#Truck Driver Jobs United States

[acecityinc]

Truck Driver Jobs Milton | Apply Now at AceCity | +1 (905) 795-0076

Are you searching for truck driver jobs Milton? AceCity is currently hiring company drivers for city loads, as well as AZ Drivers for US and Canada-wide lanes. With the best pay packages in the industry, this is a great opportunity to take your career to the next level. Apply now at AceCity's website and start your journey to becoming a part of our team.

Apply Now to Grab the Opportunity 

Contact: +1 (905) 795-0076

Website: https://acecity.ca/driver-applications.php Address: 8106 Esquesing Line Milton, Ontario, CA L9T 9C8

[morbidology]

This photograph depicts the last moments of 14-year-old Regina Walters, before she was killed by serial killer, Robert Ben Rhoades, who preyed on young women in America in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Regina Walters was a teenager from Pasadena, Texas, who disappeared in February 1990. She had run away from home with her boyfriend, Ricky Lee Jones, hoping for a new life away from the challenges of adolescence. The two embarked on what they likely thought would be an adventure, hitchhiking their way across the country. Tragically, their journey was cut short when they encountered Robert Ben Rhoades, a long-haul trucker with a penchant for violence and cruelty.

Rhoades, who would later be dubbed "The Truck Stop Killer," was a predator who used his job as a truck driver to hunt for victims along the highways of the United States. He had outfitted his truck with a "torture chamber" in the sleeper cab, where he would imprison and torture his victims before ultimately murdering them. Regina and Ricky Lee Jones became two of the many victims in his gruesome spree.

Rhoades abducted the young couple in Texas, killing Ricky almost immediately and disposing of his body, which was later discovered in Mississippi. Regina, however, was not granted a quick death. Instead, she was subjected to Rhoades' depraved cruelty, held captive in his truck for an extended period.

The photograph of Regina Walters, taken by Rhoades, serves as a grim document of her final days. In it, her fear is palpable, and the bleak surroundings underscore the hopelessness of her situation. Rhoades had forced her into the black dress and heels, mocking her helplessness as he snapped the photo in an abandoned barn in Illinois, where he would eventually end her life.

Regina’s body was discovered in September 1990, months after her disappearance, near a desolate rural road in Illinois. Her remains were so decomposed that identification was initially difficult. However, the discovery of the photograph in Rhoades' possession, along with other evidence, eventually led to the confirmation of her identity.

Rhoades' capture in April 1990 came about by chance when an Arizona state trooper pulled him over for a routine traffic stop. The officer discovered a terrified and chained woman in the back of Rhoades' truck, leading to his arrest. Further investigation revealed the true extent of his crimes, and authorities linked him to multiple murders across several states.

Rhoades was eventually convicted of three murders, including that of Regina Walters, but it is widely believed that he was responsible for many more deaths. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

[she-is-ovarit]

Ashli Streeter said Stevens Transport did not hire her because it had no women to train her. Credit...Montinique Monroe for The New York Times

The trucking industry has complained for years that there is a dire shortage of workers willing to drive big rigs. But some women say many trucking companies have made it effectively impossible for them to get those jobs. Trucking companies often refuse to hire women if the businesses do not have women available to train them. And because fewer than 5 percent of truck drivers in the United States are women, there are few female trainers to go around. The same-sex training policies are common across the industry, truckers and legal experts say, even though a federal judge ruled in 2014 that it was unlawful for a trucking company to require that female job candidates be paired only with female trainers. Ashli Streeter of Killeen, Texas, said she had borrowed $7,000 to attend a truck driving school and earn her commercial driving license in hopes of landing a job that would pay more than the warehouse work she had done. But she said Stevens Transport, a Dallas-based company, had told her that she couldn’t be hired because the business had no women to train her. Other trucking companies turned her down for the same reason. “I got licensed, and I clearly could drive,” Ms. Streeter said. “It was disheartening.” Ms. Streeter and two other women filed a complaint against Stevens Transport with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Thursday, contending that the company’s same-sex training policy unfairly denied them driving jobs. The commission investigates allegations made against employers, and, if it determines a violation has occurred, it may bring its own lawsuit. The commission had brought the lawsuit that resulted in the 2014 federal court decision against similar policies at another trucking company, Prime. Critics of the industry said the persistence of same-sex training nearly a decade after that ruling, which did not set national legal precedent, was evidence that trucking companies had not done enough to hire women who could help solve their labor woes. “It’s frustrating to see that we have not evolved at all,” said Desiree Wood, a trucker who is the president and founder of Real Women in Trucking, a nonprofit. Ms. Wood’s group is joining the three women in their E.E.O.C. complaint against Stevens, which was filed by Peter Romer-Friedman, a labor lawyer in Washington, and the National Women’s Law Center. Companies that insist on using women to train female applicants generally do so because they want to avoid claims of sexual harassment. Trainers typically spend weeks alone with trainees on the road, where the two often have to sleep in the same cab. Critics of same-sex training acknowledge that sexual harassment is a problem, but they say trucking companies should address it with better vetting and anti-harassment programs. Employers could reduce the risk of harassment by paying for trainees to sleep in a hotel room, which some companies already do. Women made up 4.8 percent of the 1.37 million truck drivers in the United States in 2021, according to the most recent government statistics, up from 4 percent a decade earlier. Long-haul truck driving can be a demanding job. Drivers are away from home for days. Yet some women say they are attracted to it because it can pay around $50,000 a year, with experienced drivers making a lot more. Truck driving generally pays more than many other jobs that don’t require a college degree, including those in retail stores, warehouses or child care centers.

The infrastructure act of 2021 required the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to set up an advisory board to support women pursuing trucking careers and identify practices that keep women out of the profession. Robin Hutcheson, the administrator of the agency, said requiring same-sex training would appear to be a barrier to entry. “If that is happening, that would be something that we would want to take a look at,” she said in an interview. Ms. Streeter, a mother of three, said she had applied to Stevens because it hired people straight out of trucking school. She told Stevens representatives that she was willing to be trained by a man, but to no avail. Bruce Dean, general counsel at Stevens, denied the allegations in the suit. “The fundamental premise in the charge — that Stevens Transport Inc. only allows women trainers to train women trainees — is false,” he said in a statement, adding that the company “has had a cross-gender training program, where both men and women trainers train female trainees, for decades.” Some legal experts said that, although same-sex training was ruled unlawful in only one federal court, trucking companies would struggle to defend such policies before other judges. Under federal employment discrimination law, employers can seek special legal exemptions to treat women differently from men, but courts have granted them very rarely. “Basically, what the law says is that a company needs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Deborah Brake, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in employment and gender law. “They need to be able to give women equal employment opportunities and prevent and remedy sexual harassment.” Ms. Streeter said she had made meager earnings from infrequent truck driving gigs while hoping to get a position at Stevens. Later this month, she will become a driver in the trucking fleet of a large retailer. Kim Howard, one of the other women who filed the E.E.O.C. complaint against Stevens, said she was attracted to truck driving by the prospect of a steady wage after working for decades as an actor in New York. “It was very much a blow,” she said of being rejected because of the training policy. “I honestly don’t know how I financially made it through.” Ms. Howard, who is now employed at another trucking company, said she had worked briefly at a company where she was trained by two men who treated her well. “It’s quite possible for a woman to be trained by a man, and a man to be a professional about what the job is,” she said. Other female drivers said they had been mistreated by male trainers who could be relentlessly dismissive and sometimes refused to teach them important skills, like reversing a truck with a large trailer attached. Rowan Kannard, a truck driver from Wisconsin who is not involved in the complaint against Stevens, said a male trainer had spent little time training her on a run to California in 2019. At a truck stop where she felt unsafe, Ms. Kannard said, the trainer demanded that she leave the cab — and then locked her out. She asked to stop the training and was flown back to Wisconsin. Yet she said she did not believe that same-sex training for women was necessary. “Some of these men that are training, they should probably go through a course.” Click the article to read more. The author is Peter Eavis.

[batboyblog]

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued one of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, a rule designed to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032.

