THE CAUSE OF STUPIDITY......

 

I MAY NOT BE TOTALLY SANE......

 

BARBIE AT HER 45TH HIGH SCHOOL CLASS REUNION

 

'Enough with the politics': Derailment investigator takes aim at partisan sniping, misinformation & In East Palestine, Erin Brockovich gives reeling residents advice and tells them to trust their instincts 23&25FEB23

WELL said NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, and how refreshing to have someone in a position of authority to put the welfare of the people in need first and to basically tell the politicians and social media / reporter clowns to grow up and address the situation at hand and the needs of  the people. This from Politico followed by an interesting article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.....

'Enough with the politics': Derailment investigator takes aim at partisan sniping, misinformation

"Enough with the politics on this," National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday at an update on her agency's probe.

A Norfolk Southern freight train passes passes through East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

By TANYA SNYDER

02/23/2023 11:41 AM EST

Updated: 02/23/2023 03:28 PM EST

The head of the federal probe into the Ohio train derailment lashed out Thursday at “politics” and “misinformation” she said are clouding the ongoing investigation and expressed her exasperation that vital safety recommendations can be ignored amid the noise.

“Enough with the politics on this,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday at an update on her agency’s probe. “I don’t understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics.”

She was responding to a question about Donald Trump’s visit Wednesday to the derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, which he used to slam Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Biden administration for their response.

“There’s a lot of misinformation on what would have prevented this,” she said. “Everyone is guessing. I saw it all over media, which was driving me nuts. Those solutions, all of the ones I heard of, are not the solutions.”

She hinted at an article that circulated soon after the derailment blaming it on a rule that would have mandated faster brakes on some trains, which was withdrawn in 2017. She said those brakes would not have prevented this derailment or even have significantly reduced its severity.

Homendy said the speculation about cause, much of which is false, is doubly frustrating because once the final report is issued, “we get ignored.” Though the NTSB investigates serious transportation accidents, the changes their investigations recommend are not mandated unless an agency or Congress decides to act on them.

NTSB’s preliminary report released Thursday showed that the engineer at the controls of the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio tried to stop the train following a warning about an overheating wheel, but by that time several cars had already come off the tracks.

According to the report, before it derailed, the train passed three detectors intended to alert train crew to physical problems, including overheating wheels. Though the train detectors showed one of the wheels was steadily getting hotter, it did not reach a temperature Norfolk Southern considered critical until it passed the third detector and alerted, as outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board.

When the train passed that last detector, the detector “transmitted a critical audible alarm message instructing the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect a hot axle,” the report said.

By then, the engineer was already trying to slow the train because it was behind another train. Upon hearing the alarm, the engineer increased the application of the brakes, and then automatic emergency brakes initiated, bringing the train to a stop.

When it stopped, the crew “observed fire and smoke and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment,” the report said.

Thirty-eight cars derailed and 12 more were damaged in the ensuing fire.

The hopper car with the overheating bearing was carrying plastic pellets, which caught fire when the axle overheated, Homendy said.

The placards that designate which cars are carrying hazardous materials — and which she said are “critical in response and in protecting the community,” were also made of plastic and melted. NTSB may recommend a different material for the placards.

The focus of the investigation is on the wheelset and the bearings. They are also looking at the design of the tank cars themselves, the accident response, including the venting and burning of the vinyl chloride, railcar design and maintenance procedures and practices, Norfolk Southern’s use of wayside defect detectors, and Norfolk Southern’s railcar inspection practices.

NTSB plans to hold a rare investigative field hearing near the site in the spring with the goals of informing the public, collecting factual information from witnesses, discussing possible solutions and building consensus for change.

In East Palestine, Erin Brockovich gives reeling residents advice and tells them to trust their instincts

JORDAN ANDERSON

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

janderson@post-gazette.com

25FEB23

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Three weeks after a toxic train derailment and chemical explosion upended this village just over the Pennsylvania border, famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich offered support for reeling residents worried about their health. 

