E. KY Middle-Schoolers Point the Way to Their Future

Ashland is coal country, made filthy and unhealthy by the refineries and coal trucks and poverty.  But these kids - these students of a public school teacher in a public goddamn school - rose above all that to point the way.

From the Herald:

Students at Ashland Middle School won a $150,000 grand prize Wednesday in a national Samsung competition for inventing a device that helps people safely pick up dirty heroin needles.

 

The students hope their invention will help keep first responders and others safe in Boyd County, where staff at a local elementary school scan playgrounds every day for discarded needles.

Students who worked on the project said they are happy to be recognized for the invention and hope it is mass-produced and distributed across the country.

“We’re just super excited,” said Aubree Hay, an 8th grader at Ashland Middle School who worked on the project. “Getting our project out and more advertised especially, this is such a big deal for us. It’s a really good feeling.”

Not another dumb robot, this is something practical and necessary that solves an immediate public health and safety problem.

Too bad that Gov. "I Got Mine, Fuck You" and repug legislators are doing every thing they can to make sure those kids will flee Kentucky the second they graduate, and go to states that actually fund their public schools and turn out budgets that grow the economy instead of stripping it bare.

After Taking Your Health Care, Bevin Arranges to Kill You By Radiation and Overweight Trucks

Seriously, repugs are just flat-out doing everything they can to kill everyone who is not rich.

From the press release:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 12, 2017) - Gov. Matt Bevin will join state and local officials in Paducah on Wednesday to ceremonially sign the recently enacted Senate Bill 11. The legislation, known as the “Leeper Act,” lifts Kentucky’s 33-year-old moratorium on nuclear power plant construction.

McCracken County is home to the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium from 1954 until 2013 and employed more than 1,000 local residents at its peak.

And if you think that is no big deal, the Leeper Act nuclear moratorium saved Kentucky from  a dozen Three-Mile-Islands-in-waiting. Every new coal and gas plant built since 1986 would be a Chernobyl waiting to happen. And now we get to find out just how dangerous they are.

We already know how dangerous overweight trucks are; before the legislation repugs are killing, overweight trucks killed dozens of Kentuckians.  But hey, they were probably Democrats anyway so who cares.

From the press release:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 12, 2017) - Gov. Matt Bevin will join state and local officials in Henderson on Wednesday to ceremonially sign the recently enacted House Bill 184. This measure increases roadway weight limits for trucks, bringing them in line with competing states.

This legislation will positively impact a wide array of Kentucky businesses, including the aluminum industry—which directly employees 18,000 workers and supplies the Commonwealth’s auto manufacturers.

Oh, yeah lots of new jobs.  Repairing the highways turned to asphalt dust by overweight trucks. Scraping the bodies off the highways after overweight trucks pancaked their cars.

The deadline for filing to run for repugs seats in the General Assembly is January 30, 2018.  That's just seven and a half months away. Throwing their medieval asses out is the ONLY way to reverse Bevin's destruction.  Start raising money and knocking on doors NOW.

Bevin Finds New Way to Kill Kentuckians

Mention the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire to anyone who was around Kentucky 40 years ago, and you get shudders of horror.  Because that's what it was: unmitigated horror.

 

And all because of nonexistent enforcement of building codes.  It took gubernatorial and legislative courage to fix that problem and save tens of thousands of lives.

 

It took Gov. Lying Coward about five seconds to undo it and invite a new Beverly Hills Supper Club horror into the Commonwealth.

 

Jack Coleman in the Herald:

On May 28, 1977 a devastating fire swept through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate. It was discovered shortly before 9 p.m. and burned throughout the night, killing 165 people. Official investigations into what caused the fire were inconclusive, but the most commonly cited factor was the aluminum wiring.

SNIP

 

The Kentucky fire brought statewide attention to the lack of building-code enforcement and put renewed emphasis on legislation that sought to provide proper oversight of the construction industry. 

SNIP

 

Because Gov. Julian Carroll and the legislature worked together to address this tragedy, we are able to celebrate 39 years of protecting the public from a repeat. That’s why one must wonder at the thought process, or lack thereof, of the Bevin administration in its current effort to effectively gut the department and silence its correlative trades, architects, associations, code officials and professionals.

Gov. Matt Bevin’s Executive Order 2016-849, issued Nov. 29, violates or conflicts with over 30 enacted statutes and recklessly replaces the Kentucky Board of Housing with a 17-member advisory committee. The real danger is the abolition of the eight boards and committees that have been lifelines for protecting the public and ensuring an educated and professional workforce in all trades.

Bevin knows that if you die in slow agony from fire and suffocation in a public venue you naturally assumed was safe, that's your own fault for expecting repug government to protect you.

Especially this government.

Rules for Cops in U.S. States About the Same As In Somalia

Our health care, infrastructure, education, domestic safety from gun violence and social safety net all fall woefully short of standards in civilized countries.  Why should law enforcement be any different? 

