marble falls
marble falls's Journalbabylonsister posted about the slavery this man fell into, I still remember the story
still remember the story.
Willie Levi, 73, Dies; He Escaped a Life of Servitude
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/willie-levi-73-dies-he-escaped-a-life-of-servitude.html
He was one of a group of men with disabilities who worked for substandard wages at a turkey plant but found justice. He succumbed to the new coronavirus.
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Willie Levi in 2013. Intellectually disabled, he spent years working at a turkey-processing plant for $65 a month but found justice in a successful lawsuit.Credit...Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Dan Barry
By Dan Barry
April 30, 2020
<snip>
But Mr. Levi never had much choice. He was sent first to an institution and then to Iowa, where he and other men with intellectual disabilities worked in virtual servitude at a turkey-processing plant for decades. He never made it back to Orange.
Mr. Levi — a claimant in a successful lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that championed proper pay and working conditions for people with disabilities — died on April 23 at his home in Waterloo, Iowa, after contracting the novel coronavirus, according to Paula Passe, one of his court-appointed guardians. He was 73.
“He was a great advocate for himself and for the men he called ‘brothers,’ who shared the same pain,” said Robert A. Canino, the E.E.O.C. lawyer who tried the case. “Like many of the men, he was not as indignant as he was happily determined, as though he saw the coming of justice.”
<snip>
In 1974, Mr. Levi was sent to work for Henry’s Turkey Service, which then dispatched him and other men with disabilities 1,000 miles north to Muscatine County, Iowa, where the company had a contract with a turkey-processing plant.
<snip>
Dan Barry is a longtime reporter and columnist, having written both the “This Land” and “About New York” columns. The author of several books, he writes on myriad topics, including sports, culture, New York City, and the nation.
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This is the story baby,onsister posted:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/101688149
The ‘Boys’ in the Bunkhouse
Kassie Bracken/The New York Times
The ‘Boys’ in the Bunkhouse
Toil, abuse and endurance in the heartland.
THIS LAND By DAN BARRY
MARCH 9, 2014
snip//
Mr. Berg comes from a different place.
For more than 30 years, he and a few dozen other men with intellectual disabilities — affecting their reasoning and learning — lived in a dot of a place called Atalissa, about 100 miles south of here. Every morning before dawn, they were sent to eviscerate turkeys at a processing plant, in return for food, lodging, the occasional diversion and $65 a month. For more than 30 years.
Their supervisors never received specialized training; never tapped into Iowa’s social service system; never gave the men the choices in life granted by decades of advancement in disability civil rights. Increasingly neglected and abused, the men remained in heartland servitude for most of their adult lives.
This Dickensian story — told here through court records, internal documents and extensive first-time interviews with several of the men — is little known beyond Iowa. But five years after their rescue, it continues to resound in halls of power. Last year the case led to the largest jury verdict in the history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: $240 million in damages — an award later drastically reduced, yet still regarded as a watershed moment for disability rights in the workplace. In both direct and subtle ways, it has also influenced government initiatives, advocates say, including President Obama’s recent executive order to increase the minimum wage for certain workers.
more...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/03/09/us/the-boys-in-the-bunkhouse.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=US_TBI_20140309&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=0
I've just never forgotten this story.
Alex Jones Says He's Considering Eating Neighbors If COVID-19 Lockdown Continues
Alex Jones Says He’s Considering Eating Neighbors If COVID-19 Lockdown Continues
‘I’m ready to hang ’em up and gut ’em and skin ’em,” the InfoWars conspiracy theorist said of his neighbors.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alex-jones-cannibalism-covid-19_n_5eac56e7c5b624b39692b1f2
By David Moye
<snip>
If COVID-19 shutdowns continue, he said, he has “extrapolated this out” and may have to resort to drastic and disgusting methods of survival.
“I’ll admit it. I will eat my neighbors,” Jones said, predicting a dystopian future plagued by food shortages.
“I won’t have to for a few years ’cause I got food and stuff ― but I’m literally looking at my neighbors now and going, ’I’m ready to hang ’em up and gut ’em and skin ’em. My daughters aren’t starving to death. I will eat my neighbors. ... I will.”
<snip>
“You think I like sizing up my neighbor?!” Jones bellowed. “I’m gonna haul him up by a chain and chop his ass up! I’ll do it! My children aren’t going hungry! I’ll eat your ass! And that’s what I want the globalists to know — I will eat your ass first!”
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The most disturbing video known to man pic.twitter.com/izb038PBXB
— Barstool News Network (@BarstoolNewsN) May 1, 2020
(the tweets had a field day):
There have got to be better ways to make a buck these days than this.
— Raquel (@rann5818) May 1, 2020
I understand he’s being hyperbolic here but you know a person could try n hunt some animals first, just saying. Being pretty dramatic
— DakotaTone (@ToneDakota) May 1, 2020
No, his daughters won’t starve, because his ex-wife, Kelly Jones, has sole custody, having convinced the courts that Alex Jones is “not a stable person.”
