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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
March 23, 2021
(Detroit Free Press) The northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, could be seen dancing in the sky in Michigan's Upper Peninsula last Friday and Saturday.
The northern lights "typically show up closer to the North Pole," said Ian Lee, National Weather Service meteorologist in White Lake. "They're caused by a lot of particles entering the ionosphere for space, and then charges the ionosphere and that's what allows the different colors to appear, especially at night."
Isaac Polanski is a photographer and storm chaser who drove from Detroit to Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula to capture the northern lights Friday night.
"What was special about late Friday night into early Saturday morning ... is that the auroras were like pulsating. It's even hard to describe it," Polanski said. "They were moving very rapidly and pulsating really rapidly that you can't really tell in just a picture. When people say that the auroras are dancing, they really are dancing in the sky. They're moving back and forth in like waves, shimmering. It's truly beautiful, it can bring a tear to the eye, that is pure Michigan right there." ............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/23/michigan-northern-lights-upper-peninsula/4803108001/
Northern lights appear in Michigan's Upper Peninsula over the weekend
(Detroit Free Press) The northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, could be seen dancing in the sky in Michigan's Upper Peninsula last Friday and Saturday.
The northern lights "typically show up closer to the North Pole," said Ian Lee, National Weather Service meteorologist in White Lake. "They're caused by a lot of particles entering the ionosphere for space, and then charges the ionosphere and that's what allows the different colors to appear, especially at night."
Isaac Polanski is a photographer and storm chaser who drove from Detroit to Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula to capture the northern lights Friday night.
"What was special about late Friday night into early Saturday morning ... is that the auroras were like pulsating. It's even hard to describe it," Polanski said. "They were moving very rapidly and pulsating really rapidly that you can't really tell in just a picture. When people say that the auroras are dancing, they really are dancing in the sky. They're moving back and forth in like waves, shimmering. It's truly beautiful, it can bring a tear to the eye, that is pure Michigan right there." ............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/23/michigan-northern-lights-upper-peninsula/4803108001/
March 23, 2021
Mar. 18—The board that oversees the city's troubled rail project expects to be told today that the cost has now ballooned to $12.449 billion, the projected shortfall stands at $3.577 billion and the completion date has been pushed back to March 2031.
There is no clear or easy plan on how to plug the $3.577 billion deficit as the price tag to build the 20-mile, 21-station project continues to rise.
"The cost has significantly increased just over the last several months, " Kika Bukoski, a member of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation's board of directors, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "We're doing our best to determine the cause and how to control it."
Bukoski supports Lori Kahikina, HART's interim CEO and executive director, who has had a rough week a little over two months into her new job. ..............(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/news/21215057/hi-honolulu-rail-projects-price-tag-hits-124b
Honolulu rail project's price tag hits $12.4B
Mar. 18—The board that oversees the city's troubled rail project expects to be told today that the cost has now ballooned to $12.449 billion, the projected shortfall stands at $3.577 billion and the completion date has been pushed back to March 2031.
There is no clear or easy plan on how to plug the $3.577 billion deficit as the price tag to build the 20-mile, 21-station project continues to rise.
"The cost has significantly increased just over the last several months, " Kika Bukoski, a member of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation's board of directors, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "We're doing our best to determine the cause and how to control it."
Bukoski supports Lori Kahikina, HART's interim CEO and executive director, who has had a rough week a little over two months into her new job. ..............(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/news/21215057/hi-honolulu-rail-projects-price-tag-hits-124b
March 23, 2021
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. [AP] – A man in his 20s died jumping from a hotel balcony when his parachute didn’t open, police said.
The man jumped from the 14th floor of the Sunrise Beach Resort in Panama City Beach on Sunday night, police reported.
Panama City Beach police were investigating the BASE jumping incident. They have not released many details. .............(more)
https://nbc-2.com/news/state/2021/03/22/florida-man-dies-jumping-from-hotel-after-parachute-fails/
Florida man dies jumping from hotel after parachute fails
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. [AP] – A man in his 20s died jumping from a hotel balcony when his parachute didn’t open, police said.
The man jumped from the 14th floor of the Sunrise Beach Resort in Panama City Beach on Sunday night, police reported.
Panama City Beach police were investigating the BASE jumping incident. They have not released many details. .............(more)
https://nbc-2.com/news/state/2021/03/22/florida-man-dies-jumping-from-hotel-after-parachute-fails/
March 23, 2021
(Detroit Free Press) A Marquette city park is closing a portion of its lone road for a month to help out some local residents: blue spotted salamanders.