And of course, Kentucky falls close to the "Somalia" standard.

Bryan Schatz at Mother Jones:

Every single US state fails to comply with global standards for police use of lethal force, according to an Amnesty International USA report that was released late last week. Several states allow the use of lethal force in order to "suppress opposition to arrest," to "suppress a riot or mutiny," and even to prevent an escape from prison. In some states, the report notes, deadly force can be used in cases of less serious crimes, like burglary. Only eight states require a verbal warning before law enforcement can start firing. And nine states have no laws dealing with the issue at all. All of which, Amnesty says, is out step with international standards established by the United Nations.

SNIP

Here’s a passage from the report outlining its key findings:

All 50 states and Washington, D.C. fail to comply with international law and standards on the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers.

Nine states and Washington, D.C. have no laws on use of lethal force by law enforcement officers: Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Ohio; South Carolina; Virginia; West Virginia; Wisconsin, Wyoming; and the District of Columbia.

Thirteen states have laws that do not comply even with the lower standards set by US constitutional law on the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers: Alabama; California; Delaware; Florida; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; New Jersey; New York; Oregon; Rhode Island; South Dakota; and Vermont.

None of the state statutes require that the use of lethal force may only be used as a last resort with non-violent and less harmful means to be tried first.

No state limits the use of lethal force to only those situations where there is an imminent threat to life or serious injury to the officer or to others.

Nine states allow for the use of lethal force to be used to suppress a riot: Arizona; Delaware; Idaho; Mississippi; Nebraska; Pennsylvania; South Dakota; Vermont and Washington.

Twenty two states allow for law enforcement officers to kill someone trying to escape from a prison or jail: Alabama; Colorado; Delaware; Georgia; Hawaii; Idaho; Indiana; Kentucky; Maine; Mississippi; Montana; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; South Dakota and Washington.

Only eight states require that a warning be given (where feasible) before lethal force is used, however no state meets the requirement for a warning under international standards: Connecticut; Florida, Indiana; Nevada; New Mexico; Tennessee; Utah and Washington.

Only three states provide that officers should create no "substantial risk" to bystanders when using lethal force: Delaware; Hawaii and New Jersey.

Twenty states allow for private citizens (non-state actors) to use lethal force if they carry out law enforcement activities, for example assisting an officer in making an arrest: Alabama; Arizona; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Indiana; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Mississippi; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Dakota; Pennsylvania; South Dakota; Texas and Washington.

Only two states provide by statute for training on the use of lethal force: Georgia and Tennessee.

None of the states' "use of lethal force" statutes include accountability mechanisms, including for example the requirement of obligatory reporting for the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officers.

How Repug Fear Infantalizes Us

I am continually stunned by how people who lived through World War II and the Cold War - genuine existential threats to our democracy let alone existence - can with a straight face demand hysterical overreaction to a bunch of antediluvian goat-fuckers in the desert.

Digby:

"Nothing matter is we aren't safe..." There you go. That excuses any breach of human decency, law and norm. Because I hate to break the news to people, you will never be perfectly safe. We used to be a mature enough society to understand that. But now that we have the Daddy Party infantilizing us, a whole lot of Americans are so easily frightened they just want to suck their thumbs and hear a nice bedtime story about what good girls and boys they are.

Charlie Pierce:

The fact is that a lot of things "matter" even if we're not "safe." Climate change matters. Income inequality matters. Poverty matters. They "mattered" before September 11, 2001 and they "mattered" afterwards and they "matter" now. (They "mattered" before and after the Oklahoma City bombing, for all that. And Lincoln expanded higher education and built the intercontinental railroad with the goddamn Army Of Northern Virginia a few days' march down the road from Washington. They "mattered," too. So did the war. America used to be like that.) If "nothing matters if we aren't safe," then everything is up for grabs if and when some lunatic decides to demonstrate that we're not. Marco Rubio wants to lead a fearful nation. Fine. Let him go find one.

Protesters are Pro-Community, Not Anti-Police.

Because the police are anti-community.

Alex S. Vitale at The Nation:

It is this mindset that undergirds the punitive nature of the “broken windows” theory and the mindset of many police. Therefore, when people talk about restricting the power of the police in any way, they aren’t just threatening the power of police as such, they are threatening the very stability of society. And many police deeply resent the criticism because they really do feel they risk their lives for the well-being of others.

In order to get out of this dysfunction dynamic, we need to focus intently on the ways in which communities can be made safe and functioning without relying on people with handcuffs and guns. Every time a community calls for more police to solve their crime and disorder problems, it is re-empowering not just the police but a deeply conservative ideology that is, at root, demeaning to poor people and dismissive of the ability of the state to use social programs and market interventions to empower and reinvigorate communities. The challenge is not to be anti-police or pro-police, it is to be pro-community.

