Latest news with #JFK
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
A First: Two Airports Are Perched Atop The U.S. Ranks In 2025
New York's JFK International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport ranked first and ... More second among all of the United States' airport, seaport and border crossings through May, the latest data available. No airport has finished in the top spot in at least two decades. For the first time ever, the top two 'ports' for U.S. merchandise trade are airports. This is particularly counterintuitive given that the nation's top three trade partners largely rely on border crossings (Canada, Mexico) and seaports (China) and account for more than one-third of all U.S. trade. Through May, New York's JFK International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport ranked first and second for the value of their trade, according to my analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. Until this year, trade at JFK was fairly balanced between exports and imports. Not this year, as ... More imports have surged. Trade at JFK has increased 99.72%, just short of doubling from the same five months of the previous year, while O'Hare's trade is up 57.66%, a percentage that would be astronomical in normal times but seems not-so-extraordinary in the shadow of JFK. Despite President Trump's focus on diminishing the U.S. trade deficit through a trade war with the world, much of the increase for JFK is in imports while the preponderance of O'Hare's is imports. In what has historically been the relatively stable world of export-import trade, it is just one of many disruptions unleashed by the whirlwind two terms of President Trump as he took aim at the $1 trillion U.S. trade deficit. Here are a few other disruptions: That disruption shows up in many ways. Consider that the United States has had three different top trade partners in five years (China, Canada, Mexico), three top exports in three years (civilian aircraft and parts, oil, refined petroleum), two top imports in three years (passenger vehicles and oil), and two top ports in three years (Port Laredo, Port of Los Angeles). But never have two airports ranked first and second annually. Driven by an enormous surge of imports, O'Hare have seen tremenous overall growth in its trade, much ... More of it related to medicine and much of it from Ireland. Through May, JFK's $197.1 billion total was the most for any U.S. airport, seaport or border crossing. O'Hare's $176.4 billion put it in the No. 2 position. Port Laredo, the reigning No. 1 on an annual basis, was third, at $145.8 billion, and the Port of Los Angeles ranked fourth at $130.2 billion. At this time last year, JFK ranked fourth, not first, and O'Hare ranked third, not second. I wrote about the phenomenal growth in the value of trade at these two airports two months ago but here's a quick summation: Gold has been rushing into JFK, overwhelmingly from Switzerland, where much of the world's gold is processed. It's generally seen as a sign of jitters among the investor community, which often seeks the shelter of gold in uncertain times. Medicines of numerous stripes have been rushing into O'Hare, largely from Ireland. If you will allow me to tie the gold trade to Wall Street, certainly an oversimplification, then say the increased trade at O'Hare can be tied to Main Street, people across the country in need of medicines to fight every imaginable problem. Given the $30 billion difference between O'Hare in second place and Port Laredo in third place, it looks like 2025 might just be the year two airports rank first and second among all the nation's airports, seaports and border crossings for the value of their trade.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside JFK's first love, a suspected Nazi spy who stole Adolf Hitler's heart
omantic life might have turned out different had his father Joe Kennedy, allowed him to marry his first love, Inga Arvad, a woman Joe referred to as a 'Nazi b***h'. In the new book JFK: Public, Private, Secret, author J Randy Taraborrelli claims that JFK never truly got over the heartbreak and being forced to split from Arvad - and held it against his father until the day he died. The young Kennedy met Inga Arvad in October 1941. At 28, the Danish journalist was four years older than him and already twice married. But their attraction was electric, writes Taraborrelli. 'He had charm that makes the birds come out of the trees,' the book reports that Arvad wrote of Jack, 'natural, engaging, ambitious, warm, and when he walked into a room you knew he was there, not pushing, not domineering but exuding animal magnetism.' Arvad's son, Ron McCoy, told Taraborrelli: 'For my mom it was pretty much love at first sight. That's how she described it to me anyway. She called it an "awakening," her chemistry with Jack Kennedy being so instantaneous. 