February 13, 2020

Earth Just Had its Hottest January in Recorded History

The planet experienced the hottest January in recorded history last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.

January 2020 was the 44th consecutive January, and the 421st consecutive month, with temperatures above the 20th century average, according to the agency. The new milestone is just the latest in a string of climate records that have been broken in recent years. .......(more)


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1136426

February 13, 2020

Combatting distracted communities to boost rail safety

Incidents at grade crossings and involving trespassers are not new to railroads, but the reasons for an increase in these incidents have shifted, making the industry find new ways to address these issues. While an increase in mental health awareness campaigns have helped address intentional rail fatalities, another problem has surfaced: distracted behavior.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Safety Analysis, there were 597 nonfatal trespassing incidents from Jan. 1, 2019 through Oct. 30, 2019 and there were 535 fatal trespassing incidents for the same timeframe. And in Florida alone, FRA reports there were 106 grade crossing incidents at public and private crossings from January 2019 to October 2019.To combat this, industry stakeholders, including Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI), the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Brightline and L.B. Foster, are implementing a combination of engineering solutions and education campaigns that focus on improving rail safety.

Engineering a safer crossing

Florida is consistently one of the states with the highest number of grade-crossing incidents, according to the FRA, reporting 399 highway-rail crossing incidents for the calendar year of 2019. FDOT says one reason is people are stopping on the tracks without realizing. So, Brightline and FDOT turned their attention to at-grade crossings to help get people off the tracks. ......(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/article/21123219/combatting-distracted-communities-to-boost-rail-safety

February 10, 2020

Are Americans Ready to Love Trains Again?

https://m.

February 8, 2020

Rachel Maddow just played the clip....

.....of Alexander Vindman opening his impeachment hearing testimony by saying he's glad his father left Russia, where he would face severe retribution for testifying......

Welcome to Moscow on the Potomac.


#tinpotdictatorship

February 5, 2020

Mad respect to everyone.....

.... who watched that buffet of bullshit. ... My stomach isn't that strong.

February 3, 2020

America: Land of Make-Believe

By Chris Hedges


If what happens in courtrooms across the country to poor people of color is justice, what is happening in the Senate is a trial. If the blood-drenched debacles and endless quagmires in the Middle East are victories in the war on terror, our military is the greatest on earth. If the wholesale government surveillance of the public, the revoking of due process and having the world’s largest prison population are liberty, we are the land of the free. If the president, an inept, vulgar and corrupt con artist, is the leader of the free world, we are a beacon for democracy and our enemies hate us for our values. If Jesus came to make us rich, bless the annihilation of Muslims by our war machine and condemn homosexuality and abortion, we are a Christian nation. If formalizing an apartheid state in Israel is a peace plan, we are an honest international mediator. If a meritocracy means that three American men have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the U.S. population, we are the land of opportunity. If the torture of kidnapped victims in black sites and the ripping of children from their parents’ arms and their detention in fetid, overcrowded warehouses, along with the gunning down of unarmed citizens by militarized police in the streets of our urban communities, are the rule of law, we are an exemplar of human rights.

The rhetoric we use to describe ourselves is so disconnected from reality that it has induced collective schizophrenia. America, as it is discussed in public forums by politicians, academics and the media, is a fantasy, a Disneyfied world of make-believe. The worse it gets, the more we retreat into illusions. The longer we fail to name and confront our physical and moral decay, the more demagogues who peddle illusions and fantasies become empowered. Those who acknowledge the truth—beginning with the stark fact that we are no longer a democracy—wander like ghosts around the edges of society, reviled as enemies of hope. The mania for hope works as an anesthetic. The hope that Donald Trump would moderate his extremism once he was in office, the hope that the “adults in the room” would manage the White House, the hope that the Mueller report would see Trump disgraced, impeached and removed from office, the hope that Trump’s December 2019 impeachment would lead to his Senate conviction and ouster, the hope that he will be defeated at the polls in November are psychological exits from the crisis—the collapse of democratic institutions, including the press, and the corporate corruption of laws, electoral politics and norms that once made our imperfect democracy possible.