Cars and other forms of transportation are, together, the largest single source of carbon emissions generated by the United States, pollution that is driving climate change and that helped to make 2023 the hottest year in recorded history. Electric vehicles are central to President Biden’s strategy to confront global warming, which calls for cutting the nation’s emissions in half by the end of this decade. But E.V.s have also become politicized and are becoming an issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.

“Three years ago, I set an ambitious target: that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission,” said Mr. Biden in a statement. “Together, we’ve made historic progress. Hundreds of new expanded factories across the country. Hundreds of billions in private investment and thousands of good-paying union jobs. And we’ll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead.”

The rule increasingly limits the amount of pollution allowed from tailpipes over time so that, by 2032, more than half the new cars sold in the United States would most likely be zero-emissions vehicles in order for carmakers to meet the standards.

That would avoid more than seven billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years, according to the E.P.A. That’s the equivalent of removing a year’s worth of all the greenhouse gases generated by the United States, the country that has historically pumped the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The regulation would provide nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits to society, according to the agency, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits thanks to improved air quality.

The standards would also save the average American driver about $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance over the life of a vehicle, the E.P.A. estimated.

The auto emissions rule is the most impactful of four major climate regulations from the Biden administration, including restrictions on emissions from power plants, trucks and methane leaks from oil and gas wells. The rules come on top of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate law in the nation’s history, which is providing at least $370 billion in federal incentives to support clean energy, including tax credits to buyers of electric vehicles.

The policies are intended to help the country meet Mr. Biden’s target of cutting U.S. greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050. Climate scientists say all major economies must do the same if the world is to avert the most deadly and costly effects of climate change.

“These standards form what we see as a historic climate grand slam for the Biden administration,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, a political action committee that aims to advance environmental causes.

Mr. Bapna’s group has calculated that the four regulations, combined with the Inflation Reduction Act, would reduce the nation’s greenhouse emissions 42 percent by 2030, getting the country most of the way to Mr. Biden’s 2030 target.

Get in Losers we're going to save the planet.

[cirolik]

People always assume that if we provided all necessities for everyone then all trade workers would just stop working and honestly that couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe this comes from their own idea that they would stop working and that's something for they themselves to look into why they feel that way.

Back to my point tho: the majority of tradesworkers I k ow don't do it because they have to. They do it because they love it. I personally know retired carpenters who go out and do probono work just for fun and the satisfaction of helping someone else. Hell, I do probono work just for fun and the pleasure of helping someone else.

Ir seems like people cannot imagine a world where people work to provide for everyone instead of just 1 guy or some board of directors.

Billions of dollars go to war and genocide, billions go to just a few people, we produce more food right now than the whole world needs, there are more empty houses than homeless people in the United States. And you're telling me that there is nobody who would tackle the logistical problem of getting everyone everything they need? You think every truck driver would just Instantly stop driving? We get it. Your job sucks and you hate your life and you're so disconnected from the actual product of your labor that you can't see any impact it has on the world. Maybe it doesn't even have an impact at all. But that doesn't mean everyone is like that, stop thinking so individualistically and maybe try thinking about other people as well, people.

[taraross-1787]

Medal of Honor Monday: John Basilone

On this day in 1916, a hero is born. “Manila John” Basilone would go on to become the only Marine to earn both a Navy Cross and a Medal of Honor during World War II.

Yet the legendary Marine started off in the Army.

He was just 18 years old when he enlisted this first time. He served for three years before returning to civilian life and a job as a truck driver. His second stint in the military came in July 1940. This time, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp.

The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-john-basilone-moh

[imaustintopham]

Who Was Jimmy Hoffa?

James Riddle Hoffa (also known as Jimmy) was born on February 14th, 1913 and vanished without a trace on July 30th, 1975. He was an American Labor Union Leader who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1957 until 1971. Jimmy was notorious for his unapologetic ties with organized crime figures and for his hot headed short-temper.  the mystery surrounding his disappearance keeps his name alive and well today – almost 50 years later. There are many theories as to what really happened to him and who was involved, but we’ll most likely never know the entire truth. What we CAN figure out, however, is just exactly who Jimmy Hoffa was and the actions he took that subsequently lead to his downfall, and ultimately, his disappearance. 

Jimmy Hoffa was born on Valentine’s Day in the small town of Brazil, located in southern Indiana. His Father was man of German descent named John and his Mother was an Irish clothes-washer named Viola. John worked in the coalmines until his death in 1920 when Hoffa was only 7 years old, and his Mother moved him and his family to Detroit four years later in 1924. 

Jimmy would end up dropping out of school 7 years later at the age of 14 to focus on working full time to help support the family. He mostly worked manual labor jobs that paid poorly and were often very brutal conditions to work in. It wasn’t until 1932 (when Jimmy was 19) that he did something that earned him the respect and leadership position of his fellow workers – he organized his first strike against the Kroger chain they was working for. As a means to increase their wages, Hoffa and his workers refused to work in protest for higher wages. The protest paid off, and the Kroger chain increased the wages for its workers. 

After having a falling out with an abusive shift foreman, Hoffa quit the Kroger chain and was invited to become an organizer for the Local 299 Teamsters Union in Detroit. For the next two decades, Jimmy consolidated local union trucker groups into regional sections which then formed into a national body. The Union membership was steadily growing, increasing to 170,000 members by 1936 and then to 420,000 members just an additional 3 years later in 1939.  

Hoffa played a major role in helping the Teamsters organize truck drivers and warehousemen throughout the Midwest and eventually nationwide. He used quicky strikes, secondary boycotts and other means of leveraging union strength at one company, organize worker at another, and eventually win contract demands at other companies. This was a lengthy process that started in the 1930s but over the years helped bring the Teamsters to be one of the most powerful Unions in the United States. As the years progressed throughout World War 2, the Teamster membership grew exponentially and had grown to over a million members in the postwar boom by 1951. The main issue with this is that Hoffa made arrangements with gangsters from the Detroit area to help unify and expand trucking unions. 

In 1952, Jimmy was selected as national vice-president of the Teamsters by Dave Beck, the incoming president. Beck would go on to be indicted for fraud 5 years later in 1957, and Jimmy took over as the president of the Teamsters. With him as President, he was able to approve loans from the Teamsters Pension that helped provide large amounts of cash that helped mobsters and organized crime build their casinos and resorts on the Las Vegas strip.  

It was also in 1957 that Hoffa was arrested for trying to bribe an aide to the McClellan Commitee. Although he was acquitted, this was enough to trigger more investigations into Union Corruption by Robert Kennedy, who served as counsel for the McClellan Commitee. Around the same time, an AFL-CIO convention was being in held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where union members voted almost five-to-one to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 

With the odds beginning to stack against him, Jimmy Hoffa still managed to be re-elected as the Teamsters President in 1961. He worked to expand the union in the following years and achieved his biggest accomplishment as the Teamsters president in 1964 when he successfully brought 99% of over-the-road truckers in North America under a single National Master Freight agreement. His feeling of victory was short lived, however, as he was being thoroughly investigated throughout the majority of the late 50s and early 60s. 

Bobby Kennedy would end up putting together a Get Hoffa squad which worked around the clock to put Jimmy in prison, and in 1963, they were able to indict him for jury tampering in Nashville. He was convicted a year later in 1964 and sentenced to 8 years in prison. While out on bail during his appeal, he was convicted of improper use of the Teamsters pension fund (along with conspiracy) during a separate trail in Chicago and sentenced to an additional 5 years in prison. After spending the next three years trying to appeal his convictions to no avail, Jimmy Hoffa began serving his 13-year prison sentence on March 7th, 1967 at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. He resigned as the Teamsters President on June 19th, 1971 and Frank Fitzsimmons was elected as his replacement just a few weeks later on July 9th. 

Things got more complicated for Hoffa while he was incarcerated due to being housed with Anthony Provenzano (aka Tony Pro), who was a caporegime (or Mob captain) in the Genovese crime family. When Tony Pro approached Jimmy and asked about his problem with his pension, the two got into a physical altercation which in which Hoffa was quoted as yelling “It’s guys like you that got me in here in the first place!”. 

