April 9, 2021

St Vincent rocked by explosive eruptions at La Soufrire volcano

(Guardian UK) The Caribbean island of St Vincent has been rocked by a string of explosive eruptions at La Soufrière volcano, which spewed clouds of ash miles into the air a day and forced thousands to flee for safety.

The country’s National Emergency Management Organisation (Nemo) confirmed on Twitter that the 4,049-foot volcano had erupted on Friday morning and warned residents to leave the surrounding areas.

Pictures shared on social media showed towering plumes of gas and volcanic matter billowing into the sky above the volcano, and heavy ash fall was reported in the surrounding areas.

“The majesty that is La Soufrière is awake in all her terrifying glory,” tweeted Heidi Badenock, a lawyer on the island. ..........(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/09/st-vincent-volcano-eruption

April 9, 2021

Illinois: Metra adding service on three lines as some riders return

Metra is adding trains next week to its BNSF, Milwaukee District North and North Central Service lines as ridership ticks up.

Metra, which largely serves commuters, cut weekday service in half at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by further cuts on its three least busy lines. Since then, it has restored some service.

Beginning Monday, Metra will add four trains to the BNSF line that runs between Chicago’s Union Station and Aurora: two morning inbound trains, one morning outbound train and one afternoon outbound train.

On the Milwaukee District North line, four trains will also be added, one inbound and one outbound each in the morning and evening. The North Central Service to Antioch will add a morning inbound train and an evening outbound train. .............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/news/21217323/il-metra-adding-service-on-three-lines-as-some-riders-return

April 9, 2021

OMFG there are two van Gogh events coming to Detroit. Here's all the info you need so you...........

OMFG there are two van Gogh events coming to Detroit. Here's all the info you need so you can stop emailing us about the confusion.


(Detroit Metro Times) Listen — understanding art can be confusing. Whether you're trying to figure out what an artist was thinking when they painted a particular subject or trying to figure out if that pile of trash on the ground is actually conceptual art or, like, just a pile of trash, art is meant to get us thinking and feeling. But what is more confusing than art? Perhaps two competing art events promising the same “immersive experience” profiting off of a beloved artist who died penniless more than 130 years ago.

If you haven't figured it out already, there are, in fact, two different projection-based events honoring the work and legacy of Vincent van Gogh coming to Detroit, and we have no idea why.

First, there's “Immersive van Gogh Exhibit Detroit,” which runs from October through February. As far as immersive van Gogh exhibits go, this is the OG, and the one you may have seen on Netflix's Emily in Paris. This exhibit, designed and conceived by Massimiliano Siccardi with a soundtrack by Luca Longobardi, is described as a multi-sensory experience with 500,000 cubic feet — and 90,000,000 pixels — of larger-than-life projections ripped straight van Gogh's portfolio.

No location has been announced, but according to the website, the event will take over a “secret venue” in the heart of Detroit. Tickets for this event start at $39.99 and can be purchased at DetroitVanGogh.com.

There is also “Beyond van Gogh: An Immersive Experience.” Confused? Uh, yeah, us, too. This event, which kicks off on June 25 and runs through mid-August, will take place at Detroit's TCF Center. Per the press release, this immersive event will display 300 van Gogh paintings “now freed from their frames.” Wait, what? The press release also states that van Gogh's work will disappear, reappear, and flow across multiple surfaces, and will be paired with a symphonic score so “guests come to a new appreciation of this tortured artist’s stunning work.” ......................(more)

https://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2021/04/08/omfg-there-are-two-van-gogh-events-coming-to-detroit-heres-all-the-info-you-need-so-you-can-stop-emailing-us#.YHBdJncHua5.link

April 9, 2021

Joe Manchin learned all of the wrong lessons from the Capitol riot: "Jan. 6 changed me"

Joe Manchin learned all of the wrong lessons from the Capitol riot: "Jan. 6 changed me"
The West Virginia Democrat not only still supports the filibuster — now he wants to appease the insurrectionists

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
APRIL 9, 2021 1:36PM


(Salon) Those of us who've been watching politics for a while knew that the 50-50 Senate was going to be a challenge for the Biden administration. Yes, it's much, much better to have the majority and be able to set the agenda. But passing legislation with such a narrow margin is always very difficult. It's usually worse for Democrats because the small, conservative, rural state advantage in the US Senate makes it impossible to gain a majority without at least a few right-leaning showboaters who feel the need to demonstrate their "independence" from the libs who dominate the party.

Republicans have their "moderates" too, as we know, but generally, Democrats have a much more difficult task in these situations because they are actually trying to accomplish something rather than simply confirm judges, cut taxes and pretend to repeal popular legislation over and over again. Even when Democrats hold a large majority, the conservative senators in the caucus seem to always flex their muscles and make passing popular initiatives very difficult.

