12
   

Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

 
 
MontereyJack
 
  2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 12:00 pm
@Lash,
They are stabdard industrial chemucals a number of which are very good for making rhings but very b
ad for people near them. That is the problem.


Mame
 
  3  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 12:02 pm
@vikorr,
vikorr wrote:

If you want another perspective on it, Labels are what allows people to engage in racism, misoginism, homophobism etc. Because once you label, you can look for what fits your narative and ignore what doesn't, or you can jump the 'obvious' (label driven) conclusion. Labels are perhaps the main issue that undermines objectivity.

Again, labels are for those who have a simplistic view of human beings / lack comphrension of the complexity of human beings, and those labels (and the underlying reasons for using them) undermine objectivity


Couldn't agree more. It's behaviour that should be labelled, not people. She can be ditzy vs she's a ditz.

But you do realize you're spitting upwind when you try to talk to him, don't you? He is relentlessly single-minded in his attacks on and hate for 'evil progressives'. He's not worth your time and efforts because he's blind to any beliefs that aren't his. There are others here more worthy of your intelligence.
0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  4  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 12:09 pm
So much wrong here:

Quote:
(...)

Documents show that when current transportation safety rules were first created, a federal agency sided with industry lobbyists and limited regulations governing the transport of hazardous compounds. The decision effectively exempted many trains hauling dangerous materials — including the one in Ohio — from the “high-hazard” classification and its more stringent safety requirements.

Amid the lobbying blitz against stronger transportation safety regulations, Norfolk Southern paid executives millions and spent billions on stock buybacks — all while the company shed thousands of employees despite warnings that understaffing is intensifying safety risks. Norfolk Southern officials also fought off a shareholder initiative that could have required company executives to “assess, review, and mitigate risks of hazardous material transportation.”The sequence of events began a decade ago in the wake of a major uptick in derailments of trains carrying crude oil and hazardous chemicals, including a New Jersey train crash that leaked the same toxic chemical as in Ohio.

In response, the Obama administration in 2014 proposed improving safety regulations for trains carrying petroleum and other hazardous materials. However, after industry pressure, the final measure ended up narrowly focused on the transport of crude oil and exempting trains carrying many other combustible materials, including the chemical involved in this weekend’s disaster.

Then came 2017: After rail industry donors delivered more than $6 million to GOP campaigns, the Trump administration — backed by rail lobbyists and Senate Republicans — rescinded part of that rule aimed at making better braking systems widespread on the nation’s rails.

(...)

levernews

As long as a profitable economy depends on shipping dangerous highly toxic materials – whether by truck, rail, or barge – these disasters will continue to happen:

Quote:
As officials continue to try to lower the risks from a train derailment and fire in East Palestine, there are still questions as to what caused it.

In a press conference Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board shared what it believes to be the cause.

“We have obtained two videos which show preliminary indications of mechanical issues on one of the railcar axles,” said National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham.


This is known as a hot box, which is a term used for when a wheel bearing overheats on a railcar. In this case, the overheating led to a fire which then led to the derailment.

Former State Rep Bob Hagan retired in 2021 after 50 years in the railroad industry. He says there are hot box detectors that alert conductors to stop the train.

“We have, now, technology that can interpret any time a wheel is hot through that, and it would go via the radio where the engineer would be running the train, the conductor of course would be sitting next to them,” Hagan said.

Graham says the train did drive through one of these detectors shortly before the derailment.

“The crew did receive a wayside defect detector, shortly before the derailment indicating a mechanical issue. Then an emergency break application was initiated,” Graham said.

However, the train was not able to stop in time. In a viewer video, you can see a wheel on fire as the train was still moving, just moments before it derailed.

Hagan says in his 50 years on the job, he only got about 10 hot box alerts in which he had to stop a train. He believes cutbacks on railroad jobs are partially to blame for situations like we’re seeing now in East Palestine.

“When I was working on the railroad, you would have 100 cars which would be about one mile, they’ve doubled those up, sometimes tripled those up. So now you have trains that are three miles long that are impossible to look out the back window when you’re going around a curve to see if anything is on fire,” Hagan said.

During the presser, Graham said the train was carrying 141 load cars, nine empty cars and three locomotives, which are used to pull the train.

wkbn
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 12:14 pm
@MontereyJack,
Quote:
Oralloy's scurrilous malign fantasies about progressives got at least 4 threads locked.

