Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

I always thought it would be interesting to see the lawsuits and other aftermath in cop movies when the hero and villain destroy half the town in the car chase and final standoff:
"Police Owe Nothing To Man Whose Home They Blew Up, Appeals Court Says" https://n.pr/2JuLI8f

good Political punk legends Anti Flag just days after announcing their upcoming record and tour to bless the studio with some never before heard acoustic versions of their new tunes. Front-men Justin Sane and Chris #2 waxed poetic about their musical influences, social activism, and 85 Bud Lights. It was one of the most genuine […]

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When Unions Save Lives

CENTRAL CITY, KY.—It was a typical workday for Michael “Flip” Wilson when a splintered steel bit punctured his forehead an inch above his eye. He was operating the claw-like continuous miner, a machine that cuts coal from an underground seam. Back above ground, Wilson’s superintendent tweezed out the metal, slapped on a BandAid and sent him back under, Wilson says. It happened again two days later.

That was about five years ago, when Wilson was 60. Wilson left his final coal job at Parkway Mine in 2015. He insists he loved his 44-year career throughout Western Kentucky, though it was checkered with similar injuries: a broken finger, electrocution from a bad cable, and multiple incidents of being buried under rockfall.

“I’ve seen a guy with a broken back,” Wilson says. “I’ve carried out a guy with a leg or an arm cut off. I’ve seen guys burn up. I’ve seen 10 get killed down there at one time in an explosion.”

Kentucky has seen five coal mine fatalities this year, and while injuries from mine accidents are on the decline nationally—from more than 5,000 reported in 2005 to about 1,500 in 2018—the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) credits the decline in part to the overall decline in coal jobs, as well as tougher enforcement.

MSHA, created in 1977, inspects underground mines quarterly. When it finds a safety hazard, MSHA can fine the mine operators. However, $100 million of $1 billion levied in penalties between 2000 and 2017 remains unpaid. MSHA has no power to compel payment unless it files a lawsuit, and operators with unpaid fines can open new mine operations without consequences.

The Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General reported in August that MSHA’s collections program hasn’t led to safer mining operations, and no correlation exists between the amount or frequency of penalties and the safety of a mine. “Many companies see fines as the cost of doing business,” says Tony Oppegard, an attorney who specializes in mine safety cases.

There is, however, one way to prevent accidents: unions. According to a new Stanford University study of underground safety from 1993 to 2010, “Unionization is associated with a 13-30% drop in traumatic injuries and a 28- 83% drop in fatalities.”

“At a unionized mine, you have safety committeemen who are appointed by the union to look out for the safety of their fellow workers,” Oppegard says.

Almost 20% of mines were unionized in 1993, but by 2010, the proportion was below 10%. No unionized coal mines are left in Kentucky.

Wilson did not have the benefit of union protection, so he was at the mercy of the companies. “They can make it safer, but … they just want the coal,” Wilson says.

Oppegard thinks MSHA should be using more powerful enforcement tools at its disposal. For example, the agency can recommend the Secretary of Labor file an injunction to shut down dangerous mines. MSHA used this power for the first time in 2010 against a Massey Energy Company mine that had almost 2,000 citations in two years. (Massey is the same corporation responsible for the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster that left 29 dead in West Virginia.)

In response, Massey simply closed the mine. Oppegard hopes legal action can reduce future safety and health violations. He has represented Wilson in safety complaints against Armstrong Coal Company, operator of Parkway Mine, where Wilson worked. Wilson claims the company violated MSHA regulations by running tests of coal dust levels for 4 to 5 hours instead of the required 8 to 10, cheating the results. Now, the federal government has filed a criminal complaint against former managers of Armstrong Coal (which went under in 2017) over the alleged test tampering. Lawyers for the defendants did not respond to a request for comment.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that 1 in 5 longtime coal miners in central Appalachia has black lung, a potentially fatal cluster of lung diseases, from inhaling unsafe amounts of coal dust. Since 1969, black lung has caused the death of at least 76,000 former coal miners.

