#fire damage restoration in johnson city

[floormasterus]

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[newstfionline]

Monday, September 20, 2021

Biden’s Entire Presidential Agenda Rests on Expansive Spending Bill (NYT) Biden’s entire presidential agenda is riding on the reconciliation bill being crafted in Congress right now. No president has ever packed as much of his agenda, domestic and foreign, into a single piece of legislation as President Biden has with the $3.5 trillion spending plan that Democrats are trying to wrangle through Congress over the next six weeks,” Tankersley writes. “It is almost as if President Franklin D. Roosevelt had stuffed his entire New Deal into one piece of legislation, or if President Lyndon B. Johnson had done the same with his Great Society, instead of pushing through individual components over several years. If he succeeds, Biden’s far-reaching attempt could result in a presidency-defining victory that delivers on a decades-long campaign by Democrats to expand the federal government to combat social problems and spread the gains of a growing economy to workers. If he fails, he could end up with nothing. As Democrats are increasingly seeing, the sheer weight of Mr. Biden’s progressive push could cause it to collapse, leaving the party empty-handed, with the president’s top priorities going unfulfilled. … If Mr. Biden’s party cannot find consensus on those issues and the bill dies, the president will have little immediate recourse to advance almost any of those priorities.

Child care in the US is a ‘broken market,’ Treasury report finds (Yahoo Money) A Treasury Department report this week characterized the U.S. child care system as “unworkable” as Democrats push reform that experts say is an “overdue and critical investment.” The average American family with at least one child under age 5 uses 13% of their income to pay for child care, according to the report, nearly double the 7% that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers affordable. Additionally, less than 20% of the children eligible for the Child Care and Development Fund—a federal assistance program for low-income families—are getting that funding. “Child care is a textbook example of a broken market, and one reason is that when you pay for it, the price does not account for all the positive things it confers on our society,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement on Wednesday. “When we underinvest in child care, we forgo that; we give up a happier, healthier, more prosperous labor force in the future.”

Inspiration4 Astronauts Beam After Return From 3-Day Journey to Orbit (NYT) After three days in orbit, a physician assistant, a community college professor, a data engineer and the billionaire who financed their trip arrived back on Earth, heralding a new era of space travel with a dramatic and successful Saturday evening landing in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission, which is known as Inspiration4, splashed down off the Florida coast at 7:06 p.m. on Saturday. Each step of the return unfolded on schedule, without problems. Within an hour, all four crew members walked out of the spacecraft, one at a time, each beaming with excitement as recovery crews assisted them.

Haitians on Texas border undeterred by US plan to expel them (AP) Haitian migrants seeking to escape poverty, hunger and a feeling of hopelessness in their home country said they will not be deterred by U.S. plans to speedily send them back, as thousands of people remained encamped on the Texas border Saturday after crossing from Mexico. Scores of people waded back and forth across the Rio Grande on Saturday afternoon, re-entering Mexico to purchase water, food and diapers in Ciudad Acuña before returning to the Texas encampment under and near a bridge in the border city of Del Rio. Junior Jean, a 32-year-old man from Haiti, watched as people cautiously carried cases of water or bags of food through the knee-high river water. Jean said he lived on the streets in Chile the past four years, resigned to searching for food in garbage cans. “We are all looking for a better life,” he said.

Three Weeks After Hurricane Ida, Parts of Southeast Louisiana Are Still Dark (NYT) For Tiffany Brown, the drive home from New Orleans begins as usual: She can see the lights on in the city’s central business district and people gathering in bars and restaurants. But as she drives west along Interstate 10, signs of Hurricane Ida’s destruction emerge. Trees with missing limbs fill the swamp on either side of the highway. With each passing mile, more blue tarps appear on rooftops, and more electric poles lay fallen by the road, some snapped in half. By the time Ms. Brown gets to her exit in Destrehan 30 minutes later, the lights illuminating the highway have disappeared, and another night of total darkness has fallen on her suburban subdivision. For Ms. Brown, who works as an office manager at a pediatric clinic, life at work can feel nearly normal. But at home, with no electricity, it is anything but. “I keep hoping every day that I’m going to go home and it’ll be on,” she said. Three weeks have passed since Hurricane Ida knocked down electric wires, poles and transmission towers serving more than one million people in southeast Louisiana. In New Orleans, power was almost entirely restored by Sept. 10, and businesses and schools have reopened. But outside the city, more than 100,000 customers were without lights through Sept. 13. As of Friday evening there were still about 38,000 customers without power, and many people remained displaced from damaged homes.

Favela centennial shows Brazil communities’ endurance (AP) Dozens of children lined up at a community center in Sao Paulo for a slice of creamy, blue cake. None was celebrating a birthday; their poor neighborhood, the favela of Paraisopolis, was commemorating 100 years of existence. “People started coming (to the city) for construction jobs and settled in,” community leader Gilson Rodrigues said. “There was no planning, not even streets. People started growing crops. It was all disorganized. Authorities didn’t do much, so we learned to organize ourselves.” The favela’s centennial, which was marked on Thursday, underscores the permanence of its roots and of other communities like it, even as Brazilians in wealthier parts of town often view them as temporary and precarious. Favelas struggle to shed that stigma as they defy simple definition, not least because they evolved over decades. Paraisopolis is Sao Paulo’s second-biggest favela, home to 43,000 people, according to the most-recent census, in 2010. Recent, unofficial counts put its population around 100,000.

The barbecue king: British royals praise Philip’s deft touch (AP) When Prince Philip died nearly six months ago at 99, the tributes poured in from far and wide, praising him for his supportive role at the side of Queen Elizabeth II over her near 70-year reign. Now, it has emerged that Philip had another crucial role within the royal family. He was the family’s barbecue king—perhaps testament to his Greek heritage. “He adored barbecuing and he turned that into an interesting art form,” his oldest son Prince Charles said in a BBC tribute program that will be broadcast on Wednesday. “And if I ever tried to do it he ... I could never get the fire to light or something ghastly, so (he’d say): ‘Go away!’” In excerpts of ‘Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers’ released late Saturday, members of the royal family spoke admiringly of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s barbecuing skills. “Every barbecue that I’ve ever been on, the Duke of Edinburgh has been there cooking,” said Prince William, Philip’s oldest grandson. “He’s definitely a dab hand at the barbecue ... I can safely say there’s never been a case of food poisoning in the family that’s attributed to the Duke of Edinburgh.” The program, which was filmed before and after Philip’s death on April 9, was originally conceived to mark his 100th birthday in June.

Relations between France and the U.S. have sunk to their lowest level in decades. (NYT) The U.S. and Australia went to extraordinary lengths to keep Paris in the dark as they secretly negotiated a plan to build nuclear submarines, scuttling a defense contract worth at least $60 billion. President Emmanuel Macron of France was so enraged that he recalled the country’s ambassadors to both nations. Australia approached the new administration soon after President Biden’s inauguration. The conventionally powered French subs, the Australians feared, would be obsolete by the time they were delivered. The Biden administration, bent on containing China, saw the deal as a way to cement ties with a Pacific ally. But the unlikely winner is Britain, who played an early role in brokering the alliance. For its prime minister, Boris Johnson, who will meet this coming week with Biden at the White House and speak at the U.N., it is his first tangible victory in a campaign to make post-Brexit Britain a player on the global stage.

Hong Kong’s first ‘patriots-only’ election kicks off (Reuters) Fewer than 5,000 Hong Kong people from mostly pro-establishment circles began voting on Sunday for candidates to an election committee, vetted as loyal to Beijing, who will pick the city’s next China-backed leader and some of its legislature. Pro-democracy candidates are nearly absent from Hong Kong’s first election since Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system to ensure that “only patriots” rule China’s freest city. The election committee will select 40 seats in the revamped Legislative Council in December, and choose a chief executive in March. Changes to the political system are the latest in a string of moves—including a national security law that punishes anything Beijing deems as subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces—that have placed the international financial hub on an authoritarian path. Most prominent democratic activists and politicians are now in jail or have fled abroad.

The Remote-Control Killing Machine (Politico/NYT) For 14 years, Israel wanted to kill Iran’s top nuclear scientist. Then they came up with a way to do it while using a trained sniper who was more than 1,000 miles away—and fired remotely. It was also the debut test of a high-tech, computerized sharpshooter kitted out with artificial intelligence and multiple-camera eyes, operated via satellite and capable of firing 600 rounds a minute. The souped-up, remote-controlled machine gun now joins the combat drone in the arsenal of high-tech weapons for remote targeted killing. But unlike a drone, the robotic machine gun draws no attention in the sky, where a drone could be shot down, and can be situated anywhere, qualities likely to reshape the worlds of security and espionage.

Israeli army arrests last 2 of 6 Palestinian prison escapees (AP) Israeli forces on Sunday arrested the last two of six Palestinian prisoners who escaped a maximum-security Israeli prison two weeks ago, closing an intense, embarrassing episode that exposed deep security flaws in Israel and turned the fugitives into Palestinian heroes. The Israeli military said the two men surrendered in Jenin, their hometown in the occupied West Bank, after they were surrounded at a hideout that had been located with the help of “accurate intelligence.” The prisoners all managed to tunnel out of a maximum-security prison in northern Israel on Sept. 6. The bold escape dominated newscasts for days and sparked heavy criticism of Israel’s prison service. According to various reports, the men dug a hole in the floor of their shared cell undetected over several months and managed to slip past a sleeping prison guard after emerging through a hole outside the facility. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have celebrated the escape and held demonstrations in support of the prisoners. Taking part in attacks against the Israeli military or even civilians is a source of pride for many Palestinians, who view it as legitimate resistance to military occupation.