At a packed town hall Friday evening, Ms. Brockovich gave advice to concerned residents, telling them to trust their instincts. She said moments like this can feel like the “biggest gaslight” of people’s lives,  and she told them that it won’t be a “quick fix,” but a “long game.” 

“I've learned in communities over and over again — they can handle the truth,” she said. “Whether it scares them, or they don't want to hear it. What they can't handle is a mistruth, being misled.”

She told the residents to be aware of how they and their children are feeling and to document information. “You know if you smell something. You know if the water is a funny color,” she said. 

 

Hanna Webster

East Palestine residents say health assessment clinic falls short: 'A dog and pony show'

Ms. Brockovich was joined by attorney Mikal Watts, who urged people to get tested as soon as possible.

"I'm begging you, for your own good, go get your blood and your urine tested now," he said. "If it says you don't have anything, you have peace of mind. If it says you have something, you now have an objective, medical basis."

Bob Bowcock, a water expert and the founder of the water development firm Integrated Resource Management, shared his concerns that contaminants may spread to the city’s drinking water sooner than expected. 

“The state of Ohio has determined that groundwater protection from the surface contamination in this community is zero,” he said. “I've never seen a zero. Groundwater is very shallow here. If the chemicals are already at this location, we've got a real problem.”

Mr. Watts said while what happened in East Palestine is new to the community, it’s not a new phenomenon for trains to carry hazardous materials.

"We live in a society, for better or for worse, that chooses to ship the most deadly, the most toxic, the most dangerous chemicals ever made by man in rail cars right through populated cities,” he said.

As a law clerk, Ms. Brockovich was instrumental in revealing that a Pacific Gas and Electric facility in Hinkley, Calif., was contaminating the groundwater with high levels of hexavalent chromium, sickening the small community for decades.

 

Ford Turner

‘The whole sky was black’: Pa. residents describe the horror of the East Palestine derailment

With Ms. Brockovich’s help, residents reached a $333 million settlement with the company in 1996, the largest ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit at the time. The story propelled Ms. Brockovich into fame and later inspired the Oscar-winning 2000 film with her namesake.

Friday night, she called back to what happened in Hinkley and said it has happened everywhere, from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the Flint, Mich., water crisis.

"We've got failing infrastructure, companies with poor corporate models that put all of us at risk and continue to just think once we poison a community, it's just going to magically go away,” she said. “We often find out five and 10 years down the road after you were told it was safe."

Ms. Brockovich said she started receiving emails right after the train derailment Feb. 3 from concerned residents and was invited by the community to visit. 

“I could see the frustration and the confusion growing for all of you and I feel bad for you,” she told the crowd. “And I’ve experienced this in community after community.” 

The event at East Palestine was packed; every seat in the auditorium was filled and another room was set up with a live feed for the overflow. 

John Messer, lives about 5 miles away from the train derailment, was one of the many in attendance. He worries East Palestine, where he’s lived all his life, will become a ghost town if everyone is forced out due to health concerns. Mr. Messer came to the town hall seeking information that he feels he isn’t getting from authorities.

“Will I get cancer if I stay here?” he said before the meeting. “I’m trying to get answers to what’s going on.”

George Psomas came to the event because he and his mother Helen Gould lives just 3,000 feet away from the derailment site. After hearing the information shared during the meeting, Mr. Psomas said he is going to call his doctor to see about getting his blood tested for toxic chemicals released during the accident, including vinyl chloride. 

“That was one of my questions — what should I get done?” Mr. Psomas said. “I'm going to reach out to my doctor and get a baseline, get the basics done, so that they can monitor it five,10 years from now.”

The event concludes a busy week for East Palestine. Former President Donald Trump visited the village Wednesday with water and cleaning supplies, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came Thursday, sharing his regret for not visiting sooner and echoing calls to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and prevent future rail incidents.

Ms. Brockovich was also on the ground in East Palestine on Thursday, sharing on Twitter that she was meeting with residents. 

