February 16

 ************************************16*********************************

It looks like a gray and wet day. We had some rain over the last couple of days but the temperatures are still springlike. It is the kind of winter weather that makes wonder when the hammer will fall with a stretch of heavy snow and sub-freezing temps.

Naked Capitalism posted links this morning to two stories which should ratchet up the concern over the transportation of hazardous materials, by rail or otherwise, after the disaster at East Palestine. The first is this one to Grist which says that at least five tankers carrying vinyl chloride were labeled "non-hazardous." How can any town or city or state through which those trains travel prepare reasonably for possible problems if they don't know what they are dealing with? It also underscores the problem with our modern Corporate Capitalism: lives don't have any meaning beyond net profits. If the penalties you have to pay for killing people or destroying property belonging to others don't exceed the profits, you hove no incentive for changing. I am so in favor of a corporate death penalty.

This link to Kanekoa substack follows a long history of the company Norfolk Southern hired to do environmental testing in East Palestine. To be a bit fair, this company is an agent for the Norfolk Southern and serves its interests not the interests of the victims, the residents of East Palestine. On of the news anchors comments on this underlined the resistance of victims who refused to sign the waivers they were presented and accept the "compensation:" by doing so they would forfeit their rights to pursue their cases in court. I can believe this article having experienced, with out the dire consequences, similar situations. In one case, a relative bought a house relying on a report on the soundness of the house and its electrical and plumbing systems only to find the plumbing was so fragile it started to break up almost as soon as they moved in. The company doing the examination was hired by the sellers. He made sure to have his own inspector for the next house he bought. 

**************************************17*********************************

The cold moved in last night and we now have a couple of inches of snow on top of the rain, freezing rain/drizzle, and sleet we had to start. I told Mom we are going to hibernate for the next five days. By then, with the return of warmer temperatures forecast for early next week.

We went out yesterday to check out a new drugstore that just opened. We had a list of what we are low on but didn't buy anything because they didn't carry anything on our list. The store is a pharmacy with a sideline health food store with a limited variety of goods. Most we can get from our other sources. Nice to know that it is there but I doubt we will be doing business there.

We also decided to have lunch/dinner at what used to be one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Our first visit just after everything opened up again and we were very disappointed. It wasn't just the increase in prices but the changes in the menu. Our favorites were gone and the replacements weren't very satisfying. Yesterday only reinforced our discontent. The rice and beans were tasteless. The canned refried beans we buy are far more palatable. They piled the steak/onion/cheese taco mixture on the tortillas which made them very messy and difficult to eat. We prefer to do the piling on ourselves. Oh well, we are on the hunt for a good (by our standards) Mexican restaurant.

I don't much like so-called Christians who parade their so-called Christianity in either an outright aggressive manner or in a passive-aggressive manner. Mike Pence is in the latter category who conveniently forgets to read the "red words" in the Bible. However, Pence irritates me in another way a way as well. He practices a kind of situational ethics. He blew off the January 6 Committee with the notions that 1) it wasn't properly constituted because there weren't any Republicans on it (ignoring the fact that McCarthy selected disruptive idiots who wanted to subvert it) and 2) as the Vice President he was an executive branch officer he was immune from subpoenas from the legislative branch. Now he is blowing off the Justice Department on the grounds that 1) it is the "Biden Justice Department" and 2) as Vice President he was the President of the Senate on January 6 and so is immune from executive branch subpoenas. I hope the courts slap down both arguments. It seems that he only has to tell the truth when he wants to. Not a very Christian sentiment.

Crooks & Liars posted this today. Yep, Karma does strike.

Another Crooks&Liars post which makes me hope Bernie Sanders is somehow immortal. The pharmaceutical companies got huge amounts of money to develop the COVID vaccines. Then they got huge orders from governments to scale up the production. They should provide them for free forever.