April 27, 2021

California: SMART Board approves rail and pathway projects

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) Board of Directors approved $21.4 million in rail and pathway projects last week. A move SMART Board Chair David Rabbitt credited to “tightening our belts and running a lean organization.”

SMART will advance all remaining shovel-ready pathway projects and make crossing safety enhancements to several existing pathway projects as part of the Sonoma County Gap Closure Project. SMART notes it envisioned its multi-use pathway network as a way for commuters to access the train and make connections to destinations without driving–creating a "green" alternative to commuting by car.

“The board has been actively listening to our community and gathering valuable feedback to help us make these complex funding decisions,” said SMART Board Director Eric Lucan. “We’re very pleased to commit these funds to create more connections for cyclists and pedestrians throughout the North Bay.”

Regarding rail projects, SMART will move forward with the Healdsburg Bridge over the Russian River, south of Healdsburg and investment $2 million for the Petaluma 2nd Station at Corona Road in North Petaluma. ...............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/article/21220269/smart-board-approves-rail-and-pathway-projects

April 27, 2021

Tucker Carlson, the Chauvin verdict and the burden of "white civilization"

Tucker Carlson, the Chauvin verdict and the burden of "white civilization"
Tucker Carlson called Chauvin's conviction "an attack on civilization." He had a specific definition in mind

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
APRIL 27, 2021 10:10AM


(Salon) On a near-nightly basis, Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson conducts master classes in white supremacy and hate for his millions of viewers, nearly all of them white conservatives. His latest lesson involves the paranoid fiction that nonwhite people are coming to America to "replace" the majority white population, and that by implication the existence of the "white race" is imperiled both in the United States and around the world.

In his white supremacy tutelage, Carlson also routinely rages at the enemies of the MAGAverse and "real America," especially Black and brown people (and their white allies) in the pro-human rights and democracy movement known as Black Lives Matter. Their crime, for Carlson and his viewers? Demanding that the human and civil rights of Black people, and others marginalized in American society, be respected and protected.

Carlson is highly effective: White supremacists have repeatedly praised him for helping to mainstream their vile ideology among the millions of people who watch Fox News. In fact, the "Daily Show" has created a video montage of Tucker Carlson channeling the same language and ideas as white supremacist mass shooters.

Carlson also condones if not outright encourages fascism and other attacks on America's multiracial democracy. His staff of writers has included at least one overt white supremacist.

White supremacy and racial authoritarianism, like other forms of fascism and more generally, involve an emptiness of the heart and mind. As a high priest in America's church of white supremacy and racism, Carlson does his best to fill that emptiness for his viewers and followers. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/27/tucker-carlson-the-chauvin-verdict-and-the-burden-of-white-civilization/

April 26, 2021

Please Stow Your Outrage About a Capital Gains Tax Hike

Please Stow Your Outrage About a Capital Gains Tax Hike
There is no evidence for any of the calamities that opponents argue would befall the economy and markets.

By Timothy L. O'Brien
April 26, 2021, 6:30 AM


(Bloomberg) Wealthy Americans are greeting the possibility of a big capital gains tax increase on their investments with “anger, denial and grief,” according to a recent article from my Bloomberg News colleagues. “Over-taxing success is un-American,” Charlie Myers, chairman of Signum Global Advisors and a fundraiser for President Joe Biden, told the reporters.

Others are also angry and grieving about Biden’s plan to raise the rate to 39.6% from 20%. “It felt like I was in some sort of weird daydream,” Jim Iuorio, an options trader, told Larry Kudlow on the Fox Business Network. “It’s just asinine. They know full well that not only will it not gain anymore tax receipts from it … it is such an economic negative.”

All of this echoes long-standing whining that an increase in taxes paid when somebody sells appreciated securities or real estate will trigger financial and economic catastrophes. It is inevitable, the argument goes, that such hikes force a downturn in the prices of assets such as stocks, causes business investment to lag and actually reduces the government’s tax revenue.

But these outcomes have greater traction in the imaginations of those predicting them than they do in the data. If critics of Biden’s proposed tax increase want to make an argument for holding on to an already outsized piece of the prosperity pie, they’ll need to do better than rely on voodoo. .............(more)

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-04-26/stow-your-outrage-about-a-capital-gains-tax-hike?srnd=premium

April 26, 2021

Bill Gates says no to sharing vaccine formulas with global poor to end pandemic

(Salon) Bill Gates, one of the world's richest men and most powerful philanthropists, was the target of criticism from social justice campaigners on Sunday after arguing that lifting patent protections on COVID-19 vaccine technology and sharing recipes with the world to foster a massive ramp up in manufacturing and distribution — despite a growing international call to do exactly that — is a bad idea.