Jaw-dropping moments in WSJ's bombshell Facebook investigation (CNN Business) This week the Wall Street Journal released a series of scathing articles about Facebook, citing leaked internal documents that detail in remarkably frank terms how the company is not only well aware of its platforms’ negative effects on users but also how it has repeatedly failed to address them. Here are some of the more jaw-dropping moments from the Journal’s series. In the Journal’s report on Instagram’s impact on teens, it cites Facebook’s own researchers’ slide deck, stating the app harms mental health. “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said one slide from 2019, according to the WSJ. Another reads: “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression ... This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.” In 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said a change in Facebook’s algorithm was intended to improve interactions among friends and family and reduce the amount of professionally produced content in their feeds. But according to the documents published by the Journal, staffers warned the change was having the opposite effect: Facebook was becoming an angrier place. A team of data scientists put it bluntly: “Misinformation, toxicity and violent content are inordinately prevalent among reshares,” they said, according to the Journal’s report.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.22

192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu. 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt. 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo. 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet. 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV. 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty. 1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly desecrating consecrated Host. 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe. 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England. 1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish. 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War. 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg. 1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome. 1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region. 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri. 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason. 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time. 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day. 1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage. 1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished. 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique. 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent. 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery. 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history. 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army's Red River Campaign ends in failure. 1866 – Oliver Winchester founded the Winchester Repeating Arms 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers. 1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative. 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine". 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century. 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246. 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China. 1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world's most destructive earthquakes. 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel. 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah. 1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies. 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern. 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece. 1948 – Finnish President J. K. Paasikivi released Yrjö Leino from his duties as interior minister in 1948 after the Finnish parliament had adopted a motion of censure of Leino with connection to his illegal handing over of nineteen people to the Soviet Union in 1945. 1957 – South Africa's government approves of racial separation in universities. 1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils. 1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes in Unionville, Missouri after bombs explode on board, killing 45. 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later. 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society. 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. 1967 – L'Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history. 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores. 1969 – Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface. 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations. 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave. 1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India. 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen. 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations. 1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting. 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton. 2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna. 2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. 2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737 until the crash of Lion Air Flight 610. 2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League). 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history. 2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m). 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil. 2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries. 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum. 2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. 2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall. 2020 – Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crashes in Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 98 people.

[deniscollins]

PG&E Outage Darkens Northern California Amid Wildfire Threat

Pacific Gas and Electric of California declared bankruptcy in January in the face of tens of billions of dollars in liabilities from past fires. With strong winds forecasted in the hills and canyons on Wednesday resembling those that propelled deadly fires in the wine country, if you were a PG&E executive would you turn off electricity to 2.5 million people so electricity lines would not contribute to spreading fire damage: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

The lights went off in stages in Northern California on Wednesday, from the forests near the Oregon border, down the spine of the Sierra Nevada and finally through the dense hillside communities across the Bay from San Francisco.

Hundreds of thousands of households lost power when California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, shut down a vast web of electrical lines as a precaution against wildfires. Not knowing how long the outage would last, residents hurried to gas stations and supermarkets, stocking up on essentials as if a hurricane were bearing down.

It was an extraordinary moment for California. In the state that brought the world the iPhone and the internet as most people know it, residents fumbled for flashlights, hauled jerrycans of gasoline and read instructions on how to manually open their automatic garage doors. In the fifth-largest economy in the world, hundreds of thousands of people were forced off the grid.

The vast scope of the power shutdown suggested a new layer of vulnerability for California. A state prone to earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides and wildfires now was faced with a power company’s decision to shut off the electricity, with relatively little notice.

By Wednesday afternoon, at least 500,000 customers — each customer can represent numerous family members or apartment dwellers — were without power. The company’s second phase of electricity shut offs, affecting an additional 250,000 customers, began late Wednesday evening. By one estimate around 2.5 million people were without power early Thursday morning.

Meteorologists said the strong winds that were forecast in the hills and canyons on Wednesday resembled those that propelled deadly fires in the wine country of Napa and Sonoma Counties two years ago. The power company, which declared bankruptcy in January in the face of tens of billions of dollars in liabilities from past fires, said it was not taking chances this time.

The shutdown led to the cancellation of classes at Humboldt State University, Mills College in Oakland and the University of California, Berkeley. It also contributed to multiple crashes at intersections where traffic lights went dark. Banks and businesses in some Northern California towns shut down; agricultural processing machines were inoperable in the thick of the fall harvest.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the largest concentrations of wealth and cutting-edge technology in the world, the shut-off felt like an anachronism, something that might happen in a less-developed country. Long lines formed at gas stations a dozen or so miles from the headquarters of Apple and Google.

“What’s next?” said Robert Cruz Jr., an electrical foreman whose crews have installed fiber-optic cables at Facebook. He was at a gas station in San Jose, the country’s 10th-largest city, filling up a five-gallon container with gasoline for a generator he was on his way to buy from a friend. He and his wife, an executive assistant at Intel, spent Tuesday calling nearby stores for new generators but the closest store that had one was an hour and a half away in California’s Central Valley.

“We’re doing what we can to keep our refrigerator and our freezer going,” he said.

For many, the power shutdown was a reminder of how helpless they were without electricity. While wealthier residents were able to fall back on solar panels and battery systems for electricity, living off the grid was not an option for Sharmaine Lindahl.

The power outage had cascading consequences for Ms. Lindahl and her husband, who live in Arcata, nearly 300 miles north of San Francisco. On Tuesday night, she received a text message from PG&E warning her of the impending power shut-off. Five hours later the lights went out and all of the electrical appliances in her kitchen, the only way she can cook, were useless.

Most businesses were closed in Arcata on Wednesday, she said, and gasoline was scarce.

Wednesday was also her husband’s payday, but the bank was closed and his company paid him in cash because it could not print out checks.

“Our bank account is going to be overdrawn,” Ms. Lindahl said. “We live paycheck to paycheck. So this is going to hit us very hard.”

The Lindahls felt like their city was collateral damage: The fire risk is low in Arcata, a city along the coast whose weather this time of year is most often fog and rain.

As the outages spread on Wednesday, so did anger and frustration at PG&E, a company that has a history of negligence and safety violations, including a gas pipeline explosion south of San Francisco in 2010 that killed eight people and has it under criminal probation. The company’s equipment was also deemed responsible for California’s deadliest fire, the inferno that razed the city of Paradise last year, killing 86 people.

When the forecast winds failed to materialize in some areas on Wednesday, criticism mounted against PG&E. Was it necessary to turn so many lives upside down? Was this a ploy by the company to prove how much California needs it?

Jim Nielsen, a state senator who represents the area around Paradise, called the shut-off “unacceptable.”

“This policy has to change,” he said in a statement. “PG&E’s decision to protect itself from liability at the expense of hard-working Californians will not be tolerated.”

“Millions without electricity is what a third-world country looks like, not a state that is the fifth-largest economy in the world,” he said.

PG&E has for months warned that pre-emptive power blackouts would be likely as it tries to catch up on a yearslong backlog of maintenance work on the power grid.

The issue has been a frequent point of discussion in PG&E’s criminal probation proceedings. Fire victim advocates and Judge William H. Alsup of the United States District Court in San Francisco have repeatedly questioned why PG&E had not turned off the power as often as other utilities, such as San Diego Gas & Electric, in high-risk weather conditions.

PG&E said the sole reason for power shut-offs was safety.

“We are going to protect human life first,” William D. Johnson, its chief executive, said in an interview over the summer about the company’s grid strategy.

Bill Biasi, the mayor of Winters, a city surrounded by orchards and tomato fields in the Sacramento Valley, said the power shut-off would be a setback for nut processing businesses that need power for their equipment. But he said he sympathized with the company’s dilemma — how to provide power in a part of the state so prone to wildfires.

“PG&E is in a tough situation,” Mr. Biasi said. “I think they’re doing what they can to make sure that what happened last year doesn’t happen again. But is it frustrating? It’s frustrating to everyone.”

The changing climate has brought hotter summers that dry out vegetation and make it more vulnerable to fire. Of the 10 largest wildfires recorded in California, five have been in the last decade. PG&E is required by law to serve homes nestled in wildland areas and is liable if its equipment starts a fire, whether or not it was found to be negligent.

PG&E has not offered a concrete timetable on when the power will be restored. Every inch of every line needs to be inspected before lines can be re-energized, the company has said, and that process could take up to five days.

The prospect of being without power for so long has been especially difficult for the most vulnerable.

In Oakland, Stacey Milbern spent more than two hours on Tuesday afternoon calling PG&E to find out whether power would be cut off to her home. Ms. Milbern uses a ventilator for breathing and needs other medical devices.

On Wednesday afternoon she still had electricity.

“I’m hoping that means my house won’t be affected, but it’s on the outage maps,” she said. “For the everyday disabled person, it’s so scary.”

[thedcdunce]

Grifter

“Now I've got another suspect. Fuck it... I'll just kill 'em both.” - Grifter

Real Name: Cole Cash

Aliases:

Deadeye

Gender: Male

Height: 6′ 3″

Weight: 195 lbs (88 kg)

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde

Powers:

Gen-Factor

Abilities:

Peak Human Condition

Indomitable Will

Deception

Espionage

Master Tactician

Survival

Military Protocol

Driving

Master Marksman

Master Combatant

Weaponry

Multilingualism

Weaknesses:

The Rush

Weak Healing Factor

Equipment:

Tunic

Trench Coat

VAD PP30

Little Magnum

Various High-Tech Munitions

Universe: Wildstorm Universe

Citizenship: American

Base of Operations:

The Carrier

Halo Building, New York City

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: 

Soldier

Mercenary

Intelligence Agent

VP of Halo Corporation

First Appearance: WildC.A.T.s #1 (August, 1992)

Powers

Gen-Factor: Exposure to the Gen-Factor had gifted as well as cursed Cash with several supernatural abilities both Mental and Physical at the same time, these powers have fluctuated in potency over the coarse of his life. Eventually burning out over the years and going into dormancy thanks to his Coda training. While it's mostly diminished the psychic abilities bestowed by his Gen-Factor retains some effectiveness in it's destructive ability, Cole can utilize his psionics by consciously reordering part of his psyche to turn them on and off again. But can normally only ever have access without the debilitating side effects while in range of another Team 7 Member. Since the universal reset where Cole had been revived, he could now utilize his full abilities without any assistance or harmful effects.

Psionics

Telepathy

Sensory Scrying

Mind Control

Mind Scans

Illusion Casting

Telepathic Assault

Telekinesis

Force Field

Energy Projection

Flight

Regeneration: Cole also has access to a helpful yet extremely unstable ability to heal and recover damaged bodily tissue structure at phenomenal rates. But it's not very reliable despite it's potency, the effectiveness of which varies wildly between uses. Able to heal broken neck almost instantly after receiving it, to waiting months on end for healing two shattered legs, albeit without so much as a scratch or any scar tissue afterward.

Longevity: Cole has lived for three decades yet still maintains the appearance as well as vitality of a young man still in his prime.

Abilities

Peak Human Condition

Peak Human Strength

Peak Human Speed

Peak Human Agility

Peak Human Stamina

Peak Human Coordination

Peak Human Reflexes

Peak Human Durability

Peak Human Balance

Indomitable Will

Deception

Thievery

Surveillance

Acting

Espionage

Stealth

Disguise

Master Tactician

Survival

Military Protocol

Driving

Vehicle Combat

Master Marksman

Throwing

Master Combatant

Weaponry

Swordsmanship

Demolitions

Multilingualism: Shown to be fluent in Vietnamese.