This week, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office has made a criminal referral to the attorney general, which will investigate Norfolk Southern to determine possible criminal activity. The move came after the EPA announced that the company would be financially liable for all cleanup costs.

A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board Thursday painted a more detailed picture of the circumstances leading up the accident. The report found that hot box detectors tracked the increasing temperature of the train’s troubled axle before it derailed.

As residents continue to report nausea, headaches, skin irritation and other symptoms in the aftermath, the Ohio Department of Health opened a temporary medical clinic earlier this week. But people have shared that the center falls short, failing to offer blood testing or other kinds of health assessments.

First Published February 24, 2023, 8:10pm

Navy removes Confederate name from Naval Academy building 17FEB23

 

ARTICLE from the Navy Times on removing traitior's names from U.S. military bases, buildings, streets and ships, and of special note to those sympathetic to the treason committed by the confederacy the Navy Times refers to members of the confederate military as TRAITORS in this article.

Navy removes Confederate name from Naval Academy building

By Geoff Ziezulewicz

 Feb 17, 04:33 PM

A sign stands outside of an entrance to the U.S. Naval Academy campus in Annapolis, Md., Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

The Navy has removed the name of a member of the Confederacy from a building on the U.S. Naval Academy’s campus and renamed the hall after former President and “Ring Knocker” Jimmy Carter.

The building, constructed in the early 1900s, was originally named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, an oceanography pioneer — known as the “pathfinder of the seas” — who resigned his U.S. commission to serve in the Confederate States Navy.

The name change comes after Congress directed a naming commission to review military assets and rename those with Confederate ties following the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accepted the commission’s recommendations in September and ordered the services to make the changes by the end of this year.

The newly minted Carter Hall houses the academy’s systems and weapons engineering department.

RELATED

Commission recommends stripping Confederate service academy honors

Several buildings, roads and monuments are recommended for changes.

By Meghann Myers

In addition to his role as the 39th U.S. president, Carter graduated from the academy in 1946 and spent seven years in service as a submarine officer.

“By naming this building in his honor, we not only recognize his great contributions, but ensure that his legacy will forever inspire our nation’s future leaders,” Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck said at the renaming ceremony, according to a Navy press release.

Renaming the hall is expected to cost the Navy $12,000, according to the naming commission’s report.

That report also calls for the Navy to change the name of Buchanan House and Buchanan Road, two academy fixtures named in honor of Franklin Buchanan, the academy’s first superintendent who joined the Confederacy, rose to the rank of admiral and commanded several naval battles that killed hundreds of U.S. sailors.

The Navy has not announced the status of that renaming effort, and officials did not return a request for comment by Navy Times’ deadline Friday.

Both Naval Academy buildings were named after the traitors in 1915, when the “Lost Cause” notion propagated the idea that the Confederate effort was a righteous battle for the rights of southern states.

Approximately 25 percent of academy midshipmen joined and fought for the Confederacy in 1861, according to the commission report. The commission did not recommended a change to a column in Memorial Hall that lists academy graduates who died during naval operations in service to the Confederacy.

“The roll call simply states Confederate or U.S. service after the graduate’s name,” the commission report states. “Due to the limited factual nature of the roll call, the Commission believes it may remain as structured.”

The commission also recommended renaming the guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville, which is named after the location of a Confederate victory, as well as a ship named after Maury. The Navy has not provided further details on those efforts.

Left unaddressed is the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, which was named after the segregationist senator known as the father of the modern navy. Stennis fought Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo Zumwalt’s efforts to implement cultural changes in the service in response to racial unrest, retired Navy officer John Cordle wrote in an October opinion piece calling for the carrier’s name to be changed.

RELATED

Now is the time to rename the carrier John C. Stennis

The USS John C. Stennis honors a noted racist, the author argues. It is time for the Navy and Congress to rename it and send a message of inclusion.

By John P. Cordle

“During a meeting with Zumwalt, Stennis opined that ‘they [Blacks] had come down from the trees a lot later than we did,’ according to Zumwalt’s memoir, ‘On Watch,’” Cordle wrote.