When Jimmy Hoffa was released from prison on December 23rd, 1971 thanks to a presidential pardon by Richard Nixon, the only thing on his mind was getting back into his leadership role of the Teamsters by any means necessary. This was met with heavy opposition from several members of the Mafia, including Tony Pro who had threatened to rip out Hoffa’s guts or kidnap his Grandchildren when he asked for Pros endorsement. Despite the many attempts and warnings to get Hoffa to back down, he stood his ground and was extremely relentless.  

Two other prominent Mafia figures, named Anthony Giacalone and his younger brother Vito, became involved and served as the mediators between Jimmy Hoffa and Tony Pro. The Giacalone brothers were able to eventually convince Hoffa to agree to a public meeting between Anthony Giacalone and Tony Provenzano. The meeting was to take place on July 30th, 1975 at 2pm at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

Hoffa left his home around 1:15pm on July 30th, 1975 and stopped at the office of his friend Louis Linteau to let him know where he was going. Louis had already gone to lunch so Hoffa waited around for a few minutes before leaving a message for him and heading towards the Machus Red Fox. He arrived around 2pm and waited patiently inside the restaurant before realizing he had been stood up.

Annoyed and frustrated, Jimmy went outside to the parking lot around 2:15pm and used a payphone to make call to his wife informing her that he would be headed home soon. After getting off the phone with his wife, Hoffa chatted with a few people in the parking lot before starting to make his way back to his car.

Around 2:30pm, he was last spotted getting into a car that was reportedly occupied by 3 men who proceeded to drive away down Telegraph Road.

From that day forward, Jimmy Hoffa was never seen again.

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Hi Reid!

I recently finished my undergrad, double major history/anthro w a minor (kinda, its complex lol) in animal studies. Im volunteering at a university zooarchaeo lab, since thats what I wanna do, but I'm searching for history/archival/archaeo work bc I Need To Be Paid and really struggling since I don't have a drivers license yet and can't leave where I'm at rn anyway bc of my lab volunteering which is every week (also im working on a GIS cert too so... cant leave city for like 8-10 day shifts lol). Its getting *quite* demoralizing im ngl, esp since I have an undiagnosed fatigue condition on top of it all so stuff like minimum wage customer service isnt suuuuper an option for me tbh.

Was wondering if you had any advice for the archaeologists coming out of undergrad?

If not, a strange history fact that might make me laugh will suffice /j (ya boy needs a laugh)

From,

Currently Sitting In A Tree, Listening to Unreal Earth by Hozier

Hi dirtling, I'm afraid that I don't have great news for you. My answer is going to be more or less the same as the one I gave in this post, which essentially boils down to: you need to go to grad school if you want to be employed in this field.

Working in pretty much any anthropology job is going to require at least a Master's degree, especially ones that require such specialized knowledge like zooarchaeology. Please go look at the post I linked above, because I outlined a good approach for figuring out what kind of qualifications you're going to need.

Also, pretty much every archaeology fieldwork job listing out there is going to require a valid driver's license (at least in the United States). They cannot legally require you to have your own car, but being able to drive a company/crew car (and sometimes a truck and/or a trailer) is a skill that Cultural Resource Management companies are going to be looking for, if you decide to go that route. Lab jobs might be different, but they're less common that fieldwork positions.

I'm sorry—I know this probably isn't the answer you wanted to hear, but somebody needs to give you a realistic assessment of the anthropology job market. Ideally this would've been mentioned as part of your undergraduate education, but better late than never.

There are options out there for you—I really believe that. If you choose not to go to grad school right now or ever, an anthropology degree can be parlayed into any number of jobs that involve understanding humans and culture: public relations, human resources, marketing/advertising, demographics analysis, etc. The GIS cert is also a very marketable skill. Here's a good webpage to look at.

As for a historical fun fact, check out this Smithsonian article about bread that was made with yeast and a recipe from ancient Egypt!

-Reid

[newstfionline]

Saturday, December 21, 2024

Government funding bill clears Congress and heads to President Biden, averting a shutdown (AP) Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. The House approved Johnson’s new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations. President Joe Biden was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.

In Utah, Jesus Models Are in Demand (WSJ) Utah is seeing a brisk business for models who have long hair and a beard who can passably pull off a Jesus look for family portraits and wedding announcements for couples that want to feature the religious figure directly in their pictures. Models charge about $100 to $200 an hour and, with the right look, can retain a reliable side hustle as the physical manifestation of Jesus in someone else’s pictures. Look-alikes find that people expect them to embody Jesus in more ways than the hair and beard. Some models said they feel like a celebrity when they don the robe—and get treated like one too. (One felt compelled to remind an onlooker he wasn’t the real Jesus.) Others said they’ve had their own semireligious experiences on the job.

More Tornadoes (NYT) In April of this year, there were over 400 tornadoes reported in the United States, the single highest count in 10 years. Through the month of November there were more than 1,762 tornadoes nationwide, the highest ever, significantly more than the 1,517 tornadoes in 2019 and vastly higher than the 886 tornadoes logged 10 years ago.

Stranded in Mexico: Trump’s Looming Crackdown Scares Migrants (Bloomberg) Outside a center for migrants in the city of Villahermosa in southern Mexico, dozens of Venezuelans, Colombians and others from all over the world were stuck with nowhere to go. Mexican authorities had apprehended them mostly in the north of the country and bused them here, far from their intended destination: the US border, a 17-hour drive away. The roundup is part of Mexico’s immigration crackdown, done partly at the behest of the US government. It’s helped drastically reduce crossings, but created significant hardship for those making the journey, who face difficulty finding a place to sleep, much less employment. With no documents allowing them to work legally in Mexico and nowhere to stay, they’re left impoverished and at risk of falling prey to criminals. Interviews in Mexico at shelters, makeshift camps and on the streets indicate many migrants plan to stay put for the time being as they seek appointments to ask for asylum, a system critics say is being abused by those seeking economic opportunity. Other migrants say that Trump’s vows to carry out the largest deportation in US history mean they no longer want to go, and are considering whether to stay in Mexico instead of returning home.

A driver rammed a German Christmas market, killing 2 (NYT) A driver plowed a vehicle into a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in central Germany this evening, killing at least two people and injuring more than 65 others, 14 of them severely. The driver, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen, was arrested, the authorities said. They said they believe it was a deliberate attack. More than 1,000 Christmas markets pop up every year in Germany, and have been targeted by terrorists before. In 2016, an extremist rammed a truck into a crowd in Berlin, killing 13. Since then, the police have secured many of the markets with temporary barriers.

As Russia threats loom, Finland’s people are learning to shoot back (AP) Unsettled by Russia’s expansionism and emboldened by its recent accession to NATO, Finland is rallying to strengthen its national self-defense beyond its traditional military capabilities. The popularity of weapons training in the Nordic country has soared in recent months. Few places tell the story of the rise in Finnish affinity for self-defense more than shooting ranges that are riding a boom of interest. The Vantaa Reservist Association, which operates a gun range in a warehouse once used to make sex toys, in Kerava, north of Helsinki, has more than doubled its membership over the last two years and now counts over 2,100 members. “They have something in the back of their head ringing that this is the skill I have to learn now,” said association chairman Antti Kettunen, standing among bullet-riddled targets. “I think that the wind has changed, now it’s blowing from the east.”

Ukraine’s mineral wealth (Washington Post) Ukraine is not only the breadbasket of Europe; it is also a mineral superpower, with some of the largest reserves of 117 of the 120 most widely used minerals in the world. Of the 50 strategic minerals identified by the United States as critical to its economy and national security, many of which are quite rare yet key to certain high-value applications, Ukraine supplies 22. Ukraine possesses the largest reserves of uranium in Europe; the second-largest reserves of iron ore, titanium and manganese; and the third-largest reserves of shale gas—as well as large deposits of lithium, graphite and rare earth metals, according to a 2022 report by the Canadian geopolitical risk-analysis firm SecDev. These minerals are essential to the production of vital goods ranging from airplanes, cellphones and electric vehicles to steel and nuclear power. These natural resources are valued at an estimated $26 trillion, according to SecDev.