Weaknesses

The Rush: The side effects of using this power however are terrible to say the least. It was nicknamed The Rush due to the effect that the use of it is likened unto a drug. Raw, telekinetic, energy twisting and wielding power that if left unchecked can ravage the mind and body of the wielder, driving him to insanity.

Uncontrolled Psionics: The downside to these powers was that they were nearly impossible to control, sometimes being largely unreliable when needed most.

Physical Strain: Using the powers also put a terrible strain on Cash; trying to keep them under control would often cause blood vessels to rupture and he would weaken.

Affect Mind: Prolonged use would threaten his sanity and outside forces. But his Coda training under former matriarch of which, Zealot; helped him repress this aspect greatly.

Weak Healing Factor: Cole's healing ability tends to fluctuate often despite it's impressive capacity. The more severe the damage done to him, the longer it takes for him to recover, more expediently lethal injury increases the likelihood of fatality.

Equipment

Tunic: Grifter's face wear was specially designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. tech specialists using their state of the art engineering. On top of being made of a Kevlar fiber linen, it's also doubles as a gas mask which filtrates airborne toxins. The featureless lenses serve duel purposes of octagonal telescopic/microscopic visual receptor and analyzer coupled with infrared night vision locator.

Trench Coat: Cole's trademark long jacket comprises of the same artillery resistant material as his face mask. Serving him well both in a fashionable and practical sense, beyond it's natural application. It also withholds a great many pocket stores and holding straps with which to house and withhold a great many munitions on his person. Armaments such as explosive charges, throwing knives, stilettos, acupressure needles and small firearms.

VAD PP30: Grifter uses a VAD PP30, a semi-automatic particle pulse handgun custom made by Vulcan Arms Division for his use only. It fires 44mm explosive pulse packs, and by adjusting the Catalytic Particle Converter, Grifter can change the range of the firepower so it may be a simple stun, or an armor-piercing blast.

Little Magnum: Hidden micro blaster concealed within his glove, single shots pack enough kick behind the chamber to blast holes though an full grown humanoid target.

Various High-Tech Munitions: In his time as a special forces operative as well as one of Jacob Marlowe's covert operatives. Grifter has stocked up on and/or engineered a great many kinds of lethal ordinance for use while in the field. Often carrying around high-caliber fusil's, combustibles and hidden utilities which are a mix of Kherubim and Earth based xenotechnological engineering.

Origins

There are various accounts of Cole's early youth: his father died while he was still young and Cole and his brother Max were raised by their mother and stepfather, with his mother dying when Cole was already an adult. However, his mother died while he was still young and he and his brother were raised by their father. It is certain though, that Cole left his family while still a teenager and turned to crime to survive. Despite being a criminal, Cole had his own code of honor and stopped one of his partners in crime from shooting at the police. Cole was arrested and offered a second chance. He was enlisted by International Operations and turned out to be a gifted marksman and an excellent soldier.

Team-7

Cole Cash's natural talent for combat landed him in black ops, taking the dirtiest jobs as part of a squad known as Team 7. Cash's codename during these operations was Deadeye. The group was deliberately exposed to an experimental chemical called the Gen Factor, which activated a variety of psi powers in them, but which also detrimentally affected their sense of morality and mental health. After the experiment the survivors were classified as Gen 12. Some of their teammates went mad or committed suicide. Cole suspects that in fact their own superiors, I.O., were behind the experiment, while their superiors claimed that it was an unknown chemical weapon. One of the many missions Team 7 performed was destroying the dictatorship of a small African country. Andrew Johnson, one of the members, goes mad and glories in his ability to make people commit suicide. Disgusted, Cole kills Johnson. Cole grew more and more disgruntled with I.O.'s manipulations and secrecy and rebelled against team-leader John Lynch. Cash took charge and united the team's mental powers against a nuclear weapon that I.O. team-leader Miles Craven fired at Team 7 as a test. Team 7 went into hiding, but was eventually forced to return to I.O. 

Coda

When the powers of many of Team 7's members started to wane, Craven became interested in their children, the Gen 13, who should have inherited their fathers' powers. Most of the team went into hiding again, while others stayed with I.O. The team finally fell apart and Cole came to work as an assassin for I.O., but he soon became disenchanted with them too. He went freelance, and it was during this period of his life he encountered the ancient Kherubim warrior Zealot. They fell in love, and she took the unprecedented measure of teaching him, a male, the ways of the Coda, the warrior order she had once belonged to. Her Coda-teachings stabilized Cole's sanity and locked away what remained of his psionic powers.

WildC.A.T.s

Some time later Cole and Zealot broke up; for Zealot it was just another relationship, but Cole had become devoted to her, being eternally grateful to her for restoring his sanity. However they remained on good terms, and both were recruited to become part of Lord Emp's Daemonite hunting team, the WildC.A.T.s. Grifter would later quit the team when they had to ally with Hightower, a Daemonite who had killed Grifter's friend Lonely. He rejoined when the team came back from Khera, even being the team's leader for some time. During this time Max Cash, his younger brother, was killed, came back as a zombie and was killed again by Grifter himself. He left the team again after Zealot's apparent death. At this point most of his teammates left as well and the WildC.A.T.s were disbanded.

Wildcats

Months later, Cole joined the Wildcats, a small group that included Lord Emp, Spartan and the French weapons dealer known as Noir. After Emp's ascension, Grifter sank into a depression; he began drinking and having one-night stands with women who reminded him of Zealot. Finally Zealot herself returned, but at the time Grifter was too drunk to recognize her. After a night of sex, Zealot left him before Grifter realized who she was. He caught up with her again while she was fighting the Coda. Zealot told him that the Coda had betrayed her teachings and she had sworn to wipe them all out. She added that she would spare Grifter, despite being Coda-trained, because of their history. After this meeting, Grifter straightened out his life and joined Jack Marlowe's Halo Corporation.

During this time Cole was mind-controlled by the villain Tao into shooting his former teammate and current I.O. director, John Lynch, leaving him in a coma. Tao then erased Cole's memories of these events.

Halo Corporation

During a mission for Jack Marlowe, Cole's legs were shattered by Agent Orange. Therefore he could no longer operate as Marlowe's field agent. He trained accountant Edwin Dolby to take his place. Dolby turned out to be unsuitable for the violent life that Grifter planned for him and resigned from Halo. After Marlowe apologized to him, he rejoined, but strictly as an accountant. Grifter remodeled the robotic body of former teammate Ladytron as a remote-controlled body for himself.

Several months later, Grifter's legs were healed, a side-effect of the dormant Gen-factor according to I.O. scientists. John Lynch, who had woken from his coma, restored Cole's memory. Cole was sent to take down Tao and working together with double-agent Holden Carver, Tao's organization was completely dismantled and Tao was imprisoned.

Since then he has joined a make-shift team of former Wildcats to take down the assassin Nemesis.

Worldstorm

When Jack Marlowe died Cole has taken control of Halo Corporation and all its assets. Being depress of Spartan's death, Cole has been in South America fighting Daemonites for a month.

He later arrived back in New York just in time to witness Captain Atom's arrival and subsequent battle with Majestic. Cash recognized an energy signature in Captain Atom that he'd previously only seen in his deceased teammates Void and Spartan. After consulting with Jeremy Stone, Cole was acknowledged that the Void's energy splinted into both of Captain Atom and Nikola Hanssen.

Cole later regrouped the former Wildcats to capture Captain Atom while he face a fearful Nikola. Cole tried to convince Nikola to accept who she is as a metahuman as she, like any other normal people, was deeply afraid of metahumans. When Captain Atom defeated the Wildcats in Washington, D.C., both Cole and Nikola arrive at the scene in which Cole convinced Nikola to use the Void's power of teleportation. From there Cole was about to combat Atom but witness him being teleported away by the Authority via a shift-door.

While regrouped with the Wildcats, they were confronted by Mister Majestic who then gravelly informed them that killing Captain Atom would caused the destruction of their universe leaving Cole all the more frustrated of the situation and focus more on Nikola's power of the Void. Cole eventually helped Captain Atom in fending off the Authority from killing the misplaced hero, who they believe that killing Atom would save their universe, and was subsequently killed by Apollo and Midnighter: Midnighter buried two throwing stars in Cash's spine, then Apollo incinerated his head.

After Nikola harnessed her powers and remade the universe, Cole and along of many past deceased people such as Deathblow came back, but with no memories of the events with Nikola, Captain Atom, and the reboot of the universe.

Post-Worldstorm

In the wake of the reboot, Cole is shown to be a man who has attempted to change himself, but keeps getting sucked back in to the hero lifestyle. He appears to be an employee of Hadrian as a core member of the new WildCats team that he is assembling.

Cole Cash briefly worked as an assassin for the US government, targeting Islamist terror networks. His latest assignment went awry when his target turned out to be an alien shape-shifter who was being hunted by others of the same race. Zee, as he/she calls itself, has now drawn Grifter and Midnighter into an interstellar conflict involving weaponized giant worms.

World's End

Grifter returned to the Wildcats after Armageddon, helping survivors in Los Angeles. He was later summoned by John Lynch and regrouped with Team-7 where he and his teammates learned of Tao's nihilistic threat. After the Halo Building in Los Angeles was destroyed, Grifter had himself and the Wildcats teamed up with Team-7 in stopping Tao. Ultimately their battle ended with Grifter shooting Tao in the head at pointblank, thus relinquishing his powers from Void, Max Faraday, and Providence.

Grifter was among the many heroes that were notified of the Authority's Carrier's leaving, in which Grifter was among the few heroes to leave Earth when he was ordering the panic refugees who were boarding the shift-ship. Grifter and along with his old comrade Deathblow officially joined the "new" Authority and together helped in establishing order among the Carrier's influx of refugees. During the journey Cole entered into a sexual relationship with Stormwatch member, Flint.

Cole's journey with the Authority led them to discovering a genocidal alien race known as the Karibna and helped in destroying them, and thereafter returning to Earth.

Fun Facts

Grifter's real name, Cole Cash, bears resemblance to the phrase "Cold Hard Cash". Cash is associated with a 'grifter'-defined as a swindler, dishonest gambler, or the like.

Cole Cash has called Michael Cray his best friend.

Grifter admitted he was agnostic when he went back in time to Rome and was thrown with the Christians to be attacked by lions in the Coliseum.

Grifter's original mask is not only used to conceal his identity but also has the ability to filter out any noxious gases he may come in contact with.

