#Metropolitan Planning Organization

[wausaupilot]

Wausau Metropolitan Planning Organization creates work group to study transit expansion

A work group formed by the Marathon County Planning Commission will explore the possibility of expanding Metro Ride bus service beyond Wausau to neighboring towns and cities, an issue that has repeatedly been discussed in the community.

Damakant Jayshi A work group formed by the Marathon County Planning Commission will explore the possibility of expanding Metro Ride bus service beyond Wausau to neighboring towns and cities, an issue that has repeatedly been discussed in the community. Transit service today is available only on limited routes in Wausau. The Transit Planning Work Group, announced on Tuesday during a meeting of…

[reasonsforhope]

"Amsterdam’s roofs have just been converted into a giant sponge that will make the city more climate resilient.

The Dutch have always been famous for their ability to control water, born out of the necessity of their homeland, much of which is below sea level.

Now, their expert water management skills are transforming the city skyline in the capital city of Amsterdam from one of terracotta tile, concrete, and shingles into green grass and brown earth.

It’s part of a new climate-resiliency trend in architecture and civic planning known as the ‘sponge city concept,’ in which a garden of water-loving plants, mosses, and soil absorbs excess rainwater before feeding it into the building for use in flushing toilets or watering plants on the ground.

If heavy rains are predicted, a smart valve system empties the stored rainwater into the municipal storm drains and sewers in advance of the weather, allowing the roof to soak up water and reduce flooding in the city.

In this way, the rooftops of buildings can be wrung out and filled up just like a sponge.

In Amsterdam, 45,000 square meters, or 11 acres of flat metropolitan rooftops have already been fitted with these systems, and the contracting firms behind the technology say they make sense in dry climates like Spain just as much as in wet climates like Amsterdam...

A 4-year project of different firms and organizations called Resilio, the resilient network for smart climate adaptive rooftops, rolled out thousands of square meters of sponge city technology into new buildings. As with many climate technologies, the costs are high upfront but tend to result in savings from several expenditures like water utilities and water damage, over a long-enough time horizon...

All together, Amsterdam’s sponge capacity is over 120,000 gallons.

“We think the concept is applicable to many urban areas around the world,” Kasper Spaan from Waternet, Amsterdam’s public water management organization, told Wired Magazine. “In the south of Europe–Italy and Spain–where there are really drought-stressed areas, there’s new attention for rainwater catchment.”

Indeed the sponge city concept comes into a different shade when installed in drought-prone regions. Waters absorbed by rooftops during heavy rains can be used for municipal purposes to reduce pressure on underground aquifers or rivers, or be sweated out under the Sun’s rays which cools the interior of the building naturally.

Additionally, if solar panels were added on top of the rooftop garden, the evaporation would keep the panels cooler, which has been shown in other projects to improve their energy generation.

“Our philosophy in the end is not that on every roof, everything is possible,” says Spaan, “but that on every roof, something is possible.”

Matt Simon, reporting on the Resilio project for Wired, said succinctly that perhaps science fiction authors have missed the mark when it came to envisioning the city of the future, and that rather than being a glittering metropolis of glass, metal, and marble as smooth as a pannacotta, it will look an awful lot more like an enormous sculpture garden."

-via Good News Network, May 15, 2024

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Spider-Man Noir: The Timeline Part 1 (2009, issues #1-4)

Okay so Noir is a wild ride considering how Quickly everything happens, so I took a dig at tracking the time passed through each plot point. Obviously Heavy spoilers if you haven't read the Spider-Man Noir (2009) run. Go read that now if you want to keep digging here. If not that's fine, this is like. For me and 4 other noir heads in my notes.

Spider-Man Noir begins with a flashforward with Noir in a particularly incriminating scene with "JJ" in January 1933.

However Noir's story starts three weeks earlier in December 1932.

Now it's unclear in the shift to Urich's perspective when he says "three weeks ago", whether he meat three weeks prior to his murder or three weeks prior to where the flashforward took place. I'm operating off the belief that it's the former.

So, our notes start:

All within the same night Ben Urich meets Aunt May (who he has never seen in person, but is aware of her reputation) and Peter, takes Peter to the Black Cat speakeasy, and sets Peter up with a job at the Bugle

Within the first week of working under Urich, Peter opens up to Urich about what happened to his Uncle

Two weeks later, Urich and Peter's photo of the fire makes it to the late edition of the Daily Bugle. Btw the late edition of a paper is published in the evening, and can cover breaking news that wasn't covered in the morning edition

Within this same night Peter discovers Urich's drug addiction, takes a call meant for Urich's "Spider" alias, witnesses Goblin's goons move around boxes of artifacts meant for the Metropolitan Museum, and gets bitten by one of the spiders from the broken statue

The next morning Urich has a meeting with the Goblin, Peter attacks the Goblin, and retreats upon the discovery of Urich's involvement

That night Urich plans to spill all his collected black mail to the Bugle, but is killed by the JJ imposter, in which Felicia secretly witnesses. This same night Peter sews together his suit, and is the one to find Ben's body

Interrupting the flow here to poke at this. This bit of inner monologue gives us an estimate to when Uncle Ben was murdered. Six months ago from an unspecified time in January is about the middle of summer, but only if Peter is being straightforward about how much time it would take to save Uncle Ben.

Other tid bits about Uncle Ben:

Served as a pilot in the first WWI, but was ashamed of his part and refused to take out his uniform (in which Peter will transform into his suit)

A year ago, Uncle Ben helped organize demonstrations that shut down 3 of Adolfus Crane's (an industrialist we see at the Black Cat) sweat shops

Anyway back to our regularly scheduled bullet points.

Peter was plucked off the streets into the Black Cat, "The day after Urich was rubbed out." As per Urich's wishes, Felicia entrusts Peter with all the black mail files he had complied of the Goblin's inner workings.

Two days after Urich died they threw his funeral.

For an unspecified amount of time Peter began working on crumbling the Goblin's influence in NY. Long enough for news articles to be made about "The Spider-Man", and long enough for the Goblin to be given a week's deadline to get rid of him. I would estimate between one to two weeks in consideration of the later time skip

Interrupting the flow again to poke at this specific file here. It's labeled "Freak Show Coney Island 1928". It's unclear whether this is the date Urich complied these documents, or the date in which the freak show took place. If it was the latter, that would mean the Goblin's entourage has only been serving him for about five years. Since there's no indication of how long Goblin has been terrorizing this city, I can't confirm either case.

Something that can also be considered about the length of Goblin's hold on the city is that he's been there long enough for Felicia to leave Ben for, and for Felicia to eventually leave the Goblin himself.

Anyway back to our regularly scheduled bullet points.

