Legalectric

The Dept. of Justice released its “Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department” and Ferguson’s Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigned shortly thereafter, and then during a protest near the police station, to officers were shot, apparently from a very long distance away, fortunately not seriously injured and released from the hospital the following day.  There’ve been no arrests yet.  What a morass of death and upheaval…

Here’s the report, it’s a doozy, a report that should be read by anyone who has an opinion about this morass, anyone interested in race and class, law, policing, criminal justice.

Dept. of Justice: Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department

I was not happy with the MnDOT Rail Plan, and let them know, particularly that it is not OUR job, “we the people,” to pay for upgrades and safety measures required due to the super volatile Bakken BOOM! oil, and today the Gov. stood up to the railroads.

Here are my Comments:

Overland_Comments_3-10-2015

Here’s that Draft Rail Plan, comments were due Tuesday:

Draft MN State Rail Plan

From today’s STrib, Gov. Mark Dayton is leaning on the railroads:

An old PJM map, some transmission built since, some plans abandoned, like MAPP!

Today PJM released its “State of the Market” report, and this is something that everyone in the MISO region should read because afterall, that’s their “Target Market.”

2014 State of the Market Report for PJM		Posting Date
Volume I Volume I (2MB PDF) contains the introduction.Volume II Volume II (14MB PDF) contains detailed analysis and results.

I LOVE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS — PJM PEAK DEMAND DOWN 10.1%

And here’s the MISO LMP map so you can see just what the electrical market is doing in real time:

MISO LMP MAP

Four years ago today nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi started melting down.

… same type of reactor that it is in Monticello, along the Mississippi River, upriver and just northwest of the Twin Cities.

Four years later…

Japan Radiation Map

Four years later…

Some residents to ‘come home to Fukushima disaster zone

The government says about 138,000 Fukushima residents are still living in temporary accommodation.

At a meeting Sunday, Miyakoji residents were told that radiation contamination levels had lowered sufficiently for their return to the area — though some voiced concern over existing radiation levels despite decontamination efforts around some communities.

Four years later…

Navy sailors have radiation sickness after Japan rescue

Four years later…

Navy Sailors Possibly Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Fight for Justice

In March of 2011, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan rushed to Japan to help after the disastrous tsunami. Since then, many sailors from that ship have fallen ill, possibly as a result of exposure to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. They will soon have their day in court.

…

The court decision came in the mail a few weeks later. The class-action lawsuit, the court ruled on Oct. 28, may proceed. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on Feb. 26.

The complaint is 100 pages long and contains the names of 247 sick sailors along with details pertaining to reactor construction, water samples taken, Navy tactics and Japanese politics. It assails company greed just as it does the negligence of those who built the Fukushima reactors — and goes on to censure global politics and the cynicism of humankind. A kind of Old Testament fury infuses the text, and the complaint is so sweeping that it almost loses track of its true target. The USS Ronald Reagan appears therein as humanity’s last ship. An aircraft carrier. A ship of ghosts.

Overland_Comments_3-10-2015

And what are the Comments about?  Here’s the Plan:

Draft MN State Rail Plan