[rabbitcruiser]

Napa, CA (No. 3)  

Spared from fire and redevelopment, the 1888 Winship Building now stands as one of the finest remaining examples of Victorian commercial architecture in Napa County. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Edward H. Winship arrived in Napa from Minneapolis in 1887 with money to burn. Among his purchases was a plot of land at the corner of First and Main Streets for which he paid $15,000. Like its neighbor the Semorile Building, the Winship was designed by noted Napa architect Luther Turton, intended to house retail on the ground floor with offices above. At the time of its construction the octagonal tower, which is the building’s most notable feature, was likely the tallest structure on Main St.

The building’s first anchor tenant was a druggist named Springsteen who was bought out before long by Joseph Levinson, a name that would become synonymous with Napa’s pharmaceutical needs for over 80 years. Such was the association that Levinson himself was often called “Pills” by friends and colleagues. In 1897, through a partnership with Dr. Edwin Hennessey, Levinson’s drug store became the first spot in Napa where patients could get an x-ray. Hennessey awed townfolk of the day by revealing a broken bone in a young man’s hand with his new x-ray images.

Dr. Hennessey, Napa’s most notable physician, kept his practice in the Winship Building. Besides bringing radiography to Napa, his other claim to fame was being the post-execution examiner of William Roe, the last man to be publicly hung in California.

Among the other upstairs tenants was the lawyer and future mayor Charles Trower, an important courtroom and political figure in early twentieth century Napa. The Semorile family, owners of the neighboring Semorile Building, at one time ran a print shop in the Winship.

In 1910 the Winship’s owners made the unfortunate decision to remove the building’s famed octagonal tower. Without it the Winship looked like a much more ordinary building through most of the twentieth century. It was not until 2003 that the building’s signature feature was restored at the behest of owner Michael DeSimoni.

The Winship fell into disrepair by the 1970s. After Levinson’s Drugs vacated the building, the empty storefront was taken up by a pawn broker, Valley Loan Co. Though initially threatened with demolition by redevelopment, by the 1980s Napa’s city council had decided to incentivize the restoration of the Winship Building. This task fell to Napa native Ging Chan and a group of his assembled investors. Chan had grown up two blocks from the Winship, and as a member of one of Napa’s pioneer Chinese families, he had an acute connection to the location of the Winship. Chan recalled as a boy walking to Levinson’s drug store.

Since its reopening in 1985, the Winship’s corner storefront has been occupied by Napa Valley Roasting Company, long a hub for morning conversation and quality fresh-roasted coffee. A fire caused by one of the coffee roasting machines resulted in some interior damage to the building in 1987. Luckily a sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading, saving the then 99 year old building. Fire Marshall Tom Johnson had this to say about the incident: “It was the most flavorful fire I’ve ever been to.”

Source

[clairegreendesign]

GREEN RECOVERY AFTER COVID-19

Covid-19 has caused many terrible problems and has destroyed many elements of life. However, it has had a positive change on the environment as the “CO2 emissions and human mobility have been reduced, which improves air quality and encourages wild animals to come out and explore the cities” (Jason Pareja Jauregui,2020).  It has been confirmed by scientists that air quality in certain regions has improved in recent weeks” during the lockdown (Jason Pareja Jauregui,2020). 

“Coronavirus has provided a stark reminder of what happens when humanity’s relationship with nature breaks down. As we recover we have an opportunity to protect and restore nature, reducing our exposure to deadly viruses and climate impacts”(UK Delegation to the OSCE,2020)

“Even as the world works to stop the novel coronavirus and begin recovering from it, we also need to act now to avoid a climate disaster by building and deploying innovations that will let us eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions” (Bill Gates, 2020) Bill Gates highlights the fact (in his article) that coronavirus is awful but climate change could be much worse if we don't act now. “To understand the kind of damage that climate change will inflict, look at COVID-19 and spread the pain out over a much longer period”(Bill Gates, 2020).

After Covid-19 we have two choices to either focus on a green recovery or go back to normal. Covid-19 has given a preview of the things we could achieve if we decided to pursue a green recovery. For example during lockdown their was hardly any cars on the road which improved air quality and had a positive impact on nature. 

‘Nations will begin to emerge from lockdown and look to fire up their economies once again. When that happens it will be the duty of every responsible government to... rebuild in a way that will stand the test of time. That means investing in industries and infrastructure that can turn the tide on climate change. And it means doing all we can to boost resilience by shaping economies that can withstand everything nature throws at us.’ (Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, April 2020)

Environmental campaign organisations materials on green recovery after covid-19

Friends of earth have created a series of content that they have posted on their social media accounts which refer to a green recovery after the pandemic. They are routing for a green recovery. Illustrative elements linking to the content of the post.  Notice how they approach this topic positive and look at how we can maintain a positive future after the pandemic. 

Green Peace has created visual content highlighting the importance of a green recovery. However, compared to the ‘Friends of earth’ content it creates a slight negative approach. It emphasises how ‘we can't go back to normal because normal was the problem’ with a visual that expresses that statement. However, it creates a slight negative approach. Friends of earth looked at the positives and focused on a positive future. Whereas Greenpeace is focusing on the past which creates a negative tone for this piece of content. 

References and sources 

Bill Gates, COVID-19 is awful. Climate change could be worse, gatesnotes.com, https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/Climate-and-COVID-19,[Accessed.27,10,2020]

Green recovery of the economy and society after COVID-19: UK statement, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/green-recovery-of-the-economy-and-society-after-covid-19-uk-statement,[Accessed.27,10,2020]

What is the effect of COVID-19 on Climate Change?, Oneyoungworld.com, https://www.oneyoungworld.com/blog/what-effect-covid-19-climate-change,[Accessed.27,10,2020]

Greenpeace.org.uk, https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/A-green-recovery-how-we-get-there-Greenpeace-UK.pdf,[Accessed.27,10,2020]

[xtruss]

We’ve All Turned From Normal Humans Into Muzzled Masochists

"The rest of us are, as each day goes by, a persecuted minority, forced to go along with beliefs we do not hold"

— Peter Hitchens | Anti-Empire | Russia Insider | The Daily Mail

When this madness began, I behaved as if a new and fanatical religion was spreading among us. Be polite and tolerant, I thought. It may be crazy and damaging but in time it will go away.

Now it is clear that a new faith, based on fear of the invisible and quite immune to reason, has all but taken over the country. And it turns out to be one of those faiths that doesn’t have much tolerance for those who don’t share it.

My guess is that about 85 per cent of the population now worship it and will continue to do so. The rest of us are, as each day goes by, a persecuted minority, forced to go along with beliefs we do not hold.

Its evangelists will not leave you and me alone, but constantly seek to force us to join. This is why I make such a fuss about the demand to make us all wear muzzles. This is not about health.

There is simply not enough evidence to compel us to do so. It is an attempt to force submission on Covid unbelievers.

That is why it spreads, despite the absence of any good case for it. In a creepy development, one of the most powerful scientific papers arguing against it,

Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review, last week suddenly vanished from its usual place on the internet (I still have a copy and you may read it here: link.)

Scotland’s tinpot despot, Nicola Sturgeon, now demands that muzzles are worn in shops, as well as on public transport, north of the border.

In Texas, of all states, the governor seeks to make muzzles compulsory in all public places. The tiny-circulation Guardian newspaper, which just so happens to be the house journal of the BBC, absurdly compares muzzles to seat belts (proven a million times to save lives, beyond any doubt) and demands in its main editorial ‘Cover your face’.

The BBC is then careful to report this prominently. Do not be surprised if the Government soon follows. Yet, as the Government’s own documents and experts have repeatedly said, evidence for the usefulness of these muzzles is weak. The Department for Business and Enterprise says clearly: ‘The evidence of the benefit of using a face covering to protect others is weak and the effect is likely to be small.’

This obsession with telling us how to look, and turning us from normal humans into submissive, mouthless flock animals all decked out in a compulsory uniform

is, in my view, part of an unprecedented assault on our personal liberty in general. Stay at home. Stop working. Don’t see your friends or relatives. Submit, submit, submit. Get used to being told what to do.

And we do it. I have begun to understand why the atrocious drivel of Fifty Shades Of Grey was so popular. It seems we really have become a nation of surrendered masochists.

The decision to force poor Leicester back into the misery of total shutdown is an example of this. Craziest of all is the closure of schools in that city, when school-age children are barely touched by Covid.

This must make plans to reopen schools in September even less likely to come true. Does the Government think the education unions won’t notice this panic-driven act and use it to keep the schools shut? Of course they will.

I am pretty sure this has been done not because it’s necessary but because the hysterical would-be headmaster Matt Hancock wants to keep us under his thumb. Behave, he shrills, or the tuck shop stays closed. Leicester is like the poor boys who were caned by such headmasters to set an example to the rest.

In this he is backed up by the increasingly uncuddly Premier Al Johnson, who hawks the myth that all these deprivations have reduced the incidence of the disease. ‘Do not undo the sacrifices you have made with reckless behaviour,’ says the man who has recklessly destroyed our economy and is clueless about how to rescue it from himself.

The truth is there is still not one eighth of an ounce of evidence that crashing the economy and keeping us all at home saved a single life. Let us examine the case for this punitive closure of Leicester.

First of all, there are these things called ‘infections’ which sound quite nasty. But what are they? How many of those who test positive for Covid-19 (in a test that is highly dubious) have no symptoms? The Government could not tell me.

I suspect only a tiny proportion are seriously ill. As I keep saying, for most people the disease is a minor event. It is not the plague.

Then there is the simple question: Are there more infections because we are looking harder for them? Well, I can tell you this. I asked for a list of testing stations in Leicester and the dates on which they opened. One opened on May 1. All the others – seven of them – have opened since June 18, the very period during which the supposed surge has taken place.

Here is my question to Public Health England posed on Tuesday 30th June:

‘If the number of testing centres has increased in Leicester, can you please give the dates on which it did so?’

And here is the answer I received on Friday:

‘1 May: Birstall Regional Testing site opens, following a pilot from 30th April.

18th June: Evington testing site opens –mobile testing unit

20th June: Saffron testing site opens –mobile testing unit

21st June: Spinney Hill testing site opens – mobile testing unit

25th June: Victoria Park opens –mobile testing unit

27th June: Second site at Spinney Hill opens mobile testing unit

30th June: Highfield centre site opens – walk-through testing site

1st July: Prajapti site opens –mobile testing unit’

Note that all but one of the eight was opened only after 18th June.

It is, in any case, absurd to imagine that the people of Leicester can be confined in their city and prevented from venturing into nearby towns and villages to take advantage of the limited freedoms now being restored to us (such as they are).