Japanese city to name and shame people who break rubbish rules (BBC) Starting in March, Fukushima plans to introduce stricter garbage disposal rules—an initiative which includes using the government website to publish the names of the individuals and businesses that violate them. Last year, the city reported over 9,000 cases of non-compliant garbage. Rubbish is taken very seriously in Japan, where since the 1990s the government has made it a national goal to shift away from landfills, reduce waste and promote recycling. Local authorities have introduced their own initiatives in line with this goal. Residents in Kamikatsu, a Japanese town with an ambitious zero-waste goal, proudly sort their rubbish into 45 categories. Kagoshima prefecture has made it mandatory for residents to write their names on their rubbish bags. And last year the city of Chiba piloted an AI assistant to help residents dispose their rubbish properly.

Syria not a threat to world, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa tells BBC (BBC) The de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said the country is exhausted by war and is not a threat to its neighbours or to the West. In an interview with the BBC in Damascus, he called for sanctions on Syria to be lifted. “Now, after all that has happened, sanctions must be lifted because they were targeted at the old regime. The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way,” he said. He said HTS should be de-listed as a terrorist organisation. Sharaa said HTS was not a terrorist group. They did not target civilians or civilian areas, he said. In fact, they considered themselves to be victim of the crimes of the Assad regime. He denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan. Sharaa said the countries were very different, with different traditions. Afghanistan was a tribal society. In Syria, he said, there was a different mindset. He said he believed in education for women. “We’ve had universities in Idlib for more than eight years,” Sharaa said, referring to Syria’s north-western province that has been held by rebels since 2011. “I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%.”

For thousands of Jews, Israel still doesn’t feel safe after the Oct. 7 attacks. So they’re leaving (AP) Leaving Israel is easier, Shira Z. Carmel thinks, by saying it’s just for now. For the Israeli-born singer and an increasing number of relatively well-off Israelis, the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack shattered any sense of safety and along with it, Israel’s founding promise: to be the world’s safe haven for Jews. Ten days later, a pregnant Carmel, her husband and their toddler boarded a flight to Australia, which was looking for people in her husband’s profession. And they spun the explanation to friends and family as something other than permanent—“relocation” is the easier-to-swallow term—acutely aware of the familial strain and the shame that have shadowed Israelis who leave for good. “We told them we’re going to get out of the line of fire for awhile,” Carmel said more than a year later from her family’s new home in Melbourne. “It wasn’t a hard decision. But it was very hard to talk to them about it. It was even hard to admit it to ourselves.” Thousands of Israelis have left the country since Oct. 7, 2023. Migration experts say it’s possible people leaving Israel will surpass the number of immigrants to Israel in 2024, according to Sergio DellaPergola, a statistician and professor emeritus of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

‘We Just Want Mercy’: A Gaza Hospital Pleads for a Respite (NYT) The last functioning intensive care unit at a hospital in northern Gaza was severely damaged by Israeli shelling this week, according to medical staff at the facility who have been pleading for a respite from violence to bring in essential supplies. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which includes the intensive care unit, in the city of Jabaliya, said on Thursday that it had been hit by an Israeli tank shell that caused a fire and inflicted serious damage. The unit was the only intensive care facility still providing services for both children and adults in northern Gaza, he said. “We urgently need repairs related to water and oxygen supplies, but we have not received anything so far,” Dr. Abu Safiya said in a statement. “We appeal to the international community to open a humanitarian corridor and allow the entry of medical supplies, equipment and ambulances so that we can provide safe medical services.” “We have been addressing the world for over 75 days, and yet nothing is being done,” Dr. Abu Safiya said in an earlier statement, issued on Wednesday. “Yesterday was one of the darkest, most difficult and bloodiest days at Kamal Adwan Hospital,” he added. “The tank shells hit the intensive care unit, igniting a fire that forced us to evacuate the patients quickly.”

France’s military is being ousted from more African countries (AP) It’s been a tumultuous month for France and its relationship with former colonies in Africa, as its influence on the continent faces the biggest challenge in decades. Two of its closest allies struck a double blow. The government of Chad, considered France’s most stable and loyal partner in Africa, announced on its Independence Day it was ending defense cooperation to redefine its sovereignty. And in an interview published hours later by Le Monde, Senegal’s new president said it was “obvious” that soon French soldiers wouldn’t be on Senegalese soil. The decisions by Senegal and Chad “are part of the wider structural transformation in the region’s engagement with France, in which Paris political and military influence continues to diminish,” according to Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. They follow the ousting of French forces in recent years by military-led governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, where local sentiments turned sour following years of French forces fighting alongside local ones in the face of stubborn Islamic extremist insurgencies.

Note: News coverage over the holidays may be sporadic as the editor takes time off. Wishing you a good break and relaxing, inspiring times of your own.

[erwinrer]

Mongolia's prostitution zones, where women trade sex for fuel in sub-zero temperatures

It’s nearing midnight in an unadorned bar on a backstreet off Sükhbaatar Square, and 31 year-old Minjuur rubs her hands to shake off the cold.

Speaking in a whisper, she explains her average evening. Men pick her up from the park by the Central Tower office building, then they go to a nearby hotel for an hour of sex.

Minjuur has a small scar on her right upper cheek that is visible despite her makeup, and she counts on her fingers the number of friends who have died in her line of work. It is minus 20 degrees Celsius tonight, and Minjuur has a chest-rattling cough. Vodka helps her ward off the chill. She says the winter is hard.

Mongolia’s capital presents grim working conditions for the city’s prostitutes. Ulaanbaatar is often overlooked as a centre of prostitution, but – despite increased activity in border areas – it remains the hub for the country’s sex work and sexual trafficking. But as the city’s prostitutes experience violence and social stigma, some are navigating riskier working environments beyond the city.  

“Most of these women working in this field are very poor and need cash,” said outreach officer Erdenesuren. “They are driven by necessity.” Erdenesuren – who like many Mongolians only uses one name – works for the NGO Perfect Ladies (In Mongolian: Tugs Busguichuud), which promotes prevention of sexually transmitted infections among prostitutes and helps them leave sex work.

Prostitution and human trafficking are illegal within Mongolia but the sex trade is growing. While some women solicit openly on the streets of the capital, others work discreetly out of karaoke bars, saunas and massage parlours. Mongolia is a source, transit and destination country for sex labour.

According to a 2014 report from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, between 3,000 and 5,000 women and children are trafficked each year from rural communities into cities and beyond the nation’s borders.

Unicef estimates that roughly 19,000 sex workers are active in Mongolia, however, some field workers cite much higher numbers. The state’s population sits at around 3 million. While male prostitutes do exist, they are a small minority.

The rapid growth of the country’s mining sector over the last decade has created a workforce of isolated men, thereby spurring on the industry. Skirting the border with China, the southern Gobi Desert – where mineral mining projects run by Rio Tinto and other global operations are located – has become a new focal point for prostitution.

“In Ulaanbaatar there is violence (against prostitutes) – from families and from working people – but inside the mining area everyone comes for the same goal: making money, and they don’t judge one another,” said Sorbonne University Ethnology Professor Gaëlle Lacaze.

Amidst lines of trucks parked against a barren expanse of sand, a converted bus-turned-café is the only option for some tea and conversation. Enkhtaivan Baatar is biding time at Tavan Tolgoi – a coal deposit in Ömnögovi province within the Gobi Desert.

The 39-year-old truck driver in a black hoodie is waiting for his coal shipment so he can drive his cargo across the border. He has been doing this job for three years, and has seen many prostitutes. Cars filled with women pull up off the highway and, when the price is settled, join the drivers in the cab of their truck.

Baatar also describes a sign close to the border that advertises women for sale and lists a number to call if interested. “Wherever there is money and men they come,” he said.

Mongolia’s mining boom started in the early 2000s and mining now accounts for around 20 per cent of Mongolia’s gross domestic product. The growth in mining has created a spike in internal migration to mining areas – most notably Ömnögovi.

The country has a 0.03 per cent general prevalence rate of HIV among adults and, for Mongolians infected, treatment is free. As of 2017 data, however, only 32 per cent of people living with HIV knew their status.