The salamanders spend the cold, snowy, Upper Peninsula winters underground. Then every spring, almost in unison, they make their way to nearby pools, where they mate and lay eggs. But at Presque Isle Park, that means crossing Peter White Drive, the solitary roadway looping through the popular 323-acre, forested park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Superior.
Eli Bieri, a biology student at nearby Northern Michigan University, studied the blue spotted salamanders as part of his research, going out nights with student volunteers in the spring to count and tag the amphibians.
"We would see thousands and thousands of salamanders crossing the street in just one night," he said. "It was really amazing — until we see cars zip by and squish salamanders. That really troubled me — it kept me awake at night." ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/22/marquette-presque-isle-park-blue-spotted-salamanders/4769196001/
U.P. road closes for a month so salamanders can cross
(Detroit Free Press) A Marquette city park is closing a portion of its lone road for a month to help out some local residents: blue spotted salamanders.
The salamanders spend the cold, snowy, Upper Peninsula winters underground. Then every spring, almost in unison, they make their way to nearby pools, where they mate and lay eggs. But at Presque Isle Park, that means crossing Peter White Drive, the solitary roadway looping through the popular 323-acre, forested park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Superior.
Eli Bieri, a biology student at nearby Northern Michigan University, studied the blue spotted salamanders as part of his research, going out nights with student volunteers in the spring to count and tag the amphibians.
"We would see thousands and thousands of salamanders crossing the street in just one night," he said. "It was really amazing — until we see cars zip by and squish salamanders. That really troubled me — it kept me awake at night." ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/22/marquette-presque-isle-park-blue-spotted-salamanders/4769196001/
March 22, 2021
Evangelical theology, the poison of white male supremacy and the Georgia spa killings
No one who understands evangelical theology can be surprised if sexual "sins" are seen as punishable by death
By MICHAEL REA
MARCH 22, 2021 10:00AM
(Salon) In the evangelical parachurch organization I was involved with in college, there was a running joke that would come up often when the men in the group were discussing marriage ideals: "Murder? Maybe. Divorce? Never." None of us were genuinely cavalier about murder; and, to my knowledge, although some of us from this group have had marriages end in divorce, none have committed murder. Still. The idea that "sins" in the realm of sexual ethics might be on a par with murder, or might (like murder) merit a death penalty is, in my experience, far from unusual in conservative evangelical communities.
A beloved and influential minister I knew took the deeply biblical idea that God and the laws of God are good to the apparently "logical" conclusion that an ideal state would be governed by all of the moral laws documented in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. His views are not unusual; they are part and parcel of a strand of evangelical thought known under the label "theonomy." It is part of the view that the death penalty for certain sexual "sins" — most notably, sexual relations between members of the same sex — is appropriate. I don't know anybody, not even this minister, who would say that it makes sense for U.S. lawmakers actually to impose the death penalty for such acts. Still. The idea that death is not a grossly inappropriate punishment for sexual sin is uncomfortably close to mainstream.
....(snip)....
Conservative American evangelicalism is steeped in the male-supremacist ideology of complementarianism — a worldview that, among other things, asserts male privilege, valorizes male aggression and identifies males as the ones most fit for leadership and authoritative teaching. That this represents a corruption of Christian ideals — and that many of its recent excesses are a faithful reflection of what one might call the evangelical "cult of masculinity" — has been amply documented in Kristin Kobes DuMez's recent and bestselling "Jesus and John Wayne," and receives further treatment in Beth Allison Barr's forthcoming "The Making of Biblical Womanhood." Some of the ways in which these same ideals of masculinity, the ones that prop up contemporary male supremacist ideologies, are deeply intertwined with white supremacist ideology are documented, among other places, in Gail Bederman's "Manliness and Civilization." ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/03/22/evangelical-theology-the-poison-of-white-male-supremacy-and-the-georgia-spa-killings/
Evangelical theology, the poison of white male supremacy and the Georgia spa killings
Evangelical theology, the poison of white male supremacy and the Georgia spa killings
No one who understands evangelical theology can be surprised if sexual "sins" are seen as punishable by death
By MICHAEL REA
MARCH 22, 2021 10:00AM
(Salon) In the evangelical parachurch organization I was involved with in college, there was a running joke that would come up often when the men in the group were discussing marriage ideals: "Murder? Maybe. Divorce? Never." None of us were genuinely cavalier about murder; and, to my knowledge, although some of us from this group have had marriages end in divorce, none have committed murder. Still. The idea that "sins" in the realm of sexual ethics might be on a par with murder, or might (like murder) merit a death penalty is, in my experience, far from unusual in conservative evangelical communities.