Even the petulant, petty Mr Hancock is not going to confine Leicester in a ring of steel, as if it were East Berlin in 1961 (though he may dream of such actions).

This is about power and freedom, and has less and less to do with Covid-19. Soon, as the terrible economic consequences of Mr Johnson begin to become clear to all, this may be a lot more important.

The latest crime? Making a cup of tea

Many in the media treat this period as a bit of a joke, a light-hearted interlude and a spectator sport, like a holiday or a foreign crisis seen from afar.

I don’t. It scares me stiff. I think something has gone wrong deep inside the workings of this country. A fire long smouldering below decks has now burst into the open.

Let me share a letter I received from a reader:

‘I run a small coffee shop and when the state decreed, I reopened for takeaway (I was ‘allowed’ also by the local council to use a small area outside my premises for people to sit down and drink their takeaways). Occasionally, when the weather has been bad or someone with an infirmity hasn’t been able to take their drink away, I have let them sit inside.

‘This morning I was visited by the police and warned. I was informed that two complaints had been made against me for serving drinks inside the premises. All for making someone a cup of tea and being human enough to let them have it inside.

Last year my business was burgled and trashed and drug dealing was going on in the park that my business overlooks. And what happened then? Absolutely nothing. This isn’t the kind of country that my grandfather fought to preserve.’

At the same time, the political cleansing of our schools and universities continues ferociously. I hear confidentially of heavyweight intolerance of conservatives at Oxford, who have objected to the planned removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue there. Now I receive this from another university, where all academics have been ‘invited’ to an online ‘discussion’ intended to ‘disrupt structural factors that produce white privilege and systemic disadvantage…

‘We invite all staff to reflect on their identities and social positions, taking an ‘intersectional’ approach. Participants will be given an opportunity to share perspectives and experiences of institutional racism at work, including any recommendations for change, with the University’s senior academic leadership team.’

I wouldn’t give much for the future careers of anybody who does not kowtow to this inquisition.

— Source: The Daily Mail

[trueohioconservatives-blog]

BET Founder Fires Demand At Congress – He Wants Slavery Reparations Totaling Up To $14 Trillion

Protests and riots continue this week, with Democrat leaders unwilling to end the violence.

Many are wondering, what’s the answer to bring this chaos to an end? President Trump has made it clear he will do what it takes to restore order.

But the found of BET thinks he has another solution. He wants to end poverty among black Americans. But guess who’s going to pay for it?

From Daily Wire:

The founder of Black Entertainment Television says the federal government should pay out $14 trillion to black Americans as reparations for slavery…

Johnson said reparations would be the “affirmative action program of all time,” delivering a message to white Americans that “damages … are owed” for slavery and the decades of racism that followed.

The wealthy found of BET is demanding the federal government payout $14 trillion to black Americans.

He claims this would be “reparations for slavery.” Johnson says the only solution to slavery and racism is for the government to pay off those who are now rioting.

Our Take:

Sure, Johnson, I’m all for reparations… if you’re willing to pay the bill!

Tell me how burdening ALL Americans with a $14 trillion bill is going to end police brutality in largely blue cities and states?

We all know the once peaceful protests have been co-opted by radical anarchists to destroy our country. They no longer have anything to do with seeking justice for George Floyd.

Tell me how damaging local, minority-owned businesses will end years of racial disharmony?

Throwing tax dollars at this problem is ludicrous. The federal government already spends billions in the form of welfare, food stamps, and other benefits for low-income Americans.

Yet so many black Americans still suffer from poverty, crime, and violence. Does anyone seriously think spending more money is going to solve the problem?

Politics won’t solve this problem. Government won’t solve this problem. And money certainly won’t solve this problem.

This problem will go away when individuals take responsibility for their own actions and lives. For far too long we’ve looked to the government to “fix” the problems in our culture.

Look how well that’s worked.

Until everyone is willing to do their part to respect and support their neighbors, we’ll see the same movie played over and over again. Until we free ourselves from government dependence, we’ll never grow.

Johnson appears to be demanding the exact opposite of what will help the country.

SHARE if you say NO to reparations.

[bluemagic-girl]

🔥How much has been spent on the HS2 so far and what is the proposed train route?🔥

The latest headlines in your inbox

Boris Johnson has given HS2 the go-ahead despite criticism over its cost and impact on the environment. 

The cost of HS2 came under fire after a Government-commissioned review found the project could end up costing up to £106 billion.

HS2 was allocated £56 billion in 2015, with phase one planned to launch in 2026, although the recent report said it could be pushed back until 2031.

The Prime Minister said that to avoid “further blow outs” in HS2’s cost or schedule, a series of measures will be taken to “restore discipline to the programme”, he said on Tuesday.

This will include appointing a minister whose full-time job will be to oversee the project, and changes to the way HS2 is managed.

Boris Johnson Gives HS2 The Green Light

Addressing the House of Commons, Mr Johnson said his Government had the “guts to take the decision” to deliver prosperity across the country.

In his response to the Oakervee Review conducted by former HS2 chairman Douglas Oakervee, Mr Johnson said it “leaves no doubt of the clinching case for high-speed rail”.

However, there has been considerable backlash from environmentalists who say HS2 will “push nature to the brink”.

Installation of the high-speed railway system will lead to the loss or damage of up to 108 ancient woodlands in England, including five internationally protected wildlife sites and put protected creatures such as white-clawed crayfish, the willow tit and the dingy skipper butterfly under threat of local extinction.

The Woodland Trust charity said the scheme would “shoot a poisoned arrow through the heart of our ancient woods and their wildlife” and become a “permanent reminder of backward environmental thinking”.

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, have a qualified welcome to the announcement, saying he would call for a timetable for work in the north, which has not yet been released.

Mr Johnson followed his comments on HS2 by adding there is “no immediate prospect” of construction beginning on a third runway at Heathrow.

The Standard takes a look at how much has been spent on the project so far and what the proposed route is:

What is the proposed HS2 route? 

HS2 proposed route (PA Graphics)

High Speed 1 was the 68-mile railway line from London St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone in Ken which opened 2008. 

High Speed 2 is the second, more ambitious project, constituting 345 miles of new tracks.

It was announced in 2009 by Labour’s last Transport Secretary Lord Adonis and has been supported by successive governments ever since.

Phase one of HS2 is planned to run between London and Birmingham, with phase 2 to run in a Y-shaped route, one from Birmingham to Leeds and the other route from Birmingham to Manchester.

The initial plan was for the lines to carry 400m-long (1,300ft) trains of up to 250mph, with each train having as many as 1,100 seats, potentially trebling passenger numbers between the cities.

Boris Johnson has announced the government is pressing ahead with HS2 (AFP via Getty Images)

The line, linking London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds on one route, is said to slash journey times by half.

Phase one of the route will start at London Euston before running through the north west of the capital. 

It will then cut through rural areas of the UK, such as Buckinghamshire and parts of the Midlands, before ending up in Birmingham. 

Mr Johnson said the Government will seek to identify where cost savings can be made in Phase 1 without carrying out a detailed redesign.

Before designs for Phase 2b are finalised and legislation is introduced, the Government will “introduce an integrated plan for rail in the North”, he told MPs.

He added: “It will, in line with the findings of the Oakervee Review, look at how we can best design and integrate rail investments across the North including Northern Powerhouse Rail between Leeds and Manchester.”

How much has been spent on HS2 so far?

Billions of pounds have already been spent on the project since it was first launched.

The price tag set out in the 2015 budget came in just under £56bn. However, the government has estimated the project’s cost will double, with the latest figure rising to £106bn.

The £106bn figure comes from a review of the project leaked in January.​

Corbyn attacks Government over HS2 costs

Lord Berkeley​ however, said independent analysis arrives at a figure of at least £107.92 billion. During the election last year, Boris Johnson said he expected the figure to rise above £100bn.

According to the Guardian, by September last year around £7.5bn had already been spent on the project thanks to preparatory work in London and Birmingham, which included demolitions and buying properties along the route.

Mr Oakervee’s review recommended that work on phase 2b of HS2 from the West Midlands to Manchester and Leeds should be paused for six months to investigate if it could be a mix of conventional and high-speed lines, according to the Financial Times, which has seen a copy of the paper.

The review concluded that the Government should “on balance” continue with the 250mph railway, which would initially go from London’s Euston station to Birmingham and then to Leeds and Manchester by 2040, but that this is subject to “a number of qualifications”.

When is HS2 expected to launch? 

An artist’s impression of a HS2 train on the Birmingham and Fazeley viaduct (Press Association Images)

The railway was always due to open in stages, with phase one initially expected to launch in 2026 and the final section from Crewe to Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds completed by 2033.

However, a report by HS2 Ltd chairman Allan cook said the original plans “did not take sufficient account” of the effect of building a high-speed line through areas that are densely populated and with challenging ground conditions.

In 2016, the National Audit Office reported the planned opening date was at risk because the company in charge had missed one third of its own planning and development milestones.

Instead, phase one could be opened as late as 2031 with Phase 2b, the full high-speed line to Manchester and Leeds, potentially facing an opening date of between 2035 and 2040.

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[floormasterus]

The Importance Of Hiring Certified Experts For Tile And Grout Cleaning

Cleaning and preserving the floors is very crucial in order to achieve a comfortable, as well as aesthetically appealing lifestyle in your home. If you are a homeowner in Texas and, more specifically, in Horseshoe Bay, it can be very beneficial to hire certified specialists for Tile and Grout Cleaning in Horseshoe Bay, TX. Read more:- https://medium.com/@floormasterus3/the-importance-of-hiring-certified-experts-for-tile-and-grout-cleaning-5f29a24a918f

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Canada’s Ontario to go on province-wide shutdown Dec. 26 (AP) Ontario on Monday announced a province-wide shutdown because of a second wave of COVID-19 in Canada’s most populous province. The lockdown will be put in place for southern Ontario from Dec. 26 until Jan. 23, but will lift for northern Ontario on Jan. 9. Ontario has had seven straight days of more than 2,000 cases a day. Modeling shows that could more than double in January. Health officials earlier said a four- to six-week hard lockdown could significantly stop the spread of COVID-19. Toronto, Canada’s largest city, had already closed restaurants for indoor dining but schools remained open. All high schools in Ontario will now be closed for in-person learning until Jan. 25. Elementary schools will be closed until Jan. 11.