To my mind, the most consequential failures of social media arise from protecting anonymity and the web-culture reluctance to permanently remove repeat offenders of sites' rules. Trolls and bots walk right in that open door and disinformation/misinformation along with incivility have become significant elements threatening democracy.

hightor
 
  2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 12:44 pm
@blatham,
I've been on several heavily-moderated forums and, having agreed to the terms of use, I've never resented the situation. But those are specialized forums which attract people with similar interests. Squabbling is allowed but as soon as it gets out of hand people are warned and usually cease. The wide open nature of A2K brings together people who, in many cases, are very dissimilar and would not like each other in real life. Expecting everyone to "get along" is unrealistic, but if "free speech" is seen as a value, disagreement and partisanship is the price we pay. One rule I'd like to see instituted would be a prohibition on consecutive posts. It's not "censorship" but it would prevent the forum flooding we've seen in this thread.
Lash
 
  -2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 12:54 pm
@MontereyJack,
https://able2know.org/topic/555216-581#post-7304123
This post reported the reasons for the catastrophe. ‘Lobbying’ (bribing) regulators.

They should be stripped of every penny they have and imprisoned.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 01:08 pm
@Lash,
Lash wrote:
I do support them, but the government isn’t going to help them.
That's why the "Rail unions seek greater federal oversight to make operations safer".

[quote"Lash"]The EPA says everything’s peachy keen.[/quote]According what I've read (and the above source) the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has oversight of the freight railroads’ safety operations.
Quote:
The Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over rail transportation of hazardous materials, including “storage incident to movement.”
(More @ Are hazardous chemicals present at rail yards subject to EPCRA 311/312?)
0 Replies
 
MontereyJack
 
  4  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 01:14 pm
@hightor,
So once again we see as per usual Lash blaming Biden rather than the real culprits thd bought-off republican lawmakers and malfeasance of railroad copany execs.
,,
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 01:52 pm
@hightor,
I understand this is a tricky problem not least being the cost of active moderation. First, I agree that a prohibition on consecutive posts is a good idea. And I have no problem with partisanship nor disagreement. As to free speech, of course, but I'm less that absolutist on this because of bad faith actors, the use of bots and the spread of disinformation - which will only become worse as AI becomes more sophisticated and available. Eg: "In the style of Martin Luther King, write a 100 word post that questions the intelligence and work ethic of black people".

A recent case is relevant. Twitter, as you know, had a verification system which noted media entities (mainly) had verified that they were who they said they were. Musk dropped that system and replaced it with another which provided the same notation but only for those who paid X dollars. But what Musk should have done is provide that same notification to anyone who verified their identity. If you are performing at a club (music, standup, etc) or giving a State of the Union address or at a dinner party and someone heckles or insults, that individual has to publicly own it. Not so with the anonymity of social media. This seems to me a driving force towards the degradation of our civil discourse. Obviously there are cases where anonymity is justified (mental health workers, whistleblowers, etc) but those are a minority of voices.
0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 02:05 pm
@MontereyJack,
Once again we see how industry and corporations have us all over a barrel. Some militant labor supporters – and right-wing phonies like Cruz, Hawley, and Rubio (delighting in the wedge issue) – were quick to attack Biden for preventing the strike, but the law was there because of the country's economic vulnerability. It's a bit disingenuous to blame Biden for inflation and also attack him for not allowing a crippling strike that would have almost surely plunged the country deeper into a recession.
0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 02:07 pm
@hightor,
I wrote:
– whether by truck, rail, or barge –

And add pipelines to the list.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  -2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 02:29 pm
@MontereyJack,
If Biden had stepped up, had a press conference, and taken any steps to DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, Lash would be far less critical.
hightor
 
  4  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 02:48 pm
@Lash,
I don't see that a Biden press conference would have done anything. And his administration did do something. It's outlined here and eight of the twelve unions supported it:

Quote:
Our reader Joel is a retired union worker. He shared his thoughts about the deal that the Biden administration and Congress imposed on the nation’s rail workers’ unions to avert a strike. Biden feared that a rail strike would cripple the economy and lead to widespread layoffs. Critics of the deal complained that rail workers get only one paid sick day a year (members of Congress get unlimited paid sick days). The critics are right to insist that rail workers get more paid sick days, but Joel points out that a national strike now would do incalculable damage to organized labor.