'It was as if they'd known each other in some other life and were now picking up where they'd left off. It felt natural. It felt organic. Above all, she said, it felt real.' For his part, Jack was apparently also smitten. She had it all: brains, beauty, and the uncanny ability to see him for who he truly was. And, according to Taraborrelli, Jack referred to her as 'Inga Binga,' and they spent every night they could... in bed. But just two months into their romance, America was on the brink of war, and Arvad was accused of being a Nazi spy. The source of the accusation was an alleged photograph of her with Hitler. Unsurprisingly, the FBI - and its powerful director J Edgar Hoover - got involved, and Hoover demanded nothing less than weekly updates on the case. Arvad was forced to admit that she had, indeed, met the Hitler in Berlin six years earlier, when she'd interviewed him for a Danish newspaper. The following year, Hitler invited Arvad to join him in his box at the 1936 Olympics, then to a private lunch, during which he'd given her a questionable gift: a framed photograph of himself. 'She accepted it,' said Taraborrelli, 'but it made her nervous because it was starting to feel to her that maybe he was interested in her.' She had reason to worry. Hitler was likely infatuated with her, having described her as 'the most perfect example of Nordic beauty'. Arvad told Jack - and the FBI - that, following the lunch, 'someone with strong Nazi connections suddenly tried to recruit her as a spy' but she 'immediately rejected the proposition'. Terrified at the implications of her refusal, she escaped to Denmark, then Washington, where she met Jack. While disturbed by the revelations, Jack believed his lover, according to Taraborreli. They'd been together only three months, but they'd already discussed marriage. He was determined to fight for her. But Joe Kennedy was reportedly having none of it. During a heated showdown with his son, he demanded that Jack break it off with the 'Nazi b***h' immediately. The FBI eventually dropped its investigation in August 1942, finding no evidence against Arvad. But, ultimately, it wasn't enough to save the affair. Jack had caved under pressure and broken off the relationship five months earlier. It would be 10 years before he was ready to commit again. Like Arvad, Jacqueline Bouvier was incredibly intelligent, and independent. And, while her dark hair and close attention to her perfect makeup were in stark contrast to the free-spirited Dane, what she had on her side was timing. The family was all in agreement: Jack needed a wife if he was ever going to be president. They worried that he was 'obviously lukewarm' about Bouvier - but if not her, then who? Joe reportedly responded: 'I actually don't care who, so long as she didn't go to Hitler's funeral.' Jack proposed the following summer, but the author suggests that it took a long time before it became a love match. He reports Bouvier's mother, Janet Auchincloss, asked her daughter, upon hearing of their engagement: 'Do you love him?' 'It's not that simple,' she replied. 'It is, Jacqueline,' her mother shot back. 'Do. You. Love. Him?' The future First Lady's response remained non-committal: 'I enjoy him.' Taraborrelli also claims Bouvier confided in Betty Beale, the society columnist at the Washington Evening Star, around the same time, saying she felt 'Jack had been pulling away ever since the engagement was announced'. 'True to his character,' writes Taraborrelli, 'while they had been dating, he was interested in her on some days, less interested on others. She said she saw in him what she often noticed in his father toward his mother: indifference.' Just a few weeks before his wedding, Jack insisted on going on a boys-only vacation to the famous Cap-Eden-Roc hotel in Cannes where, if he'd had his way, he would have begun a torrid affair with a woman who bore more than a passing resemblance to Inga Arvad, according to Taraborrelli. Gunilla von Post was Swedish, and just 21 when she met the future president in the south of France. She was 'definitely young,' writes Taraborrelli, 'but he didn't see that as a problem.' Both blondes also bear an uncanny resemblance to the woman who would be forever inextricably linked to the Kennedy: Marilyn Monroe. On Jack's return to the U.S., he made the unusual step of asking his future mother-in-law to add his first love, Arvad, to the wedding guest list. But under questioning about this last-minute addition, he let it drop. Taraborrelli notes: 'While Jack hadn't seen Inga in six years, apparently he was still in touch with her. Maybe it shows the bond he still had with her that he wanted her at his wedding, but it also shows a foolish lapse in judgment. Certainly not much good would come from Inga's presence.' Two years after his wedding, however, it seems Gunilla von Post's rejection of his sexual advances was still very much on his mind. And, in the wake of a devastating miscarriage, which left his now-wife with crippling anxiety attacks, Jack made the astonishingly selfish proposition that they go on separate trips: she to visit her sister in England, while he would attempt once more to get von Post into bed on her home turf. Kennedy and von Post reportedly spent a week together in Sweden, with Jack's partner in crime Torbert Macdonald as fixer. And this time, he got what he wanted, says Taraborrelli. 