Congress Strikes Long-Sought Stimulus Deal to Provide $900 Billion in Aid (NYT) Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a hard-fought agreement on a $900 billion stimulus package that would send immediate aid to Americans and businesses to help them cope with the economic devastation of the pandemic and fund the distribution of vaccines. The deal would deliver the first significant infusion of federal dollars into the economy since April, as negotiators broke through months of partisan gridlock that had scuttled earlier talks, leaving millions of Americans and businesses without federal help as the pandemic raged. While the plan is roughly half the size of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law enacted in March, it is one of the largest relief packages in modern history. The agreement was expected to provide $600 stimulus payments to millions of American adults earning up to $75,000.

Trump’s legacy: He changed the presidency, but will it last? (AP) The most improbable of presidents, Donald Trump reshaped the office and shattered its centuries-old norms and traditions while dominating the national discourse like no one before. He smashed conceptions about how presidents behave and communicate, offering unvarnished thoughts and policy declarations alike, pulling back the curtain for the American people while enthralling supporters and unnerving foes—and sometimes allies—both at home and abroad. While the nation would be hard-pressed to elect another figure as disruptive as Trump, it remains to be seen how much of his imprint on the office itself, occupied by only 44 other men, will be indelible. Already it shadows the work of his successor, President-elect Joe Biden, who framed his candidacy as a repudiation of Trump, offering himself as an antidote to the chaos and dissent of the past four years while vowing to restore dignity to the Oval Office. “For all four years, this is someone who at every opportunity tried to stretch presidential power beyond the limits of the law,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “He altered the presidency in many ways, but many of them can be changed back almost overnight by a president who wants to make the point that there is a change.”

Mexican president expects no conflicts with Biden administration (Reuters) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday his weekend call with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden was “very friendly” and that he expect relations to be positive with the new Democratic administration taking office in January.

World closes borders to Britain as new coronavirus strain breeds panic (Reuters) A slew of countries closed their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, heightening global panic, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of UK food shortages days before the Brexit cliff edge. India, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a mutated variant of the virus, up to 70% more transmissible, had been identified in the country. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman closed their borders completely. Several other nations have suspended travel from Britain including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada. France shut its border to arrivals of people and trucks from Britain, closing off one of the most important trade arteries with mainland Europe. As families and truck drivers tried to navigate the travel bans to get back home in time for Christmas, British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s said shortages would start to appear within days if transport ties were not quickly restored.

Britons scramble for residency in Spain and Portugal ahead of Brexit (Reuters) In October, Michelle Jones and her husband Gary boarded a ferry in England for a new life in Spain. Had they left it beyond Britain’s period of transition out of the European Union, things would have been much more complicated. “We haven’t got a choice—it’s now or never,” the former housing association worker said at the hairdressing salon she has taken over in the resort town of Fuengirola in southern Spain. Britain formally left the European Union on Jan. 31 after its 2016 referendum, but since then it has been in a transition period under which rules on free travel and trade remain unchanged. That period ends on Dec. 31. Fourteen European countries, including Portugal and Spain, will grant Britons arriving before Dec. 31 the right to five years of residency. Other countries have tougher post-Brexit requirements, asking all Britons to re-apply after the transition period. Ahead of the deadline, some people have brought forward retirement plans and others have taken advantage of being able to work from home to move.

Skiing (Financial Times) The European Alps are home to a third of the world’s 2,084 ski resorts, and typically generate €28 billion in revenues. That is roughly 7 percent of the overall European Union tourism market. Though geographically compact, the Alps are the global seat of skiing, and in a typical year are host to about 43 percent of worldwide skier visits, considerably higher than North America (21 percent), the Asia Pacific region (16 percent), and other parts of Western Europe (10 percent). Naturally, this season will not be generating 28 billion euros. France has shut down all ski lifts through January 7, resorts in Italy and Austria are closed, and the Swiss are going to do their own thing but will cut ties with neighbors for the duration of the crisis.

Nepal Falls Into Political Turmoil. China and India Are Watching. (NYT) Nepal’s top leader dissolved Parliament on Sunday amid infighting among members of the governing party, throwing into doubt the political future of a strategically important Himalayan country where China and India have long jockeyed for influence. The prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, called for the dissolution of the lower house of Parliament despite protests from his own Nepal Communist Party and opposition groups, including the largest, Nepali Congress. Nepal is now set to hold elections starting in late April, more than a year earlier than the expected vote in November 2022. Mr. Oli made his move in the face of rising dissatisfaction with his job performance even within the ranks of his own party. He was elected to a second stint as prime minister in 2017 on promises of tamping down corruption and forging stronger ties with China and its economic growth machine. But Mr. Oli’s administration has been plagued with its own corruption allegations as well as criticism of his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has devastated an economy that has long depended on tourism and on remittances from its citizens abroad.

Rockets fired at U.S. embassy land inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, damaging compound (Reuters) At least eight Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in an attack targeting the U.S. Embassy, causing some minor damage on the compound on Sunday, the Iraqi military and the embassy said on Sunday. The Iraqi military said an “outlaw group” fired eight rockets. Most of the missiles hit a residential complex and a security checkpoint inside the zone, damaging buildings and cars and wounding one Iraqi soldier, a military statement said. U.S. officials blame Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq, including near the embassy in Baghdad. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility.

Spyware targets phones of Al-Jazeera reporters (AP) Dozens of journalists at Al-Jazeera, the Qatari state-owned media company, have been targeted by advanced spyware in an attack likely linked to the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a cybersecurity watchdog said Sunday. Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said it traced malware that infected the personal phones of 36 journalists, producers, anchors and executives at Al-Jazeera back to the Israel-based NSO Group, which has been widely condemned for selling spyware to repressive governments. Most unnerving to the investigators was that iMessages were infecting targeted cellphones without the users taking any action—what’s known as a zero-click vulnerability. Through push notifications alone, the malware instructed the phones to upload their content to servers linked to the NSO Group, Citizen Lab said, turning journalists’ iPhones into powerful surveillance tools without even luring users to click on suspicious links or threatening texts. Citizen Lab, which has been tracking NSO spyware for four years, tied the attacks “with medium confidence” to the Emirati and Saudi governments, based on their past targeting of dissidents at home and abroad with the same spyware. The two countries are embroiled in a bitter geopolitical dispute with Qatar in which hacking and cyber surveillance have increasingly become favored tools.

In Tigray Conflict, Displaced Children Suffer (NYT) UM RAKUBA, Sudan—The Um Rakuba refugee camp is filling again, stifling in the afternoon sun in eastern Sudan, and there are children everywhere. More than 51,000 Ethiopians have fled their country because of the military’s offensive in the restive region of Tigray, and more than 19,000 of them are here at Um Rakuba. Almost a third of the Ethiopian refugees are children, with at least 361 of them arriving unaccompanied, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Many of the unaccompanied children said they were separated from their families as they bolted from their homes in the middle of the night, trekking hours and days with nothing but the clothes on their backs to reach safety. “It is quite heartbreaking,” Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said in an interview in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. “For an emergency that is relatively small in numbers, I have hardly seen such a high level of people separated from their families, many children separated.”

The food industry and academic studies (Food Dive) A new study published in the journal Plos One reported that in 2018, 13 percent of research articles published in the 10-most-cited nutrition academic journals were funded at least in part by the food industry. Of those funded by the industry, 56 percent reported favorable findings for the industry backing them financially, vastly higher than the 10 percent of articles that were not paid for by the food industry that reported industry favorable outcomes.

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News Power outages look for millions of Calif. residents as PG&E faces scrutiny for degrading infrastructure - Washington Post

News

Culley misplaced his home to the 2017 Tubbs Fire, certainly one of the basic pronounce’s deadliest wildfires on file. Now one more blaze became once bearing down on the position, and Culley feared he would lose every little thing. Yet again.

Parts of Northern California faced the risk of most modern infernos and energy outages affecting bigger than 2 million of us as a doubtlessly historical wind match became once forecast to sweep into the pronounce on Saturday, nearly a year after the most destructive fire in California historical previous left 85 of us stupid. Culley’s apprehension is a part of a grim new actuality for a pronounce hit by increasingly unhealthy fire seasons and turning to drastic new prevention measures.

The Kincade Fire, sparked Wednesday night in Sonoma County and light finest 10 p.c contained, is anticipated to aggravate as sturdy winds with low humidity produce what the National Weather Service known as “vulgar fire climate.” Practically 3,000 responders are battling a blaze that has consumed about 26,000 acres and destroyed 77 structures, including 31 homes, officials mentioned Saturday evening.

“I’ve viewed what a firestorm is, it’s catastrophic,” mentioned Culley, the owner of KC’s American Kitchen, his voice shaking. “To know that a monster will most certainly be coming this fashion is de facto, in actual fact traumatic.”

By Saturday evening, basic evacuations stretched from the scheme of the fire to the Pacific hover and affected 83,000 of us, including about 39,000 in areas where orders had been precise issued, officials divulge. Energy outages also can complicate the most modern efforts to secure of us out of effort’s manner, they cautioned.

One day of the day, authorities entreated residents to ticket the evacuations. Sonoma County Sheriff Sign Essick shared his apprehension over experiences of of us desiring to preserve home and wait the fire out — a unhealthy and “selfish act,” he mentioned, because it puts emergency responders in jeopardy, too.

Evacuees also can regain safe haven on the Santa Rosa veterans memorial corridor, the Petaluma veterans corridor, the Petaluma Neighborhood Center and the Petaluma and Sonoma County fairgrounds, authorities mentioned.

The National Weather Service warned of 60- to 80-mph gusts via the mountain areas of Northern and Central California between Saturday night and Monday morning, with lesser, but light highly effective, winds reaching valleys and coastal areas.

“It’s going to be an aggressive fire battle,” mentioned Edwin Duniga, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Security. “All our firefighters secure been suggested to preserve an designate out, to be effectively-organized available, be procure. On legend of terrain admire this makes it exhausting for firefighters, and [makes it] immense unhealthy as the winds consume up.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) mentioned proactive measures secure helped prevent a blaze as gallop as in old years, at the same time as six critical wildfires rage around the pronounce. This year’s pronounce budget entails an additional $1 billion against emergency preparation, and authorities are increasingly deploying property to excessive-menace areas before a fireplace breaks out, he mentioned.

But the climate has officials alarmed of one more catastrophe.

“The following 72 hours are going to be traumatic,” Newsom mentioned Saturday afternoon. “I also can sugarcoat it, but I’m no longer.”

The wildfires arrive on the heels of the 2017 and 2018 California fire seasons, which featured the largest, most destructive and deadliest blazes in pronounce historical previous. It’s part of a sure sample against fires which also can very effectively be increased, more frequent and that stretch across a longer season. And, primarily based on CalFire, “climate trade is assumed to be a key driver of this vogue.” Inhabitants boost and the rise in homes and corporations located shut to lands that typically burn are also escalating the menace of and wound from wildfires within the Golden Impart.