Joel writes
:

Union Leadership understands that one has to pick your fights carefully.

The cause of the workers’ grievances focuses on forced overtime and being on call far too often with little input in scheduling . This has been caused by efficiency measures that cut nearly 30 % of the workforce. If the gripe is the forced overtime than the answer is to bring back the workers whose dismissal caused the need for that overtime. Not that the employers would be happier with that than the paid sick time .

The contract negotiated between Biden, the Union Leadership, and the Railroads back in September did provide for sick days. It provided for scheduled doctors’ visits. It provided 1 additional paid holiday. It provided a 24 % wage increase retroactively, graduated from 2020 through 2024. It called for more flexibility in scheduling, and it froze health insurance premiums, I believe, beyond the contract period. Without those PAID sick days it was a damn good contract that the leadership of the 12 unions pushed their members to accept. 8 of the 12 did, Including the IBEW of which I am a retired member as a construction electrician.

But if grueling working conditions caused by forced overtime and standby status is your beef, why would being paid for the day off come into play. The answer is it does not. Most like the overtime or they would insist on bringing staffing levels back up to eliminate it . More workers equals less forced overtime for each and less grueling schedules . That proposal was not put on the table to my knowledge. And I understand why . The leadership would have their heads handed to them by the same members asking for paid sick time to alleviate the grueling schedules.

Been there seen that, in the 1970s in a time of high unemployment in NYC’s construction industry. Overtime was eliminated by my Union. Accomplished by forcing the worker to take a day off if he worked more than 3hrs OT in that week . That forced the contractor to either not work overtime. Creating work for more members by, if anything, forcing projects to take longer or hiring additional workers to be able to man the job during regular hours. The union’s noble object was to put the unemployed members to work. In the 1990s when unemployment returned that was dropped. The leadership decided that it was better to hear 10-15 % gripe about unemployment than the 85% bitch about taking the bread and butter out of their mouths.

So I suspect the dynamic is similar.

That said what are the down side risks for the economy, the Democrats, the workers, the employers and the Unions?

This is not a Cheerios factory closing down .This is not Air travel shutting down as in 1980 . A strike that lasts as little as a week will effect vast portions of the economy. It will cause a huge spike in prices and unemployment. A total no win for Biden and Democrats that will hang around their neck like an albatross. The workers may or may not get what they are getting now if Congress is forced to step in after Economic Armageddon sets in. The Employers: if I were the employer knowing how quickly Americans turn against other workers or any policy that calls for personnel sacrifice, I would stretch this out till Public Sentiment turned massively against the Unions and the Administration. The Republicans were so concerned about the working conditions that only 3 in the House and 6? in the Senate voted for the additional sick days . Both the Employers and the Republicans would salivate at the opportunity to drive Democrats from power, driving a stake in the heart of organized labor. And you can be sure the oligarchy who owns the media would be all over it.

Sitting in front of the Taliban 6 in the SCOTUS is a case that could bankrupt almost every Union that chose to strike. It would allow employers to sue for losses caused by the strike. For example: A supermarket chain could sue for lost produce , dairy ,meats … I don’t hold much hope out for them not supporting the employers in this case. A rail strike not only will give them cover to do so but will have a huge majority of the American Public supporting them.

A wave of strikes in 1947 allowed Republicans and Dixiecrats to gut the NLRA with Taft Hartley . That was when Unions were 31 or 32 % of the workforce. [emphasis mine]

After Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers, he set an example that led to an orgy of Union busting when Unions were 22% of the workforce. The American people overwhelmingly re-elected Reagan in a race against one of the most pro-labor Senators in the Country. Sending Democrats into the wilderness until they became under Clinton and Obama, Eisenhower Republicans at best. All but abandoning the New Deal and Great Society as well as relegating Labor to lip service, while passing Trade agreements that decimated American Labor worse than anything Reagan did.

A rail strike would make the media frenzy about Inflation, Crime and Afghanistan look like a practice run. Organized Labor would take the hit opening us up to the effective repeal of all union rights in the NLRA.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

In a comment yesterday, Joel amplified his argument on behalf of the Biden settlement, pointing out that Biden has no authority to issue an executive order.

Joel wrote:


An executive order to do what (either way)? This is private sector commerce. The President can do little other than ensure Public Dollars are used in certain ways. So he can sign an order calling for Project Labor Agreements in the spending of Federal Dollars, or Buy American provisions with those dollars . We see he can not even mandate life saving vaccines using OSHA .