“Mining industries are notorious hotspots for HIV infection,” said UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Eamonn Murphy. “There is money around, and people are away from their homes and cultural, social and other inhibitors, and so they take risks that they wouldn’t normally.”

The coal route from the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit to the Chinese border is synonymous with sex work fuelled by the mining industry. Despite being from the capital, 32 year-old Uka is intimately familiar with this stretch of transit. Uka has been earning a living as a sex worker in Mongolia for almost a decade.

The petite 32-year-old entered the industry to earn money after her daughter was born. She began in Ulaanbaatar, but now works along the border. Her clients –  truck drivers – sometimes don’t have cash, so they pay her in fuel. Uka would rather work for diesel then return to the conditions facing prostitutes in Ulaanbaatar.  

According to Uka, prostitutes in the capital face frequent violence from pimps and customers, but Ömnögovi is better. In contrast to the stigma felt in the city, she describes the border area as accepting and open. Uka explains that four or five women travel to the border area with a driver and rent a ger (a traditional round felted tent) to stay.

They need to travel in groups – it is dangerous to be a woman alone with so many truck drivers. Uka reaches up and adjusts an earring as she lists her rate: 50,000 MNT per act, with an hourly rate of 80,000 MNT and a daily rate of 200,000 MNT (roughly £14, £23 and £58). If the drivers don’t have cash, they pay in fuel: 40 or 50 litres of diesel for one act, 100 litres for one hour. The women then resell the fuel when they can for money.

Yet when Uka is soliciting in south Gobi, she is working without resources. “It’s risky there,” said Erdenesuren, of working near the Chinese border. “The ones who like to take risks go there.”

In Ulaanbaatar, there are STI awareness programmes and condom distribution, social workers like Erdenesuren try to check up on the women they know, but in the Gobi there is no such infrastructure. Uka explains how the women she works with buy contraceptives off one another when they run out, as there is no store to purchase more. Often customers don’t want to use them anyway.

Ulaanbaatar may offer prostitutes more contact with NGOs providing outreach, but it is a harsh environment for women working in the trade. Previously, Uka sold sex in a sauna in the capital where she alleges police and customers beat her. She claims ultra-nationalists target sex workers on the street and shave their heads to disgrace them. The Ulaanbaatar police did not respond to requests for comment on this story.Violence, drugs and sexual diseases | How de-regulating prostitution is failing women worldwide

In Mongolia, sex work is an occupation shrouded in shame and silence. Erdenesuren cites the cycle of humiliation and fear that keeps women from reaching out to the police and family: “It is better to have your bones broken, then your name dishonoured.”

Uka explains that people don’t openly talk about prostitution and why women end up in sex work. She left school after eighth grade and has few options to earn an income. “For some women, it is easier to open their legs than go to the factory,” said Lacaze, “because they have no diplomas. She is alone with children, she has to eat.”

Uka admits that her daughter has no idea how her mum earns an income. Her family believes she is a cook. In Ulaanbaatar, Minjuur tells her family that her nights are spent serving in a bar. Both women support multiple dependents with their earnings. “Nobody knows what they are doing, but everybody knows,” said Lacaze. “Everybody is complicit.”

The Nordic style house in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar stands out against its surroundings, and its inhabitants are also trying to adapt. This is a safe house run by the Swedish anti-trafficking NGO Talita. It is privately funded with only four beds available.

Gaamaa occupies one of those beds. The tiny 22-year-old, in sweatpants and a t-shirt, looks like a university student relaxing between classes. She speaks softly. “If girls refuse to have sex, they abuse them and if they can’t change a girl, they sell her,” she said. “They call the trafficker and sell.”

Gaamaa has been bought and sold many times. In 2016, fleeing an abusive home, Gaamaa ended up at a sauna near the central railway station. There, in rooms with barred windows, she worked with four other women for a rate of 40,000 MNT for one hour and 60,000 MNT for two hours (roughly £11 and £17). Their madam supplied food and clothes, but never the money earned. The brothel sold her to another sauna when they found she was trying to escape, but not before she alleges being beaten as punishment and then raped by her attackers.

“Society think they [prostitutes] are garbage,” said Talita Mongolia founder and director Tserenchunt Byamba-Ochir. “There is no funding to protect victims, not one coin to protect victims of trafficking from the Mongolia government – they say we don’t have money for that.”

In 2017, the federal government cut funding to seven regional offices of Mongolia’s sole NGO designed to help sex workers – Perfect Ladies. Only three branches remain. Five women’s shelters operate, but four offer short term stays only. Talita’s Ulaanbaatar branch (the fifth shelter) is the sole long-term rehabilitation center for former prostitutes, and it is at capacity.Sex trafficking hot spot | Switzerland's disastrous prostitution laws

Eventually, Gaamaa was trafficked into China where she worked in multiple cities before a client helped her escape to the Mongolian embassy in Beijing. She arrived at Talita in late 2017.

Gaamaa used to shake as she talked about her experiences and she had nightmares. Now she wraps her arms around a stuffed bear and explains with a smile that she is looking into culinary college. But Gaamaa is also anxious about living in the capital, afraid that someone from her old life will recognise her.

Byamba-Ochir also has concerns. With many of the cases where Talita assists, the traffickers are not charged. Women feel intimidated and change their stories in court, or get pulled back into the trade. Gaamaa believes if she hadn’t been trafficked to China, she would still be a prostitute.

“Here in Mongolia they are not kind,” said Gaamaa. It’s really hard to escape here – it’s everywhere in Ulaanbaatar. It is very hard to escape Mongolia.” 

[lolitastories]

GHOST

Chapter 15

Every minute and every second was filled with questions and concerns. My grandmother said it was not a good thing to get stuck in my head while making a decision. It's best to make it at the moment because then I start to think about everything that could go wrong and then I get afraid or worried and I back off. That is what is currently happening right now. Since I got on the plane and all the way to Mexico. While in Mexico helping my grandmother pack and now on the plane about to land in the United states. “After many flights, don’t tell me you are afraid of flying?” I narrow my eyes at my grandmother who is calmly sitting beside me. I took in my senses and my body does feel warm. I bet if I touch my forehead there will be some sweat. My leg always shakes but it's like it wants to go on its own. “Wanna hold my hand?” She speaks again

“No” I shake my head, turning it to see the plane preparing for landing. I could hear a slight chuckle but didn’t turn to give it any attention.

“I feel like there is more bothering you than you let on. And I know it's not being jobless because I have not seen such happiness before you left for Argentina” I wanted to blurt out everything. Tell her what was going on but it was a decision I could only make and knowing her, that was exactly what she would tell me.

“You know I hate change and this brings major changes in my life. It's not the uncerntanity but the stress of making the wrong decision from now on” My eyes are still focused on the window as the plane descends on the ground.

“You have always had a good compass guiding you. Whether it's job wise or personal things, I know everything will turn out okay” I nod this time turning to look at her with a smile. Our attention turned when the flight attendant announced we were going to begin our exit. I took a big inhale and calmed down more. As we got out of the plane and walked out the airport I felt more content.

“Where is he?” My grandmother spoke a little irritated. I only smiled while checking my phone for the time.

“There he is,” I pointed at a known vehicle that was pulling up just in time before my grandmother got more annoyed. That is certainly where my mother gets her patience. I took hold of her suitcase as she climbed right into the passenger seat of the truck.

“I’ve missed you too grandma” I laugh helping him put our suitcase in the back. “Prima!” He finally turns and wraps me into a hug.

“Primo” I say really missing the only person my age I grew up with in this family. “How's Holly?”

“Pregnant as ever” He sighs. “I know we planned not to have kids but you took it too seriously, when's your turn?” I rolled my eyes shaking my head

“Once I see how well you adapt I will start thinking about it” He laughs, throwing his head back.

“I wouldn’t relay that on me” Our laughs were quite down. “So glad you are here. I know you are keeping this a secret from the rest but don’t you want to see them atleast for a while?” I looked over to my grandmother who was currently rolling down her window.

“I have been on a plane for hours! Can we get moving?” We both respond with a yes. I look back and nod my head.