Earlier in his career, Stennis prosecuted three Black sharecroppers who, through torture, had been forced into a confession, thus winning convictions and death sentences that were eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Cordle.

President Ronald Reagan named CVN 74 after Stennis in 1988.

“It would not only be historically correct, but morally correct, that this issue be directly addressed by Congress and the Navy,” Cordle wrote. “Without question, Stennis perpetuated and personified racist beliefs.”

Cordle noted that renaming the ship would honor past and present Stennis sailors, and included in his piece the thoughts of a Black junior Navy officer:

“We display artifacts that speak to our values, and we leave them to our children. It shapes the identity of who we are for future generations,” the officer said, according to Cordle. “Changing (Stennis’ name) would show that we have faced our history — and learned from it.”

About Geoff Ziezulewicz

Geoff is a senior staff reporter for Military Times, focusing on the Navy. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was most recently a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.

TELL THE SENATE TO CONFIRM GIGI SOHN, PRES BIDEN'S NOMINEE TO THE FCC 15FEB23

 THE FCC is paralyzed from restoring net neutrality and increasing broadband access across the nation because the Senate has not approved Gigi Sohn, Pres Biden's nominee to the FCC. Big cable and internet companies along with right wing media like fox news and the wall street journal are running a dishonest propaganda campaign against her confirmation, keeping the FCC deadlocked and so protecting corporate profit margins as well as poor service. This from Demand Progress, and please take the time to e mail your senators telling them to get Gigi Sohn approved so she can take her seat at the FCC.

My e mail to Sens Kaine & Warner....

I expect you to push the Democratic Senate leadership to schedule a vote on Gigi Sohn's  nomination to the FCC and to vote for her approval. The propaganda campaign by the right wing media like fox news, breitbart and the wall street journal can not be allowed to succeed. 

“The most cynical and baseless smear campaign ever”

The corporate smear campaign against Gigi Sohn — Biden’s nominee to the Federal Communications Commission — just won’t quit.

For nearly a year and a half, Comcast surrogates have pushed a shameless campaign against Sohn, and right-wing outlets like Fox News and Breitbart have lobbed personal attacks at her, all in an effort to prevent her from casting tiebreaking votes on key issues, like restoring net neutrality.

It’s gotten so bad that a former executive for Disney and Fox came forward to condemn the attacks as “the worst, and most cynical and baseless smear campaign ever waged against a nominee to serve on the FCC."¹

On Tuesday, Gigi Sohn stood up to attackers like Ted Cruz at her latest confirmation hearing, proving once again that she’s exactly the right person to take on Comcast and the rest of Big Cable.²

We need to have her back. That’s why Demand Progress Action is pressuring Democratic senators to defend Sohn against these baseless attacks and confirm her to the FCC ASAP.

Will you make a donation to support Demand Progress Action, including our work to defend Gigi Sohn against a vicious smear campaign and restore net neutrality?

Donate $10

Donate $20

Donate $40

Or, donate another amount

Without a fifth member, the FCC remains at a 2-2 stalemate on a range of issues, effectively blocking action on net neutrality and stymying progress on issues like expansion of broadband access. The deadlock leaves Comcast and the rest of the telecom industry with far less oversight — just the way it prefers.

That’s why Comcast and the right-wing media have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at Sohn to stall her confirmation for nearly two years.

Fox News and The Wall Street Journal editorial board have repeatedly distorted and attacked her record.³ One group has poured money into false ads that claim she doesn’t support rural broadband access.⁴

If these attacks succeed, they will ensure that the FCC remains deadlocked and powerless to act on key issues like net neutrality. We can’t let that happen.

Demand Progress is turning up the heat on Democrats to defend and confirm Gigi Sohn, once and for all.

Will you donate $20 to Demand Progress Action to support our work, including restoring net neutrality and pressuring the Senate to confirm Gigi Sohn?