Directly asked during an interview with Sky News if he thought it "would be helpful" to have vaccine recipes be shared, Gates quickly answered: "No."

Asked to explain why not, Gates — whose massive fortune as founder of Microsoft relies largely on intellectual property laws that turned his software innovations into tens of billions of dollars in personal wealth — said: "Well, there's only so many vaccine factories in the world and people are very serious about the safety of vaccines. And so moving something that had never been done — moving a vaccine, say, from a [Johnson & Johnson] factory into a factory in India — it's novel — it's only because of our grants and expertise that that can happen at all."

The reference is to the Serum factory in India, the largest such institute in the country, which has contracts with AstraZeneca to manufacture their COVID-19 vaccine, known internationally as Covishield. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/26/bill-gates-says-no-to-sharing-vaccine-formulas-with-global-poor-to-end-pandemic_partner/

April 26, 2021

Gun crazy: For too many Americans, guns are tied to masculinity, patriotism and white power

Gun crazy: For too many Americans, guns are tied to masculinity, patriotism and white power
New research suggests that for many white men, owning a gun is a mark of "good citizenship" — and racial conflict

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
APRIL 26, 2021 10:00AM


(Salon) Too many Americans love guns more than they do other human beings.

There have been at least 50 mass shootings in America since the massacre and apparent hate crime attack against Asian Americans in the Atlanta area on March 16.

The COVID-19 pandemic has done nothing to stop America's addiction to gun violence. Writing at the Nation, Tom Engelhardt explains, "In the first 73 days of Joe Biden's presidency, there were five mass shootings and more than 10,000 gun-violence deaths. In the Covid-19 era, this has been the model the world's 'most exceptional' nation (as American politicians of both parties used to love to call this country) has set for the rest of the planet. Put another way, so far in 2020 and 2021, there have been two pandemics in America, Covid-19 and guns."

....(snip)....

For many progressives, liberals and other Americans who are not part of the MAGAverse, TrumpWorld or America's gun culture, Graham's performance of gun-toting hyper masculinity was laughable. His comments about defending his family from "gangs" were also criticized as being especially ill-timed given the recent mass shooting events. But again, as is so many other instances, those outside of the right-wing echo chamber were not the audience for Graham's performance.

The South Carolina senator was speaking to a right-wing culture, moral universe and imaginary where guns, whiteness and toxic masculinity are tightly if not immutably linked together. He was channeling the idea of the white American male as defender of his home and family — and of heterosexual white (right-wing) male power and privilege — against some type of "criminal" or "invader," generally understood to be black or brown. This enemy to be defended against may be a "Muslim terrorist," an "urban" black male or a "Latino gangbanger." He may also be a member of "antifa," the right wing's current bogeyman. .........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/26/gun-crazy-for-too-many-americans-guns-are-tied-to-masculinity-patriotism-and-white-power/

April 25, 2021

Chicago: CTA's 7000 Series 'L' Cars Debut on the Blue Line

&t=18s

April 25, 2021

The End of U.S. Mass Vaccination Is Coming Sooner Than Later

(Bloomberg) After three months of vaccination across the U.S., a majority of American adults have gotten shots, and the effort will soon shift from mass inoculation to mop-up.

As of Saturday, 138.6 million people in the U.S. have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot. About 1.3 million more are getting a first dose every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the rate of new vaccinators is declining, even if were immediately cut in half, it would mean that six weeks from now more than half of the population of the U.S. and its territories will have had a dose.

Almost all of those who get a first dose are likely to their second, according to one CDC study. On top of that, more than 80% of people age 60 or over — the most vulnerable group — have had a dose and will likewise complete vaccination.

That may be sufficient, at least to see a significant impact on U.S. caseloads. The U.S. is currently about where Israel’s vaccine campaign was in mid-February, three weeks before cases there began to plunge. (Israel has, in total, vaccinated just under 60% of its population.) ................(more)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-25/when-will-u-s-vaccination-be-done-we-re-getting-closer?srnd=premium

April 25, 2021

Whitmer says all state-owned facilities in Michigan will use 100% renewable energy by 2025

(Detroit Metro Times) Governor Gretchen Whitmer says Michigan is going green.