Forecasters on the Weather Service divulge this wind match also can lift the most explosive wildfire prerequisites since the 2017 wine nation fires, which damaged great of the city of Santa Rosa and killed 22 of us.

The forecasts led Pacific Gasoline & Electric to launch a enormous energy shutdown Saturday evening with a idea to steer sure of sparking a fireplace. About 940,000 customers, comprising about 2.8 million of us across Northern California and in Central California’s Kern County, are anticipated to be without energy via the weekend. The outages started at about 5 p.m. in some areas and persisted to kick in all the scheme in which via the night, primarily based on the utility.

PG&E expects to launch “restoration actions” on Sunday and Monday. Nevertheless it'll also accept as true with up to 48 hours for everyone to secure their energy abet, company officials mentioned, because workers decide on to appear hundreds of miles of infrastructure once the climate is evident.

Saturday’s outage marked PG&E’s 2nd critical shut-off spurred by fire fears this month. Energy cuts from the gas and electrical company about two weeks within the past left nearly 2 million of us without energy in an remarkable disruption. .

It’s also unlikely to be the final, PG&E officials warned. More worrisome climate also can hit next week.

“As your energy comes abet on, please consume that time to organize again,” mentioned company president Andy Vesey.

Earlier on Saturday, about 850 customers in Sonoma County misplaced energy due to fireplace, or due to precautionary shut-offs, PG&E spokeswoman Suzanne Hosn mentioned.

Hundreds of miles south, the winds had changed more favorably for firefighters in Los Angeles County, where basic growth became once made in halting the Tick Fire. Since Thursday, the blaze had consumed bigger than 4,600 acres and prompted as many as 50,000 of us to evacuate after sturdy seasonal winds prompted flames to speed via the densely populated canyon position. Nine homes had been destroyed.

A public works worker stumbled upon human remains in a burned scheme of Santa Clarita, mentioned Los Angeles County sheriff spokeswoman Morgan Arteaga. But authorities are light investigating whether the unidentified particular person’s demise is expounded to the fire.

Karianna Bolstead became once at her brother’s home shut to Santa Clarita on Thursday evening when she noticed flames burning via the chaparral of yards quite loads of feet away. She covered her mouth, ran down the hill abet to her brother’s home and yelled for him and his basic other to head away. She fled in her accept as true with pickup truck, and spent a sleepless night pulled over on the side of the avenue after her cell phone died and he or she couldn’t navigate via the thick, blinding smoke.

“I’ve been here since the ‘50s — I’ve viewed hundreds of fires,” Bolstead mentioned. “Right here is the most unstable and explosive and rapidly-interesting one I’d ever viewed.”

The fire became once 25 p.c contained as of Saturday morning, and emergency crews had been alive to about mitigating the fresh spots leftover from the motorway of flames and battling embers from igniting new fires, mentioned Capt. A.J. Lester of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

By Saturday morning, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 had been ready to reach to their homes, Lester mentioned. Areas inner the fire’s perimeter remained below evacuation orders, and better than 1,300 firefighters remained on the scene. Two evacuation centers for fleeing residents had been established at shut by schools, besides a separate scrape for animals.

“Crimson Flag” prerequisites with heightened fire menace — including winds of 45 to 55 mph — will doubtlessly return Sunday night and Monday within the scheme of the Tick Fire, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles mentioned.

Los Angeles County, besides Sonoma County, secure been below a pronounce of emergency since Friday.

As Northern California prepares for a brand new onslaught from the Kincade Fire, PG&E goes via vulgar scrutiny after reporting that its earlier energy cuts left stretches of excessive-voltage energy transmission lines active within the position where the Sonoma County fire broke out. The identical form of transmission line became once accountable for the especially devastating Camp Fire in 2018.

The company’s shares plunged to $5 on Friday, a 30 p.c lower, MarketWatch reported. Such a tumble also can hinder PG&E’s are trying to assemble its manner out of financial catastrophe. The utility filed for Chapter 11 financial catastrophe security in January due to liabilities in old fires.

At a Friday afternoon info convention, Newsom mentioned there secure been discussions about PG&E’s culpability, but they had been no longer “conclusive.” The blame for the fire “is neither sure nor is that investigation total,” he mentioned, including that he plans to preserve the corporate accountable for “years and years of mismanagement.”

PG&E chief executive Bill Johnson mentioned the corporate is conducting an inner investigation but has no longer current responsibility for the fire, including that officials don’t know exactly how it started. “We light, at this point, lift out no longer know what exactly took set,” he mentioned at a Thursday info convention.

The scene in California as wildfires spread in historical windstorm

Oct. 31, 2019 | A U.S. Wooded discipline Service firefighter from the Los Padres National Wooded discipline hoses down scorching spots shut to Somis. (Stuart W. Palley/FTWP)

South of Sonoma County’s basic evacuation zones, residents scarred by the reminiscence of the 2017 fires saved a wary designate on forecasts and made sure their backup generators had been charged.

“We’re all roughly on excessive alert and all people has PTSD from the final fire,” mentioned Brent Bessire, an owner of Fogline Vineyards in Fulton, Calif. “This time you've got gotten a warning, of us are getting more sharp.”

On Saturday, he and his family had been clearing the brush around their facility to mitigate any that you might per chance per chance presumably also imagine gas. The winery became once closed, and so that they’d been packing and making an strive to establish what to preserve out with their a immense desire of animals, which integrated dogs, llamas and rabbits.

Bessire watched the glow of the Kincade Fire from over a mountain ridge earlier this week, and the smoke had been wafting their manner. On Saturday, he saved an designate to the north, looking ahead to the winds to delivery out.

“It’s very disconcerting, to mumble the least,” he mentioned.

Michael Brice-Saddler contributed to this epic. Eradicate Kuznia contributed from California.

[sciencespies]

Tens of thousands evacuated as California wildfires rage

https://sciencespies.com/environment/tens-of-thousands-evacuated-as-california-wildfires-rage/

Tens of thousands evacuated as California wildfires rage

A firefighter walks near a backfire during the Saddleridge fire in Newhall, California on October 11

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Wind-driven wildfires forced the evacuation of about 100,000 people in southern California Friday and destroyed dozens of structures and homes as authorities warned it could take days to extinguish the flames.

By Friday evening, the strongest blaze, dubbed the Saddleridge Fire, had consumed 7,542 acres (3,052 hectares) in areas of the San Fernando Valley, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles, fire officials said.

They added that it had damaged or destroyed at least 31 structures and was 13 percent contained as of Friday evening.

One man in his 50s died of a heart attack as he struggled to save his home in the Porter Ranch area, fire officials said.

The fire quickly got out of control after it erupted late Thursday for unknown reasons in the city of Sylmar, driven by low humidity and gusts known as the Santa Ana winds.

“This is a very dynamic fire,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas told a news conference.

“Do not wait to leave,” he urged residents. “If we ask you to evacuate, please evacuate.”

He said some 1,000 firefighters, backed by water-dropping helicopters and planes releasing fire retardants, were battling the blaze that forced the shutdown of several major highways. The metro line in the area was also closed as were schools and businesses.

Firefighters watch a helicopter drop water on a burning hillside in Porter Ranch, California on October 11

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“We’ve calculated that the fire is moving at a rate of 800 acres per hour,” Terrazas said, adding that it would probably take days to get it under control.

Some 200 firefighters were meanwhile battling several other blazes in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, including one that tore through a trailer park and was started by burning trash. That blaze, dubbed the Sandalwood fire, destroyed 76 homes and buildings and killed an 89-year-old woman who was unable to escape the flames.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but authorities ordered several hundred homes in the area be evacuated.

The National Weather Service said it expects the high winds fanning the flames to subside by Friday evening, making it easier for firefighters to do their work.

A red flag warning—which indicates ripe conditions for wildfires—remains in effect through Saturday.

Wind whips through the area as firefighters fight impending flames during the Saddleridge fire in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles, California on October 11

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In the dark

“That seems to be the new normal in California,” lamented Sylmar resident Oscar Mancillas, as he helplessly watched the flames spread in the hillside near his home.

“I mean the vegetation is so dry… but we’re kind of lucky because it didn’t grow back from the last fire,” he told AFP. “In California you have to be earthquake ready and you have to be fire ready… and for those of us who have a family, it’s a little daunting sometimes.”

The wildfires in the south erupted as California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), implemented rolling power blackouts that affected some two million people in northern California this week.

About 312,000 customers remained in the dark Friday as a result of the shutoffs designed to reduce the threat of wildfire that can be sparked by lines downed in heavy winds.

Many schools and universities were also closed in northern parts of the state as people stocked up on gasoline, water, batteries and other basics, with frustration mounting at the blackouts condemned by some as “third world.”

An aircraft helps fight the Saddleridge fire, dropping fire retardant along a ridge in Newhall, California on October 11

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“We’re seeing a scale and scope of something that no state in the 21st century should experience,” Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday, blaming decades of what he called neglect and mismanagement by PG&E.

“This is not, from my perspective, a climate change story as much as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of decades,” Newsom said. “Neglect, a desire to advance not public safety but profits.”

PG&E has defended the outages as necessary for safety reasons and has said it will take days before power is restored to all customers as inspections must be conducted on all power lines and equipment before the lights can be turned back on.

“This is not how we want to serve you but blackouts can happen again,” Bill Johnson, the CEO of the company said Thursday.

Last November, PG&E’s faulty power lines were determined to have sparked the deadliest wildfire in the state’s modern history, which killed 86 and destroyed the town of Paradise.

Explore further

‘Unacceptable’ power cuts blasted as California fire risk spreads south

© 2019 AFP

Citation: Tens of thousands evacuated as California wildfires rage (2019, October 12) retrieved 12 October 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-10-tens-thousands-evacuated-california-wildfires.html

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#Environment

[auskultu]

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH FOR SNIPERS BEGUN AS RIOT ENTERS 6TH DAY

Homer Bigart, The New York Times, 17 July 1967

NEWARK – National Guard troops and the police hunted house to house for snipers today after gunfire claimed three more lives in this riot-torn city.

Nearly half of Newark’s 23.7 square miles was an occupied zone. As sporadic sniping continued, guardsmen and policemen—weary and trigger-quick after days and nights of tension—were reported to have engaged each other in several accidental gunfights.

The actions of the guardsmen and the state police drew angry protests yesterday from moderate leaders of the Negro community. They accused the militia and the police of harassing peacemakers and of destroying Negro-owned stores.

12-Year-Old Boy Killed The latest riot victim was a 12-year-old Negro boy, Michael Pugh, who was shot in the side early this morning. He died in Newark City Hospital.

