shopping, but get driven by my dad to the suburban malls and shopping plazas on Long Island. It’s pretty possible to live a functional life without going to Manhattan.

With that said I’ve been riding the subway since early childhood.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@nobodyknows2322 I suspect the alternative is that a certain chunk of the population turns to the far right, and starts pushing for policies that become downright hostile to immigrants and non-white citizens of the state in the hopes of shoring up the welfare state at all costs.

[First Class Duck @FirstClassDuck]

@keegan_tweets Wasn’t it this way once upon a time, but nobody wanted to pay the patient portion?