Public Funds

ummagumma.co:

(Source: nevertheh3ro)

The Real Price of Inequality

Economic inequality doesn't just mean that some people are way richer than others.  It means that the bigger the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest, the more damage it causes to the economy and society, harming everyone.

It's already driven the U.S. into the ranks of the Third World.

Down With Tyranny:

Lately you've been hearing a few political leaders, particularly Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Brian Schatz and Bernie Sanders in the Senate and some of the Progressive Caucus members in the House, talking about steeply rising income inequality. They're talking about the kind of inequality that's part of vicious cycle that inevitably leads to oligarchy, plutocracy or outright fascism, in which a few families, through an accumulation of wealth and power, can dictate the laws and even the societal norms and control the mechanisms of enforcement to such an extent that they can virtually enslave an entire passive population.

It can't happen here? The manifestations are already undeniable. The greed and rapacity of the .01% has become so overbearing and their refusal to pay their fair share of taxes so debilitating that a UNICEF report I ran across this morning, a report that would have scandalized an empowered middle class anytime between the time Harry Truman was president until the beginning of the new normal under Ronald Reagan. The report goes a lot deeper than the shocking chart at top of the page which ranks 29 developed countries according to the overall well-being of their children. The 5 countries ranked at the very bottom include 4 of the poorest-- Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Greece-- plus the U.S., which is both one of the richest and one with the least economic equality. Those 5 countries, along with Italy, Portugal and Spain, have child poverty rates higher than 15%. The only countries that have allowed the child poverty gap to widen to more than 30%. are Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and, of course, the United States.

Some of the manifestations of America's rush to the bottom:

• The only developed countries with infant mortality rates higher than 6 per 1,000 births are Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and the United States.

• Only in Greece, Hungary, Portugal and the United States does the low birthweight rate exceed 8%.

• Only Canada, Greece and the United States have childhood obesity levels higher than 20%. The United States had the highest proportion of children overweight at both the beginning and end of the decade, reaching almost 30% by 2009/2010.

• Romania, the UK and the United States have the highest rates of teenage births (above 29 per 1,000).

• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the United States are the only countries in which the homicide rate rises above 4 per 100,000. Almost all other countries fall into the range of 0 to 2.5 per 100,000.

KY's Not Guns-Everywhere Georgia - Yet

But if an asshole with an assault rifle - oops, that's redundant - bumped into you in the Kroger parking lot, and you told him to take his substitute penis back home, and he shot you dead on stand-your-ground, do you really think a Kentucky jury would convict him, if he were even arrested?

No, it wouldn't.

Mike Wynn at the Courier:

The number of gun permits issued in Kentucky has quadrupled over the past 10 years, thanks in part to at least a dozen measures the General Assembly has passed to ease restrictions in the state's concealed carry law.

State police issued 59,530 concealed-carry licenses in 2013, a 447 percent increase from the 10,884 that were given out in 2004. More than twice as many people received a permit last year as compared to 2012, when a school shooting in Newtown, Conn., raised fears of tightened gun laws.

Meanwhile, the state legislature has passed at least a dozen measures over the past decade — often with support from the National Rifle Association — to speed up the application process and gradually give permit-holders more flexibility.

Austerity Kills, Part the Infinite

From Firedoglake:

- Federal officials warn the government it may not have the necessary funds to battle wildfires this summer.

I say we make a list of the austerity hysterics and libertarians and climate deniers and their home addresses so that firefighters can be sure to avoid contaminating their property with Big Gubmint when the drought-fed blazes arrive.

One of Those Safe Pipelines Explodes in Kentucky, Destroying Homes

In the reality-based world, this would be the end of the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline. But we're living in fossil-fuel-worshipping, corporate-cocksucking, who-cares-about-a-buncha-hillbillies world.

Mark Boxley at the Courier:

Two homes were destroyed, 20 residences were evacuated and two people received non-life threatening injuries early Thursday in Adair County after a natural gas transportation line exploded, leaving a 60-foot crater near Highway 76 in Knifley.

The first call came in at about 1:04 a.m. CST when residents heard and felt rumbling under their feet, said Adair County Emergency Management Agency director Greg Thomas. Then came the explosion and a ball of fire, he said.

Three homes, two barns and as many as six vehicles caught fire after the blast, he said. Two of the three homes were completely destroyed.The 30-inch natural gas line was about 100 feet from Highway 76 buried 30 feet down in the side of the hill. When it blew, the result was catastrophic, Thomas said.

“There is now a crater 60 feet deep and it blew rocks out, and I don’t mean pebbles ... big rocks,” he said, adding a 20- to 30-foot section of pipe was thrown more than 300 feet.

After the explosion 20 homes in the area were evacuated and residents will not be able to return home until the state fire marshal says it is safe to do so, Thomas said.