The night that Peter goes to confront JJ after the publishing of the first paper smearing Spider-Man, he finds the fake JJ already shot (later revealed to have been shot by Felicia, who had already fled the scene)

Just hours after JJ's death, Peter breaks into the city's morgue to discover the JJ who died was actually the Chameleon. Within these hours Felicia is also captured and brought to the Goblin's "torture house" where the real JJ has been kept

And again within these few hours, Peter saves Aunt May from the Vulture by killing him with Uncle Ben's gun, rushes over to the "torture house", and has his final scrap with Goblin and his men

And now to finally consider this two month time skip. We're given some context clues into what time this could be. It's no longer winter, so it has to be in Spring.

And then we're given real political events to draw on. President Franklin D. Roosevelt has been inaugurated into office at this point, so it has to be past March 4, 1933. Then we have the mention of "The Enabling Act" in the Daily Bugle's newspaper, which was passed on March 23, 1933.

So from all this little background detail we can deduct that Noir took place from late December 1932 through January 1933, with the time skip taking place in the late March of 1933.

Anyway yeah. That all happened. That fast. I will! Do a separate post on EWAOF (which takes place in September 1933, only 6 months later!!!), and the other runs beyond that even if I have personal beef with them. Later skaters

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Wondering what kind of shenanigans you foresee Meghan trying to pull re: Kamala Harris? I’ve seen a puff piece claiming “Meghan would love to endorse Harris” floating around but that was last week when people with much bigger names actually were coming out to endorse. That article mentioned that Meghan had been in close touch with Shannon Watts (Moms Demand Action co-founder) who organized a fundraising zoom call for Harris last week that had several celebrities on it, but if Meghan was on the call then she wasn’t asked to speak or wasn’t mentioned. I think you’ve said before that most people in politics have already figured Meghan out, but I can’t help but think she’s going to be desperate to try and do something, especially considering both she and Harris are mixed-race California women. In my own personal opinion, if the Obama’s won’t touch her with a ten foot pole then neither will Harris, and the last thing a serious presidential candidate should want to do is give the time of day to someone who has public beef with one of our best allies…but who knows

*not trying to start a political debate on your blog. I simply am curious as to your thoughts on if/how Meghan will try to hijack this moment, and what her success level will be.

There was gossip a couple months back that Meghan and Harry were planning to contribute to the election in some way again - my thought was that they were probably going to do another GOTV video, even though it was widely panned and criticized.

But now that the race has changed and the presumptive nominee is Kamala Harris? I’m actually not so sure anymore. Kamala and her team would be fully aware, and wary, of the way Meghan operates, given their relationships in California politics, friendships with the Obamas and Bidens, and Kamala’s position in the party.

Will Meghan try to get in and do some politicking? Absolutely. But the campaign will probably keep her at arm’s distance because they know all the dirt and the closest Meghan will get to them is a sudsy public service announcement on the importance of voting or maybe a spot at a closed-door private fundraising dinner hosted by a WME connection.

Will Meghan try to manifest a relationship or a connection with Kamala? Absolutely, again. In fact it’s already started - @the-empress-7 pointed out yesterday that Meghan’s press releases and emails have begun using vocabulary and style that mimics Kamala’s speeches. So the subtle SEO work is in progress, and I would expect it to ramp up in the coming weeks as the Democrats come to Chicago for the convention.

Speaking of Chicago, Harry’s been to Chicago a few times for work with the Obamas. And let’s not forget that Meghan went to college in Chicago (technically, in the metropolitan area of Chicago but she doesn’t care about facts). So there are increasing odds that we *might* see the Sussexes in Chicago. My theory is we’ll see her GOTV ad during the convention primetime air slots.

Since Meghan seems to be on a new kick with Moms Demand Action (because mom is her latest rebranding) and it ties in nicely with Harry’s security salvo from last week about how dangerous the UK is (which certainly isn’t helped by what happened in Southport yesterday), my feeling is that she may be trying to wedge herself in the door through them. But how will she act? There’s a few possibilities:

Another NYT op-ed endorsing Kamala.

In a “(identity politics) for Harris” call/conference.

Through some magazine article feature story because it’s time for her to win another award.

A special episode of her podcast, now hosted at Lemonada.

I can’t say why, but my gut is saying it’s going to be an op-ed of some kind or an appearance at an issues-based conference/summit that no one’s heard about. Because Meghan is uniquely qualified more than anyone to speak on the horrors of having to live under constant threat of danger just to do ordinary things in her ordinary life…which she will say with left eye, one tear, go to parents that have lost their children to school violence and everyone will be uncomfortable.

I’ll end it with this. If it’s true that Harry will be spending 4+ weeks in the UK soon, we should fully expect Meghan to go nuts with paparazzi stunts and appearances, as she usually does when Harry’s away. We could very well see her trying to get “in” with the campaign since late August/early September is when the campaigns swing into high gear.

[visit-new-york]

Central Park is a famous and iconic urban park located in the heart of Manhattan, New York City. It is one of the most visited and well-known parks in the world, covering an area of approximately 843 acres (341 hectares). Central Park offers a wide range of recreational, cultural, and natural attractions for both residents and visitors to enjoy.

Here are some key features and aspects of Central Park:

History: Central Park was designed by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and was officially opened in 1858. It was created to provide a green oasis in the midst of the rapidly growing and industrializing city, serving as a place for relaxation, recreation, and cultural enrichment.

Landscape and Design: The park's design incorporates a diverse array of landscapes, including open meadows, woodlands, ponds, lakes, and formal gardens. It features winding pathways, picturesque bridges, and scenic vistas. The design was influenced by the "romantic" or naturalistic style, with the intention of creating a harmonious environment where visitors could escape the hustle and bustle of the city.

Attractions: Central Park boasts numerous attractions, including:

The Central Park Zoo: A small but popular zoo within the park.

The Central Park Conservatory Garden: A beautifully landscaped formal garden.

The Great Lawn: A vast open space often used for concerts and events.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir: A scenic jogging and walking track around a large reservoir.

Bethesda Terrace and Fountain: An iconic gathering spot with stunning architectural features.

Strawberry Fields: A tribute to John Lennon, featuring the "Imagine" mosaic.

The Loeb Boathouse: Offering boat rentals and dining with a view of the Central Park Lake.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: While not technically part of the park, it is located along its eastern edge, often referred to as the "Museum Mile."

Activities: Visitors can engage in a wide range of activities within Central Park, such as jogging, picnicking, biking, bird-watching, horseback riding, and ice skating in the winter. The park also hosts various events, including concerts, theater performances, and outdoor movies during the summer months.

Conservancy: The Central Park Conservancy is a private, nonprofit organization that plays a significant role in maintaining and preserving the park. It raises funds for park improvements, restoration projects, and ongoing maintenance efforts.

Filming Location: Central Park has been a popular location for movies and television shows over the years, making it instantly recognizable to audiences around the world.

Central Park's enduring popularity and iconic status make it a must-visit destination for anyone traveling to New York City. It provides a peaceful and natural escape in the midst of the urban jungle and serves as a testament to the value of green spaces in urban planning.

