March 6

 Good Monday morning to you all. Can't see much outside right now. It is only 4:30am and still dark.

Can you believe it?? ANOTHER train derailed in Ohio. The news says it is the fifth in the last five months. The third in Ohio THIS month. The fourth in THIS month (one was outside Ohio). I am sure the NTSB will give us the immediate cause--in the East Palestine crash an overheated bearing is suspected but isn't yet the official cause. I think we need to look at a bigger picture. These crashes seem to me to indicate a company which has skimped on maintenance and on labor for a long time. Those are the two areas where companies cut costs to either give the appearance of or maintain stockholder dividends. I wonder what this says about the rail industry generally.

Too much of The Former Guy this morning. I still wonder what grievances are driving his supporters. Who feels they need retribution??? For what perceived wrongs?? We have become, or too many of us, have become snowflakes.

Bill Astore has an interesting critique of the JROTC (Junior ROTC) which is in some high schools. It is one way to provide at least a small stream of kids signing up either after high school or going further into the regular ROTC in college. That without instituting a draft. Remember an article I linked to yesterday, 50% of the world population will be obese by 2035 and the U.S. is already well above that and the recruiters already have to reject a large proportion of applicants because they aren't physically fit. Astore concentrates on the economics driving the militarization of our society as more and more of our institutions depend on a supplement of Pentagon money to defray expenses.