The Political Page, T+24 -- February 13, 2017

Updates

February 22, 2017: protest camp must be evacuated. This is latest picture how environmentalists treat sacred land:

Original Post

 
How native Americans at Standing Rock Reservation treat their land. From The Washington Post.

“We’re still in the fight,” Dayrider said. “And we’ve accomplished something amazing. We woke the world up by showing how the oil companies treat the land and the people. We’re still standing. We’re still fighting.”

To compare how the activists treated sacred ground and how oil companies treat public and private land, see this post.  At the link, follow the links to some striking photos and video.

From The Washington Post, "today" at the Reservation:

The pads in the Williston Basin.

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Surprise of the day! Out in Los Angeles, two new rail extensions and yet, Metro ridership declined again last year! This is truly amazing, and absolutely counterintuitive. The mainstream press has led me to believe that use of public transportation was increasing out in Los Angeles. Apparently not true. Data points:

• two light-rail extensions to Azusa and Santa Monica opened last spring (2016)
• the extensions connect the eastern and western reaches of Los Angeles County for the first time in decades
• six months later, voters approved Measure M, by a large margin (72%): to increase their sales tax to expand the transit network again
• a red-letter year for public transportation with one exception: ridership
• trips taken on LA's sprawling bus and rail system dropped again by nearly 6%
• subway and light-rail boardings increase by 4% -- but not enough to cancel out a decline in annual bus ridership -- falling 9% -- the lowest in more than a decade
• since 2009: four new rail extensions, at a cost of more than $4 billion
• since 2009: rail ridership soared 21%; but bus trips -- which represents much more ridership, dropped 18%
• apparently LA's bus problems are mirrored in other US large cities

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Lake Mead ...

... continues to rise (a dynamic link).

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Blogging

Over the weekend, doing some blogging with my assistant on the iPad doing some research.