[mbta-unofficial]

So you want to fix ya City, do ya?

Local activism works better and faster than any other kind, because you don’t need to go as far to get results.

If you want to understand how to make change, here are some steps.

1. Pick a Lane

Your energy is finite. One issue that gets the lions share of it will make way more difference than a lot of blogging and not a lot else about everything. Whatever your lane is, try to pick it thoughtfully and stick with it. A local issue will be way more moveable than a remote one, but the internet can be used to raise money for anything so it doesn’t need to be next door.

You’re gonna worry about other stuff. That’s ok. Let someone else handle it.

2. Lay of the Land

You are not the first person to look at this problem. Organizations exist to take this on, and the knowledge they have is indispensable to your goals. Your first step should be to be to find them: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. If you have a local newspaper, read it. If you don’t, go to your city’s reddit page and see where they get their info.

All Cities have an MPO or Metropolitan Planning organization. These are non-profits (usually) who advise the government on a variety of issues. Sign up for their newsletter. Find out when their next meeting is. Go.

Your issue will probably have an activist council, such as the MBTA ROC for transit advocates. Sign up for their newsletter. Find out when their next meeting is. Go.

Your city will likely have public meetings on the subject you are interested in. Find out when they are. Go.

If these aren’t relevant to your issue, you can go find other sources of information but you should try to find

a) a place where you can be in a real room with real people, or at least a zoom room. Watching videos and posting doesn’t count. Twitch streams are borderline, more than 200 or so viewers is just noise.

b) A place with a variety of ages. Old folks know things. they’ve been around the block. Young people have fresh perspectives and lots of energy. A room with just one is unlikely to produce a good plan of action

c) A place with racial and gender diversity. Boys’ clubs are common in politics, as are white only conversations about politics. The city is for everyone, and if you don’t have a diverse movement you will inevitably cater to the interests of your most powerful ally instead of helping everyone.

If you can’t find a meeting that meets these criteria, see if you can change the meeting that exists before starting your own. Institutional weight is invaluable and starting from scratch is possible but a challenge.

When you are at these meetings, do not worry about not understanding technical language. Take notes (or don’t) and google later. You are there to see, and also to be seen, because if you consistently attend public meetings you will recognize the same people there, and they will recognize you. Ask questions if you are given the opportunity but remember that you don’t need to understand everything right away and you will learn more by listening than by guessing.

You are there to make friends and learn, because you can’t do it alone.

3. Planning an action

If you have an idea for something that would help your cause, write it down. Then find out if someone else has already done it. (They almost certainly have.)

Make a list of steps. Ask your new friends about the steps. Revise your list of steps based on that feedback. You should do this at least once, no first draft is perfect. Assess how feasible the steps are. Replace any step that is impossible with an possible alternative. Give yourself twice as much time, money, and help as you think you’ll need. Review your steps.

Start stepping.

Be prepared to throw the steps out, but know that if you do because you had to, you will still have the time, money, and support that you budgeted. If you have to throw the steps out, make new ones. Keep going.

4. Post-op

You did it! You made it to the end of your steps. Get your friends to assess your work for you, and weigh their answers seriously. The problem is probably not gone, but it should be better. More importantly, you have built a system of people capable of carrying out an action. You know more, you are better connected. Go back to step 2. There is always more to learn, and that’s beautiful.

[germanpostwarmodern]

The history of postwar church architecture surely would have been significantly different if it weren’t for two things: Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp chapel and the Second Vatican Council. Both unleashed an unprecedented creativity on the part of architects and church officials with regard to form and layout.

In 2018 photographer Jamie McGregor Smith moved to Vienna and experienced the Wotruba Church, admittedly one of the most fascinating brutalist churches. This experience nurtured his desire to discover more of these kinds of modern churches and to get behind the dichotomy of an anti-modern institution and the modern church architecture. The result is “Sacred Modernity - The Holy Embrace of Modernist Architecture”, recently published by Hatje Cantz. The book collects outstanding examples of modernist church architecture from Germany, Austria, Italy, England and Poland, with each church being presented from inside and out. The impressive selection of buildings shows the ingenious spirit with which architects approached the task: audacious concrete constructions, expressive load-bearing structures and a great variety of plans that also tell of the different liturgical requirements established by the parishes. Beyond obvious examples like Gottfried Böhm’s Neviges Pilgrimage Church or Giovanni Michelucci’s Santa Maria Immacolata Jamie McGregor Smith also photographed a number of little-known gems outside metropolitan areas. The churches are organized along characterizing theological terms, a very interesting approach that adds moments of reflection to a visually stunning book.

With that said “Sacred Modernity” deserves nothing less than an enthusiastic recommendation for anyone fascinated with the multi-sensory experience modern churches are capable of providing. A real treat!

[emma-dennehy-presents]

Celebrating Black Queer Icons:

Tourmaline

Tourmaline (formerly known/credited as Reian Gossett)is a trans woman that actively identifies as queer, and is best known for her work in trans activism and economic justice. Tourmaline was born July 20, 1983, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Tourmaline's mother was a feminist and union organizer, her father a self defense instructor and anti-imprisonment advocate. Growing up in this atmosphere allowed Tourmaline to explore her identity and encouraged her to fight in what she believes in. Tourmaline has earned a BA in Comparative Ethnic Studies, from Colombia University. During her time at Colombia U, Tourmaline taught creative writing courses to inmates at Riker's Island Correctional Institute, through a school program known as Island Academy. Tourmaline has worked with many groups and organizations in her pursuit of justice. She served as the Membership Coordinator for Queers For Economic Justice, Director of Membership at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and as a Featured Speaker for GLAAD. Tourmaline also works as a historian and archivist for drag queens and trans people associated with the 1969 Stonewall Inn Uprising. She started doing this after noticing how little trans material was being archived, saying that what little did get archived was done so accidentally. In 2010 Tourmaline began her work in film by gathering oral histories from queer New Yorkers for Kagendo Murungi's Taking Freedom Home. In 2016 Tourmaline directed her first film The Personal Things, which featured trans elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. For the film Tourmaline was awarded the 2017 Queer Art Prize. Tourmaline served as the Assistant Director to Dee Rees on the Golden Globe nominated historical drama, Mudbound. Tourmaline has co produced two projects with fellow filmmaker and activist Sasha Wortzel. The first was STAR People Are Beautiful, about the work of Sylvia Rivera and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. The second was Happy Birthday, Marsha, about Marsha P Johnson. Happy Birthday, Marsha had all trans roles played by trans actors. Tourmaline's work is featured or archived in several major museums and galleries. In 2017 her work was featured in New Museum's exhibit Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. In 2020 the Museum of Modern Art acquired Tourmaline's 2019 film Salacia, a project about Mary Jones. In 2021 the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired two of Tourmaline's works for display in Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room. Tourmaline is also the sibling of:

Che Gossett

Che Gossett is a nonbinary, trans femme writer and archivist. Gossett specializes in queer/trans studies, aesthetic theory, abolitionist thought and black study. Gossett received a Doctorate in Women's and Gender Studies, from Rutgers University, in 2021. They have also received a BA in African American Studies from Morehouse college, a MAT in Social Studios from Brown University, and a MA in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Gossett has held a fellowship at Yale, and currently holds fellowships at Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge. Gossett's writing has been published in a number of anthologies and they have lectured and performed at several museums and galleries of note, including the Museum of Modern Art and A.I.R. Gallery. Gossett is currently working on finishing a political biography of queer Japanese-American AIDS activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya.