With gratitude for all that you do,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress Action

DONATE

Sources:
1. Next TV, "Preston Padden: ISPs Complicit in Smear Campaign Against FCC Nominee Gigi Sohn," January 30, 2023.
2. Ars Technica, "Biden FCC nominee slams critics, says ISPs shouldn’t get to choose regulators," February 14, 2023.
3. Fast Company, "When will Democrats deliver on their promise to restore net neutrality?," May 16, 2022.
4. Common Dreams, "'Infuriating': Telecom Lobbyists Spending Big Money to Keep Gigi Sohn Off FCC," April 28, 2022. 

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Wildlife experts highlight bat conservation at Lincoln Caverns' Bat Fest 11FEB23

I have always loved bats, I think they are some of the coolest critters God created and I am well aware of the extremely important role they play in maintaining a healthy environment and the serious threat they face from loss of habitat and from WNS. This from  WJAC / Johnstown, PA  and be sure to check out the links at the end of this post for more information on bats, WNS and how to help these fuzzy little creatures....

Wildlife experts highlight bat conservation at Lincoln Caverns' Bat Fest

by Douglas Braff

Saturday, February 11th 2023

HUNTINGDON CO., Pa. (WJAC) — November saw the northern long-eared bat declared an endangered species.

The years-long Bat Fest tradition at Lincoln Caverns took the opportunity on Saturday to educate the public about the species and other types of bats.

To some, bats can be a nuisance, frightening, or even part of your superhero origin story. But, like all animals, we rely on them more than it would seem. That was one of the main messages of Lincoln Caverns' 17th annual Bat Fest.

"It's a great way to reach out to the public and get them interested and informed about bats and especially what we're doing here in the state," Mike Scafini, an endangered animals specialist for PA Game Commission, shares with 6 News.

However, experts tell us they're concerned for the future of certain bat species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in November lifted the northern long-eared bat to "endangered." For some, like bat researcher Luke Fultz, it's foreshadowing.

"The little brown bat and the tricolored bat are ones that are looking to possibly be uplifted at some point as well," the wildlife biologist and ecologist for Apogee Environmental & Archaeological tells 6 News.

Two of the main reasons behind the dropping numbers is: habitat and the disease known as white-nose syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans), "which is caused by a fungus that was brought over, they think from Europe," Fultz explains. "It spores and it thrives in caves."

"It was introduced to New York in 2006," Scafini notes. "And it's since spread up and down the East Coast, and now is making its way across the entire United States."

Fultz says the fungus affects the exposed skin areas, which can wake up the bats from their hibernation, forcing them to consume their fat and energy to get them through winter.

"That takes a lot of energy to bring that metabolic rate back up, that body temperature back up, the breathing rate and everything back up," he points out. "And if that happens too many times, the bats tend to starve."

So, how do we actually conserve bats — especially from WNS?

Aside from protecting habitats and people putting up bat boxes in their yards, Scafini says there are two primary methods for combatting WNS.

"One is cooling hibernacula, we call it hibernacula manipulations, where we're either open up a second entrance to help get colder air in and get the site to a temperature, where the fungus does not grow as well," he says.

Hibernacula (sing. hibernaculum) is the scientific term used for the habitats where animals hibernate.

Scafini adds that "another option is the spraying of Polyethylene glycol 8,000, which is a substance that slows the fungus down from growing."

While they may freak you out, bats are vital to our ecosystem.

"So, they play a major role ecologically through seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control," Fultz explains. "In a lot of ways, they fill the ecological niche, nocturnally, that birds and bees and butterflies and things do during the day."

"You may have noticed that the insect numbers have risen dramatically," says Scafini. "You probably can't go for a hike anymore without getting a cobweb in your face cuz bats eat spiders and you might be more annoyed by the flies and mosquitoes cuz bats are the predominant eater of those."

"The benefits of bats are pretty endless," he adds.

The PA Game Commission, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have information for what to do when encountering bats and if you would like to help conserve bats.