DL Open Thread: Saturday, March 11, 2023

Flooding Ravages Merle Haggard’s California. Much of the rest of Cali as well.  Haggard was born and raised in Oilville, which is in Tulare County.  Both Tulare and Kern Counties were hit especially hard by the floods.  Time for a musical interlude, both songs written by Merle:

From ‘Cactus Artist’ To Fox Election Fraud ‘Source’. Just one more headline I never thought I’d write:

Meet Minnesota artist Marlene Bourne. Bourne thinks she may be a ghost and finds messages hidden in movies, song lyrics, and overheard conversations. Fox News found Bourne credible enough to base its election fraud claims on a letter Bourne sent to notoriously unreliable Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. Even thirty seconds of research would have determined a legitimate news organization could not accept Bourne as a source. Fox clearly used Bourne as she was saying garbage Fox wanted to repeat, regardless of how “kooky” they knew it to be.

Minnesota “cactus artist” Marlene Bourne claims she might be a ghost and Antonin Scalia was hunted for sport. Her ideas about voter fraud in the 2020 election got airtime on Fox News.

Maria Bartiromo and her producer rushed to get this Looney Toon on the air ASAP. Wish I could give you more, but I don’t subscribe to The Daily Beast, which broke the story.  If you do, please tell us more.

Guess Who’s Testing The Air In East Palestine Homes. If your answer was ‘a company hired by Norfolk Southern’, you’re a winner:

The people who arrived offered to test the air inside her home for free. She was so eager to learn the results, she didn’t look closely at the paper they asked her to sign. Within minutes of taking measurements with a hand-held machine, one of them told her they hadn’t detected any harmful chemicals. Foster moved her mother back the same day.

What she didn’t realize is that the page of test results that put her mind at ease didn’t come from the government or an independent watchdog. CTEH, the contractor that provided them, was hired by Norfolk Southern, the operator of the freight train that derailed.

And, according to several independent experts consulted by ProPublica in collaboration with the Guardian, the air testing results did not prove their homes were truly safe. Erin Haynes, a professor of environmental health at the University of Kentucky, said the air tests were inadequate in two ways: They were not designed to detect the full range of dangerous chemicals the derailment may have unleashed, and they did not sample the air long enough to accurately capture the levels of chemicals they were testing for.

“It’s almost like if you want to find nothing, you run in and run out,” Haynes said.

You can strike the ‘almost’ from the previous sentence. Which reminds me–have any Delaware legislative recipients of Norfolk Southern’s and Bobby Byrd’s largesse returned the filthy lucre yet?

Synthetic Turf Kills.  Maybe. Possibly. Perhaps.  What you need to know:

All artificial turf is made with toxic PFAS compounds and some types are still produced with recycled tires that can contain heavy metals, benzene, volatile organic compounds and other carcinogens, and a growing number of US municipalities and states have banned or proposed banning them.

Not Delaware, though.  Not with that massive turf complex in Kent County that depends on attracting kids from all over to play on their toxic surfaces.  Perhaps parents should reconsider whether exposing their children to toxins is worth it.  I mean, we know DNREC won’t do anything.  BTW, I can’t resist, some of the Board Members of the Kent County Regional Sports Complex Corporation, a 501(c)3, of course, are Brian Bushweller; Nancy Cook;  Michael Harrington, Jr.; Carrie Lingo; Linda Parkowski; Charles Postles, and Chairman Bill Strickland.  When it comes to protecting kids from toxins vs. economic development, protecting kids from toxins doesn’t stand a chance.  The Delaware Way.

OK, back to Dave Alvin.  If there is one singer/songwriter/axe-slinger I wish that everybody knew, it would be Dave.  He writes with deep empathy and wisdom, and pens memorable tunes.  Nobody knows the vagaries of California better.  The unceasingly-harsh Cali winter of 2023 compels me to close with this favorite of mine:

What do you want to talk about?