I originally intended to do separate profiles for Che Gossett Tourmaline, but could not find sufficient information about Che Gossett, beyond their credentials and current academic activity. That means that this will be the last of these write ups for a bit. I plan on picking it back up in October for the US's LGBT History Month and UK's Black History month. With time to plan ahead and research more I hope to diversify my list geographically and improve formatting. I plan on starting to include cis icons as well, like Rustin Bayard. If you come across this or any other of these posts Ive made this month I would love feedback and suggestions for figures you would like to see covered.

[mariacallous]

Years after being accused of swinging a baseball bat at police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, Edward “Jake” Lang is now using encrypted messaging channels to create a nationwide network of armed militias in all 50 states.

Though he has been in prison for over 1,200 days, Lang is working with a network of election deniers and conspiracists to promote the North American Patriot and Liberty Militia, or Napalm for short. The group officially launched last week with 50 state-specific militia groups on Telegram.

Lang claims that the Telegram groups already have 20,000 members, including pastors, farmers, former military personnel, and currently serving sheriffs. However, multiple experts who reviewed the channels tell WIRED said that figure was wildly overestimated and that the real figure was closer to 2,500 members. But a group this size, they warn, is still large enough to cause a serious threat. And while unarmed members are welcome, the group is, at its core, a pro-gun organization. “We are pro open carry, pro always have it on you, rather than waiting for somebody else to be able to defend your life,” says Lang.

As the 2024 US election approaches, Lang says that Napalm will be focusing on potential “civil unrest” around the vote. “We have to make sure that we're prepared for any real-time scenarios, any eventualities,“ says Lang. “Civil unrest at any given moment, especially around an election time, is something that could come along, and so we have to plan for that contingency as well.”

Tensions around the November vote are already at an all-time high, and many Republicans refuse to say if they will peacefully accept the outcome of the November election. Over one-third of Americans now baselessly claim that President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 was illegitimate. These conspiracies have led to a resurgence in far-right activity, of which Napalm is just the latest facet: Lang, along with all other members of the group’s leadership council, ardently believes that the 2020 election was stolen from former president Donald Trump.

“We've noted considerable energy being put into resurrecting far-right paramilitary activism right now,” Devin Burghart, the executive director at the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR), tells WIRED. “The growing talk of ‘Second Amendment remedies’ to unfavorable electoral outcomes is a serious cause for concern. Militia groups like Napalm promote political violence and sow the seeds for another potential insurrection.”

In addition to the election, Lang says that Napalm will respond to everything from natural disasters to Federal overreach, political protests, and potential Chinese invasions.

“I thought it was necessary to get organized in case these encroachments, these violations of our civil liberties, our natural rights were to escalate to a point where it'd absolutely be untenable and that we would need to defend ourselves.” Lang tells WIRED from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he is awaiting a trial set for September. “There is a tyrannical wave that has hit America that we've never seen before. And so it's time that people get organized in case they escalate to something that basically puts our very lives in danger.”

Lang, 29, is from upstate New York. He claims to have been an ecommerce entrepreneur and nightclub promoter before getting sober and finding God in late 2020. At the same time, Lang was getting deeper into “truther content” online that claimed Marxists and Communists were ruining the country. This content overlapped with election-denial conspiracies that led to the Capitol riot and inspired Lang to travel to DC.

Days after January 6, Lang was recruiting people into an armed militia on Telegram that would ostensibly fight against the incoming regime of President Biden.

“It was the first battle of the Second American Revolution—make no mistakes,” Lang wrote about the Capitol riot, according to a tranche of thousands of messages obtained by ProPublica. “This is WAR.”

That effort ended days later when Lang was arrested and charged with multiple counts of assaulting law enforcement officers, as well as felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding—some of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

After he was arrested, Lang became a figurehead for January 6 prisoners who have been falsely portrayed as “hostages” or “warriors” by Trump and his supporters. While in prison, Lang has published a book, helped produce several films, hosted his own podcast, and raised millions of dollars for inmates and their families—all related to the January 6 attack.

“It's important to recognize that Lang is, first and foremost, a grifter who knows that his ‘political prisoner’ schtick is his only shot at relevance,” says Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. “This is someone who has intentionally delayed his own trial date in an effort to remain in the spotlight and who continues to promote violent conspiracies.”

And though Lang’s original attempt at starting a militia on Telegram ended with just a few hundred followers and his arrest, he says that he has spent the past year creating Napalm from his cell with the help of far-right figures from around the country.

Among those who Lang has convinced to join his initiative is QAnon promoter Ann Vandersteel, who is the groups’ national vice chairman. Former New Mexico county commissioner Couy Griffin, who is known as the leader of Cowboys for Trump, is also on the council. In 2022, Griffin refused to certify the results of a primary election vote.

Stew Peters, who will act as the militia’s national communications director, is a Florida-based antisemitic podcaster who shot to prominence in recent years by pushing Covid conspiracies, including a wild claim that Covid vaccines were derived from snake venom. The claim was so outlandish that even other conspiracy theorists dismissed his claims as “trash.” Peters has also pushed QAnon conspiracies and white supremacist content and even called for the death sentence for the “traitors” that he claimed have stolen the elections.

When the site launched last week, one of those listed as a member of the council was Richard Mack, the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. When contacted by WIRED, however, Mack said he was not affiliated with the group: “Many groups contact me weekly to work together, but in order for that to happen they must join our mission and philosophy of nonviolence.”

Lang told WIRED that a member of his team had been speaking to Mack about his role with the group, and it was likely just a miscommunication. Hours later, however, Mack’s picture was removed from the website.

Guns appear to be a central aspect of all actions taken by the Napalm militias, even when responding to incidents like hurricanes, wildfires, or earthquakes. “Even in a natural disaster, people that are in desperate scenarios may do desperate things,” Lang said. “And I believe that open carry and carrying a firearm on your body is a natural right of all men, and it's not something to be shied away from.”

While Lang said non-gun-owners would be welcome to join the group: “They would still be trained, and they would definitely be supported in their eventual path to gun ownership.”