When Jimmy Carter was president and had a 57 vote majority in the Senate, his signature legislation was thwarted by Democrats who watered it down to almost nothing, stymying Carter's big initiative for the U.S. to attain energy independence. In 1993, when President Bill Clinton became the first Democratic president in 12 years, also with a 57 vote margin, the Democrats tried once again to raise taxes on the wealthy and pass a broad-based energy tax, this time in the name of "deficit reduction," and it was fought tooth and nail by different Democrats representing the same interests. Karen Tumulty writing for the LA Times back in 1993, wrote about the reaction of two Democratic senators, Oklahoma's David Boren and Louisiana's John Breaux, to Clinton's plan:



....(snip)....

That brings us to Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, the man of the hour.

....(snip)....

I think it's fair to say that Manchin has somehow absorbed the circular GOP's talking points justifying their flurry of legislation to restrict voting all over the country in order to "restore trust in the system" after Trump lied about the election being stolen from him. Can Manchin be so naive that he doesn't know that this was on the GOP agenda long before Trump came down that escalator? .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/09/joe-manchin-learned-all-of-the-wrong-lessons-from-the-capitol-riot-jan-6-changed-me/

April 9, 2021

Wayne LaPierre's Bad Day in Court

(Salon) National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre, on the virtual witness stand during the third day of the group's highly anticipated bankruptcy trial in Texas, was peppered with a harsh line of questioning, including one about a $60,000 invoice marked "Russia."

In Wednesday's testimony, the NRA's longtime executive vice president "conceded that he did not inform several senior NRA officials that he would file his bankruptcy petition before he did so, including a board member who would have been his successor," Law & Crime reported. "LaPierre also testified that he did not inform board members about the establishment of a company Sea Girt, LLC, which he formed in Texas for the purpose of filing for bankruptcy."

LaPierre was also asked about his use of a yacht owned by Hollywood producer Stanton McKenzie, which LaPierre admitted to using for vacations in the Bahamas, while not making clear in the group's paperwork that the trips could be construed as a conflict of interest. LaPierre was asked if he offered to pay for using the yacht and responded, "I did not," according to Law & Crime.



This yacht was the same yacht which in an earlier deposition LaPierre admitted to using as a getaway following mass shootings in the U.S. such as the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut in 2012. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/08/nra-chief-wayne-lapierre-faces-tough-questions-in-court--russia-expense-remains-a-mystery/

April 8, 2021

Monorail remodel gets underway before the release of the Kraken hockey team at Seattle Center

Apr. 5—With the clock ticking, contractors for the 1-mile Seattle Center Monorail will gut and remodel both stations in anticipation of hockey fans riding the historic trains in October.

Waiting-area space will increase. Riders will pass through automatic fare gates, similar to those used by people walking onto state ferries. The new layouts should boost flow and capacity, compared to the old way where everybody walks past a ticketing booth.

Construction staging begins Monday, then monorail service will shut down from April 12 to 30 during the demolition phase of the project, said Tom Albro, owner of Seattle Monorail Services, private operator of the city-owned trains.

He estimated that 4,000 fans among a sold-out crowd of 17,100 would ride the monorail to Climate Pledge Arena, home of the National Hockey League's new Seattle Kraken franchise and the four-time WNBA champion Seattle Storm. ............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/maintenance/news/21217318/wa-monorail-remodel-gets-underway-before-the-release-of-the-kraken-hockey-team-at-seattle-center

April 8, 2021

"The Sum of Us" author on what racism costs white people and the lie of a zero-sum racial hierarchy

"The Sum of Us" author on what racism costs white people and the lie of a zero-sum racial hierarchy
Salon talks to Heather McGhee about what the GOP has to fear from multiracial coalitions organizing to benefit all

By DEAN OBEIDALLAH
APRIL 8, 2021 11:00AM


(Salon) Activist and author Heather McGee has a sincere plea for white Americans: Stop seeing race in America as a zero-sum game. As McGhee explains in her New York Times bestseller, "The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together," rejecting that outdated approach will actually offer a range of benefits for all Americans.

I spoke to McGhee on "Salon Talks" and I can assure you that her appeal to white America is not some feel-good bromide. Rather, as McGhee documents, when white people join in multiracial coalitions on issues from raising the minimum wage to addressing environmental justice, it greatly benefits white people — along with all other communities.

However, the zero-sum approach has been the norm for many in white America for decades. An example of that mentality is grabbing headlines today: the GOP's voter suppression efforts in various states. As McGhee notes, the zero-sum mentality is most acute in politics, where only one candidate can win an election, and the right keeps returning to the same tired playbook predicated on preserving white power.

....(snip)....

Heather, so much of your book is an effort to bring us together, but also dealing with the hard truths of our history, which some people don't want to talk about. What is the origin of the sense that if other races, primarily Black or brown, get ahead, that a white person is somehow losing out?