'Some of Gunilla's descriptions of her time with Jack that week - "We were wonderfully sensual. There were times when just the stillness of being together was thrilling enough" - sound a great deal more like some sort of starry-eyed, fictional version of JFK than a realistic one,' reasons Taraborrelli. 'Much of what she'd recall… sounds unlikely given what we now know of his remote personality of the 1950s. It does, however, maybe sound like the JFK of the 1940s, the more romantic version of him back in the days when he was with Inga Arvad. Maybe, in this case, the devil isn't in the details, though. 'There are enough witnesses to Jack and [Gunilla von Post's] public outings, including close friends and relatives she identified by name, to confirm that they were definitely together.' On the flight home, Macdonald told a friend that Jack suddenly felt the weight of what he'd done, and was filled with remorse. 'This was a s****y thing to do to Jackie,' the book reports him as saying. 'This was a mistake.' While von Post was convinced it was just the start of their affair, in the end, the two never saw each other again. 'Jack told intimates… that he'd been rationalizing his bad behavior for so long, it had become second nature to do so,' writes Taraborrelli. 'His father was to blame, he'd sometimes reason. After all, if not for Joe, he would've ended up with Inga Arvad, someone he truly loved, instead of Jackie, someone he married for political purposes and then grew to love.'
Fox News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Marilyn Monroe 'could be trouble,' Jackie Kennedy warned JFK: author
It is widely believed that Jackie Kennedy was no stranger to President John F. Kennedy's infidelities. But when it came to Marilyn Monroe, it was different, which is why she allegedly confronted her husband. The claim was made by J. Randy Taraborrelli, who has written a new biography about the 35th president, "JFK: Private, Public Secret." It's a follow-up to his 2023 book on the late first lady, "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret." For his latest book, Taraborrelli drew from hundreds of interviews conducted over 25 years. "Jackie cared [about Monroe]," Taraborrelli told Fox News Digital. "Jackie said to him, 'This one's different. This one could be trouble.' But JFK was the President of the United States. He was dealing with Khrushchev, communism and the potential of an atomic war. . . . I don't think Marilyn Monroe was really on his radar, to be honest, other than having her sing 'Happy Birthday' at Madison Square Garden." Taraborrelli claimed the conversation in question took place before Kennedy's birthday bash on May 19, 1962. Monroe, who had already established herself as a Hollywood sex symbol, gave a breathless rendition of "Happy Birthday" while wearing a nude-hued, skin-tight beaded gown. Jackie was not present at the festivities. Instead, she participated in the Loudoun Hunt Horse Show in Leesburg, Virginia. It was a decision Jackie's mother didn't approve of, the book claimed. "It's selfish," the matriarch told her, as quoted in the book. "Remember who you are. You are the first lady of the United States. She's just an actress." But Jackie's mind was made up. "I think the reason for her concern was because she knew her husband well, and it made sense to her, I think, that he was having an affair with Marilyn," Taraborrelli explained to Fox News Digital. Taraborrelli said Jackie "singled Marilyn out from all the others," feeling that the screen siren "could be a bigger problem." "JFK's response to that, though, was that he told her nothing was going on between him and Marilyn," said Taraborrelli. "But did she believe him? Could she believe him? Why would she believe him?" Tararborrelli continued. "… Why would she take his word for it? Jackie thinks maybe JFK is lying, but she doesn't know." Taraborrelli admitted there's "so much gray" in the story because "everyone knew a different version of events." "What we do know is that Marilyn shows up at Madison Square Garden, she sings 'Happy Birthday' to him. Jackie decides not to attend