A beloved and influential minister I knew took the deeply biblical idea that God and the laws of God are good to the apparently "logical" conclusion that an ideal state would be governed by all of the moral laws documented in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. His views are not unusual; they are part and parcel of a strand of evangelical thought known under the label "theonomy." It is part of the view that the death penalty for certain sexual "sins" — most notably, sexual relations between members of the same sex — is appropriate. I don't know anybody, not even this minister, who would say that it makes sense for U.S. lawmakers actually to impose the death penalty for such acts. Still. The idea that death is not a grossly inappropriate punishment for sexual sin is uncomfortably close to mainstream.
....(snip)....
Conservative American evangelicalism is steeped in the male-supremacist ideology of complementarianism — a worldview that, among other things, asserts male privilege, valorizes male aggression and identifies males as the ones most fit for leadership and authoritative teaching. That this represents a corruption of Christian ideals — and that many of its recent excesses are a faithful reflection of what one might call the evangelical "cult of masculinity" — has been amply documented in Kristin Kobes DuMez's recent and bestselling "Jesus and John Wayne," and receives further treatment in Beth Allison Barr's forthcoming "The Making of Biblical Womanhood." Some of the ways in which these same ideals of masculinity, the ones that prop up contemporary male supremacist ideologies, are deeply intertwined with white supremacist ideology are documented, among other places, in Gail Bederman's "Manliness and Civilization." ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/03/22/evangelical-theology-the-poison-of-white-male-supremacy-and-the-georgia-spa-killings/
March 22, 2021
(Detroit Free Press) A Marquette city park is closing a portion of its lone road for a month to help out some local residents: blue spotted salamanders.
The salamanders spend the cold, snowy, Upper Peninsula winters underground. Then every spring, almost in unison, they make their way to nearby pools, where they mate and lay eggs. But at Presque Isle Park, that means crossing Peter White Drive, the solitary roadway looping through the popular 323-acre, forested park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Superior.
Eli Bieri, a biology student at nearby Northern Michigan University, studied the blue spotted salamanders as part of his research, going out nights with student volunteers in the spring to count and tag the amphibians.
"We would see thousands and thousands of salamanders crossing the street in just one night," he said. "It was really amazing — until we see cars zip by and squish salamanders. That really troubled me — it kept me awake at night." ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/22/marquette-presque-isle-park-blue-spotted-salamanders/4769196001/
Michigan: U.P. road closes for a month so salamanders can cross
(Detroit Free Press) A Marquette city park is closing a portion of its lone road for a month to help out some local residents: blue spotted salamanders.
The salamanders spend the cold, snowy, Upper Peninsula winters underground. Then every spring, almost in unison, they make their way to nearby pools, where they mate and lay eggs. But at Presque Isle Park, that means crossing Peter White Drive, the solitary roadway looping through the popular 323-acre, forested park on a peninsula jutting into Lake Superior.
Eli Bieri, a biology student at nearby Northern Michigan University, studied the blue spotted salamanders as part of his research, going out nights with student volunteers in the spring to count and tag the amphibians.
"We would see thousands and thousands of salamanders crossing the street in just one night," he said. "It was really amazing — until we see cars zip by and squish salamanders. That really troubled me — it kept me awake at night." ..............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/22/marquette-presque-isle-park-blue-spotted-salamanders/4769196001/
March 21, 2021
(Grist) Though best known for her voting rights work, Stacey Abrams is a fierce climate advocate. The former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate has worked on environmental issues since her college days in the ’90s, when she interned with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and wrote her senior thesis on environmental justice. Before attending graduate school, she even worked for the then–brand new Office of Environmental Justice in the Clinton administration’s EPA.
At the time, Abrams told Grist, there was a sense in the national dialogue that tackling climate change was important, but not urgent. “I think we have now hit this inflection point where people recognize that climate action is both urgent and important,” she said.