Though Lang says all militia activity to date has occurred online, Napalm plans to get into the real world soon. “We will have casual outings at local firing ranges for downrange training, different exercises on what to do if the power goes out, if the internet is shut down, if the water lines are contaminated, [and] wilderness survival training,” says Lang.

All new members have to go through a vetting process, which consists of a five-minute video call designed to weed out potential infiltration from law enforcement.

Once vetting has been completed, members are then placed in a private county-level chat group where they can communicate with other members of the militia. Neither WIRED nor the researchers we spoke to were able to gain access to the private chats.

In the past, a county-level militia cell structure has made it harder for law enforcement to infiltrate extremist groups.

Lang says the vetting process has been established in part as a response to what happened to militia groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in the wake of January 6. “They had these public group chats, and people said inflammatory things on there, and so we don't have those,” Lang said.

Though Lang claims that the group has signed up over 20,000 members, some experts don’t believe him.

“The best we can tell is that the numbers that the group is claiming are grossly misleading,” Jared Holt, senior researcher of US hate and extremist movements at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, tells WIRED. “This is an aspirational project. It doesn't reflect any sort of organizing infrastructure that's actively been built. It is being promoted by a group of political hucksters and shock jocks. And I wouldn't be surprised if would-be joiners of these groups come to learn that there is some kind of membership fee, some sort of financial component involved here.”

Burghart and his colleagues at IREHR also reviewed the 50 state-level Telegram channels and found a total of just over 14,000 members. However, Burghart also says that he believes that this figure is “significantly artificially inflated, with real membership closer to 2,500.”

Lang did not respond to questions about whether the Telegram channels membership numbers were artificially inflated.

But even with inflated membership numbers and lack of real-world coordination so far, experts still believe attention needs to be paid to groups like Napalm.

“The promotion of this kind of rhetoric and just mobilizing people around this idea could have reverberating effects,” says Holt. “It certainly heightens the tension of the political environment. It could certainly drive individuals who are maybe suffering some sort of crisis into thinking about more violent action or taking more extreme measures in their anti-government worldviews. And even if one of these states materializes into something with a dozen people in it, that could still cause a real problem.”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

When Interstate 25 was constructed through Denver, highway engineers moved a river.

It was the 1950s, and nothing was going to get in the way of building a national highway system. Colorado’s governor and other dignitaries, including the chief engineer of the state highway department, acknowledged the moment by posing for a photo standing on bulldozer tracks, next to the trench that would become Interstate 25.

Today, state highway departments have rebranded as transportation agencies, but building, fixing and expanding highways is still mostly what they do.

So it was notable when, in 2022, the head of Colorado’s Department of Transportation called off a long planned widening of Interstate 25. The decision to do nothing was arguably more consequential than the alternative. By not expanding the highway, the agency offered a new vision for the future of transportation planning.

In Colorado, that new vision was catalyzed by climate change. In 2019, Gov. Jared Polis signed a law that required the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent within 30 years. As the state tried to figure out how it would get there, it zeroed in on drivers. Transportation is the largest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for about 30 percent of the total; 60 percent of that comes from cars and trucks. To reduce emissions, Coloradans would have to drive less.

An effective bit of bureaucracy drove that message home. After sustained lobbying from climate and environmental justice activists, the Transportation Commission of Colorado adopted a formal rule that makes the state transportation agency, along with Colorado’s five metropolitan planning organizations, demonstrate how new projects, including highways, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If they don’t, they could lose funding.

Within a year of the rule’s adoption in 2021, Colorado’s Department of Transportation, or CDOT, had canceled two major highway expansions, including Interstate 25, and shifted $100 million to transit projects. In 2022, a regional planning body in Denver reallocated $900 million from highway expansions to so-called multimodal projects, including faster buses and better bike lanes.

Now, other states are following Colorado’s lead. Last year, Minnesota passed a $7.8 billion transportation spending package with provisions modeled on Colorado’s greenhouse gas rule. Any project that added road capacity would have to demonstrate how it contributed to statewide greenhouse gas reduction targets. Maryland is considering similar legislation, as is New York.

[uwmarchives]

If you’ve taken a walk along the #Milwaukee River, you may have wondered how the many miles of beautiful greenspace got there. Indeed, the river looked completely different fifty years ago, when the city and its industries largely treated it as a dumping ground for industrial byproducts.

The battle to restore the Milwaukee River was largely fought by the #Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District in partnership with two organizations: the Governor’s Milwaukee River Revitalization Council (#MRRC), founded in the 1980s, and its successor organization, the River Revitalization Foundation (#RRF), founded in 1994. Through a mixture of public advocacy and education, grants, coalition building, and environmental stewardship, these organizations launched a decades long effort to return the river to its pre-industrial state, leading to a gradual increase in water quality with huge benefits for the region.

The RRF has passionately communicated its vision for a greener and #sustainable #Milwaukee across the decades, and the organization has published and circulated several maps of the region as part of this effort, including this one.

This map shows the northeastern portion of the Milwaukee River, along with the borders of the Southeastern Wisconsin Planning Committee Environmental Corridor (green), adjacent park lands (yellow), and the organization’s proposed boundaries for a zone in which future development would be minimized. The purpose of this document was to solicit comment from residents in these areas about these proposed boundaries, demonstrating the RRF’s engagement in debates regarding the tradeoffs between #environmentalpreservation and the #economics of #housing and #commercial development in the municipal context.

To learn more about one of the most significant actors in Milwaukee’s recent #environmental history, #UWM Archives invites you view the River Revitalization Foundation Records, our newest collection (MSS 385).

#RussellStar-Lack

[ohsalome]

The Glazyev tapes were first made public by Ukraine’s SBU [Security Service] in August 2016, with more recordings revealed during the trial (in absentia) of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.  They appear to be intercepted telephone conversations between Sergei Glazyev, a senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin and various other figures, including Konstantin Zatulin, Director of the Russian Institute of CIS Countries who was declared persona non grata in Ukraine back in 2006 for activities linked with seeking Crimea’s secession from Ukraine.

The tapes unfortunately cover only a very small period of time – from 27 February to 3  March 2014.  It is, however, very clear even from the conversations intercepted on those days that Glazyev and Zatulin were “financing” supposedly separatist protests in Crimea, Kharkiv, Odesa and Zaporizhya. The amounts of money mentioned are high enough to mean that this was no private venture on Glazyev’s part and easily enough to ensure a considerable number of paid ‘pro-Russian protesters’.  It is equally evident that certain Ukrainian politicians (Vadim Kolesnichenko; Oleg Tsarev; Viktor Medvedchuk and Serhiy Kivalov), as well as one religious figure (Metropolitan Agafangel from the Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate) were, at very least, seen as allies.   

On 27 February, for example, Zatulin mentions to Glazyev that he has already spent 25 thousand dollars, and that he needs a further fifty thousand by the next day.  The money seems earmarked not only for Crimea, but for paying people in Kharkiv and Odesa.