The embrace of collective self-delusion marks the death spasms of all civilizations. We are in the terminal stage. We no longer know who we are, what we have become or how those on the outside see us. It is easier, in the short term, to retreat inward, to celebrate nonexistent virtues and strengths and wallow in sentimentality and a false optimism. But in the end, this retreat, peddled by the hope industry, guarantees not only despotism but, given the climate emergency, extinction. ...... (more)

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/america-land-of-make-believe/

February 2, 2020

Dave Zirin: The Super Bowl Is a Grift of Epic Proportions

from The Nation:


The Super Bowl Is a Grift of Epic Proportions
While the wealthy party during Super Bowl week, a heist is happening in plain sight.

By Dave Zirin


The Super Bowl is like prom for the 1 percent. When the big game comes to town, it’s accompanied by private jets, parties, and nonstop bottle service. That should be enough, but it never is. The bacchanalia also comes festooned with public funds for the NFL, an overwhelming police presence, and the removal of the poor. It’s a world of fun on our TVs, but it’s a wrecking ball for local communities.

This year the game is in Miami, and the scams are starting to seep into public consciousness. As the Miami Herald is reporting, the NFL booked 1 million dollars’ worth of rooms at the J.W. Marriott Marquis hotel and Aventura’s Turnberry resort for the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers players and coaches—and sent the city the bill.

Even though the NFL is a gargantuan corporate operation and both teams are owned by billionaires, Miami (where 27 percent of children live below the poverty line) is on the hook for the hotel accommodations. This is just part of a $4 million welfare package with which the city has gifted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who makes 10 times that amount in yearly salary. That $4 million does not include the costs of the police and security presence required to host the game. Rodney Barreto, the chairman of Miami’s Host Committee, said to the Herald, “These are basically things we have to do to get them to come. If we’re not doing it, another city is.” .............(more)

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/super-bowl-protest/

February 1, 2020

Metromover beats monorail for riders to Miami Beach, but costs more. Worth it?

Jan. 30--Metromover would be enjoying a South Beach moment under a scenario laid out in a new county-funded transit report.

With a new three-mile extension over Biscayne Bay, a rider could take a train from the main Metrorail station in downtown Miami to South Beach in 13 minutes. The analysis predicts the free transit option would be popular, generating 13,000 trips a day on a line expected to cost about $630 million to build.

The other leading option is monorail, which would be far cheaper to operate but with fewer riders, according to projections laid out by the Parsons consulting firm. Using a new station built where the Miami Herald once stood near the MacArthur Causeway, the kind of automated train made famous by Disney World would be a transfer option at the far end of the Metromover system, six stations away from Metrorail. ...............(more)

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/news/21123609/fl-metromover-beats-monorail-for-riders-to-miami-beach-but-costs-more-worth-it

February 1, 2020

Cruise ship denied entry into St Lucia harbour today

CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) – St Lucia Saturday denied a cruise ship with more than 3,000 passengers on board entry in the Castries Harbour after health authorities confirmed that some passengers were experiencing respiratory tract infections.

But the Department of Health & Wellness denied reports that there may have been cases of the deadly coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that has killed more than 200 people in China and which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global health emergency.

The vessel, the AIDAPERLA with close to 3,300 passengers was scheduled to dock at the Castries Harbour at about 8:00 am (local time). Built in 2017, it currently sails under the flag of Italy and its last port of call was in Kingstown, St Vincent. ...... (more)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Cruise_ship_denied_entry_into_St_Lucia_harbour_today1?profile=1228

February 1, 2020

Man Arrested for Trying to Pay for Prostitute With Hamburger

Police arrested Dominic Calderon on Tuesday for solicitation after he allegedly attempted to pay an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute with a hamburger.

KRQE reported that Calderon, a 36-year-old registered sex offender was riding his bicycle on Central Avenue in Albuquerque on the evening of January 28 when he spotted the female officer. He approached her and asked how much it would be for a sexual encounter.

The pair agreed on a price, but Calderon told the officer that he could not pay it because he did not get paid from his job until Friday. He then asked for her phone number so he could enjoy her services later, KRQE reported.

The officer noticed that Calderon was carrying a bag from Chili's, according to The Smoking Gun, and asked him what was inside. He told her that it was a hamburger. At that point, the officer proposed that her fee could be the burger instead of cash. .............(more)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/arrested-pay-prostitute-hamburger-1485122%3famp=1