Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - August 12th
The very notion of "Alligator Alcatraz" offends me on pretty much every level.
And yet, some people seem to love the name because it's catchy or cute in some way.
What are my issues?
It starts at the top with the idiocy of rounding people up for no real reason (other than hatred of non-white people) and incarcerating them for petty reasons, with no due process. All carried out by masked men who have been granted broad authority to harass and intimidate. And all of it in violation of the law. Not that anyone cares.
But "Florida gonna Florida" and the governor decided he could be a darling of the administration and open a detention center (in spite of already having a few around south Florida that are questionable and already in use) in a part of the Everglades.
And things got weird from there, with him invoking some sort of emergency declaration, then using eminent domain to take some land from Miami-dade and collier counties without telling them, and proceeding with construction the very next day with barbed wire fences, and armed security telling citizens and elected officials to steer clear of the area. A violation of Florida and federal law.
And did I mention that this is technically on tribal land, so it wasn't the states to begin with?
Various companies were contracted to build and secure the area, with no bid contracts handed to political supporters, apparently with no written contracts. Again in violation of the law.
And it was all paid for by raiding various disaster relief and general funds, without authorization and with no supervision. Again. Laws were broken. The estimate on spend was $500 million dollars. Which was taken from taxpayers overnight with no accountability.
There are environmental concerns; no studies were done on the impacts (especially to the Everglades themself) of building on very many acres with infrastructure and waste. But who cares about that anyway?
The governor plans to have 5,000 beds in this facility (and it's already at least partially full; we can't and don't know just how full because no one can inspect the site), and has some kind of handshake agreement with the federal government on costs to operate.
They are expecting that the feds will pay $245 per bed, per night. Which is insane. The Ritz Carlton on Miami Beach is only slightly more, at $279 as a nightly rate. Except that it's on the beach, has AC, and of course it isn't a detention center.
At the rate of $245 per night, that should be $1.25 million per day that will be recouped. So it should only take 18 months to make back the money he stole. Except of course you have to pay for guards, maintenance and food. So it will surely take 10x as long to make it back. By the way, as you might have noticed, the administration has already suggested they won't be paying! So yeah.
Oh and about the inability to inspect this site in any way. There are accusations of human rights abuses already happening regularly. But no one can get in to see what's really going on. So human rights organizations - which regularly report on third world countries - can't see what's happening in our supposed first world country.
And crass politicians say that's all okay because these are illegals who have broken the law and should somehow be treated poorly as a result. Even though some have legal status, and at least a few are citizens.
Grumble
What are my issues?
It starts at the top with the idiocy of rounding people up for no real reason (other than hatred of non-white people) and incarcerating them for petty reasons, with no due process. All carried out by masked men who have been granted broad authority to harass and intimidate. And all of it in violation of the law. Not that anyone cares.
But "Florida gonna Florida" and the governor decided he could be a darling of the administration and open a detention center (in spite of already having a few around south Florida that are questionable and already in use) in a part of the Everglades.
And things got weird from there, with him invoking some sort of emergency declaration, then using eminent domain to take some land from Miami-dade and collier counties without telling them, and proceeding with construction the very next day with barbed wire fences, and armed security telling citizens and elected officials to steer clear of the area. A violation of Florida and federal law.
And did I mention that this is technically on tribal land, so it wasn't the states to begin with?
Various companies were contracted to build and secure the area, with no bid contracts handed to political supporters, apparently with no written contracts. Again in violation of the law.
And it was all paid for by raiding various disaster relief and general funds, without authorization and with no supervision. Again. Laws were broken. The estimate on spend was $500 million dollars. Which was taken from taxpayers overnight with no accountability.
There are environmental concerns; no studies were done on the impacts (especially to the Everglades themself) of building on very many acres with infrastructure and waste. But who cares about that anyway?
The governor plans to have 5,000 beds in this facility (and it's already at least partially full; we can't and don't know just how full because no one can inspect the site), and has some kind of handshake agreement with the federal government on costs to operate.
They are expecting that the feds will pay $245 per bed, per night. Which is insane. The Ritz Carlton on Miami Beach is only slightly more, at $279 as a nightly rate. Except that it's on the beach, has AC, and of course it isn't a detention center.
At the rate of $245 per night, that should be $1.25 million per day that will be recouped. So it should only take 18 months to make back the money he stole. Except of course you have to pay for guards, maintenance and food. So it will surely take 10x as long to make it back. By the way, as you might have noticed, the administration has already suggested they won't be paying! So yeah.
Oh and about the inability to inspect this site in any way. There are accusations of human rights abuses already happening regularly. But no one can get in to see what's really going on. So human rights organizations - which regularly report on third world countries - can't see what's happening in our supposed first world country.
And crass politicians say that's all okay because these are illegals who have broken the law and should somehow be treated poorly as a result. Even though some have legal status, and at least a few are citizens.
Grumble
====
Disney doing some good in nature
Disney's Sea Turtle Conservation Inspires the Next Generation
This is a cool story about how Disney is using sea turtle nesting as a means to study these amazing creatures, and inspire the youth by seeing conservation in action. And in a fun way, no less. |
Man rebuilds a B-17 bomber
This is kind of a fun story about a guy that bought a B-17 fuselage that had been sitting in a field in Maine, way back in 1984.
He has since spent the last 4 decades restoring it.
There's a charm and a warmth to the story, and the embedded tv coverage is kind of a nice summary of it all.
"Illinois man has spent 40 years rebuilding a WWII-era B-17 bomber" | Popular Science
https://www.popsci.com/technology/b-17-bomber-restoration/
https://www.popsci.com/technology/b-17-bomber-restoration/
RFK jr lets the worm in his brain win.
RFK made a statement about a company he wants to promote to make America healthy. Except that the company makes ultra processed foods, another thing he rails against.
Wait. A billionaire who spent ostensibly his own money to buy a platform that is used for hate - and which is bleeding money - wants to ask the company where he serves as the CEO (poorly) to bail him out for his privately held company? And what does the company get in return? Nothing, I assume. Why not just spend your own damn money? You have it for gosh sakes. If the shareholders and board vote for this, rather than voting no confidence in him … then we are as stupid as it seems. |
It may seem obvious, but there is a lot of water vapor in the air, and until now, it was only theoretically possible to collect it in a simple and cost effective way. But now, a group of engineers have developed a graphene-calcium composite that can absorb clean water from the atmosphere, which can be consumed. And the great part is that it is cheap and reusable. Meaning that many more people could have access to clean water. New nanomaterial pulls drinking water straight out of thin air https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/water-from-air-graphene-calcium-aerogel |
The Hubble Space Telescope detected an anomaly. But it was a scientist who figured it out; Einstein had correctly posited that a planet would create a sort of ripple in its wake. And that's what they saw... that encouraged them to study the space further. A rogue planet! How very unusual. |
Bonus:
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