Article 1 section 8 clause 3. So now envision a strike that lasts 3 weeks into the new Congress. A strike that puts up to 7 million out of work as supply chains snarl and prices soar . Now envision the contract that could be ordered by that Fascist Right Wing House of Congress. A strike would give them a Scott Walker moment they have dreamed of for decades. As the American people spurred on by daily media stories of the pain caused by strikers called for the Guillotines.

The new Congress, under the Commerce Clause the only Branch entitled to regulate private Commerce, would deliver those Guillotines.

If I were the Railroad CEOs and the Oligarchy, I would assure the baskets were in place to catch the heads .

dianeravitch
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  -2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 02:58 pm
I don’t buy that kind of defeated thinking. Decent Americans know a strike— and a general strike if necessary—will convince the fat cat bosses to treat American workers decently.

Solidarity for decency will work.

Making excuses for the situation and the status quo just helps the cruel elites at the top.

#NoWarButClassWar
#Strike

It’s happening all over the world. It needs to happen here.
Lash
 
  -2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 03:07 pm
This is an interview with a guy I’ve seen speak a few times, Ron Kaminkow.
I find his experiences to be horrifying and illustrative of why our train transportation system is incredibly unsafe.

https://www.solutionaryrail.org/ron_kaminkow
(Btw, as write this, I’ve just been told a train has derailed 1 hour from my home.)

Excerpt:

His bio:

Solutionary Perspectives" is a video podcast series hosted by Bill Moyer and Diane Wittner, examining the perspectives of Solutionary Rail allies and stakeholders.

Here's our conversation with Ron Kaminkow of Railroad Workers United (RWU) about the history of railroad unions, their fight against hazards such as crew fatigue and single-person crews, and their essential role in a just transition to a sustainable transportation and clean energy economy.

Ron Kaminkow is a contributor to the Solutionary Rail book and has advised our project since its beginnings. [An excerpt from the book is below.] Railroad Workers United (RWU) has been a key ally along the way, including as a co-producer of two conferences on the Future of Rail, workers, communities, safety and the environment in Richmond, CA and Olympia, WA in spring of 2015.

RWU-LOGO-.jpegRon has served as the general secretary of the cross-union group Railroad Workers United (RWU) since 2008. In 2005, he helped to found Railroad Operating Crafts United (ROCU), an RWU predecessor. Ron currently is working as an Amtrak engineer in Reno, NV where he is a member of BLET #51. A former brakeman/conductor/engineer for Conrail and later NS in Chicago (UTU #168) and Elkhart, IN (UTU#194). Prior to hiring out as a brakeman with Conrail in 1996, he served as President of AFSCME Local 634 in Madison, WI. Ron currently works as an Amtrak engineer in Reno, NV where he is a member of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen Division.

His story:

I’ve worked in the railroad industry nearly 20 years. I started in freight. Now I work in passenger service, which gives me a more tenable schedule. Demanding work schedules are typical on US railroads, but this problem is most acute in the freight industry. In fact, most freight railroaders don’t have any set schedule at all.

"Generally, freight trains have a two-person crew: an engineer and a conductor. Rail carriers are trying to eliminate one of these positions. Both get a call, usually two hours before scheduled on-duty time. You’re expected to be rested, sober, and ready to take that call, day or night, and report to the on-duty location within two hours, and be ready to work for up to 12 hours.

"The call could come at midnight tonight, then 3 pm the next day, 8 am after that. Back and forth across the railroad, never knowing when you’ll be called, when you’ll finish, how many hours you can rest, or when you’ll return home. You’re working and resting around the clock; it’s completely unscheduled. Throughout the 20th century they could work you to death and they did.

"In 2012, the Rail Safety Improvement Act mandated 10 hours of undisturbed rest between tours-of-duty, and three days off after working six. That’s actually a bit of an improvement, but chronic fatigue continues to be a central aspect of railroad life. If you work twelve hours and get ten off, day after day, it’s easy to get exhausted. Being fatigued is like being intoxicated. The railroad is dead set against being inebriated on the job, but when it comes to being fatigued, they show no concern. They won’t even acknowledge that fatigue is a hazard!

