Because It's Friday

Steel on steel is hard to work when the rails are wet.

Five Point Four Degrees Fahrenheit

Or three degrees Celsius.

This is what that much global warming will look like. As Ten Bears pointed out, this was done by that pinko magazine The Economist. {/sarc}

Laying These on Down, Here

Nothing Much Has Changed in the South

A judge ruled Wednesday that he’ll seat one Black juror and 11 whites to decide the trial of the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery, despite prosecutors’ objections that several Black potential jurors were cut because of their race.

Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley acknowledged that “intentional discrimination” by attorneys for the three white defendants charged in the death of the Black man appeared to have shaped jury selection. But he said Georgia law limited his authority to intervene.

It's the same old Southern shit. "Oh, there's a colorable reason for excluding that jury" is a time-won excuse. And it's pretty much bullshit, as has been proven over time. White man kills a Black man, load the jury with white people. Black man kills a white dude, pack the jury with white people.

Anyone really believe that this cake isn't baked?

Tab-Clearing

The speculation will be rampant on who is to blame for the outcome in the Virginia gubernatorial race. My take is as follows:

1. Terry McAuliffe.  He was running to be governor again.  He didn't make the case that he was better than another GOP political neophyte.
2. Joe Biden.  He's not exactly gotten people excited and he's not delivered on his big plans.
3. Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema.  For their personal reasons, which border on megalomania, they've been happy to help sink Biden's agenda.  With friends like the Gang of Two, who needs enemies?  During a war, both of them would be on the Bayonet the Enemy Wounded detail, because nobody would trust them with a loaded firearm.
4. Good old Lee Atwater Southern Strategy racism.  The whole crap about critical race theory is just that.  Critical race theory isn't being taught in elementary or high schools, but that doesn't stop Republicans from doing a Willie Horton on the Democrats.  
5. The economy.  There's often not much a sitting president can do about that, but that's the way it goes.

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I'm not paying much attention to the arguments today in NYSRPA v. Bruen. The fact of the matter is that most states are now "shall issue", with more and more not requiring permits, and the fear of blood running in the streets that has been bruited about since Florida began the modern concealed-carry movement 30+ years ago has not happened. It won't be that big of a stretch to require that the handful of states still operating on "may issue" or "no issue" change.

But I expect that the Supremes will issue an order saying that the named plaintiffs will get their permits and then have some mealy-mouthed dicta about how it applies to the rest of us. Splitting the baby is what they do.

Besides that, if the justices take a hard-right turn on this issue, they will give lots of oxygen to the argument that they really are partisan hacks and that they need to be curbed. Expect that they're well aware of that risk.

The Court is going to do what it can to preserve their own power. Which is probably why the Texan abortion law will be struck down. The Supreme Court has had the final say over the law for over 200 years, they aren't going to let some pissants in Texas change that, regardless of how much they might like the underlying subject of the law.
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For all the ink, both virtual and real, being spilled on the climate summit, my belief is that humanity has missed that bus. The Chinese and the Russians have been having hissy fits because other countries aren't being nice to them, so skipping the climate summit was a case of "so there, nyaahh". China thinks that they can pollute more because reasons.

Here's the thing: They live on the same planet that we do. China's not going to be immune from the effects of climate change because Chairman Xi issues some sort of directive on it, or bans discussion of it. Mother Nature will not be denied or be ignored. The world has been lackadaisical, to say the least, at addressing climate change. This is not a new problem by any stretch of the imagination.

But the nations of the world have ignored it. Some of it has been a race to the bottom, as nobody wants to be the first one to have to spend the money to transform their economies away from emitting carbon and methane emissions while nobody else does. Some of it has been wishful thinking (see Trump; Donald) in that those people think that if they can pretend it's not happening, then it won't happen.

In the 1980s, corrcective action would have been painful, sure, but compared to where we are now, it would have been relatively easy. Now it won't be. If we're going to mitigate the effects of climate change, then brisk and radical action is necessary on a global scale.

But it's not going to happen.