because she doesn't want to endorse it." For decades, it's been rumored that the president and the movie star had an affair. According to Hollywood lore, it's long been claimed that the pair spent a weekend at Bing Crosby's house in early 1962. For his book, Taraborrelli spoke to Pat Newcomb, who was Monroe's publicist and close friend. She told him that no meeting had ever taken place at Crosby's home. "Pat Newcomb said Marilyn Monroe told everybody all kinds of things, but she never told everybody the same thing," Taraborrelli explained. "She just did not believe that JFK and Marilyn were having an affair. And as I wrote in the book, she doesn't strike me as a person who would lie about it, not at the age of 95. I think that's what happens with people as they get older, and many of my sources for this book were in their 90s and 100s. They have a lot less reason [to lie]. Why protect Marilyn about 65 years after the fact? There's nothing that I got from Pat that made me feel like she was interested in some kind of mythology." "She said, 'Look, I don't even know where Bing Crosby lived,'" Taraborrelli shared. "… You don't think about what your friends were doing 65 years ago. But if your friend was having an affair with John F. Kennedy, the president, I think it's something that you'd remember, right? She's also Marilyn's publicist. She would've been the one to set up Marilyn going to Palm Springs to be with JFK at Bing Crosby's house." WATCH: NEW MARILYN MONROE PHOTOS TAKEN BY CLOSE FRIEND REVEALED IN BOOK Taraborrelli said he had spoken to several sources to learn whether Monroe and Kennedy had ever had a tryst. He concluded that there isn't enough evidence to support that theory. "[Pat] was pretty adamant that … it could have just been a figment of Marilyn's imagination," Taraborrelli claimed. "And here's the thing that people need to understand – Marilyn Monroe was the best narrator of her own life. . . . She often imagined a life for herself that wasn't really true. . . . And I think that's a big part of how all of this has evolved over the years." "When it came to that weekend at Bing Crosby's house, Pat Newcomb didn't know anything about that," Taraborrelli shared. "She said if it had happened, she would've known, because she was her best friend. We also looked at other sources who've told that story over the years, and we were able to debunk them." Taraborrelli does believe that at one point, Monroe called the Kennedy home in Hyannis Port in 1962 before the Madison Square Garden event. It's a claim that was previously shared in his book about Jackie. But he was adamant that despite Jackie's reported worries about the blonde bombshell, "we don't have enough evidence to support that Marilyn and JFK had an affair." According to the book, Louise "Fifi" Fell, a socialite and friend of the Kennedys, hosted a black-tie party at her New York City pad in 1962. It was there, Taraborrelli claimed, that Kennedy met Monroe. "It was a cocktail party, and Peter Lawford [actor and Rat Pack member] invited both Marilyn and JFK," Taraborrelli told Fox News Digital. "Marilyn was very, very late in getting there. JFK almost left without having met her." Six months earlier, Monroe was at a Frank Sinatra concert in Las Vegas. Kennedy's sisters, Jean and Pat, were also present. Lawford then invited Monroe to dinner at the couple's Santa Monica home in honor of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, said Taraborrelli. An excited Monroe allegedly told close friends that it was "a date" with Bobby. It was really a get-together with "at least a dozen others," Taraborrelli pointed out. Monroe died in August 1962 from a barbiturate overdose. She was 36. According to Taraborrelli, Jackie was said to be saddened by the news. "It was tragic and awful," Taraborrelli reflected. "People were just very sad that an overdose ended her life. It was a terrible, terrible thing." While Taraborrelli couldn't verify the rumor surrounding the star, he did make a surprising discovery about Kennedy. "What surprised me were the complexities of his story," Taraborrelli explained. "In this book, I didn't want to defend him … but I think you can understand him better. Towards the end of the book, he takes total accountability on his part when he tells his sister-in-law, 'The way that I treated Jackie was very painful, and by painful, I mean shameful.' That accountability surprised me. He became a man who understood the hurt caused by his actions [in their marriage]. He did everything he could to rectify it before his death." "Jackie and JFK were getting ready to renew their wedding vows," he said. "Her mother even remarked how Jackie was still so in love with JFK. And then he was murdered. It's a terrible story, but it's one of accountability and forgiveness."
Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Buzz Feed
Flight Attendants Shared Their Worst-Behaved Routes
Recently, I've been infiltrating airline forums. Most of the time, I leave because all of the airport codes give me a migraine, but these threads on r/flightattendants actually had me hooked. Started by u/Appropriate-Pop-6725 and u/AdhesivenessInfinite, the threads are filled with flight attendants divulging their "worst-behaved" air travel route. As someone from Florida, I'm relatively ashamed at how often it's mentioned. "In America, it's: Anywhere to Florida but especially Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach." "Toronto passengers give Canadians a bad name." "Going to Montreal, Toronto, Tel-Aviv, anywhere in Florida, and to Las Vegas is usually pretty bad. The reverse flights are generally pretty chill." "I have never worked so hard as I did on a MIA (Miami) – LGA (LaGuardia) flight. That is a tough crowd." "Passengers going to Aspen on vacation are the worst. Entitled and condescending." "I started my career in Seattle, WA, and never had any passenger issues. Pacific Northwest customers are largely mellow and easygoing. My next base was JFK in New York City, and I was shocked at how much more challenging the customers were. New Yorkers literally don't give a f*ck and will challenge you on everything. BUT, once you figure out how to deal with them, nothing fazes you anymore." "Anything EWR (Newark), Florida, and sometimes, SFO (San Francisco) passengers are the worst. My most pleasant is PHL (Philadelphia), surprisingly, they're always well behaved." "Whenever I see PBI (West Palm Beach, FL) on my schedule, I drop it for almost anything else. I don't need that headache. Also, Toronto is out here giving Canadians a bad name." "Newark to anywhere in Florida. I almost slid off the back of the wing after my EWR (Newark) – MCO (Orlando) flight one night. Good gracious." "Tel Aviv and Trivandrum for me. I love every Australia flight I've done so far, customers are amazing." "West Palm Beach. Anywhere in Florida, really. Except for MCO (Orlando), 'cause the kids are cute. LAX (Los Angeles) is a close second; they love that call light." "My least favourite destinations are in the Caribbean cause everyone is a sunburnt, broke, and angry tourist." "Work at an airport. Passengers from EVN (Yerevan, Armenia) have been known to scream at us, threaten to sue us, and made a few of our newer agents cry." "YUL (Montreal) – CUN (Cancun), YUL (Montreal) – PVR (Puerto Vallarta), YUL (Montreal) – PUJ (Punta Cana), YUL (Montreal) – FLL (Fort Lauderdale). Anything leaving Montreal to go to a sunny destination is something else." "As a Florida girl, my MCO (Orlando) flights never bothered me and I never understood the Florida passenger hate, but I recently worked RSW (Fort Myers, FL) and 💀 omg horrid, I get it." "DTW (Detroit) – ATL (Atlanta) has always treated me poorly." "That ATL (Atlanta) to JFK (New York City) is pretty hard. Also, the JFK (New York City) to Montreal can be challenging." Finally, "Worst? Anywhere with a 'rich' clientele, for the most part, or tourists. New York to Savannah, or anywhere in Florida. (Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were always surprisingly pleasant, so I think it's the nouveau riche that are a pain in the ass)." If you're a pilot or flight attendant, tell us the destinations you hate flying in and out of the most and why. It could be anything from unruly passengers to stomach-churning turbulence. Share in the comments or completely anonymously using the Google form below!
CBS News
5 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Frontier Airlines debuts new flight routes from Denver International Airport
Frontier Airlines has announced four new flight routes from Denver International Airport to begin this October. The airline said it will add flights to JFK International Airport in N.Y., Corpus Christi, Texas, Tulsa, Okla., and Richmond Va. Each route is nonstop and will run multiple times a week. The new flights start on these dates in October. Destination Start Date Frequency Intro Fare New York Oct. 8 Three times per week $59 Corpus Christi Oct. 9 Two times per week $59 Tulsa Oct. 12 Two times per week $39 Richmond Oct. 19 Two times per week $59 Including these new routes, the airline will serve a total of 72 destinations nonstop from Denver International Airport.