I suspect this video would not help in his appeal.
— Political Spock 🖖 (@PoliSpock) May 1, 2020
Pig poops out a pedometer, starts a fire
Pig poops out a pedometer, starts a fire
By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer March 09, 2020
Copper in the battery sparked the pigpen blaze.
https://www.livescience.com/pig-stars-battery-fire.html
<snip>
The firebug (firehog?) had swallowed a pedometer worn by one of its fellow pigs to demonstrate that the animals were free range, the BBC reported.
But after the pig excreted the pedometer, copper in its battery sparked a flame in the pig dung and dried hay bedding on March 7 at approximately 2 p.m. local time, according to the BBC. The fire spread to cover about 807 square feet (75 square meters) of the farmyard before it was contained, according to The Independent.
Four pigpens caught fire at the farm, located near Leeds in the county of Yorkshire, and fire crews from nearby Tadcaster and Knaresbororough rushed in with hoses to "save the bacon," the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service tweeted on March 7.
<snip>
In Yorkshire, firefighters responded to a blaze that enveloped several pigpens at a local farm on March 7.(Image credit: Russell Jenkinson/North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue)
In recent years, lithium-ion batteries in personal devices such as cellphones and vape pens have spontaneously combusted, sometimes causing severe burns and even broken bones, Live Science previously reported.
<snip>
No animals were hurt in this event.
Florida curtails reporting of coronavirus death numbers by county medical examiners
Florida curtails reporting of coronavirus death numbers by county medical examiners
David Knowles
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-curtails-reporting-of-coronavirus-death-numbers-by-county-medical-examiners-173503327.html
Yahoo NewsMay 1, 2020, 12:35 PM CDT
<snip>
The death count compiled by the Medical Examiners Commission was often found to be higher than the figures provided by Florida’s Department of Health, the Tampa Bay Times reported, prompting a review of the data and a suspension of its publication.
State officials have not specified what they find objectionable about the medical examiners’ count, nor when they might allow it to be made public again, the Times said.
<snip>
Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of the state Medical Examiners Commission, told the Tampa Bay Times that state officials informed him that they would remove the cause of death and a description of each case from statistics published by the examiners.
“This is no different than any other public record we deal with,” Nelson said. “It’s paid for by taxpayer dollars and the taxpayers have a right to know.”
<snip>
Guy To Travel Around Florida Dressed As The Grim Reaper To The Beaches That Opened Prematurely
Guy To Travel Around Florida Dressed As The Grim Reaper To The Beaches That Opened Prematurely
Jonas Grinevičius and Ilona Baliūnaitė
Imagine you’re at the beach enjoying the waves washing over your feet and the sun warming your skin. That’s when you notice a tall, black-robed figure with a scythe out of the corner of your eye. You take a better look and that’s when you realize it’s the Grim Reaper!
Florida lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder plans to travel around his state beaches from May 1 to warn people about the dangers of not social distancing—all dressed up as the Grim Reaper. Uhlfelder was quite obviously inspired to do this by New Zealand’s public service campaign where a person dresses up as the infamous Swim Reaper to promote water safety and tries to prevent deaths from drowning.
While Uhlfelder’s main message is to make sure that Floridians know how important it is to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, he also plans to use his Reaper get-up to raise money for Democrats running for federal office.
https://swimreaper.co.nz/
An Accidental Navy Chief Steers His Service Through a Storm
Adm. Michael M. Gilday appears determined that his recommendations on the Roosevelt case will be made based on Navy principles and not on fears of what the White House might want.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/politics/coronavirus-carrier-crozier-gilday-trump.html
WASHINGTON —
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In recommending the reinstatement of the captain of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, Admiral Michael M. Gilday put the Navy before his own career.Credit...Mark Makela/Getty Images
<snip>
The admiral, who took a bold step last week — recommending that the captain of a virus-stricken aircraft carrier be restored to command after he was removed by the service’s senior civilian — was plucked from the military’s Joint Staff last July to take over a scandal-plagued sea service, leapfrogging several more senior four-star officers.
<snip>
Now, just as with Captain Crozier, Admiral Gilday’s fate is up in the air, current and former officials say, as the Pentagon tries to divine what, exactly, President Trump wants it to do. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper declined to endorse Admiral Gilday’s recommendations, and a final decision was kicked down the road when James E. McPherson, the new acting Navy secretary, ordered up another investigation. The Navy said Thursday it would be completed by May 27.
<snip>
Indeed, colleagues and friends say he is a sailor’s admiral — a quiet, self-effacing, no-nonsense officer who is comfortable in his own skin making what might be politically unpopular decisions.
“He is a high-speed intellect with low-drag ego, which is a very rare quality at the upper echelons of any government,” said James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and former NATO commander. Admiral Stavridis, who commanded Admiral Gilday at NATO, said of him, “At 5-foot-6 and balding, Admiral Gilday hardly resembles the stereotypical tall, silver-haired admiral.”