Here is my prediction: For as long as humanity exists, those generations who were in power between 1980 and 2030 will be reviled. Conservatives and capitalists, in particular, will be blamed for being those who did what they could to ensure that nobody did anything meaningful to avoid the catastrophe. The planet will warm, the biosphere is being decimated and whether or not we as a species can survive is arguable.

We are well and truly screwed. If you have small children or grandchildren, you can comfort yourselves when you go to sleep with the knowledge that their lives are going to be far shittier and harder than ours have been. Because we could have done something and we didn't.

Sleep tight.

Dropping These Off, Here

Fly the Fiendish Skies

American Airlines struggled to fix its operation Monday but still canceled more than 400 flights as disruptions caused by staffing shortages at the big carrier continued for a fourth straight day.
...
Flight attendants said many reached their maximum allowable hours for October during the final days of the month, leaving many flights without cabin crews. About two-thirds of American’s cancellations Sunday were due to a lack of flight attendants, with most of the rest due to pilot shortages, according to internal airline figures.

Back in the day, airlines had flight crews that were on reserve duty. They had to be available to run to the airport and go fly in case a crew member was ill or had timed out for the month. It sounds as though the airlines don't have as many reserve crews as they once did. (Probably because some MBA thought that they cost too much.)

Not that the flights are much fun once you get on them.

A federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted a man accused of punching a flight attendant in the face twice [on Christmas Eve] and trying to open the cockpit door during a flight from Hawaii to Washington state.
...
The Federal Aviation Administration fined Cajimat $52,500, and Delta Airlines banned him from traveling with the company.

Federal prosecutors say interference is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Assault on an aircraft is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

That's what needs to happen. These clowns who are acting the ass and punching people on flights have to start doing some time in stir and the sentences should be widely publicized.

But while they're waiting for a decision on whether or not to charge those fuckers, it may come to pass that they are not going to be able to fly, unless they own an airplane.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that a no-fly list for violent airplane passengers should be considered. Buttigieg told CNN that a federal list should be “on the table” as the government grapples with a persistent increase in unruly behavior on airliners. “There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of treatment of flight crews in the air or any of the essential workers—from bus drivers to air crews who get people to where they need to be,” he said.

My one suggestion is that, when a flight has to be diverted because of one of those assholes, that the airline sue the idiot involved for all of the costs of the diversion.

Let's Tell the Truth: Manchin is not a "Moderate"

He is somewhere between a conservative and a megalomaniac.

What goes around, comes around. After next year's elections, nobody in the Senate will give a fuck about Manchin. And there will be over forty senators who may make it their business to ensure that what Manchin wants, he doesn't get.

Flight Delays Coming to an Airport Near You, Thanks to the Cell Phone Companies

The FCC has ignored the fact that 5G cell towers are going to fuck up the ability of airlines to land in bad weather. Basically, 5G signals are close in frequency to those used by radar altimeters. Without radar altimeters, the point where the pilot has to decide to either proceed to land or abort, the "decision height" is determined by the barometric altimeter.

This means that when the clouds drop and things get a little foggy, the flights won't be able to land or take off. The FAA is going to require exactly that.

The attitude of the telcoms is "you guys can pay to replace or upgrade your altimeters because of our use of the radio spectrum." When you get down it it, that's the attitude of every other polluter out there. Companies are always willing to fuck over everyone else and, if those being fucked over complain, it's their problem to fix.[1]

If new radar altimeters will fix the problem, the cell phone companies should be made to pay for them.

Canada's taking a different approach, they're banning 5G towers near airports. Of course, the fuckers at the cell phone companies are screaming "but muh rights".
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[1] It's not just companies, as anyone who lives near an AirBnB party house can attest.

What Do 9/11/01 and 1/6/21 Have in Common?

The FBI dropped the ball. Both times, there was plenty of warning about what was going to happen and the FBI blew it off. Trump was ginning up his supporters to stage his self-putsch over three months before, but in the Jedgar Building the snoring drowned out everythng.

The "fusion centers" had been lighting u from coast-to-coast, but the FBI and the Capitol Police were asleep at the switch.

Oh, but afterwards, they got switched on and went after every idiot who even breathed about doing something. Just like after 9-11.

When the Trump Party tries again to steal the country, we can't depend on the FBI to be alert. Their track record suggests as much.