Witnesses said he was emptying a pail of garbage in front on his home on 15th Avenue. His family said the shot had come from a group of guardsmen standing a block away.

The boy’s death raised the toll in the six days of rioting to 24 dead. Early last night, Mrs. Eloise Spellman, 41, died of gunshot wounds. She had been caught in crossfire between guardsmen and snipers while in her 1Oth-floor apartment at 322 Hunterdon Avenue.

Earlier, a teen-age Negro was shot in the chest by the state police while allegedly looting a store at Bergen Street and Custer Avenye.

Since the riots began, more than 700 have been injured am more than 1,200 arrested.

The police radio kept warning: "Be sure of target. HoId fire until you are sure of target.”

A state trooper, CpI. Samuel Leon, was shot twice, in an arm and the buttocks, and ws: taken to Newark City Hospital That hospital game under sniper fire for the third straight night. Doctors and nurses dropped to the floor during 10 minutes of sniping that started at 9:30 P.M.

The police began shooting from hallway windows and guardsmen threw tear gas into an abandoned three-story house near the hospital, but failed tc rout any suspects. Two guardsmen were overcome by tear gas.

Gov. Richard J. Hughes reported late yesterday that there had been a reduction in violence. But at 9:30 P.M. sniper suddenly intensified in two separate areas—High Street, Orange Street and Central Avenue.

At 11:30 P.M. all city bus ceased operation. Except for the occasional crackle of rifle fire, the city fell silent.

Governor Hughes said at news conference yesterday that despite the efforts of the powerful force of guardsmen and state and city police the situation remained critical.

The Governor’s command post in the Roseville Avenue Armory was not far from where a sniper was reported to have taken up a firing position. A large crowd of whites that ha been loitering all day in front of the armory was disperse and the streets were cleared.

The police had warnings of rising vigilantism among white living near the ghetto. Three white teen-agers were arrested when a search of their car disclosed a rifle and a shotgun.

Businesses Advised Governor Hughes asked major business concerns to remain closed today. He said that the national railroad strike would clog the streets with thousands of commuters trying to read work by car or bus and that he did not want traffic jams in the riot area.

He asked, however, that food stores and restaurants remain open. Banks and public utilities will also open.

Newark College of Engineering will be closed both day and night. Rutgers University will be open in the day but closed at night.

Mr. Hughes directed all schools in Newark to remain closed today, and urged that only essential businesses—among them food stores and pharmacies—open. He said liquor stores and taverns would remain closed "until we can say order has been restored.”

One of Newark’s largest employers, the Public Service Electric and Gas Company, said only 500 essential workers among its 2,500 employees would be called in today.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America, which employs 9,000 people, said its Newark headquarters would be closed.

The riots and the railroad strike prompted the Selective Service System to postpone the induction of 500 men who were scheduled to report today. Col. Joseph T. Avella, the state’s director of Selective Service, said draft boards would notify those affected of a new induction date.

The Governor said he hoped for an early resumption of critical services, such as garbage collection, in the Negro districts. This, he said, would depend on the security situation. Thousands of residents of the heavily Negro Central Ward lined up for hours to receive meager rations of food as the first supplies since Wednesday night began moving into the area under armed guard. Distribution centers manned by volunteers were set up in housing projects and community centers and five supermarkets were reopened under police guard.

Emergency distribution of food might be adversely affected by the national railroad strike, he said.

The first efforts to bridge the gulf between the white and Negro communities collapsed yesterday.

Peace Effort Fails A five-man interracial committee that had recruited several hundred persons to urge the mobs to "cool it” reported complete failure. The peace missionaries, who wore lime-colored armbands, said their leaders had decided to drop the campaign because of harassment by the National Guard and state police.

Adam Garrett, a committee member, said the volunteers would confine their efforts to telling Negroes living in the besieged areas where to go for emergency food and medicine.

Far more damaging to prospects for peace was the reaction of middle-class Negroes to what they called "wanton destruction” perpetrated early today by state policemen and guardsmen.

They charged that shop windows bearing the sign "Soul Brother”—indicating that the owner was a Negro—had been systematically smashed by state troopers’ bullets or been bashed in by the rifle butts of guardsmen. Most of this destruction, they said, took place along Bergen Street, in one of the better Negro residential areas in the West Ward.

Yesterday morning, groups of well-dressed Negroes stood on the street corners of the West Ward and surveyed the damage with somber wrath. J. J. Brown, the proprietor of a record store on Avon Avenue, had put a sign on his damaged window. It said: “State Police Shot Up This Store!”

Residents said two carloads of state troopers entered the area sometime after 3 A.M. and fired into the store windows. Guardsmen joined in the destruction, they said, using rifle butts.

Governor Hughes, at a late afternoon news conference called the charges “hearsay” but added that he was “disturbed” by the reports ai would be glad to investigate the Negroes would provide “facts, figures, time and places.”

Immediately after the Governor’s news conference a delegation of 40 Negroes, armed with photographs of smashed storefronts and some slugs from .38-caliber bullets that said were found inside the stores, arrived at the Rosevil Avenue Armory to see the Governor and confront him with telegram they had sent to Pre ident Johnson.

They said they wanted the National Guard and the state police replaced by “fully integrated Federal troops.”

The telegram to the President explained that Federal troops were needed because of “wanton destruction of property and “actual murders” committed by the police and Nationl Guard men.

Dr. Reynold C. Burch, a leaf er of the group, said innocent Negroes had been killed in “indiscriminate firing” by the ant riot forces.

The telegram also cited “inflammatory statements” by Governor Hughes and Mayor Hugh J. Addonizio and the alleged mobilization of white vigilantes in areas bordering the Negro ghetto.

This vigilante move was fostered, the telegram said, by "ignorant statements made by the Mayor and Governor.” It urged action by the President "by nightfall.”

Governor Hughes said he was aware of Negro charges that the presence of the National Guard and the state police was only adding to the legacy of hate left by the nation’s worst racial explosion in two years He said he was “assessing” the role of the Guard and the police.

But he called the snipers "unregenerate criminals” and said the guardsmen and the state police would “remain until order is restored.”

Weary National Guard men who said they were members of Headquarters Company of the 114th Division, from Woodbury, N. J., ducked sniper fire in the Negro Central Ward in the hours between midnight and dawn yesterday.

“It’s a lousy thing,” a private first class said as he clutched his M-1 rifle with its fixed bayonet. "The first time we ever shot at anyone, and we're shooting at Americans.” The police revised their figures downward last night on the number of persons arrested land injured. They said 1,257 had been arrested and 702 injured.

In a predawn conference yesterday, Governor Hughes offered executive clemency to any prisoners who would give evidence leading to the conviction of a sniper.

Coatless, red-eyed with fatigue, still incensed over the shooting of a fire captain by snipers, the Governor denounced the sniping attacks as “senseless, terrible and criminal.”

He said that State Attorney General Arthur Sills would urge Essex County Prosecutor Brendan Byrne to propose maximum sentences for charges growing out of sniping incidents. He also said he would ask the State Supreme Court to expedite the court calendars to allow the earliest possible processing of these cases.

"I will urge clemency for looters if, and only if, such persons give information leading to the arrest of a person for sniping,” the Governor said.

No Conspiracy Seen Governor Hughes, appearing with Mayor Addonizio on a televised news conference at noon, said the police estimated that as many as 25 snipers were operating in the ghetto. He said he had been told that "some” of those arrested were from outside the city, and added that the police believed some dead snipers were still in or on buildings in Central Ward.

Neither the Governor nor the Mayor said he had any evidence of a conspiracy by an outside group, but the Governor said that “the rather expert sniping, the jumping from place to place—the cruel and despicable efficiency with which this sniping occurred—indicates some organization and some coordination between these criminals participating in it.”

He charged that many of the rioters were "committing violence because they hate America.”

Early yesterday afternoon, escorted by a carload of state policemen with riot guns, Governor Hughes made a quick tour of Negro districts. He said he was pleased to find a partly looted chain grocery had reopened again for business.

He said he thought that the looting and plundering phase of the disorders was over, but reports of scattered pillage later in the day proved him premature.

Mr. Hughes said he had told the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, the Right Rev. Leland Stark, one of the sponsors of the national black power conference scheduled to start here Thursday, that he couldn’t think of "a worse time or a worse place to have a black power meeting.”

He insisted again that he did not need Federal troops. What the Federal government should do, he said, is send all possible economic aid to the city.

Newark is chronically depressed, with an unemployment rate considerably more than double the national average. Economic misery is the root cause of the riot, the Governor said.

Local leaders of the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee held a news conference yesterday afternoon and issued a demand for "immediate withdrawal of National Guard units and state and Newark police from the ghetto.

James Hooper, chairman of the Newark CORE, said Mayor Addonizio had neglected Negro problems. One major grievance, he said, was lack of relocation facilities for people displaced by the proposed construction of a medical college in the heart of the ghetto.

The presence of troops and police only intensified the rioting, Mr. Hooper said.

"Parents aren’t going to sit back and let their kids get shot up,” said Jesse Allen, a CORE organizer. “They’ll go into the streets, too. Then this town will turn into a cemetery. The police are out of control and the National Guard is out of control, too.”

The leaders said the black power conference should proceed as scheduled.

But the crowd of white men loitering near Governor Hughes’s command post in the Roseville Armory sounded equally aggressive.

“If they want war, they’ll get it,” growled one man.

Something very much like war has occurred here as sniper fire from roofs and blackened windows has caused police to spray bullets into tenements and housing projects at scattered points.

Half a dozen fire stations have come under sniper fire. Engine Company 12, in the West Ward, was forced to stay in its quarters for several hours by intense fire.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.22

192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu. 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt. 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo. 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet. 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV. 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty. 1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly descrating consecrated Host. 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe. 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England. 1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish. 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War. 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg. 1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome. 1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.[6] 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri. 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason. 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time. 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day. 1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage. 1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished. 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique. 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent. 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery. 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history. 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army's Red River Campaign ends in failure. 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers. 1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative. 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine". 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century. 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246. 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China. 1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world's most destructive earthquakes. 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel. 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah. 1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies. 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern. 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece. 1957 – South Africa's government approves of racial separation in universities. 1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils. 1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board. 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later. 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society. 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. 1967 – L'Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history. 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores. 1969 – Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface. 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations. 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave. 1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India. 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen. 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations. 1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting. 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton. 2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna. 2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. 2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737. 2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League). 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history. 2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m). 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil. 2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries. 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum. 2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. 2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.