"Railroad companies want you to believe they’re interested in safety. When they say “all accidents and injuries are avoidable” they mean “if you get hurt, it’s your fault.” From the company’s perspective, accidents and injuries are the result of workers’ behaviors. Workers know they’re caused by hazards like fatigue, short staffing, task overload, excessively long and heavy trains, poor lighting, uneven walking surfaces, and faulty equipment. If we’re concerned about safety these hazards must be eliminated. The railroad won’t talk about hazards; they resort to words like “barriers” to avoid the terminology. The railroad shifts the blame for accidents and injuries from the carrier to the workforce, from hazards to behaviors. They blame worker behavior for every accident.

"Three railroaders were killed in Longview, Washington in 2011. They were riding in a van and the van was hit by a train; two were killed, one was permanently maimed. The van driver was also killed. This was a heavily used crossing with trains going through at 60 or 70 mph, seventy trains a day. It’s a private crossing owned by BNSF, and they left it completely unprotected: no bells, no lights, no gates, not even a whistle board so to locomotive engineers would blow the horn. The van driver was a contract worker. The railroad contracts out these jobs to save on wages, benefits, and liability. The rail company doesn’t own the van, the driver isn’t a railroad employee, so the railroad claims it’s not responsible. BNSF actually blamed the crew riding in the van!

"Many times I’ve felt at risk when over-worked to the point of exhaustion. In 1999 I was at the terminal in Chicago. I’d put myself “off-duty,” and was on my rest. I had ten hours coming to me and had planned my sleep accordingly. Late that night there was a derailment near Toledo, so the railroad declared “an emergency” which voided our union agreement about rest time. This should not have applied to workers already off-duty. But the phone rang at 2 AM. “You have me mistaken for someone else,” I said, “and you’ve now broken my rest.” I was ordered to report for duty, unfit or not. The conductor and I had a difficult trip out of Chicago, leaving before dawn. We were both very tired and found it almost impossible to stay awake, as a result of the company reneging on our agreement. It’s just one example among millions: a rail company talks safety, but routinely puts its workers in harm’s way."
0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  3  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 03:56 pm
@Lash,
Quote:
Decent Americans know a strike— and a general strike if necessary—will convince the fat cat bosses to treat American workers decently.

What country do you live in? This isn't the '50s, FFS. This isn't the EU. The number of "decent" USAmericans who would support an economically devastating strike by high-paid union workers – let alone a general strike (not even realistic) – would start off small and steadily decrease as the pain hit home. It's fine for you to spout this tired rhetoric here and use it to distinguish yourself as a flaming radical on an obscure opinion forum but it is nothing more than a rhetorical flourish with no practical effect.

Quote:
It’s happening all over the world.

No it isn't.

Quote:
It needs to happen here.

But it won't. It would be more productive to develop a base first, a way to peel off disaffected working people who have started to gravitate toward the right and show them what government can do. The infrastructure spending that will begin to kick in soon will be a good first step.

Repeal Taft-Hartley!

Lash
 
  -1  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 04:50 pm
@hightor,
You are not informed about the workers’ party, then.
0 Replies
 
Lash
 
  -1  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 04:59 pm
Hightor says protests aren’t happening.

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2023/02/14/millions-march-in-france-as-unions-threaten-broad-shutdown
Unions threaten broad shutdown

https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/farm-unions-provide-platform-to-radicals-478863
Farmer unions in India protesting

https://www.brusselstimes.com/353359/sinister-and-authoritarian-uk-government-to-restrict-right-to-protest
Britain has experienced nursesz’ strikes and other union strikes. The govt attempting to block their right to do so.

More coming



Lash
 
  0  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 05:15 pm
A few more protests.

https://www.cna.org/our-media/indepth/2023/01/understanding-the-recent-protests-in-latin-america
Latin America

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/anti-government-protests
Peru protests.

https://abc7.com/amp/iran-anti-government-protests-los-angeles-downtown-la/12801898/
Iran.

0 Replies
 
hightor
 
  2  
Reply Mon 13 Feb, 2023 08:16 pm
@Lash,
Quote:
Hightor says protests aren’t happening.

Not exactly. I just don't think that the wide distribution of civic disaffection is unusual, especially during a recession following a pandemic while dealing with the rapidly mounting effects of climate change. The examples you provide are not evidence of a coordinated international movement or a global political realignment of any significance. Poverty, fundamentalism, inflation, ethnic strife, broken contracts, austerity, political lies – why wouldn't people be protesting? Why aren't you?
 

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