Yeah, that is the lie. This lie of the zero-sum racial hierarchy I identified in the course of my journey to write "The Sum of Us," is our biggest impediment to progress in America today. I wanted to go back to the beginning to figure out where this lie came from. It's something that's not believed by the majority of people of color. We don't think our progress needs to come at white folks' expense. We don't think we're on an opposing team and that there are only so many points you can score on the board, that a dollar more in our pocket means a dollar less in theirs. That's not the way we see the world, and yet that is a dominant white worldview.

....(snip)....

Explain what you meant by the wages of whiteness.

The wages of whiteness is a term that was used by the great black historian, W. E. B. Du Bois, in a book called "Black Reconstruction in America," and he talked about how in the South, laborers, the working class, Black and white, had so much in common in their material circumstances, and yet they hated and feared one another. And that was because, other than their material circumstances — the material wages — the elites in the South gave white-skinned workers the psychological wages of whiteness. Their schools were better funded. They could serve on juries. They were given social respect in the street, whereas all the opposite, obviously, to Black people. And so, those kinds of non-material, social esteem, status benefits, were the wages paid by whiteness, instead of actual dollars. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/08/the-sum-of-us-author-on-what-racism-costs-white-people-and-the-lie-of-a-zero-sum-racial-hierarchy/

April 8, 2021

Florida man captures video showing alligators wrestling in backyard

Seeing alligators in Florida is a normal occurrence. However, seeing gator wrestling matches -- not so much.

Gordon Silver of Lakewood Ranch, Florida was shocked to find two large alligators “getting to know each other” right in his backyard.

Silver posted the video to Facebook.

“These big dinosaurs are getting to know each other in a mating gesture in Lakewood Ranch,” he said. ................(more)

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/04/06/florida-man-finds-alligators-getting-to-know-each-other-as-mating-season-heats-up/#//

April 8, 2021

Florida man arrested for allegedly impersonating doctor, injecting Botox while drinking

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A Florida man is charged with impersonating a doctor and allegedly injecting Botox while drinking last month, according to local authorities.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Nelson Turin, 47, hosted a "Botox and Bubbles" event at a local business. Investigators said he described himself as an oral surgeon on social media fliers.

According to FOX 30, Turin was allegedly drinking Four Lokos when he operated on his unsuspecting victims. The news station reported that he charged $350 to inject lips, chins and cheeks and that he allegedly tricked the staff at a local spa into thinking he was a licensed doctor. ...........(more)

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/florida-man-arrested-for-allegedly-impersonating-doctor-injecting-botox-while-drinking

April 7, 2021

With COVID-19 surging again in MI, there's a race for vaccinations. Getting one at the FEMA site....

With COVID-19 surging again in Michigan, there’s a race for vaccinations. Getting one at the FEMA site at Ford Field is a breeze.
By Lee DeVito


(Detroit Metro Times) The trucks that rolled out of the Pfizer facility near Kalamazoo in December carrying the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines offered one of the first tangible symbols that this pandemic could eventually end, and like many people eager to survive it, I wanted to register to get one as soon as possible. I knew that frontline workers, the elderly, and the immunocompromised would be prioritized, and as a man in my 30s with no health conditions, I was prepared to wait a while. So I waited. Vaccination clinics started to become available through local health departments, as well as retail pharmacies like Meijer, CVS, and Rite Aid. Finally, as eligibility and availability expanded in early March, I registered for a vaccine from the health department for Oakland County, where I live, and through Meijer, which is down the street. I planned to just go with whichever one came through first.

Then — crickets. Nothing, not even a text back.

Meanwhile, it seemed like everyone I knew was already getting their vaccines. I started hearing stories about people who managed to get one just by being in the right place at the right time, scoring shots from pharmacies who needed to use up their doses before they expired, and then I began to hear more and more about impatient Michiganders who were traveling to Ohio, where vaccine access was far easier. I started feeling something I haven’t felt for more than a year — hello FOMO, my old friend — and considered registering at one more place. While Detroit has been running a drive-through vaccination clinic at TCF Center for city residents and workers, it wasn’t clear if I would be eligible, since I’ve mostly been working from home during the pandemic.

The timing couldn’t be any more urgent. Coronavirus cases in Michigan are soaring in recent weeks as part of a third surge that threatens to dwarf its previous two. Disturbingly, more than a year into the pandemic, Michigan is once again one of the top U.S. hotspots for the virus, with officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranking the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita for the past seven days at 398.5 cases per 100,000 people, with New York City at 347.9 cases and New Jersey at 341.7 cases. ..................(more)

https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/with-the-virus-surging-again-in-michigan-theres-a-race-for-vaccinations-my-experience-was-a-bit-confusing-but-ultimately-painless/Content?oid=26830547#.YG3WXZBRyuc.link