Later that day, Zatulin reports that “we have financed Kharkiv, financed Odesa”.  There are ‘applications’ from other regions, he adds, but that he’s put them on hold while the question of finance is resolved.

With regard to Crimea, Zatulin mentions that there are about six thousand people with Russian flags, and a few ‘talking heads’, but that two prominent pro-Russian politicians Sergei Aksyonov and Sergei Tskekov are nowhere to be seen.  Glazyev uses vulgar language, adding: “and we fed them so much”.  In the following conversation, it becomes clear that Glazyev does not support Aksyonov’s supposed ‘election’ as Crimean ‘leader’ on the afternoon of 27 February.

Of those six thousand pro-Russian demonstrators, it is likely that many were the ones brought in by coaches for a counter-demonstration to the 10 thousand-strong demonstration organized by the Mejlis (representative assembly) of the Crimean Tatar People on 26 February.  It was that demonstration which almost certainly preventedv Russia’s plan of carrying off an apparently ‘parliamentary’ coup with pro-Russian politicians forcing through a ‘vote’ to change Crimea’s status.

One of the key ideas that Glazyev pushes during his conversations is that all ‘uprisings’ must appear to be from the local population. This had been the plan in Crimea on 26 February that the Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians who gathered in support of Ukraine’s unity thwarted. The tapes show that the same attempts were planned in Odesa and Zaporizhya.

[haveyoureadthispoll]

When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort - she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because he was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie had some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she had discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her - well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.

[mattybraps10]

New Year's Day - Nico Hischier x Jack Hughes

summary: Loosely inspired by Taylor Swift's song of the same name, this story follows Devils captain Nico Hischier as he navigates his overwhelming crush on Jack Hughes as the team tries to plan a New Year's Eve party.

word count: 2038

by: M

warnings: NSFW CONTENT, long intro, blowjobs

Throwing this year’s New Year’s Eve party was proving to be a bigger challenge than Nico Hischier was anticipating. Since he became captain, it was always on him to plan events and bring the team together outside of work. Despite this responsibility, he somehow always managed to avoid hosting events, opting to let the wags get together and plan something extravagant on his dime. This year, however, the wags decided to let the team plan it, probably for their own amusement as the men finally realized how much work actually goes into organizing events. 

Nico and Jack took it upon themselves to delve out responsibilities, assigning each player a different job. Jonas and John were assigned music which turned out to be very simple as John had just bought a new speaker. The two of them just had to make a playlist for the night. Erik and Luke worked together to figure out decorations, sending Simon, Curtis, Nate, and Jesper to pick them up from various stores. Alex, Mikey, Timo, and Dawson were in charge of catering and food, which meant they spent the next several weeks eating from every restaurant in the greater metropolitan area. The goalies: Vitek, Akira, and Nico, were in charge of the photo wall. Everyone else was expected to show up four hours early on the night of the party to set everything up. 

The day of the party came around, and everyone gathered in Nico’s apartment to decorate. All furniture was moved out of the main room, stacked haphazardly in Nico’s guest room. All was going smoothly, the speaker was working and the food was on the tables, until Luke and Erik started arguing over which decorations went where. Luke wanted the fairylights over the dance floor horizontally, whilst Erik wanted them around the entire room. Nico had to step in and offer a compromise with half of them over the dance floor and the other half on two of the four walls. 

By the time they finished setting everything up, there was thirty minutes left before everyone else showed up. Some of the guys went home to get ready with their partners and others hung around, grabbing a beer from the fridge and congratulating each other on their respective roles in the set up. The room looked surprisingly well put together. Black table cloths covered the counter and kitchen tables, food and champagne flutes resting on them. The walls were covered in lights, perfectly illuminating the room. The goalies had done an excellent job with the photo wall, black fabric cascaded down from the ceiling, giant golden 2024 balloons floating in front. The table beside it held props and the polaroid camera, perfect for the night ahead of them. 

Nico was overwhelmed by the whole process, his home now unrecognizable. He was grateful for Jack’s help in setting everything up and being there for him without him having to even ask. 

“Hey Jack, thank you. You really didn’t have to help me organize all of this.” He said, turning to face him.

“You would’ve done the same.” Jack replied simply, taking a sip of his beer and wrapping an arm around Nico. 

Nico blushed as he felt the weight of Jack’s arm on his shoulders. The captain’s crush on his alternate only deepened during the planning process. Every call to check in on the planning only reminded him how much he adored Jack. 

The music started up again as everyone flooded into the apartment. Music flooded Nico’s mind as he received compliments from his guests for the decorations. As the night wore on and as Nico progressed quickly through glasses of champagne, he found himself clinging to his alternate. His mind was foggy with thoughts of Jack. Memories of them on the ice filtered through his mind as he stood slightly too close to his teammate. 

“Jacky, ‘don’t ever become a stranger who’s laugh I could recognize anywhere.’ I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Nico whispered, his hands on either side of the smaller man’s face. 

“I’m not going anywhere buddy, don’t worry.” Jack said, trying to reassure his captain.

Nico looked into Jack’s eyes, searching for a promise of something more, something Jack could never give. 

“Let’s go to the photo booth, yeah? Then we’ll never be apart!” Jack said, moving Nico’s hands from his face.

Jack grabbed his hand pulling him across the room, his face flush from the alcohol. As Jack expertly weaved through the dance floor, Nico became distracted by the hand clutching his. He found himself wanting more once again, worrying about what would happen if he ever shared his thoughts.

“Ondrej! My man! Can you take a few polaroids of me and Hisch? Thanks!” Jack said, going through the props on the table and handing Nico a plastic crown which matched the tiara he was now wearing.

“You first, princess.” Nico said, teasing Jack and allowing him to lead him in front of the photo wall. 

Jack flushed at the nickname and Nico made a mental note to call him that again. The first photo was of them with their arms around each other, smiling at the camera. As the first photo printed, Jack and Nico planned their next one.

“I got it! Bend down a little, yeah?” Jack said, leaning in to kiss Nico on the cheek. 

Ondrej quickly took the picture, laughing at the extra flush in Nico’s cheeks and ears. 

“One more, yeah guys?” Ondrej asked, placing the second polaroid on the table. 

“Mhm, Nico you pick!” Jack smiled, making Nico flush again.

“Let’s do the party poppers! I think Luke said these ones are full of glitter.” 

“Perfect.” Jack said, taking his place next to Nico.

“Okay guys… On three. One… Two… Three!” Ondrej announced as the poppers burst. Clouds of glitter and confetti surrounded Jack and Nico as the flash of the camera went off. Rather than looking at the camera as planned, the boys were focused intently on eachother, the photo having captured the way they looked at one another perfectly. 

“Thanks!” Nico and Jack said in unison as they walked back into the crowd, the pictures already forgotten in their drunk minds. 

“OH MY GOD NEEKS I LOVE THIS SONG!!!” Jack called, grabbing Nico’s hand and pulling him onto the dance floor. 