When Abrams entered politics in 2006, she fought for policies that treated issues like income inequality, transportation, and environmental justice as interconnected. One of her biggest achievements as minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives was working with Republicans to pass the 2015 Transportation Funding Act, which created a permanent funding stream for infrastructure improvements and included the biggest cash injection into public transportation in state history.
These days, in addition to leading her voting rights organization Fair Fight, Abrams also runs the Southern Economic Advancement Project, or SEAP, which produces policy research to advance economic security, health care access, and environmental justice for Southerners. The nonprofit’s first report, released last year, outlines the South’s unique vulnerabilities to climate change and offers a policy roadmap to reduce emissions in the region. ..............(more)
https://grist.org/transportation/stacey-abrams-on-voting-rights-climate-transportation/
Stacey Abrams helped Georgia go blue. Now she wants it to go green.
(Grist) Though best known for her voting rights work, Stacey Abrams is a fierce climate advocate. The former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate has worked on environmental issues since her college days in the ’90s, when she interned with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and wrote her senior thesis on environmental justice. Before attending graduate school, she even worked for the then–brand new Office of Environmental Justice in the Clinton administration’s EPA.
At the time, Abrams told Grist, there was a sense in the national dialogue that tackling climate change was important, but not urgent. “I think we have now hit this inflection point where people recognize that climate action is both urgent and important,” she said.
When Abrams entered politics in 2006, she fought for policies that treated issues like income inequality, transportation, and environmental justice as interconnected. One of her biggest achievements as minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives was working with Republicans to pass the 2015 Transportation Funding Act, which created a permanent funding stream for infrastructure improvements and included the biggest cash injection into public transportation in state history.
These days, in addition to leading her voting rights organization Fair Fight, Abrams also runs the Southern Economic Advancement Project, or SEAP, which produces policy research to advance economic security, health care access, and environmental justice for Southerners. The nonprofit’s first report, released last year, outlines the South’s unique vulnerabilities to climate change and offers a policy roadmap to reduce emissions in the region. ..............(more)
https://grist.org/transportation/stacey-abrams-on-voting-rights-climate-transportation/
March 20, 2021
Mar. 18—In the next two years, Seattle will create incentives for public and private companies to electrify their vehicles, encourage more walking, biking and transit ridership and may propose fees on driving in certain parts of the city to decrease congestion.
By 2030, under the "Clean Transportation Electrification Blueprint," all ride-hailing trips would be electric and emissions free; almost one-third of deliveries would be made with vehicles that don't emit carbon; a "major area" of Seattle would be restricted to most cars; and charging stations would be reliable and readily available throughout the city.
These are Seattle's ambitious targets for an electrified transportation system that reduces carbon emissions and fossil-fuel dependency within the decade, envisioned under a set of goals released Wednesday.
The city hopes to achieve these targets through tools that may include introducing legislation at the city and state levels; advocating for existing, progressive climate proposals; engaging with community groups; asking voters to directly approve ballot initiatives; and developing partnerships with employers to advance initiatives and generate jobs, said Andrea Pratt, a climate and transportation policy adviser with the city. ................(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/alt-mobility/shared-mobility/news/21215029/wa-major-area-of-seattle-could-forbid-most-cars-under-citys-new-greener-transportation-plan
'Major area' of Seattle could forbid most cars under city's new, greener transportation plan
Mar. 18—In the next two years, Seattle will create incentives for public and private companies to electrify their vehicles, encourage more walking, biking and transit ridership and may propose fees on driving in certain parts of the city to decrease congestion.
By 2030, under the "Clean Transportation Electrification Blueprint," all ride-hailing trips would be electric and emissions free; almost one-third of deliveries would be made with vehicles that don't emit carbon; a "major area" of Seattle would be restricted to most cars; and charging stations would be reliable and readily available throughout the city.
These are Seattle's ambitious targets for an electrified transportation system that reduces carbon emissions and fossil-fuel dependency within the decade, envisioned under a set of goals released Wednesday.
The city hopes to achieve these targets through tools that may include introducing legislation at the city and state levels; advocating for existing, progressive climate proposals; engaging with community groups; asking voters to directly approve ballot initiatives; and developing partnerships with employers to advance initiatives and generate jobs, said Andrea Pratt, a climate and transportation policy adviser with the city. ................(more)
https://www.masstransitmag.com/alt-mobility/shared-mobility/news/21215029/wa-major-area-of-seattle-could-forbid-most-cars-under-citys-new-greener-transportation-plan
March 20, 2021
https://mycbs4.com/news/local/florida-man-in-motorized-scooter-exposes-himself-to-shoppers-at-walmart
CHIEFLAND, Fla. — An 80-year-old man has been arrested for flashing shoppers at Walmart while riding in a motorized scooter.