Wilson has had black lung for at least 5 years. He is testifying in the federal case. But a successful suit won’t cure his condition.

“Hell, I can’t do anything,” Wilson says of his condition. “I’ve got three great-grandkids and I can’t play with them the way I want to. I run out of oxygen. And there ain’t no cure for it.”

Abrupt shifts in Arctic climate projected

Researchers project that as the permafrost continues to degrade, the climate in various regions of the Arctic could potentially change abruptly in the relatively near future. Their research also suggests that as the permafrost degrades, the severity of wildfires will double from one year to the next and remain at the new and higher rate for regions in the Northwestern Territories and the Yukon.

Southern California earthquakes increased stress on major fault line

A new study has found that last summer's Ridgecrest earthquakes in Southern California earthquakes increased stress on the Garlock Fault, which has been dormant for at least a century.

Harmful emissions from traffic, trucks, SUVs

Almost one third of Canadians live near a major road -- and this means they go about their everyday lives exposed to a complex mixture of vehicle air pollutants. A new study reveals that emissions from nearby traffic can greatly increase concentrations of key air pollutants, with highly polluting trucks making a major contribution.

Prenatal air pollution exposure linked to infants' decreased heart rate response to stress

A mother's exposure to particulate air pollution during pregnancy is associated with reduced cardiac response to stress in six-month-old infants, according to new research. This study is among the first to find that particulate air pollution exposure in utero can affect heart rate variability, which is a known risk factor for health issues.

Whatever Works

Wow, paying “taxes” for “owning everything”? Ridiculous!

The Unfairness of It All!

No President in HISTORY has been treated like this!

The Underground Migrant Support Network

One early morning this September, organizer Sendy Soto, 38, asked Manuel (a pseudonym), in line at the busy Chicago Greyhound bus station, if he wanted a cup of tea. (Soto requested a pseudonym for Manuel to protect him from ICE.)

“In Guatemala, where I’m from, there is something called los nervios, and they’ll diagnose you for it,” Soto said. “Whenever there’s something tragic in our town or something difficult, people come with tea to calm you down for los nervios.”

Manuel, 26, was wearing a thin white shirt and holding a plastic bag with all his belongings. He nodded and Soto poured warm chamomile tea into a paper cup.

Soto is the founder of Chicago Immigrant Transit Assistance (CITA), an organization that serves people seeking asylum in the midst of legal processing as they pass through the Chicago Greyhound station. Thousands of families and individuals released from ICE detention centers are sent on Greyhound buses across the United States each year, forced to navigate the arduous transit system without assistance on their way to reach their sponsors and await their hearings.

“We don’t know if there is anyone on the bus who can use our help,” Soto says. “The best thing for us is to just be present and watch out for those who didn’t get assistance on the way.”

CITA is entirely volunteerled, funded through a GoFundMe campaign and donations from the American Red Cross and community groups. Volunteers wait at the bus station in two-hour shifts, day and night, for people like Manuel, who had walked from the ICE processing center a few blocks away, as well as asylum seekers passing through from detention centers around the country. Around 30 volunteers have helped distribute food and clothes, call family members and offer translation services to more than 1,000 asylum seekers since the group’s founding last year.

CITA is one of several volunteer-led groups doing similar work around the country, including the Mariposas Collective in Tennessee, Angry Tias and Abuelas in Texas and Cincinnati Immigrant Transit Assistance. These groups form what Soto calls an “aboveground railroad.”

The Chicago Greyhound station is not easy for asylum seekers to navigate. Information is posted almost exclusively in English, and there is just one part-time Spanish-speaking staff member. Families or sponsors pay for migrants’ tickets, and a last-minute change costs $20 in cash.

Yet, many Greyhound staff members work with CITA to help support these migrants. The same day Manuel passed through, another young man arrived from the Chicago ICE office. Staff and volunteers bought him a ticket, provided him with food and helped him call his family, all within 10 minutes, so he could board the noon bus to New York.