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Admiral Gilday faces challenges beyond the Roosevelt case.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times
<snip>
“And that’s a really difficult leadership challenge,” Admiral Mullen said, adding, “I think Mike Gilday is the right guy to lead in all of this.”
Amid a Rising Death Toll, Trump Leaves the Grieving to Others
Amid a Rising Death Toll, Trump Leaves the Grieving to Others
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-grieving.html
President Trump has led no national mourning for the more than 63,000 Americans who have died from the coronavirus, emphasizing confidence about the future rather than dwelling on the present.
By Peter Baker
April 30, 2020
WASHINGTON —
<snip>
Empathy has never been considered one of Mr. Trump’s political assets. He views public displays of sadness as weakness and has made a point of stressing resolve, even at the risk of overlooking the deep pain afflicting so much of the country. His favorite words in his televised appearances of recent weeks are “powerful” and “strong.” He talks of “incredible” days ahead without dwelling on the miserable days of now. He plans fireworks while Americans plan funerals.
The contrast with his predecessors could hardly be starker. President Ronald Reagan captured the emotions of the nation with his poetic eulogy to the crew of the space shuttle Challenger after it exploded. President Bill Clinton channeled the country’s anger and grief after the bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building 25 years ago.
President George W. Bush shed tears and shared hugs with the families of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, and in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even the famously stoic President Barack Obama wept openly after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and sang “Amazing Grace” at a service for black churchgoers killed by a white supremacist in Charleston, S.C.
<snip>
Indeed, Mr. Trump appears reluctant to talk about the more than 63,000 people who have died in the United States from the coronavirus. He mentioned a few times that a friend of his, Stanley Chera, a major New York real estate developer, had been infected and later died, but did not dwell on it for long. In response to a question this week, the president said that he had also lost a few other friends and had spoken with families of other victims, but he quickly shifted the conversation to distance learning for children.
<snip>
Black people face discrimination all through their life: there's no clocking out from it ...
white guys who face a superficial sort of "discrimination" and who who winge over their discrimination in my mind trivializes the experience of discrimination that starts with where one lives, what stores one shops, the way shop keepers, landlords, bosses look at and treat their employees of color, where one goes to school, the quality of that education, how cops look at someone, how different the "justice" is for one class of humans vs another based on prejudice and race, that's real.
It is NOT the same as mean tricks like hiding time cards, calling someone "whiteboy" etc. Not even close.
One of Geology's Great Mysteries May Actually Be Many Smaller Mysteries
One of Geology’s Great Mysteries May Actually Be Many Smaller Mysteries
The “Great Unconformity” is a big chunk of missing deep time.
by Isaac Schultz April 28, 2020
The discrepancy pops up in the Grand Canyon, where ancient rock abuts, well, less ancient rock.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/great-unconformity-geology-mystery?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e5baa3a88a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-e5baa3a88a-68943029&mc_cid=e5baa3a88a&mc_eid=82460330cc
<snip>
It’s called the “Great Unconformity,” and it has long vexed geologists from Nevada to Scotland. Geology is often the study of layers, set one on top of each other for billions of years and compressed into sequences that provide geologists insight into how the Earth has evolved through the eons. Under the best circumstances, that sequence is more or less uninterrupted, but there can be gaps—sometimes big ones, like the Great Unconformity, which can be seen all over, from the Rockies to southern Africa to northern China. This gap spans one of the murkier periods in Earth’s history, before the Cambrian explosion, around 540 million years ago, when the diversity of life on Earth went wild.
Erosion is one natural process that wears layers away from the stack of geological deposits, but how so much was wiped out across such a wide range of places in one go has remained unknown. Even the unconformity isn’t uniform, ranging in scale from over a billion years of missing time to a mere couple hundred million. In the Grand Canyon, the timeframe of the unconformity jumps multiple times along its length.
According to a new paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there’s evidence that this erosion didn’t all happen at once. There might have been many events involved—lots of little unconformities—the origins of which can be traced to about a billion years ago on the supercontinent Rodinia, a landmass three times as old as the supercontinent Pangea that broke up to form the world as we know it.
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At Manitou Springs, Colorado, one can clearly see a line between layers of rock that differ in age by hundreds of millions of years. Courtesy Christine Siddoway
<snip>
The unconformity has recently been associated with the theory of “Snowball Earth,” which posits that the planet froze over entirely around 700 million years ago, following Rodinia’s formation. The thought is that glaciation during the snowball years ground away rock all over the world, creating the gap in geological time. The Cambrian explosion followed, and can be seen clearly in the layers that eventually went down over the gap. Flowers’s recent work suggests that the unconformity her team analyzed, near Pike’s Peak in Colorado, was caused by erosion related to tectonic movement that preceded Snowball Earth.
<snip>
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Hometown: marble falls, tx
Member since: Thu Feb 23, 2012, 04:49 AM
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