Republican state senators who have been lobbied by constituents to oppose the Bluegrass Pipeline of toxic fracking waste have been skirting the issue by opposing eminent domain for private corporations that are not utilities, but emphasizing that they do not oppose pipelines per se.

Really, assholes? Guess there aren't enough voters in Knifley to worry about.

Don't Cross Any Bridges in Pennsylvania

Firedoglake:

- Pennsylvania finally decided to fix its bridges. It’s decision, however, was to just privatize the bridges and let the market update them. Not good.

First, the corporate motherfuckers who now own the bridges will build toll booths and charge you to cross the bridges your tax dollars are already paying for.

Then, they won't do any maintenance or repair at all.  They'll just wait until the things collapse then skip town with their taxpayer booty. Never mind the dead bodies.

And don't forget the bribes - also from your tax dollars - paid to the legislators and bureaucrats who sold public property to private greedheads.

Government Regulations Saved Lives in One Crash; Lack of Them Killed Dozens in the Other.

On Tuesday night, Chris Hayes asked why we don't apply the same pressure on government to make fertilizer plants and freight trains carrying explosive petroleum products more safe.

Silly Chris. Rich people fly on planes. Rich people don't work in fertilizer plants or live in the path of runaway freight trains.

Igor Volsky at Think Progress:

As the nation breathes a sigh of relief for the many passengers of Asiana Airlines passengers on Flight 214 who escaped uninjured after their Boeing 777 crashed in San Francisco, aircraft safety experts are attributing the relatively small number of fatalities to government regulations adopted in the aftermath of past accidents.

In the past decade, the Federal Aviation Administration — the office responsible for overseeing all aspects of civil aviation — has instituted a series of aircraft safety standards that undoubtedly saved lives on Saturday, Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, told ThinkProgress on Tuesday morning, pointing to new mandates for everything from seating to enhanced training of flight attendants. American regulations lead the world and are typically adopted by airlines in Europe and Japan, with only minor adjustments.

For instance, in 1988 airplanes began installing so-called 16 G passenger seats that stay in place “when subjected to stresses up to 16 times the force of gravity” after regulators discovered “that passengers might survive a crash were they not crushed to death when the seats tore loose from the floor.” Despite initial opposition from the airline industry, final regulations were implemented in June of 2009 and Goelz believes that the stronger chairs prevented passengers from being thrown throughout the cabin as the rear of the Flight 2014 slammed down on the ground, allowing individuals to evacuate in time.

“It’s hard for me to imagine that if the old 9 G standard would have been part of that airplane those seats would have behaved as well as they did,” Todd Curtis, an air safety analyst added.

A series of evolutionary changes to fire code requirements also protected passengers on the flight. FAA implemented reduced flammability and nontoxic gas emissions of interior components after an Air Canada accident in 1983 caused a fire in which the overwhelming majority of passengers died from toxic gas and smoke. It also instituted an enhanced burn-through rate standard to guarantee that the skin of the airplane and insulation resist fire for up to four minutes, allowing passengers more time to escape. Regulations require that airlines and flight attendants be able to evacuate a full passenger load with only half of the exits operating in under 90 seconds.

But Goelz now fears that sequestration and the GOP’s zeal for applying greater cost benefit analysis to all safety regulations could prevent regulators from instituting such safety standards in the future. The regulations outlined above would “have a tough time meeting the kind of cost benefit analysis that these guys want,” Goelz said, noting House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster’s (R-PA) push for more burdensome economic analysis. Curtis disagreed with this characterization, arguing that the industry itself had incentives to unilaterally implement additional safety requirements.

Lawmakers gave the FAA relief from the first round of sequestration, “but the idea that they’re going to have another round of it is pretty ominous,” Goelz added, “safety investigators are going to ber laid off or pushed back.”

As for the Canadian catastrophe, Zoe Carpenter writes:

A debate about the relative merits of transporting crude oil by pipeline or by rail reignited over the weekend, after a runaway freight train carrying seventy-two cars of oil exploded and leveled Lac-Mégantic, Quebec.

The disaster exposed a significant lack of regulation governing the shipment of crude oil via rail, and raised questions about the continued use of old tanker cars known to be unsafe.

Stupid, Self-Destructive City Budget Tricks

Smart people don't stiff their hairdresser, insult their food server or cut cop and firefighter pay to less than teenagers get to flip burgers.

Think Progress:

Ignoring a federal judge’s injunction, Scranton, Pennsylvania moved ahead with its plan to reduce the pay of city workers to the federal minimum wage starting Friday. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty claims the city is broke and that the minimum wage payments are all it can possibly pay.

Given that cities and states appear to be broke only because Congressional repugs have repeatedly blocked all Democratic attempts to restore federal funding, let us hope that Doherty's move is a stunt to call attention to the desperate need for federal stimulus, rather than his actual solution to the problem.