Nico flushed at the new nickname, half convinced his face would become permanently red after this. He swayed to the music as Jack sang/yelled the words to him, something about a taxi and long roads, the words jumbled by the drunken Hughes. He couldn’t help but feel that Jack’s words targeted him, his mind racing as he looked into his alternate’s eyes searching for anything that might hint to his thoughts. As the song ended, Nico remained where he was, staring into the blue eyes that held everything he’d ever dreamed of. 

“TEN SECONDS TO MIDNIGHT!” Someone yelled, as everyone grabbed their partners in anticipation.

“Ten…” 

“Nico?” Jack whispered, his eyes fluttering down to Nico’s lips. 

“Nine…”

“Jack?” Nico echoed, looking down at the boy in front of him.

“Eight…” 

The shorter boy nodded as Nico looked down towards his mouth. 

“Seven…”

Nico licked his lips in anticipation.

“Six…” 

Jack looked up into Nico’s eyes.

“Five…”

Nico rested his hands on Jack's face.

“Four…”

Jack grabbed Nico’s waist.

“Three…”

Jack pulled his captain closer.

“Two…”

Nico angled his teammate’s face towards him.

“One!!”

Their lips connected and time stopped. Nico felt as if fireworks were erupting from him as he held Jack close, tangling one of his hands in Jack’s hair. Jack moaned into the kiss as Nico tightened his grip on his hair.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” Everyone cheered as they separated from their partners.

Jack and Nico pulled apart as they heard the click of a camera.

“Fucking finally!” Ondrej said from behind the camera.

The boys laughed.

“Happy New Year Cap!” Jack said, his lips swollen from the kiss.

“Happy New Year Princess!” Nico smiled as Jack flushed.

The next morning Jack and Nico found themselves wrapped around each other in bed with a vague memory of what had happened the night before.

“Did we?” Jack asked, looking down to see himself fully clothed.

“No, I don’t think so.” Nico said, simply.

“I mean not that I’d mind if we did, I just would want to remember it, ya know?” Jack rambled, looking over to Nico.

“Shut up.” Nico said, pulling Jack into another passionate kiss.

A string of saliva connected their mouths as Jack pulled away for a breath.

“I guess we should clean up, huh?” Jack said, sitting up.

“That can wait.” Nico said, gesturing to the growing erection in Jack’s dress pants. 

“I guess it can.” Jack laughed, straddling Nico and pulling him into another kiss. 

Nico pulled at Jack’s shirt as their tongues battled for control. Remembering the night before, Nico tugged at Jack’s hair causing him to moan into the kiss allowing Nico to take control. He quickly flipped Jack onto his back, swiftly unbuttoning his pwn shirt and throwing it onto the floor. Jack clutched to Nico’s chest as he got to work unbuttoning his alternate’s shirt. Once he got it off, he threw it next to his own. Nico broke the kiss as Jack whined. He slowly kissed his way down Jack’s jaw and neck until he reached his nipples. He rolled his hands over one of them as he began sucking and biting at the other. Jack moaned loudly at Nico’s actions, arching his back for more friction against the growing tent in his captain’s pants. 

“Not yet baby, not yet.” Nico said, pulling away from Jack.

Jack whined again at the loss of contact, thrusting into the air in a pathetic attempt to gain more friction. Nico pulled his pants and boxers off in one foul swoop, freeing his member. He spit into his hands, lubing them as he started jacking himself off. 

“Jack, eyes on me baby.” He said, grabbing Jack’s neck and forcing him to watch. 

Jack moaned loudly at the hand on his airway as he watched his partner pleasure himself. His dick began leaking as he watched his captain throw his head back in pure bliss.

“Can I?” Jack choked out, trying to take Nico into his mouth.

“Yes.”

That was all he needed. Jack sprung to his knees, his painful erection forgotten as he licked a stripe up Nico’s dick. Nico threw his head back in ecstasy as he clutched Jack’s hair to use him. When Jack realized what was happening, he moaned around Nico’s cock, relaxing his throat so that Nico could use him like the slut he was.

“I bet you like this, huh? Being used like a toy.” Jack moaned.

Nico thrusted harder into Jack’s mouth as Jack tried not to gag, as his eyes prickled with tears that threatened to fall.

“I’m so close, baby, so close. Hold on for me.” Nico said, clutching Jack’s hair for dear life as he came down his throat. 

Jack swallowed quickly before standing up and pulling Nico into a messy kiss. Nico loved being able to taste himself on Jack’s tongue, a reminder of who the boy belonged to.

“Let’s take care of you now, huh baby?” Nico said, wrapping a hand around Jack’s leaking cock. 

Nico tugged at Jack’s cock, rubbing his thumb over the slit before getting on his knees and taking all of him into his eager mouth. Jack wasn’t nearly as big as Nico, but his width more than made up for it. Nico sucked on Jack’s dick, watching as he threw his head back clearly close.

“I’m gonna-” Jack never finished his thought, coming in Nico's mouth. If Nico could get hard again this quickly he would’ve from the sound of Jack’s voice wrecked from his cock.

“Hey Jack?” Nico said, standing up and pecking Jack on the lips.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s clean up now, yeah?”

‘Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor

You and me, forevermore

Don't read the last page

But I stay when it's hard, or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes

I want your midnights

But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day’

[saydams]

Amtrak expansion comment period ends tomorrow! (march 8 2024)

you can leave your comment here

This will restore service to places that used to have passenger trains, and add trains to exisiting routes to make service daily instead of just alternating days. it would also add new routes (in green, below)

bulletin from railroad workers united:

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is conducting an Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study to evaluate the restoration of daily long-distance intercity rail passenger service and the potential for new Amtrak long-distance routes. This study will ultimately create a long-term vision for long-distance passenger rail service and identify capital projects and funding needed to implement that vision. The initial proposal would add 15 long-distance routes, serving 61 additional metropolitan areas to create a true national network. The FRA is seeking public input by Friday, March 8. After public comment, the FRA will make capital and operating cost estimates, and make recommendations to Congress. This Amtrak expansion plan has been 50 years in the making and of course, should have been executed in the 1970s or 1980s. Amtrak has survived against endless budget cuts, threats to eliminate various trains, micro-managing by Congress on food service options, and attempts to dismantle or privatize parts or even its entire system. So this is a huge step forward. That said, the forces allied against this proposal are huge, led by Class One rail carriers. They fight tooth and nail against any proposed new Amtrak route or additional frequency. RWU feels that the best way forward is to bring the railroads under public control, at least the basic infrastructure (track, signals, yards, terminals, etc) or it is very unlikely that we will see much in the way of passenger train expansion. In the meantime, smart Class One rail carriers will welcome the additional income stream from accommodating passenger service and the access to public money for track improvements that will improve freight service as well. Many sectors are coming together around a publicly run rail network - like the Plumb Plan of old - one that is administered by professional railroaders, representatives of the craft workers, and government appointees to protect the public interest. Check out the listing of endorsing organizations to date HERE. Do you want to make your voice heard on this vital question of an expanded passenger rail network? If so, please read through the presentation materials and make a comment by Friday, March 8.