Several witnesses told police that 80-year-old Hoyt Neeley had a hole in pants and exposed himself to shoppers while touching himself, police say. Victims had reported similar behavior from a man matching Neeley's description at the same Walmart in the past, but his identity was never confirmed.
Neeley was arrested and transported to the Levy County Jail, where he was released on his own recognizance a few hours later.
Florida man in motorized scooter exposes himself to shoppers at Walmart, police say
https://mycbs4.com/news/local/florida-man-in-motorized-scooter-exposes-himself-to-shoppers-at-walmart
CHIEFLAND, Fla. — An 80-year-old man has been arrested for flashing shoppers at Walmart while riding in a motorized scooter.
Several witnesses told police that 80-year-old Hoyt Neeley had a hole in pants and exposed himself to shoppers while touching himself, police say. Victims had reported similar behavior from a man matching Neeley's description at the same Walmart in the past, but his identity was never confirmed.
Neeley was arrested and transported to the Levy County Jail, where he was released on his own recognizance a few hours later.
March 20, 2021
(Salon) Senate Democrats are pushing to reform the filibuster in response to years of partisan gridlock — but Republicans don't seem overly concerned about the prospect after centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., ruled out key changes that could help advance President Joe Biden's agenda.
Biden for the first time this week supported bringing back a "talking filibuster," which would require senators to continuously speak on the Senate floor to block a vote on a bill. Under current rules, Democrats face a seemingly insurmountable 60-vote threshold in their efforts to pass voting protections and other measures they've long campaigned on.
"I don't think that you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate back in the old days. You had to stand up and command the floor, you had to keep talking," Biden told ABC News, adding that Senate obstruction is getting to the point where "democracy is having a hard time functioning."
....(snip)....
There are a number of ways a "talking filibuster" could work in practice and it's unclear which path Senate Democrats will choose. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who has led the fight to reform the filibuster for over a decade, introduced legislation in 2011 that would require senators to actually hold the floor by talking, as in Frank Capra's famous film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," rather than simply threatening to do so. More recently, he has proposed requiring 41 opposing senators to remain on the floor to sustain a filibuster rather than putting the onus on the majority party to break the filibuster. Others have proposed lowering the threshold to break a filibuster, the same way the Senate lowered it from 67 to the current 60.
But Manchin shot down any lower thresholds or 41-senator requirements on Wednesday, telling CNN that he still supports requiring 60 votes to end debate. ............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/03/20/joe-manchins-filibuster-demands-might-end-up-making-republican-obstruction-even-worse/
Joe Manchin's filibuster demands might end up making Republican obstruction even worse
(Salon) Senate Democrats are pushing to reform the filibuster in response to years of partisan gridlock — but Republicans don't seem overly concerned about the prospect after centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., ruled out key changes that could help advance President Joe Biden's agenda.
Biden for the first time this week supported bringing back a "talking filibuster," which would require senators to continuously speak on the Senate floor to block a vote on a bill. Under current rules, Democrats face a seemingly insurmountable 60-vote threshold in their efforts to pass voting protections and other measures they've long campaigned on.
"I don't think that you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate back in the old days. You had to stand up and command the floor, you had to keep talking," Biden told ABC News, adding that Senate obstruction is getting to the point where "democracy is having a hard time functioning."
....(snip)....
There are a number of ways a "talking filibuster" could work in practice and it's unclear which path Senate Democrats will choose. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who has led the fight to reform the filibuster for over a decade, introduced legislation in 2011 that would require senators to actually hold the floor by talking, as in Frank Capra's famous film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," rather than simply threatening to do so. More recently, he has proposed requiring 41 opposing senators to remain on the floor to sustain a filibuster rather than putting the onus on the majority party to break the filibuster. Others have proposed lowering the threshold to break a filibuster, the same way the Senate lowered it from 67 to the current 60.
But Manchin shot down any lower thresholds or 41-senator requirements on Wednesday, telling CNN that he still supports requiring 60 votes to end debate. ............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2021/03/20/joe-manchins-filibuster-demands-might-end-up-making-republican-obstruction-even-worse/
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