When Soto offered to help Manuel call his wife and young daughter, he was brimming with excitement. His family had been living in Iowa since January, seeking asylum from violence in Guatemala. When Manuel legally crossed the border to join them in June, he was first detained in Texas, then transferred to the Kenosha County Detention Center in Wisconsin for three months, then ordered to post a $7,500 bond for release. Not all asylum seekers are afforded this option—in 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for illegally detaining asylum seekers with credible cases for extensive periods.

Manuel’s family was able to pay his bond, and he was transferred to the ICE processing center in Chicago in September, where he stood handcuffed until his release hours later. ICE officials gave him a paper map to the Greyhound station, in English, photocopied so many times the streets were indiscernible.

This experience of being moved across the country, paying thousands of dollars in bonds and then being released with little more than a paper map is typical of how asylum seekers are treated in the United States. 

Although Soto and another volunteer were able to assist, Manuel still has a long journey ahead as he awaits the outcome of his asylum case, which could take years. As of September, courts were backlogged with over a million pending immigration cases.

“It’s kind of like a Band-Aid,” says Jeanie Vondriska, another CITA volunteer. “Everything’s broken, you’re traumatized, and I’m giving you a cup of ramen?”

Still, CITA’s goal is to help migrants become self-sufficient. “If I just teach somebody how to read the bus schedule, I’m sure they’re not gonna need somebody at the next stop,” Soto says. “They have all the abilities in the world to care for themselves. They just need the resources.”

In the short term, Soto would like to see a more sustainable system at the bus station, similar to Travelers Aid at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Travelers Aid has a permanent desk and paid staff members who provide guidance and support for those in need, including refugees. Longer term, the solution lies in comprehensive immigration reform.

“It is really wonderful that so many kind people can come together and fill the gaps [left] by our government,” Soto says. “But the best way to solve this is to change those policies so that people are treated justly, fairly and have an opportunity to seek safety in this country.”

Chicago Teachers Are Carrying the Torch of Decades of Militant Worker Struggles

“I solemnly swear that I will never stop fighting for my students.” This hand-made picket sign, one of hundreds at an October 25 Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and SEIU 73 rally, sums up what makes the teachers’ strike so important. In an approach CTU pioneered during its 2012 strike, the 25,000-strong CTU refuses to draw a firm boundary between justice in the workplace and justice for its students. For the union—under the leadership of the leftwing Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators—affordable housing is a bargaining issue because roughly 17,000 CPS students are experiencing houselessness. And so is the shortage of school nurses, counselors and librarians—along with the corporate and hedge-fund pillaging of a city beset with deep poverty and racial segregation.

Living in a noisy area increases the risk of suffering a more serious stroke

The high levels of environmental noise we are subjected to in large cities can increase both the severity and consequences of an ischaemic stroke. More precisely, researchers put the increased risk at 30% for people living in noisier areas. In contrast, living close to green areas brings down this risk by up to 25%. This is the first time that these factors have been analysed in relation to stroke severity.

Play Ball

Overlord Trump can’t catch a break from the mutant rabble!

Photo Black Ops

Obama’s White House photographer suggests that Trump’s Al-Baghdadi situation room photo was staged.

Extent of human encroachment into world's protected areas revealed

Largest study yet to compare protected with 'matched' unprotected land finds 'significantly higher' increases in human pressure -- primarily through agriculture -- in protected areas across the tropics. Researchers argue that efforts to increase coverage may not help save wildlife unless protecting land 'on paper' is backed up by funding and local community engagement.

Make-Believe

Witch culture IS your costume, actually.

Over the Last Week, At Least 85,000 Workers Were Out on 13 Different Strikes

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 485,000 U.S. workers were involved in strikes and lockouts during 2018. That’s the highest number since 1986. The data for 2019 won’t be released until 2020, but there’s a good chance that number will be exceeded, a point driven home by the fact that, over the last week, at least 85,000 workers participated in 13 different strikes across the United States.

Delays May Occur

If the music’s loud enough, it’ll drown out all that incriminating testimony!

The Death of the Kurdish Dream

It briefly looked like the Kurds would get their own independent state. What happened?