read about the study here

high speed rail alliance reactions to the study

comment on the study here

Rail Passengers Association news on the FRA Study

THE ROUND THREE LD MAP IS OUT! February 16, 2024

You can click here to download all 163 pages of meeting materials we reviewed last week and this week. Your job as interested citizens and advocates is to review the materials, and offer constructive, fact-based feedback on how the routes are put together, what kinds of continuing planning should be done, and whether and how an independent entity should be created to ensure that as these route projects unfold the served communities continue to have a voice in making sure they really happen. You have until March 8th to review the materials and then draft and submit your feedback to the study team using the email address contactus@fralongdistancerailstudy.org. Remember, constructive, fact-based, specific observations and suggestions are the way to go here. Some 5,000 comments have been reviewed to date, and comments truly did help shape the final routings selected by the FRA team.

15 NEW TRAINS: CLOSER TO OUR LONG-DISTANCE GOALS February 16, 2024

Keep an eye out for the public release of the study materials on the FRA long-distance study website (which you can reach by clicking here), but here’s a brief rundown of the 15 new routes FRA offered up for our consideration in the upcoming Round Four later this spring: 1 – Chicago to Miami, via Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa. 2 – Dallas/Fort Worth to Miami, via Marshall, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Pensacola, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville. 3 – Denver to Houston, via Trinidad, Amarillo, and Dallas/Fort Worth. 4 – Los Angeles to Denver, via Barstow, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Cheyenne. 5 – Phoenix to Minneapolis/St. Paul, via Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Newton, Kansas City, Omaha, and Sioux Falls. 6 – Dallas/Fort Worth to New York, via Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. 7 – Houston to New York, via New Orleans, Mobile, Montgomery, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Lorton, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. 8 – Seattle to Denver, via Portland, Boise, Pocatello, Salt Lake City, and Grand Junction. 9 – San Antonio to Minneapolis/St. Paul, via Dallas/Fort Worth, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Des Moines. 10 – San Francisco to Dallas/Fort Worth, via Merced, Bakersfield, Barstow, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, and Midland. 11 – Detroit to New Orleans, via Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Montgomery, and Mobile. 12 – Denver to Minneapolis/St. Paul, via Cheyenne, Pierre, and Sioux Falls. 13 – Seattle to Chicago, via Yakima, Kennewick, Spokane, Sandpoint, Helena, Billings, Bismarck, and Fargo. 14 – Dallas/Fort Worth to Atlanta, via Marshall, Jackson, Meridian, and Birmingham. 15 – El Paso to Billings, via Albuquerque, Trinidad, Denver, Cheyenne, and Casper.

FRA STUDY DRAFT: MORE TRAINS, MORE PLACES February 9, 2024

If this map is fully realized, 89 percent of the U.S. population would have access to Amtrak trains, including 19 million more Americans in the most-populated metropolitan areas. In this plan some 13 million Americans who lost service to the various Amtrak cuts over the years would get it back. This new map would add 102 stations in rural communities, nearly doubling service in rural areas. Tribal areas would see 112 percent more access, and for people living in what the Dept. of Transportation defines as “health-disadvantaged areas” – that is, areas with poor access to medical facilities and hospitals – there would be 66 percent greater access. Five million people without good medical access could get it via this new map, which would ensure that 86 percent of all U.S. medical centers are served.

source

@amtrak-official, did you know about this?

[beardedmrbean]

With violence erupting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups over the weekend, there are already reports of attacks on Jews and Jewish communities prompted by the latest chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Several incidents have so far been recorded in Britain, where the authorities have stepped up protective measures, but early reports suggest possible instances of hate in Paris and New York as well.

The attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants—which began on Saturday and coincided not only with the Sabbath but the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah—have already led to an estimated 1,100 confirmed deaths in Israel and Gaza and thousands of wounded, including many civilians. Nine American citizens are among the dead, according to the State Department.

After Israel's defense minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered a "complete siege" of the Gaza Strip, the death toll is expected to rise significantly.

While many world leaders were quick to condemn the attacks by Hamas militants, some activists have viewed the killings as a justified response to the Israeli treatment of Palestinians.

Despite holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel being an example of antisemitism cited by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of Jew-hate, there are early suggestions that some are already doing just that.

On Monday, the British newspaper Jewish News reported that a Kosher restaurant in a predominantly Jewish part of London had been vandalized, with a door smashed in. Nearby bridges had been graffitied with the words "Free Palestine."

"There is no tolerance for hate in our city," Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wrote in response. "I remain in close contact with the Met Police. Whoever did this will face the full force of the law."

The Community Security Trust, a U.K.-based charity that provides security to Jewish institutions, said it was "already seeing incidents of racist antisemitism against Jewish people and property in response to the awful terror attack in Israel."

On Sunday, CST Chief Executive Mark Gardner said he had spoken with the British Home Secretary Suella Braverman and security minister Tom Tugendhat, who has Jewish ancestry, about measures that were needed to protect Jews.

"CST was already on a high security alert and deployment," he said. "That's because of the general situation of antisemitism right now here in the U.K. Those security deployments will continue for as long as necessary."

According to The Times, the CST has already received reports of verbal abuse mentioning the situation in the Middle East being hurled at Jewish people or synagogues. The Metropolitan Police has stepped up patrols in response to incidents shared on social media.

"We are aware that this conflict has a far-reaching impact on communities around the world, and we extend our full support to those affected in London," Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine said in a statement.

"We are aware that a number of demonstrations and protests are planned. We have spoken to the organizers and we expect these will pass off peacefully," he added. "However, we will take a zero-tolerance approach to any activity which crosses the lines into criminality."

Braverman wrote in an X, formerly Twitter, post on Sunday: "There must be zero tolerance for antisemitism or glorification of terrorism on the streets of Britain. I expect the police to use the full force of the law against displays of support for Hamas, other proscribed terrorist groups or attempts to intimidate British Jews."

Elsewhere, video footage online appears to show a man being detained by police outside the gates of Beth Hanna Jewish school in Paris's 19th arrondissement. The person who posted the clip alleged the man had been impersonating a Jew and had been found to have "several knives" on him.

Though Newsweek was able to verify the location of the footage, it could not immediately confirm the full nature of the incident. The Parisian police were contacted via email for comment on Monday.

Meanwhile, images of demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City's Times Square on Sunday show one protester holding up an image of a Nazi swastika on his phone during the event. Displaying a swastika in New York is considered a hate crime and a criminal offense.

Before the march had taken place, New York Governor Kathy Hochul criticized it as "morally repugnant."