“I think it would do me good seeing and interacting with some else for a while” I laugh walking over to get in the car

“For a while?” He raises his eyebrow.

“Do you mind?” I ask before getting into the car.

“Not at all” He smiled, pulling the driver doors open and getting in. “So? Abuela how have you been?” As we are still a way out from our small town they stay talking for a bit.

“Great.” I have not seen my grandmother respond so harshly. Before I could settle the situation down my phone started ringing.

“Hello?” I answer unknowingly because I still have an unmarked phone. There were only a couple people who could contact me and none of whom I wanted to talk to right now.

“Hey” My brows lowered while my heart beat started to rise. I look over to the front and how quiet it got, great. “We haven’t spoken since you left, I wanted to know how things were going” I had lost all my knowledge of the english or spanish language. “Is everything okay?” I could hear on the other side of the phone a chair scraping the floor along with chatter but soon the slam of a door closing. I was punching myself in the gut right now. I mean I have been trained to carry out a negotiation or any type of interrogation and I can’t even make up some words.

“We will be home soon” I look up to my cousin's words. I look past the windshield and notice us turning to a dirt road.

“Who was that?” I didn’t know why my whole body was failing right now. I don’t know if it was the Javier part. Not knowing if to let my family know about him now or the part where I was nervous and on the verge of throwing up because this is the first time in years I would see them again. I shake my head, focusing on what was happening right now.

“Javi” My voice was low and until I spoke I didn't notice my hands shaking. I looked down at my feet trying to focus on the sound of his voice.

“Mi amor?” I took a deep breath knowing I wasn’t prepared to speak freely infront of my family.

“Yeah?” I cleared my throat trying to sound better.

“On your way to see your family?” I unconsciously nod my head. But like always, Javier seemed to know me best and knew what my silence meant. “It will all be okay. They never stopped loving you and would never question your decision because I know without knowing them that they are beyond proud of you” The sting in my nose began as tears welled up my eyes. My mind wanted to scream to him. I couldn't do it but he was one step ahead of me. “You owe them no explanation, don’t be afraid to tell them how much you missed them. Trust me, once you are with them all the nerves and stress would look silly to you” I nod my head again with a small and quiet laugh I couldn’t help but let out. “There’s my girl” My eyes closed as my smile grew bigger. I need to remind myself to go to a priest as soon as I can. Having such a word turn all my senses into wanting, is not normal. My voice was held up now for totally different reasons now. “Feel better?” I could sense a grin on his face. One of those grins I dream about most nights.

“Much” I straighten up in my seat as the truck does another turn.

“Okay” I hear a sigh from his end. “Now are you going to tell me who that male voice belonged to?”

“No” I bet my voice sounded giddy at this point. I couldn’t help it every time I spoke to Javier.

“Do I have to make another trip?”

“You wouldn’t know where to start” I whisper, noticing somehow the ambiance getting quieter.

“I just have to follow one thing”

“Yeah? What is that?”

“My heart” My head falls down as one hand stops what would be an obnoxious laugh to be let out.

“I am going to hang up now” I tease obviously without a single inch of truth in that statement.

“Yeah” He chuckles. “I will reel it in a bit” Another pause. I started to wonder where he was and what he was doing. In Colombia it is early morning so he probably just got to work. “How long?”

“I don’t know” I speak a little louder not wanting to attract the wrong question from my grandmother later on.

“That's okay. Just tell me one thing?” My hand was clammy against my skin as I tried to calm myself down. “I will see you again?” A slight weight had been removed. I don’t think I could take another worry on my shoulder.

“Yes” I hear an okay on the other side.

“Give me a second” I hear him say before speaking to another person who entered the room he was in. “What?” I smile remembering how he was at work. He would walk around with such a stare on his face. Full of thought or just hating the world but I could never tell with him before. “Tell her I will be right there” Her? Maybe Noonan? I try to hear a little closer.

“Messina has asked me to escort you to her office sir” Messina? Not Noonan? Who was this lady? Must be important if she has an office.

“Give me 5 minutes” Javier grunts getting back on the phone. “Mi-” He gets cut off by a slam of the door.

“I am not going to put up with your shit too Peña! I ask for your presence and you will come as soon as I say jump” It probably should make me a little angry hearing someone talk to him like that without reason. But then again I know how Peña acts and am sure he has given her reasons to talk to him like that. A small smile appears on my face. “You should be out there with Murphy and I explaining the sting operation on capturing President Bush!” Bush? Now that made me laugh.

“We are here Prima” I looked up not noticing when the truck came to a full stop as my grandmother was already out the truck.

“I will be right out” He nods, closing the door behind him. I go back to hearing the conversation and it hasn’t turned pretty.

“We don’t need supervision! We were fine without it”

“Really? Remind me how many times you have let Escober escape through your hand?” Bam. “How many times have you made the wrong decisions? Cost us men and made you and your team look like fools?” That was definitely not needed. Who was this lady?. I could hear footsteps getting closer and it was confirmed when I could literally feel like she was on the phone with me. “In my office in 1 minute or I will have you on a plane straight to Miami since something else seems to be more important than your job” I was going to hell for laughing at someone being screamed at. The door slammed and I heard his voice.

“I apologise” I was about to ask when he continued talking. “Such a bitch” He sighs. I hear the door open and his footsteps heavier and heavier. “She comes in here and tries to act like such a-”

“Javi” His words stop. “I need you to be calm and sensisable although that would be foreign for you” I hear a small laugh on the other side. “I will call you later so you can tell me all about who that lady is” It sounded like I was spitting posion.

“Jealous?” I laugh

“Not even a little.” I changed the topic real quick knowing he was probably standing outside her door right now. “Be nice. I will call you in an hour”

“Okay. Pray for me mi angel” I laugh again opening the door.

“I always do.” With that we hang up. I close the truck door and I am welcomed with the scene of something I have very much missed. The beige walls. The brown clay roofing. The wind shaped entrances and columns. The sound of the wind running throught the familiar trees. The animals and birds singing, it's like I never left. I walk around the side and notice no one in there through the big windows. I walk around back and from a distance I freeze. My grandmother is surrounded by her family. My family. It stayed the same, like I never left.

Chapter 16

[ts1989fanatic]

Taylor Swift is sharing the wealth from her wildly successful Eras Tour ... in the form of six-figure bonuses for the truckers hauling her equipment all around the country!

Our Taylor sources tell us she gifted each trucker working her tour $100,000 ... handing out the bonus checks before her Saturday show in Santa Clara, CA.

We're told the folks getting the money are production truck drivers who have been hauling Taylor's equipment for The Eras Tour ... there are around 50 truckers for her U.S. tour, which means Taylor just shelled out about $5 million.

Our sources say the checks were an "end of the tour" bonus ... remember, the United States leg is coming to a close next week when Taylor plays a series of gigs at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood before moving down to Mexico.

Taylor's nationwide tour has raked in $1 billion in sales ... and when the dust settles, she could end up having the highest-grossing tour of all time!!!

Truck drivers aren't the only ones getting a slice of the pie in the form of bonuses.

Our production sources tell us Taylor also bonused band members, dancers, lighting and sound technicians, caterers, and others. It's unclear how much the non-truckers received, but we're told it was a "very generous amount."

Bottom line ... it pays to work for Taylor.

ts1989fanatic I wanna job with Taylor Swift (TBT what swiftie wouldn’t)

[mightyflamethrower]

Concerns Mount Over Exploding Electric Vehicles

1 day ago

Guest Blogger

65 Comments

From the DAILY SCEPTIC

BY CHRIS MORRISON

Safety concerns around electric vehicles continue to mount with Australian fire and rescue services in New South Wales stating they might have to make a “tactical disengagement” of a trapped car accident victim if the battery is likely to explode. Australian journalist Jo Nova covered the story, which was first mentioned in the EV blog The Driven, and commented: “They say the first responders need more training as if this can be solved with a certificate, but the dark truth is they’re talking about training the firemen and the truck drivers to recognise when they have to abandon the rescue.”