On Earth Day, Whitmer announced a plan for all state-owned facilities to utilize 100% renewable energy by 2025.

“Since my first day in office, we’ve continued to make real, lasting progress on environmental and climate issues across our state,” Whitmer said in a statement. “By moving state-owned buildings to 100% clean, renewable energy, we are working towards protecting public health and our environment, while attracting more clean energy jobs to Michigan.”

The move comes through partnerships with DTE, Consumers Energy, and the Lansing Board of Water and Light.

“This action shifts the State of Michigan from being a major consumer of electricity to a major driver of our clean energy economy,” said John A. Kinch, executive director of Michigan Energy Options, a nonprofit solar development consultant for Michigan, in a statement. “By doing this, the state accomplishes three things at once: It puts the state on course to meet its carbon goals, in part, through solar generation, it helps the utilities meet their renewable energy commitments, and it serves the people of Michigan by catalyzing our public and private sectors to decarbonize our future.” ...............(more)

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2021/04/22/whitmer-says-all-state-owned-facilities-in-michigan-will-use-100-renewable-energy-by-2025

April 24, 2021

Vaccine-hesitant, vaccine refusers and anti-vaxxers: There's a spectrum, and the differences matter

(Salon) Each day millions of people are getting their COVID-19 vaccines. More than 40 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 25 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. Despite this progress, public officials are concerned that the country is on the precipice of a new challenge — one in which supply of the vaccine will outweigh demand for it.

Mass vaccination sites, according to The New York Times, are already closing due to a decline in demand for the vaccine. An estimated 1 in 5 American adults remain unwilling to get vaccinated, according to the Monmouth University Poll, prompting fears that vaccine hesitancy could keep the country from reaching herd immunity and truly getting the pandemic under control.

But does that mean that all the people who say that they won't get the vaccine are "anti-vaxxers"? Not necessarily. And experts who study vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine organizations are sounding the alarm that there's an important distinction between someone who's "vaccine hesitant," a "vaccine refuser" or an "anti-vaxxer," especially during this critical phase of the pandemic. Lumping everyone together in the "anti-vaccine" category might deter those who are skeptics and hesitant, as opposed to those who might actually have an anti-vaccine agenda, hampering campaign efforts to get skeptics vaccinated altogether.

"Some figures have a tendency to call people that they disagree with anti-vaxxers, which is kind of unfortunate," David Broniatowski, an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at George Washington University, told Salon. "And it creates an environment in which you can't really have the conversations with vaccine hesitant people that you need to have in order to actually change their minds." ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/24/vaccine-hesitant-vaccine-refusers-and-anti-vaxxers-theres-a-spectrum-and-the-differences-matter/

April 24, 2021

Three Cities Switching To Life-Affirming Economies

Three Cities Switching To Life-Affirming Economies
“Doughnut economics” invites nature and social well-being into urban planning.


(YES! Magazine) The city of Portland, Oregon, prides itself on being ahead of the curve. In 1993, it became the first U.S. city to adopt a climate action plan, which now calls for cutting carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Portland also has long been a leader in progressive urban planning strategies, and since 2006 has been a member of C40, an international network of cities seeking innovative ways to reduce emissions.

That’s why in 2013, as the city’s planners began to develop the 2015 update to the climate plan, they started working with a new model to calculate the city’s carbon emissions profile. Using the Stockholm Environment Institute’s model, the city could enumerate the emissions of the life cycle of 536 different products and commodities used in the Portland metropolitan area—everything from raw materials like timber and food crops, to manufactured items like office furniture and chocolate.

....(snip)....

Thus emerged the visual idea of a doughnut: two concentric rings, the outer symbolizing the world’s ecological ceiling (beyond which lies environmental destruction and climate change), the inner symbolizing the social foundation (inside which is homelessness, hunger, and poverty). The space between the two rings—the “substance” of the doughnut—was the “safe and just place for humanity.”

The world already was overshooting the ecological ceiling and falling short of the societal foundation in many places.



....(snip)....

Adopting an ambitious re-envisioning of the city’s economy doesn’t come easily. Organizers convened a multi-day series of workshops in 2019 that included municipal, community, and business leaders. The end result was a city “portrait” that considers the city through four lenses: what it would mean for the city’s people to thrive, how the city can thrive within ecological limits, how the city impacts the health of the entire planet, and how the city affects the well-being of people around the world. ...........(more)

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/ecological-civilization/2021/02/16/cities-life-affirming-economies