The Driven, a widely-read blog that seems highly sympathetic to a rollout of EVs, was reporting on recent testimony given to the NSW Government’s Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Batteries Inquiry. The writer suggested that first responders did not have adequate training to deal with electric vehicle collisions, and in the most serious cases, crews could be forced to abandon rescues. One particular area of concern seemed to revolve around the need to extract a trapped casualty quickly after a crash by dragging the person out in a “very undesirable manner”. Fires are a grave risk in any vehicle accident, but they can be quickly brought under control in an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.

Worries about the potential dangers inherent in EVs is likely to grow as numbers on the roads continue to rise. EV battery explosions can occur very quickly, triggering the release of highly toxic gases. When they roar into thermal overdrive, they create very high temperatures and are very difficult to extinguish. The explosion can occur after almost any collision, or be due to a fault in the initial manufacture. The fire often takes hours to control and it can reignited days after it was thought to be out. With Net Zero fanatics desperate to drive ICE cars off the road in short order, EVs are the only mass private transport solution offered. Many of the issues, including safety, that make them an inferior product compared to petrol-powered combustion cars are often ignored.

Just what can be involved in putting out a fire in an EV was dramatically detailed in a recent press release from the Wakefield Fire Dept in Massachusetts. It was called out to deal with a burning Tesla on a snowy Interstate 95, and reported:

Wakefield Engine 1 and Ladder 1 initiated suppression operations, applying copious amounts of water onto the vehicle. Multiple surrounding mutual aid communities responded as well to support firefighting operations and to create a water shuttle to bring water continually to the scene. Engines from Melrose, Stoneham, Reading, Lynnfield as well as a Middleton water tanker assisted. Firefighters had three 1¾-inch hand lines as well as a ‘blitz gun’ in operation to cool the battery compartment… Lynnfield crews established a continuous 4-inch supply line from Vernon Street up to the highway. The fire was declared under control and fully extinguished after about two and a half hours… The vehicle was removed from the scene after consulting with the Hazmat Unit… The crews did a great job, especially in the middle of storm conditions – on a busy highway.

There is little doubt that EV fires are on the rise. In the U.K., CE Safety runs Freedom of Information checks on local fire brigades and its latest survey shows an alarming rise in conflagrations. In Greater London in the 2017-2022 period, there were a reported 507 battery fires from a number of EV types, but CE Safety found a “gigantic” 219 conflagrations in 2022-23 alone. Lancashire was said to rank second with 15 EV battery fires, but this was 10 more in a single year than recorded in the five years between 2017-2022. Overall “it was concerning” to discover that the number of electric battery fires during 2022-2023 was higher in most areas than the data showed over five years from 2017 to 2022. During that year, 14 buses suffered battery fires.

There was a substantial increase in the number of e-bikes catching fire, with CE Safety noting that lithium is highly flammable and reactive. “Over-charging presents a massive risk to households with lithium-powered vehicles,” the safety organisation observed.

Concern is also rising over the transportation of EVs on car ferries. Recently, Havila Kystruten, which operates a fleet of car ferries around the coast of Norway, has banned the transportation of electric, hybrid and hydrogen vehicles. According to a report in the Maritime Executive, it is the latest step by the shipping industry, “which has become acutely aware of the increasing danger of transporting EV and other alternate fuel vessels”.

Havila’s Managing Director Bent Martini said a risk analysis had shown a fire at sea in a fossil fuel vehicle could be handled by on-board systems. “A possible fire in electric, hybrid or hydrogen cars will require external rescue efforts and could put people on board and the ships at risk,” he said. That of course is the nightmare scenario. If fire breaks out on a ferry making a 20-mile crossing in good weather, the chances of all passengers and crew surviving are good. Less good, perhaps, if fire was to break out and fill the ship with toxic smoke in the middle of a stormy November night while crossing the Bay of Biscay. Chances of survival would be diminished if the high temperatures caused nearby EVs to explode.

Mercifully, we are less and less likely to see such accidents. The list of disadvantages of EVs is lengthening by the day. Environmental concerns about the manufacture and mining of raw materials have been raised, while ‘range anxiety’ is common among drivers. EVs are more expensive than ICE cars, while knackered batteries mean that second-hand values are very poor. For those who would see the back of them, the graph below might provide some comfort.

This shows the recent decline in the share price of the American car hire giant Hertz. Back in 2021, the company pushed ahead with huge purchases of Teslas. In January it dumped 20,000 of them, and last month pushed another 10,000 onto a sagging second-hand market. Out in the real world – the world where people create wealth by providing what other people actually want – fewer drivers seemed willing to hire them. The share price tells its own sorry story. Meanwhile, EV sales across Europe tend to be driven by unsustainable tax breaks, while the cars are mainly popular with wealthy people as a second or third city runabout. An enforced political adoption of EVs is likely to destroy vast swathes of the European car industry, unable to compete with cheap Chinese imports.

If the aim is to take away personal transport for the masses, EVs are an excellent idea. Whether that will ultimately play well at the ballot box is another matter.

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.

I would not be able to sleep at night knowing I had a ticking time bomb parked in my garage.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Bill Day

* * * *

Wow! You can’t make this up!

March 21, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

It’s hard to believe that the dysfunction in the Republican Party could get worse, but Wednesday saw new heights (or depths?) of chaos in the GOP. You are undoubtedly interested in hearing how the GOP impeachment hearing directed at Joe Biden produced damning evidence—against Donald Trump! But first, let’s look away from the GOP car crash to view the important work that President Biden is doing on behalf of the American people. (You’re welcome!)

As Trump and the GOP were entering panic mode at warp speed, President Biden was delivering on his promises to the American people. The Biden administration began the day by announcing a rule that would accelerate the production of hybrid and all-electric cars. See NYTimes, Biden Administration Announces Rule Aimed at Expanding Electric Vehicles. (This article is accessible to all.)

Per the NYTimes,

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued one of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, a rule designed to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032. Nearly three years in the making, the new tailpipe pollution limits from the Environmental Protection Agency would transform the American automobile market.

Accelerating the transition to hybrid and electric cars will deliver enormous economic and health benefits to the American people. Again, per the Times, the new regulation will

avoid more than seven billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years . . . That’s the equivalent of removing a year’s worth of all the greenhouse gases generated by the United States . . . . The regulation would provide nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits to society [including] $13 billion of annual public health benefits thanks to improved air quality. The standards would also save the average American driver about $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance over the life of a vehicle, the E.P.A. estimated.

As the new “tailpipe emissions” standard was being announced, President Biden announced a massive investment in an Intel chip fabricating facility in Arizona. See Politico, Biden boosts Intel with massive CHIPS payout in swing state Arizona.

Per Politico, Biden said

“We will enable advanced semiconductor manufacturing to make a comeback here in America after 40 years. It’s going to transform the semiconductor industry and create entirely new ecosystems.” Biden said Intel would also invest “over $100 billion” across the country, in facilities in Arizona, Oregon, Ohio and New Mexico. Those investments should put the U.S. on track to produce roughly 20 percent of the world’s leading-edge chips by 2030, Biden said. He added that Intel’s new projects are expected to create 30,000 jobs nationwide in construction and manufacturing.

Beyond creating tens of thousands of jobs in the high-tech sector, the CHIPS and Science Act protects US national security. Recall that during the COVID pandemic, supply chain issues disrupted the flow of semiconductors into the US, hampering the manufacture and sale of hundreds of consumer products that rely on microprocessors. Manufacturing the chips in the US serves as a hedge against that future risk.

For most presidents, the Intel announcement and new tailpipe admissions standard would be the year's crowning achievements. For Joe Biden, those announcements were known as “Wednesday.” Biden gets stuff done. Tell a friend.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[moviesessionwithmyhubby]

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant -Explained

It has been a while since my husband and I have had a night in to watch a movie together, so I decided to pick out the film for us to watch today; the title of the film is "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant."

The Covenant tells a story that unravels an incredible tale of survival, sacrifice, and redemption. It is a story about the strong bonds and deals made through blood, which can be described as a male melodrama.

The setting of the movie takes place in Afghanistan, where the United States is stationed, amidst the conflict with the Taliban. Rather than exploring the distinctions between who is right and who is wrong, military and political tactics, the director, Richie, emphasized the human morality during times of war. The film speaks to the immense sacrifice and the enduring pain that result from the war. The initial hour of this movie was an excellent war-action film, giving an immersive view of the dangers hanging over all involved. During the opening scene, John Kinley (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and his team, who specialize in recovering explosives or weapons of mass destruction, are conducting roadside checks. During an attempt to get an Afghan truck driver to open his payload, the translator and two other soldiers were killed when a bomb was detonated. At this point, Ahmed (played by Dar Salim) makes his entrance and takes the vacant role. At first, it crossed my mind that Ahmed's motivation for accepting this job was purely financial gain and the opportunity to obtain a visa to the United States. But then, I came to realization that Ahmed shared the same goal as John Kinley in destroying the Taliban, as his son had been murdered by the group. The most crucial part of the movie is the last hour, which showcases two rescue missions carried out by Ahmed and John. This section of the film showcases superb cinematography, a spot-on score, and an exceptional music (I humbly pay respect to Christopher Benstead for his creation of Score - a magnificent and exquisite musical composition). The casting is also stellar, with outstanding performances by everyone, especially Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim. John's team was attacked by the Taliban, resulting in the deaths of almost all members except for John and Ahmed. John was severely injured and unable to walk or remain conscious. Despite the fact that it would have been easier for Ahmed to flee alone, he chose to stay with John. Ahmed made the decision to remain and carried John all the way back to the US troop. He had to avoid taking the trail or a car since it would be too conspicuous, and the Taliban could easily trace their whereabouts. Ahmed had no other option but to place John on a wooden trailer and pull it along a rough road, with only the bare essentials of food and drink. Ahmed did not abandon John even though they were in a dangerous situation and were being threatened by the Taliban. He made a commitment to John, saying "We are going home." My initial impression of The Covenant was that it was just a film about American exceptionalism; yet, with further inspection, I realized that it was much more than that. In spite of the chaos of war, Ahmed stood by John's side, refusing to abandon him in his time of need. However, despite his contributions and heroic actions in saving John's life, Ahmed found himself without any assistance from the U.S Army, he has become the top of the Taliban's list of targets, causing his family to run away in order to avoid danger. Upon Kinley's return to the US, he is unable to recall anyone or anything from his in Afghanistan except for a few fleeting memories and the recollection of Ahmed reassuring him, "We are going home." He began to experience feverish dreams that were chaotic and disorienting. The images were captured from unusual angles and the frames were alternately sped up and slowed down, creating a chaotic and overwhelming sensory experience.   “You think he blessed you. Well, he cursed me. I am the man who gets no rest.” - John Kinley This is the moment when John conversed with his wife. He does not believe that his survival is a result of God's blessings. He believes that he is under God's curse for abandoning the person who rescued him. Kinley gradually had a vague recollection of his experiences while suffering an injury. He can now recall how Ahmed put his own life in danger to rescue his. Then, in an effort to return his debt of gratitude, Kinley then started to make numerous attempts to obtain visas for Ahmed and his family in order to repay his debt of gratitude. But despite many phone calls from Kinley, the document and procedure were like pain in the ass. This shows how apathetic the system is toward Afghan translators. “I'm lying in this bed. I kiss my children before they go to school. And he's hiding in a hole somewhere. A hole he can never get out. The hole we put him in. And that wasn't the deal. The deal that we offered his family sanctuary. Then we tied a noose around his neck, and kicked the stool out from under him. I should be in this hole.” - John Kinley This situation is unjust and morally wrong. I have been thinking about the title of the movie, "The Covenant". What is the reason for the covenant? "The Covenant", which may also be translated as "the commitment" or "the promise." This commitment might be considered the unspoken connection that exists between Ahmed and Kinley. And for me, the word "commitment" holds great weight. It signifies more than just a written agreement signed with ink on paper; it represents a promise and an agreement that is sealed with blood. Ahmed fulfilled his obligation to this commitment; he made all effort possible and put his life in danger to save Kinley. But once he was saved, Kinley took a plane back to his house in the middle of the war, and Ahmed was left to face the consequences of the heroic deed he had performed by saving Kinley's life.  “That is not how this debt works. It demands a result, not an appeasement.” - John Kinley So, it is now Kinley's responsibility to save Ahmed and the rest of his family. Kinley makes his way back to Afghanistan with his wife providing moral support. He must fulfill his obligation under the covenant he signed with Ahmed, not through appeasement, but by returning and fulfilling his part of the covenant. “30 August 2021, the U.S Armed Force completed their departure from Afghanistan, marking the end of the 20-year long campaign. One month later, the Taliban seized back complete control. More than 300 interpreters and their families have been murdered for collaborating with the U.S military. Thousands more are still in hiding.” - Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant Through the narrative of Ahmed and Kinley, Ritchie describes a world in which the United States of America promises one thing, only to use up its ally and then cast them aside when they are no longer of any use to the United States. It's a tale that began unfolding around two years ago, when the United States withdrew its forces from Afghanistan, leaving behind a large number of collaborators who were at the mercy of the Taliban. In the bigger picture of director Ritchie, Kinley symbolizes the United States, Ahmed represents Afghanistan. Afghanistan fulfilled its obligations under the covenant, but in exchange it has gotten nothing but desertion from the United States. Did the war in Afghanistan come to an end when Kinley returned to the United States from Afghanistan? No, it has never stopped. Have people in Afghanistan like Ahmed, who collaborated with the U.S. army, been able to return to a peaceful and normal life? No, they have never had the opportunity.  “That is not how this debt works. It demands a result, not an appeasement.” - John Kinley For me, the movie serves as an emotional tribute to the selfless acts of Afghan interpreters and their family, emphasizing the significance of fulfilling the commitments made to them by the United States government. The film also effectively portrays the harsh reality of war, highlighting the brutality that both sides endure. There are no clear winners in such conflicts. And I personally believe that there is a hidden message conveyed throughout the film. If you noticed well, Afghans and even Taliban soldiers use an Arabic saying to greet each other. "As-Salaam-Alaikum". This is a common Islamic greeting that translates to “Peace be with you brother”. Peace. Peace. Peace. Throughout a movie about war, this greeting is frequently repeated that conveys the collective hope for peace and happiness among individuals of diverse races, countries, and religions.

[jaycstewart]

How Uber Makes Money Explained Simply

Uber earns money in many ways. Its main income is from ride fares. When people book rides, Uber takes a part. Drivers keep most of the fare, but Uber gets a cut. This cut is called a service fee. The fee changes based on the city and time.

Surge pricing also helps Uber make more. When demand is high, prices go up. This happens during rush hours, bad weather, or big events. Riders pay more, and Uber takes a higher cut. A friend once paid double for a short trip due to a rainstorm. This pricing helps Uber earn extra in busy times.

Uber also offers ride options. There are cheap and premium choices. UberX is low-cost, while Uber Black is costly. More costly rides mean higher service fees for Uber. A business user may prefer Uber Black for comfort. That means Uber makes more from them.

Uber Eats and Other Services

Uber does more than rides. It runs Uber Eats, a food delivery app. When people order food, Uber gets a fee. Restaurants pay a share to Uber. My cousin runs a pizza shop. He said Uber Eats takes about 30% of each order. This adds to Uber’s income.

Uber also has delivery options. Uber Freight helps move goods. Small businesses use it to send products. This service is like trucking but faster and digital. Drivers get paid, but Uber takes a fee.

Memberships help Uber earn steady cash. Uber Pass gives discounts for a monthly fee. Users save on rides and food orders. Many people buy this to avoid high fares. It is a smart way for Uber to earn every month.

Ads and Partnerships

Uber sells ad space in its app. Restaurants and stores pay to show ads. This helps them get more customers. Riders see these ads while booking rides. A local burger place near me used Uber ads. They saw more orders within a week.

Uber also partners with companies. Some businesses pay Uber to provide rides to workers. This helps both the company and Uber. A friend’s job offers free Uber rides at night. His employer pays Uber a fixed amount. This brings in more money for Uber.

Uber keeps finding new ways to earn. It grows beyond just rides. With more services, it makes more money. This helps Uber stay a big name in transport.

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